Cork is set to become the fastest growing region under the Project 2040 plan, particularly in ICT.

Employment in Cork’s tech sector has risen over the last five years making it the largest source of foreign direct investment in the region.

In total, there are currently over 300 ICT-related companies employing more than 29,000 people in the region.

The body representing over 200 companies working within the ICT sector in the Cork region, it@cork,

has launched the it@cork Leaders Awards, an annual event recognising the best in Cork’s thriving ICT community.

it@cork is inviting nominations from those who believe a tech company is worthy of recognition, to apply to be a part of the awards.

The Awards, which are in their 12th year, are now open to applicants, with judging to take place in early October.

It will culminate in a gala prize-giving ceremony to be held at the Rochestown Park Hotel on October 19th.

Speaking at the launch Caroline O’Driscoll, Chairperson of it@cork said:

“I have been involved in these awards for a number of years and every year the volume and calibre of applicant is growing. This is a testament to the thriving ICT cluster which has developed in the region, playing strongly in areas such as Cyber Security, Cloud, Data Analytics and IOT.

"This year we are leveraging the great work done by Cork City Council on the “City Rising is a Beautiful Thing” campaign, to complement our theme. We are celebrating all that is great about ICT in Cork."

Chair of the Awards Committee John Drury, spoke of some changes and some “old favourites” to the categories.

“This year we have introduced a new CSR award to acknowledge and celebrate the great work that so many organisations in Cork do for their community without expecting anything in return."

The judging panel will including expert industry representatives from Blizzard, PepsiCo, KPMG, VMware, Investec, Trend Micro, CIT, Qualcomm, National Software Centre, Cork BIC, Poppulo, Enterprise Ireland, Dell EMC, Cork County Council, Tyndall, Malwarebytes and Teamwork.

The closing date for entry is October 2nd.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/business/cork-set-to-become-fastest-growing-region-under-project-2040-plan-867418.html

Ulster Bank’s construction purchasing managers’ index (PMI) shows that activity in commercial development, house-building and public projects increased again last month.

August was the 60th consecutive month that the index showed growth, meaning that the Republic’s construction industry has been expanding for five years after pulling out of a deep recession sparked by the 2008 financial crisis.

The index, which follows the sector’s performance every month, hit 58.3 in August, indicating a sharp rate of growth. Ulster’s PMI takes 50 as its benchmark. Any reading above that figure indicates that the industry expanded on the previous month, while any result below that shows that it shrank.

August’s reading was below the 60.7 recorded in July, which shows that while activity increased it did so at a slower rate last month than in the previous one.

The figures show that house-building was the strongest performer, reaching 60.3 in August against 63.9 the previous month.

Commercial building, which includes offices and factories, recorded a reading of 57.7, from 60.9.

Civil engineering, which covers State-funded projects such as roads, schools, water-treatment plants and other infrastructure, advanced at the slowest rate, hitting just 51.5. Ulster Bank noted that August was the second month running in which this sector recorded growth.

Positive growth
Simon Barry, chief economist, Republic of Ireland, Ulster Bank, noted that Irish builders experienced solid but somewhat slower growth in August.

“The headline PMI eased back from what was an extremely elevated reading in July to stand at 58.3 in August, but this is still very much a level which signals ongoing rapid gains in activity. For the second consecutive month all three sub-sectors registered positive growth, with housing remaining the strongest performing category.”

Mr Barry added that while the housing index slowed slightly, July’s reading had been one of the strongest ever.

He argued that 60.3 pointed to very rapid expansion, and suggested that robust growth in house-building would be sustained through the third quarter of the year.

The economist also pointed out that many companies taking part in the survey predicted that new residential building would be a key contributor to continued growth in the industry.

Mr Barry said that while some elements of the index showed that construction’s recovery had further to go, he said the future was not without its challenges, including capacity constraints, that is, not having the resources to meet demand.

He said that builders remained confident about the industry’s prospects.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/construction/growth-in-construction-continues-in-august-despite-slowing-slightly-1.3623403#.W5YpJhgFBgo.linkedin

The new facility, located at Tanjong Kling (formerly known as Data Centre Park) in the west of Singapore, will span 170,000 sq m and will “support hundreds of jobs”, the company said in its press release, adding it will form part of its growing presence in Singapore and across the region.

Mr Thomas Furlong, vice president for Infrastructure Data Centers at Facebook, told reporters at the launch event that the new project will create "thousands of construction jobs", while the facility will require "hundreds of operators" ranging from network maintenance to logistics staff. He added that given it is a long-term project, the company is still working out its staffing needs.

Facebook also touted how the facility will be “hyper-efficient” in terms of the use of water, energy and land. For instance, it will incorporate a liquid cooling technology that will minimise water and power consumption and, according to its testing, can reduce the amount of groundwater used by 20 per cent in climates like Singapore’s, it said.

Another example is how the 11-storey building’s facade is made out of a perforated lightweight material that allows air flow, the press release said. Building the data centre upwards, instead of outwards, is also another way of conserving land use, it added.

Facebook has selected Fortis Construction to act as its general contractor because of their joint experience building efficient data centres, it added.

Mr Furlong said the data centre is estimated to start operations in 2022, but that would just be the first phase and more construction is expected to continue beyond that. "It's going to take a while," he said.

Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing, who graced the launch event, said the social media giant's decision to locate its first Asia data centre here is a "significant milestone" for the country. 

He said the company's presence here speaks to how Singapore is increasingly connected to the world beyond the traditional modes of air, land and sea. He added that it would facilitate the flow of talent, ideas and creativity into the country.

The new facility will also strengthen the country's role in data storage, which would augment its other strengths in data protection, intellectual property, data security and data analytics, Mr Chan said.

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/facebook-data-centre-singapore-jobs-asia-10688962