Two groups of scientists in the Tyndall National Institute in Cork will each receive up to €5m over the next five years for ground-breaking research that could yield new products for the electronics and medical devices industries, according to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Batt O'Keeffe TD.

Joined up thinking and the establishment of 'cluster groups' are fundamental to the growth of Ireland's valuable food and agri-business sectors according to Cork food marketing consultant, Conor Hyde.

Name of your business?
Mint Media
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Blackrock, Cork

Name: Alison O'Brien
Appointment: PR/Media Coordinator with the HOPE Foundation
Alison O'Brien has joined the HOPE Foundation as PR/Media Coordinator. The HOPE Foundation, a registered Irish charity, works primarily with the street and slum children of Calcutta.

Cork Institute of Technology is recruiting part-time lecturers, who will be available to teach during the Academic Years 2010/2011 and 2011/2012. These positions, which cover all one hundred and sixty one disciplines across the campus, Bishopstown, CIT Crawford College of Art & Design, CIT Cork School of Music and the National Maritime College of Ireland are designed to have suitably qualified staff available to cover eventualities such as illness or leave.

Two Cork businesses have been nominated for a prestigious national award. Kanvas Communications and Sobe Brown Hair Salon made the final cut for the awards, which are the national awards of Women's networking forum, Network.

Sales on one of the more traditional shopping days of the year, St Stephen's Day, last year hit a 25-year low and rounded off a dismal year for the retail sector where an estimated 30,000 jobs were lost, according to Insolvencyjournal.ie. "Big name businesses such as Sasha went bust with the closure of 42 stores, O'Briens Irish sandwich bars went into liquidation and the Irish subsidiary of fashion chain Principles collapsed.

Last week we looked at customer care and how good and bad service can propagate far and wide thanks to digital word of mouth. Focusing as much as you can on your website and having it as a core part of your customer service system cuts down on costs and allows people to figure out their issues with less pressure.

The price of gold has risen over 82 per cent since 2007. In that same time equity markets have fallen on average 20 per cent and we witnessed a collapse in asset prices not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Given market volatility and concerns following the collapse of Lehman it is perhaps no wonder that gold has benefited from such a huge appreciation in value.

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