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Commuters in County Dublin prefer walking over bikes and e-scooters as a means of getting to and from work before or after a public transport journey, according to a study recently published in the inaugural issue of the Journal of Cycling and Micromobility Research. Micromobility - a term used to describe small, light electric vehicles such as bikes and e-scooters - is often promoted as a low-carbon alternative that can help people move away from using private cars and taxis since it can improve connectivity of existing public transport networks. However, there has been little research to date on micromobility as a travel choice in the first mile (also known as access trip) and last mile (egress trip) of a commute. The study authors, through an online survey with 450 responses, investigated how commuters in County Dublin prefer to travel in the first- and last-mile of public transport trips. They also examined the influence of characteristics such as gender and age on people's choice of micromobility, including shared bicycles and e-scooters, compared to walking. In the survey, residents of County Dublin were asked about the mode of transport they would choose in hypothetical commute scenarios, including in the first mile of a commute with private bicycles and e-scooters, and in the last mile with shared bicycles and e-scooters. Using statistical models to analyse the responses, the researchers found that walking was the preferred option for commuting for most respondents, even when other options were available and provided significant reductions in travel time. "This was one of the more surprising outcomes of the survey," said lead author Giulia Oeschger, PhD candidate at UCD's School of Civil Engineering. "I was expecting a lot of people to be more concerned with travel time, since cycling and e-scooter-use drastically reduced travel time in the experiment, but despite this a lot of people still deliberately chose the walking option which is always the longest. The population of Dublin seems to really love walking and our survey shows they do it for enjoyment or for exercise. This seems to be a characteristic of the city of Dublin," she said. However, how the available infrastructure and the perceived safety of cycling and e-scooter use on the streets of Dublin influence the results has not been looked at in this particular study, and is something that the authors feel should be investigated further. The authors also found important differences in transport preference in relation to gender and age. Young (less than 35 years old) and male respondents are significantly more likely to choose e-scooters and bicycles, while older and female respondents are significantly more likely to choose walking, even if other options were significantly faster. This is consistent with previous studies which also found that e-scooter users are predominantly young and male, the authors note in the paper. Dr Páraic Carroll, Assistant Professor in Transport Engineering at UCD's School of Civil Engineering and one of the authors of the study, states that: "While the results of this study highlight that walking was the preferred choice for first and last mile segments of a journey, it also accounts for the existing limited ability to combine active modes or micromobility trips with public transport in Dublin and across the country due to, in some cases, modes not being well integrated with one another and the limitations in bringing private bikes or scooters onto public transport vehicles. However, the walkability of our access trips to and from public transport stops/stations is a key component influencing the attractiveness of public transport services." Availability of secure parking was an important consideration when it comes to choosing transport modes, the authors found. The researchers argue that these results confirm that younger generations have a growing interest in micromobility, but regulations and adequate infrastructure are neede...
The summer is over, and what a summer it has been. I am still like my younger self and only remember the good days, and this year, I had lots of them. Golf in Portugal, holiday in Seville and by the sea in a small town in Portugal called Tavira. I do not remember a wet day until yesterday when I came off the golf course in wet clothes and wet golf gear. No doubt, I will have wiped yesterday from my memory in a few weeks as well. Life is simple; remember the good stuff and park the rest. Business Opportunity: As an entrepreneur or salesperson, it's our job to remind people about problems they have or may have in the future. Businesses often put up with a problem for years until someone comes along and tells them the solution to their problem which will dramatically improve the situation. A bottleneck: As a very young man, I worked in an Iron Foundry and was tasked, along with others, to introduce improvements in manufacturing methods that had existed for decades. Here is a simple example [by way of explanation] of a bottleneck that continued to slow production. The foundry required tonnes of sea sand to be delivered weekly to be used by the moulders. This sand was delivered wet and full of stones and other debris. The bottleneck was that it needed to be dried and sieved before going onto the foundry floor. The ovens and the people attending the ovens could not keep up with the demands that were made on them. This situation had been a problem for years. The problem was solved instantly, when a recently employed Sales Manager sat in on one of our production meetings, as we discussed the sea sand issue for the umpteen time. The Solution: He told us there was a company in Drogheda called Silica Sands, whose business was producing clean and dry sea sand. I phoned them, and their reply was, YES, we do. How many tonnes do you require each week? Problem Solved: My advice is to be open to new voices that may make your life a lot easier. I capture your business story and give you the confidence to tell it By Executive Coach Andrew Keogh of Aristo.ie More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Salesforce has just announced their new Einstein 1 Platform, which features major advancements for Salesforce Data Cloud and Einstein AI capabilities, all built on Salesforce's underlying metadata framework. A trusted AI platform for customer companies, the Einstein 1 Platform gives companies the ability to safely connect any data to build AI-powered apps with low-code and deliver entirely new CRM experiences. "A company's AI strategy is only as good as its data strategy," said Parker Harris, Co-Founder and CTO, Salesforce. "We pioneered the metadata framework nearly 25 years ago to seamlessly bridge data across applications. It's the connective tissue that fuels innovation. Now, with Data Cloud and Einstein AI native on the Einstein 1 Platform, companies can easily create AI-powered apps and workflows that supercharge productivity, reduce costs, and deliver amazing customer experiences." Why it matters Customer data is highly fragmented. On average, organisations use 1,061 diferent applications, yet only 29% of them are integrated. Enterprise data stacks have grown more complex, and prior computing revolutions - cloud, social, and mobile - have generated massive, siloed islands of customer data. Salesforce's original metadata framework helps companies organise and understand data across Salesforce applications - the equivalent of having a common language so different applications built on the core platform can communicate with each other. It now creates a unified view of the data across an enterprise regardless of how that data is structured in disparate systems by mapping it to the Salesforce metadata framework This allows organisations to customie every user experience and action their data using a variety of low-code platform services - including Einstein for AI predictions and content generation; Flow for automation; and Lightning for user interfaces. These customisations are instantly available to the rest of the organisation's core applications without having to write costly and brittle integration code. Additionally, Salesforce delivers automatic upgrades three times per year, and the metadata framework prevents any integrations, customisations, or security models from breaking. Organisations can easily add, extend, and build on top of Salesforce as the platform evolves. Einstein 1 Data Cloud Supports Big Data Scale and High Speed Automation to Power a New Wave of Data-Driven AI Applications Data Cloud - Salesforce's real-time hyperscale data engine - unifies and harmonises customer data, enterprise content, telemetry data, Slack conversations, and other structured and unstructured data to create a single view of the customer. The platform is already processing 30 trillion transactions per month and connecting and unifying 100 billion records every day. With the new Data Cloud now natively integrated with the Einstein 1 Platform, companies can unlock siloed data in entirely new ways; create rich, unified customer profiles; and deliver entirely new CRM experiences. Data at Scale: The Einstein 1 Platform has expanded to support thousands of metadata-enabled objects per customer, each capable of having trillions of rows. In addition, Marketing Cloud and Commerce Cloud, consumer-scale technology stacks that joined Salesforce's Customer 360 portfolio via acquisitions, have been re-engineered onto the Einstein 1 Platform. Automation at Scale: Now massive volumes of data can be brought into the Einstein 1 Platform from other systems and immediately made available as actionable Salesforce objects. Flows can be triggered by any change on any object at scale, whether it's an event coming from an IOT device, a computed insight, or an AI prediction - up to 20,000 events per second - and can interact with any system in the enterprise, including legacy systems, through MuleSoft. Analytics at Scale: Salesforce offers a variety of insights and analytics solutions for different use cases - including Reports and Dashboards, Tableau, ...
Paradyn, one of Ireland's leading cybersecurity service providers, has announced that it is backing up critical data for Donegal County Council with Vault365, an all-in-one backup, ransomware, and data protection solution. Donegal County Council needed to effectively back up and secure its Microsoft Office365 data to ensure compliance and eliminate the setup and maintenance of its own hardware, storage, and infrastructure. Paradyn deployed the Vault365 solution which runs in the cloud and backs up information to its own highly secure off-site data centre. The remotely stored data is immutable and cannot be compromised by potential cyberattacks on the organisation's estate. Paradyn's solution is protecting sensitive information for Donegal's 166,000 citizens. It's also enhancing the user experience for those who engage with the council's vital services as public information is backed up, reliable, and up-to-date. Ongoing monitoring and management by Paradyn of the Office365 estate gives peace of mind to Donegal County Council that its critical assets are protected. The council also has access to a self-service portal, meaning it has full control and visibility of the solution. The solution is flexible and scalable in line with organisational growth in the future. Paradyn is securely backing up 900 Microsoft Office365 accounts for the council across applications including Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive. As Microsoft only stores data for up to 90 days, the Vault365 solution ensures business continuity and is increasing employee productivity as data can be quickly recovered in the event of an incident. The new solution is based on a cost per user model, which is resulting in significant cost savings for the council. Sean Dunnion, Project Leader Information Systems at Donegal County Council, said: "With Paradyn's extensive expertise securing organisations in the public sector and local government, they were the natural fit to support on this next phase of our journey. This Vault365 solution has futureproofed our data protection and backup capabilities, and provides peace of mind that sensitive information is secure. "Crucially, it's helping to enhance the services we provide to citizens throughout Donegal as the solution gives us full control of our Office365 estate, while ensuring minimal downtime should an incident occur. Ultimately, the technology is built with growth in mind and will enable us to scale as needed." Fergal Meehan, Chief Commercial Officer, Paradyn, said: "It's a common misconception that Microsoft backs up customer data, which is why it's essential for organisations to proactively protect their critical information. Vault365 eliminates the risk of losing access and control over this data, underpinned by the expert knowledge of our experienced specialists. Hackers will typically target on-site backups and having critical data stored securely in an off-site location provides an extra layer of protection. "The council deals with citizens' sensitive information and provides crucial public services to the people of Donegal, and this solution enables the council to meet these needs now and into the future." See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
In the wake of the price cuts announced by energy suppliers earlier this month, almost two-thirds of Irish people (64pc) are calling for at least one more energy credit for everyone to be factored into the upcoming 2024 Budget, while a further three in ten say only those who need it most should get the additional support. Taxpayers are also calling on the Government to turn their attention to middle-income earners when it comes to income tax reductions, with over a third (35pc) stating that this group should benefit most from any cuts. The latest instalment of the Taxback Taxpayer Pre-Budget 2024 Survey, which surveyed 2000 taxpayers nationwide delved into the opinions of the Irish public to discern how the general public feel about financial assistance measures that could be implemented in October's fiscal policy for the year ahead. Marian Ryan, Consumer Tax Manager with Taxback commented on the findings, "A resounding 51pc of participants of the Taxback survey firmly advocated for a universal approach, asserting that everyone, regardless of their economic circumstances, should be granted a minimum of two additional energy credits within the upcoming budget. This points to a collective belief in the importance of equal access to energy relief from the escalating costs of energy. Affordable energy is a basic requirement for a healthy standard of living. From heating homes to cooking meals, energy accessibility is crucial for overall well-being". "Another cohort of society that has garnered significant public support for income tax reductions is the "squeezed middle", with over one-third of respondents (35pc) stating that this demographic should receive the greatest benefits from the potential tax breaks. Middle-income earners missed out on Government supports in last year's budget that targeted low-income families meaning that those earning just above the pay threshold were left to fend for themselves. The results reflect the empathy of the public towards those who are in employment yet find themselves grappling with the financial challenges posed by rising living costs. For many of the "squeezed middle" income earners, wages have not increased in the past year in spite of the fact that everything costs more due to inflation". Energy Credits Taxback report that there was a notable consensus among the general public that everyone in Ireland should be in receipt of at least one additional credit, with two-thirds of Irish people (64pc) voicing this opinion. The disparities in energy affordability are underscored by the Central Statistics Office's (CSO) energy deprivation figures from 2022. The data shows that vulnerable groups including single parents, individuals dealing with illness or disability, and the unemployed, experienced significant challenges in keeping their homes adequately heated due to financial constraints. Ms. Ryan added, "It is resoundingly clear that the majority of people are depending on the provision of energy credits to be announced in the upcoming Budget. Alongside immediate relief in the form of energy credits, long-term strategies such as free energy upgrades for low-income households are needed so, as a nation, we can transition towards sustainable and equitable energy solutions". Income Tax Reduction: A third (33pc) of respondents to the Taxback survey voiced their belief that lower-income earners should be the primary beneficiaries of income tax reductions, while a meagre 6pc indicated that higher-income earners should benefit the most due to paying higher taxes. Ms. Ryan commented, "The availability of adequate income is a pivotal factor in allowing individuals and families to plan for their future and the survey results emphasise that having work doesn't always guarantee an escape from the cost-of-living crisis. Rising housing costs, lack of accessible childcare, and inflation on grocery items are negatively impacting a growing number of working individuals and sadly, in-work poverty is a very re...
An insightful interview with Helen Yu, CEO of Tigon Advisory, as we delve into the world of AI risk management. Discover the genesis of enterprise-level AI risk management. We unravel the NIST AI Risk Management Framework's structured approach, and gain insights into its implementation across organizations. Helen Yu shares her expert insights on AI risk management principles and offers valuable implementation tips. Navigating AI's Waters: Risk Management at Enterprise Scale, Helen Yu Bio: Helen Yu is the founder and CEO of Tigon Advisory Corp, Host of CXO Spice and a wall-street journal best-selling author. As an independent Board Director, she brings a unique perspective to the board room, combining deep technology thought leadership, cybersecurity risk management, go-to-market strategy, and customer experience to deliver thoughtful questions and insights that help drive informed decisions. Demonstrated success of leading ambitious companies inspired culture-building, multi-billion dollars revenue growth and profitability through a career that has spanned early-stage startups, pre-IPOs to Fortune 500 enterprises including Oracle, Adobe and Marketo. Helen Managed over 100 million dollars of P&L at global scale. As an executive with over 20 years of experience, she has been guiding organizations through digital transformation, strategic planning, cybersecurity risk management and go-to-market optimization. Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica. A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter. Join her on the social platforms See more podcasts here.
Professional Services firm EY today announced the creation of 1,000 new jobs in Northern Ireland over the next five years in a move that will bring the total EY headcount to 1,900 in the region. To support this growth EY will establish a hub in the North West to attract talent from across the region. This announcement by EY, a global leader in assurance, tax, consulting as well as strategy and corporate transactions, is supported by Invest Northern Ireland and the Department for the Economy. The roles will be filled by a mix of experienced candidates, recent graduates and school leavers in areas such as cyber security, data analytics, cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence and other emerging technologies, risk, tax, audit and as well as business consultancy. As part of today's announcement, EY Northern Ireland is committing to work with the Department for the Economy to operate an Assured Skills Academy Programme that will deliver a strong pipeline of new talent for EY in specific areas such as cyber security, data analytics, among others. The Assured Skills Academy Programme will focus on individuals such as those seeking to return to work following a career break, those wishing to change career, or recent graduates looking for an alternative route into professional services. Announcing the investment at the Northern Ireland Investment Summit in Belfast today, Rob Heron, EY Northern Ireland Managing Partner, said: "Today is an exceptionally proud day for all of us in EY Northern Ireland as we announce a thousand new jobs in the region over the next five years and aim to more than double our headcount to 1,900 in the years ahead. "Thanks to our partnership with the Department for the Economy and Invest Northern Ireland, we have been able to create this pipeline of jobs and skills development opportunities that we are announcing today. Whether you are a college graduate, someone looking to advance or change your career, or you are ready to re-enter the workforce following a career break, EY's Assured Skills Academy Programme will offer you an opportunity to acquire new skills and to join a world class team here in EY Northern Ireland. "Our firm has been experiencing increased demand across all our business areas in recent years as clients turn to us in growing numbers to help them with their most complex and strategic problems. That is why we are so focused on ensuring that we continue to have the right access to great talent in the region across a diverse range of skillsets and specialisms. Our EY core values of diversity, social equity, and inclusiveness will be at the heart of these new employment opportunities and that is something we are incredibly proud of. " Frank O'Keeffe, EY UK & Ireland Managing Partner, Markets and Managing Partner EY Ireland: "In EY we are passionate about supporting our clients by investing heavily in our highly skilled and diverse workforce and that is why days like today are so special for us. EY has built an incredible business in Northern Ireland over decades, proudly providing a superb service to a broad range of clients across the island of Ireland, the United Kingdom and our global network. These 1,000 new jobs will help to strengthen Northern Ireland's reputation as home to world-class universities and fantastic local talent and they will help to spotlight the region as an attractive hub for global business and future international investment. There is fierce competition for jobs and investment globally but what set Northern Ireland apart on this occasion was the quality of local talent here as well as the innovative growth mindset displayed by our Northern Ireland team and our incredible clients. The support received from Invest Northern Ireland and the Department for the Economy played an important role in making today happen and collectively we are very proud of the impact we know these 1,000 new jobs will have on the local economy." Hywel Ball, EY UK Chair and UK and Ireland Managi...
Venture capital investment into Irish tech firms in the first half of 2023 rose by 24% to a record €963.2m, compared to the same period last year, according to the Irish Venture Capital Association VenturePulse survey published today in association with William Fry. The second quarter saw a 16% increase to €461.5m compared to last year. "Ireland well outperformed global trends," commented Denise Sidhu, chairperson, Irish Venture Capital Association and partner and director of Cork headquartered Kernel Capital. "VC investment worldwide fell by over 50% in the first half and by almost 50% for the second quarter1." She said that the performance was reflected in the fact that, "Ireland only broke the €1 billion threshold for a full year for the first time in 2021, yet we are close to that in 2023 for the half year". Cork native Denise Sidhu, however, marked a note of caution in relation to all sectors. "If you exclude deals over €30m, then investment fell by 52% for the second quarter compared to last year and by 16% for the half year." A feature of the study is the rise of investment in Irish artificial intelligence (AI) companies. "For the first time, AI was in the top three sectors for the first half, raising €83m or 9% of the total," commented the IVCA chairperson. Envirotech or clean energy was the leading sector in the first half, raising 57% or €550.5m of the total VC investment, followed by life sciences at €92.2m (10%). Denise Sidhu cautioned that international investors accounted for 82% or €785.4m of total venture capital investment in Ireland in the first half of 2023, and 78% or €360.5m for the second quarter. "The value of international investment in the first half has risen from 58% of the total last year to over 80% in 2023. As in the case of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), there is a high risk of over dependence on mobile international capital. We need to put in place alternative sources locally." She added, "The global interest in our best companies shows that we have the technology and talent to create world beaters. In my view, the only reason holding us back from creating more tech equivalents of domestic global success stories like Kerrygold or Ryanair is lack of scaling finance." In the IVCA's pre-budget submission, the association urges the Government to make it easier for FDI firms to invest directly in Irish start-ups by amending R&D tax credit legislation. "Last year corporates in the United States accounted for 52% of total venture capital investment," commented Sarah-Jane Larkin, director general, IVCA. "We should be tapping into our success in attracting the world's largest multinationals by incentivising them to invest in innovative Irish companies." She also said that a small percentage of the proposed Sovereign Wealth Fund should be invested in Irish domestic tech firms. She added, "While still relatively small, there has been a marked increase in crowd funding over the last three years. This suggests that there is an increased appetite amongst personal savers to invest in innovative SMEs, and this should be reflected in creating opportunities under the planned auto enrolment pension scheme." Sarah-Jane Larkin said that despite the overall positive results, the IVCA VenturePulse half year survey data highlighted a difficult environment for start-ups looking to raise under €1m. The value of deals in this category for the half year fell by almost a third to €14.6m, and down by 33% in the second quarter to €8m. The number of deals in the first half in the under €1m range fell by 45% to 27 from 49. The number of deals in the same category in the second quarter fell by 55% to 13 from 29 in the same quarter last year. However, seed funding or first equity rounds recovered in the second quarter, rising by over 80% to €44.9m. The overall number of deals in the first half dropped by 16% to 100 from 119 last year. The overall number of deals in the second quarter fell by 17% to 57 from 69 in the same sta...
Digital transformation is now one of the main drivers of business growth. One guy who knows this all to well is Mike Lillis, Chief Commercial Officer at Storm Technology. Ronan recently got to speak to mike. Mike talks about his background, what Storm Technology does, AI, the cloud and more. More about Mike Lillis: With over 20 years of experience in the technology industry, Mike drives business growth through customer-focused digital transformation and relationship management. He joined Storm Technology in 2012 and has worked his way up from delivery to the leadership team, contributing to top-level strategic decisions for the business, spearheading commercial success and championing business through growth. An avid contributor to the sporting community, Mike coaches GAA and soccer with this love of team sports reflected in his focus on fostering a culture of community, collaboration and achievement. This is an ethos that he applies to his interactions with the wider Microsoft community in Ireland, through his role as President of the Irish Chapter of the International Association of Microsoft Certified Partners (IAMCP), an association that helps companies and individuals in the Microsoft eco-system broaden their base by building relationships within the Partner community. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Driven Data and HeroX tapped to enhance crowdsourcing challenge for early detection of Alzheimer's and related dementias. Goal is more accurate tests, tools, and methodologies; $650K total prize purse DrivenData, the hub of data science competitions that advance solutions for social good, will support the National Institute on Aging (NIA)'s crowdsourced prize competition PREPARE: Pioneering Research for Early Prediction of Alzheimer's and Related dementias EUREKA Challenge. HeroX, the social network for innovation and the world's leading platform for crowdsourced solutions, will serve as an additional collaborator. The challenge aims to spur and reward the development of solutions for accurate, innovative, and representative early prediction of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. $650K crowdsourcing challenge for early detection of Alzheimer's Spanning across three phases, the challenge is designed to inform novel approaches to early detection that might ultimately lead to more accurate tests, tools, and methodologies for clinical and research purposes, particularly for communities disproportionately burdened by Alzheimer's and related dementias. "Alzheimer's and related dementias affect millions of patients and families," said Greg Lipstein, principal, DrivenData. "This challenge is a powerful opportunity to leverage advances in data and AI to equip care teams with greater capabilities for early prediction." "Being able to detect dementia diseases early can transform outcomes for impacted patients," said Kal, CEO, HeroX. "We are thrilled this challenge is getting in front of innovators everywhere." The main clinical features of Alzheimer's and related dementias are progressive impairments of cognitive function and changes in behavior. Early intervention will likely be important for successful disease modification, but detecting early signs of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's and related dementias is challenging. Current clinical methods lack the sensitivity needed for early prediction. Alternative approaches (e.g., neuroimaging, fluid biomarkers, neuropsychological tasks, and digital and passive measures) have drawbacks, including cost, complexity, and accessibility. This is especially true for underrepresented populations in research. "Early, accurate detection is important for enrollment in Alzheimer's and related dementias trials and timely, accurate diagnosis is essential for treatment, care, and life planning," said Luke Stoeckel, Ph.D., program director, at NIA, which is part of the National Institutes of Health. "Through challenges such as this one, NIA remains committed to increasing scientific collaboration, data sharing, and innovative research." The Challenge spans three phases: Phase 1: Participants will focus on finding, curating, or contributing data to create representative and open datasets that can be used for early prediction of Alzheimer's and related dementias. Phase II: Building on the work from data discovery and Phase I, the second phase will focus on advancing state-of-the-art, ethical, and inclusive, algorithms and analytic approaches, with an emphasis on explainability of predictions. Phase III: The final phase will bring together the top teams and their work from the previous phase to demonstrate the effectiveness of their algorithmic approaches for early prediction of Alzheimer's and related dementias. The Prize total pool across the three challenge phases is $650,000, which will be awarded to participants who successfully complete the objectives and requirements of each phase. To review the Eligibility to Win Prize(s) information and accept the challenge, please visit http://prepare.drivendata.org/. Information will also be available at www.challenge.gov/?challenge=prepare-challenge. About DRIVENDATA DrivenData is a social enterprise dedicated to bringing the data tools and methods that are transforming industry to the world's biggest challenges. As part of that work, DrivenData's compe...
Enterprise communications company DigitalWell has partnered with Meath Women's Refuge and Support Services, it was announced at the official release of the charity's annual Impact Report. The partnership will see DigitalWell upgrade digital communications and deliver a Freefone Helpline for the charity, which was funded by the Bank of Ireland Begin Together fund earlier this year. The new free-of-charge line (1800 464646) will be available 24/7, 365 days a year, for any woman or family member concerned about domestic violence or abuse in the Meath area. By embracing technology that will improve access to support, Meath Women's Refuge aims to address a significant demand for services across the county, as highlighted in its new 2022 report. Revealing a record number of women accessing domestic violence services in the county, last year, the charity supported 539 women and 131 children in Meath who experienced violence and abuse from their partner; an 11% increase in refuge accommodation provision on the previous year. The report was launched at an event held at the Bank of Ireland in Meath, where the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee; Alan O Rourke, Branch Manager, Bank of Ireland; Sinead Smith, CEO, Meath Women's Refuge & Support Services; and Ross Murray, CEO DigitalWell were all in attendance. Speaking at the launch, Smith said: "We strive to ensure our services are fully accessible to every woman who needs them and are delighted today to launch our new Freefone Helpline 1800 464646 which is 100% free of charge and open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Bank of Ireland Begin Together Fund have generously sponsored the new helpline number and we know it will make a difference to families struggling to cope with the cost of living." DigitalWell's Ross Murray expressed his delight at Meath Women's Refuge selecting their telephony and 1800 number services: "The organisation's decision to implement DigitalWell 360 showcases their commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology to support their invaluable work. This partnership reflects the trust and confidence Meath Women's Refuge has placed in DigitalWell to enhance their operations and provide essential services to those in need." McEntee commented: "Last year we published our Zero Tolerance plan, the third national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. As Minister for Justice, I am absolutely focused on the implementation of the plan to improve services for victims and tackle domestic, sexual and gender-based violence in Meath and across the country. This strategy gives renewed focus and direction on how the State will tackle what is a huge societal issue over the next five years. We will continue to prioritise increased domestic violence services and more refuge spaces in Meath, and across the country." Alan O'Rourke, Manager Meath North, Bank of Ireland, said: "Bank of Ireland's Begin Together Fund helps to make our communities stronger by providing grants to future-focused projects. Working with The Community Foundation for Ireland, we support not-for-profit organisations to improve the financial, physical or mental wellbeing of the communities they serve across the island of Ireland. We are delighted to be able to support our community in County Meath by providing funding for the establishment of a new Freefone Helpline for Meath Women's Refuge & Support Services." Meath Women's Refuge and Support Services also highlighted the significant impact of donations and fundraising last year. 164 women were able to participate in counselling programmes in 2022, which were funded through donations and grants. "The reality is that donations are still critical every year to run our refuge and services building in Navan. The generosity we receive across Meath is vital and we would like to sincerely thank each and every person who supports us." added Smith. See more stories here.
The AI Roadmap for Entrepreneurs and Marketers When and where is it on? The event is set for October 26th at the Bank of Ireland NYC Hub, located at 140 E 45th, NY, 10017. AI Roadmap for Entrepreneurs How many years has it been going? This is the kickoff of "The AI Roadmap" event series. We're thrilled to have the inaugural seminar at the Bank of Ireland NYC hub. What was the inspiration to start it? Entrepreneur Kevin Neary created "The AI Roadmap" event series to serve as a platform for business leaders to keep abreast of rapidly evolving AI trends and break down complex AI concepts into understandable insights. These events provide attendees with the knowledge and tools to leverage AI effectively so that businesses can adapt, innovate, and thrive in a world where AI plays a dominant role. What exciting things can people look forward to? Participants can expect an immersive dive into: The tangible impacts of AI in Marketing. Ethical and risk-free AI integration strategies. What opportunities are on offer for those attending? The event provides: Networking opportunities with top-tier industry figures. Insightful sessions with chances to engage directly with experts. Methods to gauge your business's AI compatibility and identify growth areas. A roadmap to architecting an AI-forward marketing approach. Expert advice on pioneering a modern marketing blueprint in the AI era. Who will be speaking? We're proud to feature Kevin Neary as our keynote speaker. Sophie Colgan will serve as our emcee. Stay tuned for our special guest speaker announcement next week, which promises to add another layer of depth to an already insightful evening. What tips would you give to people attending to get the most out of it? We encourage scaling Startups and SMB's targeting the North American market to apply. Eligible businesses should be growth-ready and see the immense potential in weaving AI into their go-to-market and overarching marketing strategies. See more stories here.
Efi Pylarinou interviews Vedang Vatsa Reflections from a Star Web3 community builder #web3 #defi #DAO #jobs #tech #innovation Description: In this episode, host Efi Pylarinou interviews Vedang Vatsa, a Web3 community builder (this is only for Simon) Digital Communities are core to Web3 and Vedang Vatsa is walking the talk. In the this video we discuss the key factors for DeFi's success, Vedang's community-building initiatives, insights into the Web3 job market and specifically working for a DAO , and his excitement about Web3's potential. Vedang Vatsa, Reflections from a Star Web3 community builder Bio: Vedang Vatsa works as a Fractional CMO for Web3 companies. He has a Technology training and he has earlier worked as a Consultant in the Digital space for KPMG. He runs a forum of global Web3 professionals and one of the largest global job boards for Web3 jobs. He also organizes frequently, well-attended Twitter Spaces forums on Web3. Personal website: vedangvats.com Org website: hashtagweb3.org Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica. A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter. Join her on the social platforms See more podcasts here.
Three Ireland today launches the 2023 Grants for Small Businesses programme, calling on small businesses in Ireland to take part and be in with a chance to win a portion of a €100,000 bursary. The programme, which is now in its third year, has provided Irish SMEs with an investment of over €500,000 by Three since 2021 across products and services, advertising and PR support, as well as access to industry expertise. Funded by Three Ireland and managed by the small business network and support provider, Enterprise Nation, the programme seeks to award 10 small businesses a portion of a €100,000 bursary. This bursary will comprise of €5000 cash, €5000 for device and connectivity solutions for each winner, as well as mentoring from Three Ireland's in-house experts. New to this year's programme, the award will also include expertise sessions for the top 20 shortlisted applicants where Three will provide guidance across business-critical areas including sustainability, procurement, technology, social media, marketing, product development and public relations. Padraig Sheerin, judge for Three Ireland's Grants for Small Businesses programme and Head of SME, Three Ireland, said: "At Three, we've seen first-hand what impact the grant programme can have for SMEs and the feedback we've received from previous winners has been extremely encouraging. Each winning business has made incredible strides and I'm proud that Three Ireland has been there to support them in their business development and advance them onto the next stage of their journey." Previous winners of the programme include farm safety specialists AgriGuardian from Limerick, sports tech firm Headhawk from Tipperary and Hurley makers AM Hurley & Sports from Monaghan. Sonya Lennon, judge for Three Ireland's Grants for Small Businesses programme and Entrepreneur and Advocate for Workplace Equality, said: "I am delighted to return as a judge for Three's Grants for Small Business programme and to see this year's innovative and inspiring ideas from Ireland's entrepreneurs. As a judge last year, I know the positive impact this programme can have on small businesses around Ireland and how the support provided can help propel a small business forward. The support, in terms of finances, connectivity solutions as well as industry expertise, can transform a business built on hard work and dedication. I look forward to judging this year's submissions mainly because I was that soldier and know the difference this can make. The very best of luck to all the applicants, I'll be waiting for you." Nicola Woods, Head of Ireland, Enterprise Nation said: "We are delighted to partner with Three Ireland again for Three's Grants for Small Businesses. Over the last two years we've seen how this grant programme has significantly impacted 20 businesses right across Ireland. "Our Small Business Barometer shows that access to finance and investment is one of the most complex areas for small businesses to navigate and so this brilliant initiative is literally right time, right place." For more information and details on the application process, visit: 3.ie/grants
Guest post by Stephen Dean, Co-Founder of Keona Health Nobody likes going to the doctor's office. It's time consuming. Appointments are usually scheduled right in the middle of the workday, and they often necessitate travel by car or public transport. A study conducted at the University of California, Davis, found that the average patient travels the equivalent of 28.3 kilometres to an appointment, the equivalent of 35 minutes roundtrip. How Telehealth is Reducing Healthcare's Carbon Footprint In short, it's a big inconvenience. And the associated frustration patients feel is only exacerbated when they're feeling ill, or have to undergo unpleasant procedures once they get there, like blood draws or vaccinations. And the planet doesn't much like a doctor's visit either. These patient commutes contribute significantly to climate change through vehicle emissions. On top of that, healthcare practices that accommodate large inflows and outflows of patients day-to-day have correspondingly high rates of energy consumption. This is where one of the silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic comes into play. The global healthcare industry saw a massive increase in digital telehealth options during this unprecedented public health emergency. The initial reasoning behind this shift was to protect healthcare workers and patients from unnecessary exposure to the virus, as healthcare centres were one of the main vectors for its spread. Now, three years later, digital telehealth services are increasingly becoming the norm. Analysis by McKinsey found that telehealth appointments have increased 38-fold from their pre-COVID levels. As these trends continue, the benefits to the environment will be significant. And with more than 700 digital healthcare providers and more than 90,000 medtech and biopharma workers, Ireland is poised to become a global leader in telehealth services. Its digital health segment is estimated to grow at over 17.4 percent between now and 2027. By then, it's expected to be a national industry worth €426 billion. But before exploring how Irish healthcare services can capitalize on this moment in eco-friendly and patient-centric ways, let's first dive into the specifics of the healthcare industry's environmental impact. Healthcare's carbon footprint The carbon impact of the healthcare industry is divided into two realms: provider consumption and patient consumption. Provider consumption generally refers to a healthcare centre's electricity consumption, as these facilities are often required to continuously run critical medical equipment and maintain a comfortable environment for patients. Clearly, healthcare institutions can gobble up an immense amount of electricity, with some hospitals consuming as much power as a small town. In fact, according to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, healthcare accounts for roughly 19 percent of industrial energy consumption nationwide. Again, the lion's share of patient consumption lies in the energy involved in the commute to and from treatment. A study completed in 2021 at the University of Cambridge found, for example, that the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) was responsible for roughly 25 megatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in 2019. And about 10 percent of that total, or 2.5 megatonnes of CO2, was attributable to patient travel. In short, healthcare's carbon footprint is significant, but there are opportunities to mitigate its environmental impact. And expanding telehealth offerings is one of the easier ways for providers to achieve this. How telehealth can help Countries and regions with populations much larger than Ireland's have managed to deploy successful telehealth offerings. California's statewide university health system, for example, serves close to 40 million people - that's nearly eight times the population of Ireland. Between January 2020 and December 2021, the clinics in the University of California's health system treated close to 16.8 million ...
A multinational team of researchers comprehensively study and shed light on the factors regulating the flow of warm water to the Totten Ice Shelf The Totten Glacier, located in the East Antarctica Ice Sheet, is also a major contributor to global sea-level rise. However, the details of how offshore ocean heat reaches the glacier's ice shelf cavity remain elusive. Now, researchers use data from several sources to provide additional insights on the pathways of warm water that reach the ice shelf. Their findings shed light on the physical processes that control the melting rate of this glacier. Warm Water Moves Towards East Antarctica's Totten Glacier One of the most feared effects of global warming is the rise in sea level caused by the melting of polar continental ice. In fact, polar researchers have been working towards raising the awareness of this impending threat. The scientific fraternity relies on sampling the remote regions of Arctic and the Antarctic continental shelves to estimate these risks. They can then use these measurements to model and understand the processes that drive the melting of ice at these locations and determine the extent of meltwater that will eventually flow out from the glacier over time. The East Antarctic Ice Sheet, which includes the Totten Glacier, is also a significant contributor to ice discharge and global sea-level rise, besides the extensively researched West Antarctic region. The Totten Glacier is grounded below the surface of the ocean and is thought to contain enough ice to cause a global sea-level rise of more than 3.5 meters. This makes it particularly vulnerable to the influence of oceanic processes that results in ocean heat transport, also known as 'ocean forcing.' Unfortunately, thick sea ice cover on the Totten embayment has made it difficult to sample or observe the continental shelf nearby the Totten Glacier. As a result, little is known about the specifics of how offshore ocean heat reaches the ice shelf cavity beneath the Totten Glacier. By providing additional insights and defining the pathways of ocean heat transport into the Totten Ice Shelf cavity, a multinational team of researchers have now filled this knowledge gap. The study, led by Assistant Professor Daisuke Hirano from the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), Japan, is published in the Nature Communications journal. Assistant Professor Hirano, along with Takeshi Tamura from NIPR, Kazuya Kusahara from Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Stephen R. Rintoul from CSIRO Environment, Australia, Shigeru Aoki from the Institute of Low Temperature Science at Hokkaido University, along with many other colleagues who were a part of this study, provide fundamental and valuable insights about the physical processes controlling the melting of Totten Glacier. The researchers used a wide variety of techniques to gather data from the Totten embayment over the course of several years. This included helicopter-based measurements, comprehensive scans of the topography of the ocean floor (or "bathymetry"), and sea water sampling. They combined this data with other existing measurements to extend and update a bathymetric dataset, which, in turn, enabled them to develop a model describing the interactions between the ocean and the Totten Ice Shelf. Using observations and numerical simulations, the researchers then estimated the water and heat circulation towards the Totten Ice Shelf cavity, the resulting melting rates, and the effects of bathymetry on the entire process. The analyses revealed crucial details on how warm offshore-origin Circumpolar Deep Water interacts with the Totten Ice Shelf and brings in heat, accelerating melting processes. The researchers found that a train of cyclonic eddy currents brings offshore warm water towards the continental shelf break, where it enters a broad depression on the inner side. This warm water circulates within the depression and finally accesses the cavity ...
GoCar, Ireland's leading vehicle sharing service, has announced an investment of €10 million in the expansion and enhancement of its current vehicle sharing services across Ireland. The investment is part of GoCar's commitment to provide sustainable and convenient mobility solutions to meet growing customer demand for alternative transport options to private vehicle ownership. The €10 million investment will support increased vehicle availability and wider vehicle choices for customers throughout the country. A total of 280 new vehicles will be added across 149 locations, catering to both urban and rural communities. This expansion aims to provide users with a broader range of vehicle types, ensuring increased choice and flexibility when it comes to public transport options. GoCar's fleet has seen a rise from 820 vehicles in January 2023 to 930 vehicles in July 2023, with the current investment supporting further increase to more than 1100 vehicles in over 600 locations across 24 counties nationwide by the end of the year. GoCar will also be launching a new website and app designed to provide a more innovative and intuitive customer experience. Additionally, a new loyalty programme will be introduced, rewarding repeat customers for their continued use of car sharing services, with the launch planned for late 2023. Commenting on the announcement, Paul McNeice, Head of Country for GoCar, said: "At GoCar, we believe in creating a community-led approach to mobility, becoming an integral part of the fabric of localities across the country. Our investment reflects our dedication to increase the availability of sustainable and flexible transport options to meet the evolving needs of our customers. "We are proud to be Ireland's leading car sharing provider, driving change and innovation in the market. Our expansion beyond traditional urban centres aligns with our mission to make car sharing more accessible for drivers across the country in all the regions. "Over the past three years, we have been evolving beyond our legacy urban hubs in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway and we are committed to making GoCar available in 24 counties across ROI by the end of 2023." Fleet Advancements In response to the evolving preferences of its users, GoCar is introducing a variety of new vehicle types to its fleet. These new additions include the 'GoLocal' - a smaller city vehicle perfect for short urban trips, and the 'GoExplore Plus' - a spacious SUV catering to families and longer journeys. The 'GoLocal' new entry level model is available to rent from €9 per hour /€50 daily, while the 'GoExplore Plus' can be booked from €15 per hour or €80 per day. Furthermore, GoCar aims to address the growing demand for electric vehicles in 2024 by collaborating with strategic partners to bolster the expansion of its 'GoElectric' range, providing environmentally conscious customers with sustainable transportation choices. Paul McNeice, continued, "Our customers recognise the environmental benefits of embracing multi-modal transport, combining walking, cycling, public transit, trains, and car sharing to meet varied needs. Our research, based on European studies, shows that GoCar annually removes over 8,000 cars from Irish roads, underlining our sustainability commitment. Notably, 62% of users abstain from car ownership while 57% actively use public transport. Separately, 60% of our users said they would consider purchasing a car if GoCar didn't exist. As attitudes shift toward sustainability, GoCar's fleet expansion investment addresses alternative and multi-modal transport needs effectively. "We are excited to continue this journey of innovation, sustainability, and community engagement. As the year progresses, at GoCar we remain committed to delivering accessible and flexible transport solutions to meet the needs of a dynamic and ever-evolving market." See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publicatio...
Technaxx has presented an innovative solar table power plant for balconies, terraces, or gardens at IFA 2023 in Berlin. In Hall 4.2, Stand 106, Technaxx showcases the revolutionary solar table. This practical power plant can accommodate up to eight people for dining. It generates solar power, similar to a balcony power plant, when not used as a table surface. An impressive 410 watts peak of solar electricity is produced by the table's surface. The table is an ideal addition to terraces, balconies, or gardens. After the meal, the table surface, which doubles as a solar module, can be adjusted to an angle of 20, 30, or 35 degrees for optimal solar yield. The package includes a pre-assembled micro inverter with an output power of up to 300 watts. This inverter converts the generated solar power into AC and can be easily plugged into a household socket via a Schuko plug, thus supplying solar power to the home network within minutes. No installation by an electrician or special approval is required, The dimensions of the solar table surface are 173 x 114 x 4 centimetres, while the frame measures 125 centimetres in length, 103 centimetres in width, and 80 centimetres in height. The total weight is 32.5 kilograms. The installation of the solar table power station is straightforward, as it comes partially pre-assembled, with only the table legs needing to be screwed onto the frame to complete the table. This offers a user-friendly solution for Technaxx customers. "With our self-developed solar table power plant 410W TX-250, users can integrate renewable energy into their everyday lives while benefiting from a functional table. It is a true alternative to conventional balcony power plants, providing a sustainable energy solution," says Pascal Pekcan, CEO of Technaxx. The table will be presented for the first time at IFA 2023 in Berlin. Visitors of the fair have the opportunity to experience the innovative product up close and be convinced by its features and eco-friendly qualities. Technaxx can be found in Hall 4.2 at Stand 106. IFA is one of the world's leading trade shows for consumer electronics and innovative technology solutions. By participating in IFA 2023, Technaxx underscores its commitment to sustainable technologies and renewable energies. Find out more about the product here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Dell Technologies announces the global availability of Dell NativeEdge, the edge operations software platform that simplifies how customers deploy, manage and secure their edge infrastructure and applications. Dell is also growing its partner and OEM customer ecosystem to help organisations use Dell NativeEdge to simplify the orchestration and expansion of their edge environments. "Dell NativeEdge brings to life our expertise in creating solutions that simplify processes and fuel real-time decision-making at the edge," said Gil Shneorson, senior vice president of edge solutions, Dell Technologies. "Our partners are an integral part of customers' success, and together we can make the edge a strategic enabler for businesses across industries by making it simpler to deploy and manage infrastructure and applications." Recent analysis of Dell NativeEdge and standard edge deployments showed the platform can simplify and accelerate edge deployments, offering up to 22 times faster lifecycle management1 by automating routine and repetitive tasks, such as onboarding devices at scale and managing applications. For example, a large-scale edge implementation that may take 100 hours to set up and deploy could be reduced to under five hours with Dell NativeEdge. Partner opportunities with Dell NativeEdge As edge use cases proliferate across industries, Dell's partner community plays an important role supporting customers in their edge journeys. Dell NativeEdge provides a new operations tool for all types of partners to help organisations reduce edge environment complexity. Through the Dell Edge Partner Certification Program, ISVs and other channel partners work directly with Dell engineers in a dedicated lab environment to test and optimise their software before making it available to customers in the Dell NativeEdge application catalog. For OEM customers and system integrators, Dell NativeEdge provides an opportunity to standardize how they design and deploy edge solutions for customers' unique environments. "As we see more enterprises moving workloads and applications to the edge, we also see increased edge complexity and sprawl," said Eric Kaplan, chief technology officer at AHEAD. "Dell NativeEdge simplifies edge deployments and helps our clients securely manage and scale their distributed environments." Partners are already working with Dell to include their software in the Dell NativeEdge application catalogue: Eaton will provide software from its Brightlayer™ Data Centers suite for intelligent power management. The software protects devices from disasters and unexpected events that can lead to system failures and downtime, using algorithms and policy-driven automations to detect and mitigate power issues before they occur. Atos will offer its Business Outcomes-as-a-service (BOaaS) solution jointly developed with Dell. BOaaS uses Atos AI and ML models, integrated with Dell Streaming Data Platform and Dell PowerEdge servers, to help customers in industries such as retail, manufacturing and theme parks manage and monitor edge deployments that enable real-time experiences. Bosch Global Software Technologies will offer DeviceBridge, an Industry 4.0 solution that addresses critical challenges in machine and process data collection and management on the manufacturing floor. Bosch also will offer AIShield, an AI security solution that safeguards AI and ML assets against adversarial threats and intellectual property theft. Dell's global edge ecosystem is growing with additional companies collaborating with Dell NativeEdge, including Infront Systems, Involta, Telit Cinterion, Worldwide Technology and more. Along with Dell NativeEdge, Dell continues to broaden its edge portfolio to help customers with the optimal placement of workloads and data, with plans to deliver more edge solutions as a service to meet the evolving needs of IT. "Collecting, analyzing and quickly gaining insights in edge locations is increasingly critical for many industr...
Ibec's Irish Medtech Association, BioPhamraChem Ireland and Connected Health Skillnet together, with dConnect and Angles Consulting has launched a new Digital Health Innovation Programme. The programme provides tailored, needs-led innovation training for employees and intrapreneurs in Ireland's health technology sector. The participants will work in multidisciplinary teams on company projects and strategic focus areas throughout the programme. The course is designed specifically for R&D, commercial, clinical, regulatory, legal, finance, and operations staff from the medtech, pharma, biopharma, technology, and other aligned sectors. On completion of the course, the participants will be aware of the tools and approaches necessary for innovating healthcare and digital health solutions. They will also learn how to develop and refine a business proposition, and how best to position it for a funding pitch. Jennifer McCormack, Network Manager, Connected Health Skillnet, said: "The Connected Health Skillnet aims to enhance Ireland's worldclass capability by delivering niche training to the sectors developing and deploying digital health solutions. Our recently published skills needs report, 'Where Digital Health Thrives: Future Skills Needs', showed that health technology companies in Ireland clearly see the potential for growth through digital health, with 87% of companies surveyed as part of that research planning to increase their digital health activity and investment over the next four years. "This programme, developed by Connected Health Skillnet in partnership with dConnect, Angles Consulting and Ibec, will support this growth by embedding the mindset and methodology of needs-led innovation across organisations, in particular around digital health and connected devices, to support increased innovation capability and new product development in the sector. The programme has been tailored to industry needs to ensure participants can apply the skills and knowledge learned in real-world company projects." Ibec Head of Sectors, Dr Sinead Keogh, said: "The digitalisation of healthcare has the potential to fundamentally alter how we diagnose, treat and care for people. Ireland is well placed to establish itself as a leader in the digital health sector which is projected to be worth in excess of $1.5 trillion by 2030. The medtech, digital health, and biopharma sectors in Ireland stand out already as major investors with over 700 companies operating here, employing 100,000 people directly, and making a global impact with exports in excess of €120 billion. "Our dedication to improving lives has seen the sector here motivated to place a particular emphasis on R&D, which is identified as a key area of upskilling for the Irish digital health sector. That new Digital Health Innovation Programme marks an important milestone in delivering the skills required by this exciting new industry sector". Carl Power, Director Programmes & Business Development, dConnect said: "We are delighted to partner with colleagues in Connected Health Skillnet, Angles Consulting, Skillnet Ireland and Ibec to deliver this much needed programme in needs-led innovation. Participants will learn and apply the process of investigating and identifying unmet needs, prioritising those needs, identifying potential solutions, assessing commercial potential and developing business cases for stakeholder and funding approval. It is an example of how dConnect works with industry providing exposure to leading-edge innovation and collaboration that ensures our partners grow and remain competitive." Aoife O'Sullivan, Skillnet Ireland Head of Network Development & Innovation, said: "Ireland has a well-established reputation as a world leader in the health innovation and IT sectors. In partnership with industry, Skillnet Ireland offers demand-led upskilling programmes that are innovative and flexible, to enhance the productivity, competitiveness and sustainability of the Irish econo...
Finland, renowned for its wild berries, witnesses a natural growth of approximately 500 million kg of these fruits annually. However, a mere 10% of this bounty is harvested, primarily due to the challenges posed by manual forest harvesting. The short berry season often sees foreign workers, unfamiliar with the Finnish language, culture, and terrain, taking on the labour-intensive task. To address these challenges, the European Commission-funded FEROX project was initiated. Spearheading AI development, Dublin-based AI firm, Gemmo, alongside eight other tech and academic partners have come together to develop a new way of monitoring workers. Their mission is to harness the power of autonomous drones and AI to enhance the working conditions of these pickers. Over a span of three days in Illomatsi, Finland, diverse data collection methods were employed. From standard RGB images to multispectral shots, and even high-resolution videos, the team left no stone unturned. Drones, flying approximately 2 meters above ground, were pivotal in capturing these images and mapping the forest terrain. Additionally, pickers were equipped with body cameras, and IoT devices like heart rate monitors, GNSS trackers, and eye-tracking devices were introduced, broadening the data acquisition spectrum. Comprising 1,000 berry images and extensive area mapping visuals, the dataset's primary goal is to replicate real-world conditions. The data will be used to train AI models to identify and count berries, enabling the creation of heat maps to guide pickers to berry-rich zones. This not only aids in efficient harvesting but also minimises ecological disturbances. Gemmo's meticulous annotation process ensures the dataset's quality. From manual image annotation to geotagging using drone GPS data, every step is designed to provide precise spatial information. The ultimate aim is to differentiate various berry species and generate species-specific heat maps, offering pickers a clear visual representation of berry distribution. The dataset, set to be published for AI utilisation, holds immense potential for similar berry projects worldwide. By leveraging this data, the FEROX project aims to create detailed spatial distribution maps of berry species and train deep learning models for automated heat map generation. This will empower berry pickers to strategise their harvesting, ensuring maximum yield with minimum environmental impact. See more stories here.
Dublin City Council has announced the launch of a new augmented-reality (AR) mapping feature that allows users of the Dublin Discovery Trails app to open up a 3D map of Dublin on their device and allow them to explore the city in a new, innovative way. 'DiscovAR Dublin' is a first for Ireland in utilising new open Google Maps technology to form an interactive 3D map where users can be transported into the city to interact with the map to uncover Dublin landmarks, museums and attractions. Users can also learn more about the history and significance of locations such as the Guinness Storehouse, EPIC - the Irish Emigration Museum and 14 Henrietta Street. The project is a collaboration between the Dublin City Council, Smart Dublin and Virgin Media Business alongside Peel X, who developed the feature for the Dublin Discovery Trails app. Launched last year, the app is a platform on which the Dublin local authorities can develop new and exciting immersive experiences combining the real-world history with smart technologies. Already there are unique experiences published including Doors into Docklands, Balbriggan and Castleknock heritage tours. Lord Mayor of Dublin, Daithí de Róiste, launching this exciting new feature said, "This is first for Ireland, the user can 'literally' step into the city from anywhere in the world and explore Dublin in the palm of their hand. This innovative technology will help further position Dublin as a world-class destination with this new experience. I'm delighted to launch DiscovAR here today and I'd encourage everyone to download the app and try it today to explore the best of what Dublin has to offer." Tourists and locals alike can use the app before they visit the city, or while they are in the city with the vision that it will assist users to learn more about Dublin and its extensive history, sights, monuments and streets across the capital city. Also commenting on the launch of 'DiscovAR Dublin', Jamie Cudden, Smart City Lead, Dublin City Council said, "DiscovAR offers a new way for visitors and locals to experience the capital city. Through our Smart Dublin programme, we are always thinking about how we can embrace new technologies to enhance how people engage with our Capital City. This app through its immersive AR technology is a new and fun way to explore the City's culture and history and we see huge potential to expand this." The Dublin Discovery Trail app is part of a larger Smart Tourism strategy to invest in digital to transform Dublin's tourism experience for how we tell the story and history of the city and was developed as part of the new Dublin City Council Tourism Strategy 2023-2028 - Innovation Pillar. Using new and immersive technologies, such as augmented reality, will help further position Dublin as a world-class tourism destination with this new digital experience and allow for further unique and tailored customer experiences that will keep the city relevant for tourists. For more information on 'DiscovAR' and to download the app visit http://dublindiscoverytrails.com or search Dublin Discovery Trails on Apple App Store or Google Play. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
By Tom Digan, Cyber Resilience Director, Dell Technologies Ireland Whether it's creating new job opportunities, driving innovation, or bringing competition to the marketplace, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the lifeline of thriving economies. A 2021 report on SMEs from the Department of Enterprise outlined that the sector is vital for the labour market in Ireland: 99.8% of all enterprises in Ireland stand within the SME bracket and generate more than 70% of all jobs in the non-financial business economy. In 2020 these enterprises generated 41.9% of total turnover in the business economy and played a key role in adding value to a range of sectors in the domestic economy. Despite being a formidable contributor and cornerstone of growth and progress to the Irish economy, SMEs are often the most vulnerable when it comes to cyber security and data protection. While protecting business data has become a critical priority for organisations of every size, the task has become increasingly complex and costly, not to mention time-consuming. A growing IT challenge The economic cost of cybercrime to the Irish digital economy continues to rise year-on-year. Last year, for example, the National Cyber Security Centre issued an alert to SMEs about the increased threat of ransomware attacks as cybercrime groups divert their focus to smaller businesses. Attacks against major corporations grab front-page headlines, but, in reality, businesses of all sizes are vulnerable. SMEs, lacking the extensive resources and specialist skills of large corporations, are particularly at risk. On average, SMEs have limited IT staff personnel and with a lean team, time is precious. And as the challenges of data protection continue to mount, the pressure for IT teams to reduce cost and to "do more with less" continues to grow. While there is no silver bullet for cyber security and no business is impenetrable, there are some very practical steps that SMEs can take to make their business more resilient. Educate and motivate users According to a study conducted by Gartner, by 2025, human failure will be responsible for over half of significant cyber incidents, including social attacks, errors and misuse. Consider how employees are accessing data and which parts of your business contain data that is the most valuable. Hybrid working has become a norm for many employees in Irish SMEs and beyond. This new work environment provides significant challenges for enterprises, with more points of entry available for potential cyber criminals. 70% of IT decision makers now recognize that their organisation has increased exposure to data loss from cyber threats with the growth of employees working from home. To address these changes, it is critical to consistently educate employees on cybersecurity issues and best practices, as they are typically the weakest link in the security chain! Educate them often and drive accountability to make sure all your data stays safe. Focus on the data We live in a data-driven world. Data has become the lifeblood of Irish SMEs and the fuel that enables them to scale operations quickly in response to demand. The "infrastructure" that stores these vast networks of data is made up of storage and hyper-converged systems, servers, networking and data protection that may be physically distributed or delivered as a service but regardless of how IT infrastructure is consumed, it must be trusted and protected. We get caught up talking about protecting devices, but the device is just the container. Attackers care about what is in the container, not the container itself. The conversation should be about how to protect data, not devices. It is critical to regularly back-up data and utilise data-centric encryption, which is the preferred method for encrypting data as it moves across devices and the network. Strengthen cyber resiliency Thirdly, with cyber-attacks globally occurring every 11 seconds, it's crucial that SMEs focus on using new technol...
Kainos, a leading digital technology company, has announced that it is investing £10 million in the advancement and scaling of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). Building on its long-term investment in AI, Kainos will harness the potential of Generative AI to foster innovation, elevate client experiences, and drive digital transformation for its clients. The organisation has a well-established Data & AI Practice, which has grown to more than 150 established experts, delivering work across complex organisations such as the United Nations, the Ministry of Defence and HelloFresh. This strategic investment underscores Kainos' dedication to remaining at the forefront of technological advancements. It will focus on advancing breakthroughs in Generative AI understanding, as well as developing cutting-edge solutions, including accelerators, systems, and ecosystem partnerships that address the complex challenges faced by clients.= Kainos is dedicating significant funding to further enhance its leadership in Generative AI. This includes the training of more than 1,000 team members in AI tooling and Copilots and the appointment of a new Generative AI Lead to drive initiatives and education across its internal business operations. Kainos will also be increasing its investment in partner organisations that are focused on researching the societal implications of Generative AI. Its experts will collaborate with academia and industry leaders to establish additional AI Research Centres across the UK to advance ethical and responsible approaches to developing AI solutions. Ensuring the ethical use of AI is a key focus for Kainos who established their data ethicist capability in 2022. Russell Sloan, incoming CEO of Kainos comments: "We have been at the forefront of AI for almost a decade and today's announcement represents the next step in the development of our AI capabilities. We are investing in the skills of over 1,000 colleagues to ensure that they can harness Generative AI for the benefit of our customers. At the same time, we are increasing our investment into the funding of academic research institutes including the AI Research Centre (AIRC) at Ulster University, to ensure that the deployment of this exciting technology is undertaken in an ethical and responsible way - for the benefit of everyone." See more stories here.
Workhuman®, the company revolutionising how employees celebrate, connect with, and appreciate each other in the workplace, has added In-Store Booking functionality to its world-class Store. In-Store Booking is now available to more than 2 million users across 10 countries, including Ireland, the UK, the US, India, and Mexico. Employees now have access to hundreds of thousands of additional activity, travel, and accommodation options as part of the employee recognition industry's most expansive catalogue of experiences, all bookable with points on its platform. The Irish-founded company has built an innovative team - based in Ireland - dedicated to sourcing merchandise and gift cards across the globe in more than 65 categories including electronics, fashion, house and home, garden and outdoor, travel, health and beauty, children, and more. Globally, the company maintains a catalogue of approximately 400,000 merchandise items across more than 60 countries. It also offers thousands of gift cards across more than 130 countries, with hundreds of thousands of options including merchandise brands, charities, and travel experiences. Workhuman has built its Store experience from the ground up and has scaled over the years to support orders placed every 3 seconds by approximately 7M employees across the globe. Through the company's Store, employees are able to book their activity, hotel, car rental and, when available, flights, all in the same order, therefore keeping their entire travel itinerary together and avoiding the hassle of tracking multiple confirmation emails from separate travel partners. From walking tours to national park passes to private yacht rentals, Workhuman's full Experiences offering will cater to users globally and at virtually every point and desired activity level. Leslie Schall, Director of Employee Engagement, Experience, and Purpose at Michelin, said: "Workhuman's Experiences offering provides an awesome new element to their already impressive Store, as it enables employees to easily book travel, adventures, tours, and activities using their recognition rewards through Michelin's WeCare programme. By using points they earned here through their contributions to the organisation, our employees are able to redeem their points on engaging experiences for themselves, family or friends. "Right after Experiences launched, I used it to book a 'Harley electronic trike motorcycle' tour during an upcoming family vacation in Prague. Now my entire family has this amazing memory we're going to cherish forever, and it was because of recognition from my colleagues. Experiences is going to help our employees turn work achievements into these beautiful, exciting moments, and we're very excited about the impact of this connection and the stories we'll hear." Workhuman's Store takes the same human-first approach as its Social Recognition® solution. The company understands that the reward redemption experience is critical for the success of any recognition programme as it reinforces the original recognition moment and amplifies the sense of engagement and goodwill that the employee feels toward their company. Workhuman has made significant investments over the years to launch the broadest offering of Travel and Experiences with gift card partners including Virgin Experiences, Global Experiences, Royal Caribbean, Hotels.com, and many more. The addition of In-Store Booking functionality takes this to the next level, ensuring every employee is able to redeem for an experience that feels exciting to them, and that makes them feel seen and recognised. Sarah Whitman, SVP E-commerce, Workhuman: "Workhuman has always kept our ears close to the ground and driven our Store strategy based on the pulse of the marketplace. We know that people derive significant enjoyment from experiences and over the years we have evolved in the ways we bring this category to our platform. Our data has shown that people's desire to travel and create memori...
LLMs (Large Language Models) are currently the most important and hottest research direction in the field of Natural Language Processing inspired by ChatGPT. One person with a special interest in LLM's is Chenyang Lyu a PhD student in AI at DCU. Ronan talks to Chenyang about his background, his research on LLM's, the positive attention he has received on Github and Twitter, ChatGPT and more. More about Chenyang's research: We have developed a novel multi-modal LLMs model that seamlessly integrates multiple modalities including text, image, video, audio into LLMs. This project has attracted significant attention on Github with over 1000 stars. We have also received more than 200000 views and discussions on Twitter within the NLP community. Our project is a joint effort between myself and Longyue Wang, a DCU graduate, at Tencent AI Lab. See more podcasts here.
Guest post by Alex Vakulov is a cybersecurity researcher with over 20 years of experience in malware analysis. Numerous companies experience data breaches caused by cyber-attacks or malicious actions carried out by insiders within the organization. To keep your data safe, it is crucial to take action early. One solution is using a Virtual Data Room (VDR). Business leaders always try to make their organizations more efficient by improving technical systems and increasing information security. However, many employees are used to discussing and sharing documents the traditional way, with printed copies or through email. Virtual Data Rooms with Invisible Marking Employees often use and discuss printed documents in negotiation rooms, exposing their companies to risks. Let me tell you how to optimize this process and what solutions to choose. Virtual Data Rooms: what they are and why you need them Let's say you are discussing an important contract with confidential details. One of the partners secretly takes a photo with their phone and uploads it online. This can ruin the deal. Alternatively, consider another scenario where an employee with privileged access takes a photo of a document for business purposes without realizing that their phone had been compromised previously. There are many situations where confidential documents can be lost or shared, but few ways to stop it. A possible solution is using Virtual Data Rooms, secure storage spaces in the cloud where you can keep your documents. VDRs can significantly increase the efficiency of the organization and improve data protection. A Virtual Data Room is a folder-based space that utilizes user-specific access rights. Users can download and share only the files they are allowed to. Virtual Data Rooms enable streamlined collaboration across different business processes. Securing Virtual Data Rooms: best practices Judging by the cyber-attack trends, confidential data is increasingly becoming the main target of hackers. The main targets of attacks are the high-tech, financial, medical, and public sectors. It is logical that, because of this situation, virtual storage should be well protected. Here is how to do it: First, you need to protect the cloud itself. The security of the cloud infrastructure involves the protection of not only the external perimeter but also the communication channels using Identity and Access Management (IAM) tools. Next, you need to protect the files located in virtual storage. Besides taking care of permissions to view and edit documents, it is crucial to protect the files themselves. This can be done using DLP and DRM tools. They help control access to documents, limit the types of actions and the number of actions allowed when working with documents. Finally, safeguarding the document content is crucial. Since DLP solutions are often ineffective when it comes to photographs taken with a phone, a more comprehensive approach is necessary. The most efficient solution appears to be using Virtual Data Room supplemented by a digital identifier that provides a unique and invisible marking for documents. This invisible marking is preserved when documents get photographed. If a data breach occurs, the digital identifier can be used to identify the individual responsible for illicit activity involving the specific document. Digital Identifiers: why choose them over traditional watermarks? Traditional watermarks may obstruct the document's content, hindering readability. They can also be removed in the editor. Most importantly, they cannot be used to identify the source of a data leak in the event of an incident. Digital identifiers outperform traditional watermarks in every way. Additionally, they serve as a deterrent to numerous potential malicious insiders. The demand for the use of invisible marking technology is just emerging. Few market players offer such products, and potential customers are still evaluating the advantages of using such products. Digital...
Hydropower, traditionally one of Africa's most important sources of electricity, will rapidly fade in importance and cede its position to solar power. The attractiveness of new hydropower is decreasing fast, both due to the increasing economic competitiveness of solar panels and to the increasingly uncertain effects of climate change on river flows. The majority of new dams proposed across Africa should, therefore, probably never be built, suggests a new study published in Science. Will this be the swansong of African hydropower? Abundant rainfall, massive gorges, enormous waterfalls: the geography of Africa has all the elements for producing electricity from river flow. For decades, many African countries have relied on hydropower for electricity generation, including projects that inspire as much awe as controversy. One only needs to think of Ghana's Lake Volta, the largest artificial lake in the world; the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Ethiopia's flagship project to provide millions of its citizens with electricity access; or DR Congo's dream of building the Grand Inga plant, which some claim could "light up all of Africa". And the voices that advocate for more of the same are strong: it is estimated that Africa has barely exploited 10% of its hydropower potential. But is it a smart idea to plan for hundreds of new hydro dams across Africa? A new study from scientists in Italy, Austria, Ethiopia, and Belgium shows that this may not be the case. The study used a detailed energy model to investigate which combination of power sources would be most cost-effective for African countries to meet their rising demand until 2050 - comparing hydropower to solar, wind, coal, natural gas, nuclear, and others. With unprecedented detail, the study individually considered every possible future hydropower plant in Africa - with its own storage size, river flow profile, and interplay with other hydropower dams. "What is unique about our study is that we model every single hydropower plant in Africa individually - both existing ones and future candidates," explains Dr. Angelo Carlino, lead author of the study. "This way, our model can pinpoint which plants could be a smart investment and which ones should probably not be built." Adding up all the numbers provides a sobering picture of the future of hydropower in Africa. The study found that up to 67% of possible future hydropower plants in Africa may not be worth the investment. This is mainly because hydropower will soon largely become unable to compete economically with solar and (to a lesser extent) wind power, whose costs have dropped at unprecedented rates in the last decade. In addition, the effects of prolonged droughts on hydropower, likely to worsen due to climate change, would have to be mitigated through additional investments. "This is another reason why solar power will emerge as the more attractive technology in the long term," says Dr. Matthias Wildemeersch, a research scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria and co-author of the study. Does this mean that it is "game over" for hydropower? Not entirely, as the study explains: in the short-term, some new hydropower plants could still provide cheap power for countries in need, and they could also be used flexibly to help the integration of solar and wind, whose output constantly fluctuates. "Our model shows which specific hydropower plants would still be cost-effective in the short-term," comments Professor Andrea Castelletti, professor in Natural Resources Management at Politecnico di Milano and senior author of the study. "Especially in the Congo, Niger, and Nile basins, there are certain projects that would be worth the effort, as long as they are well-planned and harmful environmental effects are kept to a minimum." But in the long-term, solar power would emerge as crystal-clear technology to be favored by most African countries, echoing the International Energy Agency's 20...
When and where is it on? UXDX EMEA takes place from 11th - 13th October in the RDS in Dublin. The conference can be accessed both in-person as well as online. How many years has it been going? UXDX started in 2016 so this is our 8th year in Dublin. But we also run conferences around the world such as our New York event which took place in May. UXDX returns 11th - 13th October What was the inspiration to start it? Every time a company studies how well its software is performing it highlights that 85%+ of software features fail to deliver the expected value. And that is somehow accepted as something we have to live with. Fortunately, there are companies who are experimenting with better ways of working and that is what UXDX is all about. We want to help companies improve the odds of successful product development by learning from the companies that are leading the way. Many conferences have consultants or software vendors on stage, and this is great because these people have a lot of broad experience. But theory isn't where the problems are. That's why we get industry leaders to share how they are actually delivering the changes in practice, as well as the challenges along the way. What exciting things can people look forward to? We have over 30 talks and panels designed to inspire and motivate people on topics ranging from how to empower product teams to getting into the nitty gritty of UX, design and dev practices. For example, we have an AI track but rather than looking at what AI might deliver we are looking at what it has delivered. CTO of King Games, Steven Collins, will be sharing how they use AI to augment their development process and Director of Machine Learning at Intercom, Fergal Reid will share how they built an AI chatbot on top of GPT-4 that is actually solving real problems in the wild. But, while talks may be inspiring, there can often be questions about how one approach might be better than the alternatives because talks are positioned from one point of view. That's why we are running multiple debates at UXDX this year to argue about important industry topics such as whether teams should go product-led or sales-led for their growth, whether it is better to be a generalist or a specialist and whether you can decentralise functions like research and keep high quality. What opportunities are on offer for those attending? Networking is one of the most important elements of a conference. But it can be hard to walk up to a stranger and start a conversation. That's why we run Forums - interactive sessions to dive deep into a topic. The purpose is to get people to share the problems that they are facing and see if others have overcome the same challenges. But they have a secondary purpose - it highlights who in the audience people have something in common with. At our USA event in May people highlighted that this made meeting new people much easier and of higher quality.We also host multiple networking activities such as a walking tour of Dublin, an after-party and a 5k run around the city. Who will be speaking? We have over 40 speakers including Steven Collins, CTO of King Games, Kent Eisenhuth, Staff UX Designer at Google, Sudev Balakrishnan, Chief Product Officer at Fis, Shilpi Sinha, Head of UX Research, Partners at LEGO Group, Andres Lopez Josenge, VP, Global Head of Product Design at Visa, Alberta Soranzo, VP, Global Customer Experience at Sage and many, many more. What tips would you give to people attending to get the most out of it? Keep an open mind about the way that you work and the practices that you follow. Processes are a collection of the best practices at a certain point in time. But contexts change. By hearing how other people are tackling the same problems that you are facing you might learn how to increase your odds of success and build products that customers love. How can people book tickets? People can book tickets through our webpage www.uxdx.com/emea/2023/tickets Anything else you'd like to ...
Engineers Ireland has expressed concern at the continuing decline in the number of students undertaking higher level mathematics at Leaving Certificate. Statistics published today by the State Examinations Commission show that 20,516 Leaving Certificate students were awarded grades for the higher level maths paper today, representing a 4% decrease when compared to 2022. Although participation in the subject at higher level has increased over the past five years - up 13% when compared to 2019 - participation in the subject has fallen for the second year in a row. The representative body for engineers, whose membership represents the full spectrum of the engineering profession, also raised concern at the number of students undertaking higher level subjects in other key STEM subject areas, including applied maths (-16%), physics (-5%) and chemistry (-5%). Commenting on today's Leaving Cert results, Damien Owens, Director General of Engineers Ireland, said: "Maths and science knowledge are valuable aptitudes for future engineers. A proficiency and understanding of STEM by Ireland's future leaders is also vital to ensure that our country can continue to develop the critical infrastructure that it needs, while also having the ability to address global challenges such as climate change and take advantage of new technological advancements such as artificial intelligence (AI) and digitalisation. "Engineers Ireland's latest report, 'Engineering 2023: A barometer of the profession in Ireland', previously highlighted constraints within the engineering sector, with 72% of employers concerned that the shortage of engineers with the correct skills is a significant barrier to business growth. To support future growth within the sector and to meet government ambitions, we must continue to work in collaboration with industry and academia to support students to equip themselves with an adequate knowledge of STEM so they can pursue a future career in the sector." Today's results, however, also indicated some positive change, with a 44% increase in the numbers of students undertaking computer science at higher level. The number of students who sat the technology paper at this level also increased by 6%. A five-year analysis of Leaving Certificate sittings at higher level has also indicated some positive change, with significant increases in the numbers of students sitting the higher level paper in technology (+26%), construction studies (+16%), engineering (+18%), design and communications (+15%). Mr Owens added: "We are seeing some positive indicators of change when we reflect on five-year trends. This positive engagement and support for construction studies, engineering, design and communication topics, indicates increasing interest in subject areas that could lead to students playing a key role in infrastructure delivery in the future." Looking ahead to CAO first round offers on 30 August, Mr Owens encouraged those who will receive a CAO offer of an engineering course to accept their offer and pursue a career in engineering: "Students who accept an offer of an engineering course at third level can look forward to gaining internationally recognised qualifications and unlimited career opportunities. Our future engineering graduates will be central to the successful delivery of ambitious infrastructural and technological initiatives and will be uniquely placed to support our climate goals and ambitions." Mr Owens added: "All routes and pathways to a career in engineering should be considered by students receiving their Leaving Certificate results today. Apprenticeship opportunities also provide a unique opportunity to learn and develop within the engineering sector and provide students with excellent opportunities and career progression." More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatev...
IT teams in today's enterprises are being tasked with significant responsibilities that are central to business success. While ensuring their business stays ahead with advanced technologies such as AI, they must also drive forward the sustainability agenda and simultaneously combat the growing threat of cyberattacks and data breaches. They are stretched to the point where, according to recent research from Equinix, 59% of IT leaders in Ireland say they are uncomfortable with their existing team's ability to accommodate the growth in use of AI. And yet, Equinix's research shows that 15% of businesses in Ireland are planning on making cuts to their IT teams in the next 12 months. This is in contrast to the majority (67%) who will be expanding their IT teams in the next year. The research also found that IT leaders in Ireland are continuing to grapple with skills shortages. And, in the last two years, while 57% of global enterprises expanded their IT teams, just 49% of those in Ireland did so. Peter Lantry, Managing Director for Ireland, Equinix, said: "As businesses plan for the future, they must ensure that their IT departments have the budget and means to expand in line with the overall business's expansion plans. To reduce IT teams at a time when technology and data are so central to success is likely to prove short-sighted. "However, those who are looking to grow their IT teams are also facing challenges as demand continues to outweigh supply. The current pace of change will not wait or be sympathetic to those encountering talent shortages. IT leaders must therefore confront this head-on and ensure that if they cannot find the talent they need, they need to nurture it themselves." The findings in Equinix's research, for its Global Tech Trends Survey 2023, are highlighted below: 49% of IT decision makers in Ireland reported that their team size grew in the last two years - versus the global average of 57% Despite this, more than two-thirds (67%) of IT leaders in Ireland are expecting to grow their tech teams in the next 12 months. 15% of IT leaders in Ireland anticipate their teams shrinking in the next 12 months. The top areas for IT team growth, cited by IT leaders in Ireland, are: cloud computing (39%), IT technician (38%), and AI/machine learning (34%) 59% of IT leaders in Ireland are uncomfortable with their existing team's ability to accommodate the growth in use of AI 71% cite a shortage of IT talent as a threat to business success. Other threats include a lack of diversity and inclusion in the industry (cited by 55%) and challenges posed by moving to a hybrid workplace (52%) The biggest skills challenge facing the IT teams in Ireland is talent retention (cited by 43% of IT leaders). Wrong skill sets (39%), changing workforce expectations (33%), along with the speed at which the tech industry is transforming and a lack of available talent (both 32%) were also cited. 81% of IT decision-makers see improving cybersecurity as the top priority for their organisation's technology strategy. On that front, 34% of IT leaders have, or will, increase headcount in security software developer roles (34%), as well as security analyst (30%) and security architect (26%) positions. See more stories here.
We will be reviewing this product soon, below are the details from the manufacturers about the device. See more about the LOQED Touch Smart Lock here. The only smart lock that opens your door with a single touch launches in the UK Remember when we used to walk up to our car and use a key to unlock the door? These days, walking up to a car with your key still in your pocket will do the trick. Yet we still find using a physical key normal to let us into our home. Over the last couple of years many smart home solutions have been adapted into our homes, and just across the channel in the Netherlands, the LOQED Touch Smart Lock has been tried and tested on its home market and is now set to launch in the UK. LOQED Touch Smart Lock LOQED is committed to providing smart, secure, and convenient solutions for home access. Keyless locks have existed for some time, but what sets LOQED apart is that it is the first smart lock that opens and closes with one touch, while your smartphone remains in your pocket. You can even open your door with your knee or elbow for convenience while your hands are full. Forgot your phone or your battery has died? No problem. You can still unlock your door with a safe and secure personalised code. The smart lock runs on batteries for up to twelve months. Should the batteries die unexpectedly, you can jumpstart your smart lock with a 9-volt battery available at any local petrol station. After locking himself out and paying for an expensive locksmith on several occasions, LOQED founder, Pierre van den Oord, had enough and wanted to exchange his old fashioned door lock with a more innovative solution. Together with friend and innovator, Jeroen van Oorschot, they began to develop the LOQED Touch Smart Lock in 2016. According to Statista 2023, 81% of Brits own smart home entertainment devices such as Bluetooth speakers and smart TVs, but only 30% own smart home security devices. Introducing the easy to use LOQED Touch Smart Lock with an eye-catching and robust stainless steel design, because what is a smart home without easy access? CEO, Pierre van den Oord says: "Locks that open when a smartphone is nearby often aren't accurate. These would open, for instance, when you're still parking your car, or coming in through the back door. Our lock knows whether you're inside or outside and doesn't make that mistake thanks to geofencing and proximity detection on the inside and outside of the lock to ensure that this function works reliably." The weak link in a front door is often the lock's keyhole and cylinder which can easily be snapped by burglars. With LOQED, the original cylinder is completely replaced by a highly secure cylinder, removing the weak point and the need for a keyhole altogether. The lock has been awarded the highest achievable SKG certification. Combined with end-to-end encryption and digital signatures using the same standard as banks, hackers and burglars don't stand a chance. Send digital keys to friends, family and workers using the LOQED app, available for Android and iOS users. You can also easily assign and remove keys whenever you want, perfect if you own an Airbnb. The LOQED Touch Smart Lock can also be integrated with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and many other smart home ecosystems. The Matter protocol is set to follow towards the end of 2023. To celebrate the new product launch, the LOQED Touch Smart Lock is now available in stainless steel on Amazon with a 10% introductory offer of £269 which lasts for one month. RRP after this time is £299. For more information, please check out the website and watch the product introduction video here. Features of the LOQED Touch Smart Lock: Easy one touch access Easy set up (around 30 minutes) Personalised integrated code access with a jump start connector as a safety net Secure decentralised key storage Highest 3 star SKG, EN 1303, and EN 15684 certification Battery life up to 12 months LOQED app connectivity for Android and IOS to check if door i...
GNC, the leading global health and wellness brand, has opened the doors to its first European corporate store in Blackrock, county Dublin. The store, located in the Frascati Shopping Centre, marks the first of GNC's Irish based stores, as the company continues to build for a momentous future. The store will be home to over 140 brands, including a variety of Irish-owned brands and the GNC brand assortment. GNC, a trusted global retailer operating since 1935, provides high-quality, science-based products and solutions consumers need to Live Well. GNC currently operates in over 50 countries, with circa 4,000 stores globally, the new Blackrock location will offer a comprehensive range of industry-leading proprietary and third-party brands, thoughtfully developed, and curated by experts. Products available will include vitamins, wellness supplements, herbs and greens, sports nutrition, weight management, beauty supplements, food and drink products. "We are thrilled to open our first European corporate storefront today in Blackrock, Dublin," said Cheri Mullen, SVP Chief International Officer at GNC. "This launch represents more than just a single store opening. We see an exciting opportunity to expand further in this market through GNC franchising. This is an important step in GNC's international expansion, as we continue to further our mission of 'Living Well' worldwide" A number of Irish brands will be available in-store - including Fulfil Nutrition, Carraig Fhada Sea Vegetables, Ros Nutrition, Irish Botanica, and NUA Naturals - as well as new products to the Irish market, available exclusively at GNC. GNC's own branded products will be available exclusively for purchase in store, including its range of vitamins, supplements, herbs, weight management, and sports nutrition products. The selection of brands and products available is reflective of the holistic approach GNC takes to health and wellness, catering to all lifestyle needs and athletic goals, including: Immune Support Family wellness Digestive Support Sports and fitness nutrition Aiding cardiovascular health Support with sleep and reducing stress "Coming into the Irish market, it was important for us to assemble our product offering to what is best suited to the needs of the community," added Lorcan Grey, General Manager and Head of Finance at GNC Europe. "At GNC, our offering is rooted in quality, science and expertise, as we have been in the wellness market since 1935. We are proud to include such a fantastic selection of Irish brands in our store, as well as our own line of GNC products - these are companies whose ambitions match our own at GNC, as we continue to provide our customers with solutions that allow them to Live Well." See more stories here.
There is a continued trend of price hikes across the business landscape as 52% of Irish SME businesses have taken the step to raise their prices, according to the latest Linked Finance SME Confidence Index, based on research conducted by Behaviours & Attitudes. According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Consumer Price Index was 4.6% for July, down from? 4.8% in June and 9.6% in July 2022. Initial steps taken by businesses to tackle the inflation squeeze have focused on price increases, but as Ireland's rate of inflation slows down, businesses are looking to boost earnings. The survey found that 54% of businesses have taken measures beyond pricing to mitigate the effects of inflation. The measures include: 34% of businesses have cut their operational costs, 19% have pursued product diversification, and 12% have introduced discounts and promotions to navigate the challenging economic environment. Despite tightness, a positive sign is evident as fewer businesses anticipate a decline in activity for the upcoming quarter, with a projected uptick in business activity for Q4 2023. The Index shows that 83% of businesses expect to perform better or in line with projected expectations compared with the same period last year. "Notwithstanding inflation and a price squeeze on businesses and consumers, there is evidence of the resilience that defines Ireland's SME sector and reflects its adaptability in the face of changing economic currents," comments Niall O'Grady, CEO of Linked Finance. "The ability for businesses to innovative and put solutions in place, such as product diversification and promotional campaigns, underscores the evolving strategies adopted by businesses as they navigate through a phase of tempered enthusiasm." Overall, the Q2 2023 SME Index sees a notable levelling off in business optimism. The latest Index showed Business Optimism at a level of 61.90 (out of 100), only slightly up from 61.62 a year ago, despite a large drop in inflation during the same period last year. In a surprising turn, the retail sector has demonstrated remarkable performance, defying expectations. This quarter, retail businesses have seen significant gains in their business activity. Recent findings from the ESRI also found that strong improvements in retail sales continue to drive growth in the Irish economy. However, it is noteworthy that 75% of Retail and Wholesale businesses have increased their prices, reflecting the overarching trend of price adjustments in response to inflationary pressures. "While we are seeing increased business activity in segments of the economy and business continue to pass higher prices onto consumers, it hasn't fully translated into higher profits and earnings. This highlights the pressure that businesses are under due to external factors and influences," continues O'Grady. "While challenges remain, the anticipation of improved business activity for Q4 2023 and the potential for job growth in regional markets provide hope for SMEs." Through its online lending platform, Linked Finance provides accessible and efficient funding options for small businesses, ensuring that they have the necessary resources to thrive in today's competitive business landscape. For more information about the Linked Finance SME Index and to access the full report, please visit/.
We review Digital Citizenship in Africa: Technologies of Agency and Repression, the first book in a new series. See more about the book on their website here. Digital Citizenship in Africa: Technologies of Agency and Repression edited by Tony Roberts & Tanja Bosch Digital Citizenship in Africa: Technologies of Agency and Repression, reviewed This book aims to be thorough, with many pages of references to end each chapter. It is a timely publication and marks the opening book in what it's publishers plan to be a series of books looking at African related issues. This seems like a great idea as it is an area that is not always covered as much as it could be. This is despite the great strides made by fintech innovations such as Mpesa and others. There is a chapter specifically focussed on the 2019 election in Namibia and the impact of digital information sharing technologies. This is a country close to our own heart, having worked there for an extended period of time in the late 90s. Even then you could see the penetration of mobile phone usage, as the local population worked around a dearth of landlines to jump straight to mobile telephony instead. With this in mind it is no surprise to see that online access to news and information did play some part in the influencing the 2019 election. Unsurprisingly, particularly with a ruling party that has yet to surrender power several decades after independence, many of the stories concerned government corruption. This illustrates the potential for new media technologies to shine a light on murkier practices, but, at the same time, it is then also a tool that those committing this misdeeds also then seek to use to cover up their acts. This chapter, and the book in general do a good job of exploring current trends in Africa and to give a sense of what to expect coming down the road too. An interesting and thought provoking read. Hopefully it is the first in a series of useful books to focus on Africa. More about the book This open access volume brings to life the dramatic struggle for the digital realm between citizens and governments in Africa; documenting in vivid detail how citizens are using mobile and internet tools in powerful viral global campaigns to hold governments accountable and force policy change. AI-enabled surveillance, covertly deployed disinformation, and internet shutdowns are documented in ten countries, concluding with recommendations on how to curb government and corporate power, and how to re-invigorate digital citizenship across Africa. Description Since the so-called Arab Spring, citizens of African countries have continued to use digital tools in creative ways to ensure that marginalised voices are heard, and to demand for the rights they are entitled to in law: to freely associate, to form opinions, and to express them online without fear of violence or arrest. The authors of this compelling open access volume have brought to life this dramatic struggle for the digital realm between citizens and governments; documenting in vivid detail how citizens are using mobile and internet tools in powerful viral global campaigns to hold governments accountable and force policy change. With contributions from scholars across the continent, Digital Citizenship in Africa illustrates how citizens have been using VPNs, encryption, and privacy-protecting browsers to resist limits on their rights to privacy and political speech. This book dramatically expands our understanding of the vast and growing arsenal of tech tools, tactics, and techniques now being deployed by repressive governments to limit the ability of citizens to safely and openly express opposition to government and corporate actions. AI-enabled surveillance, covertly deployed disinformation, and internet shutdowns are documented in ten countries, concluding with recommendations on how to curb government and corporate power, and how to re-invigorate digital citizenship across Africa. See more reviews here.
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney TD today invited early-stage entrepreneurs and start-up teams to apply for the Enterprise Ireland Pre-Seed Start Fund which supports the critical early needs of new start-up companies. The Pre-Seed Start Fund (PSSF) will provide up to €100,000 in the form of a Convertible Loan Note (CLN) and is open to innovative start-ups in all sectors, with a focus on manufacturing, life sciences, food and renewables sectors. This funding provides entrepreneurs and start-ups with critical early-stage funding to test the market for their products and services and progress their business plans for the global marketplace. The fund is designed to enable those companies to progress key technical and commercial milestones required to attract future seed funding within six to 18 months. It is one of a series of specific targeted initiatives which Enterprise Ireland is taking as part of its strategic ambition to encourage and support an increased number of new high growth start-up companies in Ireland. Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment Simon Coveney said, "The future for Irish industry is bright and this government is committed to supporting the journey of Irish companies of all sizes from start-ups to established businesses to realise their full growth potential. The Pre-Seed Start Fund, administered by Enterprise Ireland aims to support innovative entrepreneurs who have the capacity and ambition to succeed in global markets with an attractive financial offering to help accelerate their start-up business plans. "The Pre-Seed Start Fund provides the initial critical funding to help launch early-stage start-ups and I strongly urge entrepreneurs with a solid business plan and a minimum viable product to apply." Anna-Marie Turley, Department Manager, Entrepreneurship and HPSU Operations, Enterprise Ireland said, "Ireland is recognised as a great place in which to start and scale an internationally-focused business but we recognise that lack of access to early-stage funding, is often a huge challenge which can hinder the ability to start or grow a business. In the early-stage, many businesses will have identified a market but are not as yet generating revenue, and therefore proving difficult to attract funding in the market. "IThe Pre-Seed Start Fund, in conjunction with Enterprise Ireland's broader range of services for start-ups, responds to current market needs and provides entrepreneurs with an attractive financial offering to help accelerate their start-up business plans. The finance provided can then be ring fenced for critical requirements including product development, recruitment and developing channels to market." The fund offers investments of €50,000 or €100,000 with the latter provided in two equal tranches of €50K. The Convertible Loan Note (CLN) is intended to convert into equity on a future priced round at a 20 percent discount. In addition to the investment, successful applicants will receive the support of an Enterprise Ireland Development Adviser who will help provide access to various start-up supports such as mentoring and market research services. Previous winner of Start-Up funding, Aisling Kirwan, Co-Founder and COO, Positive Carbon said, "Securing early-stage funding through Enterprise Ireland was an important milestone for the development of our business. It provided us with the resources we needed to build on the foundations in place. "Funding, although a vital ingredient to any company, is not the only support that we found beneficial. Mentorship, advice and a community of alumni is advantageous when building a start-up. We look forward to working with Enterprise Ireland on our continued growth path this year." Applications received will be reviewed and assessed by considering the objective of the offer, required criteria, the stage of development of the start-up and assessment of the potential of the business. Full details and how to apply for the Pre...
Techstars is organizing a social innovation start-up weekend from 1st - 3rd September 2023 online. It provides a platform where social innovators can network, learn from mentors, and receive valuable feedback from industry experts. This ecosystem of support helps participants refine their ideas, validate their assumptions, and gain the necessary skills and confidence to turn their visions into reality. It begins on Friday night (4:30-6:30), at the LinkedIn office, in Dublin, starting with networking with fellow participants, followed by pitching of various ideas that the participants have to offer and then finally forming the teams! Moving on to Saturday (8 am - 5 pm), which will be online, the teams begin their brainstorming, business plan development, and basic prototype creation, along with mentors giving informative workshops to refine their ideas better. On Sunday, which will be online, the event ends with (8 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.) demos and presentations. The winner of the previous start-up weekend has successfully started her own start-up, called Rooty, which was merely an idea when she pitched it on Friday evening on the first day of the start-up weekend! Not only did Lorena Garcia and her team win, but they also received access to a lot of resources, office space, etc to kick off their start-up. "The Techstars Startup Weekend in Dublin was an empowering experience for women entrepreneurs. It helped provide external validation for our startup, Rooty and gave us the confidence to kickstart our business. We learned a lot from experienced mentors and experts, making it a highly recommended event for anyone unsure where to start in the startup world. It's also a fantastic opportunity to learn, connect with and find support from others in the entrepreneurial community that are also on similar journeys as you." -Lorena Garcia, winner of the last Techstars Startup Weekend Women Dublin. This event is going to have various speakers, one of them being DC Cahalane, who is the Chief Marketing Officer of Dogpatch Labs and has been in the start-up industry for 15+ years. He definitely will be a great inspiration to all the attendees. Techstars organises events like start-up weekends, founder's events, investor seminars, etc. all around the world. It provides a platform for like-minded people to come together and create something innovative! The upcoming event is going to be a great opportunity for anyone who is interested in having their own company/business, and no previous experience is required, as we all start somewhere! The tickets for the event are available on Eventbrite, the location of the event will be disclosed soon. More information can be found on techstars social media channels, just type Techstars Startup Weekend Social Innovation Dublin, on Linkedin, Instagram as well as Twitter. By emphasizing the importance of social impact and aligning with the United Nations SDGs, this event plays a crucial role in fostering a community of entrepreneurs and change-makers who are dedicated to using technology for the greater good. It provides a platform for social innovators to connect, collaborate, and create innovative solutions that can positively transform our world. Tickets for the event can be booked here.
