Entries have now opened for the 2012 Deloitte Fast 50 Technology Awards, according to Deloitte today.

The awards, now in their thirteenth year, recognise and rank Ireland's indigenous technology companies with exceptional growth in turnover over the last five years. This year the awards will take place in the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin on 16 November.

Previous winners of the awards include companies such as Software Asset Management Ireland (SAMI), Daft Media Ltd., PulseLearning and Lincor Solutions. Most recently in 2011, Populis, the digital media company and European leader in content demand, took top spot in the ranking. The company achieved an aggregate growth rate of 7,982pc over the last five years.

The theme of this year's awards is 'Powerful Connections'. This reflects the community of Fast 50 companies that have developed over the last 13 years of the awards, not only in Ireland, but throughout Europe also. This is due to the fact that Ireland's Fast 50 companies are entered into Deloitte's EMEA Fast 500 award programme, which recognises Europe's fastest growing technology companies.

Denis O'Sullivan, Group CFO at Populis, outlined the benefits of the company's participation in the Deloitte Fast 50: "The team here at Populis was delighted to feature in the 2011 Fast 50 ranking, and absolutely thrilled that we achieved the top spot. The association with the awards has been greatly beneficial, in particular throughout Europe which is a significant market for us."

Richard Howard, Partner, Deloitte encouraged indigenous Irish technology companies to demonstrate their success by entering the awards: "Every year we are extremely impressed with the growth rates that are achieved by Irish technology companies who have demonstrated an ability to both develop offerings and then market them in Ireland and abroad. This type of growth deserves to be celebrated. The Fast 50 awards offer the opportunity to join a community of innovative technology companies that are constantly searching for new contacts and new ways to build their network. We're looking forward to hearing from like-minded companies!"