Sprinkle in a smattering of venture capitalists and Enterprise Ireland executives. Add wine liberally. Stir vigorously for two hours. Result: Curry 2.0.

The brainchild of Segala chief executive Paul Walsh, what began as a private social event for London-based Walsh to catch up with some Irish friends and tech sector colleagues over dinner at his Jaipur restaurant in Dublin two weeks ago became a nerdy networking event. Budding internet entrepreneurs arrived to pitch their Web 2.0 business ideas to the eatery's head chef while sampling his tangy cuisine and lashings of South African Stormhoek wine provided by online vintner Bubble Brothers.

The rationale was that if spice specialist Sanjay, whose first language is Punjabi, could understand the obscure industry jargon and have his curiosity piqued by one novel tech idea, that pitch would be declared the winner and the group would stump up cash to send the lucky pitcher to London's OpenCoffee and InternetPeople events, where investors mingle with techies. The Microsoft contingent gamely threw in a copy of Vista and a presentation pointer too.

James Kennedy of SmartNote won the competition with his idea for software that automatically directs mobile phone text message mail shots to a business's customers. Using the canny example of a restaurant's booking database distributing text reminders to customers no doubt attracted Sanjay's attention. Qamir Hussain of QHC Consulting was runner up, aided by his (unfair? ) advantage of explaining his m-payment retail coupon idea in passable Punjabi.

Eagle-eyed observers noted that Mike Caulfield of Trinity Venture Capital was quick to dip into his pockets to pay a 25 contribution to send Kennedy over the water.

An online wedding planner application from Spoiltchild was an interesting niche product, while Joe Drumgoole's PutPlace concept for a single online depository for storing one's digital data, such as photos and music, received murmurs of appreciation amongst the gadget-wielding audience.

Meanwhile, the eponymous Eoghan of EoghanMcCabe. com, who described Curry 2.0 as "like a coming out party for tech ideas except less gay", described his intriguing Fold Spy web trickery, which tells web designers where to place ads on pages to attract the most attention.

A host of other original ideas were presented too, but the Sunday Tribune is keeping them under its tinfoil hat for the moment.

Walsh said he would definitely be putting the Curry 2.0 event on a regular footing in future, as InterTrade Ireland and Microsoft have expressed interest in getting involved.

"The benefit for me is raising my profile but I want to put back in too, " he said.

Walsh is a member of several associations in Britain designed to promote startups across the tech sector.

"I want to ensure the UK becomes a centre of excellence for interactive digital media but the irony is that I'm a Paddy so I want to do the same thing for Ireland too."