The Belmullet company was one of 18 Irish software, life sciences and bio-tech companies presenting to potential investors at Goodbody Stockbrokers' annual SummIT conference last week.

Among the up-and-comers at the event were bio-tech companies Merrion Pharma and Neurocure, both of which are eyeing flotations. Merrion has just raised 5m to take it through to an IPO. Neurocare's chief executive Peter Daly said his company was looking for 7m and hopes to seek a dual listing on both Dublin's IEX and London's Alternative Investments Market (AIM) within the next two years.

Mark O'Donovan of Goodbody Corporate Finance, who chaired the event, said he sees a "strong pipeline" of companies coming through with up to six likely to float, including Merrion and Neurocure, over the next year. "That's more technology companies than have floated in Ireland in any other year, " he said. The fundraising and flotation ambitions are doubtless helped by the optimism on world stock markets. The Iseq recently broke the 8,000 barrier for the first time in its history and several indices, including the German Dax, the FTSE 100 and the S&P 500 are riding high.

The sentiment, among both IPO hopefuls and non-flotation candidates, has certainly improved since this time last year when the planned 2005 SummIT was cancelled. Goodbody cited a lack of new companies seeking investment as the main reason for its cancellation.

That doesn't seem to have been a problem this year. Several of last week's presenters were seeking funding in excess of 5m including Neurocure, mobile software company Cibenix ( 6m) and Selc ( 10m).

Selc clearly feels it is a good time to look for money. The company hasn't sought outside investment since the 1980s, when it received a small investment from ICC Venture Capital, which the company has since bought out. Selc chief executive Sean Noone said he believes too many young technology firms seek VC funding or other forms of outside investment at an early stage. "I think you shouldn't go to the market until you've got something, " he said. The question is whether "the market" is interested but so far the signs are promising.

In the wake of his presentation, Noone said the company has already been contacted by a number of venture capital firms interested in putting up some of the 10m it requires to fund a push into what it reckons is a 600m market for "intelligent street lighting".

Selc's core product is an electronic device which is programmed to control public street lights. The company's technology can be used by local authorities or utilities to brighten or dim lights automatically depending on daylight, weather and other environmental conditions in order to save electricity. Selc claims it can save up to 30 watts of power per street light, a reduction of up to 30% on energy usage.

Selc had revenue of 6m last year and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of 450,000, according to Noone. The company has just completed a project in Norway which shows off the full extent of its ambitions. "We just finished the biggest installation [of intelligent street lighting] in the world, in Oslo, " he said. The installation, following a pilot project completed two years ago, encompasses over 1,000 lights throughout the city.

Selc's system in Oslo even dims the lights during heavy snowfalls, to take advantage of the reflective properties of the snow, and increases the brightness when it is raining. The company is in talks with the local government in Oslo with a view to upgrading the city's entire public lighting system over the next five years. In the meantime, it has also begun pilot projects in Germany, Austria and has signed up its first US customer in Phoenix, Arizona.

The company's products aren't cheap.

An environmentally-friendly city council looking to save energy would have to shell out up to 1,400 per pole to upgrade its street lights. That can be a tough sell for penny-pinching local authorities, Noone admitted. Selc has recently tweaked the product, however, to add a feature that he hopes will help make the investment case more appealing. Selc has patented a product, which it calls Street Pole Media, that could enable community information, advertising or streaming video to be broadcast over small screens attached to street lights.

The screens are hooked up through the same network Selc uses to connect its light switches to a central controller. The company has already held discussions with Vodafone with a view to signing it up as a telecoms partner and hopes to sign up media companies interested in partnering with it to provide content for the Street Pole Media. Noone estimates the company could deploy up to 300 of the poles per 100,000 population with an estimated annual revenue of 500,000 per pole. He anticipates that the revenue would be split between the media company and the local authority, with Selc taking a small cut for maintaining the network.

That all depends on the company securing the investment necessary to extend its Belmullet factory and support an aggressive sales and marketing drive. "Where we're going is big and if we don't get the funding we won't be going anywhere, " Noone said.