Enterprise Ireland is backing a trip by a group of Irish high-tech start-ups to Silicon Valley that aims to take advantage of Aer Lingus's planned direct route between Dublin and San Francisco.

Dubbed "Paddy's Valley", the ad-hoc group of technology companies have joined forces to boost the profile of Irish tech start-ups in California.

Enterprise Ireland has stepped in to provide facilities and additional contacts for the trip, scheduled to take place in December.

Benjamin Mosse, a market adviser with Enterprise Ireland's New York office, welcomed the grass-roots initiative and said it was critical for entrepreneurs to "think internationally" and develop links to the US at a very early stage.

The US is the largest single destination for Irish software exports, taking in exports worth almost €500 million last year, according to the trade body.

The organiser of the tour, Conor O'Neill, said Enterprise Ireland's support would open more doors for the companies, which he said were "tired of knocking on venture capitalists' doors in Dublin".

It is hoped the tour will mark the first of several trips to build up stronger links between Irish technology groups and the Silicon Valley investment community, using Aer Lingus's direct service to San Francisco, which will run four times a week from October.

The tour's co-organiser, James Corbett, who is adviser to Boston-based start-up Grazr.com, said that as well as showing US companies that there are investment opportunities in Ireland, the tour was also a way for the companies to show off intellectual property that US companies could license.

Other companies involved in the trade mission include Tourist Republic, which operates websites that combine travel, social networking and a trip planner application, and RelevantM, which claims to offer "an Irish solution to a Bebo problem" by offering patented tools that allow the users of social networking sites to maintain their privacy online.