Techie teams on treasure trail to raise funds for children’s hospital

Tech workers from companies including LinkedIn, Airbnb, Intel, Microsoft and Riot Games will go head to head this week to raise money for Temple Street Children’s University Hospital.

More than 1,000 techies from start-ups and multinationals will take to the streets of Dublin on Friday, to take part in the city’s first charity tech treasure trail.

The participants will be divided into 100 teams, and the trail will uniquely showcase some of Ireland’s most innovative technologies, according to event organisers.

Event organiser, Hostelworld and Homestay.com founder Tom Kennedy said Techies4TempleStreet (T4TS) is about mobilising the wider tech industry as a whole to support Temple Street and raise money for a new renal and neurological outpatients facility at the hospital.

He said team participants will be challenged by technology-orientated questions and clues in an “intellectually exciting treasure trail”.

Other companies partaking in the event include Digital Realty, Homestay, Swerve, Xilinx, William Fry, Zendesk and Nitro. The winning team will be crowned the “smartest techies in Ireland”.

Opportunity

Sharon McCooey, senior director of international operations at LinkedIn said the event “is a great opportunity for local start-ups and multinational companies to get to know each other better and strengthen their relationships.”

The event will also mark the first gathering of the Captain’s Club, an exclusive circle of team captains, company founders and senior executives who will continue to meet regularly to discuss issues affecting the tech industry.

Denise Fitzgerald, chief executive of Temple Street Foundation, says the hospital needs to raise €5 million to redevelop hospital wards, fund vital equipment and services and invest in research.

“The funds raised are going towards one of our most ambitious projects yet, the construction of a new neurology and renal outpatients unit,” she said.

Techies4TempleStreet aims to raise more than €1 million over a three-year period to contribute towards the unit.

It is hoped the trail will become an annual event in Ireland and planning has commenced already on twinning with other European tech cities for 2016.