According to CorkBIC chief executive Michael O'Connor, "a series of possible ventures are starting out of Motorola" in the next few months, as the Cork-based mobile telecommunications multinational completes its 330 planned redundancies.

CorkBIC has agreed to provide office space and shared services at the NSC free of charge to ex-Motorola staff for three months from tomorrow. Those exploring new businesses will also have access to CorkBIC's consulting and counselling services on a "best effort" basis. At the end of the three-month period, CorkBIC will evaluate take-up and progress and select ventures for exposure to an all-Ireland network of "business angels" with available capital "in excess of 20m", O'Connor said.

"These are very good people with the wherewithal and expertise to work with our supports for starting up, " he said. "Without committing to leases, they can work up new ideas."

The start-ups are all in the area of technical services and project management for mobile telecommunications, O'Connor said.

He says the prospective firms are in the early stages of validating and hardening their business propositions, identifying customers and speeding the route to market. Despite the short time since the redundancy notification, he believes the new ventures are in a position to generate revenue "right away".

The first 140 Motorola redundancies were completed on Friday.