Niamh Bushnell has been appointed as Dublin's first commissioner for tech and innovative start-ups. The two-year role will see Ms Bushnell take strategic responsibility for making Dublin "the best place in Europe to start and grow a tech and innovative business".

Ms Bushnell will work with Dublin City Council and Enterprise Ireland in her role.

"We see the Dublin commissioner for start-ups as making an important contribution to the city council's expanded economic development role," said Owen Keegan, chief executive of Dublin City Council.

Ms Bushnell, who attended the University of Limerick, co-founded her first successful startup Pan Research in Ireland in 1996, before settling in New York where she worked for the Irish Trade Board, now Enterprise Ireland. She started her first company, Bushnell Solutions, in March 2006, and was named as one of the 50 Most Influential Irish American Women by the Irish Voice in July 2010. Her most recent venture is Kinnecions, a matching tool for professionals in corporations and expert communities, while other ventures include TechResources.US, a curated directory of tech focused resources for early stage companies. She is an investor at Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA).