Senior decision makers from 56 companies, charities and social ventures participated in the event. During the day each participant was given up to twelve 20 minute meetings, giving them the opportunity to discuss partnership opportunities, share experiences and identify possible synergies. Participants included Baidu, Wal-mart, HSBC, Citibank, Tiffany, Clearworld Energy, WWF, Amity Foundation, Narada Foundation, Roots & Shoots, Surmang / Amara, FCA.

The event kicked off in the morning with a welcome speech by Hurun Report CEO Rupert Hoogewerf and a keynote speech by ammado Head of Global Strategy Terry Farris. The CSR-Mart started shortly after; in addition to the scheduled appointments coffee breaks and lunch provided plenty of opportunities for networking.

Following the CSR-Mart a press conference was held to mark the release of the 'Hurun Corporate Social Responsibility Top Fifty 2009′ and the 'Hurun Most Valuable Chinese Brands List 2009′.

"The Wenchuan Earthquake has been a turning point for CSR in China," says Rupert Hoogewerf, CEO of Hurun Report. "Brands realise now the value of a good CSR programme, not because it is a nice thing to do, but because it is good for their business."

A short 2 hour conference on Brands with Responsibility began in the late afternoon with two discussion panels chaired by Yuan Yue Chairman of Horizon and MC of 'Brainstorm', panel one was charity focused with speakers from Baidu, Tencent and ammado. Panel two was corporate focused with speakers from Amway, HSBC and China Development Bank. Topics discussed were: The relationship between CSR and Brand Building and Building the brand in the future.

The grand finale was the highly anticipated result of the 100,000RMB donation and the prize draw. Clearworld Energy offered to donate 100,000RMB to one charity and after much deliberation they chose to donate the money to Humana People to People China. They also announced that they would like to establish a long term partnership with the charity Friends of Rural Community Development. Lucky draw prizes were a limited edition 10th CRL issue signed by Rupert Hoogewerf, a bottle of Dewar's wine worth 3,200RMB and a gift voucher for the Renaissance Shanghai Yuyuan Hotel's Executive Suite worth 5,000RMB. The Renaissance Shanghai prize was won by Grace Chen of the Narada Foundation and the General Manager of the hotel also gave her a spa voucher.

Hurun Report would like to thank their sponsors Baidu and Dewar's.

Hurun Report would like to thank their partners' ammado, CSR & Company, ChinaCSR.com and NPI.

An encouraging start to 2009 for ammado with esteemed international recognition for its work.

DUBLIN - March 31, 2009 ammado, the global online community of people who care, has had a successful start to 2009 with the nomination of three international technology awards. All three nominations come as a great honour for the Irish company as each award carries great merit and recognises ammado’s development on an international stage. The three award nominations include

- Shortlisted as a Finalist for the Red Herring 100 Europe Award for 2009
- Nominated by Morgan Stanley for the 2009 Computerworld Honors Program
- Shortlisted for the Irish Technology Leaders Group (ITLG) Awards 2009

For the second year running, ammado has been named as a Finalist of Red Herring 100 Europe, an award given to the top 100 private technology companies based in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region each year. Red Herring’s lists of top private companies are an important part of the publication’s tradition of identifying new and innovative technology companies and entrepreneurs. Companies like Google, eBay and Skype were spotted in their early days by Red Herring editors and touted as leaders that would change the way we live and work. Red Herring will honour the Red Herring 100 Europe Finalist companies at its Red Herring Europe 2009 Conference, March 31- April 2 in Berlin.

ammado has also been honoured with a nomination by Morgan Stanley for the 2009 Computerworld Honors Program. Established in 1988, the Computerworld Honors Program brings together the Chairmen and CEOs of the world's foremost information technology companies to recognise the most outstanding user achievements in technology each year. Every year, members of the Chairmen’s Committee identify organizations from around the world whose use of information technology has been especially noteworthy for originality of conception, breadth of vision and significance to society. Nominees are then invited to submit a case study to the program’s collection. Key case studies are granted Laureate status and are recognised publicly at a historic medal ceremony in Washington, D.C. From the Laureates, selected finalists are then chosen and from this group recipients of the 21st Century Achievement Award are announced at a gala ceremony.

Finally, this month ammado was shortlisted as one of seven companies for the Irish Technology Leaders Awards 2009. The winner will be announced on April 14th in Silicon Valley’s Stanford University. The Awards are run by the ITLG, an independent organisation comprised of a number of high-level technology leaders in Silicon Valley who are Irish or Irish-American and committed to strengthening the developmental ties between Silicon Valley and Ireland. Each year, Irish companies with ambitions to access the US markets are invited to present to the Group’s senior executives and those deemed with the most potential to expand are then shortlisted for the award. ammado was one of 12 companies chosen from 100 to present to the group in a ‘closed door’ review session, when the group came to Trinity College Dublin in November 2008. Members of the ITLG include John Hartnett, Senior VP of Palm Inc.; Rory McInerney, VP of Intel Corporation; Johnny Gilmore, COO of Sling Media, Inc.; Barry O’Sullivan, Senior VP of Cisco; and Conrad Burke, President and CEO of Innovalight, Inc.