As the remote workforce increases and those staying at home turn to streaming services for entertainment, how are Ireland’s telecoms companies coping? The Irish Government has announced that current social restrictions will continue until 19 April, with further measures put in place in relation to the closure of businesses and physical distancing due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. With much of the workforce now working from home, thousands of students learning and studying online, and a greater demand for streaming services while people stay indoors, increased pressure is no doubt being put on the telecoms industry. In fact, following talks with EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, Netflix, YouTube and others have agreed to limit stream quality to ease pressure on networks during the pandemic.

Dublin-based Luca Boschin and Alessandro Prest began working on AI before it was 'sexy'. In the history of artificial intelligence, there has been a slew of peaks and troughs in confidence and interest in the technology. In the industry, the troughs are known as 'AI winters'. They can cause innovation to slow down until public and commercial interest is drummed up again, or researchers make a significant breakthrough. With AI arguably having reached its highest peak in history, it begs the question: will we see ever another AI winter? If you ask Luca Boschin and Alessandro Prest, the co-founders of Dublin AI startup LogoGrab, you'll get two different answers. "Hopefully not," Prest says. Boschin chips in with "I wouldn't mind". That's because for Boschin, there's a lot of gratuitous hype still bubbling around AI and if people were a little more sceptical, it might weed some of this out. "There are a lot of people that say 'we have AI', just to say it. Hopefully, this hype will stop and people get real again and focus on really solving challenges," Boschin says.

A US-backed provider of alternative finance said it would provide up to €100m in funding to growth-focused Irish companies over the next three years. Upstream Working Capital has opened an office in Sandyford Business Park in Dublin with a funding pot which has the potential to support transactions of up to €10m per client. The company began supporting the Northern Irish SMEs in 2011. It secured substantial backing from a major US-based shareholder in spring 2019, which helped it fund companies internationally in locations including North and South America. The company said that working capital availability, to fulfil orders and fund continued sales growth is often the limiting factor for businesses. It said it provides solutions to deliver the necessary cashflow to fund growth as part of a company's overall funding mix. Aidan Dolan, Head of Business Development in Upstream's Dublin office, said the company sees great opportunities as Ireland is set to be the strongest growing euro zone economy in 2020. "Notably most businesses within the SME space are planning to invest and employ more people in 2020. We want to support these companies with their investment and growth plans," Mr Dolan said.