“Do you know the way to San Jose?”
Well San Jose certainly knows its way to Dublin. Dublin City Council and the city of San Jose (California) have been twinned for 22 years. Every second year Dublin welcomes the visit of City Councillors, senior Officials, Academics and Members of the Sister City Committee from San Jose. In July, a delegation of 16 arrived in Dublin led by San Jose City Councillors Nancy Pyle and Forrest Williams.
Their visit included a range of cultural, business and political engagements. These were facilitated by members of the Dublin/San Jose Sister City Committee led by the City Council and involving Dublin Tourism, Trinity College, University College Dublin, Dublin City University, the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, Diageo Ireland, the Dublin Docklands Development Authority and the Digital Hub. Minister Pat Carey welcomed the visitors to Leinster House and they were then met by An Taoiseach Brian Cowen. The Lord Mayor Councillor Eibhlin Byrne hosted a civic dinner for the delegation in the Mansion House and Dublin Tourism held a dinner in Malahide Castle.
The links between business, education and city councils in the two cities have contributed considerably to economic activity and investment on both sides of the Atlantic. Next March the Lord Mayor will lead a delegation to San Jose for their annual Irish Week events.
The twinning agreement between Dublin was established by the then Mayor of San Jose, Tom McEnery, and former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, the then Lord Mayor of Dublin. The program has thrived throughout its two-decade existence and develops cultural, economic, artistic and sporting ties between the two cities.
Did you know…. San Jose
The City of San Jose is located in California in Santa Clara County. It was founded in 1777 and it was California’s first civilian settlement. San José is the largest city in the Bay Area, the third largest city in California after Los Angeles and San Diego and the 10th largest city in the US.
The city is the capital of Silicon Valley, the world’s leading centre of innovation. It is home to the largest concentration of technology expertise in the world- and more than 6,600 technology companies employing more than 254,000 people such as IBM and eBay.
According to Paul Krutko, Director, Office of Economic Development, City of San José, there are more than 35 Silicon Valley companies with an Irish presence, including Adobe, Cadence Design Systems, Cisco Systems, eBay, Flextronics, IBM, Quantum and Xilinx. "Companies understand that success depends largely on having a positive business climate and a strong, well-educated talent pool to produce high value, ground-breaking products and services. Both of these attributes have helped to earn Dublin as being the top technological hotbed within the European Union. Likewise, it has kept San José in the spotlight as the world's centre for innovation".