The Hatch Lab: Gorey’s very own tech incubator

The shiny new Hatch Lab on Gorey’s M11 Business Campus is a concrete and glass symbol of ambition and change for the town and the increasingly connected region.

The Lab is a tech incubator space, a flexible, open-plan building designed specifically for technology companies, start-ups and co-working staff.

It’s not the kind repurposed Victorian warehouse or loft-space you will see in many urban regeneration areas elsewhere. And there’s not a bean-bag or foosball table in sight.

But as a purpose-built, sit-down-and-plug-in workspace for start-ups, remote-workers and companies looking for a flexible space to scale-up, it offers state-of-the art facilities and connectivity in a setting that’s close enough to Dublin for business but far enough away to avoid the stresses and expense of living and working in the capital.

“In terms of start-ups, we are set up for normal social media or marketing businesses, but also for high-potential start-ups,” says Hatch Lab chief executive John O’Connor.

“The high-potential operations, somebody who is going to build an IT product or solution, are really interesting to us because of the scale they can grow to and the talent we know is in the area.”

O’Connor points to a study by Maynooth University which found there were 1,000 people leaving the Gorey area every morning to commute to work in Dublin for companies in the ICT sector.

In a town with a population of just over 10,000, that is almost one in ten of the total population.

This is a huge pool of locally-based highly skilled people who would, presumably, welcome the chance to work for a go-ahead ICT company based on their doorstep.

“We know we have this great pool of talent here in the region, and we really believe there are opportunities for them – and for companies who could employ them – here at the Hatch Lab in Gorey,” says O’Connor.

One of the companies based in the Lab – flexible and remote-working facilitators Abodoo – have done their own research into the talent available locally.

“They got more than 900 people responding and looked at their specific knowledge area and skills,” says O’Connor.

Of the 900 responders, more than 50 worked with the high-in-demand programming language Python alone.

“There were many other software and programming skills, very much on the cutting edge in terms of programming, website-development and other areas, and many of these people are commuting to Dublin each day.

“If we could get only a handful of them into the Hatch Lab, working as well as living locally and helping to get high-potential start-ups off the ground, it would be fantastic for the area.”

The Hatch Lab is not just about offering office space and meeting rooms. “We can offer help and practical advice on how to grow and develop,” says O’Connor.

“We can help with finding funding, with making applications for competitive start up grants and New Frontier courses, for getting on accelerator programmes.

“To qualify for these grants, you have to be able to make a really great pitch to Enterprise Ireland.

“And in the Hatch Lab, we take them through a lot of practice pitches, give them that experience and practice before it comes to facing the real thing. They can learn from peers who may be further along the road; there’s great peer-to-peer learning here.”

The Hatch Lab is now expanding into a further 3,000 square feet space in the M11 Business Campus building.

“The plan is to split this into four separate offices, so that any of our customers who grow can move into their own offices and stay in the same building,” says O’Connor.

“What we want to see is a natural progression for these companies.”

The individual working spaces in the Lab are increasingly being used by people who are living locally but commuting to work in Dublin. In many cases, they can work remotely for one or two days, allowing them to avoid the commute.

There have been studies done in Britain and elsewhere that have shown that remote working – even on a part-time basis – can significantly increase productivity and make staff happier and less stressed.

And an increasing number of companies, especially in the tech sector, are using flexible and remote working to attract and retain staff, making their lives a little less complicated and not so commute-dependent.

“We also have people who come home on holidays, or indeed Dubliners who may come down to holiday homes here in the summer, who will use our working spaces for those times they need to get through some work,” says O’Connor.

Open for just over a year, the Hatch Lab still has a “new box” feel, and stands as a powerful example for other towns of a similar (or larger) size looking to create the perfect incubator space for start-ups and companies to operate in a region where a daily three-hour commute is not required.

Gorey’s status as an IT hub for the region has been recognised this week as part of Internet Day 2018.

To mark the day, IE Domain Registry, the company that manages and maintains Ireland’s .ie domain name, has launched the Digital Town initiative to promote awareness and use of the internet in Ireland.

And to celebrate the digital achievements that can be made by a regional town, IE Domain Registry has chosen Gorey as the 2018 Digital Town for Ireland.