Leading international law firm Addleshaw Goddard has unveiled the 15 high-growth tech businesses chosen for its 2023 AG Elevate mentoring scheme, with two Irish businesses making the final cut. More than a quarter of this year's intake have AI central to their proposition, with Health tech also featuring prominently among a group which span sectors and represents the wide tech economy. The two Irish businesses included are both from the Healthcare sector: EpiCapture, which develops novel epigenetic tests that detect and monitor a range of cancers; and SymPhysis Medical's, a business aimed at enhancing the patient pathway in palliative care to provide patient independence and reduce hospitalisations. The largest AG Elevate cohort to date will join the 10-month programme, which is designed to advance tech businesses in all sectors through legal challenges that arise as they scale-up. Addleshaw Goddard was last year named one of Europe's top 4 most innovative firms by the FT Innovative Lawyers Awards, and technology (use of it and advising on it) is central to the firm's work with clients across all sectors - from supporting businesses management of tech needs and risks to helping specialist technology businesses with all of their legal and commercial needs. Elvan Hussein and David Anderson, Partners and co-programme leads at Addleshaw Goddard, said: "AG Elevate started life as a programme aimed at the nascent Fintech sector, but in just six years we have seen radical changes in the business landscape as tech has become central to almost every sector of our economy. Generative AI has been the focus of attention this year, but there is so much going on behind those headlines and our new cohort represents a microcosm of that activity. "This year we also opened the programme up to our international network and the response has been fantastic - we're delighted to welcome two businesses from Ireland and two from France. In truth, many of these businesses have a global vision and supporting international expansion is a key element the support we can bring to bear. "Our mentors across Addleshaw Goddard are ready to lend their specialist knowledge to guide all of these ambitious businesses along the path to achieving sustained growth as they disrupt the status quo and bring new services and approaches to their chosen field." Designed, developed and delivered by AG's expert lawyers, the flexible programme has supported scores of tech businesses since it launched in 2017. It helps businesses tackle the variety of legal and other challenges they may face when scaling up by providing access to legal advice, legal and business mentors and networks across the globe. The 15 companies selected this year include: London-based Syntonym, a generative AI startup specialising in hyper realistic synthetic face generation; Zelim from Scotland, with the world's first remotely operated rescue vessel with advanced AI enabled casualty detection; French firm Cardemy, an AI-based language e-learning platform for B2B customers; Dublin-based EpiCapture, which develops novel epigenetic tests that detect and monitor a range of cancers, and Manchester business Boodil, and Open Banking payments solution supporting eCommerce, SMB and Enterprise businesses. The selected businesses all have existing plans for high-growth and have received external funding. Over the 10-month programme the chosen businesses will have access to legal mentors, legal advice and industry networks to help them elevate and grow their business. The 2023 cohort will also receive bespoke support from Addleshaw Goddard mentors, access to legal documentation and knowledge sources, a series of seminars as well as the opportunity to work alongside like-minded business professionals in the tech ecosystem to help elevate and grow their firms. See more stories here.
If you're an entrepreneur, increasing company profitability is a top priority. Achieving consistent growth in revenue and profits requires a well-thought-out approach and effective strategies. This article delves into proven strategies that can help entrepreneurs boost their company's profitability while considering all its financial aspects. From enhancing operational efficiency to leveraging market trends, these strategies encompass the pivotal aspects of business management. Six Strategies to Increase Company Profitability as an Entrepreneur Strategy 1: Streamline Operational Efficiency Efficiency is often the cornerstone of profitability. Entrepreneurs should focus on optimizing their company's operations to reduce wastage, lower costs, and improve overall productivity. Key steps include Implementing Lean Principles The Lean methodology aims to minimize waste and maximize value. Toyota is a prime example of a company that effectively implemented lean principles, leading to increased efficiency and cost savings. Their production process, known as the Toyota Production System (TPS), revolutionized the automotive industry by reducing waste and improving quality. Utilizing Automation Automation is key to operational efficiency. Amazon's success can be attributed in part to its efficient use of automation in its warehouses. By using robots to handle repetitive tasks, Amazon has improved order fulfillment speed and accuracy, leading to cost savings and enhanced customer satisfaction. Negotiating Supplier Contracts Work with your suppliers to ensure your prices remain low and your business receives priority in its supply pipeline. Walmart's strategy of negotiating favorable terms with suppliers has allowed the company to maintain low procurement costs. This approach enables Walmart to offer competitive prices to customers while still generating healthy profit margins. Enhancing operational efficiency not only reduces expenses but also frees up resources that can be allocated to growth-focused activities. Strategy 2: Diversify Product/Service Offerings Expanding your product or service range can open up new revenue streams. Consider the following: Market Research and Gap Identification Understand your target market better than your competitors. Apple's success lies in its ability to identify consumer needs and create products that fulfill them. The launch of the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch showcased Apple's diversification strategy, which contributed significantly to its revenue growth. Complementary Offerings Create product or service suites to make customer experiences simpler and increase average transaction values. Starbucks successfully diversified its product offerings by introducing a range of food items alongside its beverages. This move not only attracted new customers but also increased the average transaction value. Cross-Selling and Upselling Suggest relevant products to customers when making a sale or providing a service. Amazon's recommendation system is a prime example of effective cross-selling and upselling. By suggesting related products based on a customer's browsing and purchasing history, Amazon has increased its average order value. Diversification minimizes risk by reducing dependence on a single product or service and can lead to increased customer loyalty.Strategy 3: Capitalize on Market Trends Entrepreneurs must stay attuned to market trends and adapt their strategies accordingly. This includes: Market Analysis and Pivoting If you see a trend in your industry creating a tangent you can capitalize, and switch lanes quickly to make the most of the brand-new customer segment. Netflix started as a DVD rental service but quickly pivoted to an online streaming platform as consumer preferences shifted toward digital entertainment. This adaptation to market trends catapulted Netflix's growth and profitability. Technological Advancements Whether they improve sustainability, efficiency, or profitability, keepi...
As our fingertips glide across screens, igniting love's ember with a mere swipe, the pursuit of romance unfolds in an entirely new dimension. Recently, this topic was brought to my attention by a millennial who described the dating app Hinge as the buzz for her generation. No longer confined to moonlit gardens and love songs, the ethereal dance of love flourishes in the vast, vibrant realm of dating apps. For a generation fueled by immediacy, where relationships often take on a transactional attitude, the line between a fleeting flirtation and enduring affection is continuously redrawn. Each swipe is a brushstroke in a digital painting of desire, and each match is a verse in a modern love poem. Millennials, unafraid to negotiate the complex landscape of "situationships" and committed bonds, are orchestrating a symphony of feelings through these digital platforms. As we approach the end of 2023, dating apps, these contemporary canvases of passion and romance, continue to play an unparalleled role in weaving connections that transcend time and space. In this blog, we will take a heartfelt journey through the diverse and dazzling dating app landscape of 2023, focusing on the Hinge platform, and exploring the symphony of feelings it orchestrates in this era of love unbound. Let's start swiping. Demographics of Users Across Various Platforms The demographics of users on dating apps demonstrate a diverse range of age groups, genders, sexual orientations, and preferences. Here are some insights into the major platforms: Tinder: The app largely attracts users aged 18-35, with a majority of its user base consisting of young professionals and college students in search of friendships, casual relationships, and long-term commitments. Bumble: This female-centric platform appeals to users between the ages of 20-40 who prioritize career and education. Attracting a nearly equal number of men and women, Bumble encourages meaningful connections by allowing only women to initiate conversations. Hinge: Known as the "app designed to be deleted," Hinge primarily targets users within the 24-35 age range searching for long-term, serious relationships. The well-curated user base leans towards a balanced mix of genders and education levels. OkCupid: As an inclusive platform, OkCupid caters to a wide variety of users - those who identify as LGBTQ+ or looking for polyamorous relationships can find their niche here. The app's user base largely comprises individuals aged 25-45 with diverse educational backgrounds and relationship goals. Grindr: Primarily catering to the LGBTQ+ community, Grindr is popular among users seeking both casual encounters and serious relationships within the age range of 20-45. The Popularity of Dating Apps The popularity of dating apps varies across platforms, with the following insights coming from 2023: Tinder continues to dominate the dating app market with its large user base and user-friendly interface, with recent estimates showing over 60 million users globally. Bumble maintains its position as a major player in the market, leveraging its empowering approach for women to initiate connections. The app boasts over 22 million global users and has continued to see steady growth. Hinge, meanwhile, continues to rise in popularity, attracting users who seek quality connections and long-term relationships. Recent statistics indicate a user base of over 6 million worldwide, with continued growth projected in the coming years. Platforms like OkCupid and Grindr uphold their niche appeal, consistently drawing users who value inclusivity and diversity, with user bases of 10 million and 6 million users, respectively. Reasons Behind the Popularity of Dating Apps Dating apps have seen tremendous growth in recent years, owing to their convenience, accessibility, and ability to connect people outside of conventional social circles. The following are some of the key reasons driving their popularity: Wider Pool of Potential Partners Datin...
Development Capital has announced a €6 million investment in Internet Protocol Telecom Limited (IP Telecom), a leading Irish provider of cloud-based voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and unified communications telephony services to SME & Enterprise customers in Ireland. The minority investment will be used to accelerate the company's organic and acquisitive expansion plans in the business telephony sector, with intention to increase annual revenues from a forecast of €6m in 2023 to €11m in FY2024. The investment in IP Telecom brings Development Capital's total investments in Irish SME's to €100m since 2013. Headquartered in Park West Business Park, IP Telecom was established in 2010 and is led by Shena Brien, CEO, and Brian Chamberlain, CTO. IP Telecom offers a full suite of innovative, leading-edge business telephony services and solutions to over 4,000 business customers across the tech, IoT, education, transportation and logistics, retail and agriculture sectors. With its team of 40 highly skilled employees, IP Telecom is experiencing significant year on year recurring revenue growth averaging 25% p.a. The company's customers are located throughout Ireland and include Sureskills, Portwest, Decathlon, Repak, Right Price Tiles and the Irish Cancer Society. IP Telecom's suite of cloud-based, vendor-neutral, dedicated B2B network offers customers fully integrated solutions to power today's modern way of working and has supported Irish SMEs transition to a remote and hybrid working environment which has been accelerated by the pandemic. In addition, the PTSN (traditional circuit-switched telephone networks) switch-off scheduled in the UK and Europe for 2025, with Ireland set to follow, is expected to drive adoption of VoIP solutions, in addition to along with the increasing benefits for businesses using a cost-effective, dynamic and scalable unified phone solution over traditional fixed line phone systems. The flexibility of IP Telecom's solutions is reflected and demonstrated by: 1. The reliability of IP Telecom's hosted VoIP network. The network is hosted in two separate ISO-certified data centres with c. 99.999% uptime in FY22. 2. Proprietary products including user management tools, call centre applications, call recording, etc., and its ability to integrate with third-party software applications such as MS Teams, Salesforce, Zendesk, ZOHO and Zapier. 3. 24/7/365 monitoring & support to customers under the company's service level agreement. For IP Telecom no two customers are the same, creating bespoke systems that solve the particular problem a customer faces as a customer centred service. As part of the investment, Anthony O'Driscoll, Investment Director at Development Capital, will join the board of IP Telecom. It is the 13th investment by Development Capital, bringing the total value of its investments in Irish SMEs to date to €100 million. The investment in IP Telecom is the fourth by Development Capital Fund II, the second €75 million fund managed by Development Capital. The other three investments by Development Capital Fund II so far are Spotlight Oral Care (Galway), Nomadic Foods (Donegal), and Wogan Build Centre (Louth). Announcing the new investment made by Development Capital Fund II, Anthony O'Driscoll, Investment Director of Development Capital, said: "We are delighted to announce details of this significant investment in another highly ambitious company and management team. We are excited to partner with and back IP Telecom's goal of becoming a significant player in the hosted business telephony sector, which has experienced significant recurring revenue growth and demand in recent years." Addressing future investment plans, Development Capital Co-Founder and Partner, Andrew Bourg said: "We are delighted to complete our investment in Brian, Shena and the IP Telecom team. IP Telecom has demonstrated a clear and focussed strategy in delivering its enterprise and business solutions. We look forward to assist...
The future is. vegan! European Vegan Summit 2023 (19-21 September, online) one of this kind global event where politicians, scientists and businesspersons and activists can meet to talk about rights to live of all sentient beings - human and non-human. Collaborations with global experts of just transition of food system are imperative for Green REV Institute. We believe we can jointly fix #brokenfoodsystem. European Vegan Summit 2023 Green REV Institute created a virtual space, where they outspokenly talked about dangers caused by the current food system and animal agriculture. Making space where experts from variaous fields will be able to discuss possibilities of fixing the food system and building a new future for animals, people and our planet. This year's European Vegan Summit, organized by Green REV Institute, opens with a plenary session "The Future Is."to which we invited experts and global activists from around the world. They will share their strategy for saving the future. 19 September 2023, at 5 PM online you will meet: Dr Anita Krajnc is a founder of Toronto Pig Save and Executive Director of Animal Save Movement. She is also coordinator of global campaigns and projects, for example Plant Based Treaty. She received a doctorate of political science from the University of Toronto and she is lecturer at Queen's University. She led a lot of university courses about tactics and strategy social movement. Plant Based Treaty will set the direction of food system transition today. The Treaty has been already accepted by local governments in United Kingdom and is based to renegotiate the food system and restore wildlife and biodiversity. Dr Krista Hiddema is a philanthropist, academic activist and a public speaker. She is also eco-feminist and above all she is experienced in working for animal rights organizations. For many years she had been working with Mercy for Animals - an international non-profit organization which handles farmed animal rights. She is also responsible for exposing the truth about conditions of industrial farming. Her discoveries had been a point of return for farmed animals and led to five expose on CTV's W5 and CBC Marketplace, and also on many different programs. Jasmijn de Boo is an activist who promotes plant based diet, fights for animals and is also a professional educator. For 12 years she worked at managerial positions all around the world. Currently she's a CEO of ProVeg International, Co-president of The European Alliance for Plant-based Foods (EAPF) and a Board Member of European Vegetarian Union (EVU). Oliwia Myczkowska is an activist for Green REV Institute and Youth Strike for Climate, graduate of Green Advocacy Academy. She's responsible for organizing events such as TEDx III Mickiewicz School Conference and School Climate conference. She's also a founder of NO PAIN IN YOUR BRAIN initiative. "I believe that EVS 2023 is an event that initiates crucial, substantive discussions on ethics, social awareness, consequences of the current system and its challenges. I'd like to share my experiences as a young activist and encourage people to reflect and convince them that it's worth to act on important issues. I hope that the presence of those amazing experts in the "The Future is." panel will be full of non-obvious conclusions and become a source of inspiration for all of the participants. " Oliwia said about the European Vegan Summit The event is under the patronage of the European Parliament and organized in partnership with The Vegan Society - the first ever vegan and vegetarian institution and also Abillion - a vegan app which helps to find plant based places all around the world. Join us online! Program & news:/ See more breaking stories here.
Shannon Chamber, a Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Champion, has announced that, in delivering on its mission of ensuring that the pioneering and innovative spirit of Shannon and the region will continue to thrive, it will host the first Sustainability Week for the region in September. The 'Week', which will take place from 18 - 22 September, is being delivered via its member-led Mid-West Sustainability Network. It is sponsored by ESB and supported by members companies including Analog Devices, Eli Lilly, Ei Electronics, Climeaction, Element Six, Shannon Chamber Skillnet, GreenTech Skillnet, Heraeus Metal Processing Limited, Local Enterprise Office (LEO) Clare and Enva. It will comprise a mix of daily in-person and online events, with the first four days, Monday to Thursday, dedicated to a specific SDG theme - Waste, Water, Energy, Biodiversity - with a one-day conference (The S4 Conference) bringing the 'Week' to a close on Friday, 22 September. Launching Sustainability Week and the S4 Conference, Shannon Chamber chief executive, Helen Downes said: "This is a very innovative deliverable for us as a Chamber. The concept of hosting a week of this nature emanated from the establishment of the Mid-West Sustainability Network which was set up to support members in their sustainability journeys and in the attainment of their net zero goals. The buy-in to the concept from members has been tremendous so much so that we now have four working groups, each focused on one of the four SDG areas that will be covered during the week - Waste, Water, Energy and Biodiversity. "In tandem with the programmed events being held during the week, Chamber member companies throughout the region are also being encouraged to host in-company events to foster buy-in to sustainability across their entire organisations. These events could include talks on energy efficiency, EV cars, cycling or smarter travel to work options; the events can be decided by the companies themselves. The objective of the overall Sustainability Week is to give companies and their employees a greater appreciation for and understanding of sustainability. "The final day Conference will feature presentations by senior management from Analog Devices, Fine Grain Property, and Ei Electronics and a panel discussion involving ESB, Tipperary Energy Agency, Shannon Estuary Economic Taskforce, and Skillnet Ireland. They keynote address will be given by Julie Sinnamon, Council Member, The Climate Change Advisory Council. "A key element of this conference is to showcase the types of projects companies are undertaking to reduce their carbon footprint. A 'Street Event' included in the day will include displays from several companies focusing in on specific projects, their objectives, methodologies, and outcomes. We would encourage companies to engage with us if they wish to be part of this street event. An 'Exhibitor Section' will enable attendees to meet first-hand companies and organisations whose services can be deployed to commence or enhance sustainability undertakings or to assess the types of skills needed to embed a sustainability ethos in enterprise," added Ms Downes. Jim Dollard, executive director, ESB Generation & Trading, added: "Our purpose at ESB is founded in the consistent belief that electricity is an enabler of economic growth and social regeneration. Our ambitious Driven to Make A Difference Strategy to be Net Zero by 2040 demonstrates our commitment to building a resilient electricity system of the future, where carbon-free energy will displace carbon emissions in how we power our lives, businesses and the economy. "Given that and our multi-billion-euro investment in the Green Atlantic programme converting our existing facilities in Moneypoint, Co. Clare into a renewable energy hub, we welcomed the opportunity to sponsor the Chamber's inaugural Sustainability Week and Conference. This will see the sharing of best practice, knowledge and experience as the Chamber's mem...
Tozi is a new app created by the Vodafone Foundation in partnership with DCU Anti-Bullying Centre and Childline by ISPCC, designed to empower young people to navigate the online world in safe and positive way. Teenagers are spending around 3.4 hours a day online, and this app aims to equip them with research-backed learning and resources to help look after themselves when online, including access to Live Help through Childline should they experience bullying or witness something that upsets them while online. The app aims to educate, empower and support young people with the tools and advice they need to have a more positive online experience delivered through engaging features within the app: Cosmos: A content library with stories, tips, and advice on how to handle common online/cyberbullying scenarios e.g., account hacks, ghosting, trolling, grieving and self-esteem. Live Help: Ability to call or chat with Childline by ISPCC directly. My Space: A private journaling area with a gamified diary and feelings tracker. A recent survey by DCU's Anti-Bullying Centre found 45% of teenagers witnessed some kind of mistreatment online. UNESCO's Behind the Numbers report found that cyberbullying affects as many as one in ten children. Tozi is intended to meet teenagers and young people where they hang out - online - and offer them the resources and tools they need to build more positive digital spaces for themselves and their peers. Director of the DCU Anti-Bullying Centre and UNESCO Chair on Bullying and Cyberbullying, Prof James O'Higgins Norman, said: "Our team worked with young people to co-design Tozi, a unique resource that we hope will create an environment that supports young people and their well-being online. We look forward to seeing the results of its use and to studying new interventions that will help children and young people stay safe online." John Church, ISPCC CEO, said "The Tozi app is an extremely welcome development, one that will greatly improve the digital experience of children and young people. Online safety is a key policy issue for us at Childline by ISPCC and we know first-hand the impact it can have on children's mental health and wellbeing. The link through Tozi to the Childline 24/7 listening service, which is staffed by dedicated volunteers, offers an essential support to children and young people. We are very grateful to be involved with the Vodafone Foundation and DCU's Anti-Bullying Centre on this important resource." Liz Roche, Head of The Vodafone Ireland Foundation, said: ''We are delighted to partner with DCU Anti-Bullying Centre and ISPCC Childline to deliver Tozi. Growing up can throw up a myriad of social obstacles, which can be tough to navigate, especially as teenagers and young people are spending more time online. Tozi is designed to help young people explore their feelings while equipping them with information and advice they can trust to navigate the online world.'' Tozi was developed as part of the Vodafone Foundation Apps Against Abuse programme, which is a suite of apps designed to enable more people to live a life free from abuse. So far, the programme has used technology to connect over 2.4 million people affected by domestic violence, abuse and hate crime to advice, support and education. The app is available 24 hours a day and is free to download on iOS and Android in Ireland. iOS link: Android link: More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us ...
Ireland is ranked among the top fifteen countries in the world when it comes to attracting interest from overseas jobseekers, according to a new analysis which also suggests that the EU as a whole is struggling to attract foreign workers. The research by Indeed puts English-speaking Ireland in 14th place in a list of countries ranked in terms of the proportion of job searches from people living overseas. A total of 11.1% of searches for jobs in Ireland in June of this year originated from outside the country. The analysis examined job search and click data in the 62 countries in which Indeed has job sites. Luxembourg, ranked at No:1, and Austria are the only other EU countries in the top 15 on 72.3% and 18.3% respectively. Oman (51.7%) and Switzerland (40.9%) are second and third after Luxembourg. Five of the top 15, including Ireland, are English-speaking. Indeed's findings show immigration to developed countries has rebounded significantly post-pandemic, fueled in large part by tight labour markets and long-term demographic trends including ageing populations and shrinking local workforces. Searches from abroad for jobs in the EU as a whole, however, remain well below those for jobs in some of the large English-speaking countries. In the UK, Canada and Australia, searches from potential workers located abroad have surpassed their June 2019 levels by 69%, 74% and 141%, respectively. In contrast, searches from abroad for jobs in the EU were recorded at just 5% above their June 2019 levels. The pandemic has had, at most, a transient effect on international worker mobility. In April 2021, at the height of the pandemic, just 1.5% of all clicks on EU jobs came from searchers outside the EU. That share has almost doubled since, rising to 2.8% as of June - an 82% jump that nevertheless pales in comparison to recent gains in non-EU nations. In the case of jobs in the UK, which eased its requirements for non-EU workers after Brexit, the share of searches conducted by those living in other countries rose from 2.2% to 5.5% over the same period, a 146% increase. Amongst other western countries, Australia and Canada have also attracted high shares of foreign jobseekers. A total of 17.2% of job searches for positions in Australia came from outside the country in June and this figure was 10.9% for Canada in the same month. Approximately 3.2% of US job searches came from abroad in June, up from a low of 2.1% in 2020, but still somewhat below the pre-pandemic peak of 4.2% set in 2019. Indeed's research puts Ireland on a 2.6% share of all clicks on overseas jobs by jobseekers in Ukraine. This is ahead of France (1.4%), the UAE (1.2%), Italy (1.2%) and Switzerland (1.1%). The US is the most in-demand country for jobseekers in Ukraine accounting for just over a third of all foreign clicks followed by Canada (25.2%), the UK (15.3%), Germany (9.6%) and the Netherlands (2.7%). In Ireland, personal care & home health is the leading job category and the one with the most significant growth, up 8.2 percentage points from 2019 and accounting for 9.2% of foreign clicks on Irish jobs in the first half of this year. Cleaning and sanitation's share of foreign clicks is up 1.5 percentage points to 2.9% while nursing is up 1.1 percentage points to 2.6%. Software development is the second most popular Irish job category for foreign workers, accounting for 6.4% of all foreign clicks while administrative assistance is third on 6.3%. The majority of clicks on personal care and home health jobs in Ireland come from Nigeria (18.6), South Africa (17.1%) and Zimbabwe (15.4%). For cleaning and sanitation, the majority come from the UK (14.2%), India (12.4%) and Brazil (9.1%). The research shows the US is the most highly favoured country for Ukrainians looking for work abroad. After the Russian invasion in February 2022, many Ukrainians, mainly women and children, left the country. Among those who remained, some are seeking jobs abroad. Almost three-quarters of job...
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has released a new image of the well-known Ring Nebula with unprecedented detail. The new images show intricate details of structures and features, allowing scientists to understand both their chemistry and how they formed. The observations were released today by an international team of scientists that includes Maynooth University's Experimental Physics Lecturer Dr Patrick Kavanagh. Dr Kavanagh led the data reduction and processing of the image taken by a Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), a camera and a spectrograph that sees light in the mid-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum, with wavelengths that are longer than our eyes can see. Formed by a star throwing off its outer layers as it runs out of fuel, the Ring Nebula is an archetypal planetary nebula and is relatively close to Earth at roughly 2,500 light-years away, making it an important object for scientists. Commenting on the images, Dr Patrick Kavanagh, Department of Experimental Physics, said: "There has never been mid-infrared images of the Ring Nebula like this before. The exquisite detail reveals previously unknown features in the molecular halo that tell us this dying star's nebula was likely shaped by an unseen companion star. There simply has not been a telescope capable of seeing these features until JWST." The new images provide unprecedented spatial resolution that shows the intricate details of the filament structure of the inner ring (left) taken by NIRCam (Near-InfraRed Camera) and the concentric features of the outer regions of the nebulae's ring (right) taken by MIRI (Mid-InfraRed Instrument). For context, it is the equivalent of distinguishing the details of a soccer ball at a distance of 550km. The images also provide insight on what the structures comprise and how they evolved. The images show some 20,000 dense globules in the nebula, which are rich in molecular hydrogen. In contrast, the inner region shows very hot gas. The main shell contains a thin ring of enhanced emission from carbon-based molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Approximately ten concentric arcs are located just beyond the outer edge of the main ring. The arcs are thought to originate from the interaction of the central star with a low-mass companion orbiting at a distance comparable to that between the Earth and the dwarf planet Pluto. In this way, nebulae like the Ring Nebula reveal a kind of astronomical archaeology, as astronomers study the nebula to learn about the star that created it. The colourful main ring is composed of gas thrown off by a dying star at the centre of the nebula. This star is on its way to becoming a white dwarf - a very small, dense, and hot body that is the final evolutionary stage for a star like the Sun. The Ring Nebula is one of the most notable objects in our skies. It was discovered in 1779 by astronomers Antoine Darquier de Pellepoix and Charles Messier and was added to the Messier Catalogue. Both astronomers stumbled upon the nebula when trying to follow the path of a comet through the constellation of Lyra, passing very close to the Ring Nebula. These observations were completed as part of the James Webb Space Telescope observing programme GO 1558. Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok a...
Over two thirds (67%) of secondary school students in Ireland are interested in learning more about pursuing a career in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). Everything in STEM starts with an idea, and when students are not considering what career path they might take, they are generating their own ideas, either with friends (51%), in bed (34%) and even in the shower (19%). That's according to a study of 500 secondary school students in Ireland, conducted by BT Ireland to examine their attitudes towards STEM as well as where and how they generate their best ideas. BT Ireland is delighted to announce that applications are now officially open for the 60th BTYSTE, which will take place from January 10 to 13, 2024, in Dublin. With the research revealing that there is an abundance of ideas amongst secondary school students, BT Ireland is encouraging them to turn their creativity into project entries before the deadline on October 02, 2023. The BTYSTE, which annually shines a light on STEM research and innovation, will showcase project entries from students in the categories of Technology, Social and Behavioural Science, Biological and Ecological Science, Chemical, Physical, and Mathematical Science, as well as in a brand-new category being introduced for the 60th BTYSTE, Health and Wellbeing. The Health and Wellbeing category aims to promote research and innovation in areas related to human health, medical advancements, nutrition, exercise, and overall wellbeing. Students who have a project idea in any of these areas are encouraged to apply for one of the leading school STEM exhibitions in Europe. There are over 200 prizes to be won and a prize fund of €50,000 for BTYSTE 2024. These prizes are awarded across all five categories and age groups, including the overall BT Young Scientist & Technologist of the Year Award, worth €7,500, which will see the winners go on to represent Ireland at the prestigious European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS). Ireland has a strong record of taking home the prize for first place at the EUCYS, with 17 wins over the past 33 years. Fear of failure While almost half (48%) have considered a career in STEM, more specifically science (44%), engineering (38%), technology (24%) and mathematics (16%)3, others are held back from exploring it further. Not thinking they are smart enough (33%), a lack of confidence (18%) and not enough information on the benefits of a career in STEM (18%) are among the most common reasons why. The BTYSTE gives entrants more exposure to STEM and the chance to demonstrate their creativity. The event also provides students with an incredible opportunity to further develop critical skills such as collaboration, research and analysis, and problem solving that will be valuable in all walks of life. Secondary school students turn to their parents for career advice (38%), and of the 500 parents of secondary school students that were polled for the BT Ireland study, 78% believe that exposing their children to STEM subjects benefits them, and over 4 in 5 (83%) are likely to recommend a career in STEM to their children. Many students learn more about STEM through the ideas that they generate, and while 63% are confident they can turn their ideas into a reality, 42% fear they will fail. Over half (58%) of parents say their children have admitted to them that they have been nervous / hesitant to share their ideas with their classmates / friends. Over a third (35%) feel their children find it challenging to come up with ideas as they don't know enough about how to turn them into a reality. Six decades of the BTYSTE For 60 years, the BTYSTE has provided incredible opportunities for participants, with many seeing their ideas from the exhibition being turned into a reality. Lots of the alumni have gone on to have successful STEM careers as academics, engineers, scientists, researchers, and entrepreneurs to name just a few, blazing a trail around the world. BT Irelan...
A recent survey conducted by leading recruiter Hays Ireland suggests that three-quarters (75%) of all Irish-based professionals would change jobs for a nine-day working fortnight. Over half (51%) would consider changing roles for a compressed four-day working week, according to the sample size of 1,600 employers and employees. Post-Pandemic, there has been an ongoing discourse relating to the suitability of the traditional nine-to-five workplace and office environment in modern life. In recent months, numerous high-profile employers, including most recently, video-conferencing company Zoom, have transitioned away from remote working in favour of a return to the office. In line with this trend, the research suggests that more than half (56%) of employers anticipate that their staff will be required back in the office more frequently in the next 12 months; 34% expect it to remain unchanged; meanwhile, only 10% believe staff will be required less in the office. Enticing staff back to the office Many employers are providing new incentives to encourage staff to return to the workplace. Nearly half (49%) of all employers are investing in better computer hardware, including additional screens and faster internet connections. 49% of employers are also providing bike storage and shower facilities to make it easier to cycle to work. Other prominent perks include onsite childcare (30%) and subsidised childcare (20%); bring your pet to work policies (25%); paid-for or subsidised lunch catering (51%) and paid-for or subsidised travel (41%). Maureen Lynch, managing director at Hays Ireland, comments: "In recent years, we have seen unprecedented change in how we work and our expectations of the traditional workplace. Much of this change was brought on by Covid restrictions. However, it has since prompted a deeper conversation in relation to the how employers and employees perceive the traditional office environment and the nine-to-five working day. "Our research suggests this conversation is still in its infancy. Employees favour greater autonomy relating to the hours they work and where they work from. Employers, for their part, recognise the many benefits of remote and hybrid working but have also identified certain challenges. "In recent days, Zoom made headlines by calling its staff back to the office, at least on a hybrid basis. However, others have taken a less explicit approach and have looked to attract staff back to the office via incentives including onsite childcare, subsidised meals and travel, and even bring your pet to work policies. "The concept of a four-day working week has gained momentum in the last 12 months. The latest iteration of this concept is the nine-day working fortnight, which would allow employees to take off every second Friday. This is obviously an exciting prospect for many professionals and may be more palatable to employers. However, our research suggests employers and employees are still grappling with what this would look like in practice and which sectors would be most suited to this new way of working. Either way, it is positive that these questions are being asked and that old ways of working are now being challenged." More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Online payment is one of the latest activities to be transformed by smartphone technology, as more and more consumers opt for the convenience of their mobile device to complete transactions. According to a Statista survey from December 2021, 33 percent of respondents said they purchased via the mobile channel every day or week. Donal McGuinnes CEO Prommt believes that smartphone technology still has a greater role to play in business transactions, particularly where risky over-the-phone solutions are being employed. Ronan talks to Donal about Revolut, how smartphones have changed the way we think about payment, payments over the phone, open banking and more. More about Donal McGuiness: Serial entrepreneur Donal McGuinness is CEO of Prommt. He studied Computer Science at DCU and Telecommunications Engineering at DIT and spent the early years of his career in the telecommunications industry. His experience in mobile payments dates to 1999 when he founded his first mobile payments company, ItsMobile. Donal was also a Non-Executive Director of the Irish Internet Association from 2009 to 2011 and a movie distribution business from 2002 to 2020. In 2016 Donal joined a silicon valley startup in the identity verification space called Danal inc, where he set up and grew the global business outside of the USA as General Manager of EMEA until 2019 when the business was acquired by Boku Inc for $112 million USD. Donal joined Prommt as CEO in 2019. He is an innovator and is passionate about payment innovation. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Guest post by Huwaida, Circularise, Head of People & Talent Acquisition Throughout my professional life and due to many factors I was usually amongst the few females in the room, and as I progressed through the career ladder the issue became more acute as I was the only female in the leadership team ; while my role as Head of People is not tech specific I do work in a tech company so the challenges I faced & obstacles I had to overcome can be applicable to women who specifically work in tech. How can women successfully navigate the male-dominated technology industry Navigating the tech industry as a woman comes with its unique set of challenges but it can also be highly rewarding. While recently we see that the tech scene for females is changing ( albeit at a slower pace than expected and hoped for ) there are nonetheless many opportunities and advancements in the field, and while there still exists gender disparities and biases to contend with; as more women are entering the tech world the situation is only bound to improve. From my personal experience I share some tips that have helped me in my journey in navigating a male dominated work landscape: Develop a network of support Build relationships with other professionals in the field that can support , guide and mentor you; Connect with other women in tech through networking events, online communities, and professional organizations. Be your best ambassador No one knows you better than you, so don't hesitate to advocate for yourself and what value you bring to the table. Don't let imposter syndrome or negative perceptions deter you from pursuing your goals. Determination to succeed In order to succeed in the tech world you will need to focus on the following Be assertive - Don't be afraid to speak up and share your ideas. In meetings and discussions, contribute your insights and opinions confidently. Be persistent - Recognize that challenges may arise and success will not come easy, but don't let obstacles deter you from your path and rather use it to your advantage as something to propel you even further. Be resilient - Stay resilient, keep pushing forward, and use setbacks as learning opportunities. Pay it forward Once you reach a position of influence, advocate for inclusive policies and practices that promote more women in tech, ensure that you support younger juniors with guidance and mentorship opportunities. Be hungry for learning The tech world is changing at warp speed so you need to ensure you are continuously improving your technical knowledge by staying up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies and investing in your education and skills. Being confident in your skills will help you overcome stereotypes and biases. Don't be afraid to take risks Don't shy away from new opportunities if they're offered to you even if you think you're not 100% ready and remember if someone offers you an opportunity it's because they see potential in you. Address unconscious bias Unfortunately, gender bias exists in the tech industry. It's crucial to address it when you encounter it. Rather than berate or get defensive it's better to engage & educate colleagues about it as people may not be aware of their biases, and open conversations can lead to positive change. Celebrate your success Women in general tend to understate their achievements and successes so as not to be perceived as arrogant, but there is no reason stopping you from celebrating and acknowledging your achievements: Recognize and celebrate your accomplishments, no matter how small they may seem. Acknowledging your successes will not only boost your confidence and motivation but encourage other women to do the same. On a final note, always remember that being a woman in tech is an asset as you offer a unique viewpoint, and your contributions are essential for the industry's growth and success. Stay true to yourself, and don't be discouraged by any obstacles you may encounter. With perseverance and support, yo...
In its pre-Budget 2024 submission, Digital Business Ireland is calling on the Government to embrace emerging technologies; and position Ireland as a global digital leader Digital Business Ireland (DBI) the country's leading representative body for online businesses, has today published its pre-Budget 2024 submission. The submission, issued to the Department of Finance, urges the Government to use Budget 2024 to capitalise on the opportunity of new and disruptive technologies; and deploy strategic investment to grow the sector. DBI: Budget 2024 must capitalise on opportunity of AI, Web3 Detailed in its submission, the representative body has made a number of recommendations to Government, including: Enhanced Skillnet funding - ringfenced for SME training on Web3, AI, blockchain and ChatGPT Introduction of a digital technology tax credit - qualifying expenditure to include training and upskilling, software development, subcontractor payments Plan and publish a National Web3 Strategy Allocation of funding for the creation of an Immersive Tech Taskforce In order for Ireland to maintain its status as a global digital hub, Budget 2024 must enable businesses to adopt disruptive technologies to remain competitive. As per the European Commission's Digital Economy and Society Index, Ireland ranks fifth out of 27 EU Member States, according to our level of digitalisation. The country's advanced status renders it well placed to lead on the rollout of emerging technologies, such as Web3, AI and ChatGPT - but a robust regulatory framework, coupled with training and upskilling programmes, will enable businesses of all sizes to keep pace. Emerging technologies have gained traction among the broader population - with seminal research published by DBI last month, showing that one of out every ten adults in Ireland has used ChatGPT for work purposes. In addition to these proposals, DBI has further urged the Government to develop a targeted national campaign to drive awareness of forthcoming regulations on digital accessibility. While the websites of public sector bodies are required to be digitally accessible, this mandate will soon be extended to businesses and organisations in the private sector, under the European Accessibility Act, set to come into force in June 2025. As a result, companies across Ireland have just eighteen months to ensure that their websites are fully digitally accessible, or else face legal penalties. Speaking today, Chairperson of Digital Business Ireland, Ashley McDonnell said: "At Digital Business Ireland, we are proud to support a network of over 8,500 businesses of all sizes, and across every sector of the economy. Every business has the capacity to integrate disruptive technologies across their operations; and Ireland has the ability to become a global leader in the rollout of these technologies. That is why, in our pre-Budget 2024 submission, we are calling for the development of a National Strategy for Web3, the development of an Immersive Tech Taskforce and targeted measures to support the growth and adoption of artificial intelligence. Digital technologies have the power to transform the way that we live, work and do business - but it is vital that no one is left behind; websites and digital assets must be accessible to all. Legislation on this is forthcoming - under the European Accessibility Act, private sector businesses based in Ireland have just eighteen months to ensure that their website can be used by all individuals, regardless of ability. DBI is therefore urging the Government to develop a national information campaign, to ensure that businesses are made aware of their legal obligations; and can be supported to build a better experience for every customer". About Digital Business Ireland: Established in 2019, Digital Business Ireland is the voice of the Irish digital commerce sector and the leading representative body for online businesses. Its community extends to 8,500 businesses. The organisation...
The broadband market in Ireland is now flooded with providers all offering a myriad of deals. We know it's hard to find the perfect deal that suits your needs but we're here to help. We've teamed up with Switcher.ie, the free and impartial price comparison and switching service, to find the best broadband deals available every month. Check back regularly to stay informed of the latest deals and offers and visit the Switcher.ie website to order one of these great packages. Best Broadband Deals Looking for broadband only? Pure Telecom's Purely Broadband might be the ideal solution. You'll get unlimited broadband with speeds of up to 100Mb for just €30 per month for the first year. If broadband and landline is what you're after, check out eir's Unlimited Broadband with Talk plan. Priced at just €34.99 per month for 24 months, this plan is available exclusively via Switcher.ie. Offering a 2-year discount, you won't find this deal anywhere else! If you're interested in bundling broadband, landline and TV, eir Unlimited Broadband with TV Plus, Talk plan includes unlimited broadband, unlimited off-peak calls and over 50 TV channels, all for €44.98 per month for 12 months. Plus, you'll get Amazon Prime Video on eir! (If you've come across this article after some of these deals may have expired, check out our main Broadband Deals category page to find the latest offers) More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
In the remote corners of Canada's sweeping landscapes, where ancient forests whisper secrets to the wind and mighty rivers carry the stories of the land, a transformation is unfurling. It's a transformation as delicate as the first snowflake of winter, yet as powerful as the thunderous roar of a waterfall, cascading through time and space. Imagine the gentle hands of an elder, weaving a basket with threads passed down through generations, now guided by the soft glow of a digital screen. Envision the dance of a shaman, his feet kissing the sacred earth, his soul connected to the world through virtual reality. Tradition, in Canada's Indigenous communities, is not a static concept confined to history books. It's a living, breathing entity, a vibrant tapestry woven with the golden threads of heritage and the crimson strands of sacrifice. Within this tapestry lies the urgent call to preserve endangered languages, the innovative embrace of digital storytelling, the entrepreneurial spirit that sparks economic growth, and the creation of virtual bridges that connect communities across vast distances. Now, technology is joining this dance, not as an awkward partner but as a graceful companion. It's an embrace that transcends mere functionality, becoming a symphony that resonates with the heartbeat of a people who have witnessed the seasons of history yet continue to blossom. Indigenous people across Canada are successfully leveraging technology to not only preserve but also modernize their traditional practices, cultural heritage, and communal identities. With the advent of digital technologies, there has been a prominent shift in how these communities record, communicate, and celebrate their unique cultural expressions. This is a journey across digital landscapes where ancient wisdom meets modern innovation, where the echoes of ancestral voices meet the whispers of tomorrow, and where the sacred fire of tradition burns brightly in the heart of a world ever-connected, ever-changing, yet forever touched by the magic that is Canada's Indigenous spirit. Join me as we explore the fusion of tradition with technology, a fusion that promises to shape the future while honoring the past. Preserving Tradition With Technology One of the most significant challenges Indigenous communities across the world face is the loss of traditional languages. According to UNESCO, three out of every four Indigenous languages in Canada are considered "endangered." This represents not only the loss of a language but also the loss of cultural knowledge, oral histories, and traditional practices handed down through generations. Technology has become an ally in the fight against language extinction. Some of the initiatives include the creation of language-learning apps, digital dictionaries, and web platforms where elders can record and share their knowledge in local languages. This application of technology in language conservation allows communities to create accessibility to critical cultural resources fostering cultural understanding and solidarity among each other. Understanding Indigenous Communities in Canada Indigenous communities in Canada are vibrant, diverse, and integral to the nation's cultural fabric. They can be broadly categorized into three distinct groups - First Nations, Inuit, and Métis. Each of these groups, while connected through their shared Indigenous heritage, retains a unique cultural identity, set of traditions, and historical narratives. First Nations First Nations people are the largest of the three Indigenous groups in Canada, comprising over a million individuals belonging to more than 600 distinct bands. These communities are dispersed across the country, occupying territories from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts, reflecting a stunning array of cultural, linguistic, and geographical diversity. Each community possesses its own distinct history, traditions, and languages contributing to the overall richness of Canadian culture. I...
We review this book by Markus Thielen, you can see more about Crypto Titans here. Crypto Titans: How trillions were made and billions lost in the cryptocurrency markets, reviewed This book is topical and up to date. Each section covers events from a long time ago up to the recent events that have occurred. The challenge in reading this book however is that there seems to be little analysis and narrative from the author. The book certainly describes a lot of things, but, after awhile we repeatedly found ourselves tracking back to the beginning of each chapter to see what the context was, and how it related to the information that the author was giving you. The title implies that some people made a lot of money from crypto, and others lost a smaller amount. It would be good to come away with an understanding of who these different parties were, but we are struggling to tell you they were. Time and time again a chapter would begin without a clear statement of what it was planning to discuss, and how it related to this wider narrative. A tough book to read. A second edition could do with pulling all of this valuable research and information into a more coherent book please. More about the book This book explains how the crypto industry started and evolved through four crypto bull and bear markets, and how everything in crypto is ultimately connected. It shows all the main players behind the three-trillion-dollar industry, and how billions of dollars have been lost in the pursuit of crypto gains. If you want to understand why and when crypto prices move up or down, this book is for you. In this book you'll learn: How each of the four crypto bull markets of 2011, 2013, 2017, and 2021 unfolded, the drivers behind them, and what caused prices to correct violently during bear markets How crypto markets naturally progressed, and how everything is therefore related The players involved, and how they have made money - while others have lost large sums. Praise for Crypto Titans "Crypto Titans is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the history of crypto. Markus has done an excellent job covering all the important names and stories that have shaped the crypto industry, consistently hitting the nail on the head with accurate analysis to help readers understand the motivations and personal characteristics. I highly recommend this book to anyone." Jihan Wu, Founder, Bitdeer and Matrixport "The usual challenge with writing a book about the past is finding a balance between a subjective and objective approach, picking favorites or stating cold facts. This book takes the latter approach, allowing readers to construct their own context. It's up to you to make connections from the very early, pre-2017 days, which I found most interesting since I did not witness them personally, to today's state of affairs. Markus's impartial approach in assessing the events is ideally suited for this, given the narrative-driven nature of the crypto world today. I recommend this book to anybody interested in crypto." Evgeny Gaevoy, CEO and Cofounder, Wintermute "Fortunes are won and lost when transformations happen. Bitcoin is transforming the entire economy, and there will be many fortunes won and lost. But the drumbeat continues. Technology always shines in the end. Read this book. Great lessons can be learned." Tim Draper, Founder, Draper Associates "Crypto Titans looks at this era of profound innovation through the lens of crypto pioneers. Markus delivers trail markers, bright dots of history to help steer even the most seasoned guide. Any reader will be left with a clearer view of crypto's future." Marcel Kasumovich, Deputy CIO, Coinbase Asset Management "In this thoroughly researched and perceptive book, Markus has masterfully weaved together a tapestry with all the colorful players and the major events of the nascent crypto industry across both geographies and time. The book is required reading for those who are crypto-curious, new to t...
Guest post by Carl Shallow, Director of Compliance, Risk and Assurance (CRA) at Integrity360 In the digital age, cyber threats lurk around every corner. It's not just large corporations that are at risk; small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are equally vulnerable targets for attack. During the pandemic, many smaller organisations scaled up their usage of digital technologies and online platforms - and, in turn, their cyber security capabilities. Now, as the dust settles on this rapid digitalisation, businesses across the board are finding that their cyber security compliance strategies are not fit for purpose. Compliance in cyber security relates to the rules, guidelines and regulations mandated by national and international bodies around information security. Compliance frameworks provide a structure for cyber security strategies and help businesses to remain compliant with various regulations. Common frameworks in Ireland include the Cyber Security Baseline Standards, ISO (particularly 27001, 27017, and 27032) and GDPR. Compliance can be a distinguishing factor There are many benefits of cyber security compliance for businesses, but a core benefit is data protection. By adhering to compliance guidelines, organisations can ensure a significant reduction in the risk of data breaches. Protecting sensitive information is not just about securing the business, but also about building and maintaining trust with clients. When it comes to boosting trust in an era where data privacy concerns are escalating, customers are more likely to place their trust in businesses that implement stringent cyber security measures and abide by requirements in this area. In a competitive business landscape, cyber security compliance can be a distinguishing factor and potential clients - particularly those conscious about data security, such as businesses operating in the financial services sector - are more likely to choose a business which showcases its compliance over competitors that do not show the same commitment to data protection. Organisations that adopt best practices when it comes to compliance and align these with their specific business and cyber security needs will not only improve security for themselves and their customers, but also stay a step ahead in the fight against cyber threats. Furthermore, compliance standards necessitate regular security audits, promoting a proactive approach to threat management. Regularly evaluating cyber security measures and ensuring that they are being effective can help to identify and mitigate threats before they have a chance to cause significant damage. Data privacy is paramount Meanwhile, failure to comply with cyber security regulations can have significant and far-reaching consequences for businesses. Among the most immediate and impactful are financial penalties, and regulatory bodies often impose hefty fines on organisations that fail to meet the requisite standards. For instance, under GDPR, non-compliant businesses can face fines of up to €20 million or 4% of the company's annual global turnover - whichever is higher.Organisations often only realise that they are non-compliant when they are subject to a breach, which creates additional financial pressure at an already worrying time. Non-compliant businesses can also expect increased scrutiny from these regulatory bodies. This attention often results in stricter regulations and increased audit frequency, creating more work for the business and diverting resources away from other equally essential or business-critical activities like service delivery. Non-compliance can also have legal consequences. Businesses could be subject to lawsuits, especially in the event of a data breach that compromises customer or employee data, and legal proceedings can result in additional and significant financial burdens, as well as reputational damage. In addition, non-compliance and any subsequent data breaches can cause serious disruptions to business ope...
Guest post by Paolo Gallo who discusses leadership ahead of his latest book coming out. Can I ask you a question? What word comes to mind when you think about the best leader you've ever worked with? Just take five seconds to think about it. I confess: I already know what your answer will be. You're thinking of words like Trust, Empathy, Integrity, Listening, Humbleness, Help, Authenticity, Passion, Altruism, Generosity, Energy, Optimism, Motivation. And now I'll confess something else: I've asked this same question at least 200 times to countless teams, students, managers, and employees in companies in 30 different countries. What always strikes me is that no one - I repeat, no one - ever answers that a leader is someone who "doubles profits," or "cuts costs," or "increases share value," or "wrote a book" or "speaks four languages" or "has a degree from such and such university," even an Ivy League. So what's the takeaway? When we think about leadership, our minds and our hearts tell us to stop and reflect on human qualities, before considering any economic or financial outcomes or academic qualifications. But although this might seem plausible, it's also idealistic, if not down-right naïve. Is leadership really forged from an individual's character and personal qualities? A question of leadership with Paolo Gallo To find an answer this question, let's look at various disciplines such as psychology, history, and management, in addition to empirical evidence from academia. The psychologist Daniel Goleman, who rose to fame after the publication of his book Emotional Intelligence, wrote a piece for the Harvard Business Review that became a classic: What Makes a Leader? In this article, he tells us that a person's IQ and technical skills are important, but emotional intelligence is the true sine qua non of leadership. As a reminder, the five components of emotion intelligence are self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. The historian Doris Kearns Goodwin has written the biographies of five US presidents. Her latest book, published in 2018, is entitled Leadership in Turbulent Times. In it she compares different presidents who held office during periods of conflict, and concludes that leaders need humility, empathy, self-control and self-confidence, These are personality traits that the author finds in the best US presidents, such as Abraham Lincoln. But remember, self-confidence must be understood as a positive approach toward listening to "strong" people who don't think like we do, not "I'm the boss, so I'm always right." That's called narcissism, something entirely different, light years away from Leadership. If we think about management, the evidence is overwhelming. To cite the father of management Peter Drucker: "A manager does things right; a leader does the right thing." This insightful assertion helps us understand the essential role of Leaders, people who never lose their moral compass, or the ethical awareness that underpins their choices. James J. Heckman and Tim Kautz, Professors of Economics at the University of Chicago, conducted research published in 2012 to ascertain the correlation between soft skills and success. In their study, entitled Hard Evidence on Soft Skills, the two authors write that soft skills can predict and produce personal and professional success. The MIT Sloan School of Management recently proposed a different definition. Instead of calling them soft skills, let's call them smart skills, based on a book by Loredana Padurean. Guess what smart skills are? Adaptability, emotional maturity, humility, listening, multiple perspectives, productive inclusion, validation. In my seminars I always ask participants to share a concrete example of leadership that they experienced. Their stories are consistently about someone who did something for them, without ulterior motives, when they found themselves facing personal or professional challenges. A Leader is someone who helps...
The DDI Podcast aims to challenge the misconceptions of the data centre and digital infrastructure sectors, sharing the stories of the people and the businesses transforming life as we know it through tech. Key themes will include AI, data centres and the cloud, energy security, renewables and sustainability, the skills shortage and STEM. Schneider Electric New Podcast to Demystify Digital Infrastructure Schneider Electric, the global leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, has today launched the DDI Podcast - a brand new podcast platform which aims to challenge and demystify the misconceptions surrounding the digital infrastructure sector, and share key insights from the people and the businesses transforming life as we know it through tech. Hosted by Mark Yeeles, VP Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric UK and Ireland, the DDI Podcast aims to drive a greater understanding of the leading role that digital infrastructure plays in the digital economy and bridge the gap between businesses and consumers. Moreover, by increasing awareness of how technologies support our everyday lives and by telling the stories of the people working within the sector, the company aims to accelerate opportunities to engage those pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), address the talent shortage, and help encourage a more diverse workforce. Launching today, the first episode features guest Tom Gorman, Senior Operations Director, EMEA, Digital Realty, and explores Ireland as a tech hub, the local energy and sustainability challenges, and the role of data centres in the digital economy. Across the series, guests will also be covering key topics including the global impact of artificial intelligence (AI), data centres, networks, and the cloud; the energy crisis, renewables, and sustainability; the skills shortage and early talent. "I'm proud to introduce a new podcast platform as we begin to demystify some of the key questions at the heart of a sector which impacts so many, globally," said Mark Yeeles, Vice President, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric, UK and Ireland. "Through the DDI Podcast and our guests, I hope we can not only inform and educate our listeners but help them understand the role of this critical industry, and showcase the achievements of ogranisations who are leading the charge in sustainability and ultimately, the mission to reach net zero." "Data centres are leading the charge in terms of innovation and embracing new technologies," said Tom Gorman, Senior Director of Operations, EMEA, Digital Realty. "One of the biggest challenges we face is educating people and raising awareness of the industry and how it underpins so much of our everyday lives. I was delighted to be the inaugural guest on the DDI podcast talking to Mark about the sector - discussing some of the key topics, which I hope will encourage others to want to learn more." The DDI Podcast is available to download and stream from all major podcast platforms. To listen to the first episode or learn more, visit the website. About Schneider Electric Schneider's purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. We call this Life Is On. Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency. We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, end-point to cloud connecting products, controls, software and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries. We are the most local of global companies. We are advocates of open standards and partnership ecosystems that are passionate about our shared Meaningful Purpose, Inclusive and Empowered values. www.se.com Related resources: The DDI Podcast - Demistifying Digital Infrastructure Listen on Spotify Listen on Amazon Music Lis...
As the cost of living crisis worsens and back to school season begins, financial pressures continue to increase for parents. Refurbed, Europe's fastest growing and Ireland's leading online marketplace for refurbished electrical devices, has released the results of its nationwide sentiment survey. The survey was conducted on over 500 parents across Ireland, looking at the pressure to purchase electronic devices this back to school season, the financial burden that goes along with this, as well as the likelihood of buying refurbished electronic devices. Highlighted below are some of the key insights. Electronic devices are becoming a necessity in schools. As the new generation of digital natives attend school and third level institutions, it is becoming increasingly clear that the digitisation of education centres is becoming more and more prevalent. A significant portion of parents, 75%, indicated that using electronic devices is necessary for their children in the context of education. On the other hand, only 25% expressed a contrary view. When asked about their feelings regarding owning electronic devices for education, 28% of respondents reported feeling a lot of pressure, while 33% experienced a little bit of pressure. 31% held a neutral stance, 5% felt less pressure, and 3% felt a lot less pressure. This is up 10% since 2021; a similar survey conducted by refurbed in 2021 found just 51% of parents were under pressure to provide electronics for their children, versus today's 61%. The financial burden of these purchases is high, particularly as the cost of living crisis persists. The annual ritual of preparing for a new academic year brings with it a myriad of expenses, from textbooks and stationery to uniforms, and now evidently: electronic devices. A substantial 26% of parents disclosed that they seek financial aid in order to purchase electronic devices for education. Furthermore, 30% strongly agreed that purchasing such devices leads to financial stress or burden, with 45% somewhat agreeing and 16% having a neutral standpoint. However, the survey revealed that budget allocations for electronic devices varied considerably. A breakdown of responses showed that 21% were willing to spend between €101 to €200, 29% between €201 to €300, 16% between €301 to €400, 18% between €401 to €500, and 15% were open to spending €501 or more. This is significantly higher when compared to a similar survey conducted by refurbed in 2021 where 65% of parents were spending between €100 and €300 on devices in the return to school. With the spiralling cost of food and persistently high energy prices putting enormous strain on Irish families, this time is proving to be a formidable challenge as they grapple with striking a balance between their child's educational needs and the broader realities of the cost of living crisis. From housing and utilities to groceries and transportation, families across the nation are confronted with a complex web of expenditures that influence their financial choices. Sustainability and Purchase Intent: When asked about their preferred condition of electronic devices for education, 63% of parents indicated a preference for new devices, while 27% considered refurbished devices, and 10% favoured secondhand options. However, once educated on the cost savings of refurbished technology, an encouraging 67% of respondents showed a likelihood to purchase refurbished electronic devices, with 34% being very likely and an equal percentage being likely. In contrast, only 14% expressed some level of hesitation, including 9% who stated being unlikely and 5% who deemed it very unlikely. Respondents weighed-up the importance of various aspects when choosing where to purchase refurbished electronic devices. Customer service, a wide product range, warranty offerings, and online ratings were deemed most crucial. Conversely, aspects like express delivery, sustainability policies, and retailer location held less significance. These r...
Live since Summer 2022, Nevo is a one-stop destination for all things to do with electric mobility. Their ambition is to educate, advise and connect consumers and businesses with the leading suppliers and industry experts - making the transition to electric simple and painless. Since its launch Nevo has become increasingly popular, in a rapidly growing market where (year to date to end July 2023) c.26% of all new cars registered are a plug in of some variety (full electric or plug-in). All expectations are that as more new electric models come to the market this upward trend in sales will only go one way. Derek Reilly of Nevo states that electric vehicles have definitely gone mainstream and as with most new products, the need to have a platform where consumers can get objective advice and learn about electric motors is vital. "We are delighted to say Nevo is filling that knowledge gap. We are finding that the consumers that are coming to Nevo are at different stages of their purchasing journey. "Our dedicated help and advice section on the website empowers customers to learn all about electric vehicles before they make the switch, with relevant video reviews and articles. With a customer focus at our core the aim of Nevo is to make the transition to electric as seamless as possible for everyone." Mick Comerford Director of Direct Retail at AXA commented "As the leading motor vehicle insurer in the market it is great to see a site like Nevo offer consumers invaluable advice in such a seamless manner. The reception to the site has been incredibly positive and we at AXA are delighted to be part of Irish consumers journey to all things electric." AXA sees Nevo helping it on two fronts - providing access to a growing market of electric vehicle drivers as well as helping it progress its own sustainability agenda. Via the Nevo platform, motorists can seamlessly purchase insurance for their electric vehicle, availing of fire and theft cover for their battery and cable, accidental damage cover for their battery, and up to €650 for accidental damage to their wall charger. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Vodafone Ireland have installed the latest 5G Standalone (SA) Mobile Private Network (MPN) technology for the Irish rugby team, to supply the fastest and most reliable in-play analytics possible, ahead of the World Cup in France next month. Previously, the team relied on third party best-effort connectivity, in the form of standard WiFi, across stadiums and training facilities both at home and away. Now giving instant feedback on on-field plays and tactics, this 5G MPN connectivity and artificial intelligence technology, provided in partnership with Ericsson, ensures faster download and upload speeds and lower latency, which can be utilised for real-time performance analysis and decisions on the pitch. Using this reliable connectivity, up to 8 high-resolution video streams are captured by multiple cameras and a 5G connected drone and analysed in real-time to collate clear data on player and team performance. In simple terms, it improves the ability to maximise the time on pitch where the smallest tweak to a running line or defensive position, can have a significant impact on the weekend's game. Vodafone Ireland and Ericsson have worked closely with the IRFU and their Head of Analytics and Innovation, Vinny Hammond and his analysis team of John Buckley, Alan Walsh and Jack Hannon. This collaboration has led to a clear understanding of the specific performance outcomes sought by such an elite sports team and has supported the design and installation of the Ericsson Private 5G solution, which now enables the management team, coaches and players to feel the real benefit of instant feedback to enhance the ability to make decisions on the fly. The new solution has been tested at the Irish team's High Performance Centre and will be brought to France in a bespoke 5G Connected Van for the World Cup. Vodafone Ireland Network Director, Sheila Kavanagh says: "At Vodafone, we are so proud of our support for the Irish Rugby team, so we're delighted to bring further value through the delivery of this cutting-edge technology solution. Performance analysis has experienced massive changes in the past couple of decades. What started with pen and paper-based methods for collecting notational data has evolved to using cutting-edge computer-based technologies and artificial intelligence to collect ever increasing amounts of real-time information. Distilling and delivering this data back to the team at top speed requires a reliable, secure and scalable connectivity solution. "This 5G MPN, drone and additional technology will support Vinny Hammond and his analytics team to quickly breakdown and organise unstructured data and present it back in a clear manner to other coaching staff and management - helping them understand the performance of the plays and overall team, without delay. It's fantastic to see it in use in the HPC, but we're also really excited to support the team with 5G connectivity throughout their time at the World Cup in France with our fully kitted Connected Van. Our 5G MPN technology is a demonstration of how technology and connectivity innovation can enhance the business of sport and the performance of teams, bringing added layers of data and analysis to coaches, management, and their players." IRFU Head of Analytics and Innovation, Vinny Hammond says: "So much of our roles revolve around moving large quantities of data so we can analyse performance to understand what is working and what is not. Vodafone's 5G MPN stretches the boundaries of what we can do in terms of how quickly we can analyse multiple high-resolution cameras and drone footage which ultimately informs our decision making. The work John and Alan have done on this project in conjunction with Vodafone and Ericson has enabled us to push new boundaries at this year's RWC. Being on our own 5G network also gives us that level of security and reliability that we really need, and we'll have the added benefit of that connectivity with our 5G Connected Van, linking back to...
NomadÉire takes place in Tralee, Ireland: 28-31 August NomadÉire is excited to announce the launch of the first Irish Digital Nomad Conference in Tralee, set to take place at the end of August. This ground-breaking event not only celebrates the digital nomad lifestyle but also highlights Ireland's potential as a thriving hub for remote work. With a special focus on rural development and sustainability, NomadÉire aims to position Ireland as an attractive destination for digital nomads seeking a unique blend of professional growth and a sustainable lifestyle. NomadÉire Irish Digital Nomad Conference Tralee As digital nomadism continues to gain popularity, Ireland stands out as an ideal location due to its rich cultural heritage, stunning landscapes, and vibrant local communities. Tralee, situated on Ireland's west coast, offers the perfect setting for the conference, with its breath-taking scenery, friendly atmosphere, and access to amenities that cater to digital nomads. At the core of NomadÉire's mission is the promotion of rural development and sustainability. Ireland's rural areas possess untapped potential, offering a refreshing change of scenery from bustling urban environments. By showcasing the opportunities available in rural Ireland, NomadÉire aims to bridge the gap between digital nomads and local communities, fostering mutual growth and development. The Digital Nomad Conference will feature a line-up of renowned speakers, industry experts, and successful entrepreneurs who will share their insights and experiences in the realm of remote work. Participants will gain valuable knowledge, practical skills, and inspiration to thrive as digital nomads while contributing to the local economy and community development. In line with NomadÉire's commitment to sustainability, the conference will highlight eco-friendly practices and encourage attendees to adopt sustainable habits in their digital nomad journeys. From reducing carbon footprints to supporting local businesses, the conference aims to promote responsible and mindful living while embracing the freedom of remote work. "We are delighted to launch the first Digital Nomad Conference in Tralee, emphasizing Ireland's potential as a digital nomad hub," said Danijela Maleti?, Founder at Nomad Hub Ireland. "Our focus on rural development and sustainability reflects our belief in the transformative power of remote work and its positive impact on local communities. We invite digital nomads, entrepreneurs, and remote workers from Ireland and beyond to join us in this remarkable event and explore the opportunities that rural Ireland offers." NomadÉire invites members of the media to discover and share the compelling stories of digital nomads, the benefits of remote work, and the sustainable rural development movement. Journalists, bloggers, and influencers are encouraged to attend the conference and showcase the dynamic landscape of remote work in Ireland. Please contact us in advance to register for your full-access media pass on info@nomadeire.com. For press inquiries, interview requests, or media passes, please contact: Danijela Maleti?, Founder, Nomad Hub For more information about the NomadÉire Digital Nomad Conference, please visit the conference website:/ About NomadÉire: NomadÉire, subsidiary of Nomad Hub Ireland, is a digital nomad hub and a leading platform dedicated to supporting and empowering digital nomads, remote workers and freelancers, in Ireland. Through events, resources, and a vibrant community, NomadÉire aims to connect individuals, provide valuable insights, and promote the benefits of location independence while fostering rural development and sustainability See more breaking stories here.
In the booming world of online shopping, it's more important than ever for businesses to find ways to make their customers' online experience top-notch. One powerful way to do this is by using conversational AI. By tapping into this cutting-edge technology, eCommerce companies can make shopping even better for customers, get them more interested, and sell more. In this blog, we will give you the lowdown on conversational AI chatbots and virtual assistants, discussing the benefits of using them. Chatbot vs. Virtual Assistants Chatbots A chatbot is a computer program that talks to people using language skills learned by using machine learning. Chatbots are designed to act as humans, understanding what people ask and giving answers. They can use set responses or learn from data to answer. However, chatbots might not handle tough or unexpected questions very well, even though they are good at simple ones. Virtual Assistants AI virtual assistants are more advanced and can handle more complex questions and tasks. They use machine learning to figure out what people want, offering more personalized ideas and solutions based on what they know about the person. Siri and Alexa are two of the popular virtual assistants. A new such system, known as ChatGPT, could make a future replacement for Google. These assistants work well with both text and speech. This can help businesses make customers happier by giving them personal and useful insights. AI virtual assistants are good at understanding tricky questions as well. In a nutshell, chatbots are simpler and handle basic tasks, while virtual assistants are smarter and handle more complex things, making them super helpful for customers and businesses alike. Benefits of Conversational AI in eCommerce 24/7 Availability Conversational AI shines in its ability to serve customers anytime, day or night. This means quicker problem-solving and a better customer journey. Chatbots can reduce frustration and customer churn by providing support beyond regular business hours. Research shows that rapid responses matter a lot to customers seeking help. eCommerce companies can ensure round-the-clock assistance with conversational AI. Their round-the-clock availability makes Chatbots and similar marketing platforms act as great eCommerce App marketing solutions. Personalization In the competitive business world, personalization is a game changer. The more you tailor your offerings, the more customers you attract. Conversational AI empowers eCommerce businesses to create a personalized shopping experience. Chatbots are smart conversational AI helpers that can offer customized recommendations, exclusive deals, and assistance based on our behavior and preferences. For example, if someone usually buys skincare products, a chatbot could suggest new skincare products they might like. It can even remind customers of related items they were interested in before. This builds stronger customer-company relationships, boosting loyalty and sales. Cost Savings Conversational AI can be a cost-saving tool by automating repetitive customer support tasks. This can reduce labor tasks, as you will not need as many human support agents. Moreover, chatbots can handle routine queries simultaneously, avoiding the need for extra staff during peak times. With reliable and precise customer service, the risk of human errors and the associated costs also diminish. Enhanced Customer Feedback Conversational AI takes customer feedback to the next level, directly improving satisfaction. Chatbots can gather valuable data on product quality, user experience, and overall customer satisfaction. This data can then be used to refine products, improve website usability, and enhance service quality. By gathering data insights, eCommerce businesses can spot areas to improve and make informed decisions that boost the shopping experience, ultimately leading to increased sales. Improved Customer Retention Retaining customers in eCommerce is no small ...
Last week, Irish RegTech provider ViClarity, launched REGTECH 2023, a dedicated event for the financial services industry covering the latest from the financial services regulatory and tech climate. The event will be held at the Sandmount Hotel Dublin on October 5th from 8.30 am to 12 noon. This year is the second year of the event and the first post-COVID. REGTECH 2023 is open to organisations across the financial industry, including Banks, Funds/Asset Managers, Insurance Organisations, Credit Unions and FinTech organisations. REGTECH 2023 will cover the latest in the Regulatory and Tech landscape impacting Financial Services organisations in Ireland, The UK and beyond. There is no question that the Financial Sector is changing at a rapid pace with the introduction of new regulatory obligations across all sectors of the industry. The event will explore these regulatory obligations along with looking at the latest technology solutions that innovative Financial Services organisations have implemented to enable them to manage regulatory requirements. The event is free to attend, and registration is available here. The full agenda will be released in the coming weeks. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Irish are 4th in the world in terms of cybersecurity and internet privacy knowledge, according to new research by the cybersecurity company NordVPN. They performed best in recognizing various online risks and how to avoid them (72%), and worst in questions related to practices and tools to stay safe online (51%). The annual National Privacy Test (NPT) is a global survey aimed to evaluate people's cybersecurity, online privacy awareness, and educate the general public about cyber threats and the importance of data and information security in the digital age. It gathered 26,174 responses from 175 countries this year. "By engaging in the National Privacy Test, we aim to cultivate a community of privacy-conscious individuals who actively champion data protection. This initiative aligns with our vision to build a safer, more resilient digital landscape for now and future generations," says Marijus Briedis, chief technology officer (CTO) at NordVPN. Here are the countries in the top 3 spots with the best internet privacy and cybersecurity awareness: Poland and Singapore (64/100) Germany and the United States (63/100) The United Kingdom, Austria, and Portugal (62/100) However, results show that the world's online privacy and cybersecurity awareness is declining every year. "With the growing complexity of online threats, it is not that surprising that the world's online privacy and cybersecurity awareness has been on the decline. Paradoxically, the more security solutions there are out there, the worse the results get every year. Raising awareness about the potential risks and educating users about best practices should be at the forefront of our efforts," says Marijus Briedis, CTO at NordVPN. Irish create strong passwords but fail with tools that protect digital privacy Research shows that Irish people are good at creating strong passwords (96%), and they know what kind of sensitive data they should avoid sharing on social media (93%). They also know how to deal with suspicious streaming service offers (92%), or the risks associated with saving their credit card details on their browser (88%). However, only 4% of Irish people are knowledgeable about online tools that protect digital privacy, and only one out of 10 (11% each) know what data ISPs collect as part of the metadata as well as how to secure their home Wi-Fi network. It seems that the "Joan is Awful" episode from Netflix's show Black Mirror didn't have the intended effect - only a third of Irish know the importance of reading terms of service for apps and online services. Among the Irish people, 1% of them are Cyber Wanderers (barely know anything about internet privacy and cybersecurity), while 13% scored 75-100 points and were identified as knowledgeable Cyber Stars. How have Irish' results changed since 2021? Compared to 2021, Irish respondents know better what they should avoid sharing on social networks and the importance of reading terms of service. However, like in several other countries, fewer participants are aware of Facebook's ability to collect data on people who don't have Facebook (67% in 2021 vs. 57% in 2023). French are weak in privacy awareness, while Germans - 2nd best As for other European countries, France has the third-weakest privacy awareness score and one of the weakest daily digital life scores. Its total NPT score is 59% compared to 61% of Ireland. Also, German participants have the second-highest NPT score (63%) and share second place on the podium with the US. It's worth adding that Germans are also highly aware of various digital privacy issues, achieving the second-best privacy awareness score with Finland. Interesting to note that British participants have the third-highest National Privacy Test score and share third place on the podium with Portugal and Austria. Compared to other markets, a higher proportion of British participants can identify a phishing website, however, They allow apps to access too much information, just like Americans...
A group of (ham) radio amateurs from across the Mid-West will gather at Loop Head Lighthouse Experience in County Clare this weekend to use Morse Code and SSB (Single Sideband) Radio to contact lighthouses and lightships throughout the world. The Limerick Clare Radio Amateur Club will broadcast non-stop for 48 hours from the West Clare lighthouse this Saturday and Sunday as part of 26th annual International Lighthouse / Lightship Weekend (ILLW) In previous years, the Club has successfully contacted other radio amateurs in Brazil, Australia, Tonga, French Guiana, Asiatic Russia, Ecuador, The Azores and The US Virgin Islands. The group has also attempted to communicate with its twin club in South Jersey using Earth-Moon-Earth communication, also known as "moon bounce". First developed by the US military after World War Two, the radio communications technique involves radio waves travelling from one transmitter to another using the Moon as a reflector. During this weekend's broadcast, visitors to the lighthouse will be able to listen into communications with some of the 500 lighthouses and lightships in over 40 countries that will be activated by amateur radio enthusiasts. Leonard Cleary, Director of Tourism Development and West Clare Municipal District, Clare County Council, said, "We are very much looking forward to hosting the Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club whose members will wind back the clock at Loop Head Lighthouse Experience when they attempt to communicate via radio with hundreds of other radio clubs across the globe." Joe Ryan, Secretary of the Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club, commented, "Loop Head Lighthouse is particularly suitable for long distance radio communication attempts due to its isolated location on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean and the lack of radio interference in the general area. A special QSL Card (confirmation of communication) has been designed to mark the event. The club will operate two stations, one of which will be at the entrance to the Lighthouse so members of the public can listen to some of the transmissions." He added, "We are very grateful to all of the staff of Clare County Council and the Commissioners of Irish Lights for their help in planning this event and for allowing us to use the grounds as part of the International Lighthouse and Lightships Weekend." Loop Head Lighthouse Experience is one of 17 Great Lighthouses of Ireland, an all-island tourism initiative of Irish Lights. Located at the mouth of the Shannon Estuary with its origins dating back to the 1670s, the lighthouse was first opened to visitors in 2011 and has since become one of West Clare's most popular attractions. The lighthouse also is one of two Signature Discovery Points in County Clare along the route of the Wild Atlantic Way. See www.illw.net for more information on the International Lighthouse and Lightships Weekend. For more information about the Limerick Clare Amateur Radio Club, visit www.limerickclareamateurradioclub.ie More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Dell has announced the introduction of the new Dell 24 Touch USB-C Hub Monitor (P2424HT), the world's first 23.8-inch touch monitor with ethernet connectivity, so that users never have to worry about unstable network connections again. This new monitor is designed to deliver a clutter-free, interactive experience that doubles as a productivity hub - regardless of whether it is being used in bustling retail environments to efficient warehousing setups, and from the comfort of home or at the heart of the office. Intuitive Experience Users will enjoy interactivity with up to 10-point touch, meaning you can easily annotate, zoom, flick, swipe, drag, pinch and tap with up to ten fingers on the screen at the same time. And do all this while enjoying consistent, vibrant colours with 99% sRGB across a wide viewing angle enabled by IPS technology. Furthermore, the ComfortView Plus feature helps reduce potentially harmful blue light emissions without compromising true-to-life colours. Purposeful Design: The touch screen monitor isn't much without an ergonomic form. This new monitor features an articulating stand design that allows users to seamlessly transition it from a standard desktop monitor to a downward 60-degree angle touch orientation for a more comfortable touch position. It also offers height adjustment, tilt, swivel, and slant functionality so users can tailor the position of the screen to their liking for the task at hand, while the protective cushions on the bottom edge protect against bumps when the stand is fully compressed. Easy & Comprehensive Connectivity: Single cable USB-C connectivity offers up to 90W power delivery, while RJ45 provides stable wired Ethernet connectivity. Two quick-access USB ports have been moved to the side of the display so users have quick and easy connections to accessories, and this can also be covered to maintain a sleek look when not in use. Rounding out this excellent productivity hub, the display also includes built-in HDMI and DisplayPort. This monitor is designed with the environment in mind, it comes in 85% PCR (Post-consumer Recyclable) plastic and is ENERGY STAR, TCO Certified Edge and EPEAT Gold certified3, reinforcing Dell's commitment to sustainability. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Are you out of contract or looking for a better deal for your mobile phone? If so, there are some great SIM Only deals available in Ireland right now with huge savings to be made over long contract plans. We've teamed up with Switcher.ie, the free and impartial price comparison and switching service, to find the best SIM Only deals available every month. Check back regularly to stay informed of the latest deals and offers, and visit the Switcher.ie website to order one of these great packages. Cheapest Bill Pay SIM Only Plans Clear Mobile offers unlimited minutes, texts and data all for just €14.99 per month on a 30-day rolling bill-pay contract. Plus, get your first month free! For a limited time only, when you join Clear Mobile from eir, GoMo, Three, Tesco Mobile or 48, you can avail of a discounted monthly cost of €12.99. eir's connect -30 Day SIMO plan is 5G ready and costs just €14.99 per month for 12 months all on a 30-day rolling bill-pay contract. This deal includes unlimited calls, texts and data. If you're an existing eir broadband customer, you can sign up to this plan for the discounted price of €9.99 per month for 12 months. GoMo's SIM-only Go More plan offers unlimited minutes, texts and data. This SIM-only deal costs just €14.99 per month on a 30-day rolling bill-pay contract. If you don't want to commit to a monthly bill, 48 offers a flexible option. Their SIM-Only prepay plan offers all calls, texts and data for only €6.50 per month for three months, €12.99 per month after that. (If you've come across this article after some of these deals may have expired, check out our main SIM Only category page to find the latest offers) More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Ukrainian-Portuguese startup HotBall aims to reduce inequality and make entrepreneurial knowledge more affordable by launching an AI consultant that helps create a comprehensive business plan in minutes. The team believes that students, aspiring founders, and small businesses will benefit from this tool. "We can see the challenges faced by many entrepreneurs when it comes to expensive and time-consuming business education, consulting, and incubation services. We believe that everyone should have equal opportunities to succeed, regardless of their background or available resources. We named the product HotBall - in some sense, that is the way a modern team works, and that is how we want people to use the product - rapidly exchanging ideas and experimenting often," says Maksym Nagara, the CEO of HotBall and a former CFO with 10 years of experience in business strategy consulting. Started in February 2023 and with an MVP released by May 2023, the service combines the expertise of strategy consulting with the power of OpenAI technology. At the current stage of the product, a user can get a basic business plan by answering a few questions on the website. The founders encourage users to take the necessary time to reflect and provide comprehensive information when answering the questions. It is advised that the more detailed the answers are, the more accurate and beneficial the results will be in the user's interaction with the AI. At the moment, HotBall can generate a name, mission, value prop, and business model from an idea. Additionally, there is a workspace where a user can work on several projects and export results in PDF format. Also, a library with startup ideation frameworks is available on the website, as well as examples of business plans from successful companies. The feature of posting tailored questions will be released soon. An LLM trained on startup consulting cases will be able to conduct in-depth interviews, perform cause-effect analysis, conduct online marketing research, and generate clarifying questions about clients' businesses in real-time. The AI will guide entrepreneurs to a viable product-market fit by providing research, financial planning, a product strategy, and a step-by-step go-to-market plan. The team's research, based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, shows that in the EU and USA combined, there are 70 million people engaged in early-stage entrepreneurial activity, making for a large market of potential project users. This vast market represents a significant opportunity for potential users of the project. About HotBall: Mission: Through the utilization of LLMs, the team's vision is to create an inclusive platform that empowers entrepreneurs of all backgrounds by enabling them to access valuable insights and guidance that were previously limited to a select few. The team believes that using AI technology reduces financial risks, enabling entrepreneurs to allocate their resources more effectively, ultimately saving them time and money while helping them achieve their goals. Status: As of the end of July, the startup has gained traction with more than 1100 registered users, with 0 marketing budget spent. The project is seeking pre-seed investments. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Ireland's failure to implement policies that facilitate so-called hybrid connections places unnecessary costs and delays on renewable providers. This warning comes from the Irish Solar Energy Association (ISEA) who want new policies to be expedited so they are implemented as soon as possible to help achieve the ambitious targets of the latest Climate Action Plan. A hybrid connection is where more than one source of energy or storage is connected to the national grid on a single site. These are currently not permitted in Ireland, meaning that in sites where solar and storage or solar and wind are present together, there is a need for two separate connections. Each grid connection requires the construction of physical infrastructure with the associated costs, planning requirements and time. While consultations are taking place in regard to increasing the over install limit of connection capacities and an additional consultation is expected to take place in regards to multiple legal entities behind connection points, there is a third, and more important topic, the dynamic sharing of MECs, that needs to be addressed urgently if we are to capitalise on the benefits of updating these policies for consumers and renewable providers. Speaking about the need for new policies in this area ISEA CEO Conall Bolger said "We have been talking about hybrid sites for nearly a decade, with no output evident aside from on-going consultation processes. We have examples of locations that have two buildings side by side performing duplicate functions. This is extremely wasteful, increases the cost to energy providers and ultimately to consumers. "There has been a general recognition amongst policymakers that change is required for several years." But according to Bolger there has been very little action. "The 2019 Climate Action Plan committed to putting the right policies in place by Q3 2020. The latest iteration of Climate Action Plan now makes that same commitment but for Q4 2023. Despite an unexplained 39-month delay, the industry isn't overly confident that we will see much movement this year." ISEA now want the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) to make a decision. "It feels as if the regulator isn't focused on the big picture in relation to what needs to be done to expedite the updating of these dated policies with their lack of attention on the dynamic sharing of the maximum export capacity (MEC) by technologies behind the same connection an example of this. If adopted, this will allow for greater flexibility and variety in what can be achieved at hybrid connection points. We need to radically accelerate our deployment of renewables and hybrid connections will help keep costs for consumers lower and ensure faster implementation. "If we were to place a solar farm on every renewable site already connected to the grid, we could ramp up our delivery of green power while minimising the construction of new network. Everyone knows what is required, so let us put that in place now, and not wait until the end of the year." Concluding Conall Bolger, CEO of ISEA said "We are in a climate crisis, everyone agrees that renewables are one of the most important solutions. We need the triumvirate of solar, storage and wind working together to combat Ireland's reliance on fossil fuels. Allowing hybrid connections facilitates this in an efficient manner." See more stories here.
This Thursday the 17th of August, Patch, the youth accelerator supported by Stripe, NDRC, and Dogpatch Labs has its latest demo day. To find out more about this Ronan recently sat down with Jack O'Regan Kenny, the Managing Director of Patch. Jack talks about his background, what Patch does, the current Patch program, AI, Patch demo day and more. About Patch: Patch is a 7-week summer accelerator programme for 16-21-year-olds. The non-profit programme is supported by Stripe, NDRC, and Dogpatch Labs, and is dedicated to providing an environment that nurtures innovation, social entrepreneurship, and creativity for Ireland's brightest young adults. It also provides them with the guidance and leadership required to take their ideas to the next level. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
INFOMAR (Integrated Mapping for the Sustainable Development of Ireland's Marine Resource) has launched the Blue Scale Map Series, a collection of 18 high-resolution bathymetric maps of Ireland's coastal waters. Developed by a dedicated team of hydrographers, data processors and cartographers, the maps highlight the topography of the coast in unprecedented detail. In 2006, the INFOMAR programme was established and is currently one of the world's largest and leading seabed mapping programmes. The programme, funded by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, is a joint venture by the Marine Institute and Geological Survey Ireland and aims to map Ireland's seabed and deliver a comprehensive baseline bathymetry dataset to underpin the future management of Ireland's marine resources. Ireland's coastline is 3,171km in length and boasts some of the most unique & dynamic environments in Europe. This new Blue Scale Map Series is the culmination of over a decade of work and highlights the intricate landscapes that lie beneath the waves. Each map is carefully drawn to include the latest high-resolution INFOMAR bathymetry data. Starting this week and for the next 18 weeks, INFOMAR will be releasing a new map of a different section of the Irish coastline. As with all INFOMAR data, these high-resolution maps are available for all to download for free. The first in the series is the bluescale bathymetric map of Galway Bay. Galway Bay (Cuan na Gallimhe) is on the west coast of Ireland, between the counties of Galway to the north and Clare to the south. The bay is approximately 50 km long from Galway City in the northeast to the Aran Islands at the entrance to the bay in the west. There are numerous small islands within the bay of glacial origin in the inner bay and low-lying granite in Connemara to the northwest. The karst limestone hills of the Burren form the southern boundary of the bay. The coastal parts of Galway Bay have been designated a Special Area of Conservation. This is because of the wide range of important habitat types which include intertidal mud and sandflats, other littoral habitats, coastal lagoons, saltmarshes, turloughs, vegetated cliffs, calcareous grassland and limestone pavements. Galway Bay offers habitat to common seals and otters and is an important ornithological site for seabirds, waders and waterfowl. INFOMAR is making all 18 maps available for free to the public to download in high-resolution JPEG format. Follow the journey each week as a new map is released on the INFOMAR website, and join the conversation on Twitter, Instagram & Facebook. INFOMAR Blue Scale Series release dates: Friday 11th August: Galway Bay (Galway) Friday 25th August: Loop Head (Clare) Friday 1st September: Tralee Bay (Kerry) Friday 8th September: Dingle Peninsula (Kerry) Friday 15th September: Iveragh Peninsula (Kerry) Friday 22nd September: Bantry Bay (Cork) Friday 29th September: Mizen Head (Cork) Friday 6th October: Roaringwater Bay (Cork) Friday 13th October: Seven Heads (Cork) Friday 20th October: Cork Harbour (Cork) Friday 27th October: Youghal Bay (Cork/Waterford) Friday 3rd November: Tramore Bay (Waterford) Friday 10th November: Hook Head (Wexford) Friday 17th November: Carnsore Point (Wexford) Friday 24th November: Wicklow Head (Wicklow) Friday 1st December: Dublin Bay (Dublin) Friday 8th December: Donegal Bay (Donegal) Friday 15th December: Aran Islands (Galway) More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audie...
Guest post by Tee Ganbold, CEO and Founder of OpenESG: In the modern corporate landscape, the buzzword "sustainability" has made significant waves. Yet, a closer look reveals a troubling discrepancy: a mere 50% of publicly listed companies carry an ESG score, a critical indicator of their environmental, social, and governance commitments. Zooming out on a global scale paints an even bleaker picture: a minuscule 0.04% of all companies possess a sustainability rating. These numbers sound alarms, hinting at a larger systemic problem where sustainability initiatives might be more of an exception than a norm. Amidst this backdrop, OpenESG emerges as a cutting-edge solution, dedicated to transforming the way we perceive, rate, and implement sustainable practices. ESG, does your company have a a sustainability rating? Legacy ESG systems, despite their noble intentions, have often missed the mark in driving true sustainability. Their focus, regrettably, has been misdirected. These systems frequently stress the potential risks ESG factors may impose on a company's financial bottom line. Whilst risk mitigation is crucial, it's equally, if not more, essential to highlight a company's broader role in impacting the environment, society, and corporate governance norms. This skewed focus has, inadvertently, opened the floodgates for greenwashing, allowing companies to masquerade superficial sustainability gestures as genuine efforts. As a result, both consumers and investors find themselves wading through a murky pool of misinformation, endeavouring to discern genuine green initiatives from mere marketing ploys. Here's where the OpenESG platform distinguishes itself. Its hallmark is an unwavering commitment to transparency and authenticity. Gone are the days where companies could effortlessly weave a green narrative without substantive actions to back it. OpenESG, with its radical transparency ethos combined with a meticulous blend of self-reported data and diverse data sources, stands as a formidable vanguard against greenwashing. But the platform's merits don't end at stringent rating processes. It serves as a champion for businesses genuinely striving towards a greener future, spotlighting their efforts and innovations. By expanding the spectrum of rated companies, OpenESG is instrumental in introducing a new era of accountability, even in sectors that have traditionally remained opaque. Simultaneously, for consumers navigating a sea of corporate claims, OpenESG offers a lighthouse. It provides tools and insights that empower individuals to make informed choices, aligning their spending and investment with companies that truly walk the talk. The bedrock of this transformative platform? A decentralised, dynamic Expert Council that tirelessly works to maintain and elevate the platform's accuracy and integrity. Beyond ratings, OpenESG's vision extends to creating an ecosystem where every stakeholder feels valued. This means that the unsung heroes of sustainability, from diligent supply chain managers ensuring ethical sourcing to visionary CEOs driving green innovations, are acknowledged and celebrated. In this ecosystem, sustainability isn't a mere department or an annual report section; it's woven into the very DNA of business operations. The role of the consumer in this sustainability renaissance can't be overstated. OpenESG recognises this pivotal role, offering consumers an amplified voice. By streamlining company comparisons based on personalised sustainability criteria, the platform empowers consumers to champion businesses that resonate with their ethical and environmental values. In a digital age teeming with information, OpenESG emerges as a trusted curator, directing consumers towards enlightened choices and ensuring companies stay true to their sustainability pledges. In today's globalised world, where reputations can be made or broken in the duration of a tweet, trust stands as the most valued currency. OpenESG is meticulously...
The Marine Institute was first established in 1991 after the amalgamation of multiple fisheries and marine research bases. Before then, however, the organisation's predecessors had already been facilitating Summer Bursary internships. With the Marine Institute continuing to offer bursary positions each year, the many decades of the programme's existence results in an incredible number of students who have been given the opportunity to take up a temporary role in the organisation. The range of responsibilities throughout the years have spanned across several fields, from Molecular Biology and Marine Research to Finance, HR, and even Fine Art. The Marine Institute's Summer Bursary has shown itself to be a viable pathway into employment within the Institute, with many of the Marine Institute's current and past employees giving credit to completed Summer Bursaries for their decision to pursue a career among its ranks. Past bursars can even be found among executive-level staff, with the recently retired CEO Paul Connolly having taken part in multiple of these programmes himself. "It feels fantastic being on the 'other side' of the bursary experience," says Oisín McManus, one past bursar that currently works as a Hydrographic Data Processor. "I owe a huge amount of my career success to date to the bursary programme, and to be able to give back to the next round of bursars is great. A lot of the same people are still working in the Marine Institute from when I first started - even a few of the bursars that I started with, 15 years ago!" As some past bursars retire and newly graduated students join the Marine Institute's working body, another ex-bursar, Helen McCormick, Senior Laboratory analyst and Coordinator of the Bursary Programme reflected on her own history with the Summer Bursary programme, saying: "The experience I received as a bursar was wonderful, and now I get the opportunity to see the incredible experience the students receive across all service areas. , I am always so impressed with the level of ability from the bursars." Students' contributions have been enriching the work of the Marine Institute for decades and will hopefully continue for decades more. Each year, young people bring new ideas to the table while also benefiting from the expertise of the Marine Institute's more long-standing staff, who, as we now know, may have also been in their shoes some years beforehand. Guest post by Colleen Kyan, Marine Institute Bursar 2023 More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Digital Business Ireland (DBI), the country's leading representative body for online businesses, has published its pre-Budget 2024 submission today. The submission, issued to the Department of Finance, urges the Government to use Budget 2024 to capitalise on the opportunity of new and disruptive technologies; and deploy strategic investment to grow the sector. Detailed in its submission, the representative body has made a number of recommendations to the Government, including: · Enhanced Skillnet funding - ringfenced for SME training on Web3, AI, blockchain and ChatGPT · Introduction of a digital technology tax credit - qualifying expenditure to include training and upskilling, software development, subcontractor payments · Plan and publish a National Web3 Strategy · Allocation of funding for the creation of an Immersive Tech Taskforce In order for Ireland to maintain its status as a global digital hub, Budget 2024 must enable businesses to adopt disruptive technologies to remain competitive. As per the European Commission's Digital Economy and Society Index, Ireland ranks fifth out of 27 EU Member States according to our level of digitalisation. The country's advanced status renders it well placed to lead on the rollout of emerging technologies, such as Web3, AI and ChatGPT - but a robust regulatory framework, coupled with training and upskilling programmes, will enable businesses of all sizes to keep pace. Emerging technologies have gained traction among the broader population - with seminal research published by DBI last month showing that one out of every ten adults in Ireland has used ChatGPT for work purposes. In addition to these proposals, DBI has further urged the Government to develop a targeted national campaign to drive awareness of forthcoming regulations on digital accessibility. While the websites of public sector bodies are required to be digitally accessible, this mandate will soon be extended to businesses and organisations in the private sector under the European Accessibility Act, set to come into force in June 2025. As a result, companies across Ireland have just eighteen months to ensure that their websites are fully digitally accessible or else face legal penalties. Speaking today, the Chairperson of Digital Business Ireland, Ashley McDonnell, said: "At Digital Business Ireland, we are proud to support a network of over 8,500 businesses of all sizes and across every sector of the economy. Every business has the capacity to integrate disruptive technologies across their operations, and Ireland has the ability to become a global leader in the rollout of these technologies. That is why, in our pre-Budget 2024 submission, we are calling for the development of a National Strategy for Web3, the development of an Immersive Tech Taskforce and targeted measures to support the growth and adoption of artificial intelligence. Digital technologies have the power to transform the way that we live, work and do business - but it is vital that no one is left behind; websites and digital assets must be accessible to all. Legislation on this is forthcoming - under the European Accessibility Act, private sector businesses based in Ireland have just eighteen months to ensure that their website can be used by all individuals, regardless of ability. DBI is therefore urging the Government to develop a national information campaign, to ensure that businesses are made aware of their legal obligations; and can be supported to build a better experience for every customer". More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a li...
Cubic Telecom headquartered in Sandyford, Dublin is a global leader in connected car and IoT solutions has announced its position as a Major Player in the latest IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Managed IoT Connectivity Services 2023 Vendor Assessment (doc #US50404023, August 2023). The IDC MarketScape report evaluates vendors in the connected car and IoT market, assessing their capabilities and strategies. Cubic Telecom's recognition as a Major Player is a testament to the company's dedication to providing cutting-edge solutions and exceptional service to its customers. Having recently hit the landmark milestone surpassing 15 million devices connected globally, Cubic Telecom is currently on an impressive growth trajectory. "We are proud to be recognised as a Major Player by the IDC MarketScape," said Barry Napier, CEO of Cubic Telecom. "We believe this achievement reflects our team's hard work and dedication to delivering the best-connected car and IoT solutions to our customers. We will continue to innovate and expand our offerings to maintain our position at the forefront of this rapidly evolving industry." "At Cubic we are passionate about growth and relentless about ensuring that we excel and innovate to meet the ever-growing global customer demands. We've now surpassed over 15 million devices connected and managed in over 190 countries and we've added over 5 million connected devices in the past year alone," continued Napier. Cubic Telecom has developed its business around the automotive industry and has a long-standing relationship with the Volkswagen Group (including Audi, Bentley and VW) and more recently secured contracts with significant Japanese and US OEMs. As vehicle to everything (V2X) and autonomous vehicles continue to transform the sector, Cubic is poised to capitalise on the growth opportunity. Cubic's ability to localise in countries with particularly complex requirements, including GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), gives flexibility to automotive OEMs operating in more challenging markets and insulates OEM solutions from changes in regulatory conditions. In addition, the company has expanded into the agriculture and transportation industries with further plans for drones and mining among other sectors. The company's advanced software platform, PACE, enables seamless connectivity and data-driven insights for its customers, ensuring a superior user experience for drivers and passengers. As a Major Player, Cubic Telecom is committed to driving the future of connected car and IoT technology. The company will continue to invest in research and development, forging strategic partnerships, and expanding its global footprint to maintain its position as an industry leader. See more stories here.
Gamma, a leading location intelligence technology company in Ireland, has visualised Census data to show sustainability trends across Ireland. Overall, the 2022 Census showed that the proportion of homes with oil-fired central heating is lower than in 2011, now standing at 39%. However, this fluctuates greatly depending on the location, with the highest rate of oil-fired central heating found in Monaghan (75%) and Cavan (69%). At the other end of the spectrum, just 4% of households in Dublin City rely on oil-fired central heating. The county-to-county variation in the use of natural gas is even more noticeable as only 1% of households in Donegal and Wexford, and 2% of households in Longford, Kerry and Leitrim use natural gas for their central heating. Meanwhile, more than 60% of households in Dublin are reliant on same. Solid fuels (such as coal, peat and wood) are less popular across the country as a whole but in Offaly, 35% of households use solid fuel for their home heating. This was largely dominated by peat and turf (27%).?When it comes to having a renewable energy source, just over a quarter (25.8%) of households in Ireland have one, with more than half of those using wood or biomass. Solar water heating panels were revealed to be the most prevalent form, with 5.2% of properties having same. Meanwhile, 3.9% of households have a heat pump (either air or ground source) and 1.9% households have solar electric panels installed. Looking at the take-up of renewable energy in individual towns, Craughwell in Galway and Dunshaughlin in Meath have the highest proportion of households with solar electric panels, with almost one in four houses (23%) in those towns having solar electric panels. According to newly released data from the SEAI, the towns (with over 500 population) that have the most solar potential are all in the Southeast of the country, with the Wexford towns of Tagoat, Rosslare Harbour, Bridgetown, Rosslare and Fethard making up the top five. When cross-referenced with the Census data, only Rosslare Harbour (9.5% with solar electric) and Rosslare (2.3%) exceed the national average of 1.9% of households with solar electric panels. Richard Cantwell, Lead Consultant for Gamma Location Labs, said: "The Census figures suggest that the rate at which we, as a nation, are moving towards more sustainable living and carbon neutrality is slow. Of course, there are other factors likely to be impacting this, including the affordability of and accessibility to renewable energy systems and resources. "However, on a more positive note, it's clear from the SEAI data that there is great potential in certain areas. For instance, with solar electric panels, there is a lot of room for expansion in those areas best poised to take advantage of solar energy in Ireland. "It is also promising to see that we are improving from an environmental perspective and - perhaps due to the cost-of-living crisis and the pandemic which also brought about widespread remote working - people appear to be more conscious than before of their energy consumption, behaviours and choices." On the topic of working from home, the 2022 Census revealed a big increase in the proportion of workers who now work mainly or entirely from home, with this total more than doubling from 4.8% in 2016 to 11.3% in 2022. Almost a third (32%) of all workers said they work from home at times. Among those who do still commute to work, school or college, proportionately fewer people are now travelling by private car or motorcycle - 58% in 2022 compared to 61% in 2011. Students aged 13 to 18 are the only subgroup not to have reduced reliance on private vehicles as 43% of this group are travelling by private vehicle (the same proportion as in 2016 and 2% higher than in 2011). Considering all commutes to work, school or college, the average car driver is now accompanied by slightly more passengers than before, meaning there are 1.55 people travelling per car on the road - compared to 1...
Guest post by Alex Vakulov, who is a cybersecurity researcher with over 20 years of experience in malware analysis. In recent years, there has been a significant rise in the frequency of cyberattacks. Attackers are increasingly motivated not only by financial gain but also by political motives. Companies are falling prey to various forms of cybercrime, such as phishing attacks and data breaches. To safeguard against these threats, experts recommend utilizing specialized Digital Risk Protection (DRP) services. These services not only assist in identifying potential dangers within the hidden corners of the Internet but also play a crucial role in protecting one's reputation. However, the question remains: is it feasible to monitor the darknet independently, or is it advisable to seek professional assistance? In this article, I will delve into this topic and provide insights on how to safeguard your reputation. DarkWeb Monitoring, Digital Risk Protection The underbelly of the Internet, also known as the "Dark Web," has evolved into versatile platforms that guarantee cybercriminals complete anonymity. The realm of dark websites has expanded, encompassing various tools malevolent actors utilize. Even seemingly legitimate websites have transformed into instruments for hackers, including instant messengers, torrents, and forums. Telegram, in particular, has emerged as a hotspot for illegal activities, offering ideal conditions such as private channels and chats. Moreover, the barriers to entry into the world of cybercrime have significantly diminished in recent years. This factor, among others, has contributed to the escalating scale of cyberattacks. The intersection of cyber intelligence and monitoring is essential because it goes beyond merely detecting a crime. It requires understanding the motives behind the incidents and devising preventive measures for the future. The monitoring of the dark web relies heavily on the manual efforts of analysts, involving tactics such as infiltrating employees into hacker forums or participating in recruiting events. Digital risk protection platforms play a crucial role in safeguarding companies against illegal activities perpetrated by criminals who exploit the client's brand. These illicit actions may include the abusive collection of personal data, brand fraud, compromise of top-level management, and the exposure of sensitive information on the dark web. How Dark Web Monitoring Helps Mitigate Risks Digital Risk Protection platforms are specifically designed to identify and mitigate digital threats, leveraging the power of artificial intelligence. Security experts widely acknowledge that DRP not only helps in reducing cybersecurity risks but also addresses financial, reputational, and legal issues. Interestingly, companies that do not utilize darknet monitoring tools may remain unaware of potential leaks of confidential information. Moreover, not everyone comprehends the inherent risks associated with such leaks. Here is a practical example of how a DRP team mitigated the consequences of a cyber-attack. So, one DRP team managed to recruit an administrator from one of the underground forums, willing to cooperate for favorable compensation. Within this forum, the criminals had posted compromising information regarding the internal services of a major company. Through the recruitment process, experts were able to remove this sensitive data swiftly. The announcement remained visible for no more than 30 minutes, preventing other participants from making any unauthorized copies. The most prevalent tools for stealing information nowadays are various infostealers and keyloggers. These malicious programs are designed to gather confidential data from infected computers and phones, such as work login credentials, bank card details, and more. Experts point to several significant items that are worth identifying, including the sale of infrastructure access, leaked login credentials and passwords, documen...
A new survey from Irish IT services provider Auxilion reveals that 73% of IT leaders in Ireland admitted a cloud outage would be "catastrophic" for their business, with a similar proportion (77%) worried about such an occurrence. The same survey highlights that 84% of businesses expect to have fully migrated all their systems, applications and data to the cloud within the next three years. The research for Auxilion was carried out by Censuswide and involved more than 200 IT decision makers in large enterprises across Ireland. It found that some 77% of organisations are already in the cloud. Hybrid cloud was found to be the most popular choice among the companies already using cloud, with 22% of respondents believing it to be the future. Meanwhile, 21% think public cloud is the future. Furthermore, 84% of businesses expect to have fully migrated all of their systems, applications and data to the cloud within the next three years/almost three quarters (73%) of IT leaders in Ireland admitted a cloud outage would be "catastrophic" for their business, with a similar proportion (77%) worried about such an occurrence. The most cited reason for adopting cloud computing was reducing costs (32%), as the vast majority (81%) of IT decision-makers revealed that cloud is a more cost-effective approach. While it may be helping to control costs, investment in cloud looks set to increase with two thirds (67%) planning to up their cloud spend over the next 12 months and the average investment estimated to be €1.84 million. In fact, cloud ranked top of the list for IT investment over the next 12 months (45%), followed by IT service desk (45%), Artificial Intelligence (42%), green technology (42%) and cybersecurity (41%). On the topic of green technology, almost three quarters (74%) of organisations are currently using same. It appears that IT leaders see cloud and sustainability going hand in hand, with 78% saying cloud is important in helping their organisation achieve ESG goals and 27% citing sustainability as a reason for using cloud computing. Moreover, almost three quarters (74%) of IT leaders said sustainability is a priority for their customers. Donal Sullivan, Chief Technology Officer, Auxilion, said: "These results show that cloud infrastructure has become a critical aspect in the digital ecosystem for businesses, and it's not just being adopted for cost, connectivity and collaboration purposes. It is also being deployed for sustainability purposes - as that area becomes ever more important for both businesses and their customers. "Regardless of the reasons or the cloud infrastructure of choice, companies need to ensure they are using and adopting an approach that meets their business needs, optimises performance and protects their interests. Working with trusted partners can help to maximise the return on cloud investment and help to deliver better value, as well as drive success." See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
A new climate accelerator programme aimed at SMEs and start-ups operating in the built environment has opened today for submissions. The Built Environment Accelerator is a collaboration between Tangent, Trinity College Dublin's Ideas Workspace, and innovation hub Green TechHQ. It is supported by EIT (European Institute of Technology) Climate KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community). Recognising the imperative for the built environment and construction industries to embrace a net-zero carbon future, this programme is poised to find solutions to reduce carbon emission in these sectors. The accelerator is geared towards empowering SMEs and startups to bring solutions to the market. Through a six-month programme, participants will establish connections within an international ecosystem of collaborators and leaders. This includes partners like the EIT Climate-KIC community, mentors, entrepreneurs, and alumni. Complementing this network is a suite of commercial and strategic supports. The programme will be delivered remotely from Trinity College Dublin and includes a combination of workshops, coaching and learning from peers. Ken Finnegan, CEO of Tangent, said: "While many people focus on the risks brought about by global warming, a number of companies are seeing business potential in addressing the problem. The Built Environment ClimAccelerator is helping companies to commercialise and scale existing solutions while also nurturing innovations that can help the built environment sector accelerate its transition to net-zero carbon." "I invite innovators and entrepreneurs with new solutions in low carbon and green design, circular materials, energy and maintenance systems in addition to transport, monitoring and reporting systems to submit an application to join the programme." Ed Murphy, Founder of GreenTech HQ said: "We are delighted to partner with Tangent, and we are excited to engage with companies seeking innovative approaches to accelerate the transition to low or zero carbon emission forms of construction." All interested in participating will have an opportunity to hear more about the programme and meet the facilitators on 29th August via an online webinar. To apply for a place on the programme click here. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Circle K has announced the opening of three new milesBIO HVO100 pumps across its network, following the launch of its first Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) renewable diesel pump in Dublin Port at the end of last year. The three new milesBIO HVO100 pumps are located Circle K Junction 8, M8, Cashel, Co. Tipperary, Circle K Junction 5, M9, Rathcrogue, Co. Carlow, and Circle K Junction 14, M8, Gortore, Fermoy, Co. Cork. Circle K will continue to expand its HVO offering in the coming months, with a commitment to have HVO renewable diesel available on all national road routes before the end of 2023. Circle K has identified other locations within its network which are regularly frequented by heavy goods vehicles and where milesBIO HVO100 could have an impact and be of benefit to customers. These sites are being prioritised for the installation of milesBIO HVO100 pumps and are expected to be fully operational later this year. milesBIO HVO100 is a completely fossil-free biofuel made from waste, by-products and derived products not intended for human consumption from the food industry and can be used to power diesel vehicles. HVO alternative diesel offers an up to 90% reduction in carbon emissions over regular diesel. HVO renewable diesel is being used across Circle K's fleet of fuel delivery vehicles, with partners including Musgrave and Stobart Logistics now using milesBIO HVO100 to greatly reduce emissions across their fleets. While milesBIO HVO100 is new to Circle K Ireland, this renewable diesel has been available across Scandinavia at Circle K locations in Norway, Sweden and Denmark in recent years, which is helping to guide the introduction of the renewable diesel here. Today's announcement is just one of the ways Circle K is leading innovation within the fuel retail sector and supporting the Irish Government in its ambition to reduce transport carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. Alongside the use of milesBIO HVO100 to power its fuel delivery fleet, Circle K supported the move from E5 to E10 in petrol products in the Irish market at the start of July, which has increased the level of ethanol in petrol from 5% to 10%, thus significantly reducing carbon emissions. Circle K is already supporting the commercial freight and haulage sectors, being the only forecourt to offer Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), which is 100% renewable and carbon free, refuelling stations at Dublin Port, Cashel, Clonshaugh and Ballysimon in Limerick. With more Irish motorists opting for EVs, Circle K is continuing to expand its EV charger network. Circle K opened its first two own brand EV charge points at Circle K Junction 5, M9, Rathcrogue, Co. Carlow, and Circle K Junction 14, M8, Gortore, Fermoy, Co. Cork in May of this year. With its own EV chargers and through its strategic partnerships with ESB, IONITY and Tesla, the business already has the most advanced EV charging network within the forecourt sector in Ireland, with EV charging facilities located at 48 service stations nationwide and continues to add to this network. Jonathan Diver, Fuels Director with Circle K Ireland commented: "At Circle K, we are committed to implementing environmentally sustainable practices across our product range and operations as well as supporting our customers to reduce their level of carbon emissions. "The addition of these new HVO renewable diesel pumps to our network, along with our commitment to have HVO available on all national road routes in 2023, will help our customers to reduce their carbon footprint, with a 90% reduction in carbon emissions compared to traditional diesel. We are already seeing this benefit, with our existing milesBIO HVO100 fuel pump in Dublin Port helping to reduce emissions across Circle K's fuel delivery fleet. "Since we launched milesBIO HVO100 in the Irish market last November, we have worked closely with many of our commercial customers, including Musgrave and Stobart Logistics, to ensure as many diesel vehicles as possible can make the s...
In the grand tapestry of human existence, time has always been a central, unyielding thread. From the shadows cast by ancient sundials to the glowing screens of today's smartphones, our relationship with time has evolved in ways both profound and deeply personal. Once, we measured our days by the steady dance of the sun across the sky. Now, in this electrifying digital age, every second pulses with urgency, captured in sharp digital clarity and demanding our attention. The digital revolution, while a marvel of convenience, has reshaped our connection to time in ways we could never have imagined. Our world, once vast and boundless, has been drawn closer, condensed into handheld devices that buzz and beep with every passing second. No longer do we simply observe the sun's position to mark the passage of time; we feel it, constantly, vibrating in our pockets, reminding us of the world's relentless pace. This isn't just about technological advancement; it's about the very fabric of our human experience. As we stand at the crossroads of tradition and technology, this article embarks on a passionate journey, tracing our ever-changing perceptions of time. From the simplicity of ancient sundials to the ceaseless digital notifications of today, we'll explore the profound impact of our digital engagements on our sense of urgency, the rhythm of our lives, and the deeper ramifications on our societal fabric and emotional well-being. From Sundials to Smartwatches Time, an intangible yet ever-present force, has been a fascinating aspect of human existence since time immemorial (pun intended!). Our ancestors relied on the sun's position to mark the passage of time, using sundials and other ancient timekeeping devices. Let's take a quick trip down memory lane. Ancient civilizations used sundials, water clocks, and hourglasses to measure time-based on the natural rhythms of the sun and sand. These methods were precise enough for their needs but limited by factors like weather and location. Fast forward to the industrial revolution, and mechanical clocks became the norm. Trains, factories, and offices relied on synchronized timekeeping, leading to the standardization of time zones and the adoption of pocket watches. Enter the 20th century, and electronic clocks became more prevalent, with digital clocks and wristwatches gaining popularity. The digital revolution marked a significant shift in timekeeping as our perception of time became increasingly defined by digits and minutes. The Ticking Mind Nowadays, we are surrounded by digital devices, all of which remind us of the time relentlessly. From smartphones and computers to smartwatches, we are continually bombarded with time updates. While this may seem convenient, it has led to a profound transformation in how we perceive time. Have you ever noticed how time seems to fly when you're immersed in an online world or social media feed? Constant digital time reminders keep us tethered to a sense of urgency, fostering a relentless pace of life. Deadlines, notifications, and reminders from our gadgets create an illusion of an ever-ticking clock, causing anxiety and stress, and making us feel like we're constantly racing against time. A Double-Edged Sword The digital era has brought us closer together through instant communication channels like email, messaging apps, and social media platforms. While this has enhanced connectivity and collaboration, it has also blurred the boundaries between work and personal life. With instant access to information and communication, the expectation for immediate responses has intensified. In the past, a letter took days or even weeks to reach its recipient, allowing for more time to reflect and respond. Today, an email or chat message demands swift attention, leading to an always-on, high-stress lifestyle. Our perception of time has shifted from the slower pace of thoughtful correspondence to the urgency of immediate replies. Always Busy, Never Present Our const...
Three UK has announced the launch of its new Business proposition - Three Device Management. Powered by Ivanti, Three Device Management is a single solution for the modern management of iOS, Android and the ever-increasing demand for more devices and apps in the workplace. Three Device Management will be supported by CWSI, a leading European mobile and security management specialist. CWSI will provide service delivery and support expertise for the Three Device Management product suite, including professional, managed and support services. Targeted towards Medium and Corporate markets, Three Device Management will enable those businesses to easily onboard devices and configure them over the cloud with all the apps, settings and security needed to deliver a seamless experience across any device, ensuring that employees can use mobile devices to access company networks, applications and data securely wherever and however they work. Businesses can rest assured that data and assets remain secure across a fleet, whilst enabling separation of business and personal data on devices to protect employee privacy (BYOD). The service includes a free 3hr enhanced technical set up, with in-life support provided to all customers as standard by CWSI. Three Device Management offers a tailored experience to customers, ensuring they effectively set up and realise the full benefits of the proposition. Snehal Bhudia, Director of Business Propositions & Go To Market for Three UK, said: "In the norm of 'office anywhere' where working across multiple devices, and often some of those devices being the same for both personal and business use - protection of that business data and maintaining personal privacy, all whilst having a seamless productivity enhancing experience for employees, is an absolute must. What makes Three Device Management unique is that we're offering this solution, combined with industry leading support and expert setup from our partner CWSI - one of Europe's leading mobile security and management specialists, so we can offer a tailored experience to suit the specific network, security and software requirements of each business." Ronan Murphy, CEO, CWSI, said: "We are delighted to work with Three UK on this exciting new service. If the past few years have shown us anything, it's that work is an activity, not a place. The modern workplace requires the ability to work seamlessly from anywhere while maintaining the highest levels of security, with a device network that is easy to manage. At CWSI, we have an unrivalled understanding of enterprise mobility, and this technology will help to underpin growth and enable success for modern businesses." See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Vodafone Ireland has announced a new €3 million investment to upgrade a number of its stores. The new, three-year investment programme is designed to better equip and futureproof some stores nationwide - with the goal of further enhancing the customer experience, which is at the forefront of the strategy. Almost a quarter of all stores have been retrofitted so far, with plans to refit Vodafone's whole estate by 2025. The upgraded stores will best reflect Vodafone's converged offerings and ensure these spaces are better equipped to serve the needs of Vodafone customers, across mobile, broadband, business, and TV. The fresh investment has been driven by Vodafone Ireland's ongoing focus on customer loyalty and the desire to deliver hands-on support for those who need it, in the form of expert advice strongly supported by an unparalleled in-store experience. The programme of investment will see funding allocated to enhance stores across the country, transforming several locations into future-forward digital hubs, and creating a sustainable network of specially curated stores to better support all customers, inclusive of those with additional needs and older persons. Aligning with Vodafone's commitment to bridging the digital divide facing older people, the Vodafone Ireland Foundation, in partnership with ALONE, is also launching 'Hi Digital Drop-in Fridays' in 21 stores nationwide, which will give free dedicated digital support for those over the age of 65, as part of the ongoing Hi Digital programme. However, if some Fridays are difficult, people are still encouraged to visit for support and guidance as normal throughout the week. Launched in 2021, Hi Digital is a first of its kind programme that provides digital skills training for people over 65, through online and in-person classes across the country. For Hi Digital Drop-in Fridays the stores will dedicate 10am-1pm on Friday as a time when older persons can drop in for practical support using their phones, tablets and devices and other support, based on their needs e.g., using apps, paying bills etc. A network of Vodafone employees have been trained as 'Hi Digital Ambassadors' meaning they are well equipped to provide these customers with the practical support that they need. Jenny Hayes, Head of Consumer Sales said; "This investment across our stores highlights our continued commitment to customer experience as we strive to meet the needs of our diverse base and offerings across mobile, broadband, business, and TV. As we enhance and better equip our stores to meet changing customer needs and demands, we are also delighted to be rolling out our Hi Digital Drop-In Fridays. This will see older persons come into our stores and receive hands on, complementary support on Fridays from Vodafone experts. "Any questions or support required can be answered, be it, contacting a family member or loved one, paying a bill, or downloading an app, and it will further help us to combat the current digital divide across Ireland. I encourage family members to spread the word to their parents, grandparents and beyond, about the service which we hope will directly impact communities across Ireland and help more people get connected." See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Servecentric has announced that it is on track to reach €5 million in turnover by the end of 2023 after doubling its cloud capacity. Making a significant contribution to this increase in turnover is Servcecentric's cloud business which looks set to grow 300% since 2021. The cloud, data centre and connectivity services provider has invested over €100,000 in the last year on increased compute capacity and HPE enterprise class hardware to meet the increasing demand for its cloud and colocation services - with further investment planned in 2023. As well as this investment and allocating its own additional resources, Servecentric's cloud partner Cloudsigma are also increasing operations staff by 50% to meet cloud requirements across the global network. Servecentric's expanded cloud capacity and capability means it can strengthen its portfolio for customers, including scalable data compute resources and storage options. It has also enabled the company to develop and deliver a new Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering, which offers developers ready to go platforms and compliments the existing Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) solution. Moreover, Servecentric will soon be able to provide single sign on for over 16 geographic locations for customers, which will also benefit from increased redundancy and resilience across the cloud platform as a result of the investment and expansion. Servecentric expects its increasing cloud capacity to further grow its customer base over the coming months, with a particular focus on Managed Service Providers, mid-sized software companies, startups and growing technology companies. In terms of existing clients in the area of cloud, it currently works with a wide range of organisations such as Dmac Media, Procuro, Profitsflow, CupPrint and Infinite Technology. To further meet the growing demand for cloud and colocation services among its increasing customer base, Servecentric has applied for planning for a new data centre facility which will significantly increase the company's workforce, including its engineering team. The organisation is also developing a number of strategic partnerships to provide full cloud infrastructure services, including managed IT and security providers. Brian Roe, CEO, Servecentric, said: "The demand for cloud is rising and will continue to do so over the coming years. To meet this need, and to enable us to realise our aim of doubling our cloud business again between now and the end of 2024, we made the decision to enhance our cloud capacity and allocate more resources to deliver the best customer experience. "From established organisations that are struggling with the cost and complexity of hyperscale cloud to startups that need support with infrastructure architecture, we are seeing increasing demand for our services across a number of areas. "Clients are looking for more support, better performance and greater scalability when it comes to cloud infrastructure and services. Our latest and ongoing investment in and expansion of our cloud capacity helps to ensure we provide unrivalled integrated cloud, colocation and connectivity services. In turn, this positions us to meet the needs of our customers and help them achieve their objectives." See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The breaking news of the PSNI data breach has exposed two major vulnerabilities security experts have been warning about for quite a while - data handling and insider threats. The news broke that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has accidentally leaked the surname, initials, the rank or grade, the work location and departments of all PSNI staff, including the organised crime unit, intelligence officers stationed at ports and airports, officers in the surveillance unit and officers based at the MI5's headquarters. The data was allegedly posted in public as a result of human error and was taken offline after about two hours of being available, but that is enough time, for it to have fallen into the wrong hands. This very generous gift to cybercriminals, organised crime, various terrorists and other malicious actors wishing to take advantage of this data underscores two critical vulnerabilities of the modern digital age, namely secure data handling and insider threats, as the human factor is still the weakest link in cybersecurity. In spite of developed European legislation regarding data handling, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the NIS2 Directive, which aim at establishing guidelines, standards and procedures regarding secure data handling and storage, defining responsibilities and establishing enforcement and administrative fines for breaches, it would appear many institutions, governmental bodies, organisations, businesses and other private entities still do not pay adequate attention to the provisions of the legislation. The first of the main issues when handling data today, and everyone handles at least some form of data, is classifying it by orders of importance, vulnerability and effect. Knowing which data that contains personally identifiable information is being handled or stored, the loss of which could severely affect third parties, is one of the key pillars of data security. The other is addressing the "human error" factor. According to a Verizon study, some 85 percent of breaches involve a human element. Unless a data leak is intentional, either by whistleblowers or by malicious actors, which need to be addressed through security protocols, the unintentional or accidental leaks are most often the result of insufficiently defined procedures of data handling or lack of staff training, therefore relatively easily avoidable. Why such procedures and adequate training were not in place, should be the first question asked by management if an unintentional leak occurs. ESET Ireland recommends 5 steps to decrease the risk of insider threats: 1. Implement access controls: Implementing access controls such as role-based access control (RBAC) can help limit access to sensitive data and systems to only those employees who need it to perform the duties of their jobs. By granting access only to those employees who require it for their job duties, a company can significantly decrease its exposure to insider threats. It's also essential to regularly review these access privileges so that access levels remain appropriate and aligned with employees' roles. 2. Monitor employee activity: Implementing monitoring tools to track employee activity on company devices or their network can help identify suspicious behaviour that may be indicative of an insider threat. Monitoring can also help detect any unusual data transfers or abnormal patterns of access to sensitive systems and data. However, make sure to ensure compliance with local regulations and establish clear guidelines regarding monitoring to address potential concerns about privacy. 3. Conduct background checks: Conducting background checks on all employees, contractors and vendors before granting them access to sensitive and confidential data can help identify any potential risks. These checks can also be used to verify an individual's employment history and criminal record. 4. Organise security awareness training: Providing regular securit...
Network optimisation specialists Data Edge has announced it has successfully delivered a new solution for BT Ireland to overhaul its Network Operating Centre (NOC) and allow it to resolve issues more quickly, enhance network reliability and improve the customer experience. The solution, which is based on Broadcom's DXNetOps, combines performance management, fault management, Netflow Analysis, and Virtual Network Assurance. It was designed and implemented by Data Edge with the aim of allowing for better detection of incidents in real time and to reduce false alarms to lower noise on the network, and ultimately better prevent outages. The new performance management solution has achieved a number of key metrics, as the mean time to repair issues has decreased by 40%, meaning less downtime for BT Ireland's customers. The number of alarms has also come down, by 80%, freeing up BT Ireland's team to focus on delivering the best customer experience instead of responding to erroneous alerts. BT Irelands challenge was that its NOC was reliant on multiple systems and screens to provide up-to-date analysis and information on issues in its network. It needed a fully integrated and scalable performance management system. Data Edge was chosen to provide a Single Pane of Glass solution to show all network events in one place and grant BT Ireland the ability to easily connect and monitor all of its current and future platforms. The solution, provided in partnership with Broadcom, has proved to be highly effective and also features full neighbourhood topology, triage functions, as well as third party access to better streamline BT's services. Paul Hackett, BT Ireland's Head of Architecture, said; "Enabling digital customer experiences are of upmost importance to BT, and working with reliable partners like Data Edge makes those digital customer journeys much easier. "Integrating BT's systems into a single view, has streamlined our in-life processes, meaning we resolve issues faster than before. We've moved from reactive to proactive resolutions, which is critical in the modern marketplace." Martin O'Leary, Senior Account Manager, Data Edge, said, "Having worked with BT Ireland for over a decade, we have been by the company's side as it has grown and developed its portfolio of network and communication services in Ireland. We are very proud to have delivered such a successful and impactful new solution and will continue supporting BT Ireland on its growth journey." Gerry O'Hara, BT Ireland's Head of Network Assurance, commented; "The DXN functionality means we only see the relevant alarms which assists the NOC in resolving issues more quickly than we ever have before. Data Edge has a deep understanding of our networks and operations, and was able to design, implement and manage this highly integrated and effective network management solution for us. Ultimately, it helps us to provide even higher levels of service to our growing partner and customer base. Furthermore, the DXN functionality means we only see the relevant alarms which assists the NOC in resolving issues more quickly than we ever have before." See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Guest post by Jeremy Campbell is the CEO of learning development and technology business, Black Isle Group, and the inventor of Nudge technology. There is a problem that we need to talk about in business. Many people know about it. In a way it's a scandal. But few have faced up to admitting it, never mind solving it. Using tech to build a motivated team in a hybrid world We spend £280 billion on learning and development across the globe every year. But new statistics show that only 12 per cent of corporate employees ever embed that learning by turning it into concrete actions which help the performance of their business. In such a cost conscious, cut-throat, competitive world how can we continue to ignore such a waste? This problem is exacerbated further in the virtual world. We need to ensure that the journey doesn't end when we leave the workshop and go back to work. Our solution is a new methodology and a new technology which drives the learning into everyday actions and through that process transforms the performance of individuals and their teams. In creating our new mindset and refining our new approach we turned to the world of the Olympic Champion. We looked at how they take the improvements they want to make and drum them into new habits by focusing on the process; acting consistently; and avoiding distraction. This led us to a new six step process which we use to help develop leadership and embed the training. It is backed up with the game changing Nudge technology which provides daily reminders to encourage participants to act on the knowledge they've acquired. The process begins at the end of our inspiring workshops. STEP ONE - Before anyone exits our Masterclasses, we work with them to be very clear on their goal as they go back into work mode. STEP TWO - We break that goal down into small, achievable everyday actions which will shift you towards your goal. We load them into our Nudge app which now becomes a virtual academy and a powerful coach in the weeks and months to come. The Nudges prompt and encourage our participants to remind them to consistently deliver these actions. STEP THREE - Our technology tracks and measures individual and team progress as the learning is put into action. These measurements are made available to the individuals and can also be made available further around the business as they prove the return on investment. STEP FOUR - It is essential that each individual stays accountable and supported. We do this by making a virtual coach available throughout the programme. Participants dial up with a click and have daily or weekly check ins with their coach for challenge and support. STEP FIVE - Through this coaching everyone is encouraged to stay focused on what will shift the dial. The enemy of progress is distraction. Our virtual coaching constantly addresses this and the many other traps into which leaders fall with ease. STEP SIX - We praise our participants and encourage them to celebrate all the small wins they make - to encourage them on the journey to Gold. It is time to change the way we do learning and development. Our new methodology and technology aim to move the old approaches into the new world of work. We can't keep wasting money and wasting opportunity. With the pace and scale of change which all our businesses face, we need to reimagine how we do learning and development. The time to do that is now. Jeremy Campbell is the CEO of learning development and technology business, Black Isle Group, and the inventor of Nudge technology. See more breaking stories here.
'Deep Fake' starts by asking the age-old question - if you could invite anybody to your fantasy dinner party - living or dead - who would choose, and would sparks fly? Created by playwright and technologist Niall Austin, it then features virtual reincarnations of superstars from Elvis Presley to Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe to Muhammad Ali, in turn providing a canvas within which the theme of 'authenticity' can be explored. But the truly astonishing thing about 'Deep Fake' is how emerging technologies now have the potential to fundamentally transform live entertainment. This play takes story-telling and interactive live entertainment to a new dimension, as technology recreates not just the visual presence of your favourite icons, but also employs generative Artificial Intelligence to manifest their personalities, language and values in a script that is instantly generated in response to audience instructions. The script will then be performed by talented, seasoned 'impromptu' actors, prepared to portray the chosen celebrities and their notable characteristics. The biometric facial technology, created by Tokyo-based Irish artist Jason 'Jab' Brennan, uses body measures, such as the face and head, and collects a set of data which can then be instantly used to digitally imitate the person - in this case, the faces of chosen celebrities, which will be analysed and synthesized with the actors, before being projects onto the giant backdrop screen. The show in turn can create a unique immersive experience in which the audience can watch their favourite stars in a scenario of their own creation! Deep Fake is the second AI-generated play created by Austin following the critical success of his sold-out show 'PL-AI', which took to the stage at the Civic Theatre in March. His productions enable theatre lovers to control the development of their own play, in turn also giving the audience an insight into the process of playwriting and the future of artificial intelligence in the theatre world. Artificial intelligence can create original and compelling plays that push the boundaries of traditional storytelling while presenting the question of whether we humans can overcome our fear of suspicion of AI and create art together. Niall Austin, the show's creator, says: "Deep Fake a fully interactive, audience-led show. Within the confines of a basic structure, audience members are invited to suggest how they'd like the evening's story to unfold. But it also provides a canvas to further delve into more traditional theatre themes, such as how a person's public persona is often in conflict with their inner 'true self'." Donal Shiels, Artistic Director at the Civic, says: "This show reflects the Civic's deep commitment to evolve within the changing technical landscape. Following the success of PL-AI in March, we're delighted to again be collaborating with Niall to push the boundaries of theatre." Deep Fake takes place in The Civic Theatre Tallaght on Wednesday, 23rd August. Tickets are available for €10 here:/ More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
ESB has today launched its new High Power (200kW) EV charging hub at the Barack Obama Plaza motorway service in Co Tipperary that will enable eight EVs to charge simultaneously using 100% renewable energy. The new charging facility is capable of providing 100km of charge in as little as six minutes. The charging bay, which is located at a critical juncture in Ireland's road network on Junction 23, just off the M7 Motorway at Barack Obama Plaza, will be a game-changer for EV drivers, particularly those travelling long distances in the midlands and Munster region. The announcement marks a significant milestone in ESB's €20m investment in all-island EV infrastructure, which is a key part of ESB's sustainability strategy and commitment to reaching net zero by 2040. With this €20m investment programme, which is partially funded by the Government's Climate Action Fund, ESB aims to deliver 50 High-Power hubs across the country as part of its national EV network strategy. Since the Climate Action Fund was allocated, the funding has allowed ESB to install 28 high-power sites nationwide, replace almost all of the standard 22kW chargers with newer technology, and upgrade 42 chargers to faster speeds. Among these projects was the launch of a similar High Power Hub in Junction 14 in 2021. Since its launch, the chargers have enabled more than 60,000 charges monthly - a number that is expected to increase considerably in the coming years as the number of EVs on our roads increase. This innovative charging hub will also play a key role in helping to meet Ireland's ambitious transport targets as laid out in the Climate Action Plan. Speaking at the launch, John Byrne, Head of ESB ecars, said: "We are so pleased to be launching our new high-power charging infrastructure today at Barack Obama Plaza. With several thousand visitors daily, this location will be of critical importance to ensuring that drivers in the region feel empowered to make the electric transition." "EVs are the fasting growing segment in the Irish car market, and at ESB, we are committed to ensuring that the public charging network is there for drivers when they need it. Today's launch is just the next step of our plan which will see the remaining 28 high-power sites at various stages of planning or build over the coming months." John added. Welcoming the new chargers, Supermacs founder and owner Pat McDonagh said: "At Supermac's, we have identified and prioritised opportunities to promote environmentally friendly activity as part of our ongoing Glan & Glas initiative. Electric vehicles are becoming an increasing presence on our forecourts at The Plaza Group, and The Barack Obama Plaza is now one of the country's largest e-charging sites. This is certainly the way of the future, and we are delighted to be a part of it." Matthew Sealy, Chairperson of the Irish EV Association, also welcomed the new hubs: "It's great to see the increasing number of EVs on Irish roads in recent times and fantastic to see the rapidly expanding network of charging hubs across the country, which will encourage even more people to make the switch. This new charging hub will be of huge importance to local EV drivers, commuters, and tourists, giving them even more flexibility on their journeys." More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Insights From Thriving Startups: Become the 1 Success Among 10 Failures The startup world can be a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows. With 90% of startups not making it past the first year, survival is truly an accomplishment. Here you'll find advice from 4 startups that have successfully passed the testing stage and are steadily paving their way to growth. 4 Tips from Successful EU Startup Owners Teamwork makes the dream work When asked about startups, one of the main things Vitalijus Majorovas, the successful co-founder of Pulsetto at Kilo Health, emphasizes is the importance of having a partner, as being a lone soldier in the field can be challenging. One reason for this is that investors tend to be more suspicious of startups with only one person behind them, making it preferable to start with at least one colleague. Majorovas exemplifies this principle by having started with a team of 2 people. As he explains, the ideal scenario is to complement each other's competencies. Povilas Sabaliauskas, his colleague, serves as the engineer and technical expert, while Vitalijus excels in development, marketing, finance, and sleep science. However, in the long run, a larger team becomes necessary, as accomplishing too much with just 2 people is challenging. Thus, it becomes crucial to gather a team of amazing, strong professionals, which may even be more critical than having the most original product idea out there. Ultimately, the key to success lies in having a great idea executed skillfully, with the valuable support of a team of professionals. "Back then, there were only two of us. I worked on business development while my colleague Povilas worked on the product. Two people make a team, but the possibilities are limited. Additionally, there was a project similar to Pulsetto on the market, but it was complicated, expensive, and not user-friendly. So, we had been working on the concept for a while and knew we needed more resources. Fortunately, I already knew the CEO of Kilo Health, Tadas Burgaila, so we pitched our idea to him. To be honest, the idea was so massive that we think Kilo Health didn't initially believe it was possible. Still, we agreed to develop a prototype product within 2 months, and we did. That's when the acceleration began, and the Kilo Health co-found program welcomed us to the team! Typically, it takes 2-3 years to develop a market-ready wearable device, but with Kilo Health's bold approach and quick decision-making, we were able to produce a market-ready product within 6 months," explains Majorovas. Be a matchmaker. Find a market fit "I didn't like it when someone told me what to do, so I wanted to create something myself," says Kasparas Aleknavicius, the co-founder of a dietary supplement, Bioma, at Kilo Health. Bioma was one of the many ideas by Aleknavicius, but the only one that passed the testing stage until now. "We had app ideas, other supplement ideas, and looked at many other things in the market, and it became clear that probiotics had the strongest ground. It was a trend, but not one of those weak trends -probiotics remained relevant either way." Moreover, what made this product successful was finding a market fit because it directly correlates with the chances of long-term success and sustainability. It helps startups understand who their ideal customers are, their needs, and how they can address them. "We discovered that many people were struggling with various digestive issues and overall gut health concerns. They were looking for a natural and effective solution to support their gut microbiome and improve their overall wellness. To address these customer needs, we delved into the realm of probiotics, recognizing their potential to revolutionize gut health." Besides that, Aleknavicius says that finding a market fit can give a startup a competitive advantage by offering a better solution than existing alternatives. It can also improve user satisfaction, and they are more likely to become r...
Recently Ronan got to chat with Kunal Anand the CISO/ CTO at Imperva, a leading provider of data and application security solutions with Database Security, Web Application Firewall, DDoS Protection, Bot Protection. Kunal talks about his background, innovation, short term disruption, AI, empathy, transhumanism and more. More about Kunal Anand: Kunal Anand is the is the CISO/ CTO at Imperva and also the co-founder and CTO of Prevoty, a next-generation web application security platform. Prior to that, he was the Director of Technology at the BBC Worldwide, overseeing engineering and operations across the company's global Digital Entertainment and Gaming initiatives. Kunal also has several years of experience leading security, data and engineering at Gravity, MySpace and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His work has been featured in Wired Magazine and Fast Company. He continues to develop the patented security technologies that power Prevoty's core products. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
This week on The Futurists we get to engage with one of the world's foremost experts in hydrology, the study of Water, and the relationship of water to emerging climate change. Gleick is considered one of the world's foremost experts in the arena, and while things look bleak in the medium term, we get solidly into the long future of water and the tools at our disposal for water mitigation and geo-engineering. We also check out Peter's latest book the Three Ages of WaterBIO -/#about The Three Ages of Water with Peter Gleick See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Tyndall National Institute is calling for action to be taken to allow Ireland to benefit from the opportunities presented by the new EU Chips Act. The EU Chips Act comprises a comprehensive set of measures worth €43bn to ensure the European semiconductor ecosystem stays relevant and to safeguard the EU's strategic autonomy in the global supply chain of semiconductors. In a new position paper, Tyndall is calling on the Government to prioritise a National Chips Strategy for Ireland, with an ambitious target of more than doubling the size of the semiconductor industry in Ireland by 2030. Ireland has a longstanding thriving semiconductor cluster that directly employs 20,000 people and will generate an estimated revenue of €15.5bn in 2023. Tyndall, Ireland's flagship research institute in ICT hardware and systems, is a key actor in European semiconductor research and innovation and can play a pivotal role in the ambitions set out in this Paper by utilising its rich network of global partnerships and depth of experience. Patrick Gelsinger, CEO of Intel said: "The global semiconductor industry has never been more important and is poised to reach revenues of one trillion dollars by the end of this decade. Intel's plans in Europe build on our investment in Ireland of over €30 billion since 1989, and we are looking forward to seeing these strategic investments contribute to an end-to-end semiconductor manufacturing value chain across the region. The launch of the Chips Acts in the US and EU underpins this growth. It also presents an important opportunity for Ireland to further build its ecosystem and participate in the future evolution of the semiconductor industry." Vincent Roche, CEO and Chair of Analog Devices, said: "Semiconductor technology is the bedrock of important applications in medicine, energy, communications, and automation. Essentially, the strides that we need to make in improving the health and welfare of humans and the planet will rely on continued advances in this critical foundational domain. It is expected that the semiconductor industry will double in size over the next decade to $1 trillion, and the US and EU Chips Acts are an essential step in this growth. ADI's recent investment of €630 Million in a next-generation semiconductor R&D and manufacturing facility in Limerick is our latest commitment to strengthening the future of innovation in Ireland." Professor William Scanlon, CEO of Tyndall, said: "The paper directly calls for a Chips Strategy for Ireland and its realisation including important steps in relation to skills and talent development. The publication of the paper provides the focus and intervention needed to make the most of the short window of opportunity for both private and public organisations to work together and to properly position Ireland in the global semiconductor market." Speaking about the opportunities associated with the EU Chips Act and similar initiatives worldwide, Dr Giorgos Fagas, Head of CMOS++ and EU Programmes at Tyndall said: "Ireland is well positioned to exploit the opportunities in the European and global semiconductor ecosystem thanks to its strong ICT industrial base and R&D excellence in the sector. However, to maintain and strengthen Ireland's position usual in the current volatile environment requires coherent action in building the capacity to innovate, preparing skilful talent and securing new investments in the sector. This cannot be business as usual." More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how...
Rockwell Automation has published a report - "Five Key Operational Pathways to Accelerate Industrial Decarbonization" - that looks at how the industrial sector can leverage data-driven technologies and insights to help accelerate the energy transition. Decarbonisation to link automation technology and sustainability Business leaders face a major challenge in conceptualizing and delivering decarbonized processes in a way that balances profitability with future purpose, without adversely affecting the bottom line. This means that increasing energy efficiency, thoughtful use of critical resources, and innovative product and process redesign is no longer optional, but mission critical to ESG compliance and ensuring that emerging business models are equitably designed. "Decarbonization will be a story of innovation and optimization," said Steffen Zendler, process industry strategy & marketing manager at Rockwell Automation. "Our customers have an install base from which they need to earn profits today to invest in the energy transition tomorrow. Process efficiency is key to balance these competing ambitions." The report highlights five pathways that combine the urgent need to reduce the ecological impact of business operations, increasing production to meet growing demand, while maintaining profit margins to remain competitive. This zone of convergence is where operational efficiencies and improved profitability intersect with sustainability metrics, providing an effective strategy for decarbonization. The five pathways that fall within this zone are energy efficiency, extending asset lifespan, optimization of resources, faster response time to critical incidents and reducing personnel in remote or sensitive locations. "You need to balance several factors to reduce your carbon emissions, but you also need to run a business. You need to know your costs, and drive efficiency and productivity," said Emmanuel Guilhamon, EMEA process industries manager - strategic accounts at Rockwell Automation. "Getting the right information will allow you to take the right decisions in order to drive sustainable outcomes." The report covers topics including energy efficiency; asset electrification; low-carbon fuel, feedstock, and energy sources (LCFFES); and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). To learn more about the five key operational pathways to accelerate industrial decarbonization, download the industrial decarbonization report here. About Rockwell Automation Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE: ROK), is a global leader in industrial automation and digital transformation. We connect the imaginations of people with the potential of technology to expand what is humanly possible, making the world more productive and more sustainable. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Rockwell Automation employs approximately 28,000 problem solvers dedicated to our customers in more than 100 countries. To learn more about how we are bringing the Connected Enterprise to life across industrial enterprises, visit www.rockwellautomation.com. See more breaking stories here.
Global cybersecurity firm Smarttech247 has revealed the last year has seen a 70% jump in the number of attempted hacking attacks on Operational Technology or Industrial Control Systems worldwide. The news comes over a week after it emerged 12 government ministries in Norway had been the victims of a cyber-attack. The team at Smarttech247 says this and other recent attacks have exposed vulnerabilities in the public sector on a global scale, underscoring the pressing need for proactive and resilient cybersecurity measures. It's working with a number of critical infrastructure agencies to fortify their own strategies and is appealing for all organisations that have OT systems in place to do the same. CEO of Smarttech247, Raluca Saceanu says the dramatic rise in attempts seen by her team is a major problem: "This year-on-year spike of 70% poses serious risks to the essential services that our societies depend upon. These threat actors think nothing of targeting critical infrastructure, such as power grids, transportation networks, and water supply systems". "We are committed to empowering organisations to tackle these evolving challenges head-on, safeguarding critical infrastructure with robust defence strategies and cutting-edge technologies - but organisations must also be aware of the risks themselves and adapt to the situation to protect their users and the wider economy. With the number of IoT connections projected to reach 25 billion by 2025, the importance of being prepared is growing by the day" Smarttech247 recently launched a drive to support critical infrastructures throughout Europe. The programme offers complimentary cybersecurity health checks to their teams to help identify vulnerabilities and strengthen defences, in order to further safeguard against potential cyber risks.
EPAM Systems, Inc.?, a leading digital transformation services and product engineering company, has announced the launch of its AI-powered DIAL Orchestration Platform (Deterministic Integrator of Applications and LLMs), which merges the power of Large Language Models (LLMs) with deterministic code - offering a secure, scalable and customisable AI workbench to streamline and enhance AI-driven business solutions. Produced by EPAM's Reliable AI Lab (RAIL), DIAL helps enterprises speed their experimentation and innovation efforts across an extensive range of LLMs, AI-native Applications and Custom Add-ons as well as provides a practical approach for engineering business solutions with reliable AI capabilities. The DIAL Platform offers a unified user interface, empowering businesses to leverage a spectrum of public and proprietary LLMs, Add-ons, APIs, Datastores and Business Applications. This integration promotes the development of novel enterprise assets that co-exist seamlessly with an organisation's existing workflows. Moreover, Applications and Add-ons can be implemented through diverse approaches, encompassing LangChain, LLamaIndex, Semantic Kernel or custom code - all within an integrated, secure and scalable framework. The DIAL Platform aggregates multi-cloud assets libraries including components, routing, rate-limiting software, monitoring tools, load-balancing solutions and deployment scripts. This extensive, curated toolkit supports a wide range of business use cases and integration scenarios and offers approaches to significantly optimise the consumption of external LLMs. "Since 2021, we have experimented with thousands of AI use cases, helping EPAM and our customers to identify and adopt Generative AI scenarios to power business transformation initiatives," said Elaina Shekhter, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer at EPAM. "The learnings from these efforts have led us to design and engineer a platform that accelerates the cost-effective development, reliability testing and operations of AI-embedded business applications." "RAIL, as part of EPAM's broader R&D initiatives, concentrates on creating accelerators and components that encompass a full scope of advanced technologies, including Generative AI. These are designed to expedite the implementation of enterprise-scale solutions, embodying our commitment to innovation and our vision for a transformative future, driven by cutting-edge technology," - added Ilya Gorelik, Head of EPAM's RAIL Lab. In keeping with EPAM's long-standing commitment to Open Source, portions of DIAL will be released under an Apache 2.0 licensing scheme as part of its launch. This initiative encourages responsible use, community innovation and the adoption of responsible AI enterprise standards within the industry. To learn more about EPAM's AI-powered DIAL Orchestration Platform, visit. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Just one of the many exciting unveiling coming up this October at #MFR2023. Introducing Jua, a revolutionary lightweight electric vehicle designed for short city commutes. What sets Jua apart is its integration of solar panels, enabling the vehicle to be recharged both during travel and stops. This groundbreaking project, which has recently been presented at Maker Faire Rome, European Edition 2023, showcases the immense potential of harnessing solar energy for sustainable transportation. Jua falls under the L6e category of electric vehicles, boasting an impressive range of 100-120 km depending on the type of route. However, what truly makes this innovation stand out is its ability to extend its autonomy to 2000-3000 km with the assistance of solar panels. This lightweight quadricycle, weighing less than 500 kg, has been purposefully designed for short city commutes, making it an ideal choice for urban dwellers seeking an eco-friendly mode of transportation. The solar panels integrated into the Jua not only provide an additional 20 km of range during sunny months but also serve as a charging solution. With just eight hours of exposure to sunlight, the panels can replenish the vehicle's battery, allowing for a greener and more sustainable driving experience. This automated control system optimizes the distribution of charge from the solar panels, maximizing their efficiency and ensuring the smooth functioning of the vehicle. Furthermore, the full-optional version of the Jua comes equipped with two additional solar panels that activate automatically when the vehicle is stationary, provided the environmental conditions permit it. This innovative feature enhances the vehicle's charging capabilities, further reducing its reliance on traditional power sources. The Jua represents a significant leap forward in sustainable urban mobility. By harnessing renewable energy sources, it reduces environmental impact and offers users a greater level of autonomy. The seamless integration of advanced technology, lightweight design, and solar panel functionality sets a new standard in eco-friendly transportation solutions, providing a reliable and affordable option for individuals seeking a vehicle with a low environmental footprint for their city travels. Behind this impressive project are Stefano Maccagnani and Francesco Pezzuoli, whose diverse backgrounds and expertise have contributed to the realization of Jua. Stefano Maccagnani, a seasoned professional with extensive experience in industrial companies, has played a vital role in resolving technical and managerial challenges throughout his career. His expertise in planning, program management, and securing significant contracts has been invaluable in bringing Jua to life. Francesco Pezzuoli, on the other hand, is a young entrepreneur and researcher with a passion for interdisciplinary projects that merge design, mathematics, and technology. His commitment to innovation and his expertise in project management, fund-raising, and leadership have been instrumental in the development and success of Jua. Jua's presence at Maker Faire Rome 2023 marks a significant milestone in its journey, showcasing its potential to a diverse and enthusiastic audience. As visitors explore the exhibit, they will witness a glimpse of the future of sustainable transportation, where solar energy and innovative design converge to create a greener and more efficient urban commute. The Jua project serves as a testament to the power of collaboration, as professionals from various sectors merge their knowledge and skills to achieve ambitious goals. It exemplifies the possibilities that arise when scientific and technological research intersect with product development, and when creativity and practicality blend harmoniously. With Jua, the future of urban commuting looks brighter than ever. It offers a compelling solution for eco-conscious individuals seeking an efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable mode of transport...
Irish esports organisation, WYLDE, and Belfast Met have teamed up to provide free summer camps to girls aged between 15 and 18 years in Cork and Belfast. The three day esports camp, from 14 to 16 August, promises to be a thrilling mix of gaming, coaching, competitions, professional player talks as well as industry leader insights. The free esports summer camps for girls form part of a new initiative, Girls in Esports, which is jointly run by WYLDE and BelfastMet. It follows on from their recent announcement of the first degree course in esports on the island of Ireland. Taking place in the WYLDE Academy powered by Virgin Media in Cork and at the E3 Campus of Belfast Met College in Belfast, those interested in attending the camps are being invited to register as soon as possible as places will be limited. Speaking at the launch of the Girls in Esports Initiative, WYLDE CEO Steve Daly said, "We are committed to diversity and inclusion in all our WYLDE activities, and the girls in esports initiative is very much at the heart of our ambition to encourage more female esports athletes in the sector. The girls summer camps are a great way to learn, play and engage in the world of esports, and we hope to have lots of interest from girls all over the island of Ireland." With professional esports players from WYLDE teams, along with industry leaders in esports and educational and performance workshops by Belfast Met, along with live competitions, these esports camps really do offer enormous value, free of charge, to any girls interested in gaming and esports. Speaking to Michael Smyth Belfast Met Course Leader "We're thrilled to see this year's 'Girls in Esports Initiative' take flight, empowering young women to showcase their talents in the world of gaming. This initiative not only champions gender diversity but also unlocks a wealth of untapped potential." Those interested in signing up for the free esport camps for girls on 14th through 16 August in Cork, should register at tribe@wylde.gg. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Pure Telecom, Ireland's high-speed broadband and telecoms provider, has announced the results of its inaugural Connected Lives survey, which found that the amount being spent by consumers in Ireland on video streaming has risen to €1.3BN annually from €967M in 2021 - an increase of over €330M. The nationally representative survey of 1,004 adults in Ireland was conducted by Censuswide on behalf of Pure Telecom. It explored the potential impact of new and possible crackdowns on password-sharing by the world's leading streaming providers, whereby additional charges will be applied to those who share passwords with people outside of their household. The survey found that 26% of video streaming subscribers in Ireland are sharing their subscription passwords with someone outside of their household, indicating that the streaming spend could increase as providers introduce additional charges for password sharing. Pure Telecom's research found that consumers in Ireland are feeling the pinch from having multiple video streaming accounts. The survey found that on average, adults in Ireland are paying for 2.4 video streaming services each. The average adult currently spends €28.26 per month on video streaming subscriptions, versus €22.57 per month in 2021. Gen X (adults between the ages of 43 and 58) are the highest spenders by generation, spending €33.36 per month on video streaming services. Many are now choosing to reduce the number of video streaming services they pay for to save money. Some 38% of those who pay for video streaming services report to have cancelled at least one subscription in the last 12 months to cut costs. Meanwhile, 17% said they have cancelled to get better content elsewhere, while 16% said they switched off as they had too many subscriptions already. To alleviate the financial burden of subscription fees, 28% of adults would be willing to watch ads on their chosen video streaming channel if it meant they could get the content for free, while 14% of adults said that they already use video streaming channels with ads to get content for free. Paul Connell, CEO, Pure Telecom, said: "Ireland's population has well and truly embraced video streaming and the market is continuing to grow - now far surpassing the €1BN mark in annual total consumer expenditure - and the trend of password-sharing that our research uncovered could see this rise considerably again. People know that they can't get all of the top shows from just one provider and the majority are prepared (even if it is reluctantly) to pay out of fear of missing out. "As ever, people value a good quality product being delivered at a fair price, which has made for a highly competitive marketplace. With an abundance of choice at their fingertips, cost-conscious viewers are more than happy to hop between providers if they think there is better content elsewhere, while others are prepared to cut back on their monthly subscriptions to save money. "Consumers always want to know that they are getting bang for their buck, particularly at a time when people are watching what they spend more closely. At Pure Telecom, we enable seamless streaming at the best value and with the best customer care, ensuring our customers only ever need to worry about how many subscriptions is too many!" See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
In an era of rapid technological advancement, the concept of ambient computing has emerged as a transformative force. With the increasing integration of smart devices into our daily lives, this invisible tech promises to revolutionize the way we interact with technology. From smart homes to wearable devices, ambient computing is shaping a future where technology seamlessly integrates into our surroundings, making our lives more efficient and convenient. Join us as we dive into the concept of ambient computing, its relationship with the Internet of Things (IoT), notable startups in the field, challenges and concerns, and the future of this exciting technology. Understanding Ambient Computing The term "Ambient Computing", alternatively referred to as "ambient intelligence", encompasses the integration of technology into our surroundings with utmost seamlessness. Unlike conventional computing models that rely on direct user engagement, ambient computing seamlessly merges technology into the fabric of our everyday environment. In this paradigm, the need for conscious interaction with screens or keyboards becomes obsolete as technology becomes an intrinsic and unobtrusive component of our lives. Instead, smart devices and systems interact with each other, creating a context-aware and responsive computing environment. At its core, ambient computing refers to a computing environment where technology is seamlessly integrated into our surroundings, becoming an intrinsic part of our daily lives. The one major difference about ambient computing models is that they are nothing like traditional computing models, which primarily revolve around personal computers and smartphones. In comparison, ambient computing extends the technology to encompass a wide range of devices and environments. The ultimate goal is to create an intuitive and immersive technological ecosystem that adapts to our needs without requiring explicit user commands or interactions. Ambient computing leverages a combination of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning (ML) to create a context-aware and responsive computing environment. These technologies enable devices to collect data from various sources, interpret user preferences, and proactively anticipate user needs. The result is a seamless and interconnected web of devices that work in harmony to enhance our daily lives. Ambient Computing and the Internet of Things Ambient computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) are closely related concepts. The IoT encompasses everything connected to the internet, such as smart devices like speakers and watches. Ambient computing takes the Internet of Things a step further by focusing on the interaction between these connected devices. It explores how these devices can seamlessly work together, enhancing functionality and providing a more integrated user experience. One of the most prominent applications of ambient computing is the smart home. With the proliferation of IoT devices, our homes are becoming increasingly interconnected, allowing us to control various aspects of our living environment through voice commands or automated routines. For instance, a smart home equipped with ambient computing capabilities can adjust lighting based on natural light levels, regulate the temperature according to user preferences, and even order groceries when supplies are running low, all without any explicit user input. Startups Leading the Way Going beyond our homes, ambient computing has the potential to completely change many aspects of our lives. A compelling illustration lies within the realm of healthcare, where wearable devices embedded with ambient computing capabilities can incessantly track vital signs, identify irregularities, and promptly notify healthcare professionals. Thus potentially playing a role in life-saving interventions during critical circumstances. Similarly, ambient com...
South East Technological University (SETU) has announced a unique collaboration with Dublin City University (DCU) for a new course in advanced manufacturing delivered using Virtual Reality (VR). The Level 9 IMI 4 (Innovative Materials for Industry 4.0) programme is scheduled to commence in mid-September. The programme is targeted at people interested in furthering their careers in advanced manufacturing. It introduces a novel approach that includes four technical modules and a self-selected work-related project, aimed at guiding the learner through the structured phases of Problem-Solving, focusing on the practical application of skills that will help them gain relevant industry expertise. The IMI 4 programme has been developed by a HCI PIII-funded SETU-DCU Partnership; the first time two leading universities in Ireland have come together to offer a course like this. The programme entails hands-on laboratory training delivered through active 360° VR learning environments. To facilitate this innovative training approach, VR Headsets will be provided as necessary. The programme offers a high level of flexibility, with classes conducted online allowing people from any geographical location to enrol. The course also offers a micro-credentialing system, which will allow participants to tailor it to individual learning preferences and goals. David Culliton, Programme Director and Course Lead at SETU said, "We are delighted to introduce the Level 9 IMI 4 course in partnership with DCU. The programme combines technical expertise with hands-on training in advanced manufacturing and materials. The Higher Education Authority (HEA) considers VR training to be an exciting and novel approach in industry, setting a new standard for immersive and effective learning experiences. The collaboration between SETU and DCU has enabled us to create a course that addresses the needs of learners and industries alike, empowering them with skills and knowledge they can carry through their careers. The course has already seen successful industrial pilots at both universities with positive feedback from participants." Dermot Brabazon, Course Lead at DCU said: "The manufacturing sector has been transformed dramatically over the last 20 years due to globalisation, technology development and emerging markets. However, one of the critical issues the engineering sector faces is an acute labour shortage. SETU and DCU, in conjunction with industry partners, have developed an exciting new Graduate Certificate in Innovative Materials for Industry 4.0. This has been developed to meet the immediate training needs in the growing area of advanced manufacturing, and bridge the skills gap. It has been designed to link the traditional and Industry 4.0 technologies, with data analytics, materials selection and sustainability, in design and manufacturing to help Irish companies remain competitive." Pat Healy works with Fort Wayne Metals in Castlebar and took part in the IMI 4 pilot programme. He said it's been an important learning curve, "I am very impressed with the wide range of state-of-the-art Industry 4.0 technologies that we have been introduced to. The delivery of each module all within a five-week block makes it very manageable for people working full time. There is a nice blend of lectures, project work and AR, which makes the course enjoyable, and the project elements allow us to tailor our learnings to areas that are most relevant to our own industries." Paschal Sage works with Lufthansa Technik Turbine Shannon, and has found the pilot course to be hugely beneficial: "I joined the IMI 4 programme to increase my knowledge of materials and the part they perform in the future of manufacturing. It has been engaging and challenging. The virtual module lectures are structured and delivered very well, and are very informative. The assessments, while challenging, ensure the use of the information learned and encourage independent further research on the subject matte...
ServiceNow, the leading digital workflow company that makes work, work better for people, has released Irish findings from its recent EMEA-wide research on consumer habits in today's macroeconomic environment. It reveals that over four fifths of Irish consumers (82%) and 76% in EMEA are less brand loyal than two years ago - as rising costs have them searching for more affordable options. The findings in Ireland are broadly consistent with the wider EMEA region but, in almost all areas, expressed a stronger sentiment. The vast majority of consumers (72%) in EMEA say that skyrocketing costs mean they are spending more. In Ireland, this figure is 84%, second only to UAE, indicating attitudes toward price points have shifted more dramatically than in other European countries. Customers now expect businesses to completely understand them as valued, paying customers and build long-term loyalty through personalised experiences such as custom discounts, recommended samples, and proactive service. "Brands shouldn't, and can't, consistently compete on price alone - this isn't sustainable for business. Instead, they need to look at what is most important for customers beyond price: good security hygiene and being able to provide agents that solve customer queries quickly," said Mark Cockerill, VP, Legal at ServiceNow. "In Ireland, this is especially true. Our research shows Irish customers are even more discerning than their counterparts across the EMEA region." The survey, which asked 1,000 adults in Ireland and a further 12,000 in eight other countries in EMEA about their attitudes towards customer and employee experience, revealed how far customer perceptions and habits have shifted across the region and the factors impacting their loyalty. In Ireland, almost half (49%) say that needing a cheaper option is a reason for less brand loyalty- the highest proportion across all countries and well above the region total of 42%. Nearly a quarter (23%) of respondents in Ireland, compared to the EMEA-wide 20%, say that more competition is leading them to want to try new brands, products and services. Fifteen per cent in Ireland -14% across the whole of EMEA - say that disappointing experiences with companies have led to brand disloyalty - a figure which jumps to 20% for enterprise technology specifically. More than 9 out of 10 (93%) customers in Ireland, versus a regional average of 87%, say it's important for a company to understand them. When it comes to offering personalised discounts, the Irish are one of the most demanding. Nine out of ten rates it as important, compared to 80% in the rest of the region. The same is also true for wanting to be offered samples and trials, 81% versus 73%, respectively. Customers waking up to the importance of their data In a year when new technologies such as ChatGPT have gained traction, consumers are more security and data-conscious than ever. Irish consumers are one of the most security conscious across the region. Meaning companies in Ireland that fail to champion security practices have a higher risk of falling behind in the race to reinforce brand loyalty, regardless of industry. The survey found that security is now seen as the most crucial factor for customers in Ireland (78%) and the EMEA region (67%) when dealing with a company. In fact, data security outranks other factors like response times, seamless service, and choice of engagement methods. Data security was deemed more important than factors like response times (76% in Ireland; 58% across EMEA), seamless service (54% in Ireland; 46% across EMEA), and choice of engagement methods (56% in Ireland; 44% across EMEA). The over 55s are the most security conscious (99% in Ireland and 96% across EMEA feeling it's important) vs 98% (94% across EMEA) of 35-54s and 93% (89% across EMEA) of under 35s. Choice in the channel It's clear that consumers want companies to have a 360-degree view of their preferences- a notably strong sentiment in Ireland. In...
The startup world can be a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows. With 90% of startups not making it past the first year, survival is truly an accomplishment. Here you'll find advice from 4 startups that have successfully passed the testing stage and are steadily paving their way to growth. Teamwork makes the dream work When asked about startups, one of the main things Vitalijus Majorovas, the successful co-founder of Pulsetto at Kilo Health, emphasizes is the importance of having a partner, as being a lone soldier in the field can be challenging. One reason for this is that investors tend to be more suspicious of startups with only one person behind them, making it preferable to start with at least one colleague. Majorovas exemplifies this principle by having started with a team of 2 people. As he explains, the ideal scenario is to complement each other's competencies. Povilas Sabaliauskas, his colleague, serves as the engineer and technical expert, while Vitalijus excels in development, marketing, finance, and sleep science. However, in the long run, a larger team becomes necessary, as accomplishing too much with just 2 people is challenging. Thus, it becomes crucial to gather a team of amazing, strong professionals, which may even be more critical than having the most original product idea out there. Ultimately, the key to success lies in having a great idea executed skillfully, with the valuable support of a team of professionals. "Back then, there were only two of us. I worked on business development while my colleague Povilas worked on the product. Two people make a team, but the possibilities are limited. Additionally, there was a project similar to Pulsetto on the market, but it was complicated, expensive, and not user-friendly. So, we had been working on the concept for a while and knew we needed more resources. Fortunately, I already knew the CEO of Kilo Health, Tadas Burgaila, so we pitched our idea to him. To be honest, the idea was so massive that we think Kilo Health didn't initially believe it was possible. Still, we agreed to develop a prototype product within 2 months, and we did. That's when the acceleration began, and the Kilo Health co-found program welcomed us to the team! Typically, it takes 2-3 years to develop a market-ready wearable device, but with Kilo Health's bold approach and quick decision-making, we were able to produce a market-ready product within 6 months," explains Majorovas. Be a matchmaker. Find a market fit "I didn't like it when someone told me what to do, so I wanted to create something myself," says Kasparas Aleknavicius, the co-founder of a dietary supplement, Bioma, at Kilo Health. Bioma was one of the many ideas by Aleknavicius, but the only one that passed the testing stage until now. "We had app ideas, other supplement ideas, and looked at many other things in the market, and it became clear that probiotics had the strongest ground. It was a trend, but not one of those weak trends -probiotics remained relevant either way." Moreover, what made this product successful was finding a market fit because it directly correlates with the chances of long-term success and sustainability. It helps startups understand who their ideal customers are, their needs, and how they can address them. "We discovered that many people were struggling with various digestive issues and overall gut health concerns. They were looking for a natural and effective solution to support their gut microbiome and improve their overall wellness. To address these customer needs, we delved into the realm of probiotics, recognizing their potential to revolutionize gut health." Besides that, Aleknavicius says that finding a market fit can give a startup a competitive advantage by offering a better solution than existing alternatives. It can also improve user satisfaction, and they are more likely to become repeat buyers and brand advocates. Failure is part of the journey. Embrace it "There was a time when we went all-i...
Dell Technologies Ireland has today announced the launch of the Dell Technologies Forum 2023 which will take place in the Dublin Convention Centre on September 26th. The Dell Technologies Forum 2023 will showcase how new technologies can be harnessed to advance sustainability, unlock growth, maintain competitiveness and unleash the power of innovation for businesses across Ireland. The event will help businesses to embrace new technologies with diverse panels, expert speakers, and networking sessions across a range of key topics and technologies including AI, Cyber security, Multi-Cloud, Edge computing and the Future of Work. The forum will feature a keynote speech from Mika Häkkinen, one of the most celebrated drivers in the history of motorsports and a two-time Formula One World Champion. Häkkinen will take to the stage to share his view on how innovation and emerging technologies are driving progress in sport. Other keynote speakers include Catherine Doyle, Managing Director of Dell Technologies Ireland, who will discuss some of the most important technological trends shaping the future of Irish business. With organisations facing a multitude of challenges, Forum speakers will analyse the findings of this year's Dell Innovation Index. Profiling over 100 organisations across Ireland, this research analyses the current state of digital transformation across every sector of the economy. While most businesses in Ireland (78%) have a vibrant culture of innovation, a clear gap exists between perception of innovation, and realising innovation. Only 6% of organisations in Ireland have the people, processes and technology in place to be defined as Innovation Leaders and Adopters. These findings are significant as Innovation Leaders and Adopters are 2.2X more likely to accelerate their innovation during an economic downturn than Innovation Followers and Laggards. Speaking at the launch of Dell Technologies Forum 2023, Catherine Doyle, managing director, Dell Ireland, said: "In an uncertain economic environment, the importance of technology for business only continues to grow. Innovation empowers organisations by enabling them to thrive in the face of a growing set of challenges. "The Dell Technologies Forum is a valuable platform that brings together technology experts and businesses leaders across Ireland to collaborate and foster innovation. By leveraging the expertise of our speakers and network at Forum, businesses across Ireland can transform at speed and embrace new technologies to become global innovation leaders." The Dell Technologies Forum is run in partnership with Intel and Microsoft. For more information and to register for this event, visit: bit.ly/43VyXdb. Or scan the QR code below from your smartphone:
Recently I went to listen to some live music in an intimate creative space above the Cherry Tree Pub in Walkinstown, Dublin. It's a cosy room conducive to creating a good atmosphere, with the added bonus of having an upstairs bar and waiter service, which saves the audience from missing any of the music. The three people on stage were all availing of their free bus pass (eligible to those over 65) and all nationally known musicians for many decades. They had travelled from Donegal "A long day's journey into night" to be with us. The show would not be a profit-making venture for the musicians or the organiser. So why did they do it? I conclude that nothing beats doing what you love and having an audience of real people enjoy what you do. Giving pleasure to others is a gift for both the audience and the performers. I feel the same way when speaking to audiences, helping people I coach to get the same enjoyment when they confidently present. John Evoy, the Founder of Irish Men's Sheds Association, told me that I helped them to do two things better than they had previously been doing 1. Capturing the magic of what Men's Sheds does in a few short sentences. 2. Identifying how those who engage with Men's Sheds benefit from working together. Men's Sheds now enter into conversations with potential collaborators in a much more confident manner. By Executive Coach Andrew Keogh of Aristo.ie More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Guest post by Radu Jitea, UX Researcher & Product Architect, Granite Digital By now you have undoubtedly heard about the emergence of Generative AI, or GenAI for short, and the rise of ChatGPT, a leading chatbot developed by OpenAI. As our world rapidly advances technologically, the emergence of GenAI poses a double challenge: the risk of task automation that might redefine roles and the need to stay relevant by learning AI skills. While there is talk of legislating platforms such as Chat GPT, until then, it will continue to advance with the information fed into it. It is better to harness and embrace its abilities or risk getting left behind. GenAI has the potential to democratise many fields. User Research for digital products is one of the most promising areas for its application. In particular, GenAI has emerged as a vital tool for user experience (UX) research. ChatGPT falls under natural language processing (NLP) and conversational AI technologies and is a prime example of GenAI. It can generate user flows, perform thematic analysis, summarise content, and brainstorm survey questions, making it a powerful asset for UX researchers. Chat GPT can, to a point become your research buddy. Although it may take some time to reach the "Plateau of Productivity" on the hype cycle, ChatGPT and GenAI's potential applications are vast. According to Gartner's research VP for Technology Innovation, Brian Burke, the potential of ChatGPT and GenAI goes far beyond consumer-facing applications. Large organisations will likely generate 30% of their outbound marketing messages with GenAI by 2025, and over 30% of new drugs and materials will be systematically discovered using GenAI techniques. Additionally, Gartner predicts that by 2030, a major blockbuster film will be produced with AI generating 90% of its content. These predictions demonstrate that the potential of GenAI is vast, and we are only scratching the surface of what it can do. As more organisations embrace the possibilities of GenAI, we will likely see many new discoveries emerge in the coming years. Using GenAI, such as ChatGPT, in UX research presents upsides and downsides. On the one hand, it has the potential to supercharge the speed and quality of work, informing and refining interview questions, creating engaging recruiting messages, summarising data, and simplifying data insights. On the other hand, the double challenge of GenAI advancing at astonishing speeds presents a risk which may blur the lines between currently well-defined roles and the need to stay relevant and practical by learning AI skills. Unfortunately, it has also heightened the problem of low-quality UX outputs and services. With the potential to create fake research artefacts and mimic user behaviour, these tools may mislead designers into believing they have conducted reliable research when they have merely guessed their way through the process. This "design by autocomplete" approach is a trap designers should avoid. The world of UX design has always faced the challenge of obtaining the respect it deserves. Part of this comes from the fact that it's easy enough to call oneself a UX designer or UX generalist. This has led to confusion within businesses, often resulting in ignored or underappreciated UX input. While there are highly specialised roles in UX, many business can't afford to have dedicated research resources for every project. This is where the UX generalist comes in, covering everything from research and analysis to design and testing. Unfortunately, this has also led to much inconsistency in the quality of UX deliverables and the impact on a business's bottom line. But here's the thing: UX design is absolutely essential. It's the key to making sure that people can actually use the things we build, whether a website, an app, or any other digital product. And while it's true that not every project can have a dedicated UX researcher, it's still crucial to have someone who understands the princi...
WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? GUEST: Josh Bernoff HOSTS: Rob Tercek and Brian Solis DESCRIPTION:Josh Bernoff's entire career as an analyst and author has been focused on the future. In this episode The Futurists discuss forecasting: What is the difference between strategic insight and tactical decisions? Why is is so difficult to predict the timing of forecasts? Why organizations have a bias towards the status quo, and why futurists have a bias towards change. Josh explains how summarizing "What It Means" can bring a liberating clarity to forecasts and strategic plans. What is the difference between strategic insight and tactical decisions? With Josh Bernoff More about some of the team from the Futurists Robert Tercek is an award-winning author, entrepreneur, and educator focused on the process of dematerialization and innovation. In his professional capacity, Mr. Tercek is a seasoned business executive with deep expertise in digital media and internet services. He is a prolific creator of interactive programs and products. He has designed and launched successful consumer experiences on every digital platform, including digital television, game consoles, broadband Internet, and mobile networks. In 2021, Mr. Tercek was recognized as the Humanitarian of the Year by the Media Excellence Awards for his leadership in designing and launching COVID SMART™, an interactive training program designed to keep workers safe on the job during the pandemic. Brett King is a world-renowned entrepreneur, futurist, speaker, international bestselling author, and media personality. China's President Xi Jinping cited his book Augmented: Life in the Smart Lane on the topic of Artificial Intelligence in his 2018 national address; the same book that was listed as a Top 10 non-fiction book in North America. In 2019 his book Bank 4.0 was awarded the Top Book by a Foreign Author in Russia for that year. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Space Week Ireland returns this October 4th-10th 2023 and organisers at MTU Blackrock Castle Observatory, in partnership with Science Foundation Ireland and ESERO Ireland, are calling on space enthusiasts, community groups, businesses and institutions nationwide to organise their own out of this world events. The festival, which aims to ignite a passion for space science and inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, and astronauts, coincides with World Space Week and is the nation's premier celebration of space exploration and science. Over the week, the public can explore a space-themed festival of events and a captivating series of workshops, lectures, exhibitions, throughout the country. Dr Ruth Freeman, Director of Science for Society at SFI, said:"Space Week Ireland brings the public together with the space community through events which encourage creative and critical thinking and reveal the vastness of the Universe around us. It's the perfect opportunity to inspire people about the wonders of space and to celebrate those who work in the space industry. Ireland is well positioned to become a leader in this sector thanks to our well-equipped STEM workforce and curious young people. Through this focused celebration of Space Week, everyone has an opportunity to engage with the latest research and develop a greater understanding of our planet and universe." Everyone in Ireland is invited to organise an event. Whether you're a tiny club or community group, a classroom, a large organisation or institution, or a family interested in the wonders of the universe. Those interested are invited to register an event that falls within the theme 'Our Planet, Our Space, Our Time', which emphasises the shared spirit of adventure, curiosity, and innovation that underlies humankind's ongoing exploration of the cosmos. All those that register will also get a digital Space WeekKit. Events can be large or small, public, or private, free to enter or with an entrance charge, so the sky's the limit with your imagination. All event submissions are automatically entered into a draw for a chance to win some cool Space Week Prizes and the Space Week team will help publicise your event if you register before 15th August. Rob O' Sullivan, National Outreach Coordinator for Space Week Ireland said "Space Week Ireland has gone from strength to strength in recent years and we're convinced this will be the best one yet. Space Week Ireland is one of the busiest on the world stage so it's obvious that Irish people have an appetite for all things space. We are calling all space enthusiasts, community groups, families, and businesses to engage by creating or attending an event. You can get loads of inspiration by accessing the downloadable resources on the spaceweek.ie website which has activities for every kind of group to help you plan and engage with Space Week." Commenting on the importance of Space Week, Dr Niamh Shaw, one of Ireland's leading STEAM communications experts, said: "Space Week Ireland is the nation's premier celebration of space exploration and science. Space exploration is a fascinating and important field. We all stand under the same sky looking up in wonder, so it is fitting that during Space Week everyone is invited to join in discovering the wonders of the universe. I would encourage individuals, educational institutions, museums, astronomy clubs, and other organisations to submit their event ideas and help make Space Week Ireland an unforgettable experience for all." Ideas for possible events include: Public lectures and talks by renowned experts in the field of space science. Hands-on workshops and demonstrations showcasing the principles of space exploration and technology. Interactive exhibitions featuring models, telescopes, and artifacts related to space missions and discoveries. Astronomy-themed competitions, quizzes, and games. Film screenings of space-themed movies or documentaries. Stargazing events and guided o...
Since the pandemic in 2020, digital transformation has been adopted by a lot of businesses as remote and hybrid working became the norm. So, how does a business go about doing this? A good example of this is when Dublin-based ALS Identify recently replaced their legacy comms system with a new Rainbow UC system from Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise. Ronan talks to Taj Ginda, Channel Sales Manager at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise and Pat Phibbs, General Manager ALS Identity about the steps taken in ALS Identify's digital transformation.Taj and Pat explain why ALS Identify replaced their legacy comms system and how Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise installed a new Rainbow UC system to replace it. More about Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise: Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise makes everything connect by delivering technology that works for you. Their vision is to deliver the customised technology experiences their customers need. Their mission is to make everything connect by delivering digital age networking, communications and cloud solutions with services tailored for their customers business success. In the Cloud. On Premises. Hybrid. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
From the 28th of July to the 10th of August, players will be able to purchase PlayStation 5 consoles for €75 off at participating retailers. Further information on this offer can be found at/#ps5-sale As part of the Summer Sale, there will also be great deals on PlayStation peripherals and software across participating retailers. Those offers include but are not limited to: Hardware: DualSense (RRP €49.99) PULSE 3D Wireless Headset (RRP €89.99) DualSense Charging Station (RRP €24.99) Media Remote (RRP €24.99) HD Camera for PS5 Consoles (RRP €54.99) Software: God of War Ragnarök PS5 (RRP €59.99) Uncharted Legacy of Thieves (RRP €19.99) Marvel's Spider-Man Miles Morales PS5 (RRP €29.99) GT7 PS5 (RRP €49.99) The Last of Us Part I PS5 (RRP €59.99) Horizon Forbidden West PS5 (RRP €49.99) PlayStation Store will also be offering up to 75% off unmissable games and add-ons in the PlayStation Store Summer Sale, which is running until the 16th of August. For more information, visit on the PlayStation Store Summer Sale visit:/ 2023 has been a fantastic year for PS5 so far, with plenty of games to keep players entertained, including recently released blockbuster titles like Hogwarts Legacy and Final Fantasy XVI, as well as virtual reality experiences like Horizon Call of the Mountain and Resident Evil Village on PlayStation VR2, PlayStation's newest virtual reality headset. PlayStation continued to deliver gaming experiences to their growing PS5 community, including PlayStation's game subscription service, PlayStation Plus, which offers benefits such as the Game and Classics Catalogue with hundreds of games to choose from. More new games are coming this year, including Marvel's Spider-Man 2, EA SPORTS FC 24 and Alan Wake 2. Offer ends 10/08. Subject to availability. Manufacturer's recommended promotional price. Actual retailer prices may vary. Saving against the previous recommended retailer price of €549.99. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Dell Technologies has introduced new offerings to help customers quickly and securely build generative AI (GenAI) models on-premises to accelerate improved outcomes and drive new levels of intelligence. New Dell Generative AI Solutions, expanding upon our May's Project Helix announcement, span IT infrastructure, PCs and professional services to simplify the adoption of full-stack GenAI with large language models (LLM), meeting organizations wherever they are in their GenAI journey. These solutions help organizations of all sizes and across industries securely transform and deliver better outcomes. "Generative AI represents an inflexion point that is driving fundamental change in the pace of innovation while improving the customer experience and enabling new ways to work," Jeff Clarke, vice chairman and co-chief operating officer of Dell Technologies, said on a recent investor call. "Customers, big and small, are using their own data and business context to train, fine-tune and inference on Dell infrastructure solutions to incorporate advanced AI into their core business processes effectively and efficiently." "Generative AI can help every enterprise transform its data into intelligent applications that enable them to solve complex business challenges," said Manuvir Das, vice president of Enterprise Computing at NVIDIA. "Dell Technologies and NVIDIA are building on our long-standing relationship to enable organizations to harness this capability to better serve their customers, more fully support their employees and fuel innovation across their operations." With Dell Generative AI Solutions, the breadth of Dell's portfolio, including Dell Precision workstations, Dell PowerEdge servers, Dell PowerScale scale-out storage, Dell ECS enterprise object storage and a broad set of services, provide the reliable tools to deliver GenAI solutions from desktops to core data centres, edge locations and public clouds. CyberAgent, a major Japanese digital advertising company, selected Dell servers as the key IT infrastructure for its generative AI development and digital advertising. "We decided to select Dell PowerEdge XE9680 servers equipped with NVIDIA H100 GPUs, which are optimized for generative AI applications," said Daisuke Takahashi, solution architect of CIU, CyberAgent. "In addition, we value the ease of use of the Dell iDRAC management tool for secure local and remote server management." Full-stack GenAI for enterprises The Dell Validated Design for Generative AI with NVIDIA is an inferencing blueprint, jointly engineered with NVIDIA, optimized to speed the deployment of a modular, secure and scalable platform for GenAI in the enterprise. Until now, traditional inferencing approaches have been challenged to scale and support LLMs for real-time results and ensure data can be easily used by AI infrastructure. This solution helps customers generate higher quality, faster time-to-value predictions and decisions with their own data. With a comprehensive verified inferencing approach, organizations can rapidly deploy GenAI projects and scale applications to transform processes in key areas, such as customer operations, content creation and management, software development and sales. Dell Validated Designs are pre-tested, proven configurations to power GenAI inferencing efforts with Dell infrastructure, such as the Dell PowerEdge XE9680 or PowerEdge R760xa, with a choice of NVIDIA® Tensor Core GPUs, NVIDIA AI Enterprise software, the NVIDIA NeMo™ end-to-end framework and Dell software at its core. Customers can combine this with resilient and scalable unstructured data storage, including Dell PowerScale and Dell ECS storage. The infrastructure is available via Dell APEX, offering customers an on-premises deployment with a cloud consumption and management experience. Services drive faster, more holistic GenAI outcomes Dell Professional Services deliver a broad spectrum of new capabilities to help customers accelerate GenAI adoption to i...
Guest post by Chris Peregrine, Head of Product Management at DigitalWell In Ireland - as is the case in many other countries - cyberattacks have grown to become a primary concern for businesses. In fact, according to a recent survey by the Institute of Directors in Ireland, 41% of organisations have experienced a cyberattack in the past, with most of these occurring within the last two years. This is thanks, in part, to increasing digitisation, which has meant the potential for exploiting vulnerabilities and unauthorised network access has increased and organisations are more likely than ever to have to deal with a major cyber attack. Alongside an ever-evolving digital landscape, cybercriminals are also continually devising new techniques, with common targeting tactics including focusing on critical infrastructure, such as energy and healthcare sectors, with the aim of disrupting essential services and causing economic harm. Additionally, businesses - especially those in technology, pharmaceuticals, and finance - are being targeted for corporate espionage, seeking to steal valuable intellectual property and sensitive information. Ransomware attacks, affecting both large enterprises and SMEs, also encrypt data and demand payment for decryption keys, while sophisticated threat actors may launch advanced persistent threats (APTs) against high-profile organisations, government agencies, and research institutions, seeking prolonged access to confidential data. Whether the outcome is data breaches, financial losses, disruptions in operations, legal penalties, or reputational damage, inadequate protection against cyber attacks can have severe consequences for businesses - never mind the aftermath of an attack, which can disrupt productivity and lead to costly recovery efforts. Prioritising cybersecurity via strategic partnerships To mitigate these risks, businesses are all too aware that they should prioritise cybersecurity, which may include investing in robust security measures, conducting regular assessments, providing employee training, and adopting up-to-date security technologies. But one aspect some businesses may miss in the fight against cyber threats is the importance of choosing a reliable communications partner. Partnering with a communications provider that prioritises cybersecurity can significantly enhance your business's resilience to cyber threats, protecting your sensitive data, reputation, and overall operations. Having evolved beyond the mere exchange of pleasantries and signing of contracts, this task now demands a careful examination, with robust due diligence becoming the compass that guides your selection and procurement teams through the intricate process. By doing so, you can identify those equipped with the knowledge, tools, and practices necessary to safeguard your communication channels. How to select a qualified comms partner During the selection process, it is vital to ask the right questions to certify that your communications partner is qualified to help you identify and mitigate cyber risks efficiently. Here are key inquiries to consider: Experience and Expertise: Inquire about the partner's experience in handling secure communications for businesses in your industry. Request case studies or success stories that demonstrate their ability to address security challenges effectively. Security Measures: Assess the partner's security infrastructure and protocols and ask about their adherence to industry standards such as ISO 27001 certification, an internationally recognised certification for information security management systems. If your prospective partner is ISO 27001 certified, this demonstrates their dedication to maintaining robust security protocols. Additionally, inquire about their data backup and disaster recovery plans. Employee Training: Security is not just about technology; it also depends on the people who handle your communications. Ask about the partner's employee training programmes...
Digital health startup accelerator Kilo Health calls out to be the trailblazer with the bold leadership approach and join forces with the Kilo Health co-found program. With a portfolio of over 30 digital health products and experience of 10 years being in business, Kilo Health invites innovators to join its co-found program, an opportunity for visionary doers who know what it takes to lead and scale startups. In 2023, Kilo Health aims to grow 12 new startups based in the EU, which will require the exact same number of CEOs. CEO'S Wanted for Health Tech Startups, Kilo Health By 2025, the global digital health market is expected to grow to a $650 billion market, according to Statista forecasts. Kilo Health has been at the forefront of this explosive growth, earning the title of Europe's second fastest-growing company, as recognized by the Financial Times. In recent years, Kilo Health witnessed more than 50% growth, securing an annual revenue of 2022 of $270 millions. Ilona Bernotaite, Chief People Officer at Kilo Health and Forbes Council Member recalls the first wave of the co-found program: "When we first called for applications in 2021, entrepreneurs from around the world flooded us with over 1,000 applications in 3 weeks. The demand was overwhelming, and now is another opportunity to join forces with Kilo Health." Kilo Health delivers projects with a dedicated in-house marketing agency, research team and other vital teams of over 700 experts while being bootstrapped from the very beginning. "Notably, we have achieved profitability without relying on external investors. This signifies that everything we have created, we have accomplished independently, without additional funds or assistance from outside entities," - CEO of Kilo Health, Tadas Burgaila. The track record of co-founded projects speaks for itself as well with successful launches such as Pullseto, Greatness, BomeranGO!, and Joggo. Pulsetto CEO and co-founder shares his success story: "Back then, there were only two of us. I worked on business development while my colleague Povilas worked on the product - two people make a team, but the possibilities are limited. Also, there was a project similar to Pulsetto on the market, but it was complicated, expensive, and simply not user-friendly. So we had been working on the concept for a while and knew we needed more resources. It turned out that Vitalijus already knew the CEO of Kilo Health, Tadas Burgaila, so we pitched our idea to him. To be honest, the idea was so massive that we think Kilo Health did not believe it was possible, but we agreed to develop a prototype product within 2 months, and we did. That's when the acceleration began as the Kilo Health co-found program said, "Welcome to the team!" Typically, it takes 2-3 years to develop a market-ready wearable device, but with Kilo Health's bold approach and quick decision-making, we were able to produce the market-ready product within 6 months," - Vitalijus Majorovas. The co-found program is designed for professionals who dream of leading cutting-edge health and wellness products. The extensive resources and collaborative approach empower Kilo Health co-founders to transform innovative digital health and wellness ideas into reality. "The co-founder becomes our business partner and is responsible for setting the business strategy, developing and launching the product, and building their team. We offer a well-paid role, support, shared knowledge, and exciting challenges," - Ilona Bernotaite. Kilo Health's co-found program invites highly driven individuals to become real business partners. The program offers a well-paid role, unwavering support, shared knowledge, and exhilarating challenges to fuel your entrepreneurial journey. Applications are now being accepted here. About Kilo Health Kilo Health is a digital health and wellness company with more than 5 million customers worldwide. Since 2021, it has been listed as the second fastest-growing company in Europe on ...
We look at this positive, challenging and informative book by Brook Kennedy. You can see more about Reimagining Alternative Technology for Design in the 21st Century here. Reimagining Alternative Technology for Design in the 21st Century, reviewed This is an enjoyable book to read. It covers super important issues in a deeply challenging time for the human race. One important aspect is the importance of considering that, in many examples, we may have already invented, developed, and built, sometimes centuries ago, effective working solutions to our living needs. The photographs in this book play an important role is visually reinforcing Kennedy's points. The images of natural heat cooling solutions for desert based countries immediately convey the potential to have summer AC in a smarter, non fossil fuel guzzling way. The book is divided into logical chapters, tackling heating, transport, design, furniture, and, as increasingly the case with climate change, it forcefully illustrates that we already have many of the solutions to achieve a lighter carbon footprint. It seems slightly insane that LA had an electrified transport system almost a century ago now, which effectively linked up the whole city. It was then dismantled, and LA became the sprawling, carmagedeon nightmare that it now is. European cities have aimed to return to smarter transport systems. Though as recently as yesterday the UK Premier sought to portray himself as fighting back against anti-car factions, which shows how deeply political, depressing and over simplified the issues can be. There is a need for better air quality, less CO2 released, and other polluting elements, and to get to work, school or home on time. To reduce this down to pro or anti car seems like desperate populist sloganeering by a UK government who are staring down the barrel of an electoral wipe out. This book is about so much more than that, and it reminds us that greener solutions can both improve our quality of lives, and also save money too. Hopefully this book is the success that it needs to be if humanity is not going to fall even more deeply into a climate crisis of its own making. More about the book Reimagining Alternative Technology for Design in the 21st Century presents a new approach to design that harnesses still-valuable alternative, traditional and abandoned technologies alongside the creation of new ones to address contemporary global problems. It focuses on design opportunities that reduce energy and material consumption to tackle issues such as climate change and pollution in industrialized economies. The book takes the reader on a journey surveying different facets of human activity to identify underused and discarded technologies that could be indispensable today. It critically addresses newer approaches to design and technology by comparing them to existing alternatives, unpacking examples including air conditioning with smart thermostats, electric lighting, durable reusable products, domestic maintenance tools and methods of transportation. Written for practicing designers and students in industrial design, architecture, sustainable design and human-centered design, this book provides new ideas and tools for creating more useful, energy-and-resource-efficient product designs and systems. More about the author Brook S. Kennedy is an industrial designer and Associate Professor in the School of Architecture, Arts and Design at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), US. There his research focuses on topics in sustainable design, materials and biodesign. Prior to Virginia Tech he spent 15 years in full time practice, including as an Associate Director at Inclusive Design pioneer Smart Design in New York City, where he helped Fortune 500 clients and start-up companies embrace the value of human-centred design processes. He has been honored with numerous international design awards from the Industrial Design Society of America, International...
In this episode Dr. Efi Pylarinou talks to Dr. Alejandro Betancourt, an AI academic who has collaborated extensively with AI luminary Andrew Ng and has hands-on Fintech experience, discusses one of Latin America's leading innovation in data and fintech. A captivating discussion on electronic invoicing and supply chain finance which is years ahead in Latam. Closing with an insightful discussion around the mind-shift required to unlock value in financial services and leverage the advancements in training AI models. Fintech AI Model Training in LATAM Dr. Alejandro Betancourt Dr. Alejandro Betancourt/ is a distinguished leader in Artificial Intelligence and Data, with a particularly impactful contribution to the Fintech sector. He earned a Ph.D. in Cognitive Environments and holds degrees in Applied Mathematics, giving him a unique blend of technical expertise and theoretical acumen. As the Chief Data Officer of KLYM, he has been instrumental in shaping the company's data strategy, driving its expansion across Latin America, and paving the way for innovative financial solutions. His work encompasses the full data lifecycle, from acquisition and engineering to insightful application via data science and business intelligence tools. Beyond his executive role, Dr. Betancourt is deeply involved in the AI community, with collaborations with AI luminary Andrew Ng and over 20 published articles in top-tier journals. Yet, his approach remains grounded and community-oriented. He believes in the power of collaborative effort to advance technology and is keen to explore potential collaborations, creating a synergy that fuels AI innovation and its practical implementation. His vision is to continue unlocking the potential of AI and data systems, paving the way for their transformative impact in the Fintech industry and beyond. Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica. A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter. Join her on the social platforms
Latam #fintech #innovation #AI #invoicing #data #supplychain
See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Workplaces across Ireland aren't providing working mothers with the support packages, pay-rises and promotions they need - according to a new survey of 2,000 professionals. The survey from specialist recruitment firm Robert Walters found that the odds are truly stacked against working mothers - both those living with their partners and those living alone/without a partner. Progression stalled Almost two thirds of working mothers (56%) are yet to receive a promotion from their current employer, despite the fact they felt they'd earned it - a 14% difference compared to working fathers who have said the same. In fact, over a quarter of working mothers (27%) state that they aren't at all aware of the route to a promotion - 10% more than their male counterparts. A fifth of working mothers (18%) state that they could do with more support from management to understand how to get a promotion. Pay falling short When it comes to pay, we see a similar story - just under a quarter of working mothers in white-collar roles earn €49k+ compared to 53% of working fathers who earn this or above. The difference is even more pronounced when you move further up the pay bracket - with just 6% of working mothers earning €87.5k or above vs 21% of working fathers who take home this level of pay. Cost of living inequality The difficulties continue at home with just 10% of single mothers stating they are able to 'live comfortably' on their salary - with almost a quarter (22%) relying on additional income streams such as credit cards, pay day loans, or side hustles. This figure is twice as much as single fathers, and three times as much as co-habiting parents. Meanwhile, fathers who cohabit with their partner reported feeling the least impacted by cost of living - 35% stated they live comfortably with a disposable income (vs 28% of single fathers and 23% of cohabiting mothers who said the same). Coral Bamgboye - Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Robert Walters comments: "The data highlights how working mothers are not only losing out on guidance and support for promotions, but they are also finding it significantly harder to reach the higher echelons of pay, which still seem to be dominated by men. "This is having knock-on effects to how comfortably they can live day-to-day - hitting single mothers especially hard, with almost a quarter having to rely on credit cards and payday loans to get by." Inadequate support from employers The survey also drew a stark line under the lack of support working mothers receive from their employers - with 36% stating that balancing work with personal commitments is a key roadblock to work. As well as a lack of support, 1 in 5 single mothers report experiencing active discrimination against their personal circumstance in the office, almost double the number that was reported by single fathers. Confidence dwindling All of these factors contribute to an overall lack of confidence - 27% of working mothers claim they lack the confidence to highlight their own wins. The lack of confidence in women at work appears to have a direct correlation with the success rate of negotiating pay - with 19% of single working mothers reporting that they haven't received a pay rise after negotiation, compared to just 5% of single fathers who said the same. Coral adds: "In some parts we have managed to shift the dial on the experiences for women in the workplace and progress has and continues to be made. However what is concerning is this small cohort within this group - the working mother - who's experiences are largely going unrecognised. Working mothers feel they are stuck when it comes to progression, pay and support from employers - and more needs to be done to address this, particularly in this cost-of-living crisis. Coral's Top Tips: Organise more inclusive conversations from senior figures around career progression and pay-rise opportunities Offer adaptable flexible working options such as late starts or early finishes to coincide w...
FRKelly, a leading specialist in intellectual property law is warning businesses to prepare and familiarise themselves with the new rules. The new EU Unified Patent System, which came into force last month, is designed to simplify pan-European patents for companies, allowing them to apply in a single country for patent protection across 17 participating EU member states. Considered the most important reform in the history of the European patent system, it allows patent-holders pay for a single unitary patent that covers those member states rather than individual patents across Europe, saving them time and money. The agreement also facilitates the establishment of the Unified Patent Court to oversee the enforcement of those patent rights. However, Ireland is among the member states that have signed up but have yet to ratify the agreement, along with Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.. Before the introduction of the new agreement, patents had to be validated in individual countries, a costly and time-consuming process. Paul Keane, European patent attorney, Irish patent agent and partner at FRKelly, said: "Effectively, European patents became a bundle of national patents which worked independently. Typically, you would validate patents in the main jurisdictions like France, Germany and the Netherlands. Once you did that, it became a national patent in France, Germany and the Netherlands. To enforce that, you'd have to take multiple actions if you wanted to enforce your intellectual property rights in Europe. "The main drawback of the system is that it is very expensive to do this validation step. It wasn't uncommon that different courts and different jurisdictions gave conflicting decisions." But while the new system eliminates that complexity, it also makes it easier to challenge the new unitary patents. The move to the new unified patent system means that it can be easier for patents to be challenged, as it would only need to be challenged in one of the member states in which the system is recognised. "If you have a unitary patent covering 17 countries, it only takes one action to revoke that patent," Mr Keane explained. "If you had the classical system, and you had patents in multiple jurisdictions, if somebody challenged the validity of that patent, they would have to go into each jurisdiction." Some 17 EU member states have signed up already to the new body, including France, Germany and Belgium. Individuals and companies filing European patents will have the option to select the new unitary patent that covers those 17 states at the grant stage. The current system and the new one will coexist for several years, Mr Keane said, for a transitional period. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Gamma, a leading provider of location intelligence and risk assessment technologies, has announced a new deal with MX Underwriting Europe, formerly Blackrock Insurance Solutions, a specialist insurance intermediary in Ireland. The collaboration will see Gamma providing its address-level risk assessment and reporting solution, PerilfinderÔ, to MX Underwriting Europe, enabling the company to assess commercial property risk across perils including flood and windstorm - an emerging consideration for insurers. The cloud-native mapping platform provides MX Underwriting Europe with improved accessibility to and visibility of detailed risk insights, while improving efficiency and expediating the quote generation process. MX Underwriting Europe's choice of PerilfinderÔ was driven by its ability to provide underwriters with instant access to crucial flood and windstorm data at the point of quotation. This data is fundamental for the company's decision-making processes, and the efficiency of PerilfinderÔ allows the underwriting team to review a property location within seconds, thereby enabling accurate assessment and risk pricing. Incorporating premium roof top level geocoding, building footprints, superb map visualisation, intuitive risk and accumulation scoring, and powerful spatial hazard models, PerilfinderÔ is the elite cloud-native insurance assessment tool. It also offers associated web services for form prefill and rebuild calculation. Richard Garry, Chief Commercial Officer, Gamma, said: "Collaborating with a forward-thinking company like MX Underwriting Europe, which actively seeks to assess emerging risks like windstorms, allows us to be at the forefront of innovation. "Through PerilfinderÔ, we aim to streamline processes, enhance service delivery and foster growth. As emerging risks associated with climate change accelerate, PerilfinderÔ is ideally positioned to provide the insurance sector access to business-critical data, instilling confidence in the decision-making process into the future and protecting the interests of insurance providers." Commenting further on the deal, David Gibson, Commercial Combined Manager at MX Underwriting Europe, said: "I was already familiar with PerilfinderÔ and Gamma as a leading provider of location intelligence solutions. So, when we needed a new service provider, I knew exactly who to call. "I was really impressed with PerilfinderÔ when I first saw it. The transition to this new platform was expertly managed and we are enthusiastic about the advantages it - and Gamma - can bring to our business in the future." See more stories here.
In recent years, the use of smart phones among kids under the age of 16 has seen a significant increase across the globe. With advancements in technology and the widespread availability of affordable smartphones, young people have become active users of these devices. Smart phones have become an integral part of their lives, influencing their communication habits, social interactions, and access to information. Understanding the differences in smart phone usage patterns across regions is crucial for gaining insights into the global impact of technology on children. By comparing smart phone usage among kids in different regions, we can identify regional variations, factors influencing usage, and potential cultural or societal influences on their relationship with smart phones. Such a comparison allows us to uncover both similarities and differences, leading to a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon. In this article, we will delve into the average smart phone usage time among kids in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, while also examining the positive and negative outcomes associated with their smart phone usage. Smart Phone Usage Among Kids Smart phone ownership among kids under the age of 16 varies across different regions. Smart phone ownership among children is prevalent in North America, particularly in the United States and Canada. According to recent studies, approximately 70% of American teenagers own a smartphone, and a similar trend is observed in Canada. In Europe, countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, and France also report high smart phone ownership rates among kids, with smartphones being the most common type of device. In Asia, smart phone usage among children is widespread due to several factors, such as technological advancements, affordability of devices, and high smartphone penetration. Countries like South Korea, Japan, and China have witnessed a significant surge in smart phone ownership among kids, with a considerable portion of young people owning smartphones. In addition, in many African countries, the use of smart phones among children is on the rise, although the ownership rates may vary across different socio-economic groups and regions. Factors Influencing Smart Phone Adoption and Usage in Each Region Several factors influence smart phone adoption and usage among kids in different regions. Firstly, socio-economic factors play a crucial role. In regions with higher income levels and better access to technology, such as North America and Europe, children are more likely to own smart phones. However, in economically disadvantaged areas, the ownership rates may be comparatively lower. Cultural and societal norms also influence smart phone adoption and usage. For example, in some Asian countries, like South Korea and Japan, the emphasis on education and technology as essential components of modern life has contributed to a higher prevalence of smart phone ownership among children. In Africa, factors such as urbanization, improved connectivity, and the increasing availability of affordable smartphones have contributed to the growth of smart phone usage among young people. Regional Comparison of Average Age of Smart Phone Use North America and Europe In North America and Europe, children often receive their first smart phones at a younger age than other regions. This can be attributed to factors such as cultural norms, parental preferences, and the perceived necessity of owning a smart phone for safety, communication, and access to digital resources. Asia In Asia, particularly in countries like South Korea and Japan, the average age of smart phone ownership tends to be relatively lower. Even elementary school children often have their own smartphones. This early adoption can be attributed to the emphasis on education and technology, as well as the availability of child-friendly devices and applications. Africa In Africa, the average age of smart phone ownership among kids can vary sig...
Guest post by Colton Fidelman, who is the author of the anticipated release of The Teenage Guide to Becoming Successful - The TICK TOCK Formula for Life, Relationships and Careers. Social media is now a staple in nearly every teenager's life. While it can provide connection and entertainment, heavy use poses many risks. As discussed in my recent book "The Teenage Guide to Success", spending excessive time online takes away from healthy offline activities and in-person interactions. It also exposes teens to content and experiences that can negatively impact mental health and safety. Dangers Teens Face from Heavy Social Media Use Here are 5 key dangers that come with teenagers' heavy social media use: 1. Poor Body Image and Low Self-Esteem The highly curated images on social media can lead teens, especially girls, to develop poor body image and low self-esteem. Seeing constant images of idealized, edited bodies promotes unrealistic appearance expectations. This causes teens to negatively compare themselves against these artificial standards. An analysis of 63 studies with over 36,000 participants confirmed the link between social media use and body image issues. 2. Increased Anxiety, Depression and Suicidal Thoughts Numerous large-scale studies reveal that time spent on social media correlates with rising rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts in teens. They show that constant pressure to gain likes and comments takes a mental toll. Teens also report feeling left out and overwhelmed by social media drama. CDC statistics show teen girls are particularly affected, with 57% feeling persistently sad or hopeless. 3. Exposure to Harmful Content Without parental controls, teens can easily access inappropriate or dangerous content like pornography, violence, self-harm techniques, and unhealthy weight loss tips. Algorithms can lead them into more extreme content. This disturbing material can traumatize teenagers and give them unrealistic perceptions. 4. Online Predators and Cyberbullying Predators and bullies use social platforms to target teen victims. Live video sites are especially perilous. Sexual harassment, trolling, hate speech and damaging gossip circulate wildly through teen social circles online. This victimization contributes to mental health issues and even suicide in severe cases. 5. Sleep Deprivation and Academic Decline Teens obsessively checking notifications and screens late into the night interferes with healthy sleep. Loss of sleep hampers focus, memory, learning and school performance. Yet the fear of missing out keeps teens continuously connected. Setting reasonable limits is critical to teens' mental health. So what's the Solution? While social media has upsides, its misuse clearly threatens teen well-being. I should know. I encourage parents to take an active role in monitoring and guiding their teens' social media habits. Teens should also reflect on their usage and consciously limit time spent online. With vigilance, social platforms can be a positive experience. But excessive, uncontrolled use puts vulnerable teens at risk. As I said above, it's important to remember that social media is not inherently harmful; it's how we use it that determines its impact. As a teenager myself and author of "The Teenage Guide to Success," I've seen firsthand how social media can be a powerful tool for connection, learning, and self-expression when used responsibly. The key is to manage our social media use rather than letting it manage us. For instance, social media can be a platform for teens to share their passions, engage in meaningful discussions, and even mobilize for causes they believe in. It can also be a source of support, allowing teens to connect with others who share their experiences or challenges. Furthermore, it can provide access to educational resources and opportunities that might not be available in our local communities. The challenge for teens is to use social media in a way that enhances th...
By Calvin Jones. This innovative and beautifully designed keyboard case brings distraction free typing to the reMarkable 2 - but what's it like to use? When reMarkable announced the Type Folio, I was intrigued. I'd reviewed the reMarkable 2 here on Irish Tech News a while back, and loved it for the things it did well, but just as much for the things it didn't try to do. This was a device designed specifically to replace paper notebooks for handwritten notes, sketches and doodles, or for marking up document files with handwritten annotations - and it did those things spectacularly well. reMarkable Type Folio reviewed But is it a device I'd want to type on? I wasn't so sure. I remember when I reviewed the tablet itself other reviewers lamented the fact there was no bluetooth, which meant you couldn't pair the reMarkable 2 with an external keyboard. I remember thinking "so what": this is for handwriting with a stylus, not typing. At the time that was true, and in many ways still is, but in the meantime the software experience on the reMarkable 2 has evolved. A succession of updates has improved the device's ability to handle typed text, and to integrate it with handwritten notes and annotations in the same notebook and even on the same page. It seemed a strange direction given that entering text on the on-screen keyboard was so clunky on an e-ink display. Yes, you could sync your notes and type up text on another device then re-sync. but that still seemed a bit of a faff for most use-cases. Then the company announced the Type Folio, and everything made sense. Sort of. I still couldn't quite work out why the self-appointed champions of distraction free note-taking were introducing another facet to their device. Surely the reMarkable was for jotting down ideas, fleshing them out and developing them before moving over to a more powerful and versatile device with a keyboard to produce the finished article? When I needed a keyboard, I surmised, I'd just move over to my desktop or laptop computer and use the array of powerful apps at my disposal to create whatever I needed to create. building on the thoughts and ideas so efficiently captured on the reMarkable 2. Then the Type Folio arrived. I typed a few lines, and those initial doubts mostly evaporated. Not only is this a sublimely designed piece of tech (like the reMarkable 2 itself, which still more than holds its own design-wise more than 2 years after its launch), it also does the job it's designed to do extremely well. It is the typing embodiment of reMarkable's distraction free ethos. Type Folio, and the reMarkable 2's new text features, give you just enough, and no more. You can create headings, sub-headings, paragraph text and bullet points. add bold and italic, you can copy, cut and paste text. and that's about it. This is no word-processing powerhouse. There's not a spell-check in sight, and when it comes to grammar, you're on your own. This is essentially an electronic typewriter for e-paper, and I love its simplicity and, yes, at the risk of falling in step with the marketing hype, the fact that it's distraction free. On my laptop, I would almost certainly have left this piece several times by now to look something up, check my email, respond to a social media notification. With the reMarkable and Type Folio there's none of that. There's also the added benefit of an e-ink display with absolutely no light emanating from it - so typing on the Type Folio is as easy on the eyes as it gets. When paired with the Type Folio the reMarkable 2 becomes an exquisitely compact, yet surprisingly tactile and functional typing station, coupled with just enough software chops to get the job done. It's pared back to a point that maximises usability and focus, and eliminates distraction. That's a tricky balance to strike, but typing this review on the Type Folio I can't help feeling that reMarkable has pulled it off. again. You're never sucked into the deep, dark productivity black hole o...
Top social media giants recycle competitor's features The social media landscape has been chaotic over the past few years, with few effective innovations except for high profile rebranding exercises and little more than repackaged variations of the same features. Meta's metaverse flopped. The largest social platforms seem to be competing to deploy new versions of the same features: text, image and video posts. Twitter is focusing on a subscription model and partially re-branding to "x". In a recent x-post the new Twitter CEO said: For years, fans and critics alike have pushed Twitter to dream bigger, to innovate faster, and to fulfill our great potential. X will do that and more. We've already started to see X take shape over the past 8 months through our rapid feature launches, but we're just getting. Linda Yaccarino (@lindayacc) July 23, 2023 Reddit deploys blockchain-based reputation system Future Twitter users may have x-videos, x-messaging and x-payments to look forward to. Capitalising on Twitters declining user activity and plummeting advertising revenue, Meta launched Threads, a Twitter competitor, demonstrating that the best way to attract 100 million new app users in one week is to have an existing user base of 3 billion people inside one of the world's largest media and advertising companies. Tiktok is still capturing the internet's attention with 4% of global web traffic, just slightly lower than Disney+. TikTok launched their own text-based post feature this week to "empower creators" to "expand the boundaries of content creation" with text posts. None of these ideas are new. To find innovation among the larger social media platforms we can look to Reddit's development and rollout of blockchain-based Community Points. Reddit is a large social media platform and link aggregator, but is small compared to the monthly active user base of networks like Facebook (2.9 billion), Youtube (2.6 billion), Tiktok (1.7 billion) but has a similar number of monthly active users to Twitter at about 450 million. Reddit grows into web3 with blockchain-based reputation system Reddit is expanding their Community Points system, a blockchain-based reputation score that users earn based on their contribution to specific communities. These points are digital tokens that are awarded to users based on their participation in specific communities. To earn Community Points, users can engage in different ways, such as posting content, leaving comments, or receiving upvotes (positive feedback) from other users. The more active users are, and the more other users react positively to their posts or comments, the more points are earned. These points can used to unlock specific digital rewards in the communities, membership features, and gain more influence in community decisions through voting power that is weighted based on a user's Community Points. The points are not just a counter on a scoreboard though, they are also recorded on the Ethereum blockchain and can be accessed through a web3 wallet. That means the points are digital tokens that users can buy, sell and send independent of Reddit. Users can even exchange them for popular cryptocurrencies like Ether or USDC, and exchange those for cash. The top scoring users on Reddit's cryptocurrency subreddit last month earned over 9,000 Cryptocurrency Community Points (MOONS) each in a 28-day period (worth over €2,800; USD$3,100 on July, 26 2023). Reddit Moons In June 2020, Reddit's cryptocurrency community introduced a digital token called Moons. These tokens are unique to the r/Cryptocurrency community and were created as part of Reddit's strategy to reward content creation and encourage user engagement. Moons have developed over the past three years, transitioning from a testing phase to deploying live on the blockchain. Along the way, the community has implemented various rules to determine how users can earn Moons, with specific types of contributions being recognised and rewarded based on ...
As part of its Pan European expansion plan, Integrity360 has acquired leading European PCI QSA (Payment Card Industry Qualified Security Assessor) and cyber security services company Advantio. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition will enable Integrity360 to expand further into continental Europe and provides an additional cyber services practice focused on PCI compliance - complementing Integrity360's existing service practices which include cyber risk and assurance, cyber security testing, incident response, infrastructure, end-point and SIEM professional services and a highly comprehensive range of cyber security managed services. Advantio will continue to operate from its existing wide-ranging European facilities but with the benefit of the full resources and capability of the existing Integrity360 business. In addition, Integrity360 has formed a strategic partnership with the Advantio founders to expand the footprint of ZeroRisk, an innovative SaaS platform providing compliance and cyber risk management profiling services for the payment industry. Advantio was founded in 2009, employs approximately 115 employees and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland and operates from facilities in Italy, Spain, UK, Lithuania, and Ukraine serving more than 250 customers across Europe, the USA and Asia. For the last three years, Advantio has achieved growth rates of circa 25% pa, and during the next 12 months expects revenues of circa €10m. The combination of Advantio with Integrity360 brings group revenues to approximately €115m in 2023, from circa €85m in 2022, and expands group resources to approximately 450 employees. Advantio's cyber services capabilities include PCI compliance, cyber security testing, cyber risk and assurance and MDR services (Managed Detection and Response) and are both expansive and complementary to those of Integrity360. Advantio's existing SOC (Security Operations Centre) operation in Naples will be combined with Integrity360's other three SOCs in Dublin, Sofia, and Stockholm - now operating with over 100 dedicated engineers, consultants and cyber experts in delivering a wide-ranging set of managed services for customers including EDR, XDR and MDR (Endpoint Detection and Response, Extended Detection and Response, and Managed Detection and Response). Integrity360's innovative range of services were recently recognised for a third time in a Gartner market guide, namely as a Representative Vendor in the Gartner market guide for Managed Detection and Response services. Advantio has a leading position in PCI compliance and operates as one of the leading Qualified Security Assessor organisations in Europe and across the world. Its position is reflected by its standing as being the No 1 most chosen QSA organisation by Visa service provider organisations across Europe, and No 4 most chosen by Mastercard service provider organisations. Advantio has also been a proud member of the PCI GEAR (Global Executive Assessor Roundtable) since 2018, helping to refine and define PCI standards for the benefit of the industry. Advantio's PCI expertise adds to Integrity360's existing regulatory and cyber framework services capability including ISO27001, Cyber Essentials, cyber security strategy, and third-party risk management. Ian Brown, Executive Chairman at Integrity360, commented: "We are delighted to be welcoming the Advantio team to Integrity360. The enhanced group will now significantly expand our existing activities and cyber services throughout continental Europe, and further develop Advantio's considerable expertise in PCI compliance. The combination of the two businesses provides a powerhouse of technical cyber and security payments expertise for the group's customer base, including preparing for the impending arrival of the new PCI DSS 4.0 standard which requires comprehensive threat detection and incident response services. "The two companies are highly complementary, with common strengths in ...
Ennomotive and Colbún launch the first open innovation social challenge to contribute to the sustainability of rural schools. The contest will reward innovative solutions related to water, energy, and thermal comfort from two schools in rural areas in Chile. Colbún SA ( ) is a leading Chilean company in the generation and trading of electricity and the provision of energy solutions. New tech challenge to make rural schools more sustainable Through its foundation (Fundación Colbún), Colbún promotes, encourages, and supports activities to improve the living conditions of the most vulnerable. Among its main lines of cooperation are the strengthening and modernization of access to energy and water (SDG 6 and 7). The "Transforming Schools" program seeks to support rural schools in Chile, close to Colbún's operations, with improvements that help them become more sustainable. In a first stage, it is intended to find solutions to the problems of schools in the communes of San Esteban (Río Colorado sector) and Quillota (San Pedro sector). To this end, Colbún has launched an online challenge with the aim of finding innovative and sustainable solutions, in collaboration with the innovation platform ennomotive and the NGO Desafío Levantemos Chile. The challenge focuses on three fundamental areas, such as the interruption in the supply of water for daily use and the low temperatures in the classrooms, providing the opportunity to introduce renewable energy: Water : Design a system that ensures the availability of water when interruptions occur due to lack of pressure in the general network. Thermal comfort : Design and select insulating materials to ensure thermal comfort and a heating system that complements it. The aim is to improve the temperature that, inside the classrooms, drops excessively during classes, up to values from 5 to 8ºC. 3. Energy : Search for energy sources for these new consumptions that contribute to the sustainability of the school, and, as far as possible, lead to self-consumption. Participation in this innovation challenge is open to professionals and companies, technology centers, start-ups, engineers, or academics at a national and international level, individually or in teams. Those interested in participating can register at www.ennomotive.com , where you can learn more about the challenge and download information about the schools. Colbún will offer up to 15,000 USD in total for prizes to the winning solutions and the deadline to submit proposals is August 28, 2023. About the "Transforming Schools" program "Transforming Schools" is the pilot project developed by Colbún, which seeks to support rural schools in areas where the company is present, with the aim of contributing to their transformation through sustainable and innovative solutions that respond to real needs. The initiative will benefit, in a first stage, the Río Colorado school in the San Esteban commune, and the Abel Guerrero school in the town of San Pedro, in the Quillota commune, through the search for solutions related to water efficiency, thermal comfort, and energy. "At Colbún, we are seeking to generate social innovation in energy and water issues for rural schools in our territories. In this context, we have contacted 2 schools close to our operations in the Valparaíso Region to, together with them, seek solutions to real needs in the field of sustainability, which improve the conditions in which these schools provide education. We trust that there will be a lot of participation in the dialogue with these schools in order to efficiently improve the quality of life of both school communities", said Colbún's Corporate Affairs Manager, Pedro Vial. For his part, Pablo Díaz, Director of the Abel Guerrero School, pointed out that " we have had two meetings to identify the challenges that these solutions could address in the school, such as the insulation of spaces or heating, especially today, during the winter season. It is essential to start ...
Change is inevitable. The scary bit is that the changes are now so quick and dramatic, whether it's forest fires, flooding, or layoffs in the Tech industry, once thought to be invincible. The same applies to your business. If you are doing business the same way you were ten or five years ago, you better look out as your competitors change, adapt, and find ways to attract your customers. Doing what you've always done is not an option! A Clients Story Some time ago, I was contacted by a successful Irish company trading in Ireland and the UK for over twenty years. What they wanted help with was the following: They have been successfully offering their specialist industry support and hardware for all this time, upgrading their offering as technology moved forward. However, they now believe it is time to bring a Cloud offering to an industry long established in their working methods and could be resistant to change. The company also needed a new story to encourage its existing customers to take a leap of faith and move to the cloud with them. Over a short time, we have created a story and a deck in partnership, which they are very comfortable and confident presenting to their clients. Their new offering is transformative, and when clients take their advice and move forward in partnership, their efficiency and new business opportunities are limitless. Here are some of the advantages to their existing and potential new customers: The latest support technology will be available to them. While their older, slower processing equipment, over time will not need to be upgraded. The opportunity to bid for bigger contracts knowing they have the technology on tap to meet their customer's needs immediately. Delays in seeking approval or availability of capital expenditure no longer necessary. Put very simply: My client is offering their customers the opportunity to execute their existing business with greater efficiency with the bonus of reducing energy costs and carbon output. Call to action: Whatever business you are in, I am sure AI and Cloud are disrupting your marketplace. With my guidance we can create a new story to propel your business forward into this exciting marketplace. By Executive Coach Andrew Keogh of Aristo.ie More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Vault365, a leading provider of data protection services, has announced it expects to achieve revenues in excess of €2M in the next 18 months. Following significant demand for its data backup and security capabilities in the first year since its launch in Ireland, Vault365 is now also launching its services in the UK market. Headquartered in Dublin and with a base in London, Vault365 provides an all-in-one backup, ransomware, and data protection solution, powered by Veeam Technology. It enables the fastest data restore in the industry for information stored both on premise and in cloud applications, including Microsoft 365. In addition, Backup as a Service (BaaS) forms a core part of Vault365's product suite, delivering air gap offsite immutable protection. Vault365 has onboarded three resellers in Ireland who are delivering the service to 30 large enterprises across all industries. Vault365 is now securely backing up critical data for over 25,000 Microsoft 365 accounts. It will engage a further two resellers in the Irish market in 2023. It is also seeking channel partnerships with suitable resellers in the UK to drive further business growth. To help meet this demand, Vault365 is creating four new jobs in technical and sales roles across Ireland and the UK in 2023. Mike Basile has been appointed as UK&I Channel Manager for Vault365 in the UK. In addition, the company has recently added Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) to the Vault365 portfolio which ensures that all data is securely hosted at, and immediately recoverable from, Vault365's Irish and UK data centres. This eliminates the risk of data loss and means minimal downtime for organisations in the event of a major incident or loss of company data. As Office 365 will only retain data for up to 30 days if deleted and up to 90 days after a subscription ends, Vault365 securely backs up and eliminates the risk of data loss on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business and Microsoft Teams. The easily-managed solution also protects physical servers, virtual servers, cloud and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications. Businesses can leverage powerful search tools, fast and flexible recovery, and export options to perform eDiscovery across their entire backup environment. Cillian McCarthy, CEO, Vault365: "We believe that having secure and reliable backups is the first line of defence in cybersecurity. We are seeing a huge demand for data backup solutions among businesses in the face of an evolving cyber threat landscape, and this crucial service offers peace of mind to customers that their data is secure and operations can continue uninterrupted should an incident occur. "We are excited to scale up our Vault365 capabilities and expand our footprint into the UK, and are working closely with our partners to bring the full benefit of each solution to customers. Our growing team will provide our customers with the skills and expertise they need at every stage of their data backup and security journeys." See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The AgTechUCD Innovation Centre today announced that it is seeking applications from early-stage start-ups with innovative products and services in the AgTech, agri-food, equine and veterinary sectors and who have the ambition to grow globally, to join its dedicated accelerator programme, which is now in its third year. For more information and to apply, visit www.ucd.ie/innovation/agtechucd-agccelerator-programme/. The 2023 AgTechUCD Agccelerator Programme, commencing this October, is an intensive 12-week hybrid programme, which includes dedicated business development workshops and investor readiness training, mentoring from industry experts and business advisors, guest speakers and facilitated introductions to AgTechUCD's venture capital and business angel networks. The in-person workshops will take place at the new AgTechUCD Innovation Centre which is currently under construction at UCD Lyons Farm. Once completed in September, this ca. 890 sq.m. facility will include flexible lab spaces, meeting rooms, offices and an exhibition and seminar space. Niamh Collins, Director, AgTechUCD, said, "Our dedicated Agccelerator programme, which is now open for applications, is tailored to address the particular needs and challenges facing start-ups in the AgTech and Agri-foods sectors. The aim of the programme is to fast track the business development and leadership skills of participants and to provide them with the support and guidance needed to accelerate their start-ups on the global stage." AgTechUCD is focused on promoting and accelerating the launch and scaling of start-ups and SMEs, with disruptive innovations in Ireland and Europe, in the AgTech, Agri-food, equine and veterinary sectors as they build their innovative businesses into leading companies on the global stage. AgTechUCD also provides additional support such as access to incubation space and to on-farm testing for new products and services at UCD Lyons Farm. Among the nineteen (19) start-ups which have completed the programme over the last two years are; Cotter Agritech, Farm Fayre, MyGug and Proveye. Farm Fayre, based in Co. Kilkenny, is developing a complete field-to-field solution for farmers to buy and sell their livestock online in a convenient, safe, secure and transparent ecosystem. Kevin O'Connor, CEO and Founder of Farm Fayre, said, "Our experience with last year's AgTechUCD Agccelerator Programme was very beneficial. For any early-stage venture with limited time and resources, this programme is a definitive 'yes'. The outcomes far exceeded our time inputs. It's well organised and professional." MyGug, based in Co. Cork, has developed a micro-scale anaerobic digester that turns food waste into a green renewable energy source suitable for homes, schools and small food businesses. Fiona Kelleher, CEO, MyGug, said, "MyGug continues to benefit from participation in the AgTechUCD Agccelerator Programme. The combination of excellent support and encouragement from the highly talented team and access to the best of entrepreneurs in this space set us on a fast-track path to increased media exposure, sales and investment opportunities. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to achieve success in their business." Partners on the AgTechUCD Agccelerator Programme include; Enterprise Ireland, AIB, The Yield Lab Europe, Devenish, Ornua, Herdwatch, IFAC, Thrive/SVG Ventures and support from AgTech Ireland member companies. David Bowles, Managing Partner, The Yield Lab Europe, said, "We are happy to support the AgTechUCD Agccelerator programme as they find and support exciting early-stage companies in Ireland and internationally, who have innovative agri-food technologies that will lead the way for Ireland to deliver on its climate change commitments. As Europe's leading early-stage sustainable AgTech investor, we have supported this programme since its inauguration in 2021 and look forward to working with the AgTechUCD team once again this year." AgTechUCD, which is part...
EPAM Systems, Inc., a leading digital transformation services and product engineering company, today announced it has won the 2023 Microsoft U.S. Azure Migration Partner of the Year Award. The Company was honoured among a global field of top Microsoft partners for demonstrating excellence in innovation and implementing customer solutions based on Microsoft technology. "We're honoured to be recognised as a 2023 Microsoft U.S. Azure Migration Partner of the Year for our dedication to creating and delivering leading-edge enterprise solutions," said Dmitry Tikhomirov, VP of Technology Solutions at EPAM. "Our team combines world-class consulting, design and advanced engineering to leverage Microsoft solutions and help some of the world's leading brands navigate cloud complexities, digitally transform and accelerate business value." While cloud transformation has become essential for business success, mastering cloud complexity remains challenging for many organisations. As a global leader in cloud transformation services, EPAM was recognised for providing outstanding support in helping Louis Dreyfus Company rapidly migrate to Microsoft Azure while efficiently modernising and innovating business applications. EPAM also secured the global finalist position in the Industry, Retail and Consumer Goods category for exceptional contributions at Estée Lauder Companies and Ahold Delhaize and placed as a U.S. finalist in the Global Retail and Consumer Goods category. Additionally, EPAM achieved the U.S. finalist position in Azure Modernise for its work at Ahold Delhaize. "The Visually Impaired Makeup Assistant (VMA) application owes much of its success to EPAM Systems, whose expertise and collaboration have played an instrumental role in its development," said Chris Aidan, VP, Innovation and Emerging Technologies at Estée Lauder Companies. "With EPAM's help, the VMA now offers a voice-enabled experience that caters to visually impaired users, checking for inconsistencies, providing feedback and offering recommendations for improved makeup application. By focusing on modern engineering practices and emerging technologies, EPAM has demonstrated a commitment to delivering innovative digital solutions that align with our objective of meeting and exceeding our customers' expectations." Together, EPAM and Microsoft enhance the agility and efficiency of legacy systems using intelligent automation, specialised cloud enablement offerings and global delivery capabilities. Since 2004, EPAM's collaboration with Microsoft has helped the Company's global customers accelerate their journey to Azure by planning and architecting a strategy for executing Azure migrations at scale without compromising quality. The Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards recognise Microsoft partners that have developed and delivered outstanding Microsoft-based applications, services and devices during the past year. Awards were classified into various categories, with honourees chosen from more than 4,200 submitted nominations from 100+ countries worldwide. "Congratulations to the winners and finalists of the 2023 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards," said Nicole Dezen, Chief Partner Officer and Corporate Vice President of Global Partner Solutions at Microsoft. "The innovative new solutions and services that positively impact customers and enable digital transformation from this year's winners demonstrate the best of what's possible with the Microsoft Cloud." See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find ...
One in five people in Ireland never carry any cash and of those that do, almost one-third (30pc) carry €20 or less. This is according to a new survey by Royal London Ireland. Furthermore, men are more likely than women to never carry cash (24pc of men versus 16pc of women). Of those who do carry cash, however, men tend to carry higher amounts on them than women. The Royal London Ireland survey, which examined the use of cash by people in Ireland, found that the top five reasons people needed cash regularly was to pay for small daily grocery items such as milk and bread (58pc), to pay service providers who prefer cash (38pc), to buy lunch or take-away coffee or tea (34pc), to give tips (32pc), and to donate to charity (27pc). Other highlights from the survey include: Almost one in five people (19pc) carry more than €100 regularly. - People in Leinster appear to be the least likely to carry cash. One in four people in Dublin (25pc) and almost a third of people in the rest of Leinster (28pc) say they never carry cash. By contrast, only one in ten (10pc) of those living in Ulster and Connacht never carry cash. - 50pc of people aged 18-24 said they never carry cash, while just 10pc of people aged 55 or older said the same. Commenting on the survey findings, Barry McCutcheon, Proposition Lead at Royal London Ireland, said: "We've seen an increase in cashless payments in Ireland in recent years, so the numbers of people who carry very little cash, or any at all, is unsurprising. Despite the increasingly digital nature of Irish banking and payment systems in recent years, we can see from the survey findings that cash still plays an important role in Ireland's society and economy, with many people relying on it when going about their day-to-day routines. This balances with a European Central Bank survey in 2022 which showed that the majority (54pc) of Irish consumers' in-store transactions were in cash. Our survey gives weight to the assertion that the younger you are, the less likely you are to carry cash. Findings from the survey revealed that half (50pc) of those aged between 18 and 24 say they never carry cash compared to only one in ten (10pc) people aged 55 or over". The Need for Cash Mr McCutcheon observed, "It's clear that there is a need for cash, with 80pc of people surveyed carrying some amount daily. The survey sheds some light on just why people carry cash, and we found that the top three reasons were: to pay for small daily grocery items such as milk or bread (58pc), to pay service providers who prefer cash (38pc), and to buy takeaway lunch, coffee or teas (34pc). It would appear that pocket money in the form of cash hasn't gone out of fashion either - more than a quarter of people (27pc) between the ages of 35 and 54, the age cohort likely to have children, carry cash for this reason". Mr McCutcheon concluded: "In the Department of Finance's published Retail Banking Review, a recommendation was made for legislation to be introduced to safeguard the reasonable access to cash. It is clear from our research that for many, there are times when only cash will do. Whether you are someone who prefers using cash or not, tracking and managing your finances is important when it comes to planning your financial future. If you are looking for advice about financial planning, a Financial Broker can help you assess your current situation and put a personalised plan in place that meets your individual needs and circumstances."
Bord na Móna and ESB, have commenced construction of a new solar farm at Timahoe North, Co Kildare, as part of a wider solar energy joint venture between the two companies. Timahoe North will be the first large-scale solar project that both Bord na Móna and ESB will bring to fruition as part of their respective renewable energy portfolios. New Irish solar farm to deliver up to 500MW International energy producer and service provider, Voltalia, has been contracted to carry out the Engineering, Procurement and Construction ("EPC") contract of the solar farm over the next year. It is expected that Timohoe North solar farm will be fully operational by the end of 2024, with an installed capacity of 108MWp of renewable energy to the national grid. This is enough energy to power around 25,000 homes, which will support the delivery of more green energy to communities and businesses across the country in line with Ireland's renewable energy targets for 2030. The Timahoe North solar farm is part of a significant co-development agreement between Bord na Móna and ESB to develop solar power across four midlands locations in Kildare, Offaly and Roscommon. The joint venture will collectively deliver up to 500 MW of power from solar farms based on Bord na Móna lands. This development follows the successful outcome for Bord na Móna and ESB in the Government's Renewable Energy Support Scheme (RESS 2) auction last year, as well as early-stage works which have taken place over the past 12 months. Commenting on the milestone announcement, Bord na Móna's Head of Renewable Energy John Reilly said: "We are very excited to launch the construction phase of Timahoe North, Bord na Móna's first solar energy farm in partnership with ESB. Bord na Móna has made significant progress across other areas of renewable energy to date, notably onshore wind, but in line with our Brown to Green Strategy and current government policy, we are committed to continued expansion and diversification of our renewable energy portfolio. While still in its infancy, the solar industry in Ireland has the potential to play a pivotal role in Ireland's renewable energy future. We have ambitious plans, in conjunction with ESB, to produce an impressive 500 MW of solar power in the coming years and we believe this joint venture is an important step towards supporting national renewable energy requirements for 2030 and beyond." Jim Dollard, ESB Executive Director, Generation & Trading, said: "This project shows the importance that ESB is placing in solar and demonstrates our commitment to developing a growing portfolio of solar assets in Ireland. ESB has a proven record of delivering renewable energy projects at scale and we are looking forward to working with our partners Bord na Móna to deliver Timahoe North and other projects in the future as part of this joint venture. This project is part of ESB's wider investment in solar farms, and ESB expect to invest €200m over the next two years in the first phase of our solar roll out, as we move towards our ultimate goal of achieving Net Zero by 2040." See more breaking stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
With so many ways to spend on holiday, choosing the cheapest or most convenient method to pay can be quite confusing. Whether holidaymakers decide to use travel cash or payment cards, there are several things they can do to ensure they're getting the most out of their spending money. Here is Switcher.ie's tips to make holiday money travel further: 1. Pay in local currency Hotels, shops and cash machines may give you the option to pay in local currency or euros when you pay by card. Whether you're using a debit or credit card, choose to pay in local currency. If you choose euros, the retailer converts the currency, so rates may be worse than your card issuers. If you've got a specialist overseas card, always choose the local currency and you'll pay next to nothing in fees. 2. Get a prepaid or specialist travel card With contactless options now more widespread, people are ditching cash and tapping to pay more than ever. It's simple and safe, plus mobile banking apps make it easy to keep track of your holiday spending. Prepaid cards like the An Post Currency Card can help you stick to a budget. Alternatively, digital accounts like N26, Revolut and Wise offer low or no fee foreign transactions and competitive exchange rates. 3. Order foreign currency in advance If you're spending abroad with foreign cash, you'll get the best deal if you order currency online. Changing cash at the airport should be your last resort, so shop around online and compare costs to get the cheapest rates. Some exchanges offer free delivery, but factor in delivery charges or pick up in person. Often, the more currency you order, the better the rate, so consider pitching in together if you're holidaying with friends. 4. Use online tools and consider locking in rates Most online sites offer tools that allow you to see how much currency you'll get in return for your euro. Watch out for extra charges, and know that 0% commission doesn't necessarily mean a good deal, because the exchange rate may be poorer. You can reduce costs further by changing your money or locking in a rate when the euro is strongest, even if it's months ahead of your trip. 5. Avoid ATM cash withdrawals Steer clear of using cash machines on holiday or you may find transaction fees and ATM charges piling up. Pay with your card where possible, especially if you have a prepaid currency card or travel credit card. If you're using cash on your trip, plan ahead and work out a daily spend so you don't find yourself short, or return home with unspent currency. Eoin Clarke at Switcher.ie comments: "With so many options, navigating the maze of holiday spending can be tricky, but thanks to mobile banking, holidaymakers can now track their spending and quickly spot costly payments with instant access and real-time transactions. Cash or card is often a tourist's dilemma and there are pros and cons for both. Ultimately it depends on preference, but regular travellers should consider a low fee payment card designed for spending abroad, and sunseekers who prefer to splash the cash should set a budget and order currency online for the best rates." More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Viatel Technology Group has announced a significant enhancement to its network. Viatel is a leading provider of cloud, cybersecurity, communications and digital transformation solutions. This latest technology upgrade will future proof key infrastructure to keep pace with continuous expansion and the growing demands of its customer base. Viatel Technology Group is set to enable 100G connectivity in Cork, Portlaoise, Drogheda and Dundalk in phase one of the major upgrade. More cities and towns will follow in later phases. Three diverse 100G paths into the UK, from Dublin and Cork, support the group's growing international interests. Amsterdam is poised for 100G enablement in the next phase of works. This substantial technological advancement places Viatel alongside top-tier multinational operators, showcasing the company's commitment to delivering world-class services as an indigenous Irish business. This upgrade represents an impressive fivefold increase in capacity on select routes. It bolsters the connection between Viatel's three Dublin data centres and provides enhanced connectivity into AWS and Azure for the group's public cloud customers. The upgrade is being delivered under the guidance of Head of Networks, Sergiusz Paprzycki. "Ensuring diversity and resilience within the network is a paramount focus of this project," Sergiusz explains. "By partnering with a select number of global operators, we are reinforcing our robust foundations. The thousands of customers who rely on us for security, cloud and communications can now enjoy even greater peace of mind. These works are being completed without any disruption to our current customers' services. "Advancing the technology in our network core also presented us with the opportunity to optimise our power footprint. We were able to make more energy efficient choices to support our commitment to sustainable practices and to delivering cost effective solutions." Damien McCann is Chief Commercial Officer with Viatel Technology Group. He notes that "The solutions we offer to customers on the Viatel network have transformed. We manage security portfolios, guide cloud migration to public, private and hybrid environments, maintain a three data centre estate and empower organisations with secure AI tools. This technology upgrade ensures improved performance and reliability in the heart of our infrastructure." There are many benefits for current and potential customers. "As we continue to grow, we want to maintain the agility that has been our hallmark. Having this advanced technology in place, ready to deploy, we preserve the quick turnaround times that our customers value. For our multinational customers, the international links reaffirm Ireland as the ideal base for their operations. We are proud to partner with innovative organisations. With these network developments, we have the capacity to match their greatest ambitions. Our customers' success is our success; together the possibilities are limitless." Viatel Technology Group is expanding its industry-leading capabilities in cloud solutions, cybersecurity, connectivity and digital transformation. The company's recent acquisition of Sungard Availability Services' Irish cloud business marks its eighth successful acquisition since 2020. Viatel's dedication to excellence was recently recognised when it was named ICT Company of the Year at the Chamber Ireland InBUSINESS Awards. For further details of Viatel Technology Group's range of solutions, visit www.viatel.com. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why n...
One of the issues with launching and maintaining brand campaigns on social media is the URL's that are used. When shortened customised links are used they can be harder to maintain and manage. With Rebrandly, this is not an issue as their market leading link management platform allows users to brand and shorten custom URLs. Ronan talks to Nataly Rebrandly's new Chief Growth Officer. Nataly talks about her background, what Rebrandly does, what makes Rebrandly different and more. More about Rebrandly: Rebrandly is the market leading link management platform that allows users to brand and shorten custom URLs. Rebrandly helps companies of all sizes securely manage and measure their link engagement, increase brand awareness, improve conversion rates, and track advanced analytics. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in the US, with offices in Rome and Dublin. Rebrandly serves millions of users and global brands worldwide, including Versace, Toyota, and PayPal. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Guest post by Simon West Director of Customer Engagement, Resilience As smart cities continue to evolve and shape our urban landscapes, the integration of technology and connectivity brings unprecedented convenience and efficiency. However, this transformation also exposes cities to new risks, particularly in the realm of cybersecurity. Informed and holistic forward planning is vital if we are to equip the smart cities of the future with the necessary cyber resilience. Ireland's urban centres are looking to be at the forefront of smart city technology, a move highlighted by Dublin City Council's Project Air View initiative, which measured the air quality of Dublin City's streets over a period of 16 months and gathered over 50 million pieces of data. At the same time, Ireland is a prime target for cyberattacks, with almost one in five Irish businesses hit by data breaches in 2022. With threats to cities like ransomware on the rise, if Irish cities are to become smarter, they must adopt an approach that focuses on building the cyber resilience of city infrastructure. Vulnerabilities to Cyber Attacks Smart cities leverage interconnected devices and systems to enhance various aspects of urban living, such as transportation, public services, and safety. However, this also creates vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malicious actors. The control these systems have over physical operations increases the risk profile compared to traditional enterprise IT. For example, a cyber-attack targeting the transportation infrastructure of a smart city could disrupt traffic signals or autonomous vehicles, leading to disruption and potentially endangering lives. As a result, smart cities must prioritise the integration of cybersecurity from the early stages of planning to ensure digital trust and resilience to attacks. The proliferation of connected devices in smart cities opens up numerous entry points for cyber-attacks. From sensors and surveillance cameras to smart meters and autonomous vehicles, each device represents a potential vulnerability that can be targeted. The consequences of a successful cyber-attack can range from disruption of critical services to compromising the privacy and safety of citizens. Smart cities must proactively identify and address these vulnerabilities through robust cybersecurity measures, including encryption protocols, secure authentication mechanisms, and regular security audits. When cyberattacks do happen, cyber insurance is vital to protect public services from damaging losses and disruption. Cyber resilience should always go hand in hand with insurance and mitigation protocols, as holistic protection can be the difference between a swift and seamless recovery and serious damage. IoT as an Attack Vector for Cyber Attacks The Internet of Things (IoT) lies at the heart of smart cities, connecting various devices and systems to enable seamless integration and data exchange. However, the rapid adoption of IoT has outpaced the implementation of robust cybersecurity measures. This gap exposes smart cities to significant risks. A fragmented IoT ecosystem, with individual providers focusing solely on the security of their systems, fails to protect the entire IoT value chain. Each IoT provider has control over the protection of its systems but does not play a role in the integration of its system with those from other providers. This lack of holistic cybersecurity provision leaves vulnerabilities which can be exploited by cybercriminals. In today's new use cases, buyers and providers often rely on "handshake agreements" in which no clear delineation of cyberattack responsibilities exists. These agreements often result in players extending their IT cybersecurity to IoT applications through functionality add-ons. However, as increased IoT adoption and emerging cyber threats loom, relying solely on ad hoc measures is inadequate. Rigorous cybersecurity cooperation needs to be established to prevent breaches and en...
Guest post by Kim Cunningham, MS OTR, who has served as a Licensed Pediatric Occupational Therapist for over 20 years In a world that can sometimes feel chaotic and overwhelming to all of us, children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) face unique challenges that can be disruptive to their daily lives. As an experienced occupational therapist, I firmly believe that providing the necessary support for children with ADHD is not just essential but also a testament to the potential they hold. By equipping them with the tools and strategies they need, we can set them on a path towards long-term success. Just like their mainstream peers, their capabilities and ambitions need to be appropriately nurtured so that we can make sure we're doing everything we can to help them navigate life's hurdles and reach their true potential. Occupational Therapy Can Empower Children With ADHD Imagine you have a big project to complete, but you're feeling overwhelmed and don't know where to start. That's a common experience for children with ADHD. As OTs, we step in and break down those tasks into smaller, manageable steps. The benefit of breaking tasks down into smaller steps helps reduce their experience of anxiety, enhance their understanding, and increase the likelihood of successful project completion. Specifically, OT provides handy tools like visual schedules, reminders, and checklists to help them stay organized and keep track of their progress. It may seem obvious, but that's why it often gets overlooked. I always encourage parents to take things slow and steady, because that really is the best way to avoid frustration, helps these children conquer their projects and build confidence along the way. One of the key steps in OT is identifying the barriers that may be hindering the success of children with ADHD. That's why, with each and every child we work with, it's crucial to dig deep and assess their individual sensory processing abilities, motor skills, and executive functioning to get a full picture of their specific challenges. Once we've got that knowledge, we can develop personalized strategies to address their specific needs. That might include things like incorporating sensory breaks, introducing movement-based activities, or providing tools to improve attention regulation. Learning new skills and refining existing ones is vital for any child's development, and for children with ADHD, this is particularly important. Typical areas of struggle for children who require OT include: fine motor skills, handwriting, organization, time management, and social skills. During therapy sessions, we provide targeted interventions that allow them to practice and improve these skills. But we also understand that things don't always go as planned, and that's when we step in and encourage them to brainstorm alternative strategies and solutions. By nurturing their resilience and adaptability, we empower them to face challenges head-on and find creative ways to overcome setbacks. It's kind of like how a seed needs precisely the right environment (soil, light, water) to bloom. Just like plants, not all kids are the same, and some require additional environmental support to thrive. The techniques used in OT can help to assess and address these needs so that they get exactly the right support they need to be successful. Something my practice has taught me is that children with ADHD often face obstacles in various aspects of their lives as a consequence of their condition. From academics to social interactions, and even self-care skills. Through tailored intervention, we can help these children gain independence, boost their self-esteem, and improve their overall well-being. What's more, early intervention through OT sets the stage for long-term success, helping them achieve essential milestones and navigate their world with confidence. Having spent over three decades as an occupational therapist specializing in pediatrics, I've seen fir...
While it can be exciting to put your money on the line and potentially win big in sports betting, it's important not to gamble with your security. With so many scams and cyber threats lurking in the digital world, you must know how to safely place online sports bets. There's no shortage of interest in betting on MLB standings today or who might win the NBA Playoffs. However, any win is wholly destroyed the minute a bettor finds out he may have fallen for a scam. How To Follow MLB Standings Today Introduction to Online Sports Betting If you're new to online sports betting, it's essential to know how to do it safely. Here are some tips: Only bet with reputable online sportsbooks Make sure the sites you use are encrypted and have secure payments Never bet more than you can afford to lose Keep your personal and financial information safe With so many online sportsbooks available, it can be hard to know which ones to trust. Do your research and only bet with those that are well-established and have a good reputation. Make sure the site you're using is encrypted and has secure payment options - look for https:// in the URL (not just "http://") and a lock icon next to it. Keep your personal and financial information safe by never sharing it with anyone else online. What You Need to Know Before Starting Online sports betting continues to become increasingly popular. With the click of a mouse, you can now place bets on your favorite sports teams from the comfort of your own home. While this convenience is great, it's important to be aware of the risks involved in online betting. Your financial information is at risk whenever you make an online transaction. If you're not careful, your personal and financial information could be compromised by hackers. That's why it's essential to take steps to protect your identity and financial information when placing bets online. Only bet with reputable sportsbooks. Create strong passwords and never share them with anyone. Your passwords should be at least eight characters long and include a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols. Also, make sure never to use the same password for more than one account. Don't save your payment information on sportsbook websites. If possible, use a credit or debit card that doesn't have your name or address on it. Or, consider using a prepaid card or digital wallet instead of storing your payment information online. Beware of phishing scams. Hackers may try to trick you into giving them your personal or financial information by sending fake emails or text messages that appear to be from a legitimate source. Understanding Online Sports Betting Odds and Payouts When it comes to online sports betting, one of the most important things to understand is the odds and payouts. The odds represent how likely it is for a particular outcome to occur, and the payout is the amount of money that you could win if that outcome does occur. There are different ways that odds can be displayed. One is the decimal format, which is what you'll typically see when browsing European betting sites. Decimal odds can be easily converted to other formats. It's important to note that decimal odds only display your potential profit and do not include the initial stake that you placed on the bet. In order to calculate your total return (which includes your initial stake), simply add your stake to your potential profit. As the name suggests, the fractional odds system is widely used in the U.K. and displays odds as a fraction. If the odds read 10/1, a bet of $1 will yield $10. Another standard format is the American style, also known as moneyline odds. This is the format you'll see most often on U.S.-based sports betting sites. Moneyline odds are expressed as a negative number for the favorite and a positive number for the underdog. Placing online sports bets can be a fun and exciting way to make some extra money, but it's also essential to take your security seriously. See more breaking stories here.
Viatel Technology Group, a leading provider of cybersecurity, cloud, communications and digital transformation solutions, has launched its latest innovation - a secure Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool designed to keep privacy-conscious organisations agile and at the forefront of technological change. Built on Microsoft's Azure Open AI platform and integrated into existing Teams' environments, vAI for Microsoft Teams enables organisations to harness the transformative potential of Generative AI while ensuring the highest level of data security and compliance. At the core of vAI is a steadfast commitment to privacy and security. Damien McCann, Chief Commercial Officer with Viatel Technology Group, is enthusiastic about the new offering, "By harnessing the power of ChatGPT in a secure enterprise environment, we unlock immense potential. Security is of paramount importance. By keeping critical information within the customers own Azure subscription, our vAI solution empowers organisations to confidently embrace the AI revolution, knowing that their critical information remains protected. "At Viatel we are committed to partnering with our customers as they navigate the ever-changing digital landscape," Damien continues. "Our focus lies in delivering secure and scalable solutions, that help public and private sector enterprises to embrace new technologies and achieve their strategic objectives. With our extensive expertise in digital transformation, we are confident that this latest innovation will enhance our ability to help customers optimise performance through technology." Finian Nally, Head of Microsoft Cloud Solutions with Viatel Technology Group, elaborates on the range of benefits for organisations that leverage AI technology while safeguarding their data. "With vAI, organisations can now effectively and securely enable their employees to leverage the power of Generative AI at their fingertips. This will invariably improve efficiency and drive innovation, freeing teams from mundane tasks and empowering them to focus on strategic growth initiatives. "vAI deployments are customised to the unique needs of each organisation and our ambitious deployment model ensures businesses can be up and running in as little as five days. As AI propels business expansion, vAI grows with each organisation, providing a fully scalable solution to maintain a competitive edge." Recognised for delivering innovative and industry-leading solutions in cloud, cybersecurity, communications and digital transformation, Viatel Technology Group recently announced the acquisition of Sungard Availability's Irish cloud business, marking its eighth successful acquisition since 2020. The technology group's commitment to excellence was recently recognised when it was named ICT Company of the Year at the Chamber Ireland InBUSINESS Awards. To witness the capabilities and possibilities of vAI, the Viatel team invites interested parties to visit viatel.com/vai. See more stories here.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has helped AIB life, the newly formed joint venture between Allied Irish Banks plc and Great-West Lifeco, launch operations in Ireland with a future-ready, digitally enabled, platform that supports its vision to help people on their path to financial security, one step at a time. TCS was selected as the strategic partner to help build a digital first, full-service life company for the Irish market. TCS helped create a modern, cloud-based technology stack ground up, with its flagship insurance platform TCS BaNCS™ at the core that gives AIB's 3.2 million customers the ability to access financial advice and a range of integrated AIB life protection, pensions, and investment products in their branch, by phone and via the AIB mobile banking app. The solution also integrates with AIB's nationwide network of 120 financial advisors from whom customers can seek financial guidance. TCS BaNCS' configurability and rich functionality will enable AIB life to launch innovative new products and services. The entire solution is hosted on the cloud and its digital-first architecture provides APIs to enable easy integration with ecosystem partners to co-create new joint offerings. In addition to designing and deploying the enabling technology stack, TCS will also provide IT, customer, and claims handling services for AIB life in a managed insurance services model. The end-to-end policy administration services will be provided from the TCS Global Delivery Centre in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal. "Financial services firms and their customers around the world are benefitting from the rich functionality and omnichannel experiences offered by TCS BaNCS. Its Digital First, Cloud First architecture is tailor-made for the digital-first approach that AIB life has taken. We are delighted to support the launch of AIB life and be a partner in the exciting journey ahead," said Vivekanand Ramgopal, President, BFSI Products and Platforms, TCS. "TCS BaNCS' digital capabilities and configurability will help AIB life differentiate itself in the Irish market with innovative offerings that seamlessly support its customers in their personal financial journeys." Jacquie Doyle, COO, AIB life, said: "The Joint Venture between AIB and Great-West Lifeco, which will provide AIB customers with exclusive access to AIB life protection, pensions, and investment products, has entered into a 10-year partnership with TCS to build and operate a future-ready digital infrastructure that enables customers to more effectively plan their finances and investments. "After an extensive review of the market, it was clear that TCS' contextual industry knowledge, European cloud-based technology and global delivery team based in Letterkenny meant that they would be the perfect partners for us. As we look to grow this new greenfield life company, it is key that we build this on a foundation of cutting-edge technology. The global delivery centre in Letterkenny, where we will be servicing AIB life customers, will allow us to help our customers understand and improve their financial wellbeing and the financial security of their families and businesses." TCS is one of the world's largest providers of services and solutions to the financial services industry and has been helping leading banks and financial institutions across the world in their growth and transformation journeys. Using its deep domain expertise, contextual knowledge, intellectual property and knowledge of global regulatory norms and risk management guidelines, TCS helps its customers leverage high levels of intelligent automation to reimagine their operations, enhancing their agility and competitiveness. For more information about TCS BFSI Products and Platforms, visit. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever ...
IBM Security today released its annual Cost of a Data Breach Report, showing the global average cost of a data breach reached $4.45 million in 2023 - an all-time high for the report and a 15% increase over the last three years. Detection and escalation costs jumped 42% over this same time frame, representing the highest portion of breach costs and indicating a shift towards more complex breach investigations. According to the 2023 IBM report, businesses are divided in how they plan to handle the increasing cost and frequency of data breaches. The study found that while 95% of studied organisations have experienced more than one breach, breached organisations were more likely to pass incident costs onto consumers (57%) than to increase security investments (51%). The 2023 Cost of a Data Breach Report is based on in-depth analysis of real-world data breaches experienced by 553 organisations globally between March 2022 and March 2023. The research, sponsored and analysed by IBM Security, was conducted by Ponemon Institute and has been published for 18 consecutive years. Some key findings in the 2023 IBM report include: · AI Picks Up Speed - AI and automation had the biggest impact on speed of breach identification and containment for studied organisations. Organisations with extensive use of both AI and automation experienced a data breach lifecycle that was 108 days shorter compared to studied organisations that have not deployed these technologies (214 days versus 322 days). · The Cost of Silence - Ransomware victims in the study that involved law enforcement saved $470,000 in average costs of a breach compared to those that chose not to involve law enforcement. Despite these potential savings, 37% of ransomware victims studied did not involve law enforcement in a ransomware attack. · Detection Gaps - Only one third of studied breaches were detected by an organisation's own security team, compared to 27% that were disclosed by an attacker. Data breaches disclosed by the attacker cost nearly $1 million more on average compared to studied organisations that identified the breach themselves. Elaine Hanley, Security Services, IBM Ireland, said: "Across the globe, and very similar to the UK, this report confirms what we are seeing as ordinary citizens in Ireland. Across all industries studied, customer personally identifiable information was the most commonly breached record type and the costliest. In Ireland, we are seeing a surge in phishing emails and texts in recent months. Globally, we are seeing that firms with a smaller number of employees were disproportionally affected by higher breach costs, which in the context of Ireland, means that most of the indigent industries operating here need to pay attention to cybersecurity. Globally, we saw that only about half of those who suffered a breach actually plan to invest more in their cybersecurity programme post-breach. The pandemic has accelerated digital transformation in Ireland, and although this can be seen as generally positive, it does incur additional cybersecurity risks. However, AI and automation had the biggest impact on speed of breach identification and containment for studied organisations. So now is the time to understand the technologies and strategies that best protect your data." Additional findings in the 2023 IBM Data Breach report include: · Breaching Data Across Environments - Nearly 40% of data breaches studied resulted in the loss of data across multiple environments including public cloud, private cloud, and on-prem - showing that attackers were able to compromise multiple environments while avoiding detection. Data breaches studied that impacted multiple environments also led to higher breach costs ($4.75 million on average). · Costs of Healthcare Breaches Continue to Soar - The average costs of a studied breach in healthcare reached nearly $11 million in 2023 - a 53% price increase since 2020. Cybercriminals have started making stolen data more accessi...
OSSM Cloud Solutions, an implementation and integration services provider for Oracle NetSuite solutions, has announced that Solas Business Park has selected NetSuite to improve business efficiency. With NetSuite, Solas Business Park will be able to leverage an integrated business management suite to achieve greater visibility across its business portfolio, streamline operations, and support future growth. Solas Business Park is the HQ of three businesses in a suite of companies: FreeTV.ie, a retailer of satellite TV and products; The Garden Shop, Ireland's largest online garden centre with over 100,000 registered customers; and Solas Eco Garden Centre, Ireland's first Eco Garden Centre consisting of 5 acres of garden plants, shop, play area, restaurant and education centre. The Group of companies has expanded to over 50 employees, and its portfolio of companies generated €7.4 million in revenue in 2022. Challenged by growing pains, Solas selected OSSM to help implement NetSuite to streamline its financial processes and operations and support its growth. With the help of NetSuite, Solas can streamline its financial and operations management on a single cloud business system, allowing it to better adapt to change and growth, to drive innovation and remain competitive. NetSuite will support Solas to improve data accuracy and save time by automating previously manual reporting, bookkeeping, planning, and analysis processes. Additionally, Solas will use NetSuite to automate its inventory management processes, optimise stock levels and demand planning, and help reduce the risk of inventory errors when fulfilling orders. David Maher, founder of Solas Business Park, said: "There is lots to come in the Solas story as we continue to innovate and remain focused on sustainability, leisure, and audio-visual technology. As our business reached a critical growth stage, it became essential to streamline processes and ensure data accessibility. Supported by NetSuite and OSSM, we can continue to manage growth, enable employee productivity, reduce costs, and dedicate time to focus on innovation and customer service." Roger Gribbin, Sales Director, OSSM Cloud Solutions, said: "Solas is a great example of a new-economy business that has sustainability at its core. Its team has a clear vision of how to improve operational efficiency by automating business processes. With NetSuite, Solas can increase business visibility and make data informed decisions that support future growth. We're excited to assist Solas on its NetSuite journey." See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Wildlife conservationists must turn crime scene investigators (CSIs) to combat the illegal trade of rare species like sharks, rays and other rare animals. That's the view of a group of scientists from Atlantic Technological University (ATU), University of Salford and Liverpool John Moores University who specialised in finding the 'prints', residue and genetic material from animals killed indiscriminately by poachers and traders. It follows a new study in which illicit shark fin residues were clearly identified after simply dusting floors and surfaces in fishing landing and processing plants. "By adopting crime scene type methods, we uncovered evidence of twice as many species in a fraction of the time and effort it would take to sample fish in the factory," explained Stefano Mariani, professor of marine conservation at Liverpool John Moores University. Writing in the journal Conservation Letters, published July 19, 2023, the researchers sequenced trace DNA fragments retrieved from dust and scraps from seven processing plants in Java, Indonesia - the world's biggest shark landing nation. They metabarcoded the samples identifying 61 shark and ray taxa, more than half of which could not be recovered from individual tissue samples collected from the same sites. More than 80% were species listed as outlawed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Illegal fishing, unregulated bycatch and market demand for certain products (e.g. fins) are largely responsible for the rapid global decline of shark and ray populations. Globally, the shark fin trade is estimated to be worth up to $2 billion, with fins among the most expensive seafood products, commonly retailing at $600 per kg. But controlling the trade is difficult, not least because the meat is routinely hidden from inspectors. Normally, inspectors would need to find suspect parts of animals and painstakingly subsample them, which is a biased, lengthy, and cumbersome process for everyone involved. Instead, Professor Mariani and the team decided that by just 'sweeping' the floors and surfaces of those working environments would "capture" dust and scraps that harboured the overall diversity of animals that end up in the facilities. "Having the ability to effectively 'dust' a warehouse or a boat 'for fingerprints' is a major weapon in identifying wrongdoing and turning exploitation on a path to sustainability," said Dr Andhika Prasetyo, first author from the University of Salford. Dr Allan McDevitt, a lecturer in Marine and Freshwater Biology in the Atlantic Technological University, added, "This type of DNA-based monitoring could revolutionize how we track the illegal trade of wildlife worldwide, not just in sharks and rays. Being able to detect the DNA trace of an illegally traded animal after it has either been moved on or concealed could be a game-changer in tackling this global problem and conserving important biodiversity." The team's current activities are now focusing on making the technique fully portable so that results can be generated on the spot. The paper 'Shark-dust: Application of high-throughput DNA sequencing of processing residues for trade monitoring of threatened sharks and rays' is published in Conservation Letters and authored by Andika Prasetyo (University of Salford); Joanna M Murray (Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft; Muh. Firdaus A K Kurniawan (Ministry for Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Indonesia); Naiara G Sales (University of Salford); Allan D McDevitt (Atlantic Technological University, Galway/University of Salford); Stefano Mariani (LJMU). More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNe...
Technosleep by Catherine Coveney and Al is published by Palgrave Macmillan. It is a deep dive into sleep, along with the evolution of the technology around it. The book then focuses on defining sleep as we know it, and moves onto sleep's partnership with technology both in the present and also for the future. See more about the book here. Technosleep Frontiers, Fictions, Futures Reviewed This nonfiction book is written primarily by a team of highly qualified sociology academics, and starts by bursting headlong into questions challenging me about what sleep actually is? It got me thinking about the full scope of sleep and all that it entails. It then sets out the underlying theme in the book as the entanglement between sleep and technology, moving through a summary of sleep, technology, and its concepts. There is also some explanation offered for the technical structure of the book, citing prominent research studies and methods of investigation that were used to formulate the study findings and the resulting outcomes of the book. Chapter 1 continued with this grounding: What is sleep? It offers an answer along with a brief history and challenges us to think about what sleep means to us as individuals and as a community in the 21st century. It then introduces technology, which leads to the conceptualization of 'technosleep'. It includes some fascinating connections made around types of sleep and what we 'do' to help us sleep. This includes the biomedicalization of sleep and its increasing commercialization, which indicates a deepening of this entanglement between sleep and technology. Chapter 2 moves into the cultural context of technosleep, the multiple nature of what sleep means, what technosleep means, and the use of technology with the intent to help or hinder a good night's sleep. This perceptual exploration is subjective, yet it came across to me as balanced in its framing and presentation. Chapter 3 explores digital tracking technologies and their effect on this entanglement between sleep and technology as we seek to understand what sleep means to us. It also sets out to differentiate between sleep and the cultural effect that sleep tracking technologies have on our definition of a good night's sleep. Chapter 4 moves into the exploration of sleep in many areas, including the pharmacological and neurological areas. This exploration explores the development and commercialization of technologies around them. Chapter 5 focuses on the non-human aspects of sleep and how sleeping technologies can be socially disruptive. It also explores the multiple natures and effects of sleep technologies in the entanglement between sleep and technology, with a view to their contrasting and differentiating each other. Chapter 6 explores the science fiction genre's take on the future of technosleep, which is confrontational while favoring the pre-technological concept of a good night's sleep. Chapter 7 resonates with the questioning tone of the book's beginning by challenging us on the future of technosleep. It looks at the future of technosleep and the role of technology across many areas, from biomedical to technology and science to popular culture. It also explores the developing story of sleep inequality and what it means to get a good night's sleep across several social classes and segments of society, implying that the future's reach of technosleep may not be as widespread as we believe. Chapter 8 concludes with an analysis summary to present the author's open-ended arguments that we will alter the way we 'do sleep' by incorporating more and more sleep-related technologies to improve our sleep experience. The argument explores the multiple relationships that exist in and around sleep via technology, along with how non-polarized and objective approaches to individual technologies are important to unlock their potential without becoming lost in someone else's fears around them. It concludes with the perils of this technological adoption ...
Jim Rutt solves complex future problems by taking action. When we say complex, we mean very complex!. A pioneer of networked society since 1980, Jim launched the world's first online community, and later led Network Solutions and the Santa Fe Institute. In this episode of the Futurists, the discussion moves fluidly from theory to practice as Jim explains his Game B initiative with colorful language and fresh insight. Topics include: complexity science, applied artificial intelligence, the importance of the number zero, the failures of governance mechanisms, the doom loop of money-on-money return, and why we need a system that is focused on optimizing human wellbeing within planetary limits. How to solve complex future problems with Jim Rutt Subscribe and listen to the Futurists Podcast where hosts Brett King and Robert Tercek interview the worlds foremost super-forecasters, thought leaders, technologists, entrepreneurs and futurists building the world of tomorrow. Together we will explore how our world will radically change as AI, bioscience, energy, food and agriculture, computing, the metaverse, the space industry, crypto, resource management, supply chain and climate will reshape our world over the next 100 years. Join us on The Futurists and we will see you in the future! See more podcasts here.
We look at the latest book by Chris Smaje, Saying NO to a Farm-Free Future The Case For an Ecological Food System and Against Manufactured Foods, Published by Chelsea Green Publishing, see more here. Saying NO to a farm-free future, reviewed This book is a response to George Monbiot's own book about how humanity could feed itself in the future. While GM had some interesting ideas, Smaje's concern is that the solutions suggested are leaning too heavily on a techno-solutionist approach, and the concept that we can only be saved by the tech-bros. There is some truth in this critique, or rather it is important to look at a wider range of solutions, and to not be solely dependent on what Silicon Valley and other tech startups might have to offer. As we see what has become the utter gong show since Twitter got a new owner, we need to be looking at more solutions that just whatever the latest tech trends might be. The potential for any solely tech dependent solutions has recently proved to be an invitation to descend into hubris and chaos if we are not careful. Smaje's analysis and arguments are carefully reasoned and walked through. We would not necessarily agree with everything suggested in this book, but Smaje does argue reasonably and with the intent to be fair and draw on legitimate sources. This book is definitely thought provoking, even if we found the title a bit clunky. We liked it, and would recommend reading it. See more on Chris's blog here. In Chris's words -> I wrote the book in a two-month blur as a job of work that I felt somebody had to do to combat the head of steam building around the case for a farm-free future associated with George Monbiot's book Regenesis and the Reboot Food initiative. And if that somebody was me, so be it. My original motivation was mainly just to critique the fanciful ecomodernism of Reboot Food, which I believe is apt to bedazzle people of goodwill but with limited knowledge of food and farming into thinking that a technological solution is at hand that will enable them to continue living high-energy, urban consumerist lifestyles while going easy on the climate and the natural world. Really, it isn't. The danger is that farm-free bromides will, as usual with ecomodernism, instil a 'great, they've fixed it!' complacency at just the time when we need to jettison the techno-fix mentality and radically reimagine our social and political assumptions. More about the book One of the few voices to challenge The Guardian's George Monbiot on the future of food and farming (and the restoration of nature) is academic, farmer and author of A Small Farm Future Chris Smaje. In Saying NO to a Farm-Free Future, Smaje presents his defense of small-scale farming and a robust critique of Monbiot's vision for an urban and industrialized future. Responding to Monbiot's portrayal of an urban, high-energy, industrially manufactured food future as the answer to our current crises, and its unchallenged acceptance within the environmental discourse, Smaje was compelled to challenge Monbiot's evidence and conclusions. At the same time, Smaje presents his powerful counterargument - a low-carbon agrarian localism that puts power in the hands of local communities, not high-tech corporates. In the ongoing fight for our food future, this book will help you to understand the difference between a congenial, ecological living and a dystopian, factory-centered existence. A must-read! "Chris Smaje has laid down an indictment - as unremitting as it is undeniable - that cuts through the jargon-filled, techno-worshipping agricultural futurists who promise silver-bullet fixes for having your cake and eating it too. This brilliant and compelling book is at once hopeful and persuasive about the future of food." - Dan Barber, chef at Blue Hill and author of The Third Plate See more book reviews here.
A research paper by Politecnico di Milano in the international journal Sustainable Production and Consumption analyses a floating wind farm off the coast of Sicily Offshore wind farms bring environmental benefits throughout their life cycle. This emerges from a study published in the international journal Sustainable Production and Consumption in which researchers from Politecnico di Milano analysed the potential environmental impacts of a floating offshore wind farm undergoing authorisation off the coast of Sicily. What environmental benefits do offshore wind farms bring? "Results show that the environmental impacts of offshore wind farms with floating turbines are mainly associated with the life cycle of the wind turbine and the floating structure, and in particular with steel production", Mario Grosso, professor in Solid Waste Management and Treatment at Politecnico di Milano, explains. "The other phases of the life cycle have much smaller contributions than the procurement phase. The analysis included the phases of procurement of materials, transport of components, assembly and installation with specialised vessels, maintenance during operation, disassembly and end-of-life. "The analysis also included the other components required for building an offshore wind farm, with a particular focus on the electrical system for transmitting the energy produced, in order to assess the contribution of the implementation complexity of offshore installations to the wind farm overall impact", Lucia Rigamonti, professor in Methodologies for Life Cycle Thinking, explains. Results show that comparing 1 GWh of energy taken from the national grid with 1 GWh of energy produced by the wind farm, the overall impacts of wind power are significantly reduced for almost all impact categories analysed: in the 'climate change' category, the benefit is a 92% reduction in impacts, and worsening is only observed in the 'abiotic depletion' category (+95%). Furthermore, this technology would allow to avoid generating energy from fossil fuels, and therefore, as the results show, related investments would be quickly repaid in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and energy, in 2 and 3 years, respectively. "Overall, the results of the analysis provide a rough indication that helps make us aware of the environmental loadings of a renewable electricity generation system and to compare it with other energy sources", Gaia Brussa, researcher at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Politecnico, explains. "However, it must be kept in mind that this is currently a preliminary estimate based on the design choices presented for the scoping phase of the Environmental Impact Assessment. Scientific literature is still insufficient when it comes to life cycle analysis (LCA) of offshore wind farms with large turbines (over 15 MW) installed on floating structures reflecting recent industry developments and current market trends. However, in order to assess their true environmental sustainability, it is important to analyse renewable electricity generation technologies from a life-cycle perspective. Politecnico di Milano is a scientific-technological university which trains engineers, architects and industrial designers. The University has always focused on the quality and innovation of its teaching and research, developing a fruitful relationship with business and productive world by means of experimental research and technological transfer. Research has always been linked to didactics and it is a priority commitment which has allowed Politecnico Milano to achieve high quality results at an international level as to join the university to the business world. Research constitutes a parallel path to that formed by cooperation and alliances with the industrial system. Knowing the world in which you are going to work is a vital requirement for training students. By referring back to the needs of the industrial world and public administration, research is faci...
Patch, the youth accelerator supported by Stripe, NDRC, and Dogpatch Labs, is set to announce its latest cohort for 2023. The accelerator, which began on July 5th, is made up of 16-21-year olds, with females making up 46% of this year's 31-strong cohort, marking the highest number in the programme's five-year history. Patch has also witnessed an increase in participation from across the country this year, with over 60% of participants coming from outside the Dublin Area, and Munster-natives accounting for one-quarter of the cohort. Patch has attracted renowned speakers and mentors to this year's programme, offering invaluable insights and guidance to the cohort, including fireside talks and Q&A sessions from Loyal founder, Celine Halioua, President of Product and Business at Stripe, Will Gaybrick, and Intercom founder, Des Traynor. The seven week accelerator will culminate with Demo Day in Dublin's Dogpatch Labs on August 17th, providing an opportunity for participants to present their remarkable projects and progress over the summer months. This year's cohort showcases projects that prioritise social impact, healthcare innovation, and sustainable solutions. It stands out as the most globally diverse and inclusive group to date with a range of projects building on the latest technology to drive change and innovation. Patch mentor Andreea Wade, Vice President of enterprise recruiting software iCIMS said, "Being part of this extraordinary programme that cultivates young minds to instigate enduring social change is truly incredible. The opportunity to witness firsthand the passion and talent that these young participants exhibit at such a pivotal point in their lives is deeply inspiring. As a mentor, I've realised it's more than just guiding them - it's about giving back, investing in the future, fostering new leaders". The cohort will also travel to London to learn about the fields of AI, venture capital and financial services. While there, they will visit the offices of industry giants such as Stability AI and Jane Street Capital to learn more about their work and how they can apply these skills to their own projects. Patch alumni also achieved remarkable success at this year's BT Young Scientist competition, securing eight prizes. Previous alumni include Mícheal McLaughlan, co-founder of Agtech firm CropSafe which recently raised $3m, and Diana Hrisovescu, who received the O'Shaughnessy Fellowship Grant worth $100,000 to develop Script - software which enables individuals to access government forms in their native language. "We are proud to operate as a non-profit organisation, generously supported by donors who recognise the significance of investing in the next generation of innovators. This backing allows Patch to provide invaluable resources, mentorship, and guidance to young talent who are keen to make a difference in their communities and beyond," shared Jack O'Regan Kenny, Managing Director of Patch. "As someone who has participated in Patch myself, I know first-hand the dedication required and world-class support you get as a young entrepreneur - it's invaluable to growing an idea in your phone notes, to something impactful". See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Ireland's Robot Soccer team, RoboÉireann from Maynooth University, are Challenge Shield winners in the RoboCup 2023 Standard Platform League, an international robotics competition held in Bordeaux, France. Scoring 67-2 across nine matches, RoboÉireann overcame teams from Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, USA, Australia, and Brazil to secure victory. A 35 second clip of RoboCup Semi-Final RoboÉireann V Dutch Nao can be seen below. RoboCup is an international research initiative to advance intelligent autonomous robotics into the middle of the 21st century. Robot soccer is played by teams of five or seven robots each comprising a goalie and outfield players. There are human referees and just like real soccer there is a kick-off, goals, fouls, a sin-bin and eventual send-offs for persistent fouls, and penalty kicks. The winning team comprises staff and students from the Departments of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science at Maynooth University and competes in an innovative game where all competitors use identical humanoid robot hardware but develop software so that the robots play soccer autonomously. RoboÉireann have competed in European and International RoboCup events since 2009. To achieve this level of autonomy, teams must develop software, create advanced machine learning and AI and efficient real-time systems, so that the robots can understand their surroundings, make decisions, and collaborate in dynamic environments without human intervention or remote control. Students gain industry-ready skills in robotics, AI, software, and teamwork with applications in autonomous robotics, assistive technologies for independent living, manufacturing, agriculture, and emergency/disaster area operations, amongst others. Commenting on the team's success, Dr Rudi Villing, team coach and lecturer in the Department of Electronic Engineering, said: "RoboCup is an invaluable practical environment for students to learn about the challenges of creating intelligent humanoid robots, to research and develop solutions, and to develop industrially relevant skills. The competitive element is a key motivator for them and is unlike anything else. Our great result in this competition builds on our Open Challenge win in the RoboCup 2011 world championship and third place finish in the RoboCup German Open Replacement Event 2022." Team RoboÉireann are Aidan Colgan, Shauna Recto, James Petri, Heather Bruen, Andy Lee Mitchell, Dr Ralf Bierig and Dr Rudi Villing. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The broadband market in Ireland is now flooded with providers all offering a myriad of deals. We know it's hard to find the perfect deal that suits your needs but we're here to help. We've teamed up with Switcher.ie, the free and impartial price comparison and switching service, to find the best broadband deals available every month. Check back regularly to stay informed of the latest deals and offers and visit the Switcher.ie website to order one of these great packages. Best Broadband Deals Pure Telecom's Purely Broadband plan is one of the cheapest deals available over 12 months. For €30 per month for the first year, you'll get unlimited broadband with speeds of up to 100Mb with free modem and connection. Check out eir's Unlimited Broadband with Talk plan, priced at just €34.99 per month for 24 months. This plan is available exclusively via Switcher.ie, offering a 2-year discount. Sign up before 23/07/2023 and get One Month Free Broadband! Get long term savings with Vodafone broadband from €40 per month with no thereafter price or installation fee! Available to both new and existing customers, you can check out Vodafone's latest offers here. (If you've come across this article after some of these deals may have expired, check out our main Broadband Deals category page to find the latest offers) More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Granite Digital, Ireland's leading full-service digital agency, has announced that it has acquired Armour, one of Ireland's leading enterprise digital product agencies. Granite's latest acquisition will boost its global reach adding over 150 Armour clients from across Ireland, the UK, and the US, establishing Granite as Ireland's largest independent digital agency. Founded in Galway in 2010 by friends Andrew Dewdney and Jamie Casey, Armour brings deep experience and expertise in product and mobile apps development. Offering a wide range of services that includes strategy, user experience design, online and mobile application development, Armour designs and delivers high-quality enterprise solutions for their clients which Armour delivers include Supermacs, Intel, eflow, Medtronic, Rehab, and Pfizer. Granite anticipates that after acquiring the Armour business, annual revenues will grow to more than €14M in 2023. In 2022, Granite acquired and successfully integrated the businesses of Dublin-based Continuum and Willows Consulting. In recent years, Armour is the 14th Irish digital services business to come under the Granite umbrella following a series of acquisitions that include Connector, Webtrade, MediaOne, Apps Made Easy, and New-York based LCM 247. Andrew Dewdney, Jamie Casey and their team of 10 will join Granite and will lead their product development division, with a particular focus on delivering new projects in Europe and the US. Granite will have more than 120 digital specialists with the addition of Armour, which will become a key strategic business unit within the Granite Digital Group. Speaking on the acquisition, Conor Buckley, CEO of Granite Digital said: "We are thrilled to announce the acquisition of Armour, which will enable us to assess, design, and develop products and customer experiences that respond to the needs and expectations of today's customers. This acquisition will not only increase our breadth of services with enhanced product development capabilities, but it will also give us the flexibility to adapt to whatever comes next in the rapidly evolving world of digital customer experiences. We are excited to see the impact this acquisition will have on our business and our ability to deliver a more comprehensive range of digital services and experiences to our growing Irish and international customer base." Andrew Dewdney, Co-founder and Director added: "We are thrilled to be joining Granite as part of their acquisition of Armour. As a highly skilled agency specialising in creating digital products with a great user experience, we have been helping businesses take digital transformation to the next level since 2010. Now our team of experts will join Granite to create best-in-class websites and enterprise-level web applications. With the additional expertise and capabilities the Granite team bring, we look forward to further accelerating our client business and growth potential." Granite Digital has expanded to become Ireland's largest independent digital agency. Design, technology, strategy, digital marketing, advertising, and secure managed hosting are among its service offerings. Granite's growing client base includes Lidl, Dalata Hotel Group, Bord Bia, Cork Chamber of Commerce and Webhelp. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Hiring platform IrishJobs has today published the results of its Jobs Index for Q2 2023. The Index shows a return to a more settled jobs vacancy market than in recent years, as the rate that vacancies are declining slows Quarter-on Quarter (Q-o-Q) to 4%. Job vacancies fell by 25% Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) reflecting the hiring surge the Irish job market experienced in the same period twelve months ago and which began to abate as the year progressed. Job vacancies are now largely in line with pre-Covid Q2 2019 levels (+1%), indicating the labour market has stabilised. Sectoral trends The Catering sector, accounting for a wide range of hospitality services, generated the largest number (14%) of job vacancies last quarter, followed by Management (9%), the Medical Professionals & Healthcare (7%), and IT (6%). While the IT sector is still the fourth largest source of jobs nationally, data shows that the sector has been on a downward trajectory since the third quarter of 2022. The latest figures show a fallback in both yearly (-30%) and quarterly vacancies (-13%), with the sector moving toward a pre-pandemic Q2 2019 vacancy level. Normalisation The long-term health of the job market across sectors is generally robust: vacancies in 23 of the 39 sectors analysed remain above their pre-COVID Q2 2019 levels. A broad trend of normalisation is evident across a number of sectors as they experience Y-o-Y vacancy declines but relatively modest Q-o-Q vacancy changes. Sectors experiencing normalisation include domestic sectors, such as Retail (Y-o-Y -32%, Q-o-Q -2%), Sport and Fitness (Y-o-Y -5%, Q-o-Q +11%), and Catering (Y-o-Y -41%, Q-o-Q +1%). The Construction sector has also shown resilience, with Y-o-Y falls (-7%) but relatively small quarterly (-4%) vacancy rate changes. Retrenchment Continued uncertainty in the economy is having an impact on a small number of important sectors that have posted vacancy declines in both year-on-year and quarterly figures. These sectors include Banking (Y-o-Y -46%, Q-o-Q -21%), and the multinational sectors of IT (Y-o-Y -30%, Q-o-Q -13%) and Science (Y-o-Y -21%, Q-o-Q -10%). While IT, and Pharma firms within the Science sector, may be rebalancing following the surge of demand for their services during the pandemic, the performance of other sectors, such as Banking, may be more directly attributed to shifts in economic policy including inflationary pressures and interest rate hikes. Fully Remote Working Fully Remote/Working-from-home vacancies have experienced a strong rebound after three successive quarterly falls, indicating remote working may be stabilising as a long-term practise in the Irish workplace. 9 in 10 of these fully remote vacancies are offered across urban centres in Ireland by employers in Dublin (79%), Limerick (7%), and Cork (4%). The distribution of vacancies across urban centres indicates that remote working in Ireland is strongly driven by the pressures of commuting into large metropolitan centres. As inflation continues to impact costs, fully remote openings are likely to remain a viable option for employers and employees alike to offset increased costs. Jobseeker preferences In addition to the Index, IrishJobs commissioned research on attitudes and preferences to jobseeking in Ireland. With over 500 responses, research showed that 27% of respondents are actively looking for a new job. Respondents ranked Higher salary (22%), Improve work-life balance (10%) and Jobs fits with higher purpose in life (6%) as the top reasons motivating their use of jobs platforms. The top two preferences remain unchanged from the previous quarter, signalling that the rising cost-of-living continues to have a strong impact on job applicants. For employers, recognising the significance of inflationary pressures and tailoring their hiring, recruitment, and retention strategies accordingly will be key to remaining competitive in the labour market. The continued resilience of work-life-balance Q-o-Q as the second...
Guest post by Rob Allen, who is an IT Professional with almost two decades of experience assisting small and medium enterprises embrace and utilise technology. Worrying trends are emerging in how ransomware is being not just more narrowly targeted, but tailored and sophisticated too According to Security Intelligence, one of the top 10 most costly cyber attacks of 2022, took place in April, where ransomware crippled the US Austin Peay State University. The attack brought the university to a halt just before final exams began, reducing faculty, staff and students to personal devices to access email and other university resources. The university cancelled final exams and closed all computer labs. Ransomware: narrowing the focus for more targeted attacks It was forewarning of later attacks seen in the same sector here at home in 2023. It is becoming easier for ransomware to target specific sectors and individual organizations, with elements of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation being incorporated, adding to developments such as ransomware-as-a-service. It does not have to be the devastating strike it used to be. A combination of policies, controls and layered protections can stop ransomware, minimising damage and ensuring your business can carry on. There is little doubt that ransomware is becoming more prevalent, and more costly. Gartner reports that as many as a third of organisations globally have experienced some kind of ransomware attack. As reported by BCS, while 2022 saw a slight global fall in ransomware incidents, Europe saw a 63% increase. IBM's "Cost of a Data Breach Report" 2022 found that the share of breaches caused by ransomware grew 41% in the period and took 49 days longer than average to identify and contain. Additionally, destructive attacks increased in cost by more than $430,000, making the global average cost of a ransomware attack $4.54 million. The volume and impact of ransomware is further multiplied by technological developments. Ransomware-as-a-service has already been observed and is well documented. Now, cybersecurity experts suspect that AI and machine learning (ML) may be deployed to increase efficacy, and perhaps facilitate automation. Automating significant elements of the ransomware process could mean an even greater acceleration of attacks, argues Mark Driver, a research vice president at Gartner. 'It's not worth their effort if it takes them hours and hours to do it manually, but if they can automate it', Driver reasons, "it's terrifying." While it has not yet been definitively identified in the wild, security expert Mikko Hyppönen has said there may be a few, highly successful ransomware gangs with the resources to hire AI talent and develop the capability. Experts see distinct patterns emerging within ransomware attacks due to these technological developments. TechTarget reports that the three sectors of media/leisure/entertainment, retail, and energy/oil/gas/utilities, accounted for more attacks than any other sectors. These ransomware attacks are increasingly tailored for a specific sector or industry, with utilities, in particular, seeing more narrowly focused methodologies, instead of the 'scatter gun' approach of old. This has led to speculation that if the trends of as-a-service platforms, and sector specific adaptation converge with embedded AI and ML, automation, , then ransomware incidents such as the Colonial Pipeline attack in the US could not only become more common, but more coordinated and effective. If such tactics and tools were to be used by a nation-state, entire sets of critical infrastructure could be at risk of crippling attacks. However, it is important to point out that while ransomware is a growing menace, it is often the final stage of an attack. Gartner's "Anatomy of a Ransomware Attack," it depicts the initial stages as ingress- through the likes of phishing, email, credentials dumps, etc, compromise followed by burrowing and lateral movement - prior to ...
The Digital Hub, in partnership with Aisling Murray and with the support of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), are putting in place plans for a new international arts and technology festival for Ireland. Beta, which will take place across 4 days in November, is seeking to critically engage with technology's impact on society through a combination of creativity, debate, and experimentation. Beta will focus on a number of key themes which are dominating the technology discussion at present, including artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, data rights and sustainability. The festival has identified a need to bring together Ireland's research and digital arts communities in order to foster a discussion about how the two disciplines can combine for the benefit of society. Beta is led by Aisling Murray, a curator and creative producer with 15 years of experience across exhibitions, festivals, literature, spoken word, theatre and dance. She most recently worked with the Goethe-Institut Irland in developing their Quantum Technology Art residency and curated the inaugural art and science stage at Electric Picnic, funded by SFI. Prior to this, she worked for Science Gallery Dublin, where she produced national and international creative programmes converging art, science, technology and society. Ultimately, the festival organisers are aiming to position Ireland as a leader in the intersection of art and technology programming in an audience-centred way to engage the public playfully and critically with new technologies. Beta will also include performances, discussions, workshops and a nighttime programme over the four days. Beta has already confirmed a number of acclaimed artists to participate in this year's festival, including Libby Heaney, Leon Butler and Peter Power. Two unique works have been commissioned to support the launch of Beta. Artist Leon Butler has imagined what the identity of a festival of art and technology could be and has generated a new font seen in the Beta logo. The final logo almost looks hand drawn or screen printed with beautifully imperfect edges - this intersection of cutting-edge technology and human creativity is exactly what Beta will explore with the festival. Beta's website, which launched today, features a new commission from artist and designer Farouk Alao. Specialising in 3D motion and web design, he has drawn inspiration from nature, his world, and human emotions. His vision explores the intersection of reality and imagination. The motion piece on Beta's website called the Beta cube, positions Beta as a centre point in which art, technology and creativity resolve and makes use of the unique font designed by Butler. Beta is also launching a new international residency in partnership with transmediale in Berlin, supported by the Arts Council of Ireland. Transmediale is one of the leading and longest-running festivals for art and digital culture in Europe. The Beta x transmediale residency will bring together four artists from Ireland and Germany to explore critical perspectives on artificial intelligence and digital art. Taking place as a hybrid residency with two weeks online, three weeks in Dublin, Ireland and 3 weeks in Berlin, Germany, the residency programme will provide space, resources and mentorship to four artists to develop new artworks that generate new imaginaries around climate resilience and political polarization. Aisling Murray, Director of Beta, said: "Beta has the potential to really put Ireland on the map in terms of the intersection of research, technology and digital arts. Each of these disciplines continues to grow from strength to strength, which is why it's very timely that Beta is now coming to fruition. The Digital Hub are the ideal co-founder for this with their experience both creatively and with industry, I'm so grateful for their support and excited to create an anchor point in the year for the communities interested in these themes. I'm hugely excited for what is...
Will artificial intelligence (AI) end civilisation? Researchers at Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software and University College Cork, are seeking help determining what the public believes and knows about AI and software more generally. Psychologist Dr Sarah Robinson, a senior postdoctoral researcher with Lero, is asking members of the public to take part in a ten-minute anonymised online survey to establish what peoples' hopes and fears are for AI and software in general. "As the experts debate, little attention is given to what the public thinks - and the debate is raging. Some AI experts express concern that others prioritise imagined apocalyptic scenarios over immediate concerns - such as racist and sexist biases being programmed into machines. As software impacts all our lives, the public is a key stakeholder in deciding what being responsible for software should mean. So, that's why we want to find out what the public is thinking," added the UCC-based researcher. Dr Robinson said that, for example, human rights abuses are happening through AI and facial recognition software. "Research by my Lero colleague Dr Abeba Birhane and others found that data used to train some AI is contaminated with racist and misogynist language. As AI becomes widespread, the use of biased data may lead to harm and further marginalisation for already marginalised groups. "While there is a lot in the media about AI, especially ChatGPT, and what kind of world it is creating, there is less information about how the public perceives the software all around us, from social media to streaming services and beyond. We are interested in understanding the public's point of view - what concerns the public have, what are their priorities in terms of making software responsible and ethical, and the thoughts and ideas they have to make this a reality?" outlined Dr Robinson. Participants in the survey will be asked for their views and possible concerns on a range of issues and topics, with the hope of clarifying their views on critical issues. Lero is asking members of the public to donate 10 minutes of their time for this short survey. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Social media platforms have revolutionized how we connect, communicate, and share information, but this digital landscape has not been without its challenges. These platforms have played a pivotal role in shaping the modern digital landscape and over the years, have witnessed a dynamic evolution, influenced by various factors such as user behavior, technological advancements, and societal shifts. One significant event that shook the social media world was the far-right experiment, which exposed the vulnerabilities of existing platforms and raised important questions about their ability to foster safe and responsible online communities. In the aftermath of the far-right experiment, the social media landscape underwent a period of transformation. Platforms and regulators had to respond swiftly to mitigate the impact of hate speech, radicalization, and disinformation. Content moderation policies were revised, algorithmic changes were implemented, and partnerships with external organizations were formed to combat the spread of harmful content. Simultaneously, governments intervened with regulatory measures, aiming to hold platforms accountable for their content and protect users from online harm. This article delves into the evolution of social media platforms in the post far-right experiment era, focusing on predicting the prevailing platform. We explore the technological advancements and innovations that have shaped the trajectory of these platforms and examine the shifting user behavior and preferences that have influenced the social media landscape. By analyzing the impact of the far-right experiment, the platform responses, technological advancements, and changing user dynamics, you can gain insights into the prevailing platform in the post-experiment era. Understanding this trajectory is crucial for users, platforms, and policymakers in navigating the ever-evolving digital landscape and fostering a more responsible, trustworthy, and resilient social media ecosystem. The Far-Right Experiment and Its Impact The far-right experiment refers to when social media platforms experienced a surge in far-right ideologies, extremist content, and misinformation. This experiment led to a series of challenges for platforms, including issues related to hate speech, radicalization, and political polarization. This phenomenon gained prominence as individuals and groups with extremist views found an online platform to amplify their messages, connect with like-minded individuals, and recruit new members. The impact of the far-right experiment on social media platforms was multifaceted and had far-reaching consequences. The experiment exposed the vulnerabilities of existing platforms, triggering a need for change and adaptation. The far-right experiment served as a wake-up call for social media platforms, governments, and society at large, highlighting the urgent need for comprehensive solutions to address the challenges posed by extremist content, hate speech, and misinformation. Platforms and regulators began to acknowledge the importance of proactive content moderation, user empowerment, and collaboration with external organizations to combat the negative impact of the far-right experiment. Platform Response and Regulatory Intervention In response to the far-right experiment, social media platforms undertook various measures to mitigate the spread of extremist content. These measures included algorithmic changes, content moderation policies, fact-checking initiatives, and collaborations with external organizations. Simultaneously, regulatory intervention in the form of legislation and increased government scrutiny aimed to hold platforms accountable for their content. These responses were aimed at creating safer and more inclusive digital environments. The platform response and regulatory intervention were significant steps toward addressing the challenges arising from the far-right experiment. However, it remains an ongoing process as pla...
The first six months of the year saw a 48% year-on-year increase in insolvencies, with 410 insolvencies recorded in H1 2023, versus 277 for the same period in 2022, according to the latest figures from credit risk analyst CRIFVision-Net. Despite the relative health of the Irish economy, the first half of 2023 has been a period characterised by continued global macro uncertainty and inflationary pressures. The period saw significant insolvency growth in key sectors including hospitality (+214%), construction (+148%) and financial services (+37%). At a county-level, Dublin (+35%) and Cork (+65%) both recorded double-digit growth in insolvencies, meanwhile other major urban populations Limerick (-43%) and Galway (-19%) performed more positively, recording significant decreases in insolvencies. Growth in startups is reason for optimism Overall, there was a seven per cent increase in company startups, with a total of 20 counties recording year-on-year increases. Key economic centres Dublin (+7%), Cork (+5%) and Galway (+8%) all recorded modest YoY growth. Limerick (-6%) was the only large urban population to record a decrease in new startups. Economic bellweather sectors such as hospitality (+12%), real estate (+10%), IT (+9%), financial services (6%) and construction (+6%) all recorded growth, however, from a relatively low 2022 baseline. Meanwhile another key industry, manufacturing, saw a nine per cent decrease in new startups. May was the busiest month for new company startups (2,527), meanwhile February proved quietest (1,723). Commenting on the H1 figures, Christine Cullen, Managing Director of CRIFVision-net said: "Evaluating the first six months of 2023 is a far from straightforward exercise. At a global level, we continue to grapple with economic uncertainty, high interest rates, and a rising cost of living. Despite these macro-economic pressures, the Irish economy has on balance, proven more resilient than some of our neighbours. Corporate tax receipts are up and the Irish Government finds itself in the novel position of trying to decide how to allocate an €8billion budget surplus. That said, the continued rise in insolvencies is a reminder that these headline numbers don't tell the full story. "As we turn our attention to the second half of the year, we hope to see a more business sentiment amongst Irish consumers and SMEs, and that this sentiment will materialise as a confidence, growth orientated mindset going into 2024." More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
On July 11th, leaders gathered at the NATO summit to discuss the most complex and unpredictable security environment since the Cold War. As Russia launches the first cyberwar we have ever seen, barraging Ukraine and other Eastern European countries with cyberattacks, NATO countries need to work together to root out intruders from allied networks. Initiatives like the US's Hunt Forward missions are designed to take the fight to the adversary. Ronan talks to Ross Brewer the CRO of SimSpace about this and more. Ross talks about his background, what SimSpace does, the WannaCry virus, cyberwar, Hunt Forward Teams and more. More about SimSpace: Founded in 2015 by experts from the U.S. Cyber Command and MIT's Lincoln Laboratory, SimSpace combines the highest-fidelity, military-grade cyber ranges and training content with unique user and adversary emulation techniques. By providing team and individual training exercises, attack simulations, mission rehearsals, and product evaluations that leverage its cyber range, the SimSpace Cyber Force Platform delivers quantitative and actionable insights into how an organisation can protect critical assets against cyber threats. SimSpace prepares individuals, teams and leaders for continued success against ever-evolving adversaries. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is pleased to announce the launch of the Deep Tech Talent Training Prize. This award aims to recognise and reward excellence in tackling deep tech training challenges in the framework of the EIT's new programme set to skill one million people in deep tech fields until 2025. Deep Tech Talent Training Prize announced Since being launched in October of last year, the EIT's flagship programme, the Deep Tech Talent Initiative is in full swing, where the EIT's Innovation Communities work together with a pledger community of industry partners and training providers to address Europe's skills gap. Deep Tech innovations - cutting-edge technology solutions combining fields of science and engineering in the physical, biological and digital spheres - are indispensable in creating solutions to the most pressing global challenges. To award and recognise the existing contributions of training providers in deploying the most effective training programmes, the EIT is launching the Deep Tech Talent Training Prize. Training providers, employers, universities, and industry partners are encouraged to apply and showcase their exceptional contributions in tackling deep tech training challenges. Each award recipient will be awarded a maximum funding of EUR 60 000. Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission, said: 'Europe needs a talent pool of specialised workers to keep up with the rapid advances of new technology, and harness their power for sustainable innovation. The European Institute of Innovation and Technology and its flagship programme will be instrumental in creating new training courses and building a network of existing training providers. We are committed to the most exceptional contributions in tackling deep tech training.' Nektarios Tavernarakis, Chair of the EIT Governing Board, added: 'The EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative is a pivotal programme that recognizes the need in Europe to accelerate the development of skills on new technologies that can help us solve major challenges. This prize recognizes and praises the exceptional contributions of European organisations, such as universities, training providers, and companies, in tackling the challenges of deep tech training. By fostering collaboration and innovation, these entities are instrumental in ensuring that individuals from diverse backgrounds have access to excellent training opportunities.' To be eligible for the Deep Tech Talent Training Prize, applicants must meet the Deep Tech Talent Initiative pledger criteria and have successfully completed the pledge registration and quality check of the training. Organisations can apply in one of following two prize categories: Partner Training - for consortia of at least two organisations which meet the pledger criteria and can demonstrate how their partnership, training and results demonstrate excellence in addressing a deep tech training challenge. Targeted Training - for individual training providers who have demonstrated excellence in a specific targeted approach to address challenges in deep tech training. Targeted approaches may address underrepresented audiences or specific market/training gaps, emphasising excellence in results and impacts. Examples include promoting inclusivity and sector-specific training needs. The prize categories are further divided into pre-defined deep tech topic areas, which include among others, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cleantech, advanced/quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, aerospace, automotive, and remote sensing. Organisations are encouraged to read the full call text and documents available now on the EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative website. Applicants must submit the required documents, including the application form, pitch deck, and a 1-2-minute video pitch, through the online submission platform by the prize deadline, 31 October 2023. For more information about the Deep Tech Talent Initiative an...
We look at the new Puro BT2200 Plus, see more about the product on their website here. Puro BT2200 Plus reviewed This product seems to be aimed at kids, but we gave it to a variety of our testers, preteens, teens and oldies, (can we say that?) those in their later decades also. Overall we got a good response from all of them about the product. One of the teens felt the headphones were a little small, and it would perhaps be useful if the headband, ie the part that sits on top of your head, could expand. That said the earphones were comfortable to use and all testers enjoyed using the product. Another very positive thing about the headphones is that they are both bluetooth and also come with three different cable options too. This should ensure that this device is pretty much ready to go straight out of the box. We had no issues firing it up and it just worked straight away and with a nice, deep, lush sound. The volume limited design aspect seems smart and a good thing for a child related product, though you can still go quite loud, certainly not something that would get in the way of you using it in a happy and positive way. We liked the Puro BT2200 Plus, and it's pricing is not too expensive either. It could be a good birthday present for a younger user. Worth playing around with. More about the product here LIMITS VOLUME TO 85dB: Made to protect young listeners' eardrums from early hearing damage following the World Health Organization's recommendation of an 85dB limited volume range. STUDIO-GRADE AUDIO QUALITY: Our patent-pending Puro Balanced Response Curve provides them with the finest genuine studio sound, including clear, crisp vocals and full dynamic bass-all within the safety of 85 dB. BACKGROUND NOISE ISOLATION: Our product features a fully passive design that blocks 83% of the ambient noise @ 1 kHz just by wearing them. INTERCHANGEABLE EAR CUPS: Turn on-ear to over-ear for a better seal and more comfort. HIGH-QUALITY DESIGN: Durable, vegan protein leather ear cushions and headband. Designed for a comfortable listening experience. In keeping with Puro Sound Labs mission to protect consumers' hearing, the headphones are made to protect young listeners' eardrums from early hearing damage being volume limited to 85 dB as recommended by the World Health Organization. While the headphones are volume limited to the maximum safe listening level, they certainly do not compromise on sound quality. The Puro Balanced Response® Curve technology is engineered to deliver the finest genuine studio sound with clear, crisp vocals and full dynamic bass suitable for all genres of music. Additionally, the BT2200 Plus features a fully passive design which blocks 83% of the ambient noise @ 1kHz just by wearing them, ensuring that users can listen to their favourite tracks, audio books or YouTube undisturbed, or find their own space in shared environments. Designed with both comfort and style in mind, the BT2200 Plus headphones boast a lightweight, construction that truly stands the test of time. As well as a durable, supple protein leather headband and ear cushions, guaranteeing a comfortable listening experience while relaxing at home or on the go. The BT2200 Plus also comes with interchangeable ear cups so children can switch from on-ear to over-ear for a better seal and more comfort. It also has a built in microphone, ideal for online learning and children will love the Daisy Chain sharing cable so favourite tracks and YouTube videos can be enjoyed with friends or siblings. See more product reviews on the Irish Tech News website here, and do drop us a line if you would like us to review your products too. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@Iris...
Storytelling Superpowers with hosts Rob Tercek and Brian Solis GUEST:Michael Margolis DESCRIPTION:Michael Margolis, founder and CEO of Storied, is an expert in constructing intentional narratives about the future. The stories Michael tells are not about people but, rather, about products and technology. He has developed a unique approach to navigating digital transformation and change management. This inspiring and provocative episode covers a broad range of topics including the fundamental human need for narrative structure in industry, politics, technology, mass media, machine intelligence, and more. Michael reveals the hidden dynamics of narrative structure that frame our understanding of the world and our shared perception of reality. Storytelling Superpowers with Michael Margolis See more podcasts here, and The Futurists website here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
A couple with extensive expertise in high-performance sports science and behavioural change strategies is to launch their advanced sports monitoring technology and analysis solution onto the Irish market. The husband-and-wife team have worked with high-performance athletes, including tennis stars competing at Wimbledon and Team GB athletes at the London 2012 Olympics. They have now combined their expertise with advanced sports monitoring technology to bring accurate physiological measurements to wellbeing coaching for corporate clients in Ireland. The Wellbeing Advantage is led by Janine van Someren PhD, a native of Sligo, and Ken van Someren PhD, who have over 40 years of scientific research, coaching and corporate leadership experience between them. They initially set up The Wellbeing Advantage in the UK in March 2020. The UK has been their main market since then, with clients including Unilever, Nasdaq and Stryker. Having relocated to Sligo with their young family during the Covid pandemic, they are now launching their corporate offering - called 'Energising Leaders' - in Ireland. Janine is a professional accredited transformational coach with a PhD in Life Story Research. Her doctoral study focused on the impact of elite performance on the lives of female tennis players at Wimbledon. She was senior lecturer in Sport, Health and Exercise Science at St Mary's University, London. Ken is a world-leading expert in health and performance, with a PhD in exercise science. He led the scientific support of GB athletes through the London 2012 Olympics and also launched the GlaxoSmithKline Human Performance Lab, a state-of-the-art human performance research facility in England. He is a lecturer in Sport Performance and Innovation at Atlantic Technological University. The company's 'Energising Leaders' programme provides clients with Firstbeat Life, a wearable technology that monitors heart rate variability and features 3D motion tracking for bespoke lifestyle assessments with a focus on energy, stress, recovery, and resilience. The data, which can be accessed using a Firstbeat App, is then analysed, interpreted and shared with clients through personal wellbeing coaching sessions to address their specific needs and goals. Firstbeat is a leading platform for monitoring performance and recovery among elite athletes worldwide, helping them optimise lifestyle and achieve peak performance. The Wellbeing Advantage is now bringing that technology used by elite athletes to the workplace. It is the first corporate wellbeing company to use the technology in Ireland. Clients get to see how their workday and lifestyle impact on their energy and resilience, learning how to modify their lifestyle behaviours, including stress management, sleep, and recovery, for a better-balanced life, greater energy and performance at work. Typically clients engage in a three to six-month programme of one-to-one coaching to ensure that behavioural changes are sustainable and having the desired effect. As well as the 'Energising Leaders' programme, the company provides wellbeing support in the workplace for employers who want to support their staff and empower stressed and overwhelmed employees to increase their health, happiness and productivity through talks, workshops, customised programmes, transformational coaching and performance profiling to build energy and resilience. Dr Janine van Someren, co-founder of The Wellbeing Advantage, said: "We are passionate about applying our learnings from high-performance sport, such as the value of marginal gains, importance of sustainable change and adapting behavioural change strategies for the corporate world. "Introducing wearable technology with Firstbeat allows us to bring physiological facts to our wellbeing offer. This provides clients with an accurate x-ray of their day whereby we measure the balance between stress and recovery for better health and improved performance. By understanding client wellness status we ...
Sky today announced the launch of Sky Stream. It is the new easy way to get Sky, giving you the best entertainment streamed straight to any TV over Wi-Fi, without a dish, so there is no installation required. Simply plug the device into any TV to enjoy world class film, must-watch TV and thrilling sport, including access to over 150 channels and 100,000 hours of aggregated content. Available now from Sky.ie/stream, in Sky retail stores or through Sky customer services, it's the most affordable way to get Sky TV and Netflix together, from €30 a month. Speaking about the launch of Sky Stream in Ireland, JD Buckley, CEO, Sky Ireland, said: "We are thrilled to announce the launch of Sky Stream in Ireland. Sky Stream revolutionises the way customers can access Sky and all of their favourite apps. Simply order your Sky Stream puck, receive it the following day and plug it into any TV to get the full Sky experience. There is no satellite dish or installation required. Whether you want to watch Succession, Dreamland or Stranger Things, Sky Stream has it all and, as it is built with the Sky Entertainment OS, Sky Stream customers can expect the highest standard in viewing and user experience. "Investment in innovation is one of our top priorities, as we continue to provide the best products and services to our customers. The launch of Sky Stream in Ireland comes just under a year after we launched Sky Glass here. Sky Glass and Sky Stream open the world of Sky to customers who were not able to access our services through satellite." Sky Stream - the highlights: Sky TV with no dish - epic entertainment streamed straight to any TV over Wi-Fi - Stream Sky TV with Netflix included as standard - Ultimate flexibility - flexible plan that can be cancelled anytime or 12-month minimum term - Next day delivery - order by 2pm Mon- Thurs for next day delivery - Compact size - cutting-edge features and award-winning content in the palm of your hand - Smart Sky Glass UI - brings together all your channels, shows and apps into one place Unrivalled entertainment, straight to any TV Giving you access to the world of Sky TV including hits like The Overlap and And Just Like That., alongside blockbuster movies, there's something for everyone to watch. Sky Sports, the home of the best live sport, includes over 400 live football fixtures every year including must-watch Premier League and Women's Super League matches, as well as every F1 race and much more. Alongside the world of Sky and Netflix, you can also access Apple TV+, Amazon Prime, Disney+, RTÉ Player, All4, YouTube, Discovery+, Peacock, Paramount+, Fiit and more. Everything you watch on Sky Stream is ready to enjoy in HD as standard, with UHD also available. Sky's famous innovation, in the palm of your hand Sky Stream has the same smart user interface as Sky Glass, making watching TV simple and quick. Helpful genre categories take you to content quickly, and voice search helps you find shows in a flash and control your tv with your voice. Clever features like Restart live TV and Playlist make your TV smarter. You can create endless Playlists of what to watch and discover more with intelligent recommendations - meaning you never have to miss out on the latest releases again. And with Sky's constant investment and innovation, you can expect regular updates to make the streaming experience even better. TV your way, with incredible value With Sky Stream, there's ultimate flexibility and amazing value. You can choose a flexible plan that can be cancelled anytime (from €35 a month) or a 12-month minimum term (for €30 a month), both of which include Sky Ultimate TV & Netflix. You can also add on packs and services including Sky Cinema which offers Paramount+ at no extra cost, Sky Sports, Sports Extra and UHD & Dolby Atmos. If you'd like Sky TV in more rooms in the house, the Whole Home pack is €20 a month, letting you have up to five additional Sky Stream devices. Smartest TV line-up yet Sky Stream is th...
Hydrogen Ireland says the new National Hydrogen Strategy is a key catalyst to attracting investment in Ireland's clean energy sector. The all-island organisation today welcomed the publication of the strategy as it launched its annual conference, which will take place at Titanic Belfast from 27 - 29 November this year. The theme of the event is 'Hydrogen - delivering a balanced pathway to net zero', and the guest lineup includes Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, Chief Executive of Hydrogen Europe and other well-known figures from the worlds of politics, energy and industry. Hydrogen Ireland believes the new national strategy - which was launched in recent days by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan TD - will be a real boost to the sector as it conveys a clear message to everyone about what hydrogen has to offer. Spokesman Paul McCormack says that through the strategy, "the public can now see hydrogen as a clean alternative to energy from fossil fuel. An energy that we can generate and use to capture opportunities from our rich natural resources. The next step is to mobilise the strategy and align with Europe to open the EU clean hydrogen backbone to Ireland. We're at the start of a long journey where we can strengthen the competitiveness of the Irish clean energy sector and build our H2 technology sovereignty, creating a more resilient energy system for Ireland. This strategy will ultimately help to produce and use affordable, reliable and accessible clean energy". At the November conference, delegates and speakers will address a wide range of topics, including an all-island approach to energy, climate, technology and supporting investment in the future. The conference will map out the 3 key stages in Ireland's Green Hydrogen journey: Where we are now? What are we targeting? And how do we get there? Paul McCormack says the stakes couldn't be higher as global heat records tumble this summer: "Cutting back on energy produced by fossil fuels is a massive part of how we can hope to deal with climate change. As an island off Europe, we have the natural resources, an ambitious, skilled workforce and now the National Strategy to chart the way forward on clean energy. We need to grasp that opportunity for all our futures". In addition to the speakers from Hydrogen Europe, the conference guest list will include industry experts from ESB, Gas Networks Ireland, SSE, Bórd Gais Energy, Energia, Siemens and many more. The event is geared towards industry professionals, technical and academic partners, research collaborators, policymakers and Government officials. For more information on the event, go to www.h2irl.com. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Shared mobility platform Bolt has revealed the extent to which its electric bike rental service has been used in its first year of operations in Sligo. Almost 6,000 unique users have taken 76,296 bike rides, equating to a staggering 153,741 kilometres ridden. This distance equals more than 370 round trips between Sligo and Dublin. Aside from these impressive numbers, further analysis of the data unpacks the interesting ways in which the service is being used. For example, the longest ride ridden was an almighty 47 kilometres. Not to be outdone; however, one user completed an unbelievable 530 trips in a year. It isn't just Sligo or Irish residents that are utilising the helpful service - it's proven a hit with tourists too. Almost 1000 of the 5,942 unique users had a phone number from overseas. Not only has the service been well received by citizens, the same is true of local businesses too. Bernadette Coffey, Sales & Marketing Manager at Sligo Park Hotel & Leisure Club: "There's nothing like hopping on a Bolt bike, whether to see the sights or for a quick spin around town. Bolt's service allows you to park up the car at Sligo Park and enjoy the rest of your holiday car-free if you wish. We're delighted that our visitors, holiday-makers and staff can take advantage of the offering." Bolt's aim is to offer a frictionless, comprehensive network that fits seamlessly into the lives of riders and pedestrians alike. Consequently, it engages with relevant groups - local authority active travel teams, councillors, residents, businesses, institutes such as universities - pre- and post-deployment of the bikes. The company is eager to continue to receive all forms of feedback at Ireland@bolt.eu. The data also reveals that traction with the service is particularly popular around public transport hubs, including near the train station. However, Bolt is constantly analysing usage in order to judge which parking locations are - or could be - helpful, as well as whether the amount of bikes deployed is relative to the level of demand. Sligo Councillor Marie Casserley said: "It's been such a positive partnership between Sligo County Council and Bolt and the statistics have proven that Sligo is ready to take the lead on a sustainable project such as this. Hopefully, many other local authorities will follow suit. It's equally as beneficial to locals as well as visitors, and this has to be a good thing for the community of Sligo." Bolt also offers its shared electric bike rental in Kilkenny, Wexford and Bray to a combined 12,000 users. They've taken 115,000 rides amounting to 238,000 kilometres. Bolt is in talks with several other councils keen to accelerate their active travel services in line with the National Development Plan and the Climate Action Plan. The company also offers taxis in Dublin and Cork. The recent launch of shared electric bikes in Bray in June made Bolt the first company to offer multiple transport modes (taxis and electric bikes) within the same app/ecosystem in Ireland. Bolt Operations Manager for Rentals in Ireland, John Buckley, said: "We're thrilled our electric bike service has been so embraced. We're lucky to have vast experience with micro-mobility across Europe. It constantly tells us that a high-quality, responsible service with affordable pricing will be popular with riders and pedestrians alike. The former gets a better alternative than traffic jams and maintenance costs, whilst the latter gets a city made for people, not private cars. I'm very happy to say Sligo has met and exceeded these expectations." The stats come hot on the heels of the European mobility leader announcing it has surpassed 150 million customers in over 45 countries and 500 cities, including more than 12 million using its micro-mobility (electric scooter and bike) services. Furthermore, Mikko Salovaara was named as CFO, with the company expecting to reach full company-wide profitability on a full net income basis over the next 12 months. More...
Last Thursday marked a major milestone for the Irish Space Association (ISA) as it held its inaugural meeting at DCU Alpha. Chaired by John Halligan, the event brought together key figures in the industry to discuss the future of the space sector in Ireland and highlight the immense opportunities for Irish companies operating in the sector. Speakers on the day included representatives from the ISA Committee, DCU Alpha, Ubotica, Enbio, Drone Consultants Ireland, and Viasat, as well as the Irish Defence Forces. The diverse range of topics covered, from AI in space and flying close to the sun, to the future of the drone sector in Ireland, showcased the breadth and depth of Ireland's capabilities in the space sector. The ISA, officially launched in April 2023 at Enterprise Ireland's headquarters in Dublin, was formed in response to the rapid growth of the space industry in Ireland and the need for sector-level representation. This inaugural meeting represents a significant step forward in the Association's mission to support the Irish space sector's growth and competitiveness, foster collaboration, and ensure sectoral representation on both the national and international stages. In Thursday's meeting, the underlying sentiment was clear: the Irish space sector is ripe with opportunity. As the global space sector is expected to grow to $1.3T by 2030, Irish companies are well-positioned to seize a larger share of this market. The ISA is committed to supporting these companies, capitalising on the nation's collective strengths and expertise, and enabling Ireland to be at the forefront of space innovation and technology. Thursday's meeting is just the beginning, and the ISA looks forward to driving continued momentum and success in Ireland's space sector.
Guest post by Charlie Fletcher, who is a freelance writer passionate about workplace equity, and whose published works cover sociology, politics, business, education, health, and more. The past handful of years has changed a lot about the way that many of us do business. For many of us, a pandemic mindset brought a mix of intense isolation and a claustrophobic amount of time with the members of our immediate household. For a large portion of our society, it also ushered in a new era of remote work and comfort with being on video calls. How Telehealth Is Advancing Healthcare Equality Through Virtual Care In hospitals and other healthcare settings, this rise was felt as well. The number of doctors and patients conducting routine check-ups via telehealth services skyrocketed. Even a number of pre-surgery visits and other seemingly significant doctor-patient interactions started occurring in a virtual setting. For many people, the rise of telehealth services has been a welcome change. In many instances, telehealth has been hailed as a great equalizer in healthcare that could allow patients from rural locations far from state-of-the-art hospitals and specialists to seek high-quality care without expensive travel. Further, it could be a means of leveling a variety of other gaps related to wage and race, for example. Not All Healthcare is Created Equal It may come as a surprise to some (and not to others) that healthcare across the U.S. is not of equal quality. In general, portions of the population that live in large cities with medical universities are those that are most likely to receive the best healthcare available. Those living within smaller cities or rural areas are less likely to have access to certain services and specialists. Even within large cities, there can be significant disparities. For instance, large hospitals, clinics, and other well-funded medical facilities are more likely to be located in more affluent parts of the city. Often this means that less well-off citizens still have to travel farther to obtain specialized care or may visit a hospital with more limited treatment options closer to home. Certain demographics are more likely to live in an area that is considered underserved by medical professionals including: those living in a rural setting, people of color, immigrants, people who identify as LGBTQ, seniors, and people with disabilities. Often, this lack of quality treatment options ultimately leads to more negative outcomes such as a higher rate of disease or a longer recovery time after treatment. It isn't uncommon for these patients to pay more for their care either. And sometimes this disparity leads to a higher likelihood of mortality from preventable issues. Benefits for Everyone Fortunately, the uptick in the use of telehealth services has started to address some of the disparities that people face. For instance, those that are living in rural areas are able to more easily visit specialists when they don't have to take time off work, drive long distances, and pay for hotel stays. This can mean that they get the right type of treatment and only have to travel when absolutely necessary. Telehealth isn't just a benefit for patients either. Many healthcare facilities are also seeing real benefits too. For instance, doctors and administrative staff are able to save time by having patients schedule themselves online. In some instances, patients can also take basic readings on things like heart rate and blood pressure by wearing smart devices that can transmit results directly to the doctor's office. All of these advances can boost equity in that they provide greater opportunities for patients to play an active role in their health as well. Collecting their own health information, for example, can help build knowledge about their health. Telehealth can also increase the ability of underserved patients to find a healthcare provider they feel comfortable with and trust, which in and of itself can lead t...
Zartis is an Irish software services provider, with a talented team of 280+ professionals based across EMEA and LATAM. Focusing on technology strategy consulting, as well as staff augmentation services, Zartis is ISO27001 certified and has a strong focus on delivering high-quality and secure solutions. They partner with firms across financial services, healthcare, media, logistics technology, and renewable energy among many others, and work with a broad array of modern technologies. Another thing that Zartis does very well is running Level Up an initiative focused on supporting those in or fleeing conflict areas through educational opportunities. The programme, which is now entering its 5th year, aims to empower people in precarious situations to acquire new skills and thus gain access to new career opportunities in order to transform their lives. The programme has already supported 70 aspiring professionals and has enabled many of them to get hired by renowned companies such as HubSpot, Accenture, Ericsson, and more. This year, Level Up is kicking off with Professional Digital Marketing Scholarships, provided by Digital Marketing Institute (DMI). These digital marketing scholarships will help refugees and asylum seekers in Ireland and across the world. DMI offers a range of digital marketing certifications that kickstart, enhance and advance the careers of professionals across the world. With 220,000+ members and 25,000+ certified professionals, DMI sets the standard for the digital marketing industry. DMI Pro is a comprehensive digital marketing course that offers practical knowledge and relevant skills; it gives marketers the key disciplines they need to succeed in the modern workplace. Graduates will be supported by the Digital Marketing Institute's membership community, including access to the networking opportunities that it carries. Additionally, Zartis team members will also aid their transformation to be ready for the job market. One of the graduates, who has subsequently started a career in Ireland at Starwood Hotels says, "Even mentioning such a course in my resume was great. This scholarship helped me a lot in attending several job interviews, and in the end, I succeeded." With 63% of businesses increasing their digital marketing budgets just this past year, the annual growth rate of the digital marketing industry from 2023 to 2028 is projected at 13%. The Level Up: Digital Marketing scholarships aim to address a growing need for professionals in the market, while enabling those who would not have the access or means to enter the field otherwise. Ken Fitzpatrick, CEO at DMI stated, "Supporting Zartis and the Level Up initiative is something that Digital Marketing Institute are delighted to continue. We have already seen hugely positive career success for a large number of participants in this initiative through our DMI Pro scholarships and we look forward to more success.in the future" By the end of 2023, Level Up alumni will have the skills and the certification to enter the job market as Digital Marketing Professionals. The DMI programme focuses on preparing students to gain advanced knowledge that can help them get hired in today's job market. The course is 100% online, which means anyone around the world can access the content in their own time. No former experience in marketing is required; however, all applicants should complete a Digital Diagnostic by Digital Marketing Institute before they are accepted to the programme. Further information can be found on the Level Up: Digital Marketing webpage See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of ...
While inflation is forecasted to drop to 4.6% in 2023, interest rates are rising, and more companies are looking to make cost savings. Irish employees are feeling uncertain about their future, with 53% fearing for the security of their job, according to new SurveyMonkey research. This year poses a unique challenge for businesses and their employees as companies look to cut budgets and teams weather the economic downturn, finding ways to do more with less whilst still retaining their top talent for when business picks back up. With 84% of Irish employees working for companies who have made redundancies in the past year, a little over a fifth (22%) are fearful that they could be made redundant in 2023, with an additional 34% concerned for the long-term security of their job. Employees feeling nervous about their business' survival long-term Set against a challenging economic backdrop with high levels of business uncertainty, employees are bearing the brunt of businesses' budget cuts. Almost one in three (31%) Irish workers believe up to 5% of staff have been let go, 30% believe up to 10%, and 14% believe up to a quarter have been let go - amounting to a huge swathe of countrywide redundancies. Many employees remain optimistic about the future of 2023, with 38% believing that things will get better in terms of outlook for the business they work for whilst over a quarter (27%) believe things are going to get worse, pointing to the fact that the worst may not yet be behind us. Three in 10 (29%) of Irish employees are also nervous about the survival of their current business past the next year. Cormac Kelly, Senior Director Customer Success EMEA, SurveyMonkey says, "Companies are having to make difficult decisions to balance the books and ensure the long-term viability and success of their business, and redundancies are an unfortunate aspect of this. Whilst cost saving may be the main goal, it's important to ensure businesses bring their remaining team along with them for the journey, and ensure they understand how valuable they are to the company and its future vision. Companies will need everyone pulling in the same direction, with everyone feeling valued and secure to deliver a successful business long-term." Squeezed budgets lead businesses to do more with less As businesses look to cut their spending, they are downsizing not just budgets, but whole departments and teams. This is being felt by Ireland's workers, with just under half (49%) feeling that their department's team or budget have been cut in the past 12 months and 30% saying both have been reduced. Whilst the majority of Irish feel that their department has had their team or budget reduced over the past 12 months, teams are still expected to provide the same standard of work. Over half (59%) claim their department is expected to provide the same amount of work with reduced resources and a quarter (24%) claim their department is expected to provide more work. Kelly says, "Companies need to think very carefully about managing reduced departments, both in terms of reduced budgets or smaller teams. With the majority (79%) of Irish workers feeling that their department's team and/or budget has been reduced, optimisations need to be made or new technology must be invested in. Companies need to ensure that their teams have the correct support in place, are listening closely to their teams needs, and acting upon feedback from employees." One of the key elements businesses must weigh up when looking to cut costs is the true cost of retaining experienced key talent in the business versus the investment needed to train up more junior staff to fill their place. For businesses looking to keep their experienced older staff a few years longer, there are some things they can do. When asked which benefits would entice those coming up to retirement to postpone their retirement and stay in their job for longer, being offered an increased salary (45%) and a four-day work week (43%) cam...
A new report published today by FraudSMART, the fraud awareness initiative led by Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), shows fraudsters stole nearly €85 million (€84.6m) through frauds and scams in 2022, an increase of 8.8% on 2021. The FraudSMART Payment Fraud Report H2 2022 outlines how card fraud accounted for over 95% of fraudulent payment transactions by volume but only 40% of fraud losses at €33.4m. Most of the increase was driven by online card fraud or 'card not present' fraud where a criminal uses the victim's compromised card information to make an online purchase (up by 24% in value year-on-year to €27.1m in 2022). The report also highlights the continued rise in value of unauthorised electronic transfers (primarily payments through mobile and online banking) which accounted for almost 39% of fraud losses at €32.8m, but less than 4% of transaction volumes. Meanwhile, there was a 19% decrease in authorised push payment (APP fraud) transactions in 2022 compared to 2021, and APP fraud losses dropped by 41% to €9.9m, the lowest value since the data became available in 2019. The report comes as FraudSMART warns consumers to be on high alert as text message fraud, known as smishing, continues to become more prevalent. A recent survey by FraudSMART revealed that this type of fraud is now the dominant channel for fraud attempts, with 1 in 2 adults having received fraudulent text message in the previous 12 months. These text messages often include a link and sense of urgency requiring immediate action. Speaking about the latest figures, Niamh Davenport, Head of Financial Crime, BPFI said: "Today's figures show that card fraud continues to account for the vast majority of fraudulent payment transactions at 95% of the total volume although these transactions tend to represent lower levels of losses on average. On the other hand, other fraud types have relatively low volumes but would have higher average losses, particularly any fraud that leads to account takeover, where the fraudster takes control of your main bank account by tricking you into handing over your bank login details, which we have seen recently through text message scams." "Conversely, we also see from today's report that there was a 19% decrease in authorised push payment (APP fraud) transactions in 2022 compared to 2021. APP fraud can happen when a scammer tricks a consumer into sending money directly from their account to an account which the criminal controls. Examples of this include investment scams such as fake cryptocurrency schemes or romance, holiday or accommodation scams. The decrease in this type of fraud might be attributed to increased consumer awareness or a post-Covid shift, as we have gradually returned to meeting in person with decreased dependency on online communication. However, figures across all types of financial fraud can fluctuate as fraudsters continually adapt their behaviours and methods." Commenting on how consumers can stay alert to text message fraud, Ms Davenport added: "The truth is any of us can fall victim to fraudsters. Frauds and scams are becoming increasingly more complex and credible and are often undertaken by criminal gangs who run large-scale operations. Banks are using a range of measures such as encryption and continuous fraud monitoring to protect their customers and ensure everyday payments can be made securely, but fraudsters are increasingly targeting businesses and consumers directly through online channels, including emails and social media or by phone, so it is important for us all to know how to protect ourselves." "If you receive a text asking you for personal or financial information, whether it's purporting to be from your bank, eFlow, the HSE, parcel delivery services or any other company, do not click on the link, especially if there is a sense of urgency to it. Pause for thought, and if in any doubt, contact the company independently. Don't be afraid to ask for help if something goes wrong....
In a new study, deepfake video clips of movie remakes that don't actually exist prompted participants to falsely remember the films - but simple text descriptions of the fake movies prompted similar false memory rates. Dr Gillian Murphy of University College Cork and Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software, and colleagues presented these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE. Deepfake videos are clips that have been altered using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to switch out one person's voice or face with that of a different person. Tools for making deepfakes have recently become much cheaper and more accessible, amplifying conversations about potential creative applications as well as potential risks - such as spreading misinformation and manipulating viewers' memories. To explore potential risks and benefits, Murphy and colleagues invited 436 people to complete an online survey that included watching deepfake videos of fake movie remakes starring different actors, such as Will Smith as the character Neo - originally played by Keanu Reeves - in The Matrix and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in The Shining. Other fake remakes in the study were Indiana Jones and Captain Marvel. For comparison, participants also saw clips of real remakes, including Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, Total Recall, Carrie, and Tomb Raider. As well in some cases, participants read text descriptions of the remakes instead of watching the deepfakes. Participants were not told that the deepfakes were false until later in the survey. In line with prior studies, the deepfake videos and descriptions prompted false memories of the fake remakes, with an average of 49 per cent of participants believing each fake remake was real. Many participants reported they remembered the fake remakes being better than the originals. However, false memory rates from the text descriptions were similarly high, suggesting that deepfake technology may not be more powerful than other tools at distorting memory. Most participants reported being uncomfortable with deepfake technology being used to recast films, citing concerns including disrespecting artistic integrity and disrupting shared social experiences of movies. These findings could help inform future design and regulation of deepfake technology in films. The authors add: "While deepfakes are of great concern for many reasons, such as non-consensual pornography and bullying, the current study suggests they are not uniquely powerful at distorting our memories of the past. Though deepfakes caused people to form false memories at quite high rates in this study, we achieved the same effects using simple text. In essence, this study shows we don't need technical advances to distort memory; we can do it very easily and effectively using non-technical means." The article is available in full at More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Shoulder pain is a common ailment, particularly among the elderly. Conditions such as rotator cuff tendinitis or rupture, subacromial impingement, frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis), and acromioclavicular joint osteoarthritis are prevalent and can significantly impact an individual's quality of life. To address this issue, two remarkable high school girls from Ireland, representing Rehabilation Nation, will showcase their groundbreaking device for shoulder and arm rehabilitation at this year's Maker Faire Rome - The European Edition. Shoulder Rehabilitation, an Innovative Device by Rehabilation Nation The project, aptly named "Shoulder Pulley Exerciser," offers an innovative solution for those suffering from soft tissue lesions in the shoulder. By strengthening and improving a range of motions in the shoulder, this device aims to provide effective rehabilitation while offering valuable feedback to both users and their physiotherapists. The shoulder, a marvel of biological engineering, is not merely a simple 'ball and socket' joint but rather a complex structure composed of four articulations, supported by an intricate arrangement of bones, muscles, and ligaments within and outside the joint capsule. Its ability to withstand heavy physical demands over an extensive range of motion makes it susceptible to various articular and peri-articular pathologies. Traditionally, treatment for adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder) involved range-of-motion exercises, corticosteroids, and numbing medications injected into the joint capsule. In some cases, arthroscopic surgery was necessary to alleviate the condition. However, the Shoulder Pulley Exerciser by Rehabilation Nation provides a non-invasive alternative that eliminates the need for surgery. The design and construction of this innovative device enable sufferers to engage in a range of shoulder exercises, including rotation, abduction, and flexion, all from the comfort of their own homes. The device features a sturdy rope that can be easily and securely fastened to any standard door using the provided attachment. Users can adjust the rope's length to their requirements by simply knotting it accordingly. Additionally, two easy-grip non-slip foam handles ensure that the device is not only easy to use but also comfortable. One of the notable features of this device is the integration of a microswitch into the cam mechanism. This microswitch detects each 360-degree rotation, triggering the input of a BBC Micro bit. The Microbit, programmed with six subroutines developed under the guidance of physiotherapists, facilitates increased movement and reduced pain. By modifying the pulley system and incorporating the microswitch, the Shoulder Pulley Exerciser provides real-time feedback to users and their physiotherapists, both visually and audibly. The Rehabilation Nation shoulder exerciser offers an invaluable tool for the rehabilitation process. It allows users to perform internal and external rotation exercises, effectively aiding in the recovery and strengthening of the shoulder joint. By empowering individuals to take charge of their own rehabilitation, this device promotes independence and convenience, ensuring that users can exercise at their own pace without compromising on the quality of their treatment. Rehabilation Nation's contribution to the field of shoulder rehabilitation is truly remarkable. These two young innovators from Desmond College in Limerick, Ireland, have combined their passion for technology and healthcare to create a device that has the potential to improve the lives of numerous individuals suffering from shoulder pain. To learn more about the Shoulder Pulley Exerciser and the incredible work of Rehabilation Nation, visit their website at rehabilation-nation.ie. You can also follow their journey on Twitter at @rehabnation2023. Let us applaud these young inventors and support their endeavors in the field of shoulder rehabilitation. See more breaking stories here...
Guest post by Michael Jenkins CTO ThreatLocker. Cyber attacks are on the rise and are forecast to cost the UK £27bn in 2023 alone. In an increasingly digital working world, no business is safe from these threats - and it is often simple - avoidable - errors that leave businesses vulnerable. Cyber attacks are damaging to businesses, both financially and reputationally, and arrive in all shapes and sizes through a variety of methods. Prevention is always greater than the cure - so erring on the side of caution when it comes to security, what is the best course of action to keep your business safeguarded? Unfortunately, it's very easy to slip up. And attackers never need a second invitation to breach a system. Here are some of the most common cybersecurity mistakes companies make - and how to avoid them. Physical Mistakes It's common for businesses to think of cyber attacks as being based in the digital world - leaving them vulnerable to physical breaches they didn't even consider. Most employees carry laptops from location to location which can often leave them exposed to physical attacks from hackers. Breaches can happen in a variety of ways, from hackers infiltrating offices and changing access passwords to downloading sensitive data onto USBs at desks when workers are away. Many professionals are continuously logged into sensitive and private data which will be fully accessible to hackers who access an unlocked computer when staff are away. A breach may start with a thief pretending to be a contractor or delivery man to gain physical access. This form of social engineering is highly effective, and once a criminal has physical access to a facility, gaining computer access is as simple as finding an unattended workstation. There have been numerous instances of people pretending to be database admins where they have gained access to physical databases, and from that point on, they have access to a businesses' servers. After that, it's easy to perform some data exfiltration which could later result in a ransomware attack. Once they leave the premises, they already have active connections to your system. That's one of the ways hackers go from social engineering to technical hacking. Virtual Mistakes Cybersecurity is a critical concern for businesses, and as companies move more towards a hybrid or remote environment, the concept of having a local network has diminished, making employees more vulnerable and leaving the door open for cybercriminals. The risk of cyber threats has become more prevalent with 31% of businesses falling victim every week from small businesses to large corporations with robust cybersecurity strategies. Companies can become vulnerable in many ways. One of the most common is ignoring the request to update devices. While this is often time-consuming, failure to install fresh software exposes personal and company data to threats as these unpatched vulnerabilities can be exploited. A perfect case in point is the WannaCry attacks - which ended up costing the NHS a staggering £92 million. Staff can run into risks from connecting to unsecured public networks during remote working, such as those found in coffee shops or airports, unintentionally exposing sensitive data and leaving the door open for unauthorised parties to gain access. Businesses need to advise employees on the risks associated with connecting to unsecured networks and the implications this can have. Weak passwords are also an easy gateway for attackers, as well as the misuse of workstations for non-business purposes - such as downloading games or personal software. To mitigate these risks, the implementation of application control is imperative for safeguarding businesses by allowing only the applications that they need and blocking everything else.. Humans constitute the first line of defence against cyber attacks, and regular and up-to-date cybersecurity training offers effective approaches for businesses to minimise risk. As humans are usually...
The global financial landscape is undergoing a significant transformation as central banks across the world explore the potential of digital currencies. In this context, the Bank of Canada (BoC) has recently announced its plans to introduce a digital currency, commonly referred to as a central bank digital currency (CBDC). This groundbreaking development has captured the attention of both traditional financial institutions and the thriving cryptocurrency market. Get ready to witness a revolutionary stride as we delve into the Bank of Canada's digital currency initiative and its potential to reshape the world of payments. The Bank of Canada's Digital Currency Initiative The Bank of Canada has been actively researching and experimenting with the concept of a central bank digital currency. In a recent statement, the bank highlighted the need to adapt to the evolving digital economy and address the rise of private cryptocurrencies. The Bank of Canada aims to create a digital currency that will complement cash and provide a safe, stable, and reliable form of payment for all Canadians. What Is a Digital Canadian Dollar? A Digital Canadian Dollar refers to a digital form of the official currency of Canada, the Canadian Dollar (CAD), issued and regulated by the Bank of Canada (BoC). It is a central bank digital currency (CBDC) that aims to provide a secure, efficient, and inclusive means of digital payment for Canadians. Unlike traditional physical cash, which is in the form of banknotes and coins, a Digital Canadian Dollar exists solely in electronic or digital form. It is designed to be held and transacted using digital wallets, mobile devices, or other electronic means. Key Characteristics of a Digital Canadian Dollar Central Bank Issued The Digital Canadian Dollar is issued and regulated by the Bank of Canada, making it a government-backed digital currency. Legal Tender It holds the same legal status as physical Canadian currency, meaning it can be used to settle debts, payments, and transactions within the country. Digital Infrastructure The digital currency operates on a blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform, which ensures secure and transparent transactions. Accessibility and Inclusion A Digital Canadian Dollar aims to provide a safe and inclusive means of payment for all Canadians, regardless of their background or access to traditional banking services. Stability The value of the Digital Canadian Dollar is expected to be stable, as it is likely to be backed by the Canadian government and tied to the value of the physical Canadian Dollar. Benefits of a Digital Canadian Dollar Efficiency Digital currency transactions can be processed more quickly and at a lower cost than traditional payment methods, such as cash or electronic transfers. Financial Inclusion A Digital Canadian Dollar can help bridge the gap for individuals who are unbanked or underbanked, as it can be accessed using simple mobile devices, expanding access to financial services. Security and Fraud Prevention Using digital currency can enhance security measures, reducing the risk of counterfeit currency and improving transaction traceability. Monetary Policy Implementation A Digital Canadian Dollar can provide central banks with more direct control over monetary policy, allowing for real-time monitoring of economic activity and more efficient implementation of policies. Innovation and Technological Advancement The introduction of a digital currency can foster innovation within the financial sector, encouraging the development of new technologies and payment solutions. It is important to note that the specific features, infrastructure, and timeline for the launch of a Digital Canadian Dollar are subject to the decisions and policies of the Bank of Canada, and further details regarding its implementation are yet to be announced. How Would it Differ from Cryptocurrencies A Digital Canadian Dollar, as a central bank digital currency (CBDC), diff...
Are you out of contract or looking for a better deal for your mobile phone? If so there are some great SIM Only deals available in Ireland right now with huge savings to be made over long contract plans. We've teamed up with Switcher.ie, the free and impartial price comparison and switching service, to find the best SIM Only deals available every month. Check back regularly to stay informed of the latest deals and offers and visit the Switcher.ie website to order one of these great packages. Cheapest Bill Pay SIM Only Plans Clear Mobile's bill pay SIM-only plan offers unlimited minutes, texts and data all for just €14.99 per month on a 30-day rolling bill-pay contract. Sign up now and get your first month free. If you don't want to commit to a monthly bill, 48 offers a flexible option. Their SIM-Only prepay plan offers all calls, texts and data for only €6.50 per month for three months, €12.99 per month thereafter. (If you've come across this article after some of these deals may have expired, check out our main SIM Only category page to find the latest offers) More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Gamma, the Irish technology company, has recently announced that it has signed a contract with AXA, one of Ireland's leading insurance companies, to support AXA's new Go Green web platform. The platform is designed to help homeowners in the Republic of Ireland to create a more sustainable and comfortable home, reduce their carbon footprint and save on energy bills. It offers a wealth of information for home improvements and helps streamline the research process for homeowners, saving them time and hassle. Together, AXA and Gamma have enhanced Gamma's existing BERWOW platform to provide a seamless and visually consistent user experience. The platform generates tailored retrofit suggestions based on an individual property's energy rating and physical characteristics. Homeowners can effortlessly access energy retrofit recommendations using their own BER information by entering their Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN), or by selecting their house type from over 50 classifications. The web-based tool aims to educate homeowners about the financial and comfort benefits associated with retrofit investment. In addition to the collaboration with AXA, Gamma also has successful partnerships with SSE Airtricity and An Post in place. Over the coming years, the company aims to further grow its customer base and expand into international markets. Feargal O'Neill, CEO, Gamma, said: "We are thrilled to join forces with AXA and bring our BERWOW technology to their customers. This collaboration is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team in developing an innovative solution that is already enabling homeowners across Ireland to identify, plan and carry out retrofit projects. "As we continue to expand our reach, we remain committed to helping homeowners make informed decisions on energy efficiency upgrades, ultimately contributing to a greener, more sustainable future." Michael Hanratty, BERWOW CEO, said: "Our goal is to create a one-stop retrofitting shop for the Irish homeowner and transform the industry. In order to do this, we have to work with leaders and the fact that companies of AXA's calibre are associated with our technology is a great endorsement." Ben Deans, Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer at AXA in Ireland, added, "Our aim is to provide our customers with protection and peace of mind. That's where Go Green comes in - it will help future proof customer homes, reduce reliance on electricity and gas and save on energy bills. This new offering supported by Gamma aligns with our strategic focus to 'protect more of what matters' and adds to a host of existing initiatives focused on sustainability and climate action." See more stories here.
Vodafone home broadband customers are set to benefit from significant cost savings of almost €1,000 over four years as the company announces the removal of promotional offers. This breaks from the industry norm by treating every customer the same and not increasing the monthly bill after the minimum contract term. The new broadband plans, available now, will see Vodafone customers rewarded with potential savings of up to €240 over one year and €960 over four years on €40 a month 500Mbps plan. Nearly 65% of Vodafone's broadband fibre base are currently on this type of plan, highlighting the sheer scale of savings for customers. Currently, customers get introductory tariffs, but the price goes up significantly after the minimum contract term - this non-promotional price can be as much as 117% higher than the introductory price offered to new customers. ComReg found that 84% of households have not switched broadband provider in the last 3 years, so households are paying higher prices under this structure. Vodafone recognise that this current industry practice is not working for customers and wanted to reward loyalty so have introduced this first-of-its-kind new broadband pricing structure that does right by all customers - new and existing. Vodafone also want to simplify the set up and encourage households to move to fibre, if available, by removing all installation fees. Amanda Nelson, CEO at Vodafone Ireland, commented; "At Vodafone, we value loyalty and want to treat every customer - new and existing - the same. We also want to reduce the burden, simplify our offering to make our customers' lives easier, along with giving them significant savings on their home broadband. We therefore have taken the lead to be bold and do things differently by removing promotional pricing with this new broadband pricing structure. "So now our home broadband customers won't face significant increases after a year, and they won't have to renegotiate their broadband plan for lower, introductory offers. This is part of our commitment to give our customers a fair, positive, hassle-free experience and allow them to avail of high-speed fibre connectivity across Ireland." These savings for Vodafone customers will now be available on all speeds including: 100Mbps, 500Mbps, 1Gb, 2Gb. For example, existing customers on a €60 a month 500Mpbs fibre home broadband plan can recontract for €40 a month (plus APA of CPI + 3% every April), saving €20 a month. Existing customers can change to Vodafone's new plans once the minimum contract is finished on their current plan, so a customer on a €35 a month introductory offer now (which would rise to €60 after the minimum term), can re-contract to a fixed €40 plan before the price goes up to €60. The new plans are available on all Vodafone networks; SIRO, eFTTH, NBI, and customers can avail of the new plans across all sales channels - Online, Retail, Franchisees, FOTs, Telesales (including live chat) and care channels. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The European Patent Office (EPO) announced that Irish inventors Rhona Togher and Eimear O'Carroll are the winners in the 'SMEs' category of the European Inventor Award 2023. Selected from over 600 candidates, these inventors created an advanced acoustic material that reduces noise to address chronic sleep issues. Irish physicists win European Inventor Award 2023 "We are honoured to win the European Inventor Award in the 'SMEs' category and would like to express our sincere gratitude to the European Patent Office. This award recognises many years of hard work and commitment to making the world a quieter place. It is a genuine privilege to be acknowledged alongside so many noteworthy inventors who have made such significant contributions to their fields," say Togher and O'Carroll. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA) approximately 20% of the EU population lives in areas with unacceptable noise and vibration levels. High noise levels have been linked to poor sleep and higher instances of heart problems. Due to noise pollution, the EEA estimates that 22 million people across Europe currently suffer from chronic high annoyance, whilst 6.5 million suffer chronic high sleep disturbance. Exposure to loud noise can also cause high blood pressure, heart disease, sleep disturbances, and stress. A sound solution for millions of people Togher and O'Carroll's invention, SoundBounce™, is a composite technology that reduces the negative effects of loud noise. It consists of a responsive material housed within a cellular structure that responds to agitation by becoming liquid and absorbing energy. One of its innovative features is the invention's cellular structure; the second is a thixotropic gel (capable of liquefying when agitated and resolidifying when allowed to stand) placed inside the cells. Once sealed, they work together to dampen sound, reducing noise transmission from one space to another. This new material can also be integrated into machinery and vehicles to reduce noise output. It can be used in the automotive, construction, aerospace and home appliance industries. This material is particularly effective at low frequencies, which present a significant challenge connected to products with engines, vibrations, and airflow. SoundBounce's thinner material means that aeroplanes or vehicles using it could be lighter, thus reducing fuel consumption and leaving more space. In addition to the environmental advantages related to noise reduction, the materials used to make SoundBounce have a low environmental impact as they are non-toxic, and recyclable at end of life. Since SoundBounce was created, Togher and O'Carroll's company has developed partnerships with renowned organisations such as the European Space Agency. "Receiving this award serves as a reminder of the importance of innovation and the impact it can have on our society. We hope that this recognition will inspire others, especially young girls, to pursue their own inventions and to continue to push the boundaries of what is possible," say Togher and O'Carroll. The Irish duo behind the innovation have been named winners in the 'SMEs' category for this year's European Inventor Award, which recognises outstanding inventors with inventions patented in Europe. All the winners of the 2023 edition of the European Inventor Award were announced at a hybrid ceremony today in Valencia (Spain). You can re-watch the ceremony on this page. Find more information about the invention's impact, the technology and the inventors' stories on this page. About the inventors Rhona Togher studied physics at Unversity College Dublin. She is an ambassador for Irish female entrepreneurship, working with Enterprise Ireland, the iWish foundation and the Ada Lovelace initiative to empower and support women in the tech sector Eimear O'Carroll trained as a physicist at the University of Edinburgh. Applying this knowledge and expertise to global noise challenges, O'Carroll developed practical s...
Guest post by Rob Allen is an IT Professional with almost two decades of experience assisting small and medium enterprises embrace and utilise technology. It's not enough to lock the front door minimising the impact of a breach through internal controls Stand First: A layered approach to control measures on a solid foundation gives the best chance of containing the impact of any breach or attack Verizon Data Breach Investigations most recent report has shown that even now, 1 in 5 breaches remain undiscovered for months or more. The report also finds that the most common notifier of a breach is not even the breached organisation itself. How to minimise the impact of a data breach using internal controls That gives a lot of time for attackers to move around in an organisation's IT system, often unknown to the victim. Additionally, the 2022 report reveals how the threat landscape is changing. The vast majority (82%) of breaches involved a human element, including social attacks, errors and misuse. There was a significant increase (13%) in ransomware breaches - more than in the last 5 years combined. Almost two thirds (62%) of incidents in the System Intrusion pattern involved threat actors compromising partners. We often use the analogy in cyber security of the castle with a stout front door. As this threat intelligence shows, it is not enough to protect the front door. Organisations must implement internal controls and measures to ensure if a breach does occur, attackers are not able to inflict more damage and loss by remaining undetected and moving freely with malicious intent. Extending the analogy, it is now clear that with suppliers being increasingly targeted as a means to gain entry to an ecosystem or supply chain, the trusted side entrance needs acknowledgement and protection too. Cyber security tools and services are constantly evolving in the arms race between cybercriminals, and organisations trying to protect themselves, their customers and their reputations in a hostile landscape. A layered, combined approach that builds on practices such as Network Control, with application containment by way of Ringfencing and managing of local admin rights through Elevation Control, can prevent unwanted behaviour from users and applications. These tools can stop hackers and malware in their tracks,even after a breach; minimising damage, risk of data loss, and protecting reputations and customers. This layered approach to protection is based on the Zero Trust Model (ZTM), the operating model where users, applications and services are given the least privileged access necessary to do what they need to do. The benefit is that should something go wrong, such as in the case of stolen or compromised user credentials, a malware drop, or an application or service compromise, the least level of privilege immediately limits what can be done. A key component of the ZTM is network segmentation, where the network is divided in subsections, often determined by sensitivity or function. This means traffic between the subsections can only take place according to need, permissions and policy. Any attacker gaining access to a system is then prevented from moving 'east west' within the network, and any anomalous or malicious activity is easier to see and stop. A type of Network Segmentation can also be effectively achieved through software, endpoint agents communicating together to dynamically control which devices can connect to which server resources. Additionally, Ringfencing further prescribes allowable and acceptable interactions. It controls what applications are able to do once they are running, reducing the likelihood of an exploit being successful or an attacker weaponising legitimate tools, such as PowerShell. Ringfencing allows you to control how applications can interact with other applications, for example, by stopping Microsoft Word from being able to call PowerShell, thus preventing an attempted exploit of a known vulnerability, suc...
Replace Criticism With Encouragement (Grow Yourself and Your Team) Over the span of my career, I have worked for Irish, British, American and South African companies. I have takeaways from these different nationalities and value the experience gained. I have attended and partaken in meetings in all these organisations. Let me tell you what I remember. Example: In a management meeting in a very English company as a person starting a sales career. I remember the Managing Director standing at the top of the table and telling the audience of salespeople that there were only two groups in the organisation that really mattered. The people who manufactured the product and the people who sold it. Everyone else was surplus to requirements. He made me feel very important as a young salesperson, his aim, no doubt. In the American company, they were always positive and encouraging, and the management style resonated very well with me, having recently completed a 'Dale Carnegie' course on leadership. (Little did I know at that time that I would go on to be a Dale Carnegie coach/trainer for over 15 years) Example: In sales meetings, one person was asked to demonstrate how to present a product to a prospective customer. A scary experience even for senior salespeople. Presenting to your peers is more challenging than delivering to customers. However, it was clearly explained to us the reason for doing this was not to evaluate us, but to learn from each other how they describe particular technical aspects/features of the product. This is how we learned from more experienced sales people and product specialists, gaining confidence in ourselves and the product. Encouragement is critical to good performance: I awoke at 06:05 this morning, and a thought came to me about how to continue this article that has been lying in my draft folder for quite some time. The start of this article gives a couple of examples of how I was encouraged as a young person in my earlier work life and then stops. To complete the article, I was thinking during that time between half asleep and awake that it would be good to remind leaders in business about how they could provide more encouragement and less criticism, of people in their immediate sphere of influence. Here are some suggestions: I have often found that we take the people who are good employees for granted. E.g. They turn up on time, do their work, go home, and are rarely absent! (Could this be true of you?) People who can be relied upon to finish the task, even if it requires additional commitment and possibly hours to get the job done. (Do you even notice?) Do you have people with a very particular skill that they are perfectly willing to share and mentor others in developing, even though it extends their working day? Thank You: A thank you, and a small gift would not go amiss. It's not the value of the gift; it's the fact that you noticed and acknowledged the commitment. These straightforward examples I am suggesting here will I have no doubt, resonate and encourage you to think of other situations that may be more applicable to your particular role. While this article is focused on a business audience, my suggestions are equally relevant to home and family life. Why not give family life some thought e.g.: I regularly hear parents shouting from the side-lines of football pitches what they believe to be encouraging instructions to their children. The expression on the faces of the children would clearly suggest they are not being encouraged, but embarrassed. My advice: Leave the side-line coaching to others more qualified and just be happy that your child is out in the fresh air and active with a group of friends. By Executive Coach Andrew Keogh of Aristo.ie More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm pa...
We will be reviewing these products shortly. In keeping with Puro Sound Labs mission to protect consumers' hearing, the headphones are made to protect young listeners' eardrums from early hearing damage being volume limited to 85 dB as recommended by the World Health Organization. While the headphones are volume limited to the maximum safe listening level, they certainly do not compromise on sound quality. Puro Sound Labs BT2200 Kids Headphones The Puro Balanced Response® Curve technology is engineered to deliver the finest genuine studio sound with clear, crisp vocals and full dynamic bass suitable for all genres of music. Additionally, the BT2200 Plus features a fully passive design which blocks 83% of the ambient noise @ 1kHz just by wearing them, ensuring that users can listen to their favourite tracks, audio books or YouTube undisturbed, or find their own space in shared environments. Designed with both comfort and style in mind, the BT2200 Plus headphones boast a lightweight, construction that truly stands the test of time. As well as a durable, supple protein leather headband and ear cushions, guaranteeing a comfortable listening experience while relaxing at home or on the go. The BT2200 Plus also comes with interchangeable ear cups so children can switch from on-ear to over-ear for a better seal and more comfort. It also has a built in microphone, ideal for online learning and children will love the Daisy Chain sharing cable so favourite tracks and YouTube videos can be enjoyed with friends or siblings. PURO SOUND LABS Product Name: Puro Sound Labs PuroPro volume limiting, active noise cancelling adult headphones. Amazon Prime Day Price: £101 RRP: £120 Discount: £19 off Link: Amazon ONANOFF HEADPHONES Product Name: BuddyPhones® Cosmos+ wireless ANC kid-proof, kid-safe headphones to protect little ears from increasing tech exposure Amazon Prime Day Price: £79.92 RRP: £99.90 Discount: 20% Link: Amazon.co.uk Product Name: ONANOFF PlayEars+ Wireless Kids Headphones Amazon Prime Day Price: £48 RRP: £59.99 Discount: 20% Link: Amazon UK. Product Name: BuddyPhones® POP Fun wireless kid-proof, kid-safe headphones, designed to sound great, but also protect children's hearing health Amazon Prime Day Price: £23.80 RRP: £27.99 Discount:15% Link: Amazon. Promotion running 11th to 31st July. See more breaking stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Reykjavik, Iceland - Iceland Innovation Week, a festival of cutting-edge technology, creativity, and collaboration is thrilled to announce its dates for the upcoming 2024 edition. From May 13 to May 17, 2024, startup founders, investors, industry leaders, and entrepreneurs from around the world will gather in Reykjavík to celebrate innovation in all forms. Iceland Innovation Week Unveils Dates for 2024 Festival Iceland Innovation Week is an annual event that serves as a platform to share knowledge and increase visibility of the innovation sector in Iceland and has established itself as a highlight in the Nordic tech conference ecosystem since being founded in 2020. The main program consists of a flagship climate summit, Ok bye, that combines artistic performances with climate keynotes, and a Takeover event which is a day of panel discussions and fireside chats on innovation. The many side events throughout the week focus on founder stories, pitch events, workshops, happy hours and networking. "Iceland Innovation Week has become a staple event for entrepreneurs and investors," said Melkorka Magnúsdóttir, the festival's co-founder and CEO. "We are thrilled to announce the dates for the 2024 edition and are planning on having an extraordinary lineup of speakers, performers, and partners to join us in Reykjavík." The festival is distributed, taking place throughout Reykjavík in offices, innovation centers, restaurants, swimming pools, buses and many other venues. Attendees can look forward to immersive workshops, thought-provoking keynote presentations by industry leaders, interactive panel discussions, engaging pitch events, and exciting networking opportunities. Every year, the festival chooses five themes that cover a broad spectrum of innovation topics, including technology, sustainability, wellness, funding and much more. For more information about Iceland Innovation Week and to stay updated on the latest news, please visit www.innovationweek.is. About Iceland Innovation Week Founded in 2020, Iceland Innovation Week is a festival where Icelandic innovation meets the rest of the world. Taking place in May each year, the festival attracts startups, investors, scaleups, and public institutions with events ranging from lectures and fireside chats to hackathons and pitch nights. Behind Iceland Innovation Week is a team of experienced people, coming from the Icelandic Startup Ecosystem, who are focused on highlighting Icelandic ingenuity and sustainable solutions. Iceland Innovation Week michelle@innovationweek.is See more breaking stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
New research commissioned by material technologies business, Aquapak, with sustainable packaging producers and users in the UK, Italy and Germany1, shows that European packaging businesses are committed to the circular economy, but few are acting ahead of legislation. European packaging producers slowly embracing circular economy The study shows that the majority of businesses (85%) have a circular economy strategy which involves reusing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible, with 21% saying they will be fully circular within three years. Almost a quarter (24%) have a three to four-year time frame for achieving circularity and a further 23% expect to meet this objective within four to five years. However, 11% said that they did not have such a strategy in place and a further 5% didn't know. With forthcoming legislation such as the revised European Commission's Packaging and Packaging and Packaging Regulation (PPWR) as part of the Circular Economy package set to have a major impact on packaging and packaging design, the study also explored how this was affecting the rate of change in businesses as they seek to improve sustainability and circularity. Just 20% of businesses said they are acting ahead of legislation and 45% said they respond quickly to new rules when they are announced. However, 24% described their rate of change as 'medium' and 10% as 'very slow'. Commenting on the findings, Mark Lapping, Chief Executive Officer, at Aquapak, said: "Our study shows that the European packaging producers is embracing the circular economy, with a focus on achieving full circularity. At Aquapak, we are supporting this goal by helping our customers use the world's resources more effectively by reducing waste and increasing the reuse of valuable materials as part of the circular economy through new technologies which provide the functionality needed to protect products, whilst reducing the impact on the environment." To read the full report, visit Sustainable Packaging in Europe: The drive for change - aquapak (aquapakpolymers.com) 1Research carried out by leading research company Pure Profile with 150 sustainability and packaging experts across the UK, Italy and Germany (50 in each market) in March 2023. About Aquapak Aquapak develops and manufactures a range of adaptive polymer-based material technologies that deliver both performance and environmental responsibility at scale. For example, it has developed Hydropol, an enabling technology for the circular economy, which is biodegradable, compostable and marine-safe, and used in a range of packaging materials. Aquapak's HQ and manufacturing centre is in Birmingham, UK, with its main geographical markets in the US, EU and Asia. www.aquapakpolymers.com About HydropolTM - Accelerating the transition to the Circular Economy Hydropol™, developed and produced by Aquapak, can be made into a highly functional oxygen barrier film for complex packaging which is capable of replacing the most widely used oxygen barrier ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH), as part of a multilayer structure. However, with its additional properties of strength and sealability and the fact that it is water- soluble, non-toxic and marine safe, means that it offers new opportunities going forward to produce complex barrier packaging which could be recycled or is fully biodegradable, leaving no trace or plastic pollution should they enter the environment. Who is using Hydropol? Consumers and businesses are increasingly concerned about plastic pollution and environmental sustainability. Packaging producers need solutions. Aquapak has partnered with a growing base of clients in apparel, fashion, hospitality, healthcare, food packaging, logistics packaging, industrial, nonwovens, and other packaging. What is Hydropol made from? The base plastic is currently used for dishwasher tablets, ingestible pill casings and soluble stitches. HydropolTM 's resistance to low temperature solubility and high barri...
Recruitroo, the award-winning platform that solves global labour shortages, announced today that it has secured a €1 million investment round, led by Delta Partners, with participation from Enterprise Ireland and several notable angel investors. The company is also bringing on seasoned HR tech founder Andreea Wade as Chair. Recruitroo €1M Investment to Solve Global Labour Shortages The funding will empower Recruitroo to further develop its end-to-end global recruitment and migration platform and expand its presence in the UK and European markets. As countries in the Western world navigate chronic labour shortages that are contributing to a supply chain and cost of living crisis, Recruitroo is solving major pain points for businesses that are scaling their global workforce. While Governments have eased visa restrictions for skilled migrants across a broad range of industries, the private market is left struggling to cope with all the complexities and bureaucracy associated with hiring across international borders, from sourcing candidates, and assessments to cultural and language differences, emigration and immigration paperwork, relocation and onboarding issues. Founded in April 2022, Recruitroo's recruitment and migration platform uses AI and automation to streamline all aspects of international hiring for their enterprise clients in the construction & engineering, hospitality and healthcare industries. By linking companies and candidates around the globe through video-based profiles and digital skills assessments, Recruitroo breaks down contextual barriers. Recruitroo then completes the process by deploying AI and automation capabilities to process all documents and applications for employment permits and visas ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. Recruitroo was inspired by the challenges the two founders witnessed in their previous businesses. In his manpower business in the Philippines, co-founder Shane Kiernan saw first hand the needs of European construction companies seeking to hire a global workforce. Co-founder Stephen MacCarthy previously developed a solution to help tech founders in Ireland to assess software engineers abroad. Their combined experiences provide them with an in-depth understanding of international hiring challenges. The team are also welcoming Andreea Wade as Chair of the Board. Andreea has extensive experience of the international HR tech ecosystem, having been the founder and CEO of recruitment AI company Opening.io which was acquired by ICIMS in 2020, and as part of her current role at ICIMS as VP of Product Strategy. "This investment, plus the addition of Andreea, marks a significant milestone for Recruitroo as we strive to transform the international hiring landscape" said Recruitroo CEO and co-founder, Shane Kiernan. "We are committed to empowering businesses to access top global talent seamlessly, while ensuring compliance and simplifying the overall international recruitment process." "The labour shortages experienced in Ireland and across Europe and the US are a major contributor to challenges in the economy. Our investment in Recruitroo goes to the heart of solving these challenges", said Dermot Berkery, General Partner at Delta Partners and lead investor in Recruitroo. "We believe in Recruitroo's innovative approach will have a major impact on the challenges. Their technology-driven solution has the potential to revolutionise the industry, and we are excited to support Recruitroo's journey." Leo Clancy, CEO of Enterprise Ireland, said, "This is a significant milestone for Recruitroo as it implements its ambitious growth strategy. Attracting talent is one of the most significant issues facing businesses and Recruitroo is bringing solutions to the market that address this fundamental challenge. Enterprise Ireland has backed Recruitroo since its early days and we are confident that the innovation and vision of Shane, Stephen and their team will ensure they continue t...
Smart D8, one of five Smart Districts of the Smart Dublin programme designed to improve health and well-being in an urban population, has today announced the successful applicants from their third call for pilot projects. Smart D8 is led by The Digital Hub, St James’s Hospital, Dublin City Council and Smart Dublin. A record number of 60 applications from private and public organisations were received following the pilot call in March. Four projects have now been selected which focus on menopause, physical rehabilitation, exercise and sleep apnea and will share a €50,000 fund to advance their existing work: Menopause and the City from Dr Louise Fitzgerald of Grafton Medical Practice/InforMD.ie: This pilot is seeking to create a better educational ecosystem around menopause health for both individuals as well as families and friends. A project with truly scalable potential, Dr Louise Fitzgerald is aiming for Dublin 8 to become the centre of the first city-wide approach to positive menopause education and support. Brace from Conor Motyer: Brace is a community-based recovery app which seeks to assist patients who are undergoing physical rehabilitation. With an added focus on the mental wellness aspect of rehabilitation, Brace uses exercise tracking, gamification and community support to improve both recovery engagement and mental health outcomes arising from research that has found that rehab program completion rates can be as low as 50%. MoveAhead from Dr Jamie McGann and Dr Johann Issartel: MoveAhead is based on years of clinical experience from both founders, as well as practical research carried out with the GAA, which has found that children’s movement skills are deteriorating in line with increased use of screens and technology. MoveAhead is the world’s first motion tracking and movement analytics platform built specifically for children, which informs games to assist with improving children’s movement skills. Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) Identifier from Dr Brian Kent/St James’s Hospital: OSA Identifier is seeking to reduce the wait time for a sleep apnea diagnosis, which is currently up to two years. OSA Identifier has developed an app to provide at-home data which can be reviewed by clinical specialists, and both inform and speed up diagnosis and treatment options for sleep apnea. Jack Lehane, Smart D8 Ecosystem Manager, said: “We were really impressed with the quality of applications for our most recent call for pilots. With the four successful projects, we are confident that they have the potential to address issues and conditions that are impacting large numbers of people. One thing which particularly stood out was the potential many of them have to scale. At the heart of Smart D8 is cross-sectoral collaboration that allows healthcare innovation to be fast-tracked, and these projects will greatly enable this.” The Smart D8 consortium is led by The Digital Hub, St James’s Hospital, Dublin City Council and Smart Dublin, together with the Guinness Enterprise Centre, HSE Digital Transformation, Tyndall National Institute, St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, Trinity College Dublin Research & Innovation, Trinity Translational Medicine Institute, National College of Art & Design, and Health Innovation Hub Ireland. The initial work of Smart D8 focused on significant community research to measure unmet population health and wellness needs. Following on from this research, a number of pilot projects were actioned to directly respond to this community feedback. A range of innovations have already been rolled out with positive impacts on population health and well-being - reaching over 5,000 citizens in and around the Dublin 8 district before scaling nationally. These initiatives include Heart of Our City which aimed at improving awareness around and management of cardiovascular disease in the community; Civic Dollars, which enabled people to earn digital currency through spending time in local parks; and Ways To Wellbeing, wh...
It pays to understand the people behind the company, in this case Matthew de la Hey, co-founder of inploi, in order to understand the corporate ethos of the company. Coming from South Africa he understood first-hand the unfairness of life and wanted to make a difference. “South Africa is a very complicated place, as well as a very beautiful place, with one of the most unequal societies in the world. Growing up there and being exposed to its inequalities instilled in me a strong sense of social justice. “I think if we are to survive as a society, we need to address how capitalism works. Capitalism needs to adapt, and we need to level the playing field and create opportunity for all.” Part of that vision led de la Hey into becoming a council member of the Council for Inclusive Capitalism last year. He sees capitalism as being an extraordinary economic system for growth and innovation but this vehicle needs to be harnessed for everyone, otherwise society will buckle under its own weight and the inequality it produces. “We need to build more equal, more productive, happier, healthier societies, rather than a race to bottom where some people get very rich and a lot of people have nothing. We need a more inclusive, more sustainable approach, that considers all stakeholders and upholds a social contract”. de la Hey is also a sometime poet and during lockdown he set-up Ozymandeus, a literary platform publishing submissions of creative writing from everyone. He is self-deprecating and says this Covid project was really only a cover for him to publish some of his own poetry. His own career trajectory was to win a scholarship to Oxford after studying accountancy as an undergraduate where he did a Master’s of Science in African Studies followed by a Masters of Business Administration. The irony of moving to the UK to study Africa is not lost on him. Looking for summer work whilst couch surfing between his degrees, he found that it was very difficult to find and apply for jobs using the internet. Together with friend Alex Hanson-Smith who’d had shared experiences, and still couch surfing, they decided to really evaluate why online hiring methods were not working, for job seekers or for companies. That was in 2016 and they both decided this was more than a problem, it was a business opportunity. Some have called inploi - Shopify for hiring, with its front-end solution - and Software with a Service approach - providing a new shop front to enterprise hiring. Rather than trying to disrupt the HR tech sector, they have set out to harmonize it. inploi began life as a software marketplace for hiring, modelled on the platform Linkedin. Over time and during Covid, they realized that the user experience for the candidates was just not working. “The Covid pandemic could have been the end of us” said de la Hey. “But we made it through, and part of the lockdown experience was the realization that so called ‘low skilled’ workers are in fact essential. Coming out of the pandemic the labour market has been historically tight, and companies did not have the technology or the expertise to navigate that. Fortunately, we’d spent the last few years developing those things.” Realising that a big part of the problem companies face comes down to outdated talent attraction technologies - especially ineffective for reaching millennial and GenZ audiences- inploi moved from building a marketplace to creating a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform for large employers. inploi integrates with existing back-end systems to transform the way companies reach candidates and convert them into hireable applicants. The brands working with inploi are companies such as the Compass Group, Butlins, Wagamama and Haven. “We’ve done a lot of work optimising traditionally clunky application flows: hard to navigate, opening in multiple tabs, not working from a mobile phone, asking for CVs to be uploaded where they’re not needed - I could go on and on. The candidate experience is fre...
On June 27th, FOSI hosted its annual European Forum at the Google Safety Engineering Center in Dublin, Ireland. This event, titled “Regulating and Innovating Online Safety,” featured top representatives across industry, government, academia, and the charity sector as they debated the implications of current and pending global legislation, best practices surrounding AI, digital wellbeing, and more. One of the speakers was Matt Soeth, Head of Trust & Safety at Spectrum Labs AI and I spoke to him. Matt Spoke to me about what he did at TikTok, his panel discussion at FOSI, AI and more. More about Matt Soeth, Head of Trust & Safety at Spectrum Labs AI: Matt serves as Head of Trust & Safety at Spectrum Labs AI content moderation tech company Launched #TSCollective with 700+ executives from leading tech cos addressing T&S issues. Advisor, All Tech is Human for Responsible Tech. Former member, Global Trust & Safety Team @ TikTok Co-Founder #ICANHELP where he worked to grow the vision and resources of the nonprofit. Co-creator of #Digital4Good, an annual event celebrating tech-savvy social impact youth. Former educator for 15 years supporting youth using tech, creating policy and resources for online safety in schools. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
New research by Wise, the global technology company building the best way to move and manage money, has found that 27% of Irish people are ‘very likely’ to retire abroad. The research, which saw Censuswide poll 1,000 working adults (aged 55+) in Ireland who plan to retire in the near future, revealed that one third (31%) of Irish people dream of retiring to a better climate. Meanwhile, 27% seek a place where they will get more for their money, as cost of living concerns persist around the world. When asked where they dream of retiring, Portugal (11%), the UK (10%), Spain (8%), the US (7%) and Germany (6%) scored the highest. Nearly 8% of respondents hope to retire to a regional location within Ireland. Retiring abroad does, however, bring its own financial concerns. One in five (20%) respondents fear they don’t have enough money for the retirement they want, while 19% are concerned about managing their money if they retire overseas. Another 42% are concerned they won’t be able to access their Irish bank account. As a result, Irish people are changing how they bank. Over half (57%) are happy to use an app-based provider if it makes managing money internationally easier. However, 55% would still use a card from Ireland, exposing them to costly exchange rates and hidden fees. Luckily, there are options out there for retirees looking for ways to manage their money. For instance, the Wise card allows customers to spend in over 40 currencies, including Euros, pounds and dollars, across more than 150 countries, all at the real exchange rate and with no hidden fees - perfect for somebody retiring abroad. What’s more, the company has provided a list of the 10 top overseas retirement destinations for Irish people who are thinking of retiring abroad. The list compares their cost of living, average temperature and property costs to Dublin, with Corfu, Fort Lauderdale and Montpellier all comparing favourably. Roisin Levine, Head of UK & Europe Partnerships, Wise said: “Many of us dream of retiring abroad, ideally to a place with great weather and where our pension stretches further. And, with the cost of living ever-increasing, it’s unsurprising that so many Irish people are thinking about retiring overseas. “Retiring abroad can be a complicated process, and it’s worth seeking advice, but some complications are unnecessary. Big banks rip off consumers with high markups and hidden fees, and their international services are painfully slow and unwieldy. This hurts when you’re on holiday, but it’s even worse when you’re planning to retire abroad and will likely travel regularly between your ‘new’ and ‘old’ homes. “Enough is enough - financial providers can and should do better. We want to help those who are looking to retire abroad. By using Wise, retirees can avoid high, hidden fees and get a fair exchange rate. They can benefit too when sending money home to family in Ireland and when travelling the world.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The Greenhouse AI and DEIB Report, a new survey of 2,700 candidates and 100 HR professionals, has discovered that 80% of HR professionals and 48% of candidates have used or are considering using generative AI in the hiring process. While the majority are utilising AI’s benefits, the survey results show that concerns are top of mind among candidates and HR professionals alike. The large majority of HR professionals (84%) believe that there should be more education and training in the workplace regarding AI tools. A further 62% believe that there should be more laws specifically governing AI tools to prevent bias in the recruitment process. The data has revealed that both HR professionals and candidates are equally torn on whether AI will lead to more or less bias in hiring. AI and DEIB: The Two Acronyms Shaping the Future of Hiring HR professionals see AI as the future of hiring - most (62%) believe that AI can help them hire the best candidate - but there’s work to be done to ensure it is used ethically. Half of the respondents’ companies are not monitoring or evaluating the performance of AI tools, leaving job seekers frustrated. Almost one-third (27%) of candidates believe that AI leads to more bias in the hiring process. HR professionals are split with around 37% strongly or somewhat disagreeing that AI will reduce bias in the hiring process, and 28% feel the opposite. Furthermore, one-third of HR professionals (33%) believe that AI will help organisations reach their DEI goals, yet 31% strongly or somewhat disagree. Screen In, Screen Out While around half of HR respondents (48%) strongly or somewhat agree with their company using AI to screen job applications, one-third (33%) of HR professionals disagree. Similarly, over 35% of candidates disagree with the use of AI in job application screenings. Over one-third (35%) of candidates said using AI in the hiring process is fair game since companies are using AI to sort through resumes. While HR professionals are starting to implement AI in the hiring process, they want more transparency from their companies and candidates on their AI usage. Over 38% of HR professionals believe that if a candidate has used AI in the application and hiring process, they should disclose that to the company they are applying to. Almost 50% of candidates say that companies should do the same. “While AI is a beneficial tool for automating tasks and increasing efficiency, it shouldn’t be used to make human-based decisions like hiring. Our report found that HR professionals realise this and want to implement AI thoughtfully to ensure the hiring process is fair and equitable. As companies begin using AI, it’s critical that they are clear and transparent about how they are using it, while being able to monitor and identify applications that could have a biased impact on a hiring decision.” said Henry Tsai, VP of Product and Design at Greenhouse. Senior leaders realize the potential but also the limits of AI. Melissa Waters, CMO at Upwork, says “AI can assist in automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks, enabling employees to allocate their time and energy toward more critical and creative endeavours. It can also provide valuable insights and data-driven recommendations that can inform decision-making processes. However, it’s crucial to remember that AI lacks the contextual understanding, emotional intelligence, and intuition that humans possess”. Many also know that AI demands training and education. Lani Phillips, Vice President of Channel Sales at Microsoft, says “Educating employees not only on the scope of how AI can be used, but on the ethical considerations of it, like privacy, transparency, and bias, will be critical as we go forward with the intention of responsible and ethical AI.” Additional survey data shows: Close to one-third (31%) of candidates are worried that a company might reject their application if they used AI in the hiring process. And 37% of HR professionals have or are co...
AI researcher Monica Anderson guides the Futurists beyond first principles to the zeroth level of science, which is epistemology. Monica argues that science suffers from a kind of cognitive dissonance, replying upon a reductionist approach instead of holistic principles. In this episode, Monica explains why: AI alignment is trivial; malevolent behavior must be intentionally programmed; all problem-solving methodologies break down into two categories; complex problems differ from complicated problems; small syntax models outperform large language models; AI may be more impartial than a jury in court; AI will be required for licensed professions; home-schooled AI will be trained on your home computer; and a lot more. Monica Anderson explains about Holistic Principles and AI More about the hosts Robert Tercek is an award-winning author, entrepreneur, and educator focused on the process of dematerialization and innovation. In his professional capacity, Mr. Tercek is a seasoned business executive with deep expertise in digital media and internet services. He is a prolific creator of interactive programs and products. He has designed and launched successful consumer experiences on every digital platform, including digital television, game consoles, broadband Internet, and mobile networks. In 2021, Mr. Tercek was recognized as the Humanitarian of the Year by the Media Excellence Awards for his leadership in designing and launching COVID SMART™, an interactive training program designed to keep workers safe on the job during the pandemic. Brett King is a world-renowned entrepreneur, futurist, speaker, international bestselling author, and media personality. China’s President Xi Jinping cited his book Augmented: Life in the Smart Lane on the topic of Artificial Intelligence in his 2018 national address; the same book that was listed as a Top 10 non-fiction book in North America. In 2019 his book Bank 4.0 was awarded the Top Book by a Foreign Author in Russia for that year. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The ISPCC is proud to be a member of the GroSafe research team led by TU Dublin and funded under Science Foundation Ireland’s National Challenge Fund - OurTech. The aim of the GroSafe team is to develop a technology-enabled solution designed to build societal resilience against child grooming. Grooming refers to someone building a relationship with a child or young person in order to manipulate, exploit and/or abuse them. It can happen both in person and online. Incidences of children and young people being targeted often go unreported and, consequently, we don’t fully understand the extent of the problem and how these acts are committed. A further consequence of this lack of understanding is whether the supports and systems in place are equitable in helping people to report such crimes against children. The development of GroSafe will help to overcome the existing obstacles to increase reporting rates in our communities. This will enable the more effective allocation of resources and ultimately reduce harm to one of society’s most vulnerable populations. Parents and caregivers want to keep their children safe but, unfortunately, it’s not possible to keep an eye on a child 24 hours a day and it’s even more challenging when they go online. Some indications of children and young people being groomed include becoming secretive about how they are spending their time both online and offline, having gifts that they can’t or refuse to account for and demonstrating sexualised behaviour, language or an understanding of sex that isn’t age-appropriate. Products and services built on end-to-end encryption can adversely affect the detection of such behaviour. This means that it’s crucial for children, young people and their families to be empowered to identify these harmful activities and to report such crimes. Fiona Jennings, ISPCC Head of Policy and Public Affairs, said: “The grooming of children for nefarious means is a complex issue and can have devasting consequences for all involved. Awareness is crucial as often victims and their families don’t recognise when they are being groomed. “The GroSafe team proposes to develop a technology-enabled solution that increases this awareness and signposts to the appropriate supports, including reporting. “The use of technology is ubiquitous among children and young people today. Therefore, it is important that we leverage this usage and develop an appropriate solution in this environment. This invaluable information will then help us to inform children, young people, their parents or carers about emerging and evolving threats and to inform and improve our policy responses.” The collaborative research team comprises TU Dublin researchers and the ISPCC as societal impact champions. It is imperative that we all work together to ensure children and young people are safe and protected, however, we know from those who contact Childline that this is not always the case. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The EU’s new transatlantic data transfer deal with the United States has been signed off by the 27 EU Member States, ending three years of legal uncertainty. By finally ratifying the European Commission’s adequacy decision, national governments formally approved the new EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which the Commission adopted today. Today’s decision means that EU and US businesses will soon have full legal certainty again to transfer personal data across the Atlantic. Last week, the United States government announced that it had completed all necessary steps for implementation. The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA Europe) has long advocated for a durable legal framework facilitating EU-US data flows while protecting people’s privacy. US President Biden signed an Executive Order last year introducing new data protection safeguards for EU citizens. The Order also established a two-step redress mechanism, allowing Europeans to enforce those protections before US independent authorities. In December, the European Commission acknowledged that these new safeguards will provide Europeans with a level of data protection that is equivalent to EU law. National governments, however, still had to approve that so-called adequacy decision. Data flows are vital to transatlantic trade and the EU-US economic relationship, which is worth €5.5 trillion per year. Nevertheless, the two economies had been left without guidelines for data transfers after an EU Court ruling invalidated the previous framework back in 2020. The following can be attributed to CCIA Europe’s Public Policy Director, Alexandre Roure: “CCIA Europe welcomes the formal approval of the EU-US Data Privacy Framework by EU Member States. This is a major breakthrough. After waiting for years, companies and organisations of all sizes on both sides of the Atlantic finally have the certainty of a durable legal framework that allows for transfers of personal data from the EU to the United States.” “First and foremost, we applaud Member States’ decision to end this gridlock, but CCIA would also like to thank the Commission and the US Government for their hard work to create a new mechanism that facilitates data flows while also protecting the rights of individuals.” More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Blink Parametric announced plans today to increase its headcount, effectively doubling its workforce in Cork by the end of 2025. The expansion will be across all technical roles, including presales, full stack developers, QA and data analytics, with opportunities across multiple levels ranging from experienced hires to graduates, the majority of which will be based in their new Cork-based, City Quarter office location. Minister for Finance Michael McGrath officiating at the opening of the company’s offices, welcomed the announcement, adding that it “further demonstrates the strength of Cork’s tech sector power base and its increasingly global reach. It is to the credit of the Blink Parametric team commitment to delivering world-class InsurTech innovation that it has secured its position at the heart of the CPP Group growth strategy. I applaud that achievement. This investment in people, infrastructure and R&D, will serve Ireland’s economy, provide skills and opportunity for our graduates and add to our outstanding reputation for excellence in technology.” The global parametric insurance industry was valued at $11.7bn in 2021 (projected to reach $29.3bn by 2031). The consumer parametric proposition segment of that market was valued at c.$1.7bn. Blink Parametric has a specialist focus on B2B2C parametric travel solutions. It serves the global travel insurance sector with flight disruption and lost/delayed luggage real-time claims assistance. This sector is experiencing market growth predicted to be nearly eight times larger in 2030 than it was in 2021 (reaching $108.8bn by 2030), buoyed by the number of flights and passenger numbers returning to pre-COVID levels by 2024 (c.34m and 4.4bn respectively). Blink Parametric Chief Executive Sid Mouncey acknowledged the Blink Parametric evolution from a high-potential insurtech start-up founded in Cork in 2016 to a thriving, agile, specialist technology partner serving the global insurance industry today. “From this Cork hub, we leverage large-scale data sets to create solutions that appear simple and intuitive to insurers and their customers. We deliver real-time insurance assistance solutions to automate insurance claims and payments, used worldwide every hour of every day. We are consumer-centric and are leading transformative industry change as Insurers modify their business models and work to improve their distribution channels. Our strategic objectives are ambitious and include becoming the ‘go-to’ partner for the world’s large-scale insurers and brands, driving mass adoption of parametric technology. I am proud to say that we are on track following significant launches of our flight disruption solution in the US, UK, Italian and Japanese markets year to date. We have a promising pipeline of new market opportunities and look forward to delivering on further growth by building on our existing presence here in Cork and investing in its rich resource of skilled and talented people.” CEO of IDA Ireland Michael Lohan said: “Blink Parametric’s decision to locate in Cork is very welcome news. Its presence is a valuable reference point as we continue to attract InsurTech investment into the South West. IDA Ireland remains committed to winning projects for regional locations. I’d like to wish Blink Parametric every success.” For further information, visit:/ More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok ...
GlobalLogic, a Hitachi Group Company and a leader in Digital Engineering, has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Sidero Ltd., an Ireland-based engineering services and cloud-native software development company with deep technology specialisation in the Communications vertical. This strategic acquisition aims to bolster GlobalLogic’s capabilities in the dynamic Communications technology sector, and expands its European presence in Ireland. Organisations in the Communications industry continue to be the most disruptive when it comes to digital transformation. Sidero’s expertise in technologies such as Radio Access Networks (RAN), Self-Optimising Networks (SON), Cloud, and Agile development practices are a clear complement to GlobalLogic’s deep engineering portfolio. Sidero’s talented experience design and engineering teams based in Athlone, Republic of Ireland & Newry, Northern Ireland, facilitate the creation of innovative solutions that will directly benefit GlobalLogic’s current and future clients. “We are thrilled to welcome the talented Sidero team into the GlobalLogic family.” said Nitesh Banga, President and CEO of GlobalLogic. “Our deep roots in Communications technology are a perfect complement to Sidero’s expertise and competencies. With our combined strengths, we will bring tremendous value to our mutual clients and further enhance our leadership in this and other highly dynamic verticals.” “GlobalLogic has long been recognised for its digital engineering prowess, unique and diverse employee culture, as well as a delighted community of clients.” said Carmel Owens, CEO, Sidero. “We are excited about the synergies that will be created by our combined organisations, and we look forward to providing differentiated capabilities and enhanced value to our customers in Ireland and across the globe.” The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Under the agreement, Sidero will continue to operate with its existing leadership and staff as a wholly owned subsidiary of GlobalLogic. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approval and is expected to close in the second half of calendar 2023. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
In this episode Dr. Efi Pylarinou talks to Rainy Gill, VP of Marketing at efinancialcareers about the inaugural 2023 report on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)A discussion on the essential strategies and key best practices outlined in the inaugural Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Report 2023, published incollaboration between eFinancialCareers and The Cee-Suite, a leadingdiversity equity and inclusion (DEI) consultancy. Moving Beyond Intention in DEI Recruitment & Hiring with Rainy Gil Rainy Gill/ is the VP of Marketing at eFinancialCareers and is atraditionally trained marketer having graduated with both BA and Master’sdegree in Marketing. Rainy also holds over 20 years of marketing experiencewithin various industries including 14 years in the Financial Servicespublishing industry, where she was Head of Product Marketing for the FinancialRisk Management and Trading Technology division at Incisive Media. Rainy’srecent role saw her leading the European marketing function for the Consultingdivision of Kantar. Rainy is passionate about supporting diversity, equality and inclusionprograms. Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica. A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter. Join her on the social platforms See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
It’s more important than ever to prioritise the security of digital systems, software and applications. Not only do robust online security systems protect personal privacy, but they also prevent financial losses, safeguard intellectual property, and help businesses comply with their legal obligations. Data breaches can also severely damage an organisation’s reputation. When customer data is compromised, the company’s ability to protect its users’ sensitive information is doubted. This loss of trust can lead to a decline in customer loyalty, a decrease in sales, and ultimately, a significant negative impact on the business’s long-term viability. The risk is exacerbated in companies that underinvest in cybersecurity, like the arts, entertainment and recreation sector which should spend seven times as much on IT as it currently does. Fortunately, there are measures that businesses of all sizes, across all industries, can take to reduce these risks and ensure their digital platforms are safe and secure in 2023. Jose San Miguel, Managing Director at white-label ticketing platform Nuweb Group comments: “Organisations must invest in robust cybersecurity measures, implement best practices, and stay vigilant to counter the evolving threats in the digital landscape. “With the rapid adoption of cloud, remote work, SaaS apps, and distributed systems, the security landscape has expanded significantly. Every new system, network, and application creates potential vulnerabilities for attackers to exploit. “From DDos attacks to credential stuffing, these threats highlight the need for companies to implement multi-layered security measures, conduct regular security assessments, and stay informed about the latest cybersecurity trends and best practices.” Here are five ways businesses can ensure digital platform security and avoid data breaches in 2023: Implement 2-factor authentication (2FA): Implementing 2-factor authentication provides your platform with an additional layer of security beyond just a username and password combination. By requiring multiple factors of authentication, for example biometric data, the likelihood of unauthorised access significantly reduces. This means that even if the initial security factor is bypassed, the attacker would still have other authentication factors to deal with. Regularly update and patch systems: You should strive to stay up-to-date with the latest security patches and updates relevant to your platform’s operating systems, software, and applications, because many of these updates tend to identify and address vulnerabilities that can be exploited by attackers. The updates and patches can also fix software bugs and improve system stability. By regularly updating, organisations can ensure that their systems are running efficiently and therefore providing a better user experience. Conduct regular security audits and penetration testing: You should perform regular security audits and penetration testing to help identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses in your systems, applications, and network infrastructure. This process involves actively testing your system’s security measures to discover potential weaknesses before they’re exploited. Any vulnerabilities that are identified should then be addressed promptly. Encrypt sensitive data: By implementing robust encryption mechanisms to protect sensitive data, you can make it harder for perpetrators to access your organisation’s information. Encryption ensures that sensitive data remains confidential and accessible only to authorised parties. It transforms the data into an unreadable format that can only be decrypted with the right decryption key. This helps protect against unauthorised access, whether it’s due to data breaches, insider threats, or physical theft. Employee education and awareness: Businesses should train employees on best practices for data security and raise awareness about potential threats such as phishing attacks. Try to encourage strong ...
Huawei Ireland has launched the 2023 edition of its flagship talent programme, ‘Seeds for the Future’. Third-level students studying STEM subjects or Leaving Certificate students considering a third-level course in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) are eligible to apply. To make the programme more inclusive than before, the 2023 edition will also be open to students studying STEM subjects on Post Leaving Certificate courses. The 2023 ‘Seeds for the Future’ programme will be limited to 30 students with the eight-day virtual programme taking place on 25th September. Students will take a variety of online courses covering the latest innovations in smart cities, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, 5G, and the Internet of Things. As well as technical knowledge, students develop soft skills like cultural awareness, time management and collaboration. Students will complete 15 hours of live courses and take part in Huawei’s TECH4GOOD global competition - which challenges participants to examine how to leverage technology to address pressing social and environmental issues. If successful in TECH4GOOD, Huawei will provide one of the winning teams with US$100,000 and coaching from a professional team to help them commercially realise their start-up plan. They may also have the opportunity to visit global industry conferences representing Ireland and to visit Huawei HQ in Shenzhen, China. Team Ireland won the TECH4GOOD competition in 2022 and was invited to attend Huawei’s EU Talent Summit in Athens, Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and a start-up sprint camp in China; the 2023 winners could make it two in a row for the Irish. To apply for the programme, students should send their CV, a transcript of their academic records, and an essay of 400-600 words or a two to three-minute motivation video reflecting their interests and why they should be chosen to take part, to seedsireland@huawei.com. Students can also find more information about the programme through the Seeds for the Future official website. The deadline for submissions is 20th September. Announcing the 2023 Seeds for the Future Programme, Luke McDonnell, Senior Communications Manager, Huawei Ireland, said: “Since its inception in 2015, over 270 students from Irish universities have benefited from this unique learning and culture experience. Despite all the current uncertainty and challenges, we’re proud that we can deliver another innovative course for the Ireland Seeds for the Future candidates. We are focusing on the development of their ideas - to get the students to think of how their projects can help society in our ever-changing world. “Huawei is committed to creating value for the communities in which we operate, and Seeds for the Future, and TECH4GOOD, are examples of how we can help and nurture today’s students because they are our future. We will continue to invest in Ireland’s future ICT workforce, and we see this programme as another way to help these students to think of progressive ideas and enhance their capabilities as they continue or indeed embark on their studies in STEM”. In 2022, the top 50 Seeds for the Future graduates came from nine universities around the country, with the bulk hailing from TU Dublin, UCD, Trinity College Dublin, UCC and NUIG. Last year’s programme received 500 applications from STEM students across Ireland. In total, there were 88 graduates of which 31 were female students. For more details go to: Huawei - Seeds for The Future - PROGRAMME
This September, Ireland’s largest skills, apprenticeships and careers event - Worldskills Ireland 2023 - will open its doors at the RDS Simmonscourt, Dublin, promoting trade industry skills and apprenticeship opportunities for young people as they navigate future options following secondary education. Taking place from 20th - 22nd September, Worldskills Ireland 2023 is set to welcome over 22,000 students, parents and teachers, and will be a live celebration of apprenticeships, skills and careers, with National competitions, interactive demonstrations, career zones and employers who are ready to recruit. The three-day show is set to inspire the next generation of skilled young people to follow their passions, interests and talents for the securement of their own future and of Ireland’s. From ICT, Manufacturing and Engineering, Construction and Infrastructure, Technology, Health, Hospitality and Lifestyle and all things Digital, Business and Creative, Worldskills Ireland 2023 gives students the chance to discover the key skills and sectors that drive the Irish economy. The event is supported by industry partners, SISK, Construction Industry Federation, ESB Networks, Autodesk, Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus, and education partners, including the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS), The Higher Education Authority (HEA), SOLAS, and NAO. Amanda Fennell, Marketing Director at Autodesk Construction Solutions, EMEA, said: “Autodesk is delighted to be one of the main sponsors for Worldskills Ireland 2023. It’s an exciting time to explore a career in construction and play an important role in building the world we live in. The industry is embracing new tools and technologies which help drive efficiencies and offers digitally savvy students the chance to explore new job opportunities. “Events like Worldskills Ireland bring a range of industries under one roof and enable students to speak with the experts and try new skills, which will ultimately help them to carve out their future and make tough career decisions with confidence. “We’re looking forward to meeting all the students, teachers and parents attending Worldskills Ireland 2023 over the three action-packed days.” Across three action-packed days, the event will bring young people together through interactive events and demonstrations and will give them the opportunity to meet face-to-face with employers who are ready to recruit. Running alongside will be the National competitions, and Adam Long, who won the BIM Digital Construction competition last year, reflected on his experience, stating: “Competing at Worldskills Ireland 2022 taught me a great deal. I was able to compete against some of the best in the field, and it enabled me to refine my skills in BIM Digital Construction, which will no doubt stand me in good stead for my future career. “I would advise anyone who is thinking about competing to just go for it. You’ll get so much invaluable knowledge from the experience, not to mention guidance about your current career path.” Celebrating excellence within the industry, the National Skills finals will be taking place at the event, showcasing more than 32+ varied skills in a competitive setting. ICT skills competitions will include; Cyber Security, IT Software Solutions for Business, Mechanical Engineering CAD, Cloud Computing, Digital Construction BIM and Digital Infrastructure Design. The National ICT Competition finals for 2023 are supported by industry leaders, including Janssen Sciences Ireland, Symetri, AWS in Communities and King & Moffatt. Padraic King, Design Manager at King & Moffatt added: “Our company was established over 40 years ago, and since then, we have witnessed, first-hand, how important skills are to progress the mechanical and electrical sectors and the wider impact this has on the construction industry. “Working in this sector requires highly skilled and hardworking individuals who can continue to improve th...
"Dear, attached is a notification about you. Your explanations are expected in response to this email within 72 hours. Good for you, Head of Service" A new variation of an old scam is doing the rounds in Ireland, pretending to be from An Garda Síochána and asking the potential victim to explain their involvement in alleged child pornography offences. An email with a pdf attachment is hitting Irish mailboxes. The email states: The attached pdf holds a more official-looking letter that states the receiver is under “investigation for child pornography, cyberpornography, exhibitionism, sex trafficking and viewing photos and videos of a sexual nature featuring minors”, equipped with an Irish flag, the logo of the Department of Defence, Europol and the European Union flag for good measure. The letter continues to state the receiver is being officially prosecuted for these offences and is required to respond in 72 hours to explain their involvement, or they may face arrest and end up a registered sex offender. A bizarre email address is offered at the end (which mixes the An Garda Síochána into the Ministry of Justice of the UK and the UK into the EU) to which the victim is supposed to respond, and in the signature, it abuses the name of Catherine Pierse, Director of Public Prosecutions of Ireland, but labelling her “Judicial Police Officer”. How do these scams work? First, they tend to frighten the victims with the seriousness of the accusations against them, in this case, by invoking sex offences against minors. Then they threaten them some more by listing various articles of legislation stacked against the victim and repercussions if they fail to comply, followed by a call to action by giving them a certain short time period in which they must respond to the scammers. If they do respond to the provided email address or phone number, the cybercriminals behind the scam have found a customer. Most likely a paying customer, as the victim will usually be asked to “pay a fine” via some untraceable overseas transfer method or cryptocurrency, or tricked in some other way to part with their money, such as being offered to bribe an official to have the charges dropped, etc. Sometimes in such cases even the attachment to the email comes infected with some sort of malware or ransomware. What should you do if you encounter such an email? Do not click on the attachment. Since it may be infected with malware or ransomware, it is best left unclicked. Look for odd language addressing you, such as the misplaced “Good for you” in this email, which suggests it has come from a non-native English speaker or the foreign email address, which indicates this cannot come from any official source. Official communication from law enforcement does not come in the form of a random email with an attachment anyway. Flag the message as spam, delete it, do not respond to it (even to just hurl insults at scammers, as this reveals your email address as a legitimate one) and warn your family, friends and coworkers about it, so they don’t click on it either. While this type of scam isn’t new, the mere fact it is still being used by scammers in mass mailings suggests it must achieve a certain percentage of successful completions, or they would have dropped it and moved on to a different one. Having awareness about this one and similar scams increases Irish users’ ability to detect and avoid them, enabling them to stay safe online. Post submitted by ESET Ireland. Find out more about them here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTec...
Tarifica, a leading provider of telecom plan and pricing data to the worldwide telecommunications industry, has announced that the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), the regulatory agency responsible for overseeing the telecommunications market in Ireland, has selected Tarifica’s Telecom Pricing Intelligence Platform to facilitate its ongoing analysis of the Irish market, including in comparison to 15 other countries. The Telecom Pricing Intelligence Platform, which includes Tarifica’s proprietary, multi-country auto-benchmarking feature, will allow ComReg to track all mobile network operators (MNOs), leading broadband service providers, and key mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) in Ireland and the other countries. The platform captures data covering every price and every feature of every plan, including bundles and promotions, and offers a suite of visualizations that will help ComReg better understand the state of telecom services and pricing both at home and abroad. ComReg will be deploying Tarifica’s industry-leading system in support of its mandate to ensure consumers in Ireland receive the best value for their money. The Telecom Pricing Intelligence Platform will enable the regulator to make more informed decisions by providing its staff with comprehensive information on the state of the market in Ireland and in comparison with other countries, as well as by highlighting areas where competition can be improved. Tarifica’s data will also be available for use in future ComReg studies analyzing the Irish market from a pricing perspective. Soichi Nakajima, Tarifica’s Vice President of Data and Analysis commented, “Tarifica looks forward to supporting ComReg with this important mandate and we’re committed to providing the data and insights needed to ensure a competitive, innovative, and healthy telecom market in Ireland.” Richard Dorfman, Tarifica’s CEO added, “We’re honored to have ComReg as a partner and are delighted to count them among the growing list of regulatory agencies around the world that rely on our data and technologies to maintain competitive and reasonably priced markets. This partnership underscores the value of the Telecom Pricing Intelligence Platform in helping regulatory agencies fulfill their mandates and ensure the best outcomes for consumers.” Tarifica’s Telecom Pricing Intelligence Platform is a vital tool for national regulators, NGOs, telecom operators, and other key industry participants globally, providing them with transparency and mission critical insights to support informed decision-making in the ever-changing telecom market. Tarifica is committed to delivering the insights and tools that these industry participants need to succeed in today’s rapidly evolving environment. The system being delivered to ComReg includes data from the following countries in addition to Ireland: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, Spain, and the United Kingdom. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Guest post by Catherine Doyle, Managing Director, Dell Technologies Ireland In today’s data-driven world, cyber security is more important than ever. Despite the uncertainty of recent times, businesses and organisations in Ireland are still transforming at speed. Technology remains at the very centre of Government efforts to foster innovation and economic growth. The latest national digital strategy sets out a range of ambitious targets to ensure that three in four Irish businesses adopt Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Cloud by 2030. 90% of services are also due to be consumed online by the end of the decade. While these targets are welcome and, moreover, necessary to make sure Ireland harnesses the full potential of the very latest technologies, it’s also the case that an increase in digitalisation brings with it a corresponding increase in the threat of cyber-attacks. Evolving cyber threats Over the past year, we have seen several high-profile cyber incidents here in Ireland that reinforce the need for small and large businesses across the public and private sector in Ireland to enhance their cyber resilience. Indeed, in 2022 alone, the total cost of cybercrime is estimated to have surpassed €10bn. As cyber-crime becomes more prevalent so do the sorts of attacks levelled at businesses become more insidious. The Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau and National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) warned about an increase in ransomware attacks against small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) over the past few months. In recent weeks, the National Cybersecurity Coordination and Development Centre has been created to help strengthen SME cyber resilience. The problem is that the ability to protect an organisation’s data has become increasingly difficult with some SMEs overwhelmed. A shift to hybrid working has given malicious actors new opportunities to target vulnerable remote workers while phishing attacks and email thread hijacking have been on the rise. Business leaders are beginning to react, with nine in ten business leaders now recognising the vital importance of building the cyber resiliency of their firm. From Zero Trust frameworks for the verification, assurance and protection of data to robust response and data recovery plans, Irish leaders are turning to new technologies and new technology models to strengthen their cyber security. Importance of culture However, cybersecurity is just as much, if not more, about people than technology. In tandem with technology solutions, there needs to be a cultural shift within businesses that recognises the importance of cyber security. This comes from the top of the organisation and filters through down to all levels and departments. Business leaders are actually the first line of defence. By setting the tone and the culture for cyber resilience within an organisation, leaders play a vital role in putting cyber security at the very heart of business strategy and workforce development. A key component of this is influencing employee behaviour around cyber resilience in the workplace - empowering their people with the latest training and skills to become role models and champions of the best cyber security practices. While the latest intelligent tools and data protection services will always play a critical role, they are just one key part of an overall strategy that recognises how everyone within the business needs to work together to ward off cyber threats. Whole of organisation approach This particularly applies to those teams who are developing new products or services. By integrating cyber security into both their products and practices, these teams can help to close the loop on cyber security for their own business and that of their customers. In this way, leaders can better embrace a comprehensive approach to cyber risk mitigation that goes beyond mere threat detection. Rather, they can ensure that cyber security plays an integral role in an organisation’s overall business stra...
Space scientists from the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) have developed a new project using artificial intelligence, which will allow them to give faster and more accurate warnings about powerful explosions on the Sun, known as solar flares. Solar flares can disrupt vital technologies and infrastructure, including radio communications, electrical power grids, and navigation systems and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts. This new project, called ‘Active Region Classification and Flare Forecasting’ (ARCAFF), will use a special kind of artificial intelligence known as ‘deep learning’ to make better predictions than what is currently used in operational forecasting centres. It will also provide information about how certain the predictions are - information which is not currently available. Commenting on the project, Dr Shane Maloney, Senior Research Fellow at DIAS and Project Lead for ARCAFF, said “As scientists, we have long been predicting the weather, but now we also have the ability to predict events happening much further away on the Sun. It may seem like these events have little effect on our daily lives, as we are largely protected from the Sun’s harmful radiation by the magnetic field around the Earth. However, solar flares emission can change the atmosphere and create technological issues, like interfering with radio communication and GPS on Earth. They can also create beautiful displays in our night skies like the Northern Lights or aurora borealis. “Space weather covers a variety of phenomena that occur because of the Sun’s turbulent behaviour, and its predictions are becoming more important as we further advance technology. Studying these space weather events helps us learn more about the Sun and better predict space weather. The new ARCAFF system will be more accurate and faster at giving us warnings about solar flares - which will greatly benefit space weather forecasters who provide guidance to spacecraft operators, and the power and aviation industries that are impacted by space weather.” Also commenting on the ARCAFF project, Prof. Peter Gallagher, Head of Astronomy and Astrophysics at DIAS, said “The ARCAFF project is unique as it brings together science, analytics, and computing experts to work together in creating an advanced system to forecast solar flares. It has been an excellent opportunity for cross-disciplinary collaboration in DIAS and across the various partners involved. “As well as being faster and more accurate at predicting solar flares, ARCAFF will make new datasets and software available for scientists to use, and the outputs of the project will be freely available online. We are also excited to educate the wider public about space weather and how it impacts Ireland and Europe through our public engagement hub at DIAS Dunsink Observatory.” The ARCAFF team includes partners across Europe that combine expertise in the fields of solar physics, machine learning, and computer science, including: DIAS - solar physics and space weather forecasting experts; - Università di Genova in Italy - machine learning experts; - University of Westminster in the UK - science gateway development experts; - SZTAKI in Hungary - science gateway development experts. The project is funded by Horizon Europe. Further information can be found here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The main unemployment rate was 3.8% in June on a seasonally adjusted basis, remaining steady from 3.8% in May and down from a level of 4.2% twelve months ago. The seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed was 105,400 in June and fell by 6,000 in the past 12 months. Pawel Adrjan, Director of Economic Research at hiring platform Indeed, comments on the latest CSO data: Since January of this year, when unemployment stood at 4.3%, the monthly unemployment rate has fallen steadily each month. It hit an all-time record low last month of 3.8% and has now remained at this full employment level for a second month running. Putting this in perspective, the unemployment rate was last at its former lowest level of 3.9% between October 2000 and April 2001, which was at the height of the Celtic Tiger. A low unemployment rate is good news for job seekers, those looking to change roles or those preparing to ask for a wage increase, but maybe not so for certain employers, especially those already experiencing difficulties in finding the right staff and keeping costs under control. The most recent Indeed Wage Tracker showed annual wage growth in Ireland has remained steady at 4.9%, but it comes as growth in advertised wages remains significantly above historical levels in all eight of the tracked countries. Amid an uncertain economic growth outlook for the EU and UK, along with higher interest rates and tighter monetary policy from policymakers fighting inflation, unemployment rates remain at or near historic lows. Job vacancies have gradually fallen in most countries, but they are still high relative to historical levels, leading to a tight labour market overall. A high ratio of vacancies to unemployment - essentially, when there are more jobs available than workers to fill them - increases workers’ bargaining power, putting upward pressure on wages. There is a strong positive correlation between this ratio and growth in advertised wages in most of the countries tracked by Indeed. The pace of wage gains is a critical indicator followed closely by central banks the world over as policymakers continue to fight high inflation. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
We caught up with Margrét Bjarnadóttir, cofounder of PayAnalytics to learn more about their data driven strategy to help improve pay equity. What are you working on now and how could it be useful in general, and in Ireland, in particular? We have been working on pay equity for almost a decade now, meaning successfully supporting companies in measuring their pay gaps, closing them, and integrating pay equity into decision processes. Now, we’re broadening the PayAnalytics platform to include broader workplace equity, using data informed approaches to support inclusive practices, and shedding light on attrition, promotions and hiring. By broadening the scope of the platform we are supporting companies in attracting and retaining talent, and companies around the globe have realized the benefits of pay equity. Margrét Bjarnadóttir, PayAnalytics For Irish companies in particular ,we support them in fulfilling their Irish reporting requirements with a couple of mouse clicks, and we’re preparing them for the E.U. Pay Transparency Directive. Companies can now easily run a readiness check to understand where they stand and what they need to do to become ready. What are the benefits of pay transparency and pay equity. Where will they lead us? When we think about the benefits of pay transparency, we need to think about what we mean by pay transparency. The different pay transparency rules and regulations around the world can take many forms. Ireland will be affected by two key pay transparency tools.. First, the Irish reporting requirement mandates that companies publicly disclose their pay gaps in relation to gender, and that they create an action plan to reduce gender-based differences in compensation . For most employers, this will undoubtedly put pressure on tem to improve year over year, and may therefore lead to a slow but steady progression towards closing the absolute pay gap. Second, the forthcoming EU Pay Transparency Directive will require organizations to disclose salary ranges in job postings. To prepare, employers will have to be ready to post salary ranges, which includes preparing to explain salaries to current employees. They will have to answer the question: “Why is my salary what it is?” Pay equity advocates therefore have high hopes that this requirement will move the needle on fair pay. In fact, academic research has shown that salary disclosures reduce inequity. Where do tech companies stand compared to other sectors? Are they any better or worse than the mean? I think we cannot put all tech companies under the same hat. In fact, one of our first tech clients insisted that they did not have a pay equity issue prior to adopting our solution. That is rarely the case, so I was skeptical. But the CHRO was right, they did not have a pay gap, and it stemmed from their strategy of taking proactive action to retain and attract talent. And I would to this that most tech companies have realized that they need to be able to communicate to their employees that they take pay equity seriously, and that they monitor pay and take proactive actions. In this sense, many of our tech clients are leading the way in pay equity. Of course, there are other companies that have not started their pay equity journey, that do not have inclusive culture, and lack representation of women in their workforce. So to sum up, technology companies are leading the way, while others have some catching up to do. How will Large Language Models (LLMs) change the HR technology landscape - or will they? HR tech is in many ways unique when it comes to the adoption of analytics. While we have been applying analytics across the organization (think supply chain, finance, accounting) for a long time, HR was left behind, but for a good reason. The decisions that we make in HR can be life altering for our employees. Who gets hired, who gets promoted, who receives a salary increase. Therefore, it is incredibly important that the algorithms that we apply are unbiase...
Dublin-based Catalyst (formerly known as i3PT), a leading global provider of software and professional services to the construction and real estate industries, today announced the creation of 100 new jobs across its European operations. 50% of the new jobs will be based in Ireland. With this expansion, Catalyst is committed to delivering cutting-edge services and fostering international growth in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain. Furthermore, Catalyst has plans to establish additional locations in the United States for its obi software business. The creation of these new positions comes in response to Catalyst’s strong growth and increasing demand for its industry-leading services. The company’s expertise in ESG, technical advisory services and digital technologies has positioned Catalyst as a trusted partner for some of the world’s largest companies and real estate investors. The 100 new jobs will principally be distributed across Catalyst’s European offices, with significant employment opportunities arising across Ireland, London, Edinburgh, Milan, and Barcelona, amongst other new locations. These roles will span various departments, including engineering, software development, marketing, and sales. Eoin Leonard, CEO of Catalyst, expressed his gratitude to Enterprise Ireland for their unwavering support and invaluable assistance in the company’s expansion. Leonard stated, “We are thrilled to announce the creation of 100 new jobs across our business. This expansion reflects our continued growth and the increasing demand for services and software. We want to extend our deep appreciation to Enterprise Ireland for their ongoing support, guidance, and assistance in our journey to develop a thriving international business.”. Jenny Melia, Executive Director at Enterprise Ireland, said: “Catalyst is a great example of an Irish company that has gone from strength to strength, growing both at home and internationally. Today’s announcement of 100 new jobs at Catalyst is a testament to the ambition and capabilities of the team. At Enterprise Ireland, we are committed to supporting Irish companies to compete and win in international markets, and we look forward to continuing to support Eoin and the team on their growth trajectory.” Catalyst’s expansion marks an exciting milestone in the company’s journey towards becoming a global leader in the real estate and construction sectors. As regulatory shifts drive change towards better practices, Catalyst aims to assist its clients in creating a greener, safer built environment. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
To pull back our demands on the planet, a sustainable design expert suggests we should be looking back to the future with our technology. An industrial designer has suggested that old technologies could make a comeback for a more sustainable future - such as wind-up shavers, pedal-powered tools and manual lawn mowers. How Old Technology Can Help Build a More Sustainable Future In his new book, Re-Imagining Alternative Technology, Brook S Kennedy envisions an innovative revival of underused and abandoned ideas, alongside new creative ones, to tackle global challenges such as climate change, natural resource management and pollution. “With the global challenge of climate change, managing finite natural resources and pollution, everyone is focused on the biggest and most energy-hungry technologies. I’m suggesting that smaller, cumulative changes in our everyday lives could make a huge difference,” Kennedy explains. “Rather than starting from scratch and face looking at an impossible task, I am suggesting design could focus on ‘modernizing’ technology we already know works. With some updating and refinement to aesthetics, performance and usability, these technologies could easily be brought back into re-use.” Re-imagining nostalgic technologies Kennedy is an award-winning industrial designer and Associate Professor in the School of Architecture, Arts and Design at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), US. There his research focuses on topics in sustainable design and materials, appropriate technology, and biodesign. Some of the nostalgic technologies he believes could make a valuable comeback include passive wind-harnessing cooling systems and human-assisted powered tools and appliances, and reusable, repairable durable goods that have become disposable in today’s context. He also makes the case for ‘reimagining’ other domestic appliances including examples like manual carpet-sweepers and water collectors, as well as advocating for a return to reusable, durable products such as razors you can sharpen and shoe soles you can re-sole and repair. As well as looking to the past for inspiration, Kennedy also looks at warmer climates to see if we can learn from other cultures. He explains: “If many of these so-called forgotten alternative technologies are still common and in use mainly outside the United States, why can’t we make some changes and apply them here?” He suggests Persian wind catchers could be used as a passive and low-energy house-cooling technique, and fog-catchers like those used in Chile and Morocco could be adapted for large-scale water-harvesting. For public transport, Kennedy suggests the popular bicycle highways of the 1900s, as seen in Pasadena, could make a comeback, as well as water-powered funicular trains and ferries. “There are so many more examples in transportation, architecture, and product design. Designers could help bring contemporary relevance to passive and ecological technologies, from awnings, manual carpet sweepers and more, which would have a cumulative effect on energy consumption and waste across the built environment.” Further information Reimagining Alternative Technology for Design in the 21st Century By Brook S Kennedy Published 30 May 2023 176 Pages Paperback: 9780367410223 | $39.95 USD | £29.99 eBook: 9780367814304 | $35.95 USD | £26.99 DOI: About the author: Brook S. Kennedy is an industrial designer and Associate Professor in the School of Architecture, Arts and Design at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), US. There his research focuses on topics in sustainable design, materials and biodesign. Prior to Virginia Tech he spent 15 years in full time practice, including as an Associate Director at Inclusive Design pioneer Smart Design in New York City, where he helped Fortune 500 clients and start-up companies embrace the value of human-centred design processes. He has been honored with numerous international design awards fro...
Guest post by Antoinette Oglethorpe. Having meaningful career conversations is essential for employee growth and development. These conversations provide an opportunity for reflection, insight, and action, enabling employees to take ownership of their career progress. Confident Career Conversations: 10 Conversation Tools To facilitate these conversations effectively, the Career Conversation Toolkit offers ten powerful conversation tools. These tools cover three stages helping employees (1) Learn from the past; (2) Dream about the future and (3) Take action in the present. Drawing on principles of positive psychology, solution focus, and neuroscience, these tools provide managers, mentors, and coaches with thoughtfully designed questions that stimulate reflection, maintain focus on the employee, and encourage proactive career management. Career Platform. The Career Platform tool serves as a starting point, helping employees identify areas in their career they wish to change and motivating them to take action. Through thoughtful questioning, employees can clarify what they want to change in their career and ignite the drive to take action. Typical Career Platform questions are: What is going well in your current role? What would you not want to change? What would you like to be different? Your Journey So Far. Reflection is a powerful tool for growth. The Your Journey So Far tool encourages employees to reflect on their strengths, values, and preferred working style. By understanding what they are good at and what truly matters to them, employees can make informed decisions about their career path. Typical questions to help employees look back over their career are: What are you most proud of? What is it about that achievement that you found satisfying? When was your most enjoyable time at work? Career Kitbag. The Career Kitbag tool enables employees to identify and leverage their existing resources for career progression. It prompts them to consider their technical skills, soft skills, and career development skills, helping them recognise the assets they already possess. Questions that help them identify their resources are: What useful experiences have helped you get where you are today? What valuable skills have you developed? What positive qualities will help you make progress? Future Success. Articulating a clear vision of success is crucial for career progression. The Future Success tool guides employees to describe what their ideal future looks like, encouraging them to envision their goals with clarity and purpose. One way you can help employees think about their future is to ask them to imagine that a miracle happens. For example: Suppose you could wave a magic wand and develop your career in exactly the way you’d like. What would you be doing day to day? Where would you be working? What kind of people would you be working with/for? Career Routes. The Career Routes tool assists employees in exploring the various options available to them within their current role or in new positions. By understanding the potential pathways, employees can make informed decisions about their career options. Questions to explore the different options and possibilities include: How might you make your current role more satisfying and enjoyable? How might you broaden your role? How might you gain specific skills and experience through special projects, responsibilities or assignments? Career Kitbag Additions. Building on the Career Kitbag tool, Career Kitbag Additions helps employees analyse the skills, experiences, information, and relationships they need to develop to progress toward their envisioned success. It encourages them to identify areas for growth and the resources required to achieve their goals. Questions you can use include: What knowledge do you need to gain? What skills do you need to develop? What experience do you need to get? Career Checkpoint. Connecting employees’ aspirations with their current reality, the Career Chec...
PayPal’s new Travel Check-in report reveals the latest trends in the world of travel, as 85 per cent of Irish consumers either have or are planning to book a holiday for 2023 and almost a third (29%) are set to go on more than two holidays this year. The research, carried out by Censuswide and involving more than 1,000 consumers across Ireland, found travel remains a priority for 62 per cent of people. While 64 per cent are looking to make up for lost travel time over the last couple of years, the high cost-of-living isn’t going unnoticed, with eight in ten (83%) being willing to adapt travel plans to be more cost-effective rather than cancel and more than three quarters (79%) looking to save money in their daily lives to prioritise travel/holidays. Where are people headed for their vacations? Eight out of ten (81%) are planning to leave the Emerald Isles for their holidays. The most popular international destination picked was Spain (including Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza) (30%), followed by the UK (20%), Italy (16%) and France (16%). For those planning to stay closer to home, the top destinations within Ireland were Galway (22%), Cork (20%), Donegal (20%) and Dublin (20%). Trips involving quality time with loved ones are high on the agenda for 71 per cent, with other popular trip types including enjoying the outdoors (40%), experiencing a different culture (29%) and focusing on health and wellness (20%) – this was important for almost a quarter of millennials (23% vs 20% general population). Gen Z were most open to ‘bleisure trips’ (mixing work and leisure) to enjoy more flexibility during their time off (12% vs 6% general population). The average estimated spend on holidays for the year (including booking and all in travel costs) came in at approximately €2,320. The biggest spenders were from Clare (approx. €2,834), Cork (approx. €2,579) and Donegal (approx. €2,577). “At PayPal, we’re seeing a surge in travel bookings and it’s encouraging to see that Irish people are being mindful of their budgets when it comes to being able to better afford that long-awaited trip,” said Maeve Dorman, Senior Vice President, PayPal. “We’re here to help Irish holiday goers make the most of their trip by providing peace of mind and simplicity for a seamless checkout from the moment they book flights, trains and accommodation all the way to after they’ve checked-in and are looking for local experiences and ticking off bucket lists.” Check-out five tactics Irish holidaymakers are utilising to better afford travel this year: Daily changes for weeks away: More than three quarters (79%) of consumers in Ireland are looking to save money in their daily lives to prioritise travel/holidays this year. The top cutbacks are cooking at home instead of getting a takeaway or eating out (58%), cutting back on nights out (50%), and making their own coffee at home instead of going to a coffee shop (42%). Being savvy for sun, sea and. savings: The money-saving mindset doesn’t stop when it comes to booking with many using money-saving techniques to get the best price, including looking for discounts (53%), travelling on days when costs are cheaper (38%) and signing up for offers (26%). Adapting for adventures: Some 83 per cent of people are willing to adapt their travel plans to be more cost-effective rather than cancel completely, be that looking for budget accommodation (29%), having just one main holiday (23%) or going on shorter trips (22%). Planning perfection: Eight in ten (78%) would rather book in advance to guarantee a price than take a risk on getting a better price closer to the time. Those from Leitrim are the most organised, booking nine months before their break, while those from Clare tend to book three months ahead of time. Smart budgeting in the sun: Almost three quarters (73%) of consumers plan to adopt a saving approach on holidays, as opposed to splurging. In terms of other budgeting behaviours, over half (52%) will go cashless and 67 per cen...
EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum is challenging negative and misleading Irish stereotypes found in generative AI, with its latest campaign, Paddy ‘A.I.rishman’. This campaign is a follow up to last summer’s ‘This is Not Us’, within which EPIC uncovered predictive search data that showed the many incorrect and misleading perceptions of the Irish which still prevail globally. This year, EPIC is taking on Artificial Intelligence and the outdated, and often offensive, stereotypes that are generated from this particular technology. Following research, EPIC uncovered that when you prompt a popular AI image generator to show you an ‘Irish man’, the results were, without exception, outdated and extremely far removed from a modern-day understanding of ‘Irishness’. In countless tests, every generated image contained references to drinking, anger, aggression, or leprechaun-like styling. It’s these negative clichés that EPIC wants to call to account. In their new iteration of ‘This Is Not Us’, EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum aims to confront these misinformed perceptions head-on, by using AI to demonstrate how the Irish are often the butt of the joke within pop culture. AI pulls data from across the internet and creates what it ‘thinks’ is the most accurate representation of a user’s prompts. You need look no further than this year’s Oscars or Saturday Night Live skits to see that cheap shots still get cheap laughs. Aileesh Carew, CEO, EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, said, “While being Irish cannot possibly be summed up in a single image, we were surprised to find that AI generated images of the Irish are full of outdated stereotypes. At EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, we know that being Irish is a celebration that extends across the globe. We hope that this campaign will inspire people to look beyond stereotypes wherever they encounter them, and create meaningful conversations about the pitfalls and potentials of AI and of course visit EPIC to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be Irish.” Nathan Mannion, Head of Exhibitions and Programmes at EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum,said, “Whilst it’s disappointing to see these negative stereotypes perpetuated within AI, at EPIC we know that the lived experiences of our emigrants and diaspora are far more complex and nuanced than these reductive and clichéd images – we are inventors, poets, designers, leaders and changemakers. Our music, literature, culture, sport, food and dance encapsulate our rich and varied heritage and connect millions of people across the globe and across generations with each other and with Ireland.” Alex Gibson, Head of Digital Marketing Discipline, TU Dublin, “One of the recognised downsides of AI is the potential to reinforce biases that exist in information already published. We all need to understand that AI processes essentially trawl data that already exists, and therefore is susceptible to significant misrepresentation. I am not at all surprised by the findings of the EPIC team and it is a very useful illustration of the challenges AI poses, and one I plan to share with my own students.” Voted Europe’s Leading Tourist Attraction for the past three years, EPIC offers a fully interactive experience like no other, which brings Irish history to life and allows visitors to discover what it really means to be Irish. EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum exists to demonstrate that the Irish have left a greater, more positive impact on the world. Their museum experience shares the unforgettable stories of those who left Ireland’s shores, influencing, and shaping the world along the way. For more information please go to www.epicchq.com or search #EPICmuseum on your chosen social platform. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm pa...
UCC Sport has announced that Clubforce has been named as a Technology Partner. UCC Sport will become the first organisation to implement Clubforce’s innovative sports management platform for sports associations across all its fifty clubs. At the core of the brand-new platform from Clubforce is a next-generation, all-in-one club management solution which connects directly into an overarching solution for UCC Sport. By implementing the full Clubforce ecosystem, UCC Sport will benefit from intelligent insights automatically generated by the software. These actionable insights will be used to optimise the provision of sport across the College. Every sport at UCC will benefit from the next-generation club solution. The solution significantly eases the burden of managing as well as promoting a club and simplifies club communications. “We’re excited to implement Clubforce across our clubs to help us give our students the best possible sports experience”, commented Morgan Buckley, Head of Sport & Physical Activity at UCC Sport, “Clubforce will make it significantly easier for our students to manage their club membership and communications and also allow us to significantly improve our understanding of sports participation trends across the whole College. We believe this will big a significant step forward in how we can grow participation and understand the needs and requirements of our Sport Clubs who reach across all areas of over 24,000 students in UCC”. “We have invested significantly in building a next-generation product that takes our ecosystem for the sports community to a new level and I’m delighted that UCC Sport will become the first users at an institutional level”, explained Noel Murray, Chief Executive Officer at Clubforce, “Not only does our new platform provide a refreshed tool to support clubs at all levels but it also now provides governing bodies, leagues, and universities like UCC with powerful analytics to unlock the value of the data they hold.” Clubforce, Ireland’s only ISO27001-certified provider of sports clubs software, released their completely refreshed NextGen platform for grassroots clubs in May this year. The platform combines Clubforce’s experience working with thousands of sports clubs with the very latest in design, security and technology delivering a solution for club volunteers to manage all aspects of their club on a single platform. See more stories here.
Image credit: Ian MacRae / Midjourney. Latest guest article by Ian MacRae Future skills are remote working skills Remote work is here to stay and the jobs market is gradually shifting to more remote and hybrid jobs. Remote working skills are essential for success as more jobs become less dependent on physical offices. The shift is likely to happen fastest and smaller companies and startups, while larger companies with long-term leases and commitments to working in physical spaces shift more slowly. How to measure your remote working skills and succeed in 2023 As of 2023, approximately 13% of full-time employees work from home and 28% have a hybrid working arrangement, with at least some of their time spent working remotely. By 2025 the number of full-time remote workers is predicted to rise to 22%. The vast majority of people also prefer flexible working arrangements. When workers are offered flexibility in their work, 87% of them accept it. Measurement for improvement Remote work requires a new set of skills that are required for both short- and long-term success. Some workplace skills transfer directly to remote working environments, while others will take some time and practice to master. Measuring and understanding your own skillset is a good place to start: When you know what you’re good at, you can use those skills to your advantage. For example, if you’re a great communicator, you can use to learn from other people more quickly. If you’re organized, you can use that skill to manage your time and workload effectively. Once you know your strengths, you can also identify areas where you could improve. If you struggle with technical troubleshooting or find it challenging to learn to use tools and technology, developing your technical skills could have a direct impact on your time management and work-life balance (less troubleshooting over the lunch break). High Potential Psychology offers a free remote working skills self-assessment. It takes about five to ten minutes to complete and comes with a comprehensive report remote working skills, based on responses to a series of targeted questions in six key areas: Factor 1: Communication a. Clarity: Crucial for understanding and communicating information, preventing miscommunications. b. Responsiveness: Key to timely task completion, project coordination, and team productivity. c. Proactivity: Enhances problem-solving, decision-making, and collaboration by initiating communication. Factor 2: Collaboration b. Teamwork: Essential for goal achievement and a supportive environment. b. Adaptability: Enables adjustment to new situations, communication tools, and team dynamics. c. Problem-Solving: Crucial for managing complex tasks and misunderstandings in virtual spaces. Factor 3: Time Management c. Prioritization: Key for managing workload and enhancing productivity. b. Scheduling: Facilitates smooth operations and boosts productivity. c. Work-Life Balance: Maintains mental health, prevents burnout, and enhances job satisfaction. Factor 4: Self-Motivation a. Initiative: Valuable in remote settings for task completion without supervision. b. Goal-Setting: Provides direction, boosts motivation, and enhances productivity. c. Perseverance: Maintains productivity and job satisfaction amid remote work challenges. Factor 5: Technical Skills a. Digital Proficiency: Vital for efficiency and team contribution. b. Troubleshooting: Minimizes downtime and fosters self-reliance. c. Security Awareness: Prevents data breaches or cyber attacks in remote work. Factor 6: Working Environment a. Ergonomics: Improves productivity and prevents work-related health issues. b. Resource Management: Ensures efficient task performance and reduced interruptions. c. Focus and Concentration: Boosts productivity and work quality despite home environment distractions. The Remote Work Mastery Scale is freely available, with reports generated instantly on completion of the questionnaire. How to improve your remote w...
The European Patent Office (EPO) has announced that Irish inventors Rhona Togher and Eimear O’Carroll are the winners in the ‘SMEs’ category of the European Inventor Award 2023. Selected from over 600 candidates, these inventors created an advanced acoustic material that reduces noise to address chronic sleep issues. “We are honoured to win the European Inventor Award in the ‘SMEs’ category and would like to express our sincere gratitude to the European Patent Office. This award recognises many years of hard work and commitment to making the world a quieter place. It is a genuine privilege to be acknowledged alongside so many noteworthy inventors who have made such significant contributions to their fields,” say Togher and O’Carroll. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA) approximately 20% of the EU population lives in areas with unacceptable noise and vibration levels. High noise levels have been linked to poor sleep and higher instances of heart problems. Due to noise pollution, the EEA estimates that 22 million people across Europe currently suffer from chronic high annoyance, whilst 6.5 million suffer chronic high sleep disturbance. Exposure to loud noise can also cause high blood pressure, heart disease, sleep disturbances, and stress. A sound solution for millions of people Togher and O’Carroll’s invention, SoundBounce™, is a composite technology that reduces the negative effects of loud noise. It consists of a responsive material housed within a cellular structure that responds to agitation by becoming liquid and absorbing energy. One of its innovative features is the invention’s cellular structure, the second is a thixotropic gel (capable of liquefying when agitated and resolidifying when allowed to stand) placed inside the cells. Once sealed, they work together to dampen sound, reducing noise transmission from one space to another. This new material can also be integrated into machinery and vehicles to reduce noise output. It can be used in the automotive, construction, aerospace and home appliance industries. This material is particularly effective at low frequencies, which present a significant challenge connected to products with engines, vibrations, and airflow. SoundBounce’s thinner material means that aeroplanes or vehicles using it could be lighter, thus reducing fuel consumption and leaving more space. In addition to the environmental advantages related to noise reduction, the materials used to make SoundBounce have a low environmental impact as they are non-toxic, and recyclable at end of life. Since SoundBounce was created, Togher and O’Carroll’s company has developed partnerships with renowned organisations such as the European Space Agency. “Receiving this award serves as a reminder of the importance of innovation and the impact it can have on our society. We hope that this recognition will inspire others, especially young girls, to pursue their own inventions and to continue to push the boundaries of what is possible,” say Togher and O’Carroll. The Irish duo behind the innovation have been named winners in the ‘SMEs’ category for this year’s European Inventor Award, which recognises outstanding inventors with inventions patented in Europe. All the winners of the 2023 edition of the European Inventor Award were announced at a hybrid ceremony in Valencia (Spain). See more stories here.
Bank of Ireland has launched a new hybrid working hub in Galway. The hub, based in Dockgate, Galway City provides hot desks and meeting rooms for Bank of Ireland colleagues throughout the region or visiting from other areas. Depending on their role, most Bank of Ireland colleagues can work from a combination of home, central office locations, as well as a network of hybrid working hubs. The additional hub in Galway complements 12 other Bank of Ireland hybrid working hubs in Balbriggan, Ballycoolin, Dundalk, Gorey, Limerick, Mullingar, Naas, Newbridge, Newlands Cross, Northern Cross, Santry and Swords. Speaking at the launch of the new Galway hub, Mayor of Galway City, Councillor Eddie Hoare said: “There are huge benefits to remote and hybrid working, with less commuting, lower costs, stronger communities, and more time for family and leisure. I have said before that the role of Galway City Council is to promote a positive-working environment to ensure maximum benefits for the people of Galway. “When it is managed well, hybrid working is a win-win for companies and employees and I’m delighted to see Bank of Ireland Galway taking such a proactive approach. I’m sure this new hub will be a welcome support for Bank of Ireland staff in the area or visiting Galway from other parts of the country.” Bank of Ireland Group Chief Executive Myles O’ Grady said: “We have transformed what it is like to work at Bank of Ireland and our new hybrid working hub in Galway is a very tangible example of that. This new hub in Galway offers workspace for those who may base themselves in the West of Ireland or other colleagues who may be travelling to Galway for business. “For our colleagues, the hybrid model offers enhanced flexibility and choice, blending home and office working for a better work-life balance. For Bank of Ireland, opening flexible hubs in large regional centres means that we can attract the best talent from across the country.” A survey with Bank of Ireland colleagues showed that 65% feel the enhanced flexibility is providing more time to spend with family. 54% of Bank of Ireland colleagues have saved money due to the Bank’s hybrid working model, while 26% feel they have more flexibility as to where they can live. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Bank of Ireland has launched a new hybrid working hub in Galway. The hub, based in Dockgate, Galway City provides hot desks and meeting rooms for Bank of Ireland colleagues throughout the region or visiting from other areas. Depending on their role, most Bank of Ireland colleagues can work from a combination of home, central office locations, as well as a network of hybrid working hubs. The additional hub in Galway complements 12 other Bank of Ireland hybrid working hubs in Balbriggan, Ballycoolin, Dundalk, Gorey, Limerick, Mullingar, Naas, Newbridge, Newlands Cross, Northern Cross, Santry and Swords. Speaking at the launch of the new Galway hub, Mayor of Galway City, Councillor Eddie Hoare said: “There are huge benefits to remote and hybrid working, with less commuting, lower costs, stronger communities, and more time for family and leisure. I have said before that the role of Galway City Council is to promote a positive-working environment to ensure maximum benefits for the people of Galway. “When it is managed well, hybrid working is a win-win for companies and employees and I’m delighted to see Bank of Ireland Galway taking such a proactive approach. I’m sure this new hub will be a welcome support for Bank of Ireland staff in the area or visiting Galway from other parts of the country.” Bank of Ireland Group Chief Executive Myles O’ Grady said: “We have transformed what it is like to work at Bank of Ireland and our new hybrid working hub in Galway is a very tangible example of that. This new hub in Galway offers workspace for those who may base themselves in the West of Ireland or other colleagues who may be travelling to Galway for business. “For our colleagues, the hybrid model offers enhanced flexibility and choice, blending home and office working for a better work-life balance. For Bank of Ireland, opening flexible hubs in large regional centres means that we can attract the best talent from across the country.” A survey with Bank of Ireland colleagues showed that 65% feel the enhanced flexibility is providing more time to spend with family. 54% of Bank of Ireland colleagues have saved money due to the Bank’s hybrid working model, while 26% feel they have more flexibility as to where they can live. See more stories here.
Guest post by Stephen Dombroski, Director of Food and Beverage Markets, QAD In recent years, the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has transformed numerous industries, and the food and beverage manufacturing sector is no exception. AI technologies are revolutionizing the way food and beverage products are produced, improving efficiency, quality control, and overall operations. From streamlining production processes to enhancing food safety, AI is reshaping the industry and setting new standards for the future. Why Artificial Intelligence can be transformative in Food Manufacturing AI in food and beverage manufacturing is the ability to use expert data coming from a number of different sources, either through the different AI apps or other types of data avenues, that is utilized by people throughout the entire ecosystem to make the process of manufacturing food more efficient, more cost effective, and easier and more accessible. Every piece of data of any kind is useful in some way to every process up and downstream throughout the supply and value chains of any food and beverage manufacturer. Therefore, the value chain in food manufacturing begins with the farmers. For example, going to the furthest upstream process using the analogy of the Mississippi River, a person could easily walk across the stream of the river at its origins–the very start of the food supply chain the Mississippi River is a farmer. In order to make tomato ketchup, the very start of it is the farmer that plants tomato plants and grows those tomatoes. So AI, for the farmer could mean anything that could help that farmer get a better crop yield. However, AI helps much more in food manufacturing than sourcing. In fact, there are five areas where AI can really help the food industry: Supply chain optimization Another area where AI is transforming food and beverage manufacturing is in supply chain optimization. AI algorithms can analyze complex data sets, including consumer demand, market trends, and inventory levels, to optimize production planning and inventory management. This enables manufacturers to respond more efficiently to changing market demands, reduce stock outs or overstocking, and minimize waste. AI-powered predictive analytics can forecast future demand patterns, allowing manufacturers to adjust production accordingly and optimize their resources. Regardless if a manufacturer specializes in fresh foods, shelf stable foods, or frozen foods, the entire market begins as fresh products. Like the tomato farmer example, AI can be used to determine crop yields, optimal temperature and soil, as well as monitoring pests and relaying ideal fertilizers. Quality control One of the key areas where AI is making a profound impact is in quality control and inspection. Traditionally, human inspectors have played a crucial role in ensuring that food and beverage products meet strict quality standards. However, this process is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and subject to human error. With AI, computer vision systems equipped with machine learning algorithms can accurately and rapidly inspect products, identifying defects or abnormalities that may be missed by the human eye. This technology not only improves the overall quality of products but also reduces waste and lowers costs. Furthermore, AI is significantly enhancing food safety measures in the manufacturing process. Contamination and foodborne illnesses are major concerns in the industry. AI-powered systems can analyze vast amounts of data to identify potential risks, track ingredients and products throughout the supply chain, and detect patterns that indicate potential safety hazards. By leveraging AI, manufacturers can implement proactive measures to prevent foodborne outbreaks, leading to improved consumer trust and brand reputation. On the factory floor, quality control can be seen in predictive maintenance. AI can be used to predict when equipment might fail or will fail, and be able to he...
Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a team of scientists led by University of Arizona astronomers has discovered a threadlike arrangement of 10 galaxies that existed just 830 million years after the Big Bang. UArizona astronomers identify strands of the cosmic web Lined up like pearls on an invisible string, the 3-million-light-year-long structure is anchored by a luminous quasar – a galaxy with an active, supermassive black hole at its core. The team believes the filament will eventually evolve into a massive cluster of galaxies, much like the well-known Coma Cluster in the “nearby” universe. The results are published in two papers in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. “This is one of the earliest filamentary structures that people have ever found associated with a distant quasar,” said Feige Wang, an assistant research professor at the UArizona Steward Observatory and lead author of the first paper. Wang added that it is the first time a structure of this kind has been observed at such an early time in the universe and in 3D detail. Galaxies are not scattered randomly across the universe. They gather together not only into clusters and clumps, but form vast interconnected filamentary structures, separated by gigantic barren voids in between. This “cosmic web” started out tenuous and became more distinct over time as gravity drew matter together. Embedded in vast “oceans” of dark matter, galaxies form where dark and regular matter accumulate in localized patches that are denser than their surroundings. Similar to the crests of waves in the ocean, galaxies ride on continuous strings of dark matter known as filaments, explained Xiaohui Fan, Regents’ Professor of Astronomy at Steward and a co-author on both publications. The newly discovered filament marks the first time such a structure has been observed at a time when the cosmos was just 6% of its current age. “I was surprised by how long and how narrow this filament is,” Fan said. “I expected to find something, but I didn’t expect such a long, distinctly thin structure.” This discovery was made as part of the ASPIRE project, a large international collaboration led by UArizona researchers, with Wang being the principal investigator. The main goal of ASPIRE – which stands for A SPectroscopic survey of biased halos In the Reionization Era – is to study the cosmic environments of the earliest black holes. The program will observe 25 quasars that existed within the first billion years after the Big Bang, a time known as the Epoch of Reionization. “The last two decades of cosmology research have given us a robust understanding of how the cosmic web forms and evolves,” said team member Joseph Hennawi of the University of California, Santa Barbara. “ASPIRE aims to understand how to embed the emergence of the earliest massive black holes into our current story of cosmic structure formation.” Winds of change Another part of the study investigates the properties of eight quasars in the young universe. The team confirmed that their central black holes, which existed less than a billion years after the Big Bang, range in mass from 600 million to 2 billion times the mass of the sun. Astronomers continue seeking evidence to explain how these black holes could grow so large so fast. To form these supermassive black holes in such a short time, two criteria must be satisfied, said Wang. “First, you need to start growing from a massive ‘seed’ black hole,” he explained. “Two, even if this seed starts with a mass equivalent of a thousand suns, it needs to accrete a million times more matter at the maximum possible rate in a relatively short time, because our observations caught it at a time when it was still very young.” “These unprecedented observations are providing important clues about how black holes are assembled. We have learned that these black holes are situated in massive young galaxies that provide the reservoir of fuel for their growth,” said Jinyi Yang, an assistant research ...
EY Ireland recently announced the launch of its Managed Cyber Security Service, specifically tailored to support Irish SMEs and other businesses to defend against cyber security threats and attacks. The new EY offering is designed to help reduce the cost and expertise barriers preventing many organisations from addressing their urgent cyber security needs. I talk to Puneet Kukreja, EY Ireland Cyber Lead about the human element, Cyber hygiene, the elastic perimeter, understanding risk, two eggs in a basket, assumed breech mindset, secure landing zone and native cloud. More about Puneet Kukreja: Puneet has 25 years’ plus experience in cybersecurity having worked in specialist cyber roles for a range of different organisations in the APAC region including National Australia Bank, the Victorian regional government of Australia, and Deloitte APAC before joining EY Ireland last year. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Recording artist Imogen Heap incorporates advanced technology in her music and live performances. On this episode of The Futurists, Imogen describes her creative process and explains how she improvises with emerging techn to achieve spontaneous artistic breakthroughs in composition, collaboration and live shows, including her digital twin “Mogen”, an AI-personality. Topics discussed in this episode: haptics, generative AI music, the future of live interaction and participatory media, procrastination and inspiration, geolocating songs, blockchain for music metadata, how fans and artists can collaborate with artificial intelligence. Technology for Creativity with Imogen Heap More about the hosts Robert Tercek is an award-winning author, entrepreneur, and educator focused on the process of dematerialization and innovation. In his professional capacity, Mr. Tercek is a seasoned business executive with deep expertise in digital media and internet services. He is a prolific creator of interactive programs and products. He has designed and launched successful consumer experiences on every digital platform, including digital television, game consoles, broadband Internet, and mobile networks. In 2021, Mr. Tercek was recognized as the Humanitarian of the Year by the Media Excellence Awards for his leadership in designing and launching COVID SMART™, an interactive training program designed to keep workers safe on the job during the pandemic. Brett King is a world-renowned entrepreneur, futurist, speaker, international bestselling author, and media personality. China’s President Xi Jinping cited his book Augmented: Life in the Smart Lane on the topic of Artificial Intelligence in his 2018 national address; the same book that was listed as a Top 10 non-fiction book in North America. In 2019 his book Bank 4.0 was awarded the Top Book by a Foreign Author in Russia for that year. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
In recent years, China has made significant strides in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), positioning itself as a global leader in this transformative technology. The emergence of ChatGPT, an advanced language model developed by OpenAI, has further accelerated China’s AI capabilities, raising intriguing questions about its potential to surpass the United States and become the world’s leading economy. China’s ascent as an AI powerhouse has been driven by ambitious investments, robust research, and development efforts, and a favorable policy environment. Recognizing AI’s potential economic and strategic benefits, the Chinese government has launched comprehensive plans and initiatives, such as the “New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan”, to foster innovation and propel the country forward. These efforts have propelled China to the forefront of AI research, development, and application, creating a fertile ground for breakthroughs in various sectors. This article delves into the evolving landscape of AI, examining China’s advancements and the implications of ChatGPT’s influence on its economic ambitions. Let’s enter the Chat-dragon! Baidu, Alibaba and Kunlun Go Into the Chat China’s internet giants, namely Baidu, Alibaba, and Kunlun, have indeed been swift to recognize the potential of ChatGPT and its implications in the ongoing US-China tech war. Since ChatGPT was unveiled last year, these companies have been actively exploring its applications and incorporating them into their own services and platforms. This development has added another layer to the already complex and heated conflict between the United States and China in the technology sector. Baidu Often referred to as the “Google of China”, the company has been at the forefront of leveraging ChatGPT to enhance its search engine capabilities and natural language processing systems. By integrating the conversational abilities of ChatGPT, Baidu aims to provide more intuitive and personalized search experiences to its users. The technology has the potential to revolutionize how users interact with search engines, enabling more natural language queries and facilitating a deeper understanding of user intent. AliBaba A global e-commerce and technology conglomerate, Alibaba, has also recognized the significance of ChatGPT in transforming customer experiences. By integrating ChatGPT into its customer service platforms, the company aims to enhance its virtual assistants, chatbots, and voice recognition systems. The technology can enable more human-like and context-aware conversations, improving customer engagement and satisfaction. Alibaba’s adoption of ChatGPT aligns with its broader strategy of leveraging AI to drive innovation across its diverse business ecosystem. Kunlun A Chinese tech company specializing in mobile internet services, Kunlun has made significant strides in incorporating ChatGPT into its applications. The company aims to enhance its mobile chat and messaging platforms by leveraging the natural language processing capabilities of ChatGPT. This integration can enable more seamless and interactive conversations between users, fostering deeper user engagement and propelling Kunlun’s services to the forefront of the messaging app market. The uptake of ChatGPT by these Chinese internet giants has undoubtedly intensified the conflict in the US-China tech war. The United States has been wary of China’s rapid advancements in AI and its potential implications for national security and economic competitiveness. The integration of ChatGPT by Chinese companies amplifies concerns regarding data privacy, intellectual property rights, and the potential for AI-powered technologies to be used for surveillance or information control. In response to the growing influence of Chinese tech companies leveraging ChatGPT, the United States has tightened restrictions and regulations on technology transfers, investments, and collaborations between the two nations...
Turtle Sanctuary at Grand Pacifica, a leading advocate for sea turtle conservation, is issuing a strong call to action on International Plastic Bag Free Day. With the alarming rise of plastic pollution in our oceans, the organization highlights the urgent need to reduce plastic bag usage to protect the delicate habitats of sea turtles and preserve marine ecosystems. Sea Turtles Sanctuary Urges Action on International Plastic Bag Free Day International Plastic Bag Free Day, observed on July 3rd, serves as a global reminder of the detrimental impact of plastic bags on the environment. As these non-biodegradable bags make their way into our oceans, they pose a severe threat to marine life, including sea turtles, who mistake them for prey or become entangled in them, leading to injury and even death. Plastic has become an integral part of daily life in Nicaragua, with residents relying heavily on items such as bags and bottles. However, this convenience comes at a significant cost to the environment. Every month, an alarming number of approximately 615,300 plastic pieces are discarded by the population, leading to a daunting challenge as these items take hundreds of years to decompose. 90% of the city’s waste is discarded without any regulation. Turtle Sanctuary at Grand Pacifica, recognizes the critical role that reducing plastic bag usage plays in safeguarding the habitats of these magnificent creatures. By encouraging communities, businesses, and individuals to adopt sustainable alternatives, we can collectively make a significant impact in preserving our oceans and the species that rely on them. “Our oceans are facing an environmental crisis, and sea turtles are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of plastic pollution,” said Michael Cobb, Co-founder of ECI Development. “On International Plastic Bag Free Day, we are urging everyone to take immediate action by reducing their plastic bag usage. Every step we take toward eliminating single-use plastic bags brings us closer to creating a sustainable future for sea turtles and other marine life.” Turtle Sanctuary at Grand Pacifica, encourages individuals to participate in International Plastic Bag Free Day by: 1. Choosing reusable bags made of eco-friendly materials for shopping and everyday use. 2. Spreading awareness about the impact of plastic bags on marine life through social media and local community events. 3. Supporting legislation and policies aimed at reducing plastic bag usage and promoting sustainable alternatives. 4. Encouraging local businesses to adopt plastic-free practices and provide incentives for customers to use reusable bags. By collectively taking these steps, we can protect the habitats of sea turtles and contribute to the preservation of our oceans for future generations. About Turtle Sanctuary at Grand Pacifica: Turtle Sanctuary at Grand Pacifica, is a dedicated advocate for sea turtle conservation and the protection of marine ecosystems. Through education, research, and community engagement, we strive to raise awareness about the threats faced by sea turtles and inspire action to ensure their survival. Contact: liat@percepto-digital.com See more breaking stories here.
CeADAR, Ireland’s National Centre for Applied AI, has upgraded its AI NewsHub to meet increasing demand for accurate information on global developments in artificial intelligence. AI NewsHub is a smart and easy-to-use digital news platform for reliable information on global trends and developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning. It is free to use. Originally launched in October 2022, AI NewsHub‘s objective was to bring together in one place news from the global AI community. But the rapid global increase in interest in AI over the last few months has led to an explosion in the readership of AI NewsHub, reflecting the growing importance of having a trustworthy and comprehensive news platform for global developments in the area. AI NewsHub has already reached users in 34 countries. It has a particularly high engagement with users in the United States and the UK, leading CeADAR to add dedicated channels for these regions in the new platform iteration. As the field of AI is vast in scope, CeADAR has also enhanced the service to ensure users are receiving only the content that they are interested in. In one of the key new developments, the platform now offers a personalised news feed so users can select the publisher categories, industry sectors and artificial intelligence and machine learning topics that they are most interested in. AI-powered enrichment is also used to provide wider context to each article. A core component of AI NewsHub is that the information continues to come from reputable and clearly identifiable media sources. By only sourcing information from reputable outlets, AI NewsHub maintains a tight quality control on the information it provides to its users. All original sources of the material are acknowledged, and all stories link back to the original publishing source. While AI NewsHub is free for anyone to use, it also includes a premium version for industry members of the CeADAR Centre, offering advanced features like access to CeADAR’s extensive news database and advanced search capabilities. The AI system developed by CeADAR for AI NewsHub employs natural language processing to automatically summarise each article into its key messages. The AI news portal was developed and redesigned by CeADAR’s team of data scientists, led by Technology Solutions Lead and Head of CeADAR Connect Group, Dr Arsalan Shahid. Dr Arsalan Shahid said: “Our goal is to make a smart and easy-to-use AI News platform that provides personalised content. Because our member companies fall into different industry verticals – such as healthcare, finance and pharma – we wanted to be able to serve them only the news that interests them. The platform now provides that functionality.” CeADAR Centre Director Dr Edward McDonnell said: “We are delighted that our AI NewsHub has become so popular. It was developed as a service for the AI community in Ireland to gather all the latest news and trends in one place. With worldwide media interest in AI we now see that the platform has a global reach. We hope that the platform can be a showcase for Ireland as the ‘AI Island’.” See more stories here.
Tatiana Botskina is the founder and CEO of Mintycode, a decentralized IP marketplace for software creators, bringing together software creators, software buyers, and software contributors. By building communities around software creators’ source code and enabling shared ownership, Mintycode helps software creators monetize their work and incentivize and reward contributors. Tatiana founded Mintycode in January 2022, and they are now one of the 12 startups forming the Techstars Web3 accelerator class of 2023. Tatiana began her career as a lawyer before returning to academia and adding disciplines in international finance, machine learning, and blockchain development. Through her time in academia and also through working with startups, Tatiana developed strong beliefs in digital transformation powered by artificial intelligence and global decentralization. In this episode, Tatiana and Pete Townsend dive into her background that inspired her passion for fairness and justice, her approach to developing a competitive edge, and the natively collaborative context of Mintycode as a platform and a community. Tatiana and Pete also talk through some of the challenges she’s faced so far as a founder/CEO, and also her love for hackathons. LINKS: Connect with Tatiana Botskina on LinkedIn and Twitter Follow Mintycode on LinkedIn and Twitter Episode title inspired by ‘Power to the People’ by Public Enemy Leave a review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Check out our MoneyNeverSleeps website and get in touch via info@moneyneversleeps.ie Follow us on Twitter: MoneyNeverSleeps | Eoin Fitzgerald | Pete Townsend More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
In this episode Dr. Efi Pylarinou talks to Peter Healey, CEO of efinancialcareers about the comprehensive report on Compensation in Financial Services. Gain firsthand knowledge of Compensation in Financial Services, in an exclusive interview with the CEO of efinancialcareers. We delve into the depths of this year’s most comprehensive report, unearthing insights (some surprising) and key highlights. From revenue-generating roles to the impact of automation on job security, we leave no stone unturned. Discover how compensation has weathered the challenges of 2023, the shifting dynamics between culture and pay, and the truth behind the Buy side myth. Compensation in the Financial Services with Peter Healey Financial Services Compensation Deep dive: In conversation with the CEO of efinancialcareers Gain firsthand knowledge of Compensation in Financial Services, in an exclusive interview with the CEO of efinancialcareers. We delve into the depths of this year’s most comprehensive report, unearthing insights (some surprising) and key highlights. From revenue-generating roles to the impact of automation on job security, we leave no stone unturned. Discover how compensation has weathered the challenges of 2023, the shifting dynamics between culture and pay, and the truth behind the Buy side myth. Pete Healey. is the CEO of eFinancialCareers, he has been with the company since 2016 where he joined as VP of Sales. Pete has 20 years experience in the digital recruitment space, previously Pete was Sales Director for European tech platform The IT Job Board which became Dice Europe following its acquisition by DHi. Pete is also a Board advisor to Get Optimal and Autometry, both in the digital talent space. Pete is very passionate about the role financial services can play to help addressing equality through better access to opportunities. See more podcasts here.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is launching its first Global Fintech Accelerator, giving fintech founders the support and mentorship they need to bring smarter financial services solutions to the market by leveraging the power of AI/ML and the cloud. Ninety-one per cent of financial services institutions are using artificial intelligence (AI) to drive business transformation and change, with 80 per cent of fintechs leveraging machine learning (ML) in particular. As the market evolves, AI and ML are standing out as critical enablers of innovation, driving success across the customer journey from user onboarding and workflow automation, to risk management and customer experience. This change is being driven, first and foremost, by consumers. Consumer expectations continue to increase, heightened by the hyper-personalized experience they receive from e-commerce companies, social media platforms, and myriad other industries. Financial services are no exception—consumers increasingly expect a faster, more customized, and more convenient way to manage their financial lives. Meeting these evolving expectations is critical to business success, and fintechs need to balance building innovative product experiences with continuing to manage risk and compliance effectively. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are key tools for accelerating success in this new space. We are already seeing successful applications in use cases such as consumer chatbots, digital identification (ID) verification, real-time fraud detection and prevention, and point of sale (POS) credit checks that enable new business models such as Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL). The opportunity for innovation is vast: open finance, the “API-fication” of financial services, and the explosion of connected devices has made data more accessible than ever. Combined with the democratization of tooling provided by the cloud, AI/ML is no longer limited to a select few; it can be leveraged by anyone and across all stages of maturity. Add in the game-changing impact of generative AI and the potential for reinvention is both broad and deep. “We are making big bets on the potential of generative AI to significantly change every customer experience out there, especially as it relates to financial services,” said Howard Wright, Vice President (VP) and Global Head of Startups. “In the long term, we expect generative AI to usher in the era of self-driving money, when every consumer with a smartphone can have access to an affordable, trusted financial advisor that will help them improve their financial health. These solutions will leverage what the cloud does best: it democratizes access for everyone.” With a global infrastructure spanning 99 availability zones and 31 geographic regions, AWS provides the most extensive, secure, and reliable cloud infrastructure in the world. Through our global fintech and financial services teams we help fintech startups access data in a compliant, cost-effective, and scalable way. By launching the AWS Global Fintech Accelerator, we are taking a front seat in the next wave of innovation by accelerating the success of fintech builders from Paris to New York, Buenos Aires to Cape Town, and everywhere in between. Tailored benefits The AWS Global Fintech Accelerator will select 150 fintech startups harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology from across North America (NAMER), Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA), and Latin America (LATAM). Selected startups will join a six-week remote program between September 18 and October 23, where they will receive 1:1 business and technical mentorship covering funding, scaling, and go-to-market strategies, as well as AWS technical fundamentals, cloud and AI/ML adoption, and much more. Cohort members will also receive a package of tailored benefits, including up to $25,000 in AWS Activate credits and a range of other benefits provided by accelerator partners across fintech, venture capital (VC...
Encouraging everyone to “Nurture the Night Shift” in an effort to increase awareness, spread the message and restore the natural rhythm of day and night for the benefit of all. Title image credit -> Coastal Light Pollution © Grace Miller @gracemiller_photography The new campaign, “Nurture the Night Shift”, focussing on light pollution and its detrimental effects on nocturnal bugs, seeks to enthuse people with nocturnal wildlife while carrying out simple actions to reduce the overuse of artificial light. Nurture the Night Shift to help nocturnal bugs Support the campaign by delving into the free resources on the Buglife website, sharing your actions and night-time bug sightings across social media accompanied by the hashtag #NurtureTheNightShift. Whether you are turning off the outside lights, planting nocturnal flowers or spotting moths share your actions to spread the word. Light pollution, caused by excessive and misdirected artificial lighting, not only obstructs our view of the stars but also has serious consequences for nature. Light pollution disrupts natural rhythms, altering behaviour, navigation, and even the biology of nocturnal species. Most people are generally familiar with daytime bugs like bees and butterflies going about their lives, carrying out vital services such as pollination. But many don’t consider that an entire night shift takes over when the sun sets, with nocturnal bugs carrying out many of the same tasks as the animals we see during the day such as pollination, recycling nutrients, and controlling pests. Two-thirds of invertebrates are partially or wholly nocturnal, dependent on the trigger of darkness to carry out their important roles. But what happens if daylight never ends? Light pollution is now thought to be increasing globally by 10% every year, and bugs and other nocturnal wildlife are now faced with constant light preventing them from carrying out their vital roles. The nature of light pollution presents a unique solution. It is a form of pollution that can be solved, quickly, inexpensively, and effectively using existing technologies and practices. Once a light has been turned off, that pollution no longer exists – unlike issues such as water quality, plastics, pesticides, and toxic air. Nurture the Night Shift As well as reducing their own impacts from light pollution, Buglife are encouraging the public to go Bug-gazing and appreciate some of the incredible nocturnal bugs we share our gardens and wild spaces with. They want gardeners to consider the “night garden” and how small changes such as shutting the curtains when the lights are on, using motion sensors, planting nocturnal flowering plants, and leaving wild areas of the garden can help natural night life thrive. They have also developed a simple guide to Bug-friendly lighting. Considering the need, amount, duration, and direction of lighting can mean huge differences to our smallest creatures and any improvement in current lighting will help nurture the night shift. Craig Macadam, Conservation Director at Buglife, shared, “We want the widespread love of daytime pollinators to extend to the night to recognise and celebrate the huge variety of bugs that are busy when the sun goes down. Insects are in decline, and this includes those active at night, they face many of the same challenges as daytime species such as habitat loss, climate change and the use of chemicals, but also, they have the extra pressure of light pollution changing the natural rhythm.” David Smith, Advocacy and Social Change Officer at Buglife, added, “We need to treat light in the same regard as other pollutants and bring it under control. Simple changes such as shutting curtains when the lights are on, switching to timers and motion sensors and reducing the brightness of lights can help wildlife to thrive while still providing lighting when we need to use it. Addressing light pollution can also bring further benefits such as reducing energy consumption and allow...
In Lviv, the second stage of constructing the school’s educational building has begun using 3D printing technology. According to preliminary calculations, this will be the largest one-story educational facility in the world, built with an on-site 3D construction printer. Construction will last about five weeks and be completed at the beginning of June 2023. The new additional school building is expected to be opened for 100 students in January 2024. As previously reported, the new educational building of Lviv School No23 is being built with the help of a modern construction 3D printer. It will be the first educational institution in Ukraine and Europe to be printed on a construction 3D printer. In addition, the 3D construction of an educational institution will soon reside in the war-torn country and will be the first in the world to open its doors. First educational institution in Europe printed on 3D printer The charity Team4UA, founded by Jean-Christophe Bonis, initiated the project with the support of the international technological, humanitarian fund Humanitarian Innovative Technologies (HIT) in partnership with the Lviv City Council. HITS’ other key player is the technology genius Dominique Piotet, a French American digital transformation expert. Mr. Piotet has been residing in Ukraine since 2019 as the CEO of the most significant innovation park built in Kyiv, Unit. His 30-plus years of expertise in advanced digital ecosystems and his magnificent leadership capabilities will award HIT far success in Ukraine’s reconstruction, plus bring his experience of technological revolution to the humanitarian sector. Dominique Piotet says,”We are built on humanity and compassion. We are driven by edgy technology and its high impact on the future of the people and the world.” He says, “We are here to make a global impact, scale with high growth potential, and seek key investors for this extremely innovative project plus, we aim above the mark to HIT the target.” The technology-providing partners are the Danish 3D construction company COBOD and the Danish construction company 3DCP Group, which will lead the printer’s operations on the ground. CEMARK, a CRH company, provides cement for the 3D printing concrete mix. The architectural concept of the project was developed by the architecture and interior design studio Balbek Bureau, founded by Slava Balbek and Borys Dorogov. Ars Longa architectural bureau developed the engineering concept of the project. According to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, over two thousand schools in Ukraine were damaged in the war, and 330 were destroyed due to the full-scale invasion. Therefore, a quick response to the problem of insufficient educational infrastructure in the country is the primary goal of the project initiators. The introduction of 3D printing technology will help to more quickly and effectively reduce the deficit of educational infrastructure and contribute to the reconstruction of Ukraine in the future. “The school construction project, based on 3D printing technology, is aimed at providing access to education to children affected by the full-scale war in Ukraine and creating an inclusive space for internally displaced children in Lviv. Ruined schools and other educational institutions deprive the young generation of the opportunity to get a quality education, which can negatively impact their and the state’s future. Innovative solutions will help to overcome this problem now, many times faster and more efficiently,” says the founder and chairman of the humanitarian fund “Team4UA”, a French tech entrepreneur Jean-Christophe Bonis. The construction of the educational building began in October 2022. In the first stage, the project team managed to lay the foundation for the future school, but the construction process was stopped due to massive missile attacks in Ukraine, which resulted in a lack of electricity supply. Therefore, it was decided to resume the active phase o...
Platform55 presents an actual, measurable and impactful solution to the growing challenges around workforce retention; specifically addressing the challenges of working parents. Their diagnostic tool allows companies to understand the needs of working parents in the workplace and a self-serve platform provides both the people functions and the employees with everything from education, workshops, policies and certification. Platform55 boosting female representation across business Daniel Donleavy, Global Head of Partnerships at the Dublin Tech Summit had this to say: “The standard at the tech summit pitch competition was the highest we have ever seen. Platform55 secured 2nd place, they stood out to the judges as an exciting and unique offering, backed up with data and an extremely strong presentation. We look forward to watching their journey which we have no doubt will be a very successful one.” Platform55 delivers support across Maternity and Paternity Leave to Infertility, Adoption, Surrogacy, Menopause and Work-Life Balance; ultimately helping companies to establish policies and practices to retain their top talent. Founder Michelle O’Keeffe states plainly: “Companies work with us because they want to avoid losing more people; 247% YOY growth after one year in business proves that our action-oriented solution is positively impacting working parents.” Platform55 delivers support across maternity and paternity leave to infertility, adoption, surrogacy, menopause and Work-Life Balance; ultimately helping companies to establish policies and practices to retain their top talent. Clients include AXA, Zurich, A&L Goodbody and Kerry Group and Irish Life have cited Platform55 in their Annual Reports as having a significant impact in their gender pay gap and D&I policies. Engineering group Sandvik is one of their most recent acquisitions, with the industry recognising there is a significant challenge around female representation across the industry. Sandvik’s HR Manager Hayley Murphy had this to say: “Platform55 supports our goal of having more female representation across the business and in particular in management roles. I also would like to see more men taking the opportunity to take family leave and to break down traditional gender roles when it comes to being a caregiver. Platform55 supports other actions that I have taken to improve access to family and life event leave (increased paid paternity and parents leave; paid fertility and miscarriage leave are examples of this). “Partnering with Platform55 is one of the ways we can ‘walk the talk’ on our commitment to providing our employees with what they need in order to do their best work. Acknowledging that people have lives outside of the office and that we are here to support them through it is really important.” Founders – Tracy Gunn and Michelle O’Keeffe – are multi-award winning entrepreneurs and senior leaders who have real-lived experiences of balancing careers with young families. They recognised a need to support parents in the workplace, to ensure companies retained their best talent and parents felt empowered to have a fulfilling family life and career. Gunn acknowledges that whilst companies have been progressing their gender equity and D&I policies, there is still a long way to go in order for industry to address the talent acquisition and retention crisis. “From our research we know that 85% of women will leave full-time employment in the 3 years after the birth of their child and 1 in 2 say being a parent isn’t compatible with senior roles. We also know that 1 in 3 Dads are looking for more flexibility at work, but face stigma in asking for, and taking, their leave entitlements.” See more breaking stories here.
Vodafone Ireland has today become the first operator in Ireland to offer smartwatch cellular connectivity through a new add-on service called OneNumber. OneNumber allows customers to stay connected and use a Samsung smartwatch while out and about, independently of their smartphone. Traditionally, smartwatch users relied on Bluetooth to connect their watch to their smartphone, meaning you had to stay within a certain range of your device. OneNumber, powered by Vodafone’s network, means customers can rely on the strength and reliability of the network to stay connected and contactable on the go, anywhere in the country – without their smartphone nearby. It gives customers the freedom to leave the house, go for a walk, go to the gym, and work anywhere without their phone, while still being contactable. Research commissioned by Vodafone found over 55% of people would consider leaving their smartphone at home if it meant they could stay connected. Interestingly, the research also found that while a third (32%) of Irish people own a smartwatch, many users aren’t aware of all its functions. A third (32%) of respondents were not aware maps and navigations can be accessed through a smartwatch, and one in five (19%) were unaware of the mobile payment function. Irish Smartphone Usage Smartphones have become an extension of our everyday lives and how we function – they are used for so much more than staying connected. The main reason people don’t leave home without their smartphone is to remain contactable, but others use it for more functional purposes when out and about, like mobile payments (32%) and maps and navigation (19%). Nearly a quarter (22%) use their smartphones to stay updated on social media, 20% rely on smartphones to keep on top of work emails and 13% use it for entertainment (music and games). Wearable Wisdom One of the most attractive benefits for those who own a smartwatch is tracking health and fitness (47%), followed by staying connected (25%) and easy, quick responses to messages (13%). Almost half (46%) of those who do not already own a smartwatch said they plan to buy one in the future. No Phone? No problem Reducing screen-time is something we’re all striving towards, but it doesn’t mean we can’t stay connected. In fact, two-thirds (63%) think wearable technology can help them achieve a more balanced lifestyle by staying connected while reducing screen time on their smartphone. A third (33%) of smartwatch owners agree their screen time has decreased since buying a smartwatch. OneNumber is available as a no-contract add-on to bill-pay customers for €5 per month, and Vodafone customers who purchase OneNumber in July and August can avail of an offer which gives them three months’ free usage. OneNumber is launching on a range of Samsung LTE watches: Watch5 Pro, Watch5, and Watch4, compatible with a range of Samsung and Android smartphones. Amanda Nelson, CEO of Vodafone Ireland, said: ‘’We’re delighted to be the first operator to provide smartwatch cellular connectivity to our customers. OneNumber means our customers can stay connected and realise the full benefits of the next evolution of wearable technology. Powered by our network OneNumber gives freedom of movement to those on the go. Whether exercising, on the move or working away from home, customers can stay connected – even without their phones. It’s clear from the findings of our research that there’s a strong appetite for smartwatches and wearable tech, and that their benefits go beyond health and fitness tracking. ‘’ For more information about OneNumber, visit:
Ransom payments are creating an industry for the middlemen of criminal enterprises involved in collecting ransoms, according to the Minister of State for Financial Services, Credit Unions and Insurance, Dep Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, who stated that “the payment of ransoms, following ransomware attacks, further fuels the industry of cyber-attacks”, which preys on vulnerabilities in organisations’ cyber security for profit. “A top concern of every CEO in Ireland is, or should be, cyber-crime”, given the threat it poses to organisations, she added. The comments were made by the Minister at an event hosted by communications and public affairs agency Powerscourt on cyber-crime risks and how companies should best respond to cyber-attacks and threats to their data security. The Minister said that there was a significant international effort to tackle cyber-crime and referenced the 2021 ransomware attack on the HSE, praising the contributions of “the United States, the FBI, and other international actors who helped us at that stage, but continue to help us identify those involved”. The Minister went on to say that “there is a real discussion to be had about the prohibition or mandatory disclosure of ransomware payments” and how this may help to reduce volume of payments being made to cyber criminals, thus lowering the incentives for attacks. “Unless we move to a system where there is an obligation to report ransomware attacks and a prohibition on paying ransoms, cyber-attacks by professional criminals are likely to persist”, added Doug McMahon, Partner at leading law firm McCann FitzGerald’s cyber risk and data protection practice, also speaking at the event. “It is currently not illegal to pay a ransom in circumstances where you do not know the identity of the attacker. And because there is an evident cyber-crime industry, it is clear that ransoms are being paid, which has the effect of incentivising further cyber-crime”, he added. Speakers at the event also included Helen Dixon, Data Protection Commissioner, Dr Richard Browne, Director of the National Cyber Security Centre, and Victoria Palmer-Moore, Managing Partner at Powerscourt and one of the UK’s leading crisis communications advisers. Recent statistics published by the National Cyber Security Centre have found that more than one-in-five organisations in Ireland do not implement baseline security standards to protect against cyber-attacks, leaving them vulnerable to the increasing number of criminal enterprises seeking to obtain personal data. Partner at Powerscourt, and head of its Dublin office, Eavan Gannon, said that, “A successful cyber-attack can have a devastating effect on an organisation, potentially leading to the permanent loss of data privacy for its customers or other stakeholders. It can also seriously injure that organisation’s reputation in a way that might lead to long-lasting or irreparable damage to their businesses. In an increasingly dangerous online environment, companies must take urgent action, not only to bolster their cyber-security but to build effective contingency and communications plans to deal with what, for many, is a doomsday scenario.” More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
University of Galway astronomers and international collaborators have published the results of more than 25 years of astronomical observations using the world’s most powerful radio telescopes demonstrating evidence for the detection of ultra-low-frequency gravitational waves. Such waves, first predicted by Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, are believed to be produced by supermassive black hole binaries – pairs of black holes with masses billions of times that of the sun – in the centres of distant galaxies, stirring up gravitational waves in space-time as they orbit one another. These waves spread away – like ripples across a pond – changing the properties of space and time as they pass by. The way in which these gravitational waves affect time itself forms the basis for work of Sai Chaitanya Susarla, astronomy PhD researcher in University of Galway, School of Natural Sciences. Along with collaborators in the European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) and colleagues in Japan and Indian, they studied the way in which these gravitational waves – the ripples on the universe – affect the most accurate clocks known, extinguished stars called pulsars. These pulsars – collapsed stars the size of Galway Bay – spin tens to hundreds of times a second, with their lighthouse beams of radio emission yielding ultra-regular pulses, easily detectable with radio telescopes. A remarkable prediction of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity is that these regular pulses will be subtly distorted as ultra-low-frequency gravitational waves wash over these pulsars, and astronomers realised that by studying and identifying the way in which these cosmic clocks change their tempo, we could confirm the existence of these bizarre gravitational waves for the first time, and furthermore start to study the Universe anew by in effect constructing a Galaxy-sized gravitational wave detector. In a series of papers published today, Sai Chaitanya Susarla and his colleagues show for the first time that their data are indeed consistent with a ‘background hum’ of low-frequency gravitational waves. Sai Chaitanya Susarla said: “The evidence for nano-hertz gravitational waves represents a scientific milestone in our understanding of the universe. They offer a remarkable avenue for unraveling the mysteries of our universe, enabling us to explore its history, study black holes and dark matter, and probe the cosmological structure. The insights gained from these discoveries have the potential to reshape our understanding of the cosmos, deepening our knowledge of fundamental physics and providing invaluable insights into the workings of the universe at its grandest scales.” Dr Aaron Golden, School of Natural Sciences, College of Science and Engineering, University of Galway and Sai Chaitanya Susarla’s co-PhD supervisor, said: “This is a fabulous outcome for all the relentless hard work Sai has put into his doctoral studies. It also speaks to the continuing tradition of research excellence in the physical sciences at University of Galway, where the cold hard practicalities of instrumentation and data analytics combined with boundless human curiosity are training the next generation of outstanding scientists and engineers.” University of Galway alumnus Professor Evan Keane, Associate Professor of Radio Astronomy in Trinity College Dublin’s School of Physics, Head of the Irish LOFAR Telescope and co-PhD supervisor, described the results as “the start of something big”. Professor Keane added: “Pulsars are basically super clocks in space. By monitoring the ‘ticks’ from these clocks, which are spread throughout our galaxy, we can see the impact of passing gravitational waves making the pulsar signals arrive earlier or later.” The European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) announcement is coordinated with similar publications from other teams across the world, namely the Australian (PPTA), Chinese (CPTA), Indian Pulsar Timing Array (InPTA), and North-American (NANOGrav) collaborations. This ...
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney TD, and the Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath TD have welcomed the announcement of a commitment of up to €35m to WakeUp Capital, in what is the first allocation from the Irish Innovation Seed Fund (IISF). The Irish Innovation Seed Fund Programme was launched in 2022 and is a €90 million fund-of-funds, made up of a €30m investment from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, through Enterprise Ireland, which is matched by a €30m investment from the European Investment Fund, and a €30m co-investment from Ireland Strategic Investment Fund. WakeUp Capital fund to support clean energy WakeUp Capital is an early stage impact fund focussing on sustainability and sustainable investment in the areas of clean energy and environmentally focussed investments such as innovative technology, agriculture solutions, waste treatment and energy technology as well as services and technologies that support financial inclusion. WakeUp Capital are targeting a fund of up to €50m and under the terms of the IISF, the funding partners can allocate up to 70% of a chosen fund. Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, Simon Coveney TD commented; “I am very pleased to announce the first commitment of €35 million to WakeUp Capital under the Irish Innovation Seed Fund Programme. This fund of funds programme will both increase early-stage funding for SMEs and strengthen the market for the provision of seed investment. It is an important step in supporting our indigenous, high potential and high innovation enterprises to reach their full potential. “Our Programme for Government identified the importance of backing entrepreneurs and investors in innovative start-ups to reignite and renew our economy. And this announcement supports Government’s ambition. “The Irish Innovation Seed Fund Programme is targeted at supporting seed stage SMEs across the State and prioritises areas such as sustainability, climate change and female entrepreneurship. The €90 million fund brings together three experienced partners, Enterprise Ireland, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and the European Investment Fund, whilst at the same time leveraging significant additional private investment. “SMEs play a significant role in the growth of the Irish economy, with almost two thirds off all those in employment across the State being employed in an SME. Having access to appropriate sources of funding allows our SMEs to develop and grow, which further benefits our economy.” Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath TD added; “I very much welcome the first allocation of funding from the €90 million Irish Innovation Seed Fund Programme to WakeUp Capital, an early stage fund whose impact themes include sustainable production and consumption, health equity and inclusive and accessible services. “The deployment of €35m to WakeUp Capital will support the targeted investment goals of this fund, which includes supporting innovative companies in the sustainability and climate change sector, healthcare, fintech, food and agri-tech, technology and digitalisation. “The Irish Innovation Seed Fund Programme brings together three experienced partners in SME Funding, the European Investment Fund and Enterprise Ireland, with the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund participating as a co-investor, all working together to identify opportunities to deploy capital which will be invested into innovative Irish and European companies. “The growth of indigenous business is a cornerstone of our economic model and the Government is committed to helping high-growth SMEs access the funding they require to allow them to reach their full potential. Working together, these funding partners will deliver an ambitious programme which will support our SMEs now, and as they innovate for future growth to the ultimate benefit of our economy.” Faye Walsh Drouillard (founder) and Mark Peters (co-founder) from WakeUp Capital added; “This anchor investmen...
Guest post by Rob Allen, who is an IT Professional with almost two decades of experience assisting small and medium enterprises embrace and utilise technology. Stand first: A radically different model to the old ‘castle walls’ approach, it is vital to communicate the benefits of the Zero Trust model to the business. Why Zero Trust is the model for today’s challenges A director of the FBI said there are two types of companies: those that have been hacked and those that will be. While it may sound ominous to think of such an outcome as inevitable, this position can also provide a different perspective on security, while also reducing reputational risk. uses policies and actions to enforce least-privilege in information systems and services. It views the IT environment as inevitably or already compromised, and therefore limits access to only what is needed. With the goal of preventing unauthorised access to data and services, and to make access control enforcement as granular as possible, the Zero Trust model represents a shift from a location-centric model to a more data- and user-centric approach. Zero Trust can be applied to data, applications, services, and servers, just as much as for users. By understanding what a Zero Trust model can mean for the whole organisation, it can provide a foundation and blueprint for a layered, coordinated approach to security that protects businesses against the realities of today’s threat landscape. What is the Zero Trust model? “Zero trust is a way of thinking, not a specific technology or architecture,” said Neil MacDonald, distinguished VP analyst, Gartner. “It’s really about zero implicit trust, as that’s what we want to get rid of.” In the aftermath of the cyber attack on the Colonial Pipeline in 2021, the US Government announced the ‘Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity’. This Executive Order stated that the ‘The Federal Government must adopt security best practices; advance toward Zero Trust Architecture’ As part of this Executive Order Zero Trust was defined as follows: ‘the term “Zero Trust Architecture” means a security model, a set of system design principles, and a coordinated cybersecurity and system management strategy based on an acknowledgement that threats exist both inside and outside traditional network boundaries.‘ ‘The Zero Trust security model eliminates implicit trust in any one element, node, or service’, ‘Zero Trust Architecture allows users full access but only to the bare minimum they need to perform their jobs’ ‘The Zero Trust Architecture security model assumes that a breach is inevitable or has likely already occurred, so it constantly limits access to only what is needed’ This is in stark contrast to the old idea of the castle walls, where it was assumed inside the castle, or your business security perimeter, everyone was a trusted user and therefore had access to pretty much everything. This was implicit trust. Firstly, today’s user is more likely than ever to be outside your company firewall, beyond your castle’s walls, perhaps at home, or in a hotel, or at a customer’s site. A ZTM never assumes anyone is coming from a safe location. whether inside the castle, or beyond the moat, every endpoint is treated equally, and must be authenticated. Secondly, the ZTM does not check once and then grant unlimited access. The model is designed to check on each request or interaction. This means that even if credentials are stolen, hijacked or spoofed, unauthorised access or requests are checked against policies, roles, and processes to see that all is as it should be. This is a fundamental shift in thinking to how many businesses operated before and has many implications. Turning to Gartner again, it says an effective zero trust strategy means focusing on balancing the need for security with the need to run the business. It means building a structure where everyone gets all the access they need to do their job when they need it, but no more — reducing...
Codec, one of Ireland’s leading cloud solutions consultancy companies, has announced it has won the prestigious Microsoft Partner of the Year Award for 2023. The company was honoured among a global field of top Microsoft partners for demonstrating excellence in innovation and implementation of customer solutions based on Microsoft technology. The achievement comes following a recent expansion programme launched by Codec. The expansion will create 65 new jobs in Ireland and saw the opening of a new office in London. The Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards recognise Microsoft partners that have developed and delivered outstanding Microsoft-based applications, services, and devices during the past year. Awards were classified in various categories, with honourees chosen from a set of more than 4,200 submitted nominations from more than 100 countries worldwide. Codec was recognised for providing outstanding solutions and services in Ireland. Commenting on the achievement, Ronan Stafford, CEO, Codec, said: “I am delighted to accept the Microsoft Ireland 2023 Country Partner of the Year award on behalf of our exceptional team at Codec. Their dedication, innovation, and unwavering commitment have driven transformative digital projects for our clients in the Public Sector and Healthcare Sector. This recognition is a testament to their remarkable achievements and the positive impact they have made. Together, we will continue pushing boundaries and shaping a brighter future.” Speaking about the award win, Martina Naughton, Global Partner Sales Director, Microsoft Ireland, added: “We are delighted to announce Codec as Microsoft Ireland’s Country Partner of the Year for 2023. Codec’s exceptional drive for innovation, their dedication to customer success, and collaborative approach truly set them apart. Their unwavering commitment to assuring delivery of Microsoft’s cloud solutions has been instrumental in enabling their customers to thrive and embrace digital transformation. We look forward to continuing our partnership, developing innovative solutions, now and into the future, as Codec continues to exemplify excellence in leveraging Microsoft technology.” Established in 1985 and headquartered in Ireland, Codec is a high-growth, leading technology company with offices in Dublin, London, Belfast, and Malta. With a team of over 300 dedicated professionals, they are committed to delivering innovative solutions based on the Microsoft low-code platform. As a four-time recipient of the Microsoft Country Partner of the Year award, Codec specialises in providing business applications, artificial intelligence, and cloud infrastructure on the low-code Microsoft platform to organisations in the Public and Healthcare sectors. Beyond technology Codec actively supports sustainability and our chosen charities, Ruhama and Flourish. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Dr. Efi Pylarinou’s latest podcast in her series with Fintech influencers and innovators. Expanding the concept of Wealth based on the principles developed by a successful ex- Wealth advisor, Jennifer Wines. Redefining Wealth & Leverage in the New Paradigm with Jennifer Wines Jennifer Wines/ worked at some of the top private wealth management institutions in the world, namely Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Fidelity. She earned her Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School in Boston and her Certified Private Wealth Advisor designation from Booth Business School in Chicago. While at Fidelity, she developed a proof of concept and prototype for an enterprise solution, which was advanced into incubation. Her strong background with words and numbers, paired with her entrepreneurial spirit make her a trusted voice on the topic of redefining wealth. Recently named one of the Top 100 Women of the Future, Jennifer is a certified private wealth advisor who founded Invisible Wealth, which provides future-forward, consultancy services. Invisible Wealth, the book, is now available through all major retailers. Publisher: Wiley. Book by Wiley: Invisible Wealth Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica. A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter. Join her on the social platforms See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Logicalis UK&I, the leading technology service provider, has revealed the challenges that IT professionals are most concerned about in 2023, with security threats taking the top spot (47%). This was followed by skills and resourcing (46%) and budgetary pressure (36%). The survey of IT professionals across Ireland and the UK also found that more than a third (35%) are concerned about upgrading legacy infrastructure systems, while almost a fifth (18%) are worried about IT supply chain shortages. Given the challenges causing the most concern, it’s perhaps unsurprising that some 71% of respondents are planning to focus their IT strategy this year on security. The other two most cited focus areas were public cloud (46%) and automation (41%). Clearly, cloud remains a key focus for 2023 with a quarter (25%) of IT experts also honing in on cloud backup. Some 30% will prioritise hybrid (multi) cloud, with 34% set to focus on Software as a Service (SaaS) or cloud applications. A similar proportion (35%) are setting their sights on data protection and compliance as a primary focus area of their 2023 IT strategy, while workplace modernisation is a priority for 26% and remote working is high on the list for 30%. The same amount (30%) cited end user computing and environmental sustainability as key areas. In terms of IT budgets for 2023, the research revealed that 35% of IT professionals are expecting theirs to increase – this is down considerably from 2022 when 51% expected their IT budgets to increase. Meanwhile, some 40% are expecting theirs to stay the same, with a quarter (25%) anticipating a decrease – rising from 16% who expected a decrease the year previously. When it comes to making strategic IT decisions, 76% said the input of the internal IT team is most valuable. Moreover, half (50%) value the input of their peers/personal network most and 46% identified independent tech specialists. The study also found that 95% of organisations are currently using Microsoft as the technology vendor most aligned with their IT strategy for 2023. The other vendors in the top five were VMware (83%), Azure Cloud (82%), Dell (78%) and Cisco (73%). Alex Louth, Managing Director, Logicalis UK&I, said: “Given the concerns around rising threats and lacking skills, where IT leaders allocate their spend is more critical than ever. Furthermore, there is a balance to be found between securing company systems and supporting the modern workplace. “This will mean choosing not just the right technological solutions and vendors, but having an approach which can evolve to meet the needs of the team and the business as a whole – both today and moving forward. “After all, workplace modernisation is a continuous process and change is required. However, if organisations can successfully master and implement their IT strategy, they can protect their data, encourage team innovation and drive business growth.” To download the Logicalis IT Survey Results, Independent Survey of IT Priorities, UK and Ireland, click here. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
NovaUCD has announced exVal, an early-stage MedTech venture, as the overall winner of the 2023 NovaUCD Student Enterprise Competition and a €5,000 cash prize. exVal is focused on addressing the issue of early detection of childhood pneumonia as it continues to be a leading cause of death in children under the age of five, especially in the developing world. exVal’s solution is a portable, modular device for fast and early detection of pneumonia using an electrochemical sensor that detects relevant biomarker proteins in exhaled breath condensate. The non-invasive solution only requires an infant to breathe normally into the device via a mouthpiece and provides results based on breath condensate biomarker analysis. The three members of the exVal team, all students in the UCD College of Engineering and Architecture are; Sarthak Jain, a postgraduate Biomedical Engineering student along with Simon Peter and Nathan Hens, both undergraduate engineering students. Simon Peter, exVal team member, said, “Pneumonia is responsible for a child’s death every 43 seconds according to UNICEF. Although simple interventions and appropriate treatment can prevent childhood pneumonia deaths if the disease is diagnosed by x-rays and blood tests in its early stages. However pneumonia often goes undiagnosed and untreated in the community, especially in developing countries where access to x-rays and blood tests can be an issue, until the child is critically ill. Our novel solution is a simple and accurate inline screening for children via a modified electrochemical sensor and offers fast results based on breath condensate biomarker analysis.” Sarthak Jain, exVal team member, said, “We are delighted to have been named the overall winner of the 2023 NovaUCD Student Enterprise Competition, especially as the quality of this year’s entrants was very high, with many fantastic early stage student start-ups taking part.” He added, “The next steps for exVal are focused on iterating the prototype to achieve higher functionality. This will help us to engage with subject matter experts and research labs to further collect preclinical data as part of our IP strategy. We shall also explore the screening potential for other paediatric respiratory diseases, such as tuberculosis, based on insights garnered during the comprehensive customer discovery process undertaken during the NovaUCD Student Enterprise Competition.” The NovaUCD Student Enterprise Competition is an intensive 4-week mentoring programme for student entrepreneurs. The programme now in its 9th year, is run by NovaUCD, the start-up hub at University College Dublin (UCD), as a framework to support undergraduate and postgraduate students who want to work together to develop and grow start-up companies. The aim of the competition is to assist the participating students in refining their start-up ideas through a series of structured workshops, including taught content from industry experts, interactive workshops, regular pitching sessions and mentoring. Nine (9) early-stage student ventures and 18 participants took part in year’s competition. Over 70 early-stage ventures and some 170 students have now completed the NovaUCD Student Enterprise Competition over the last 9 years. Tom Flanagan, UCD Director of Enterprise and Commercialisation, said, “Congratulations to all the students who took part in this year’s NovaUCD Student Enterprise Competition over the last 4-weeks to refine their start-up ideas. I would especially like to congratulate the exVal team, the overall winner of this year’s competition. We look forward to seeing exVal and the other early-stage student ventures move forward and develop further and in due course successfully launch on the market.” exVal was declared overall winner of the competition following final pitches to an external judging panel. Two other participating ventures, AceCell and PromiseWatch, were announced as second and third place winners and receive €3,000 and €2,000 cash...
Refurbed, Ireland’s leading online marketplace for refurbished technology, announces an incredible milestone of reaching a billion euro in sales across all of its seven markets, including Austria, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Denmark and The Netherland. Refurbed, established in 2017 by its three co-founders in Vienna, Austria, launched its service in Ireland in February 2021. Since then, Irish consumers now rank the second highest per capita, only after the company’s home country Austria, when it comes to buying more sustainable technology from the marketplace. Refurbed provides Irish consumers with more sustainable, refurbished technology when compared to the mass waste produced by buying new devices. Refurbed has experienced tremendous growth in Ireland since it first launched. This year to date, refurbed has experienced over 2.5x year-on-year growth, with an over 150% increase in sales. Similar figures have been recorded for 2021 vs 2022. iPhones, Samsung Phones, MacBooks and iPads are among the most popular devices bought among Irish consumers. Ireland’s top-selling products since the company launched in Ireland include the following: iPhone 11, iPhone 12, iPhone 8, Samsung Galaxy S10 and iPad 6 (2018). This growth has shown Irish consumers in particular, are becoming increasingly aware of the problematic working conditions, growing e-waste productions and CO2-intensive supply chains involved in buying new tech devices. In fact, a recent study commissioned by refurbed and conducted by the renowned Fraunhofer Austria Research Institute found, among other things, that professional recycling of electrical appliances can save up to 83% of CO2 when compared to buying all new. As well as reaching this Billion Euro milestone, refurbed is growing its leadership presence within Europe. Last week Co-Founder, Kilian Kaminski, was appointed as one of the newest board members of EUREFAS, the European Refurbishment Association. The aim of this association is to create standards within the refurbishment industry and promote sustainable consumption across Europe. Speaking on the announcement today, Kilian Kaminski, co-founder of refurbed said ‘Now more than ever, it is important that consumers across the globe think more consciously when it comes to purchasing goods. We see this new milestone as a strong sign that sustainability and the circular economy are on the rise. We have achieved great things together and we will achieve even more in the future. Ireland is one of refurbed’s valued markets and we look forward to what the future holds for this growing market.’. Pádraig Power, Senior Marketing Manager: Global Operations and Ireland at refurbed added ‘We are very pleased and extremely proud of this result and milestone in refurbed’s history. It is incredible to see how much refurbed has grown since we first launched in Ireland in early 2021. Ireland ranking second after Austria demonstrates Irish consumers’ commitment to more sustainable consumption.’ See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Guest post by Francis O’Haire, Group Technology Director, DataSolutions Artificial intelligence (AI), especially when it comes to chatbots, is garnering a lot of media interest at the moment. When OpenAI (a US-based AI research laboratory) launched ChatGPT back in November 2022, it was seen by many as a significant breakthrough in technology – AI capable of providing users with detailed, coherent responses spanning a wide breadth of knowledge. But like all ground-breaking advances in technology, there are both positive and negative use cases – splitting the atom, for instance, offered both the promise of cheap energy and also the threat of nuclear devastation. Indeed, even the leaders of great tech companies have arrived at a crossroads in their respective views concerning AI, with Bill Gates criticising Elon Musk and more than 1,000 tech leaders for wanting to halt the development of AI due to fears it could destroy humanity. Gates is of the opinion that pulling the plug on the evolution of ChatGPT and other similar systems will not solve any of the problems or challenges surrounding them. Despite which side of the fence you’re on when it comes to chatbots, the reality is that they do represent a double-edged sword. Europol recently released a report which shows how ChatGPT could be used for criminal purposes, observing that “while all of the information ChatGPT provides is freely available on the internet, the possibility to use the model to provide specific steps by asking contextual questions means it is significantly easier for malicious actors to better understand and subsequently carry out various types of crime”. For example, phishing campaigns often fall down or fail due to the perceived authenticity of the message with poor spelling and grammar or unrealistic branding, giving attackers away. However, technology like ChatGPT could greatly assist in addressing such shortcomings and rapidly produce much more professional-looking phishing emails which are more effective. Also, ChatGPT can produce computer code without requiring a strong background in programming. While there are safeguards in place to limit the creation of malicious code, these are by no means foolproof. Those looking to exploit this can manipulate the questions they input to make it produce something that it shouldn’t. An example was recently documented by Check Point Research, where cybercriminals used ChatGPT to improve the efficacy of an existing piece of malware. Then there’s the prevalence of ‘fake news’, an area where AI has proven itself very capable of generating realistic images based on the user’s requests. These can be used to promote falsehoods or spread fake news, which can be used to further the agenda of nefarious individuals, groups or even governments. Prime examples of this are the fake pictures of former president Trump supposedly being arrested and detained by the police. And let’s not forget about deepfakes. Many of these are pornographic, with research showing that a staggering 99% of these manipulated images mapped faces from female celebrities onto the bodies of porn stars. It begs the question, will we see examples of this being used in so-called revenge porn in the future? Of course, there are also less inflammatory examples, like the fake photo of Pope Francis sporting an impressive designer coat which went viral and fooled much of the world. The chatbot space will only become busier and more competitive going forward with Google’s launch of Bard. In turn, this will not only serve to facilitate further advances in AI technology but also assist in its use for good. In the world of business, chatbots with AI and machine learning capabilities can help organisations to redefine and enhance customer service. They can handle thousands of customer queries instantly, as well as simultaneously improving the average response time. They can also help businesses maintain solid levels of consistency when answering queries and improve cu...
Schneider Electric™, the global leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, unveiled a new framework to help companies understand the full environmental impact of enterprise data centers, including using a carbon calculator. The framework, detailed in a whitepaper available for download here, includes a free Lifecycle CO2e TradeOff tool, the first of its kind for accurately estimating the total carbon footprint of data centers – including Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. New carbon calculator to assess data centres’ environmental impact By quantifying Scope 3 emissions from their value chain, organizations can measure their total carbon footprint, including outsourced IT services from cloud and colocation service providers. This Schneider Electric whitepaper takes a data-driven approach to helping data center operators identify and categorize emissions from operations and the supply chain, then prioritize efforts to make impactful carbon reductions. As the US and EU are proposing rules to mandate, enhance, and standardize climate-related disclosures, accounting for and reporting on Scope 3 emissions will become a future requirement. Establishing and implementing a GHG framework that incorporates carbon counting and target setting while systematically reviewing company data and emission sources, is the foundation to creating an achievable reduction plan. Electricity generation, GHG emissions, and water consumption determine the carbon footprint and water footprint of data centers, including that of its suppliers. “Developing a climate strategy that identifies the biggest source of carbon emissions in the value chain is fast becoming a data center industry priority alongside the urgency to establish easy-to-use frameworks. We are 100 percent behind the drive for the industry to become the most sustainable in the world by making resources free and readily available,” said Pankaj Sharma, Executive Vice President, Secure Power Division at Schneider Electric. “We have shared our latest whitepaper, and our free Lifecycle CO2 calculator, at a time when data center operators are increasingly trying to understand their carbon footprint. Proactive data center operators understand they will be held accountable for achieving net-zero climate goals in the future to meet the expectations of their stakeholders, including customers, investors, employees, business partners and communities up and down the value chain.” Highlights of the whitepaper include: A “Data Center Lifecycle CO2e Calculator” to quantify the details driving Scope 3 in an enterprise data center like embodied and sub-system embodied carbon. An approach to managing a hypothetical 1-megawatt data center with a focus on Scope 3 emissions and proposed actions for improvements like purchasing efficient and low carbon products. Advice on standardized metrics and what to measure like fuel and energy-related activities, upstream transportation and distribution. About Schneider Electric Schneider’s purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. We call this Life Is On. Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency. We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, end-point to cloud connecting products, controls, software and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries. We are the most local of global companies. We are advocates of open standards and partnership ecosystems that are passionate about our shared Meaningful Purpose, Inclusive and Empowered values. www.se.com See more breaking stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platf...
Ireland remains a highly attractive location for foreign direct investment (FDI), with seven in ten (71%) overseas businesses currently operating in Ireland planning to increase investment in the coming year and almost half (46%) of global investors surveyed expecting Ireland’s attractiveness for foreign direct investment to improve over the next three years, with just 18% expecting that it will decrease. According to the latest EY Europe Attractiveness Survey, the key to sustaining Ireland’s FDI success and securing the next-generation of investment in knowledge-intensive, high value-added and cutting edge industries will be a focus on three core areas: Talent, Technology and Sustainability. This latest report builds on recent (May 2023) data published by EY measuring FDI performance across 44 countries in Europe during 2022. This found that the number of FDI projects in Ireland increased by 21% in a year where overall FDI growth across Europe was just 1%. Ireland secured 184 new greenfields and expansion FDI projects in 2022, up from 152 in 2021 and was in the top 5 countries in Europe for investments in the crucially important high-value, knowledge-intensive sectors of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and research and development centres. In total 80% of respondents to the EY Europe Attractiveness Survey 2023 believe the country’s appeal will improve or remain the same over the next three years, with fewer than one in five (18%) believing that Ireland’s attractiveness will diminish over the next three years. For these respondents, the top concerns were increased geopolitical instability, Ireland’s cost base and increased incentives available elsewhere. Just over half (52%) of respondents expect software and IT services to be the top driver of Ireland’s growth over the coming years. Notably, investors viewed utilities, including cleantech and renewables, as the second most impactful sector driving growth (35%). Feargal de Freine, EY Ireland Assurance Partner and Head of FDI said, “Relative to our population, Ireland commands an outsize share of foreign direct investment into Europe. FDI project numbers are growing strongly, and senior executives in the organisations investing or considering investing anticipate a further improvement in the country’s attractiveness over the next three years. “This success is built on decades of hard work in developing the right policy framework across a range of areas, as well as our highly skilled workforce and business-friendly environment. By sustaining successful investments in high-value sectors over many years, we have developed a credible track record, a deep talent pool, and ecosystems that foster innovation. “One particularly noticeable feature is Ireland’s enduring and continuing appeal to US companies as an FDI location. Across Europe, 21% of FDI projects are from the US, however, in Ireland, 59% of projects originate in the US.” Focusing on Talent, Technology and Sustainability Feargal de Freine said the challenge for policymakers and other stakeholders was to ensure that existing investments form the bedrock for future investments in new and emerging technologies such as personalised medicine, renewables and greentech, AI, quantum computing and Industry 5.0. “With competition for investment intensifying globally, Ireland needs to ensure that it maintains and strengthens its attractiveness for FDI. Key to this will be three areas of focus: talent, technology and sustainability.” “Countries competing for investments will need to demonstrate high levels of expertise and research capability, along with a ready supply of top-level talent. Encouragingly for Ireland, almost 6 in 10 (58%) of investors surveyed saw the availability of technology skills in Ireland as better than in other countries, up significantly from 45% last year. Combined with the finding that half (50%) of respondents considered Ireland’s network of technology start-ups and research institutions as stronger than ...
We all revel in the summer months as the days get longer and the evenings become brighter, but with it comes the question – where to go and what to do? Keeping our families occupied over summer can be tricky for a lot of people, with over 65% of Irish people actively seeking out inspiration when it comes to finding things to do and places to see. This is according to new research from BYD, a global leader in electric vehicles and a current undiscovered gem in the Irish car market, having only arrived in Ireland in April 2023. Launching firstly with the Atto 3, a groundbreaking fully electric SUV, it seamlessly combines sustainability and style with affordability. With its cobalt-free long-range batteries, the Atto 3 allows you to discover the beauty of Ireland with zero-emissions driving. To celebrate the launch of the Atto 3, BYD has collaborated with travel influencer and digital creator Sarah Hanrahan, to reveal Dublin’s top undiscovered gems, inspiring us to enjoy a summer of exploration and experience. Speaking on the launch, travel creator Sarah Hanrahan said “I love exploring Ireland, we have so many undiscovered gems here that get overlooked as people book trips abroad for summer. There’s something so simple about loading up the car, bundling your loved ones in and hitting the road for an adventure. I always stay mindful of my carbon footprint, so I’m delighted to be working with BYD on the launch of their Atto 3, the perfect car for exploration in style with zero driving emissions.” To inspire your summer of discovery check out Sarah’s bucket list of undiscovered gems to uncover in Dublin this year, with something for everyone. One for the adventurous – Paddle around the heart of Dublin city with City Kayaking this summer. Take in Dublin’s famous landmarks and set sail under iconic bridges while listening to one of the expert tour guides. All you need to bring is yourself and a few extra layers to stay warm and cosy. With electric charging points dotted in easily accessible locations all around the city, it’s the perfect park and sail location. One for the foodie – An undiscovered gem sitting on the periphery of the city centre, The Window Box food truck in Rathfarnham can’t be beaten when it comes to tasty sandwiches, coffee and cake – all served from inside a revamped trailer. There’s something for everyone on the menu, from savoury to sweet and super central to Rathfarnham village. One for the sweet tooth – Breadman Walking is a hidden gem for foodies all over Dublin. This micro-bakery serves the tastiest pastries and brioche, located in Dublin 8 but catering to carb lovers who travel far and wide to get their hands on one of their tasty treats. The catch? Breadman Walking is only open on Saturdays between 12 pm and 3 pm so you have to be quick! Bundle the kids into the car on Saturday morning and get ahead of the crowds. One for the snap happy – Nothing savours a beautiful summer memory more than a Polaroid picture. Uncover one of Dublin’s best-kept secrets, Arisu Photo Booth beside the infamous Dublin Spire and snap the day away, taking home lasting memories. Perfectly accessible within the city centre and ideal for anyone on a budget. One for the gamer – An experience like no other, Zero Latency Dublin is an arena-scale virtual reality experience combining technology and pure imagination that transports you into a truly immersive experience. Perfect for those who have to be bribed away from their screens during the summer months, a first-of-its-kind experience in Dublin. Pack up the car and set off for a summer of discovery this year with the Atto 3 from BYD. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@Iris...
Research conducted by iReach Insights on behalf of Google has found that the majority of SMEs (77%) agree that having a secure online presence is a priority for their business, with 42% strongly agreeing that it is a priority. However, only 20% are very aware of the specific measures or tools required to protect their data/ digital assets, while 64% know a little but not much. When it comes to protecting their website and digital assets, the research shows that just over half of the SMEs regularly back-up data (54%), ensure software is updated (53%), and use two-step authentication for accessing common-owned devices (53%). Despite the fact that a strong majority of Irish SMEs readily recognise the benefits of having a secure online presence, less than half of SMEs require employees to periodically change passwords (44%) or take regular or annual security awareness training (38%). Even less (28%) have an incident response plan in case of a cyberattack. When it comes to how cyber security is managed, 38% of SMEs have their cybersecurity managed in-house, 25% have it outsourced, while 37% have a mix of both. Interestingly, the 38% of SMEs that have their cybersecurity managed in-house express the highest levels of satisfaction at 70%. The 37% of SMEs that have a mix of both In-House and Outsourcing show the lowest satisfaction levels at 53%. The findings were published as Google added a new module, ‘Improve your online business security’, to the You’re the Business initiative, a digital training scheme to help upskill Irish SMEs. Launched in July 2022 by Google, Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices, You’re the Business aims to accelerate Irish SME growth through digitalisation in the form of tailored, free-of-charge online training as well as an SME reward programme. Marie Davis, Head of SME Retail, UK and Ireland, Google said: “Google is very proud of the You’re the Business initiative and how it has helped Irish businesses initiate, grow, and expand their digital capabilities over the last twelve months. We are introducing a new cyber security module as our research informs us that while Irish SMEs understand the importance of cyber security, they are not always aware of the measures required to protect their data and digital assets. Designed by Google experts, this online training program will better protect SMEs from the growing threat of cyberattack”. John Magee, Chair of the network of Local Enterprise Offices, said, “Cybersecurity has been identified as a key area of both threat and growth in the coming years. It is vital that small businesses understand that, particularly those that have a significant online presence. As sustainability has become a pillar for many small businesses, so should cybersecurity and it is fantastic that we can now offer that expertise to every small business across the country through our partnership with Google and the You’re the Business initiative. This is another area where we are expanding our approach to ensure small businesses are getting the support they need from their Local Enterprise Office. Carol Gibbons, Head of Regions and Local Enterprise, Enterprise Ireland, said, “The You’re the Business Campaign in partnership with Google and the Local Enterprise Offices has helped us to significantly increase our offerings to small businesses in the areas of digitization. In recent years trading online has become crucial for many businesses, and it has also opened doors to new markets internationally. This brings opportunity but also significant exposure for businesses to threats such as cybercrime. This new element of the initiative is the perfect first step for businesses to enhance their cybersecurity protocols.” With the addition of the ‘Improve your online business security’ module today, SMEs can now access [ four modules that can help SME decision-makers understand and grow their digital capabilities. All training is accessed through the You’re The Business website. Al...
Our testing team look at the latest offering from the Infinix team. This was one that they felt had some clearly noticeable differences, as well as some elements that they would come to expect from an Infinix phone too. Infinix NOTE 30 VIP reviewed First up there was a positive response when the latest device to review was an Infinix. There is perhaps some growing brand loyalty among our testers at this phase as they have seen a regular flow and progression of what the devices are able to offer. The size was considered to be in keeping with previous editions, neither swelling up or shrinking down too drastically. The biggest wow element seemed to be the new photo editing options. In terms of usability these new elements were considered to be easy to work out how to use, while also delivering fun and innovative new options for your photos. The testers thought these were fun, creating different moods and vibes, with positive returns on their experimentation and playing around with the editing software. The fast charging pads are clearly a part of the strategy and are useful to have, and perhaps more relevant than the photo editing software, but it was the latter that our testers wanted to keep playing with and reporting back to us on. This makes sense on one hand, our testers this time were female and teens so they are more interested in the playability of the device. They expect phones to have charge, and be chargeable, that just comes with the territory! Another good outing from the Infinix team as far as our guys are concerned. More about the phone “With All-Round FastCharge technology on the NOTE 30 series, Infinix has brought users an unprecedented fast charging experience. Now, on the newly released NOTE 30 VIP, we have taken the overall performance of this technology to a new level. By introducing faster, flagship-level 50W wireless fast charging and covering more charging methods across different scenarios, NOTE 30 VIP provides a safe, fast, and convenient experience that removes any worries users may have about battery life. Thanks to the new Dimensity 8050 5G processor, high refresh rate screen, and rich audio-visual features, the NOTE 30 VIP is the top choice for users seeking all-round powerful performance.” – Liang Zhang, Deputy General Manager at Infinix. Flagship-level Ultra Fast Charging For the first time on the NOTE series, the NOTE 30 VIP delivers flagship-level wireless fast charging capable of charging the NOTE 30 VIP’s 5,000mAh battery to 50% in just 30 minutes. Users only need to place their phones on Infinix’s wireless fast charge pad to charge their phones anytime, anywhere without being restricted by charging cables, while still enjoying a highly efficient, timesaving charging experience. Designed for a Comprehensive User Experience As one of the first smartphones in the industry to feature the Dimensity 8050 5G processor, the NOTE 30 VIP boasts lower power consumption and more stable network connectivity. Built on advanced 6nm process technology and running at up to 3GHz CPU clock speeds, the NOTE 30 VIP smoothly handles multitasking and runs large-scale games at higher frame rates while keeping power consumption to a minimum. The processor also features MediaTek’s HyperEngine5.0, which ensures stable and low latency performance during any type of game or content to ensure mobile gamers to stay connected and in the heart of the action at all times. Thanks to this powerful hardware configuration and Infinix’s own software level algorithm optimizations, the NOTE 30 VIP has obtained an A Rating in TÜV SÜD 36-Month Fluency’s certification, meaning that it provides a guaranteed level of smoothness after as many as 36 months of standard usage. Availability The NOTE 30 VIP is available in Magic Black and Glacier White, starting from $299. For more details visit: http://www.infinixmobility.com/ About Infinix: Infinix Mobility is a rapidly emerging technology brand that designs, manufactures and markets an e...
By Selva Ozelli This year, events will be focused on four main themes: (1) Accelerating the global clean economy; (2) Delivering just climate transitions; (3) Growing networks for action; (4) Creating a greener London. London Climate Action Week returns Biodiversity is essential to the existence and proper functioning of all ecosystems and are the pillars upon which we build civilizations. Without nature we have nothing. A major impact of climate change on biodiversity is the increase in the intensity and frequency of fires, storms or periods of drought. As global temperatures rise, the size, frequency and severity of wildfires are expected to increase in the years ahead, wrecking air quality globally. For example, New York City had the worst air quality in the world as smoke from Canadian wildfires rolled in this week according to IQAir, a Swiss air monitoring company. Love Someday 1: Love Someday 2: Love Someday 3: The loss of nature and biodiversity is the fourth most severe threat we face in the next 10 years. It comes with a steep cost to the oceans since, nearly 10% global marine species were found to be at risk of extinction, according to the latest report from International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Reef Dwellers 2: Over the next century, climate change is projected to profoundly impact coastal and marine ecosystems including whales and reefs. Whales are at the top of the food chain and have an important role in the overall health of the marine environment. The orca whale (Orcinus orca) is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. They are recognizable by their black-and-white patterned body and can be found in all of the world’s oceans in a variety of marine environments, from Arctic and Antarctic regions to tropical seas including the waters of the Great Barrier Reef which is one of the richest and most complex natural ecosystems on earth, and one of the most significant for biodiversity conservation. Whales play a vital role in the marine ecosystem where they help provide at least half of the oxygen we breathe, combat climate change, and sustain fish stocks. Each great whale sequesters an estimated 33 tons of CO2 on average, thus playing their part in the fight against climate change. Increased ocean temperature may cause reef building coral to bleach, become stressed and eventually die. Ocean acidification may slow or halt the calcification of several calciferous species including coral, coralline algae and mollusks and dissolve calcium carbonate structures on the reefs which are essential to approximately 25 percent of all marine life. Orcas & Reefs: But the good news is that recently nations agreed on the historic High Seas Treaty to place into protected areas 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030 per UN biodiversity conference COP15 last year. Nations also agreed to develop a legally binding agreement on reducing plastic pollution by 2024. Multiple award winning artist Selva Ozelli whose work is cataloged by the United Nations, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum as well as the Berlin University of Art’s “Climate Summit Art Project 1972-2022” will launch her burning roses and reef themed art shows at the London Climate Action Week. The Orca’s & Reefs art show will also be exhibited at the Whaling Museum in Cold Spring Harbor, NY during June. Her art shows, draw attention to the fact that healing has begun to build back biodiversity and reduce plastic pollution in our Oceans to accelerate the global clean economy. See more cutting edge stories here.
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has witnessed a remarkable transformation in recent years, with technology and innovation becoming key drivers of economic growth. This shift has given rise to a vibrant tech startup ecosystem, particularly in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is now considered the region’s tech startup capital. In this article, I will provide an overview of tech startups in the Middle East in 2023 and investigate the factors fueling tech development in the UAE and the wider Middle East. Let’s get into it! The State of Tech Startups in the MENA Region According to the MENA Tech 2023 report, the region’s tech startup ecosystem has been growing rapidly, with an increasing number of startups securing funding from local and international investors. The report highlights that the total amount of funding raised by MENA-based startups reached a record high in 2022, with more than $2 billion invested across various sectors, including e-commerce, fintech, health tech, and edtech. In 2023, the Middle East tech startup scene continues to flourish, with several key trends shaping the ecosystem: Increased Investment in Technology and Innovation Governments across the region are investing heavily in technology and innovation, recognizing the potential of these sectors to drive economic growth and create jobs. This has led to the establishment of numerous tech hubs, incubators, and accelerators, providing startups with the resources and support they need to grow and scale. Growing Interest From International Investors The success of regional startups such as Careem, which was acquired by Uber for $3.1 billion in 2019, has put the Middle East tech startup ecosystem on the global map. As a result, international investors are increasingly looking to the region for investment opportunities, with venture capital firms such as Sequoia Capital and 500 Startups actively investing in MENA-based startups. Rise of Homegrown Unicorns The Middle East has seen the emergence of several homegrown tech unicorns, such as ride-hailing app Careem and the e-commerce platform Souq.com, which was acquired by Amazon for $580 million in 2017. This success has inspired a new generation of entrepreneurs to launch their own tech startups, with many aiming to become the region’s next unicorn. Enhanced Cooperation Between Startups and Corporations Many large corporations in the region are recognizing the value of partnering with tech startups to drive innovation and stay competitive in the digital age. This has led to increased corporate venture capital investment and the establishment of innovation labs and accelerator programs designed to support tech startups. The UAE as the Region’s Tech Startup Capital The UAE has emerged as the leading tech startup hub in the MENA region thanks to its strategic location, business-friendly environment, and strong government support for innovation and entrepreneurship. The country is home to several thriving tech ecosystems, including Dubai, which is now considered one of the world’s top startup cities. There are several factors that have contributed to the UAE’s success as the region’s tech startup capital: Government Support for Innovation and Entrepreneurship The UAE government has made innovation a top priority, with initiatives such as the National Innovation Strategy and the Dubai Future Accelerators program designed to foster a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. Additionally, the UAE has introduced several startup-friendly regulations, such as the introduction of long-term visas for entrepreneurs and the establishment of free zones that offer tax incentives and simplified business registration processes. Access to capital The UAE boasts a well-developed financial ecosystem, with several venture capital firms, angel investors, and government-backed funds actively investing in tech startups. This has made it easier for entrepreneurs in the country to access the capital they need to l...
This week on The Futurists we are joined by renowned journalist and a true renaissance man, Monty Munford. Monty has appeared on the BBC, written for Forbes, The Telegraph and contributed to TechCrunch, Mashable, Fast Company, Huffington Post, Wired, MIT Technology Review, The Independent, The Guardian, Financial Times, and The Times of India. He explains why he’s had to become a futurist to do his day job better, and why tech continues to be so disruptive to our social order. Why Monty Munford is a reluctant futurist More about the hosts Robert Tercek is an award-winning author, entrepreneur, and educator focused on the process of dematerialization and innovation. In his professional capacity, Mr. Tercek is a seasoned business executive with deep expertise in digital media and internet services. He is a prolific creator of interactive programs and products. He has designed and launched successful consumer experiences on every digital platform, including digital television, game consoles, broadband Internet, and mobile networks. In 2021, Mr. Tercek was recognized as the Humanitarian of the Year by the Media Excellence Awards for his leadership in designing and launching COVID SMART™, an interactive training program designed to keep workers safe on the job during the pandemic. Brett King is a world-renowned entrepreneur, futurist, speaker, international bestselling author, and media personality. China’s President Xi Jinping cited his book Augmented: Life in the Smart Lane on the topic of Artificial Intelligence in his 2018 national address; the same book that was listed as a Top 10 non-fiction book in North America. In 2019 his book Bank 4.0 was awarded the Top Book by a Foreign Author in Russia for that year. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
We caught up with Canadian serial entrepreneur Doug Milburn, who has turned his love of physics into creating real world solutions for buildings, and in particular the challenge of creating the perfect daylighting conditions, in order to ensure that buildings are pleasant, healthy and happy places to work. Natural light and solar electricity generation for buildings, Doug Milburn, SOLERA Natural light, or daylighting, is the controlled admission of natural light, direct sunlight, and diffused skylight into a building to reduce electric lighting and save energy. American office workers are spending up to 90% of their lives indoors. Therefore the best way to give workers the health benefits they find outdoors, is to bring the outside in. Daylighting has many benefits for human health and well-being, such as improving mood and reducing stress, while enhancing alertness and productivity. Exposure to natural light can boost serotonin levels, which regulate mood, appetite, sleep, and memory. Natural light can also lower cortisol levels, which are associated with stress and anxiety. A well-aligned circadian rhythm can improve sleep quality, energy levels, concentration, and cognitive performance. Well-lit offices also support vision and eye health. Natural light can reduce eyestrain and headaches caused by artificial lighting or glare from screens. It also stimulates the production of vitamin D, which is essential for eye health and immunity. However, many offices are not well designed to maximize natural light. Older office spaces especially can have small windows, deep floor plans, and drop ceilings that limit daylight penetration. While some modern glass “fishbowl” offices have the opposite problem: excessive or uncontrolled sunlight, causing glare, excessive heat, or visual discomfort. Meeting thermal goals doesn’t have to mean using less glass. Solera is a type of translucent insulated glass that combines high-performance glazing with engineered light diffuser to provide uniform daylight distribution without glare or heat gain. Products like this can be used for windows, skylights, to bring the right levels of natural light into any office space. To optimize daylighting in office spaces, architects and design teams need to consider several factors, including the direction of sunlight, window-to-wall ratio (the percentage of exterior wall area covered by windows) and glazing performance. Using a combination of landscaping, window size optimization, high-performance glazing selection, daylight redirection techniques, and solar shading devices can help any office space achieve optimal daylight levels for visual and thermal comfort, regardless of climate. Everyone responds well to walking into a building bathed in natural light with reduced glare, great air quality, and pleasant views. Finance departments and CEOs will appreciate the energy cost-savings and asset value of building or retrofitting greener offices. Daylighting is not only a way to save energy and money, but also a way to improve well-being and performance in office spaces. By designing office spaces that allow natural light to enter in a controlled and balanced way, employers and employees can enjoy the mutual benefits of taking this important step towards adopting green building practices. More About Doug Milburn As a long-time entrepreneur and innovator, Dr. Doug Milburn thrives on solving problems. For more than 35 years, he has brought his vision and passion to manufacturing, engineering, software development and process engineering. Throughout his leadership, Dr. Milburn has aimed to create great workplaces by shaping a company’s success through corporate values and ethical guidelines. Born and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada, Dr. Milburn earned his undergraduate and Master’s degree in physics at Mount Allison University, before finishing his studies with a PhD in mechanical engineering at the University of Waterloo. In 1995, Dr. Milburn and his wife Michelle co...
In 2022 Ireland’s Data Protection Commission applied fines of over €1bn. Data protection and security has steadily risen in importance and for good reason, but the advent of wide scale hybrid and remote working has shone a spotlight on the risks associated with this practice and the considerations Irish businesses need to think about to minimise data loss or breaches. With Stanford University finding through its research last month that approximately 88 percent of all data breaches are caused by employee error, there are several ways organisations can alleviate the negative impact of human error, which is still very much the driving force behind an overwhelming majority of cybersecurity problems. One person who knows a lot about the security risks posed by wide scale hybrid and remote working is Gary Corley, Head of Cyber Services at Ergo, Ireland’s largest privately owned IT services company. Gary talks to Ronan about the lockdown, the cloud, the human factor, AI and more. More about Gary Corley: Gary is a cybersecurity expert with over 26 years industry experience, currently Head of Cyber Services at Ergo. Prior to joining Ergo, he worked as Country Manager of Evros New Zealand, a company that provided high skilled IT and security services to clients around the globe. See more podcasts here.
Workhuman®, the company revolutionising the way employees celebrate, connect with and appreciate each other in the workplace, has announced that its proprietary AI-powered bias detector, Inclusion Advisor, is now being used by 3 million employees worldwide. Global enterprises including Merck, LinkedIn, Cisco and others are using the tool as part of their employee recognition programmes to provide team members with continuous coaching that enables measurable changes in attitudes over time. Workhuman’s first-of-its-kind tool analyses everyday workplace language to detect unconscious bias. With a click of a button, employees can use Inclusion Advisor to scan the message they have written in Workhuman’s employee recognition platform. The tool was built in Dublin by Workhuman’s technology and engineering teams. It has been developed over a four-year period and harnesses the expertise of the Workhuman iQ team of linguists, data scientists, engineers, psychologists, and experts in natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML). Workhuman research shows that implicit bias is found in 20-30% of all written communications in the workplace, even in the most positive setting. The Inclusion Advisor model can detect 18 forms of bias and in the last nine months, it flagged 69,000 instances of bias in 40,000 recognition messages. Some types of prevalent biases categories that it flags are: “Me, Myself and I” – found in 14% of bias instances, this language conveys the writer’s sense of self-importance and distracts from the awardee’s accomplishments. “No Work-Life Balance” – appearing in 13% of bias instances, this category praises work that is detrimental to a healthy work-life balance. “Gender stereotyping” – representing 5% of all bias detected, this is praise which conveys unconscious gender bias, involves gender-biased language and/or refers to stereotypical gender roles. Inclusion Advisor, which is continuously updated with real-life examples of implicit bias, can also detect biases including age bias, micro aggressions, and negative comparisons. Jonathan Hyland, Workhuman CTO, said: “We wanted to create a tool that provides an in-the-moment learning opportunity to better understand how language can be perceived by others. Even the most well intended messages can have unconscious bias. The right words and the right message, delivered in a timely manner, can have a positive and even lifelong impact on others. Inclusion Advisor helps users write inclusive, meaningful recognition messages that will make the recipient feel seen, heard, and valued for their contributions. “With the latest advancements in AI and ML, we are able to develop more sophisticated technology that can better understand and interpret recognition messages, identify trends and patterns, and provide more accurate and personalised recommendations. Inclusion Advisor reacts to unconscious bias on a continuous, sustainable basis, which is the only way to see real behavioural changes. In doing so, we are providing businesses with the most advanced and effective tools to foster a truly inclusive workplace environment.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Esri Ireland, the market leader in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), is working with Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) to inspire prospective third-level students to pursue a career in GIS. GIS is a technology that creates, analyses, and maps all types of location-based data. A degree in Geospatial Surveying opens the door to work in almost every industry and there are exciting jobs in retail, government, engineering, conservation, renewable energy, architecture, space exploration and even the gaming, film and entertainment industries. GIS isn’t just for geographers. The technology can be used to build interactive web or smartphone apps, integrated with emerging new artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, or used for awe-inspiring 3D visualisations and virtual reality. In TU Dublin, students have access to Esri’s innovative digital mapping system, ArcGIS Pro, through the BSc in Geospatial Surveying (Geographic Science). Esri Ireland is also spearheading a new mentoring and executive coaching programme as part of the course, to help final year students prepare themselves for working life and growing their careers. The use of location-based information has grown exponentially in recent years, leading to a global shortage of people with GIS skills. This course has been designed to provide hands-on experience, where students use Topcon surveying equipment to collect data and Esri’s GIS system to analyse and understand that data. The Geospatial Surveying course at TU Dublin has a 100% employment record because graduates enter the workforce with the valuable skills employers are looking for. CAO applicants can change their course choices free of charge until Saturday 1st July. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Irish cybersecurity expert Rob Allen urges Government to follow US example and protect State agencies to potentially save billions Irish cybersecurity expert and Vice President of cybersecurity company ThreatLocker, Rob Allen, has today (Tuesday 27th June) called on the Irish Government to follow the example of the United States and mandate that all Government bodies implement the Zero Trust approach, the gold standard in cybersecurity. Why Ireland needs to implement a Zero Trust approach for cybersecurity US President Joe Biden signed an executive order in 2021 which set new standards for Federal agencies’ cybersecurity systems in the wake of a crippling attack that year on Colonial Pipeline, one of the country’s largest oil pipelines. The Zero Trust approach applies the principle of least privilege, removing implicit trust and adding explicit trust. This permits only required software to run on IT systems, while stopping both malicious and unwanted applications from running. Traditional Cyber Security solutions scan for and stop known threats, while the Zero Trust approach denies all unwanted programs from running. This process drastically minimises cyber threats by stopping ransomware and other rogue applications running on a network. Furthermore, applying Zero Trust principles to allowed applications can stop them from being weaponised and mis-used maliciously. By applying limits and restrictions to what applications can do when running, restricting interaction with other applications, files, and the internet, organisations can massively reduce the potential for their weaponization and prevent attacks. According to Rob Allen, the Irish Government urgently needs to follow a similar approach; ‘’By introducing this Executive Order, the US has set the bar in cybersecurity for years to come. Ireland urgently needs to follow suit and protect our state agencies from attack. The HSE attack in 2021 cost an estimated €144 million, and we will likely see other attacks like this in the future which could cost far more in terms of disruption, money, and lives. If we mandate Zero Trust now, we could potentially save billions in the years to come.’’ Rob went on to say; ‘’Lack of regulation with regards to Cyber Security could leave Ireland exposed as easy pickings in the world of cyber-attacks. We are seeing that cyber security is a frontline in modern conflicts, such as in Ukraine, and in the same way we need soldiers, ships, radar, and planes to protect our territory, we need the Zero Trust approach to protect our Government and the vital services it provides on a daily basis. Cyber security is also an increasing problem for many businesses, with the number of cyber-attacks increasing day by day costing businesses huge amounts of money. A recent report by IBM estimates the cost of a data breach at $2.98m in organisations of less than 500 staff. These costs could be minimised or avoided entirely if Zero Trust baselines, even as the Australian Government’s Essential Eight, were embraced and encouraged by the Irish government. ThreatLocker was founded in 2017 by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Danny Jenkins, Chief Operating Officer (COO) Sami Jenkins and John Carolan. ThreatLocker operates a powerful Zero Trust endpoint protection platform designed so that everyone, from businesses to government agencies and academic institutions can stop ransomware and other cyberattacks by controlling what software can run in their environments. ThreatLocker’s combined Application Allowlisting, Ringfencing™, Storage Control, Elevation Control, Network Control, Configuration Manager and Operational Alert solutions are leading the cybersecurity market towards a more secure approach of blocking the exploits of unknown application vulnerabilities. ThreatLocker recently opened their EMEA headquarters in Dublin, creating 120 new jobs in the sector, and marking their first major step towards European expansion as the EU prepares to introduce new legislation ‘...
Guest post by Maebh Reynolds, co-founder and CEO of EV startup GoPlugable reflects on recent research which highlights barriers to entry and potential pitfalls for EV ownership and how GoPlugable is working to address these issues and democratise EV ownership. The Future of Electric Vehicles in Ireland Like many countries, Ireland faces obstacles to mass EV adoption despite widespread acknowledgement that EVs carry a potential to combat climate change, decrease pollution, and contribute to a sustainable future. A recent survey by our team of EV owners, non-EV users, and prospective EV users across the Island of Ireland and some further afield has revealed that, whilst 69% of potential users contemplate switching to EVs, many must be aware of available support measures or face infrastructural challenges, primarily a known lack of charging points and associated anxiety that comes with not knowing where their next charge up will be. Specifically, 63% of the potential users we surveyed have yet to hear of the government grants available for home charger installation, and 34% lack the provisions to install a home charger due to their living conditions e.g., being a renter or living in a home with no driveway or reliable parking options. A statement by Minister Eamon Ryan resonates with our findings. He recently pointed out that while EVs promise substantial benefits for rural Ireland, urban dwellers face the “frustration” of being unable to charge their EVs at home due to the lack of a driveway. He emphasised that rural areas, with standalone houses and personal driveways, are less likely to encounter such challenges, leading to higher EV deployment levels. Our mission at GoPlugable is to ensure that every EV driver, regardless of their location or living conditions, has access to reliable, affordable charging solutions. We aim to bridge this urban-rural divide and make EVs an accessible and sustainable choice for everyone by tapping into the already collaborative EV owners community across the Island of Ireland to encourage sharing and mutual support and open the door to more potential drivers. Our survey indicates that cost concerns also come into play. Notably, 51% of EV buyers switched to electric vehicles considering fuel savings and are concerned about increasing electricity prices. When the fuel cost is €1.55/litre, and the electricity cost rises to €0.44 per kWh, operating a gasoline car becomes as expensive as running an EV. Surprisingly, 80% of current EV users utilise public chargers fewer than four times monthly due to steep charging prices. This avoidance of public charge points has led to an alarming 31% of users contemplating switching back to traditional vehicles – a huge potential setback as the movement toward electric vehicles pushes forward. By enabling EV charger owners to monetise their chargers and share them with others, we offer a mutually beneficial solution – those with limited access to chargers will gain access to a network of available charge points across Ireland, whilst EV charger owners can monetise their unused chargers when they aren’t using them. GoPlugable will offer a win-win situation that promotes sustainability and cost-effectiveness whilst reducing charger anxiety. Government incentives and policies are crucial for lifting EV adoption from its plateau, but additionally, change must come from businesses, communities, and individuals. By embracing a shared responsibility, we can transform challenges into opportunities and make EV adoption a reality for all. Community-driven networks democratise EV charging infrastructure, making it accessible to anyone with an EV, regardless of their living circumstances. They can also address infrastructural gaps in rural Ireland, ensuring every potential EV owner is included. The future of EVs in Ireland isn’t just about technology or infrastructure; it’s about people and communities coming together to lead the change. Together, we can guide Ireland towa...
EPAM Systems, Inc., a leading digital transformation services and product engineering company, has announced a strategic, global partnership with Google Cloud to develop and deploy Artificial Intelligence (AI)-first Google Cloud solutions to help enterprises overcome operational challenges and drive transformational growth. Through this partnership, EPAM will expand its global, cloud-native engineering and integration services and introduce targeted vertical solutions and managed services around Google Cloud AI solutions, including Vertex AI, Generative AI App Builder, Model Garden and more. “We are excited to expand our partnership with Google Cloud to bring the power of AI to our clients,” said Elaina Shekhter?, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer, EPAM. “Today’s technology transformations are built on the foundation of digital and cloud-native developments, many of which we’ve been working with Google since the mid-2000s. Larger-scale success with AI will also be critically enabled by a new wave of EPAM’s industry-leading data engineering and ML capabilities. By furthering our long-standing partnership, we will help our clients stay ahead of the competition in a fast-changing digital landscape.” As the global AI market soars and adoption expands, demand is increasing exponentially for AI, machine learning (ML) and advanced engineering across all industry verticals. This partnership will leverage Google Cloud’s advanced AI and ML capabilities, EPAM’s platform and data engineering DNA and nearly 30 years of experience in engineering, consulting, and software development experience to deliver innovative cloud-enabled AI, data modernisation, migration, data and analytics solutions to the Forbes Global 2000. “Generative AI has the potential to streamline business processes and even transform entire industries,” said Michael Clark, Vice President, Google Cloud North America Regions. “By combining Google Cloud’s generative AI capabilities with EPAM’s engineering expertise, we will help customers leverage cloud-first technology and generative AI as a catalyst for digital transformation, rapidly realising business value, addressing real-world use cases and driving business growth across industries.” EPAM and Google Cloud have a 15-year, global 360-degree partnership that combines EPAM’s engineering DNA, strategic consulting, and growing industry-focused technology solutions with Google Cloud’s infrastructure, AI/ML, generative AI and analytics technology. While continuing to focus on the long-standing tenants of this partnership, EPAM and Google Cloud will expand their collaboration to build and deliver AI-driven solutions helping enterprises in key verticals, including financial services, consumer, telecom, media, entertainment, healthcare, life sciences, energy and high-tech to modernise and transform their businesses. To learn more about EPAM and Google Cloud’s Partnership, visit epam.com/about/who-we-are/partners/google-cloud. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
4 out of 10 Irish employers and 1 in 4 employees believe artificial intelligence (AI) will impact or replace their job in the future, according to a new survey conducted by recruitment agency FRS Recruitment. Those most worried were in the Arts, Entertainment and Recreation sector with 53% admitting they are concerned, followed by Charities and Not for Profit (43%), Banking and Financial Services (38%), Telecoms and Insurance (33%) and Agriculture (33%). On a county-by-county basis, Monaghan and Leitrim had the highest levels of concern (43%) followed by Sligo (37%). There was less worry expressed in the larger urban centres with only 19% believing AI will affect them in Dublin, 27% in Cork, 23% in Galway and 22% in Limerick. The FRS Recruitment Employment Insights survey also showed that as many as 6 out of 10 employees say they would be willing to change jobs for a salary increase of 25% or less, with 1 in 5 being willing to move for a 10% increase in their pay. Almost 3 out of 4 employees (73%) also expect to receive a pay rise in the next 12 months and 43% believe they are underpaid for their current role, saying their salary does not adequately reflect their position. The majority of employees (54%) also believe they are more likely to secure their desired wages by changing jobs and more than half are of the view that a change in employer will make them more likely to progress in their careers. 44% of employees also describe themselves as “employed but looking” for new career opportunities. Employers are feeling the impact of these expectations, with 2 out of 3 saying workforce attrition is up this year and 4 out of 10 (42%) employers believing that the main driver for that attrition is salary. A total of 4,347 people participated in this year’s survey, which was conducted in April 2023. FRS Recruitment has been undertaking this research on an annual basis since 2009 to provide insights on the changing trends and perspectives of Irish employees and their employers. The survey also shows that 3 out of 4 employers are either currently hiring or plan to do so in the next 3 months, while 4 out of 10 also have experienced an increase in the number of job applications they received this year. The cost of living is also having an impact on the recruitment market, with 64% of employers saying inflation has impacted on their recruitment outlook. 56% of employees also say they are more likely to seek new employment due to rising costs, while 3 out of 10 of employees (29%) admit they are trying to spend more time in the office to reduce their home heating/electricity costs. A further 27% are also trying to work at home more to keep their travel costs down. On the issue of remote working, 9 out of 10 employees believe they are either more productive or just as productive when working from home. Most employers would share this perspective, with 3 out of 4 admitting employees are either more productive or having a neutral view on employee productivity. Yet despite these findings, 4 out of 10 employers have been pressing their employees to spend more time in the office over the last year. The housing shortage is also having an impact on the employment market with almost 4 out of 10 employees (38%) saying a lack of accommodation makes them more likely to seek new employment. Speaking about the survey, Lynne McCormack, General Manager with FRS Recruitment said, “This is a wide-ranging survey which covers employer and employee attitudes to a host of different topics – from technology to cost of living, salary expectations to the impact of the housing shortages. These are the issues that are occupying the employment market at present and this research illustrates where the market perspectives are on many of these topics. “For example, there has been a lot of talk this year around the progression of artificial intelligence and the implications of its use. This has led to growing levels of awareness around AI and its potential, which is no...
Minister for Finance Michael McGrath TD joined Dell Technologies to announce the expanded capabilities of its Customer Solution Center (CSC) Innovation Lab located at its campus in Limerick. The CSC Innovation Lab provides a unique environment for organisations to test and deploy new digital solutions to address specific business challenges. Global customers can experience real-life examples of how AI, 5G and edge computing can advance the development of smart cities, connected healthcare and Industry 4.0. The expanded capabilities, built in collaboration with partners Vodafone and Ericsson, include the implementation of edge computing and emerging technologies such as computer vision, advanced analytics, and private wireless networking. This will enable customers to develop new ways to capture, analyse and make decisions at the edge, in proximity to the data source. Access to this new capability will support customers and partners in industries including manufacturing, healthcare and agrifood sectors. The expanded offering ensures that Dell can accelerate the pace of digital transformation for customers from the edge to the cloud. The partners, together with NovaUCD, the hub of innovation at University College Dublin, are developing an accelerator programme to support innovative start-ups with global potential accessing Dell’s CSC Innovation Lab to test their new solutions. The partnership and expansion of the CSC Innovation Lab, which is one of 14 CSCs globally, comes following the recent opening of Dell’s redeveloped Cork Customer Solution Center and the Open Telecom Ecosystem Lab, also in Cork. “Dell Technologies has continually been at the forefront of innovation and helping businesses here in Ireland and across the globe to harness new technologies,” said Minister for Finance Michael McGrath TD at the Customer Solutions Centre in Limerick. “The expansion of the company’s capabilities at its CSC Innovation Lab in Limerick and its support for innovative Irish start-ups is very welcome news. It not only highlights the company’s commitment to Ireland but also the importance of helping businesses to embrace edge computing and emerging technologies. I wish the Dell team in Limerick, Cork, and Cherrywood every success into the future.” “Since 2019, the CSC Innovation Lab has provided a space for industry leaders to collaborate with our team to unlock the power of technology for their businesses. With this exciting addition to our global Customer Solution Centers’ capabilities, we will enable our customers and partners to harness data at the Edge to accelerate innovation within their organisations and deliver new products and services,” said Des O’Sullivan, Vice President of Customer Solution Centers at Dell Technologies. Seán O’Reilly, EMEA Vice President of Logistics and Limerick Site Leader at Dell Technologies, added: “We’re thrilled to welcome Minister McGrath to our Customer Solution Center Innovation Lab here in Limerick and unveil the enhanced offering for our customers both globally and here in Ireland. The broadening of our capabilities and the continued evolution of our multi-functional campus in Limerick will help ensure that our team remains at the forefront of digital transformation.” Donal Travers, IDA Ireland’s Head of Technology, Consumer and Business Services, welcomed this announcement saying: “Dell is a pillar company in the Irish enterprise technology ecosystem. The partnerships announced today will see the implementation of critical technologies in customer solutions and will further enhance Dell’s positive impact across the business, educational, and entrepreneurial community in Ireland”. For more information about Dell’s Customer Solution Centers visit: More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page ...
Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity Pippa Hackett today joined FoodCloud and their partners Coca-Cola HBC Ireland and Northern Ireland to announce a three-year initiative which will see the introduction of a new Food Sourcing Strategy. With a strong working relationship of over 3 years, Coca-Cola HBC has supported both FoodCloud in the Republic of Ireland and their counterparts FareShare in Northern Ireland with financial and product donations as well as volunteer hours. This new partnership will take a strategic approach to reducing food waste across the island of Ireland and will focus on FoodCloud’s objectives of doubling the volume of food redistributed to 5,100 tonnes per year by 2025. This equates to approximately 12,000,000 meals redistributed in Ireland and 16,000 tonnes of CO2-eq avoided. Tackling food loss and waste delivers a threefold purpose directly benefiting – the climate, food security, and the long-term sustainability of our food systems. Through this initiative Coca-Cola HBC will support FoodCloud in Ireland and FareShare in Northern Ireland to analyse and review the existing approach to food sourcing and identify challenges and opportunities for growth. The outcomes and indeed the development of the food sourcing strategy is designed to support the efforts of social enterprises to engage larger manufacturers, producers and suppliers across the food and drink supply chain in surplus redistribution. Through the implementation of this new strategy, food industry partners will have the knowledge and processes they need to identify ways to prevent food waste and reduce carbon emissions within the sector. Speaking at today’s announcement, Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity, Pippa Hackett, said: “The new Food Sourcing Strategy is a very welcome initiative. Tackling food loss and food waste is a key step in combating climate change and in Ireland’s transition to a circular economy. With over 770,000 tonnes of food waste recorded in 2020, it is vital that producers, suppliers, consumers and Government work together to address this pressing challenge.” Since 2013, FoodCloud has redistributed over 201.3 million meals in Ireland and internationally. It has also rescued more than 84,555 tonnes of food from going to waste, avoiding over 270,576 tonnes of CO2-equivalent. Food waste also has a huge environmental impact, accounting for 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. To put that into perspective: Food waste generates over four times more greenhouse gas emissions than the global aviation industry. The existing partnership between FoodCloud and Coca Cola HBC has already seen 586 tonnes of surplus food redistributed in the first quarter of 2023. That equates to approximately 1,875 tonnes of Co2 equivalent avoided and 1.4 million meals equivalent redistributed to Food Cloud’s network of over 600 charities. Aoibheann O’Brien, Co-Founder and Partnerships Director, FoodCloud, said: “While FoodCloud has made great progress in rescuing and redistributing surplus food, this figure represents only a very small percentage of the 770,300 tonnes of food that is wasted every year in Ireland. We are still only scratching the surface of surplus potential in Ireland and more needs to be done to achieve the ambitious target of halving food waste by 2023. “The FoodCloud Food Sourcing Strategy supported by Coca-Cola HBC will be the foundation to significantly grow the volumes of food redistributed across the Irish supply chain by 2025 and support FoodCloud’s ambitious vision of a world where no good food goes to waste. In our efforts to cut emissions as a country, the Food Sourcing Strategy has an important role to play in reviewing the processes in place and providing tangible learnings to help us double the volume of food redistributed to 5,100 tonnes per year by 2025 and to cut the associated emissions of wasted food. The food sourcing strategy involves an analysis, not only of the surplus that is availa...
In the space of a few months, generative AI models, such as ChatGPT, Google’s Bard and Midjourney, have been adopted by more and more people in a variety of professional and personal ways. But growing research is underlining that they are encoding biases and negative stereotypes in their users, as well as mass generating and spreading seemingly accurate but nonsensical information. Worryingly, marginalised groups are disproportionately affected by the fabrication of this nonsensical information. In addition, mass fabrication has the potential to influence human belief as the models that drive it become increasingly common, populating the World Wide Web. Not only do people grab information from the web, but much of the primary training material used by AI models comes from here too. In other words, a continuous feedback loop evolves in which biases and nonsense become repeated and accepted again and again. These findings – and a plea for psychologists and machine learning experts to work together very swiftly to assess the scale of the issue and devise solutions – are published today in a thought-provoking Perspective in leading international journal, Science, co-authored by Abeba Birhane, who is an adjunct assistant professor in Trinity’s School of Computer Science and Statistics (working with Trinity’s Complex Software Lab) and Senior Fellow in Trustworthy AI at the Mozilla Foundation. Prof Birhane said: “People regularly communicate uncertainty through phrases such as ‘I think,’ response delays, corrections, and speech disfluencies. By contrast, generative models give confident, fluent responses with no uncertainty representations nor the ability to communicate their absence. As a result, this can cause greater distortion compared with human inputs and lead to people accepting answers as factually accurate. These issues are exacerbated by financial and liability interests incentivising companies to anthropomorphise generative models as intelligent, sentient, empathetic, or even childlike.” One such example provided in the Perspective focuses on how statistical regularities in a model assigned Black defendants with higher risk scores. Court judges, who learned the patterns, may then change their sentencing practices in order to match the predictions of the algorithms. This basic mechanism of statistical learning could lead a judge to believe Black individuals to be more likely to reoffend—even if use of the system is stopped by regulations like those recently adopted in California. Of particular concern is the fact that it is not easy to shake biases or fabricated information once it has become accepted by an individual. Children are at especially high risk as they are more vulnerable to belief distortion as they are more likely to anthropomorphise technology and are more easily influenced. What is needed is swift, detailed analysis that measures the impact of generative models on human beliefs and biases. Prof Birhane said: “Studies and subsequent interventions would be most effectively focused on impacts on the marginalised populations who are disproportionately affected by both fabrications and negative stereotypes in model outputs. Additionally resources are needed for the education of the public, policymakers, and interdisciplinary scientists to give realistically informed views of how generative AI models work and to correct existing misinformation and hype surrounding these new technologies.” More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can hel...
At this years Dublin Tech Summit one of the main themes and topics of discussion was diversity and inclusion. One of the panels at Dublin Tech Summit discussed how AI and other technologies are helping to advance Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the workplace, with a focus on how companies can best avoid tokenistic gestures when hiring. Claire Thomas, Hitachi Vantara’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer was on this panel and I caught up with her after the panel discussion. I asked Claire why she believes in diversity in tech and she replied saying “That its essential to making sure that all the tech we have out in the world represents the society that it serves. If we have homogeneous groups of people building technology or applications or now working on AI models then there is the potential for missing out the needs and use cases from a huge part of society. There is so many cases out there of technologies and applications that have been built where nobody in a group was part of the testing process. “I heard an example the other day of a hand drier which was built and didn’t recognise a black hand underneath the hand drier because nobody in the team had been from the black and African American community, so there was no testing and because the people who built it were not part of that community they just didn’t realise. So it’s really important we have representation in the people who are building the technology, who are testing it and therefore we represent the communities that will actually be using these products.” I then mentioned how it used to be in tech where a male guy was developing and designing for a male audience. Claire replied stating “We have many similarities yet we are fundamentally different, we have different needs, different use cases for technology, gender is one side and then there is a whole load of other diversity issues. “ We all know that men and women’s brains are different and for example women can multitask and men can read maps. So I asked “Why don’t we develop products that recognise this and that are not male centric?” Claire responded “I think that products should be designed for the end users. So firstly companies need to know who their end users are as these and they should ask the people they are trying to serve who will be the people buying these products and services and make sure they are represented in terms of the development process.” I wondered why when a product is developed, the developers soon realise it was not tested on certain demographics, especially the ones that are going to make them the most money. Claire explained that research showed that economic buying power and what is bought in a household tend to be done by women as they are the people traditionally at home more than men. It is largely females making buying decisions and that is an important demographic to consider. Thinking back to years gone by when men were out at work and women stayed at home. Women were the ones who went out and did all the shopping but had no say in what products work best for them and bought what was there. Claire mentioned a great book The Gender Data Gap by Caroline Criado-Perez. “The book talks about a load of different use cases where women have not been involved or consulted in the process of things like rebuilding towns, cities, transport, infrastructure, transport, not consulting or asking female opinion. “Crash test dummies in cars being designed on the average male bodies, rather than the differences between men and women, and that’s starting to change slowly. There is so many use cases where fifty percent of the population have not been included in the process which is why its really important to get more diversity of all forms into the technology industry. “Because it’s such a dominant industry, it has so much influence over our day to day lives, and its an amazing industry to be part of. There’s nothing about your gender, or your race, or your ability, or your ethnicity, o...
The finalists were selected after evaluating a high volume of exceptional entries and will pitch their innovations and growth ambitions to an esteemed panel of judges, comprising Brian Caulfield, VC and angel investor; Sharon McCooey, Head of LinkedIn Ireland; Alan Coleman, Co-Founder and CEO of Sweepr; Niall McEvoy, Venture Partner at Elkstone; and Anna Scally, Head of Tech & Media at KPMG Ireland. The Finalists The shortlisted companies, which are from Dublin, Belfast, Galway and Kildare, offer solutions in areas including medtech, cybersecurity and digital safety utilising technologies including blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and data analytics. The Ireland final will be broadcast on social media and on the KPMG website throughout July and August and the winner will be announced in early September. The Global Tech Innovator Ireland winner will go on to compete against tech innovators from 23 countries and jurisdictions in the global final in November. The eight Ireland finalists for Global Tech Innovator 2023 are: Nory.ai Dublin based Nory is an operating system built for the hospitality industry to help control their costs and perform consistently each day. Nory centralises core restaurant operations into one single app, from revenue analytics and forecasting to workforce management, HR and inventory management and procurement. Nory uses machine learning models to analyse business data in restaurants, recommending simple actions to help teams control costs consistently. inclusio Dublin based inclusio is a science-based, data-led diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) platform, combining technology, psychology and artificial intelligence to deliver evidence-based metrics on culture and DEI. inclusio’s mission is to support companies measure, track and analyse DEI, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and action required to achieve their organisational goals. The platform provides leaders with a cohesive scientific framework for reporting demands on ESG, Gender Pay Gap, Annual reports and regulatory compliance. SocialVoice.ai Dublin based SocialVoice gives global brands an unrivalled advantage in the $350bn creator economy marketplace, by solving deep technology problems that competitors have failed to address. Their patent backed IP is a “Google search meets AI” for video, bringing a game-changing, frame by frame, word by spoken-word analysis of influencer videos on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. The platform allows brands to identify and conduct background checks on influencers being recruited for social video campaigns, monitors brands’ influencers throughout campaigns to ensure compliance, and discovers and tracks everything being said about brands across social video platforms on a scale never before accomplished. Ubloquity Belfast based Ubloquity operationalises blockchain technology across global supply chains by optimising the accuracy and traceability of goods, blending best-in-class technology with cutting edge science to prove, authenticate, validate and ensure supply chain integrity. Ubloquity aims to create a single source of the truth and establish new levels of trust between producers, manufacturers, hauliers, retailers, government agencies and regulators. Cilter Dublin based Cilter develops embedded child-protection software for smartphones that detects and blocks harmful content. Cilter’s key differentiator is that unlike their competitors, it’s not an app, but instead is embedded in the operating system of devices. All messages, even encrypted, are compared against AI-driven databases for harm and it blocks all that fail the test, while alerting parents, helping children to be safer online. Binarii Labs Kildare based Binarii Labs create proprietary cyber security solutions, such as their lead solution, BinariiDMS, a unique document management system that focuses on protecting each file individually in an innovative and proprietary way. Binarii DMS promises business continuit...
Ireland has maintained its standing in the latest edition of the EY Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) remaining in 13th position overall at a time when global investment in renewable energy is soaring as Governments eye domestically produced, low-cost, low-carbon energy in a bid to reduce their dependence on imports. The RECAI is EY’s biannual flagship global renewables report. Now in its 61st edition, the index ranks the world’s top 40 markets based on the attractiveness of their investment in renewable energy and deployment opportunities. Renewable energy market expands rapidly Ireland’s overall global ranking of 13th remains unchanged since the last index, in November 2022. Notably, Ireland has climbed four places and is now ranked 19th in terms of use of Corporate Power Purchase Agreements (CPPA), an arrangement where a company procures renewable electricity through a direct contractual agreement with a renewable electricity generator. This reflects the significant increase in the use of CPPAs in Ireland over the past 24 months as major corporates advance on their decarbonisation agendas, and it bodes well for achieving the goal set out in the Climate Action Plan to generate 15% renewable energy through such agreements. The global index also specifically references the success of Ireland’s recent Offshore Wind Auction, which saw some of the most competitive pricing for offshore wind deployment seen anywhere in the world. The pipeline of future projects is also flagged, and the opportunity for Ireland is clear in the context of competitive advantage in offshore wind development attractiveness. Stephen Prendiville, EY Ireland Head of Sustainability said: “The global drive for energy security and a recessionary environment means the renewables industry has never had a better opportunity to accelerate. Interdependent legacy market dynamics are no longer seen as sustainable, while domestically produced, low-cost, low-carbon – and in some cases, low-lead time – energy looks more attractive than ever. Globally, we are seeing that developing policies to encourage the buildout of renewables has risen to the top of government agendas right around the world. “The EY Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index rankings once again confirm that Ireland is the Goldilocks among nations for renewable energy development, combining the right blend of policy, structures, available finance, talent, resources, and drive to succeed. The rankings and analysis point to significant upside potential across many of the renewable technologies currently being deployed, such as wind (onshore and offshore), solar, biomass and hydro. Our stable economy and geographical positioning in the flow of material supply chains combined with capital investment, educated and skilled workforce, and the Government’s ambitious climate action policy, make Ireland a leading nation in this space. Notably, the report makes a particular reference to Ireland’s potential in offshore wind. We also know that there is significant potential for Ireland in area of green hydrogen production and storage. If we can unlock our full potential as part of the planning system reforms currently under investigation, I expect Ireland will climb the rankings quickly – and more importantly – we’ll be leading the way for the energy transition and positive climate action.” Commenting on the increased use of CPPAs, Anthony Rourke, EY Ireland Government and Infrastructure Advisory Director, said: “The energy crisis of the past 18 months has accelerated the energy transition plans of many medium to large users. Equally, many more businesses are demonstrating their commitment to delivering on their decarbonisation plans. In many cases CPPAs are a critical component of these strategies. We have seen the commercial imperatives line up strongly with the climate action agenda. This is driving a marked increase in enquiries and transactions in this space as a result.” US Inflatio...
Gillian O’Sullivan, Country Leader of BearingPoint Ireland has been announced as the winner of the inaugural Microsoft Power Women in Tech Awards for Ireland. These awards were created to recognise and support women in our partner organisations in Western Europe who are reaching new heights in the industry and are champions of diversity and inclusion. Announced in March, there have been more than 150 nominations across 11 countries. Winners are invited to join a bespoke Women Leaders Executive Programme developed and led by Jennifer Petriglieri, Associate Professor of Organizational Behaviour at INSEAD. Gillian received this award for prioritising Diversity and Inclusion and CSR activities, focusing on female acceleration and balanced recruitment in her organisation. She is a visible leader who shares her story to inspire others. “As leaders in organisations, being visible role models, sharing the story of our journey and encouraging others to do the same is key. Doing so provides space for reflection and has the power to inspire others to take the next step in their own journey.” – Gillian O’Sullivan, Country Leader of BearingPoint Ireland Martina Naughton, Microsoft Ireland Global Partner Sales Director said: “Equal representation of women in the tech industry is an issue that affects every business. There is an array of research that shows diverse teams are more innovative and effective. However, according to CSO figures (2022), less than one-third of Ireland’s ICT workers are women.” Naughton added, “In addition, only 21 per cent of women in Europe surveyed believe that the technology industry is one that they can thrive in (Accenture) – so we need to change this perception if we are going to collectively address these issues, not only in Ireland but across Europe, and ensure we continue innovating at pace. We created this awards programme to provide career advancement opportunities to women succeeding in the tech industry – and, as importantly, to inspire all women in the field.” See more stories here.
Irish aviation software company, Cloudcards, has successfully completed a major equity funding round, raising €1.4 million. The investment will support the Limerick-headquartered company’s expanding operations, as it doubles its headcount from 10 to 20 employees and further develops its product offering. The capital injection brings to €5 million the total raised by the company since 2016. Established 10 years years ago, Cloudcards currently manages circa €8 billion worth of client assets across its software platform and forecasts this number to exceed €30 billion within the next five years. It offers a range of unique software solutions for aircraft owners, including Cloud Asset Management that allows lessors manage all aspects of the asset from legal, financial and technical and a cloud-based project management tool, CARDS. In addition to software solutions, Cloudcards provides technical services to airlines and lessors. Notable customers include international aircraft lessors Air Transport Services Group (ATSG), Avmax, World Star Aviation and CMIG Aviation as well as Irish-operated lessors SMBC Aviation Capital, Formidion Aviation, and BBAM. Founded by the two Limerick brothers in 2013, Barry and Brian Fitzgerald, the company is led by CEO Bill Blake, with Barry Fitzgerald heading the Product, IT, and innovation division. The team’s extensive knowledge and expertise totals over 50 years of experience in aviation. “This recent investment ensures that Cloudcards remains at the forefront of the aviation software solutions market,” said Bill Blake, CEO of Cloudcards. “Our focus will be on strengthening the software development team as well as evolving our product roadmap to deliver a comprehensive aviation platform for aircraft owners to cover all essential software requirements for managing aviation assets.” “With Microsoft Azure as the foundation for all Cloudcard software products, Cloudcards has a clear vision of its future product roadmap. Over the coming 18 months, Cloudcards will bring to life the concept of a ‘One Aviation Platform” software ecosystem, we aim to address all customer and industry requirements across the asset lifecycle, from asset purchase to retirement or sale,” said Blake. Cloudcards’ head office is located in Limerick, with team members working across Ireland. It also collaborates with a global network of aviation engineers and consultants to address specific client requirements. “We pride ourselves on the ability to be able to rapidly customise products to meet the individual needs of customers, while maintaining a dynamic and flexible company culture. Our trusted long-standing partnerships attest to Cloudcards’ reputation and credibility within the aviation industry,” added Blake. Approximately 55% of the world’s commercial aircraft are leased with the vast majority either owned or managed by Irish entities, equating to 13,000 aircraft. The aircraft leasing market contributes circa €1 billion to the Irish economy and employs 10,000 people. Cloudcards partnered with Focus Capital Partners for corporate finance support, while Flynn O’Driscoll handled all legal aspects of the transaction. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is pleased to announce the launch of its first joint hub in North Macedonia set to take regional innovation to the next level and provide local entrepreneurs, innovators and learners with innovation support. The EIT Community will boost innovation in the Western Balkans region by opening the first joint regional hub in Skopje, North Macedonia. By connecting regional actors, innovators, and partners to Europe’s largest innovation ecosystem, the new EIT Community RIS Hub – the first of its kind, will strengthen cooperation among leading business, education and research organisations while increasing the region’s competitiveness and sustainable economic growth. The new Hub is part of the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (EIT RIS) programme designed to tackle Europe’s persistent innovation divide. Innovation hub for North Macedonia, launched by EIT The new hub is being launched today at the Center for Technology Transfer and Innovation in Skopje, North Macedonia, with local stakeholders and distinguished guests. Fatimir Bytyqi, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Economic Affairs said: ‘Given their expertise and presence across Europe, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology is uniquely positioned to support us in increasing our innovation capacities and creating stronger synergies among regional partners. I look forward to seeing new ground-breaking technologies emerge and new opportunities for entrepreneurs in North Macedonia.’ Nektarios Tavernarakis, Chair of the EIT Governing Board added: ‘We are delighted to open the EIT Community’s first joint hub in North Macedonia. Because of the region’s talent pool and economic strengths, particularly in smart agriculture, and information and communications technologies, the Western Balkans is an important region for the EIT Community. We aim to increase access to EIT opportunities through the new hub and to strengthen the innovation capacity of North Macedonia. We anticipate many success stories to be born here and scale towards the European market.’ The newly opened hub in North Macedonia will represent all the EIT’s Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) and focus on attracting and engaging an increasing number of North Macedonian participants into EIT Community activities. The hub will provide innovators with a centralised source of information on all services and opportunities provided by the entire EIT Community, both locally and more widely. Additionally, it will spearhead the EIT Community’s engagement with local authorities, including providing policy support and expertise as required. The EIT has appointed Mr. Aleksandar Stamboliev as a National Secretary to lead the operations of the new hub. He brings over 20 years of experience in the start-up and technology field, and is currently the CEO of BAU Accelerator, committed to helping technology start-ups scale globally. The launch of today’s hub North Macedonia is the first of such regional hubs to open with more planned in the next three years to provide the EIT Community with a strengthened on-the-ground presence across the whole of Europe. Stay tuned for the EIT Community Day event happening in Nicosia, Cyprus on the 14 June, where the EIT will announce the calls for establishing similar innovation hubs in Cyprus, Malta, Montenegro and Ukraine. All interested organisations are encouraged to apply to shape the EIT Community RIS Hubs in their respective regions. EIT – MAKING INNOVATION HAPPEN! WHAT IS THE EUROPEAN INSTITUTE OF INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY (EIT)? The EIT strengthens Europe’s ability to innovate by powering solutions to pressing global challenges and by nurturing entrepreneurial talent to create sustainable growth and skilled jobs in Europe. The EIT is an EU body and an integral part of Horizon Europe, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. The Institute supports dynamic pan-European partnerships, EIT Knowledge and Innovation...
British electric vehicle manufacturer Tevva has successfully completed development of the regenerative braking system on its 7.5t battery-electric truck. Part of this involved working with global Tier 1 supplier ZF to integrate its Electronic Brake System (EBS) for use in zero-emission Tevva electric trucks. Regen braking efficiency continues to evolve and improve ZF’s Commercial Vehicle Solutions (CVS) is the world’s largest supplier to the commercial vehicle industry offering solutions for vehicle motion control, integrated safety, automated driving, and electric mobility. ZF worked with Tevva to adapt its EBS for deployment in the Tevva 7.5t battery electric vehicle – which uses a blend of regenerative and compressed air brakes to add an extra layer of safety and responsiveness for drivers. Tevva’s engineers successfully met a range of stringent testing criteria for the company’s truck to receive ZF’s approval, working on fine-tuning the electric truck’s vehicle control unit (VCU) and enhance compatibility with the EBS. The result is a system that recuperates up to four times more energy than a conventional compressed air brake system, optimising the range of the Tevva truck. Testing of the adapted system, which took place at the ZF test track in Jeversen, Germany, involved a variety of conditions, gradients and surface types. Technological advancements allow a modern EBS system to control the blending of friction braking with the e-motor, reducing brake wear and tear. The system transfers the driver’s deceleration request electronically to all braking system components to shorten response time, balance brake forces and provide ease of braking and efficient brake management. ZF’s Heiko Eggers, Head of Commercial Vehicle EMEA Application Engineering for Braking and ADAS, said: “Our broad product portfolio, including ZF’s standardised Electronic Braking System, enables faster time-to-market for new, innovative market players such as Tevva. Their commitment and agile engineering expertise allowed us to meet our stringent safety requirements and complete our project. We look forward to seeing the first Tevva trucks on the road.” Tevva’s Uzair Jilani, Lead Engineer, Drive and Brake Systems, said: “We have worked hard to secure a ringing endorsement from arguably one of the world’s most significant Tier 1 suppliers. Working with ZF is a crucial step in the momentum we are building as a truck manufacturer. The system has been adapted for use with our regen system; when the brake pedal is pushed, most of the ‘braking’ is handled by regen, meaning that the drive system slows the vehicle down. “The conventional braking system is still needed to bring the truck to a complete stop, but this double layer of safety is an excellent aid to more efficient driving. It also means that the hardware undergoes less strain to extend the braking system’s life in the long run.” Tevva’s 7.5t battery-electric vehicle (BEV) has this year begun mass production at the company’s London facility. This will be followed by a 7.5t hydrogen-electric truck, which benefits from a hydrogen range-extender that enhances vehicle range to 354 miles (570 km). The Tevva BEV offers up to 140 miles (227 kilometres) from its 105-kWh battery on a single charge and is ideal for last-mile and urban delivery fleets. The implementation of EBS (Electronic Brake System) allowed for a safe incorporation of regenerative braking up to 180 kW, whereas the traditional air brake system had limited passive regen to around 40 kW due to safety considerations. Tevva is a hydrogen electric truck company with a spectrum of options for zero-emission medium to heavy-duty trucks. Our revolutionary hydrogen fuel-cell range extension technology allows our vehicles to do all the work of a diesel, with total peace of mind about cost, range, and environmental impact. Tevva is leading the electric charge to zero-emission freight and urban logistics. We have vehicles on the road already, getting ...
CWSI, one of Europe’s most experienced modern workplace security and compliance specialists, today announces a new partnership with Chorus, a UK-based cybersecurity partner specialising in Managed Extended Detection and Response (MXDR). CWSI predicts that this collaboration will account for up to 20% of revenue by 2026, driven by high market demand for fully managed cybersecurity services. This new partnership complements CWSI’s existing range of security and compliance consulting and managed services, enabling the company to offer real-time managed detection and response (MDR) services to expand revenue streams from existing customers and create opportunities with new customers. Industry analyst Gartner predicts that over 50% of organisations that deploy MDR will adopt a managed solution by 2026. Founded in 1999, Chorus now boasts a team of more than 100 people servicing clients and partners across the UK and Europe. Like CWSI, it is part of Microsoft’s Intelligent Security Association (MISA) and was recently awarded Microsoft verified Managed XDR Solution status – one of only a handful of UK partners to achieve this. CWSI customers will benefit from the support of the Chorus Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Acting as an extension of the customer’s own IT team, this provides access to a dedicated security team without the significant cost or required training. Specifically, the partners will be taking three products to market to provide ongoing managed security to customers. Underpinned by Microsoft’s advanced security technologies and delivering a broad scope of coverage for organisations, these offerings consist of MDR Endpoints, MXDR Advanced, and MXDR Premium. These solutions offer various levels of threat detection and containment services across IT environments including endpoints, networks, identity, email, data and applications. In turn, they will not only keep businesses better protected but allow them to consolidate security products and maximise the value of existing Microsoft investments. As well as enhancing security, these products can also help to reduce technical complexity and associated costs for organisations, including avoiding high insurance premiums. Given the need for businesses to hold accreditations such as Cyber Essentials or ISO27001, or invest in MXDR services, these new offerings from CWSI and Chorus will help to keep insurance premiums to a minimum. Mark Mitchell, Chief Technology Officer, CWSI, said: “Growing security service revenues based on Microsoft’s technology is a key pillar of our future growth strategy. Bringing together two businesses with the security credentials and calibre of Chorus and CWSI enhances our reputations, builds increased trust with our client base, and enables us to keep them better protected.” Nicky Saner, Managing Director, Chorus, said: “We are thrilled to announce our new partnership with CWSI, particularly given our shared membership in MISA. This partnership is a testament to the power of collaboration within our industry and underscores our commitment to providing the highest level of service to our clients. It will undoubtedly enhance capabilities, allowing CWSI customers to leverage our combined expertise and resources to deliver even more value.” Marcus Beer, Head of Cyber & Channel Sales, Chorus, added: “This partnership represents a significant step forward in our mission to make the digital world a safer place, and we look forward to the journey ahead. As fellow MISA members, we share a common dedication to providing our customers with best-in-class solutions and services. This partnership will undoubtedly enhance our ability to serve customers by extending the reach of our CSOC services through CWSI’s extensive network and expertise.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find h...
Expleo, a global technology, engineering, and consulting service provider, has announced that it is launching progressive initiatives aimed at attracting women back to the workplace. The Return@Expleo programme, in partnership with Women Returners, along with an expanded leave policy and a comprehensive Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Programme, aims to empower female professionals seeking to return to work. Expleo’s Return@Expleo programme is aimed at professionals who have taken extended career break. Participants will be equipped with the resources they require to refresh their skills, re-establish industry connections and pursue their career progression. On completion of the five-month paid career returners programme, successful candidates will have a view towards permanency within Expleo. This will help Expleo fill current job openings in the areas of Quality Assurance, Business Analysis, and Engineering. Expleo’s commitment to diversity is further exemplified through its generous leave policies, which the company has expanded this year to include menopause leave, fertility treatment leave, volunteer leave and special leave relating to important life situations, such as a child starting school. Team members can also avail of fully-paid maternity, paternity, adoption, and parent’s leave. In addition, Expleo’s life enrichment programme offers unpaid leave for traveling, research or education. Expleo’s award-winning Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Programme, meanwhile, has long been a champion for female voices in the workplace. With a dedicated D&I Committee and Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), Expleo ensures that all employees have a voice in shaping D&I initiatives. The company’s commitment to continuous learning is demonstrated through its annual D&I training for the leadership team and employees. Expleo’s dedication to gender diversity has been recognised with award wins including the recent Diversity and Inclusion Award at the Tech Excellence Awards. It has also previously been awarded the Best Large Workplace in Ireland. Aimee Farrell, Project Manager at Expleo, who went through the programme said: “I joined Expleo as a Project Manager through the Return@Expleo programme in March 2022 following a five-year career break to stay at home with my young children. From the very first contact I had with Expleo and the team at Women Returners, I knew that my career was in good hands. “They made the transition back to work very straight forward and provided support including webinars on brushing up your CV and job interview preparation, through to a five-month programme of workshops specific to my needs. This personalised approach helped me regain confidence and update my skills. Connecting with the other participants on the programme created a supportive community, offering shared experiences and valuable insights. I recommend this programme to any woman seeking to return to the world of work.” Eimear Fitzsimons, Head of Recruitment, at Expleo, said: “At Expleo, we are dedicated to cultivating an inclusive and diverse workplace. We understand that many women desire to return to the workforce, but may lack confidence and feel that their skills are outdated – particularly when it comes to our fast-moving technology industry. Through our initiatives, we aim to provide the encouragement and support that career returners need to step back into the professional realm and carve out successful careers. “Helping women to get back into the workplace is just one element of ensuring greater gender diversity in our industry. We understand that life happens and that is why we have extended our leave policies to include menopause leave and special leave, which can cover unexpected or unique events. We stand by our employees through every stage of their lives, continually assessing and enhancing our benefits to meet their evolving needs year after year. “We have also taken measures including the removal of gender-biased language from job ads;...
At this momemt in time the homelessness numbers in Ireland are at record breaking levels, with over 8000, men, women and children effected. One of Ireland’s best known charities the Dublin Simon Community is doing great work to prevent and also address homelessness in seven counties. These counties are Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow, Meath, Louth, Cavan and Monaghan. From June 26th to June 28th, Kaseya+DattoCon is taking place in Dublin’s Convention Centre and the Kaseya team have chosen to collect funds, supplies and lend support to the incredible work the Dublin Simon Community are doing. For more information on this wonderful initiative and to donate please click here. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Guest post Lesley Bielby, CEO of DiGo Being a Gen Xer in an increasingly young industry can have its challenges – but there are also some clear advantages. There isn’t much in our industry that I haven’t already seen, including experiencing and surviving the fearmongering provoked by the launch of first, Web1, and then Web2, with the final acceptance and celebration of the new possibilities that each ultimately created. Why Web2 and Web3 Need to Find Common Ground All those years ago, clients were skeptical of both Web1 and Web2’s new digital and social tools as well as platforms. They often waited to see when and how the competition would jump in and then relished the failures, but then pulled their hair in frustration when some early adopter competitors achieved roaring successes. Back then, wary of looking and feeling like laggards, clients feared dealing directly with digital and social experts. And their ad agencies were not able to fully advise them on how to best enter these new realms with objectivity and authority. This is because back then, most agencies built digital then social media departments in walled silos, rather than integrating these new and younger disciplines into the traditional agency structure immediately, to allow each group to learn and grow simultaneously. So, ad agencies stayed behind the curve for some time. And now here we are in the midst of a similar dynamic in the next generation of the internet – Web3 – where I can see that another chasm between the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ guard is in danger of being created. This time it isn’t so much within the walls of ad agencies, but specifically between NFT creators and big brand CMOs. NFTs have been in our midst for quite some time now. And as is often the case, their adoption curve has been classic – early adopters took advantage of the opportunities early on while secondary adopters and early mainstreamers have been standing back – waiting to see how the chips (or should I say crypto) will fall. Some brands like Reddit successfully jumped in early and recognised the need to ‘cross the chasm’ to talk to more mainstream audiences, by changing the whole dialogue around NFTs. They marketed NFTs as collectibles and tokens as coins, offering NFT education as well as a lower entry price point that was attractive to Web2 audiences. Others, such as Porsche’s doomed 911 7500 edition collection NFT project, failed to attract audiences through a confusing minting process and a lack of transparency that had Web3 communities blow up Twitter with their groans of deep disapproval. Witnessing such failures make big brand CMOs hesitant to act. Yet, after witnessing successes, and under constant pressure to add value for positive growth, FOMO definitely becomes a key factor here. On the other side, NFT creators are desperate to add value to their collections for fans and for themselves (because an over dependence on fluctuating NFT royalties is just not sustainable). Plus, after witnessing the recent and successful real world Pudgy Penguin toy launch on Amazon – they have FOMO all of their own. It seems to me that for both Web2 and Web3 to achieve success in this space, each entity actually needs the other. But each seems incapable of getting alignment – because each speaks an entirely different language. First, there’s the Gen Z NFT creators, who have frequently come from and speak the language of Crypto or gaming or both. Second, there’s the “Boomer” –as in the Web3 community dubbing anyone over 25 a “Boomer” – CMOs with classic brand training, low tenure and high churn, who do not want to ruin their own reputation, as well as that of their brands while on their watch. It doesn’t have to be the way it was in the Web1 and Web2 eras. Let’s learn from those mistakes. Yes, innovative Gen Zers – you have to push against the old guard and the old way of doing things to find a better way. But resist overtly rejecting ALL the generations of expertise that has come before you....
Irish IT service provider Auxilion has announced that it has been recognised as the Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Rising Star of the Year 2023 for Ireland and the United Kingdom as part of HPE’s 2023 Partner Awards. These awards celebrate the HPE partners who exemplify commitment and success in delivering value to their customers on their digital transformation journey. This recognition has been given to HPE partners who have achieved exceptional results in financial performance, innovative solutions, and meaningful business results. Across its global ecosystem, HPE has more than 85,000 partners which work closely with its sales and technical teams to solve customers’ most challenging business and technology issues. Auxilion and HPE have been partners for almost 20 years, working together to simplify complex digital transformation projects and delivering solutions across areas such as hybrid infrastructure and cloud technology. Commenting on the win, Auxilion CEO and founder Philip Maguire said: “This award is testament to the effort a fantastic acknowledgement of the effort, commitment, and success that our team has achieved in the past year within HPE’s partner community. Having been a proud partner of HPE for almost two decades, it is rewarding to have our increased prominence and impact within its ecosystem in Ireland and the UK acknowledged in this way. “Our elevated status within HPE has been driven by our growth, market proposition and our spearheading of its hybrid Greenlake and Azure cloud platform, which has been a huge success. Auxilion and HPE possess the same cultural ethos which is that we both have an absolute customer commitment and focus, and we look forward to further growing this partnership throughout 2023 and beyond.” “It is a privilege to honour the winners of the 2023 HPE Partner Awards. These partners have successfully demonstrated the ability to innovate and execute business outcomes and outstanding experiences for customers,” said Gilles Thiebaut, SVP of Worldwide Partner Ecosystem and Business Development, HPE. “Our partner ecosystem continues to be a top priority at HPE and these awards are one way we highlight some of the partners that are driving impressive results and outcomes for the customers.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan TD, and Minister of State with responsibility for Communications, Ossian Smyth TD, has published the National Cyber Risk Assessment 2022, which outlines the cyber security risks faced by Ireland and the measures required to strengthen our cyber resilience. This report, led by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), includes an analysis of the risk that Ireland faces from a range of threats such as espionage and destructive cyber attacks posed by nation state actors, criminal organisations and hacktivist groups. The report also highlights the importance of supply chain security in digital technologies, which has become a key focal point of cyber risk in recent years. The report makes three key recommendations to strengthen the cyber resilience of Ireland’s critical national infrastructure (CNI) and services, and to mitigate systemic cyber risks in the State: Strengthen legislative provisions to ensure that the operators of essential and important services, service providers, and technology vendors embed appropriate cyber security measures in their products and services from the outset. Develop a framework to manage strategic supply chain dependency risks for critical and sensitive services. Establish a central register of all essential and important entities in the State. The report supports the ongoing development of measures to strengthen cyber resilience within Ireland’s CNI. It does this by identifying pathways that could lead to systemic cyber risks — which have the potential to adversely affect the State’s essential services. Speaking upon the publication of the report, Minister Ryan stated: “We’ve taken the decision to publish the National Cyber Risk Assessment, which was drafted in 2022, to inform people of the cyber risks Ireland faces. “Today’s increasingly inter-connected world is dependent on digitalised processes, and it is vital that we work cohesively to ensure there is a high-level of cyber resilience across the State’s critical services. This can be achieved through a number of measures, including by strengthening the potential for current and upcoming cyber security-related statutory regulations. “By examining potential cyber-risks across a range of sectors, this work provides an invaluable insight into an ever-evolving geo-political and technological environment and protects against potential threats posed. The report was carried out by my Department’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), with the assistance of the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána, along with other members of the report’s steering group.” Minister of State Smyth added: “The cyber risks facing a country, economic sector or individual party are intertwined with each other and with other types of risks. As a response to the pandemic, there was a rapid acceleration in the digitalisation of commercial, educational and social activities, which allowed these activities — which would otherwise have stalled — to continue. “A large-scale digital breakdown post pandemic could cause more societal harm than it otherwise might have pre-pandemic, further underscoring the importance of robust cyber resilience across all sectors. The publication of today’s report provides a robust assessment of systemic cyber risks”. The completion of a National Cyber Risk Assessment was one of the key measures identified in the ‘National Cyber Security Strategy 2019-2024’. Measure four of the strategy stated that the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), with the assistance of the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána, perform a detailed cyber security-focused risk assessment of all critical national infrastructure (CNI) within the State. The National Cyber Risk Assessment 2022 report was prepared by the NCSC, with the assistance of a steering group consisting of members from An Garda Síochána, the Office of Emergency Planning, the Defence Forces, the National Security Analysis Centre, the C...
Over half (54%) of IT leaders in Ireland believe their existing IT infrastructure is not fully prepared for the demands of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, despite its widespread adoption across industries, according to the Equinix 2023 Global Tech Trends Survey. The survey, which examined IT leaders’ responses to AI advances in their organisations, comes after a year of significant AI breakthroughs that saw the technology rapidly deployed in applications across both the business-to-business and business-to-consumer sectors. Equinix’s survey, which included 100 IT decision-makers in Ireland, found that, on average, IT leaders in Ireland were more likely than IT leaders in EMEA – and worldwide – to lack confidence in their digital infrastructure’s ability to cope with the demands of AI. The survey found that 49% of IT decision-makers in EMEA have concerns about the ability of their infrastructure to accommodate the needs of AI, compared to 44% in Asia-Pacific and 32% in the Americas The survey showed that there is now a widespread appetite among businesses in Ireland to benefit from the advantages of AI, with 85% of IT leaders reporting that they are already using it, or planning to do so, across multiple functions. A similar survey from Equinix last year found that a significantly lower 62% of IT leaders viewed AI as a priority for their technology strategy, representing a marked change in sentiments towards the technology and its accessibility. Today, organisations in Ireland are currently using, or planning to use, AI to benefit IT operations (85%), cybersecurity (81%), and customer experience (80%). In addition to inadequate digital infrastructure, the survey highlighted a lack of confidence among IT leaders in Ireland in their teams’ abilities to accommodate the growing use of AI, with 59% expressing concerns. Therefore, 34% of IT leaders understandably listed AI and machine learning as the third-most sought after expertise for IT team growth in the last 24 months. The lack of internal knowledge relating to AI was found to be enough to put 46% of IT decision-makers off adopting newer technologies like AI. Other deterrents included increased OPEX costs (42%) and slow implementation (41%). Peter Lantry, Managing Director for Equinix in Ireland, said: “All industries are being transformed by AI – including our own. We are already experimenting with how it can enable greater operational efficiency and energy savings – and it has the potential to do so much more. “For enterprises to use AI in a meaningful way, they must be able to produce vast amounts of data which can be shared, stored and processed in a sustainable way. They require digital infrastructure that guarantees private, secure, high-speed access to external data sources and AI models. “Ireland’s digital economy is growing and there is no question that AI will play a central role in its continued growth. From disease detection in healthcare, to fighting cybercrime in financial services, it will have a profound impact on our everyday lives, with every industry benefiting from its implementation. Without the right digital infrastructure underpinning it, AI cannot be intelligent, and given the pace of change, businesses will quickly find themselves left behind. A full copy of the report can be found here. See more stories here.
Guest post by Bob Poole, Chief Sales Officer – TenderHut The wider Asian market presents an attractive expansion opportunity for technology companies. The policies of countries that have placed a heavy emphasis on technological development are proving fruitful, and the increasing incomes of young and developing societies are leading to a growing tech savvy middle class. Some tips on how to sell technology in Asia However before embarking on progressing in the Asian technology market, preparation is vital in order to be successful A powerhouse of diversity and opportunities One of the biggest mistakes you can make when considering doing business in Asia is to treat this vast and diverse region as a single country or a collection of similar countries with uniform rules. Asia covers over 44 million square kilometres and is home to nearly 50 countries, with approximately 4.5 billion inhabitants who have diverse cultures, religions, and traditions. Most likely, your business expansion goal will be one of the world’s largest economies and the most technologically developed countries – China or Japan, maybe another market offering growth opportunities. Whichever direction you choose, you must understand that companies expanding from Europe or the USA should be able to recognize the differences from their home market. From my perspective – a Brit with more than 30 years of experience in selling technology to the world’s biggest companies – the Asian market is a fascinating challenge offering many opportunities to those who are willing to take the time to get to know and understand it, without preconceptions. TenderHut, where I am Chief Sales Officer now, is a Polish (Central European) technology group entering Asian markets gradually. We understand that this process takes time and requires immense patience. In May 2019, our company Solution4Labs opened a new office in Guangzhou, China. It was a bold move, but we were confident in our abilities and the potential for growth in the region. Just six months later, our subsidiary Solution For Labs Guangzhou Limited was born, offering cutting-edge LIMS systems to manage laboratory research processes. The new venture was a success, and we were thrilled with the progress we had made in such a short amount of time. In addition, our prop-tech startup, Zonifero, had successfully implemented its solution in office buildings in Singapore. But we weren’t content to rest on our laurels. We had big plans to expand further into Asia and establish a presence in Japan. Our team worked tirelessly to make this vision a reality, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and everything came to a screeching halt. Our plans for expansion were put on hold, but we refused to let this setback defeat us. Thanks to contacts we made before, Solution4Labs delivered innovative solutions for clients in the automotive and pharmaceutical industries of Japan, such as laboratory systems for engine component leaders and validation services for pharma labs. We kept on working, and now we are on the road again meeting our new potential business partners face to face in Japan. A few universal tips for beginners on Asian markets Despite the size and diversity of the Asian market, the most attractive Asian countries for technology companies share some similar characteristics, which should be taken into account when planning to establish business contacts with them. I’ll share with you the ones that, from my perspective, seem the most interesting and useful at the beginning of your journey to success in Asia. Don’t expect that you will start business talks as fast as in Europe or in the USA. Doing business in Asia can take time, and it may require multiple meetings and negotiations to reach a final agreement. Be patient, and respectful throughout the process. Also, you need to remember that directly saying “no” or “I don’t like it” to many of your Asian partners means a lack of courtesy, and they will avoid such statements in commun...
Exergyn, an Irish industry-leading cleantech company, has announced the creation of 15 new roles in line with the opening of its new office in Rugby, Eastern Warwickshire, England. It is currently hiring for new positions across engineering, with an emphasis on sustainability. Exergyn invested £500,000 (€583,325) in the new centre, redesigning it for its new purpose, which will indirectly support more jobs in the region, and allow the company to benefit from an established solid supply chain network across Ireland and the UK. Exergyn is a clean energy tech producer that specialises in the design and development of unique heating and cooling technologies based on world-class expertise in solid-state shape memory alloy (SMA) materials for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC). The new base of operations will be focused on prototype testing and the location will allow the cleantech company to benefit from a highly skilled engineering workforce already present in and around Rugby. Skills from other advanced manufacturing sectors such as automotive and aerospace can be leveraged by Exergyn. Using its unique expertise in the application of SMA, Exergyn designs and manufactures thermal management product solutions. These are set to significantly lower carbon emissions and compliance costs in the heating and cooling of buildings and water, both domestic and commercial. Rugby Borough, as part of Warwickshire county and the wider West Midlands, has been very successful in attracting investment in green energy and zero-carbon transport technologies. The region is home to the Manufacturing Technology Centre, and to major brands such as Cadent, London EV Company, and GE Power Conversion. Net zero carbon transport technologies in Coventry and Warwickshire already account for approximately 50,000 jobs in the area. Given the strong presence of manufacturing companies, Rugby has become the ideal location for businesses such as Exergyn as it provides direct access to well-established suppliers of materials and components. This, combined with access to talent within the area will enable the commercial production of groundbreaking, clean technology products. Figures from the IEA show that the global market for key mass-manufactured clean energy technologies will be worth around €758 billion euros a year by 2030 – more than three times today’s level. This would see clean energy manufacturing jobs more than double from 6 million to nearly 14 million by 2030. According to the UN, in order to prevent the worst impacts of climate change and maintain life on earth, global temperature increase needs to be kept to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The extensive innovation being undertaken in both Dublin and Rugby has the potential to positively impact the wider society in the long term. Commenting on the new UK office, Co-Founder and CEO, Dr. Kevin O’Toole said: “As an Irish company, this is a very exciting time for Exergyn. We are delighted to have been given the opportunity to have a new base in a region where engineering pedigree has always been held in such high regard and look forward to recruiting new R&D positions. Rugby and the surrounding communities have so much to offer from their well-connected supply lines to the wealth of experience from a multitude of disciplines already present in the area. We look forward to making this our UK home and, in turn, we hope we can offer the community part of ourselves and to add to the growing development of cleantech in Rugby.” Welcoming the news, Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “Exergyn’s expansion at their new Rugby offices emphasises our region’s place at the vanguard of the Green Industrial Revolution. Innovative cleantech companies like Exergyn are key to keeping our #WM2041 net zero commitment. We’re well placed to lead the way here in the West Midlands as we’re home to the UK’s largest green talent pool. This all lends itself well to supporting Exergyn’s growth plans so ...
Offaly is well-placed to become a new global hub for data centres with the potential to create thousands of green jobs, according to a new report by technology company Siemens. The study, commissioned by Offaly County Council, explores how Offaly in the Irish Midlands region could rival Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris in being an anchor for data centres powered by renewable energy. Siemens outlined that data centre operators will consider the region, because of the simple access to reliable, renewable energy, the abundance of land for development, the moderate climate and strong supply of talent. Sites such as Rhode Green Energy Park in Offaly have been identified as potential opportunities for data centres. The business says that the continued growth of Europe’s data centre capitals is becoming increasingly impacted by costs and concerns about energy. Power grid constraints in Dublin, for example, which is home to the majority of Ireland’s 82 data centres, may take up to 10 years to resolve. However, the spread of data centres in the remainder of Ireland is currently limited. Joe Walsh, General Manager at Siemens Ireland, said: “The data centre industry is looking for new locations away from its traditional hubs and the Midlands of Ireland has huge potential. “Through local investment to provide the right level of connectivity, and through collaboration in the industry’s supply chain, the region can provide the reliable, low-carbon sources of power generation required for data centre operators to meet their sustainability targets. “This has the potential to create thousands of jobs, generate millions of Euros of investment to the region, all based on clean, green power, and catalyse Ireland’s transition to net zero.” The Council aims for the report to help attract a data centre anchor tenant in the vicinity of Offaly’s Rhode Green Energy Park, which would be the first step in creating a thriving data centre sector. A large facility will typically create 250 permanent and 1,200 temporary jobs during construction and act as a catalyst for investment, according to the report. Data centres could be, in part, powered by wind, solar or even green hydrogen from renewable sources, and any waste heat that is generated could be used to heat local homes, businesses, local industry and community buildings, according to the study. There are also opportunities for data centres to anchor investment by being lead tenants of eco-industrial parks alongside green energy enterprises. Anna-Marie Delaney, Chief Executive of Offaly County Council, said: “It’s clear there is significant potential to create a new data centre cluster here in the Irish Midlands. “This report provides us with the foundations we need to attract operators from across the globe, deliver a business case to invest in our local infrastructure and create a more sustainable economy. “I’m looking forward to working with our partners to investigate how we can make this a reality to create high-value jobs for local people and attract new local investment.“ The study was co-funded by the EU Just Transition Fund and North Offaly Development Fund (NODF). The North Offaly Development Fund is a community group with Rhode Green Energy Park as its flagship project. Eugene Mulligan, Chair of NODF, said: “This report provides us with key insights and a strong evident based roadmap supporting economic diversification way from peat through green energy enterprise, leveraging the many emerging renewable energy projects emerging in Offaly.” Researchers from Siemens interviewed leaders from the data centre sector, renewable energy infrastructure developers and government bodies to inform the report. It lays out an action plan to attract investors, including promoting Offaly and the Midlands as ‘open for data centre business’ with regional strengths such as local renewable power sources that support increased sustainability. For more information, visit: More about Irish Tech Ne...
Kärcher research shows almost half of adults cite time-restraints as the biggest challenge faced when dealing with garden mess and DIY. Kärcher, the world-renowned provider of innovative cleaning solutions, has conducted extensive research on the nation’s attitudes towards DIY and cleaning up garden mess. The research, conducted with 1,000 adults in Ireland, sheds light on the challenges faced when dealing with DIY projects and garden cleaning, as well as the importance of using the right tools for effective and efficient clean-ups. Ireland’s attitudes towards DIY and cleaning up garden mess According to Kärcher’s research findings, 40% of adults say the worst thing about cleaning up DIY and garden mess is that it’s so time-consuming. Physical discomfort, such as back pain, was cited by 21%, while 7% of adults revealed that their tools are inadequate for the job. Moreover, the research conducted by Kärcher also shed light on the nation’s familiarity robust vacuum cleaners and their potential uses associated for cleaning up DIY projects. When it comes to utilizing vacuum cleaners, the majority of adults (79%) typically avoid using them for cleaning liquid spills, while 69% and 61% steer clear of using them for garden mess and messy DIY projects, respectively. “We recognise the challenges individuals face when dealing with DIY and garden mess” says Lee Hulsman, Head of Retail at Kärcher. “Our research has unveiled valuable insights into the nation’s cleaning habits and the need for effective solutions. With our WD Vacuum Cleaner Range, particularly the exceptional WD5, we offer a game-changing tool that effortlessly handles everything from light dust to heavy rubble and liquids. This powerful machine, backed by its intelligent filter system and user-friendly features, empowers users to take on any cleaning task with confidence. At Kärcher, we believe in providing the right tools to transform challenges into satisfying accomplishments, ensuring a cleaner, more enjoyable environment for everyone.” DIY enthusiast and Kärcher fan, Dave Moore says “I’ve always been passionate about maintaining a beautiful garden and preparing it for the summer season can be quite challenging. But with Kärcher’s WD5 model, the clean-up doesn’t have to be. Using it to tackle garden mess has been a game-changer. This innovative cleaning solution has revolutionised my approach, effortlessly handling everything from liquid to stubborn debris.” Kärcher’s Wet & Dry Range is engineered to handle the most demanding cleaning tasks that surpass the capabilities of conventional indoor vacuums. Whether it’s light dust or heavy rubble, liquids, or debris, the Wet & Dry Range is up to the challenge. The WD Range from Kärcher, which received the prestigious iF Design Award in 2022, offers versatile solutions for various applications. The range is ideal for interior car cleaning, DIY projects, and cleaning in cellars, garages, and outside areas. They also prove invaluable for addressing mishaps, no matter their size. Kärcher has incorporated numerous customer requests into the design of these devices, prioritizing cleaning performance, energy efficiency, versatile application, and high filter efficiency. Added benefits include storage trays for small parts and tools, further enhancing convenience during use. Choose Kärcher and visit your local electrical & DIY retailer now. Visit www.karcher.ie to find the right vacuum cleaner for you. Research was carried out by independent qualitative research provider iReach Consumer Decisions Omnibus, on behalf of Kärcher, amongst a nationally representative sample of 1,000 Irish adults from 11th May – 19th May 2023. About Kärcher Ireland: Kärcher is a family-owned business built from the ground up by Alfred & Irene Kärcher to solve every day cleaning challenges through innovation and technology.?Always responding to the world’s ever-changing cleaning needs, Kärcher is now the world’s leading expert in cleaning, both inside th...
On this weeks show hosts Brett King, Katie King and Brian Solis are joined by the dynamic duo of Robert Scoble and Brian Roemmele, both highly regarded futurists as we dive into the implications of Apple’s Vision Pro. What it means for computing, experiences and what the experience of wearing the VisionPro is like. We discuss the breakthroughs Apple had to make to get this far, and what likely comes next What is Apple’s Future Vision? More about the hosts Robert Tercek is an award-winning author, entrepreneur, and educator focused on the process of dematerialization and innovation. In his professional capacity, Mr. Tercek is a seasoned business executive with deep expertise in digital media and internet services. He is a prolific creator of interactive programs and products. He has designed and launched successful consumer experiences on every digital platform, including digital television, game consoles, broadband Internet, and mobile networks. In 2021, Mr. Tercek was recognized as the Humanitarian of the Year by the Media Excellence Awards for his leadership in designing and launching COVID SMART™, an interactive training program designed to keep workers safe on the job during the pandemic. Brett King is a world-renowned entrepreneur, futurist, speaker, international bestselling author, and media personality. China’s President Xi Jinping cited his book Augmented: Life in the Smart Lane on the topic of Artificial Intelligence in his 2018 national address; the same book that was listed as a Top 10 non-fiction book in North America. In 2019 his book Bank 4.0 was awarded the Top Book by a Foreign Author in Russia for that year. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Guinness has been awarded the highly coveted Red Dot Product Design award for the latest evolution of its ground-breaking, plug-and-play beer dispense technology, GUINNESS MICRODRAUGHT 2.0. Unveiled in front of some of the world’s most celebrated product design leaders at the Red Dot Awards ceremony in Essen, Germany, GUINNESS MICRODRAUGHT 2.0 earned special praise for “defining the next generation of dispense systems” by an independent jury compromising of international design experts. “It is significantly more cost-effective than its predecessor, requiring 60 percent fewer components and eliminating complex electromechanics,” added the judges. GUINNESS MICRODRAUGHT 2.0 will debut in-pour ultrasonic dispense technology to trade venues and is the result of continuing evolution toward low-energy, low complexity dispense perfection. Combining a new, customised ‘pull and pour’ valve technology with breakthrough, in-pour ultrasonics introduced on the multi-award-winning, GUINNESS NITROSURGE device, another breakthrough innovation that only Guinness could do, the GUINNESS MICRODRAUGHT 2.0 will deliver effortless, gravity-fed beer dispense. GUINNESS has now firmly established itself as a product design leader in the drinks industry, and a true innovator in dispense technology by earning its fourth Red Dot award in just two years. The Red Dot Awards design jury commended the Guinness FutureServe team for their design craft and creativity in the evolution of its award-winning GUINNESS MICRODRAUGHT dispense technology, adding: “Crisp lines contrast with soft, flowing forms to create a confident appearance combined with a simple, elegant, icon-driven user interface designed for global markets.” With around 20,000 entries per year, the Red Dot Design Award is one of the biggest design competitions in the world. This year, an exceptional portfolio of products were entered from 60 countries in 51 competition categories. Recognising design excellence, product innovation, and distinction: In three disciplines, participants submit products, communication projects and brands as well as prototypes and concepts. After becoming the first-ever brand to win a Red Dot award for beer dispense, and achieving three breakthrough special innovation prizes for GUINNESS MICRODRAUGHT AND GUINNESS NITROSURGE in 2022, this further recognition reinforces the brand’s relentless commitment to exploring exciting new innovations, and sustainable solutions to bring Guinness to more places and spaces. Truly disruptive, GUINNESS MICRODRAUGHT dispense technology has enabled pubs, bars and other venues around the world to serve beautiful, fresh Guinness Draught on tap, no matter their size or setup. GUINNESS MICRODRAUGHT 2.0 is the next generation of single serve Guinness dispense, which will launch in markets across the globe later this year. World-class product dispensing devices Two years in development, the pioneering GUINNESS MICRODRAUGHT 2.0 dispense technology becomes the latest technological leap for Guinness since the advent of the widget in 1988. The innovation further enables Guinness to be enjoyed at its finest worldwide, in new places and spaces, adding thousands more venues across 150 countries, so that millions more consumers across the globe can enjoy a perfect Guinness serve. See more stories here.
Payzone, Ireland’s largest consumer payments network, has announced a new sponsorship agreement with Bleeper, Ireland’s first dockless bike-sharing service. The agreement will see Payzone sponsor 800 of Bleeper’s public bikes operated in Dublin City, Fingal, and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Councils. Today’s announcement comes ahead of further moves planned by Payzone to expand its current range of services within its popular Parking application. Payzone has brought various innovations to motorists over the years and the application is ideally placed to implement a broad range of future value-added features. This will include a range of services which will make it easier for the travelling public to go about their daily lives, using one single application, regardless of how they commute, whether by Car, Bus, Rail, Taxi, Bike, Scooter or on Foot. This will also become instrumental in promoting sustainability. Bleeper provides smart solutions for everyday transport offering a sustainable alternative to individuals commuting around the capital. Bleeper is on a mission to fight climate change, one journey at a time. In 2022 Bleeper users avoided emitting approximately 59,199kg of CO2 by choosing to cycle for their everyday trips. Commenting on the sponsorship, Jim Deignan, CEO, Payzone Ireland said, “Bike sharing has grown in popularity across Europe in recent years and Bleeper is a very successful cycle hire scheme operating here in Dublin. We have plans to expand the Payzone parking application to offer our customers a range of additional mobility-related services, with sustainable transport being at the forefront of these plans. “We’re delighted to partner with Bleeper to promote alternative modes of transport. We feel the partnership aligns with our future vision for Payzone and demonstrates our commitment to sustainable transport and supports the Government’s stated ambition of active travel.” Bleeper offers a range of sustainable travel solutions from its shared public bikes and shared private bikes to its newly launched LeaseBike subscription service. The Payzone brand will be displayed on both sides of the middle ad board of the Bleeper public bike for the duration of the 12-month sponsorship. Hugh Cooney, founder of Bleeper said, “Making it easier to access bike sharing schemes like Bleeper can only help with growing the number of people cycling. We are excited to be partnering with Payzone and to be the first mobility service available in the Payzone app. Dublin is an ideal city to get around by bike and this partnership is another step towards making it a little easier to do that.” In addition to the sponsorship, Bleeper bikes will be discoverable on the Payzone App from the beginning of July, making it easier for individuals to find a Bleeper bike near them. Payzone and Bleeper are actively involved with Mobility Partnership Ireland, a private sector coalition with the vision for Ireland to develop as a European and global leader in sustainable mobility. Representing car sharing, bus travel, ride-hailing, e-cargo and bike-sharing modes of transport, their shared aim is to place the needs of transport users at the heart of transport policy, enable innovation, promote public health and support climate action. See more stories here.
Both employers and employees are keen to embrace the positive impacts that AI can bring, rather than fear it, according to new research. Research published by Ireland, finds that 72% of employers want to embrace AI within the workplace, and 75% believe we should trust the technology in a professional workplace environment. Sentiment amongst employees is on balance positive, if a little less emphatic, versus amongst employers. Over half of employees believe we should embrace AI (57%) and trust AI (55%). Only 12% of workers say they don’t trust AI, whilst a third (33%) say they neither trust or distrust AI. AI’s current impact on the Workplace AI is already being deployed in both an official and unofficial capacity in Irish workplaces. More than two-thirds (69%) of organisations are currently using AI tools such as ChatGPT on a regular basis. Many experts believe AI will free up professionals from more routine work and will allow them to focus on more high-value work. However, amongst those surveyed, 35% of employers expect AI tools to change the type of tasks carried by their employees in the future; with 34% anticipating that the technology will lead to increased tasks for their staff. Only 16% believe working with AI will decrease workloads. Amongst the professions expected to be most impacted by AI are customer service / contact centres, banking and finance, cyber security, accountancy and finance, and education. Maureen Lynch, Director at Hays Ireland, comments: “Artificial intelligence represents the latest frontier for technological innovation, and it is already having a transformative impact on how organisations, both big and small, do business. “In years to come, 2023 may be remembered as the year AI went mainstream. For many of us, we are still trying to understand how best to utilise the technology via ad hoc pilots or isolated business processes. Meanwhile, industry leaders and policy makers are faced with the unenviable task of attempting to regulate the technology and put the necessary safeguards in place. “Typically, major change, including the implementation of new technology in a workplace, is often met with wariness or suspicion. Interestingly, today’s research tells us that employers and employees ultimately see AI as a net positive, as opposed to something to be feared. However, it is important that organisations build on this sentiment and support their workforces in embracing and adapting to this new technology.” Upskilling employees to utilise new technology According to the research, whilst employers and employers are generally positive about the potential of AI, there is a recognition that employers will need to invest in upskilling employees in how best to utilise this new technology. Nearly four in five employees (78%) believe they do not possess the necessary skills to use AI tools to their full potential. Two in five employees (42%) do not think their employer is helping them to adequately prepare for the use of AI in the workplace, and only 10% say their employer is fully supporting them in upskilling on this new technology. According to Ms Lynch: “AI is advancing at break-neck speed, however, it is crucial for employers to invest in upskilling their workforce to bridge the digital gap, advance their strategic commercial objectives, and position themselves as a sought-after employer for both existing and prospective employees.” The research was conducted amongst a sample of 1,597 of employers and employees between April and May 2023. For more information, visit Hays.ie. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your ...
Global Startup Ecosystem Index: Denmark has a vibrant startup scene that ranks 19th in the competitive global top 20 and positions itself as 13th best in Europe. On May 30, 2023, StartupBlink, published a “Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2023” with key insights on the startup ecosystems of 100 countries and 1.000 cities. The report includes among others following insights on the Danish ecosystem:
Denmark loses 1 spot in the global ranking, but remains in the top 20 startup economies.> Denmark remains 12th in Europe and 10th in the EU.> Copenhagen dropped 4 spots to rank 57th globally.> When it comes to business score, Copenhagen is the 2nd best ecosystem in the EU, after Stockholm, showing a very startup-friendly business environment.> Despite the negative momentum, Denmark maintains 5 cities in the global top 1,000, the same as last year, and it now has two cities in the global top 200 compared to only one such city in 2022.> Aarhus is the only ecosystem in Denmark with positive momentum, jumping 62 spots to enter the top 200 at 151st The country has yet to fulfil its true potential, being it a home of many knowledge-intensive industries and talented entrepreneurs, and is the most digital country in Europe according to the UN’s E-Government Survey 2022. Denmark is an exceptional place to start successful business and there are outstanding initiatives happening to build on this momentum. One of the examples is in Aarhus, supported by organizations like the Link and Startup Aarhus. Within this ecosystem, high-value businesses flourish and attract substantial investments,« says Keyvan Thomsen Bamdej, Head of PR & Communications at TechBBQ, and adds:“At TechBBQ, our commitment lies not only being the leading startup- and tech event that elevates the Danish and Nordic startup ecosystem, but also connecting and strengthening relationships between local ecosystems like Aarhus, Odense and Copenhagen, as well as connecting Denmark and its entrepreneurs with the rest of the world.” For more information,/
Four Enterprise Ireland-backed companies have won funding approvals of up to €18m in the latest competition under Horizon Europe’s European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator Programme. The four successful companies are Luminate Medical, Hooke Bio, BioSimulytics, and Celtic Biotech. Enterprise Ireland leads the National Support Network for Horizon Europe, which helps entrepreneurs to compete and win funding in EIC competitions. To date, Irish companies have secured approvals totalling €129m under the EIC Programme since the beginning of Horizon Europe in 2021. Galway-based Luminate Medical is a healthcare technology company that builds devices to prevent and control the side effects of cancer treatment. Luminate, a University of Galway spin-out company, is pioneering the development of Lily, a device to prevent chemotherapy-induced hair loss in a comfortable and portable way. Hooke Bio has developed a unique ultra-high-throughput screening microfluidic platform that will allow improved drug screening at the crucial early drug discovery phase. Hooke Bio spun out from the University of Limerick in 2017 and is currently based in Shannon, Co. Clare, Ireland. BioSimulytics is developing a next-generation digital platform for faster, more accurate and more predictable drug development. Biosimulytics, which is headquartered at NovaUCD in Dublin, is a University College Dublin (UCD) spin-out company that was founded in 2019. Dublin-based Celtic Biotech is developing novel drug therapies for the treatment of solid cancers and pain in humans. These product candidates have the potential to increase survival, improve quality of life and reduce treatment costs for cancer patients. Part of the EU’s Horizon Europe 2021-2027 Research and Innovation Programme, the EIC Accelerator Programme provides transformational funding to high-potential, high-risk start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs. Approvals include grant funding of up to €2.5 million combined with an equity investment ranging from €0.5 to €15 million in a blended finance offer. Over 550 applications were submitted with 139 companies subsequently selected for interview resulting in a total of 51 funding awards to 17 countries. The 51 companies allocated funding will together receive up to €261m in a combination of grants and equity investments. While 15 of the 51 companies (almost 30%) have a female CEO, CTO (Chief Technology Officer) or CSO (Chief Scientific Officer), half of the successful Irish companies have a female co-founder or C-level executive. Leo Clancy, CEO Enterprise Ireland, said: “Today’s announcement is an endorsement of the wealth and depth of innovation arising out of the Irish research ecosystem. The funding allotted to these projects will allow them to continue to develop and streamline their product offering, helping to further elevate Ireland’s status as a global leader in healthcare solutions. BioSimulytics, Hooke Bio and Luminate Medical are third level spin-outs that were previously supported by Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Fund. The success of the four companies in this call reflects the direct support they receive at different stages of their journey from our research commercialisation, EIC, High Potential Start-Up and sector teams. Furthermore, it is particularly welcome to see that half of the successful projects have a female inclusive leadership team which supports Enterprise Ireland’s strategic ambition to increase the participation of women in entrepreneurship and business leadership.” Aaron Hannon, Co-Founder & CEO Luminate Medical, said: “This funding is a clear recognition of the scale of the unmet clinical needs in the cancer care space, like hair loss, that have such an impact on the day-to-day lives of people living with cancer. Having been evaluated by expert panels at several stages, this is also a major endorsement of our team and our approach. We look forward to continued partnership with Enterprise Ireland and the EIC in our shared mis...
Insight, the SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics, today launched an economic report that highlights its value to the Irish economy at €1.1bn, building on ten years of public investment of €80m, supported through Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). The Centre, which is hosted across Dublin City University, University College Cork, University College Dublin and University of Galway, specialises in research in data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI), including sensors, data engineering and governance, human computer interaction, smart cities, climate AI and digital health. Welcoming the report, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD, said: “I congratulate the Insight SFI Research Centre for its significant impact on the Irish economy and society. This report demonstrates the importance of the Government’s policy of establishing and continuing to invest in the world-leading SFI Research Centre Network, supporting research excellence and scale in areas of strategic national importance. Seeking value from big data, the Centre provides innovative technology solutions for industry and society, which enable better decision-making, and promotes the ethical use of AI and analytics technologies to improve the world we live in. In our increasingly digital world, this is helping us to create a better tomorrow for all citizens.” The report outlines Insight’s economy-wide impact, estimated at 5.54 times that of Insight’s own direct economic activity, with a total economic impact of €1.108bn. With over 400 researchers actively involved in the Centre, Insight has produced 1,087 research alumni over the last ten years. It also partners with Maynooth University, Trinity College Dublin, Tyndall National Institute and University of Limerick. Prof Phillip Nolan, Director General of SFI, joined in the celebration of the Centre’s success, saying: “The Insight SFI Research Centre has a strong track record of generating high quality research and supporting world-class talent. Alongside its work in education and public engagement to promote digital wellbeing, the Centre has trained the next generation of data scientists and attracted over €100m in additional investment from industry and EU sources, further highlighting the value of publicly funded research to the Irish taxpayer.” Prof Noel O’Connor, CEO of the Insight SFI Research Centre, added: “In 2013, Insight was established as a national research endeavour, co-led by multiple HEIs, at a scale of undertaking never before attempted in Ireland. As these figures demonstrate, this has proven a resounding success for Irish research, the economy and most importantly the taxpayer. This is thanks to the collaborative ethos and the collective vision of our excellent scientists; ably supported by a shared national research management infrastructure. It demonstrates that a small nation like ours can punch above our weight by committing to the maxim that we are better together.” More key figures from the report: The Centre has signed 219 Collaborative Research Agreements involving 146 companies; 73 located outside Ireland; Insight has spun out 14 companies; accounting for 6 per cent of all spin-outs from Research Performing Organisations in Ireland; which employ over 170 workers and have attracted €413m in investment; Insight has collaborated with over 150 companies, from project-based engagements to multi-year multi-site research programmes; Annual funding received by the Centre has tripled from just under €8m in 2013 to €24.2m in 2022. Insight has directly funded 238 graduated Masters/PhD students and are currently supporting 141 PhD/Masters students. The Centre has directly employed 216 Postdoctoral researchers/research Fellows, 52 of whom are still in Insight. You can read the full report here:/ More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundred...
ADI Catalyst to deliver a 3.4TWh formation capability for Electric Vehicle batteries by 2030. I arrived in Limerick on June 15th as part of the media contingent on a press tour of a new centre of collaboration by Analog Devices International called ‘Analog Devices (ADI) Catalyst’. Martin Cotter, President of ‘ADI Catalyst’ presented the new co-creation centre as an initiative to meet the challenges ADI’s customers face in their respective industry segments. Joe Barry, VP of Systems & Technology then delivered an overview of the communications function which ADI Catalyst fulfils. His outline of how Analog Devices contributes towards solving customer problems was revealing. Analog Devices chipsets underpin many key industries as a critical component. Collaboration Evolves at Analog Devices Catalyst event The group’s journey then continued to the ADI Catalyst testbeds. The first stop in this qualitative tech space was at the 5G testbed demonstrating private 5G network use in factory automation. The requirement for communications where WiFi was not rated as reliable enough was the problem to be solved by the team. Peader Forbes, Marketing & Applications Director with the Transceiver group gave an overview of connectivity testing using an Analog Devices motion detector for a robot moving in a theoretical factory space. His team also gave insights into Analog Devices O-RAN contributions, as interoperability among 5G service providers is increasingly important. All in all, the transceiver group made excellent points around 5G, and also the future of 6G networks. Energy consumption reductions are no longer a luxury, but a requirement for sustainable networks. Next up was Vincent Troy, Senior Director of Automotive Electrification. Vincent brought us through the background of their current battery projects, where extendability and range in automobiles is now a critical requirement. He went into their wireless battery control solutions, and how one project will deliver many results. If they are to hit their battery formation (charge/discharge ability) target of 3.4TWh by 2030; then taking the process of battery manufacture, and its implementation into vehicles must be insightfully detailed in research and development. The next stop for our group was with Fionn, who brought us through his service connectivity implementation in the cabins of electric vehicles. This, along with a development focus on level 4 and 5 ADAS systems completed his project summary. Our next stop was with a key customer of ADI Catalyst, which is Johnson & Johnson. We saw 3 modular robotics units in a mock production line with independent controllers that communicate via high-bandwidth wireless devices. These horseshoe-shaped devices looked as versatile as the robotics units they served in the mock production line. Changing one robotics unit in an automated production line can lead to very costly line changes. With modular designs like these; line assembly, redefinition and implementation can take on an entirely new cost profile. We then stopped off at the smart factory project where we heard about how energy savings was a key requirement in factory automation. Physical infrastructure and the bridge to the digital space are shortening in Europe. With the continuing development of associated security features supporting its development, it’s a project bound for success. Our next stop was with Enda around magnetic chips involving no persistent memory. He gave us an overview of how they worked, which is based on magnetic imprinting. Car safety was the one example presented, which completed my understanding of this innovative chip in action. Our next stop was with Olive and her project around physical building management and infrastructure. Retrofitting older buildings is a huge undertaking. This is where the innovations from Olive’s project come into scope as a key enabler for success. The final stop of the testbed tour was with Ken’s group in consumer projects. It ...
The initiative rewards the most innovative projects in areas related to environmental sustainability. FAE Technology will manufacture the electronic board prototypes for the top three winners. The contest is organized in collaboration with FAE Technology S.p.A. – Benefit Corporation (“FAE Technology” or the “Company”), an Innovative SME operating in the design, prototyping, engineering, and production of integrated electronic solutions, announces the launch of the contest “MY Maker PCBA: your electronics for a better planet,” in collaboration with “Maker Faire Rome – The European Edition” and Farnell. The initiative aims to collect and reward the best innovative projects related to electronics serving sustainable development. Participation is free and open to makers, companies, organizations, startups, associations, foundations, and individuals of legal age, both Italian and foreign, who can submit their entries by 12:00 PM on September 15, 2023. The evaluation of the most valuable proposals will be conducted by a specially selected evaluation committee, which will meet and announce the winners by September 25, 2023. Manuel Lobati, Innovation Manager at FAE Technology, is among the committee members appointed by the contest organizers. As part of the eleventh edition of “Maker Faire Rome – The European Edition,” which will take place in Rome from October 20 to 22, 2023, and in which FAE Technology is a partner, the company will offer the winners the opportunity to present their innovative ideas within the FAE Technology space. A dedicated booth will be provided, featuring live gaming stations, demos, and augmented reality inspired by electronic system development activities. Furthermore, FAE Technology will produce the electronic boards developed based on the winning projects. Gianmarco Lanza, President and CEO of FAE Technology, comments: “FAE Technology believes in fostering continuous synergy with innovative ecosystems, of which Maker Faire Rome and its community are a prime example. Particularly when innovation aims to generate a positive impact in terms of sustainability, as in the case of ‘MY Maker PCBA: your electronics for a better planet.’ Protecting the planet and improving quality of life are central elements of this contest and represent some of the greatest challenges of the present and future. Electronic technology is an increasingly essential tool to enable concrete solutions. For FAE Technology, it is particularly important to propose this initiative within a prominent platform for the European maker community like Maker Faire Rome.” Gabriele Braga, Director of Marketing and Sales at FAE Technology, comments: “The realization of a prototype represents a strategic moment in electronic design, and it becomes even more complex for makers, especially when identifying an appropriate technological partner within budget constraints. Through the contest, FAE Technology aims to make the realization of the most innovative ideas accessible, reaffirming its commitment to innovators, startups, businesses, and creatives by supporting the creation of new solutions and know-how. This commitment takes on a special meaning during Maker Faire, where we position ourselves as innovation facilitators.” The contest’s theme, “Electronics for a better Planet,” covers areas such as agritech, circular economy, smart cities, mobility, electrification, and more. The evaluation criteria will include the degree of innovation, development, scalability, and replicability of the project proposal, as well as its technical feasibility, efficiency, and effectiveness in terms of improving environmental sustainability. Participants are required to submit an idea accompanied by a complete electronic project including diagrams, material lists, and Gerber construction files. FAE Technology will produce the Printed Circuit Board Assemblies (PCBAs) for the winning entries. The contest is open to makers, including individuals and companies active in ac...
At the recent Dublin Tech Summit I did two two podcasts in their podcast booth. During the two day event podcasts were broadcast live during both days on the DTS app. On the first day of Dublin Tech Summit I interviewed Greg Jones, Vice President of Business Development, EMEA, Datto, a Kaseya company on the latest tech trends. You can see the interview below. On the Second day of Dublin Tech Summit I interviewed Martin Conroy about Greenheart The World’s First Circular Digital Economy. You can see the interview below. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Ireland and other European nations risk jeopardising green energy sources if we fail to hit upcoming EU targets to recycle critical raw materials, it was warned today. Electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines and solar power generators all require components such as lithium, magnesium, copper and nickel – but Europe is importing the vast bulk of these. Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Ireland’s 2022 annual report, out today shows consumers recycled a record number of e-waste items last year – 40,804 tonnes or just over 10kg per person. A total of 19.5 million appliances were recovered, including 113,000 fridges, 225,000 TVs and monitors, 2.2 million lighting items and the equivalent of 60 million used AA portable batteries. But the country’s largest e-waste recycling scheme warns that we also need to meet a forthcoming EU target to recycle at least 15% of our annual consumption of critical raw materials from this e-waste. “Recent global events and the energy crisis have underscored the vulnerabilities of relying on other countries for critical raw materials,” said WEEE Ireland CEO, Leo Donovan. “The EU currently imports 93% of its magnesium and 86% of its rare earth metals from China. We need secure and sustainable sources of these materials within the EU or we risk jeopardising the supply of vital technologies required for our green and digital transitions. “As the world embraces a more sustainable future and shifts away from fossil fuels, the demand for lithium alone, a vital component in batteries that power everyday technology and devices, is projected to increase twelve-fold by 2030. “To address these challenges, the EU aims to ensure that by 2030, at least 15% of the critical raw materials consumed annually originate from European recycled sources under the forthcoming Critical Raw Materials Act. “Old and broken electronics and appliances are a rich source of essential critical raw materials, so it is vital that Irish households recycle the millions of broken and perfectly recyclable electrical items that are accumulating in our homes or being improperly disposed of.” He said WEEE Ireland’s collaboration with KMK Metals Recycling in the midlands has been instrumental in processing e-waste to the highest European standards and ensuring its recycling into secondary critical and strategic materials. “Last year, we got more out of these recovered items than ever before,” said Mr Donovan. The annual report shows 52% of electrical waste was collected from retailer sites in 2022, 24% from local public collection days, but only 24% from local authority sites – significantly lower than the 60% average in other European countries. However, we fell short of Europe’s 65% take back target for overall e-waste, measured against new appliance sales, which surged by an average 25kg per person last year, up from 22kg in 2021. There was progress on battery recycling – Ireland surpassed the EU’s 45% target for waste portable batteries – collecting 1,202 tonnes, up 11% on 2021. “Recycling centres and retailers are easily accessible to everyone, along with public collection days that we hold in different counties each week,” said Mr Donovan. To find your nearest local recycling centre, public collection day, or electrical retailer go to weeeireland.ie. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Over 300 students from 13 schools and seven clubs in rural Ireland gathered in Microsoft Ireland’s campus in Leopardstown, Dublin, for the inaugural Microsoft Dream Space Showcase to demonstrate the many ways in which their digital skills can help to solve some of today’s sustainability challenges. The first-of-its-kind event saw 320 students from across Counties Longford, Tipperary and Kildare travel to One Microsoft Place to showcase their STEM-based projects. The innovative projects presented by the students addressed various challenges related to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These include wearable tech for improving young people’s wellbeing, inclusive and accessible voting systems, initiatives to clean the ocean and prevent illegal dumping, as well as measures to reduce water wastage and so much more. The collaboration between Microsoft Dream Space, Microsoft Ireland’s STEM innovation and education programme, OurKidsCode and the Department of Rural and Community Development, as well as the participating schools and clubs, began back in September 2022, when the Microsoft Dream Space education team visited Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) in Counties Longford and Tipperary to conduct hands-on STEM education sessions as part of the do your :bit challenge. This engagement led to schools participating in a further 10-week Dream Space programme, which empowered the students to explore the world of STEM and computer science through various curriculum subjects like geography, P.E., visual arts, and more. They also harnessed the power of the micro:bit, a pocket-sized computer, to foster computational thinking, problem-solving skills, and critical thinking. The Showcase event provided students with an opportunity to present their STEM-based projects with a number of schools/students being recognised on the day for the outstanding technology solutions they developed. This included Drum National School in Templemore, Co. Tipperary for the project ‘Weaving Wellbeing’ which uses technology to weave wellbeing in the lives of young people and Lackamore National School, Newport, Co. Tipperary which was recognised for its project on collecting plastic rubbish in the ocean. James O’Connor, Microsoft Ireland Site Lead and Vice President for Microsoft Global Operations Service Center, said: “Today is a very exciting day for Microsoft Ireland as we hold the inaugural Microsoft Dream Space Showcase at One Microsoft Place. Last year, we announced our intention to invest a further €3m in the expansion of our immersive Microsoft Dream Space STEM experience to ensure that every student across the island of Ireland has the opportunity to develop the skills needed to succeed in a digital economy. Today’s showcase is an important step on the road towards making that ambition a reality as well as a step forward in helping to close the digital skills gap that often exists between rural and urban communities. “It also marks the culmination of many months of hard work by primary school students and clubs from Counties Longford and Tipperary as they sought to create innovative solutions to today’s major sustainability challenges. I’d like to congratulate all the students who are showcasing their work at this inaugural event and hope they will continue to nurture an interest in technology and innovation as they further their education.” Bella Ryan, 6th class student, Drom National School said: “I’m very excited to be here today as part of Microsoft’s Dream Space Showcase. Dream Space has really opened my eyes to the endless possibilities presented by technology and the ways in which it can be used to solve so many of today’s problems. It has been the best memory of my eight years at Drom National School. After months of working on our projects, it feels great to be able to show them off today and hear what people think about our solutions to today’s challenges.” Amadean Moore Walsh, Principal of Drom National School, Templemore, Co. Ti...
In this captivating conversation, I am joined by David Birch as we delve into the emerging world of wearables for payments. From discussing the technological evolution of the chips to the possibilities in everyday life, in entertainment, and the fashion industry. David Birch – website – G. W. Exploring the Possibilities of Wearables for Payments, with David Birch Birch/ is an author, advisor and commentator on digital financial services. He is an international keynote speaker and recognised thought leader in digital identity and digital money. Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica. A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter. Join her on the social platforms See more podcasts here.
Terence Reilly is the co-founder and CEO of OLTA, one of the 12 founding teams forming the Techstars Web3 accelerator class of 2023. OLTA is a protocol for creators and studios to create dynamic media, pushing the boundaries from generative art into interactive art and story. OLTA brings this all to life through dynamic NFTs, which enable collectors to determine the outcome of the artwork over time. Before co-founding OLTA with George Baldwin in 2021, Terence spent 20 years working on 3D character animation projects, including the movies Jurassic World, Iron Man 2, and Paul & Chappie with clients such as Disney, Sony, Google, and Aardman, the Academy Award-winning animation studio. In this episode, Terence and Pete Townsend explore the relationship between art and technology before diving into Terence’s deep first-hand experience with the problem to solve for creative coders and studios. Terence and Pete also talk through some examples of the creator protocol in action, the big opportunity in the global art market, and what keeps Terence moving through the ups and downs of being a startup founder. LINKS: Learn more about OLTA Connect with Terence Reilly on LinkedIn and Twitter Follow OLTA on LinkedIn and Twitter Episode title inspired by ‘Eye Know’ by De La Soul ft. Otis Redding Leave a review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Check out our MoneyNeverSleeps website and get in touch via info@moneyneversleeps.ie Follow us on Twitter: MoneyNeverSleeps | Eoin Fitzgerald | Pete Townsend More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Guest post by Richard Nugent, who is the author of a new book The Alignment Advantage Does your organisation have a challenge with how it communicates its strategy? Does your staff satisfaction survey tell you that not everyone in the organisation understands the strategic direction? While these issues are among the most common challenges in organisations of all types and sizes, the solution often remains a mystery. But what if the problem isn’t communication after all? Why people don’t understand your organisational strategy, the Alignment Advantage In nine out of 10 cases that we come across, problems with strategic communication are less about the challenge with communication and more about a misalignment of strategic thinking, and it starts at the very top of the organisation. Before you do anything else to solve this challenge, go to the most senior people in your organisation, whether they sit on the board or in the executive team and ensure there are aligned answers to the following three questions. What is our definition of strategy? One of the challenges with strategy is that the word is used so interchangeably and to mean so many different things. One of the simplest but most significant steps you can take as an organisation is to ensure that everybody has an aligned understanding of what strategy is and what strategy isn’t. This alignment must start at the very top of the organisation. What are our key strategic objectives? You probably assume that the leadership team are aligned in their understanding of the key aims of the organisation, yet our research suggests otherwise. We have asked leadership teams in hundreds of organisations what their key strategic objectives are. In over 90% of cases, those at the very top of the organisation had different views on the key goals. This included one organisation in which the top two people (the CEO and COO) had a difference of half a billion dollars when asked what the overall key strategic objective was. When this degree of strategic misalignment exists, no amount of strategic communication will help. Before beginning any more communication projects, ensure that the most senior leaders are aligned in their understanding of the key strategic objectives. What is our strategic process? In most organisations, different pockets of the business will develop strategy in different ways. Even if the leaders of your business are aligned in their understanding of strategy and the strategic goals, a misalignment in the strategic process will erode understanding of the strategy in the broader employee community. Until those three things are clear and aligned at the very top, it doesn’t matter how great your communications are; there will always be misunderstanding and misalignment. The good news is that if these challenges are familiar and exist in your organization, you have a big opportunity if you grab what we call The Alignment Advantage. If you were to align your senior leadership’s thinking and understanding around strategy, then align your culture so it becomes a strategic enabler, you will find yourself in a minority of 5% of organizations who are fully and completely aligned. Richard Nugent is the author of new book The Alignment Advantage: Transform Your Strategy, Culture and Customers to Succeed. See more breaking stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The broadband market in Ireland is now flooded with providers all offering a myriad of deals. We know it’s hard to find the perfect deal that suits your needs but we’re here to help. We’ve teamed up with Switcher.ie, the free and impartial price comparison and switching service, to find the best broadband deals available every month. Check back regularly to stay informed of the latest deals and offers and visit the Switcher.ie website to order one of these great packages. Best Broadband Deals Looking for a cheap broadband-only plan? If so, Pure Telecom’s Purely Broadband is €30 per month for the first year. You’ll get unlimited broadband with speeds of up to 100Mb with free modem and connection. If broadband and landline is what you’re after, check out eir’s Unlimited Broadband with Talk plan. Priced at just €34.99 per month for 24 months, this plan is available exclusively via Switcher.ie. Offering a 2-year discount, you won’t find this deal anywhere else! Plus, sign up before 30/06/2023 and get €50 off your eir bill. If you’re interested in bundling broadband, landline and TV, eir Unlimited Broadband with TV Plus, Talk plan includes unlimited broadband, unlimited off-peak calls and over 50 TV channels, all for €44.98 per month for 12 months. Plus, you’ll get also Amazon Prime Video for a year. Sign up before 30/06/2023 and you’ll also get €50 off your eir bill. (If you’ve come across this article after some of these deals may have expired, check out our main Broadband Deals category page to find the latest offers)
Sodium chloride, better known as table salt, isn’t exactly the type of mineral that captures the imagination of scientists. However, a smattering of tiny salt crystals discovered in a sample from an asteroid has researchers at the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory excited, because these crystals can only have formed in the presence of liquid water. Pass the salt: This space rock holds clues as to how Earth got its water Even more intriguing, according to the research team, is the fact that the sample comes from an S-type asteroid, a category known to mostly lack hydrated, or water-bearing, minerals. The discovery strongly suggests that a large population of asteroids hurtling through the solar system may not be as dry as previously thought. The finding, published in Nature Astronomy, gives renewed push to the hypothesis that most, if not all, water on Earth may have arrived by way of asteroids during the planet’s tumultuous infancy. Zega and lead study author Shaofan Che, a postdoctoral fellow at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, performed a detailed analysis of samples collected from asteroid Itokawa in 2005 by the Japanese Hayabusa mission and brought to Earth in 2010. The study is the first to prove that the salt crystals originated on the asteroid’s parent body, ruling out any possibility they might have formed as a consequence of contamination after the sample reached Earth, a question that had plagued previous studies that found sodium chloride in meteorites of a similar origin. “The grains look exactly like what you would see if you took table salt at home and placed it under an electron microscope,” said Tom Zega, the study’s senior author and a professor of planetary sciences at the UArizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. “They’re these nice, square crystals. It was funny, too, because we had many spirited group meeting conversations about them, because it was just so unreal.” Zega said the samples represent a type of extraterrestrial rock known as an ordinary chondrite. Derived from so-called S-type asteroids such as Itokawa, this type makes up about 87% of meteorites collected on Earth. Very few of them have been found to contain water-bearing minerals. “It has long been thought that ordinary chondrites are an unlikely source of water on Earth,” said Zega who is the director of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory’s Kuiper Materials Imaging & Characterization Facility. “Our discovery of sodium chloride tells us this asteroid population could harbor much more water than we thought.” Today, scientists largely agree that Earth, along with other rocky planets such as Venus and Mars, formed in the inner region of the roiling, swirling cloud of gas and dust around the young sun, known as the solar nebula, where temperatures were very high – too high for water vapor to condense from the gas, according to Che. “In other words, the water here on Earth had to be delivered from the outer reaches of the solar nebula, where temperatures were much colder and allowed water to exist, most likely in the form of ice,” Che said. “The most likely scenario is that comets or another type of asteroid known as C-type asteroids, which resided farther out in the solar nebula, migrated inward and delivered their watery cargo by impacting the young Earth.” The discovery that water could have been present in ordinary chondrites, and therefore been sourced from much closer to the sun than their “wetter” kin, has implications for any scenario attempting to explain the delivery of water to the early Earth. The sample used in the study is a tiny dust particle spanning about 150 micrometers, or roughly twice the diameter of a human hair, from which the team cut a small section about 5 microns wide – just large enough to cover a single yeast cell – for the analysis. Using a variety of techniques, Che was able to rule out that the sodium chloride was the result of contamination from sources such as human sweat, the sample prepar...
The European Union (EU) continuously strives to strengthen its financial market infrastructure and ensure its stability, especially in the face of digital transformation. The rapid growth of digital technologies and increasing reliance on digital services has exposed the financial sector to new risks and vulnerabilities. To address these challenges, the European Commission has proposed a new regulatory framework, the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), aimed at enhancing the operational resilience of the financial industry. The framework helps create a safe space for vendors in the financial industryand also secures the interests of customers dealing with them. The environment created through added security helps achieve better visibility for all stakeholders. This article delves into the key aspects of DORA, its implications for the financial sector, and how organizations can prepare for its implementation. Let’s learn more about DORA and its deploymentin the financial sector. DORA: An Overview The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is a legislative proposal put forth by the European Commission in September 2020. It aims to create a comprehensive and harmonized framework for digital operational resilience within the EU’s financial sector. DORA encompasses a wide range of measures, including: Strengthening the existing ICT risk management requirements Implementing a robust incident reporting framework Establishing a digital operational resilience testing framework Streamlining and improving oversight of third-party service providers Enhancing supervisory cooperation and coordination DORA applies to various financial entities, including credit institutions, investment firms, payment institutions, electronic money institutions, and insurance companies, among others. Its implementation is expected to bring about significant changes in the financial sector, requiring organizations to adapt and comply with the new requirements. Legal Frameworks and Regulations for the Financial Sector DORA isn’t the first of its kind and follows a framework that has been set by many other countries and regulations before. Other examples of legal frameworks and regulations relating to the financial sector include: Basel III: This international regulatory framework sets minimum capital requirements, liquidity ratios, and leverage limits for banks. It aims to strengthen the resilience of the banking sector and prevent systemic risks. Dodd-Frank Act (USA): Enacted in response to the global financial crisis, this act introduced significant reforms to the U.S. financial system. It established regulations for banks, derivatives, consumer protection and created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) (EU): This directive governs the provision of investment services across the European Union. It aims to enhance investor protection, increase transparency, and improve the functioning of financial markets. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU): Although not specific to the financial sector, GDPR imposes strict data protection and privacy requirements on all organizations that processthe personal data of individuals within the EU. Financial institutions must comply with these regulations when handling customer data. AML and KYC: Regulations on anti-money laundering require customer identification, due diligence, and ongoing monitoring to prevent money laundering and other related offences. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations (USA): The SEC enforces regulations to protect investors, maintain fair and orderly markets, and facilitate capital formation. These regulations govern various aspects of the securities industry, including registration requirements, disclosures, and insider trading. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulations (UK): The FCA is the regulatory authority for financial services firms in the UK. It oversees the conduct and prudential standa...
When we relaunched the Mozilla Builders program last March, we unveiled our Responsible AI Challenge — a one-day, in-person event designed to inspire and encourage a community of builders working on trustworthy AI products and solutions — essentially a call to builders and technologists all over the world to create trustworthy AI solutions. Mozilla’s ‘Responsible AI Challenge’ top prize winners We are delighted to announce the prize winners of our Responsible AI Challenge, who demonstrated their ingenuity, innovation, and proficiency in developing human-centered and trustworthy AI applications and solutions. A community of Builders After weeks of reviewing hundreds of competitive consumer technology and generative AI projects, this challenge brought together builders and entrepreneurs from around the world, each vying to build better products and more responsible companies, despite the fact that it’s often the path of most resistance. After careful deliberation by our panel of judges – select individuals including AI academics, developers and entrepreneurs – we are proud to present the top prize winners amongst a community of Builders working on Trustworthy AI products and solutions. Top Prize Winner [$50,000]: Sanative AI provides anti-AI watermarks to protect images and artwork from being used as training data for diffusion models. 2nd Prize Winner [$30,000]: Kwanele Chat Bot aims to empower women in communities plagued by violence by enabling them to access help fast and ensure the collection of admissible evidence. 3rd Prize Winner [$20,000]: Nolano is a trained language model that uses natural language processing to run on laptops and smartphones. Build-by-Build: Standing on the shoulders of giants “We’re existing in a unique and consequential time that is drawing huge emphasis on AI and catalyzing a movement towards more responsible development (something Mozilla is best known for) and it’s critical we act accordingly and influence where we can.” Imo Udom, Senior Vice President of Innovation Ecosystems at Mozilla The Responsible AI Challenge featured builders at various stages of their entrepreneurial and Trustworthy AI journeys: some were very early on and had never built a product before, others were seasoned entrepreneurs who were unfamiliar with Trustworthy AI, and still others were seasoned entrepreneurs who are already developing AI responsibly. “Mozilla’s goal was for the judging process to be motivational for all candidates, inspiring them to continue developing responsible AI solutions in the future, even if they did not win,” says Britney Crooks, Director, Innovation and Product Strategy at Mozilla. “We asked that the judges raise key issues and considerations, while focusing on practical suggestions or alternative approaches for the applicants to address these issues.” In addition to cash prizes, the top three Responsible AI Challenge winners will receive ongoing access to mentorship from leaders in the industry and to Mozilla’s resources and communities, as they continue to develop, refine and deliver their responsible AI projects. We will be publishing more in-depth features on the upcoming projects on the Mozilla Hacks blog. See more breaking stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
With funding from the EU project SecurIT, Italian environmental monitoring manufacturers TechCom and Irish machine learning company Gemmo AI are combining bespoke sensing hardware with AI algorithms to protect lives against landslides. Their joint efforts will result in improved detection and alert systems for small-scale landslides known as SlopeGuard. Landslides are more widespread than any other geological event.18,000 lives have been claimed by landslides and affected over 4.8 million people in the last decade. They’ve caused billions of euros in damages to communication and transportation infrastructures. Despite the urgent need for effective landslide monitoring solutions, many European countries lack the necessary resources and funds to monitor the most dangerous landslide sites. TechCom CEO Federico Ceccarelli stated that monitoring and creating a predictive alarm system for shallow and small-scale landslides could save thousands of lives and protect hundreds of communities. “The traditional solutions we’ve been using up until now are falling short. Satellite techniques, while effective for some landslides, are unable to detect shallow landslides due to their rapid dynamics and limited frequency of site views. Geotechnical approaches using borehole inclinometers are expensive, complex, and time-consuming. We knew we needed something more advanced and cost-effective. That’s where Slopeguard comes in” SlopeGuard stands out from existing solutions by providing early detection of shallow landslides. The system comprises an integrated rod-shaped monitoring station that can be easily inserted into the core of a landslide. Equipped with a range of sensors, SlopeGuard continuously monitors slope movements and employs a machine-learning algorithm to generate 24/7 early warnings of landslides. This advanced technology allows for better identification of high-risk areas, cost-effective deployment, and timely decision-making to minimise the impact of landslides. “With climate change and rapid urbanisation identified as key contributing factors to the rise in landslide incidents, securing resources to safeguard critical infrastructure remains a challenge. The market is in direct need of scalable, cost-effective devices that can be readily deployed. With AI integration, Slopeguard is highly accurate, reliable and cost-effective. We think it’s the logical next step to saving lives and billions of euros in damages to communication and transportation infrastructure inflicted by landslides.” SlopeGuard has a major advantage in terms of cost reduction. Its installation requirements are minimal, as the sensors are mounted at the bottom of the device. This proximity to the sliding plane core significantly lowers costs compared to other solutions that rely on borehole inclinometers. Gemmo AI and TechCom anticipate completing the Slopeguard project in August of this year, with plans to launch the product initially in Italy. The companies aim to diversify into wider Europe and North America, tapping into a rapidly growing and largely unexplored €50 billion market. SlopeGuard represents a crucial step forward in landslide monitoring technology, ensuring the safety and well-being of communities worldwide. Gemmo and TechCom are dedicated to making a difference in emergency monitoring and saving lives. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagr...
Datapac, Ireland’s leading technology solutions and services provider, has announced the launch of its new Managed Threat Ops service. The service, powered by industry-leading technology platforms, provides 24/7/365 cyberthreat hunting, response, and neutralisation to stop cybersecurity incidents in their tracks. The addition of the Managed Threat Ops service to Datapac’s managed services portfolio is expected to be a key contributor to an anticipated 15% increase in the organisation’s annual managed services revenue for the year ahead. With a focus on meeting organisations where they’re at, the Managed Threat Ops service is uniquely positioned to provide support to businesses of all sizes, including single-site SMBs as well as national and multinational enterprises. The service enables organisations to change the way they approach cybersecurity, allowing them to adopt a proactive mindset in a way that many organisations, both large and small, may have been unable to before due to staffing and other resource limitations. The service actively monitors for and mitigates potential threats that may bypass traditional cybersecurity tools, even outside of standard working hours. The Managed Threat Ops service provides a means for the average business to address the detection and response functions of their cybersecurity. Due to their nature, namely a reliance on both technology and a skilled team of experts to continuously monitor alerts and notifications from various security products, these functions have historically been under-developed in many organisations. The robust combination of human-led expertise and AI acceleration within the Managed Threat Ops service enriches and strengthens the existing IT and security capabilities of organisations. This comprehensive approach not only enhances the overall security posture but also liberates critical resources for strategic projects and initiatives that drive additional value. The service can contribute to enhanced ROI on existing cybersecurity investments, such as endpoint protection, which is traditionally reliant on the skills and expertise of the in-house team continuously monitoring for potential threats. With its cost-effective nature, this solution offers flexibility and scalability, ensuring seamless alignment with the evolving needs and growth of businesses. Gartner predicts that by 2025, 60% of organisations will have adopted a managed detection and response (MDR) service. The Datapac Managed Threat Ops service streamlines the adoption process, making it easy for organisations of all sizes to avail of the highest level of protection. Karen O’Connor, General Manager, Datapac said: “As the technology landscape continues to evolve, we are seeing a rise in the scope and complexity of advanced cyberthreats which can target organisations of all sizes. Smaller organisations are being increasingly targeted due to the acceleration of the digital workplace, and they can no longer rely on their smaller size and relative obscurity as a shield to cyber criminals. By leveraging the power of industry-leading technology platforms, the new Managed Threat Ops service aims to address this growing threat landscape and democratise fully managed cybersecurity. “It can not only scale at pace with the evolving requirements of rapidly growing SMBs but can also support the unique requirements of enterprise-grade organisations. In the modern digital age, an organisation’s IT infrastructure is its beating heart, driving innovation and progress, and highly secure data is one of its most valuable assets. However, the ability to proactively detect and mitigate threats 24/7 represents an untapped layer of cyber defence for many organisations, and our aim is to address this gap with this new service.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes...
IBM has announced a new breakthrough, published on the cover of the scientific journal Nature, demonstrating for the first time that quantum computers can produce accurate results at a scale of 100+ qubits reaching beyond leading classical approaches. One of the ultimate goals of quantum computing is to simulate components of materials that classical computers have never efficiently simulate. Being able to model these is a crucial step towards the ability to tackle challenges such as designing more efficient fertilizers, building better batteries, and creating new medicines. But today’s quantum systems are inherently noisy and they produce a significant number of errors that hamper performance. This is due to the fragile nature of quantum bits or qubits and disturbances from their environment. In their experiment, the IBM team demonstrates that it is possible for a quantum computer to outperform leading classical simulations by learning and mitigating errors in the system. The team used the IBM Quantum ‘Eagle’ quantum processor composed of 127 superconducting qubits on a chip to generate large, entangled states that simulate the dynamics of spins in a model of material and accurately predict properties such as its magnetization. To verify the accuracy of this modeling, a team of scientists at UC Berkeley simultaneously performed these simulations on advanced classical computers located at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab’s National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) and Purdue University. As the scale of the model increased, the quantum computer continued to turn out accurate results with the help of advanced error mitigation techniques, even while the classical computing methods eventually faltered and did not match the IBM Quantum system. “This is the first time we have seen quantum computers accurately model a physical system in nature beyond leading classical approaches,” said Darío Gil, Senior Vice President and Director of IBM Research. “To us, this milestone is a significant step in proving that today’s quantum computers are capable, scientific tools that can be used to model problems that are extremely difficult – and perhaps impossible – for classical systems, signaling that we are now entering a new era of utility for quantum computing.” To learn more about the details of the demonstration and the results, read the IBM Research blog: IBM Commits to Utility-Scale Processors Across IBM Quantum Systems Following this groundbreaking work, IBM is also announcing that its IBM Quantum systems running both on the cloud and on-site at partner locations will be powered by a minimum of 127 qubits, to be completed over the course of the next year. These processors provide access to computational power large enough to surpass classical methods for certain applications and will offer improved coherence times as well as lower error rates over previous IBM quantum systems. Such capabilities can be combined with continuously advancing error mitigation techniques to enable IBM Quantum systems to meet a new threshold for the industry, which IBM has termed ‘utility-scale,’ a point at which quantum computers could serve as scientific tools to explore a new scale of problems that classical systems may never be able to solve. “As we progress our mission to bring useful quantum computing to the world, we have solid evidence of the cornerstones needed to explore an entirely new class of computational problems,” said Jay Gambetta, IBM Fellow and Vice President, IBM Quantum. “By equipping our IBM Quantum systems with processors capable of utility scale, we are inviting our clients, partners and collaborators to bring their hardest problems to explore the limits of today’s quantum systems and to begin extracting real value.” All IBM Quantum users will be able to run problems on utility-scale processors larger than 100 qubits. The over 2,000 participants in the IBM Quantum Spring Challenge had access to these utility-scale proc...
Guest post by Charlie Fletcher is a freelance writer passionate about workplace equity, and whose published works cover sociology, politics, business, education, health, and more. In the digital age, entrepreneurs are presented with a plethora of opportunities to revolutionize industries, disrupt traditional business models, and connect with customers on a global scale. The increased accessibility of advanced technology and the rapid growth of the internet has opened up avenues for startups to thrive like never before. This makes the digital landscape a fertile ground for ambitious individuals to create successful enterprises that have the potential to change the world. Secure Startups: Understanding Data Security In The Digital Age Nevertheless, amid these possibilities, the digital era also brings a range of risks with it. Among the issues you’ll need to navigate as an entrepreneur is data security. Your startup is likely to rely on growing amounts of sensitive customer and company information. This means the threat of data breaches, cyber-attacks, and unauthorized access looms large. Let’s explore the issue of data security in the digital age. What should you be aware of and what protective steps should your startup take? Understanding Customer-Targeted Cybercrime Startups in the contemporary digital landscape face an increasing threat from cybercriminals who specifically target customer data. These bad actors exploit vulnerabilities in data security systems to gain unauthorized access to sensitive consumer information. This can not only result in severe consequences for customers whose data has been stolen. There can also be significant financial and reputational issues for your business. It is, therefore, essential to gain a solid understanding of the risks and potential solutions related to customer-targeted cybercrime. One prevalent method used to gain access to data at the moment is phishing. A recent report found that 81% of companies have experienced an increase in phishing attacks since 2020. This is where deceptive emails, messages, or websites trick employees into revealing sensitive information. Safeguarding against phishing tends to rely upon employees being able to recognize when communications appear to be suspicious. This means you must ensure your staff receives regular guidance from cybersecurity professionals on social engineering techniques to look out for. The continued use of outdated digital identity systems can contribute to customer-targeted cybercrime, too. These systems enable staff and customers to interact with accounts in a secure fashion. However, they can become vulnerable to breaches as your business changes. For instance, they may not be robust enough to handle the growth of your consumer base. You might also adopt advanced artificial intelligence (AI) driven threat management tools that these systems aren’t designed to support. It is, therefore, vital to be proactive in frequently assessing and modernizing your digital identity infrastructure with platforms that are designed from the ground up to meet current needs and challenges. Educating Employees on Cybersecurity It’s important to recognize that your startup’s data security is a collective responsibility among all stakeholders. Educating your employees is, therefore, paramount to establishing a strong defense against potential breaches and ensuring the protection of sensitive information. By providing comprehensive training and fostering a cybersecurity-conscious culture, you can empower your workforce to be active participants in safeguarding your company’s data. Commit to providing strong initial and regular cybersecurity training programs. This should cover various topics to ensure a comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge base. Provide guidance on basic elements such as password best practices and avoiding the use of personal devices on company networks. In addition, educate workers on the definitions of sensitive information and ...
Ireland’s first consortium-led, multi-campus manufacturing engineering apprenticeship programmes have received accreditation from Engineers Ireland, the professional membership body, and accrediting body for engineering in Ireland. Engineers Ireland accreditation creates, maintains, and ensures a consistent standard of engineering programmes in Ireland and will now offer qualified apprentices an internationally recognised qualification. The Bachelor of Engineering in Manufacturing Engineering is the first accredited Level 7 engineering apprenticeship programme in Ireland that is open to school leavers, employees and mature students. It is delivered in three regions through Atlantic Technological University (ATU) Galway, ATU Sligo and Munster Technological University (MTU) Cork. The programme is expected to be offered in Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) Midwest (Limerick) from September 2024. The Higher Certificate in Manufacturing Engineering programme, delivered at ATU Galway, ATU Sligo, MTU Cork and TUS Midwest, is the first and only Level 6 accredited Manufacturing Engineering apprenticeship programme in the country. These national engineering apprenticeship programmes were co-developed by a consortium led by Ibec’s Irish Medtech Association, representatives from the manufacturing industry and academic partners ATU (coordinating provider), MTU and TUS, to meet the needs of the sector. Currently, over 400 apprentices are involved in the programmes with 100 leading employers across Ireland. Apprentices spend 70% of their learning time in the workplace and 30% of learning time on campus. Dr Richard Manton, Registrar at Engineers Ireland, said: “Engineers Ireland accreditation is an objective evaluation nd approval of engineering programmes, ensuring that they meet international standards, the needs of the engineering profession and broader responsibilities to society, environment, and economy. Accredited programmes are internationally recognised, encouraging travel and the exchange of ideas and experience, enriching our profession.” Dr Paul O’Dowd, Head of Manufacturing Engineering Apprenticeship in ATU Galway, the Coordinating Academic Partner in the Consortium, said: “We are delighted to receive accreditation from Engineers Ireland, which endorses our new apprenticeship approach to engineering education in Ireland. Academic excellence and meeting Engineers Ireland’s exacting standards are foremost in our minds. Our apprentices help solve problems in their companies and play a fundamental role in innovating for the future. They follow a structured learning plan with support from academic supervisors and trained industry mentors. Our model allows apprentices to develop engineering skills, and to have the application of those skills tailored to the individual needs of their companies. I would like to thank the Higher Education Authority and the National Apprenticeship Office for their support. I also want to recognise SOLAS and the authorised officers in Education and Training Boards all around the country who are helping our companies and our apprentices.” Trish Breen of Ibec, and Consortium Project Manager of the Apprenticeship, added: “We have been working together on these apprenticeships since 2015 when we first put forward our proposal. We launched in 2017 and saw our first graduates in 2019 and 2020. This accreditation from Engineers Ireland is a validation of all the hard work of academics and industry representatives, not to mention our hard-working industry mentors and, of course, our superb apprentices. “The programmes have been a fantastic success. Feedback from employers, apprentices and graduates is overwhelmingly positive. To date, over 100 companies have engaged, and we have had over 400 apprentices across the four campuses in Galway, Sligo, Limerick and Cork. We are delighted to see that 44% of our companies are SMEs.” Barry Comerford, Advisory Board Member at Freudenberg Medical (formerly Cambu...
As balmy summers seem to be here to stay, infrastructure, construction and property experts are looking at how Irish towns and cities can take inspiration from overseas to cope with the heat. What do other countries do to stay cool? Think of your favourite sunshine holiday destination and you’d agree it’s easier to enjoy the heat when you can find relief by ducking into a well-equipped, cool building. Some of the quirkiest design choices that draw in tourists are also there to alleviate the hot temperatures. The iconic blue and white buildings of the Greek island, Santorini are not only beautiful, but reflect the heat and keep the interior of the stone buildings cool. Walking around Spain, the wooden shutters that are fixed to the outside of buildings are drawn shut during the day to keep the sun at bay. It’s not just international heritage sites that can boast keep-cool infrastructure. Seoul, South Korea, spent nearly $1billion re-routing the multiple lanes of traffic that had been laid on top of the Cheonggyecheon River. This not only improved the air quality, but also decreased the local temperature during the summer months owing to the reduced levels of traffic. Many of these cooling methods also have energy efficient benefits and help reduce the building’s carbon emissions. The Irish Government has an ambitious retrofitting plan and has set a target for all public sector buildings and one-third of commercial buildings to be retrofitted to a more energy efficient BER level of B by 2030. Murphy Geospatial, an Irish specialist in geospatial data, digital construction and retrofitting with offices in the UK and Ireland, has used AI to reimagine buildings and public spaces, taking inspiration from hot countries that are better equipped. Diarmuid Murphy, director of property at Murphy Geospatial, a geospatial data specialist and retrofitting expert, said: “Every summer we are brought to the realisation that the UK isn’t prepared for rising temperatures and our buildings just aren’t fit for purpose. Some of the ideas seem far-fetched but retrofitting will not only to help us stay cool but also to reduce the carbon emissions of older buildings which weren’t built with the energy efficiency standards of today. “We might not see The Customs House with wooden shutters, but we need to make retrofitting solutions more accessible for a greater range of buildings. A lack of progress is often down to inefficient information about our older buildings. With the latest geospatial solutions, you’re able to assess what’s there and develop viable solutions on a case-by-case basis. We want to see retrofitting become a priority for the future of buildings and infrastructure and not just a seasonal consideration.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — As forest fires rage across Nova Scotia, climate campaigners, ecologists and NGOs including the Plant Based Treaty are calling for the systemic issues fueling unprecedented fires across the world and exacerbating the climate crisis to be addressed. Plant Based Treaty scientific advisor and ecologist and Nova Scotia resident, Nicolas Carter says, “Fires are being amplified by the climate crisis and deforestation, driven by logging and animal agriculture.” Carter continues: “The need for a clear fire prevention strategy with reforesting and rewilding as one of the best opportunities to do that can start with a managed program to rewild pastureland, a strategy that would also reduce methane emissions.” Climate crisis and Nova Scotia wildfires must be addressed Scientific evidence strongly suggests that deforestation, which is driven by ranching and animal feed crops, amplifies the risk of forest fires. The absence of trees alters local climates, reducing rainfall and leading to drier conditions. Cutting up forests with logging roads increases the risks of human interference starting these fires. This area of the world typically sees a hundred or so hectares burned annually, but the multiple ongoing fires in Nova Scotia now total over 18,000 hectares, with almost a thousand hectares out of control in the suburbs of Halifax. Mayor Mike Savage and Regional Council declared a local state of emergency in the communities affected by the fires with multiple evacuation orders in effect. One Shelburne Nova Scotia hospital has been evacuated as the fires spread across the province. So far the fires have resulted in more than 16,000 residents having to evacuate with very little notice, and hundreds of homes burned to the ground. In response to the escalating climate emergency, the Plant Based Treaty, which has been endorsed by 21 cities worldwide is calling for no new deforestation attributed to animal agriculture, the single largest driver of deforestation and land-use change worldwide. Anita Krajnc, global campaign coordinator for Plant Based Treaty says, “We are calling for the media, educators, and policymakers to advocate for zero deforestation in production and consumption across Canada, as was recently legislated in the European Union along with comprehensive rewilding strategies in line with the Plant Based Treaty. These approaches can help sequester carbon dioxide, address methane emissions, and reduce future fire risks.” How deforestation increases the risk of wildfires: When trees are removed, the shade they provide is lost, causing the forest floor to dry out. This creates an abundance of dry, combustible material that can easily ignite and fuel a fire. Trees play a vital role in the water cycle by releasing water vapor into the air and helping to maintain a humid microclimate. When they are removed, the local climate can become drier, again making it easier for fires to start and spread. The remaining fragmented patches of forest are more exposed to heat and wind, which can increase fire risk and help fires to spread more quickly when they do occur. How climate change increases the risk of wildfires: Higher temperatures can lead to more frequent and prolonged periods of drought, creating drier conditions and making vegetation more susceptible to burning. A warmer climate can result in earlier snowmelt, leading to longer dry seasons. It alters weather patterns, potentially leading to more frequent and intense heat waves and storm events, both of which can contribute to increased fire risk. The repercussions of the Nova Scotia wildfires extend far beyond local borders. Smoke and airborne particulates can travel significant distances, affecting air quality in major cities like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. These cities are experiencing worsened air conditions, affecting those with respiratory issues and potentially leading to health advisories. There are also mounting concerns about the fires’ impac...
By Mike Lillis, Chief Commercial Officer, Storm Technology Nowadays, when companies look at their business applications and technological needs, the conversation often becomes abstract and filled with buzzwords such as agility, productivity and efficiency. In reality, when you strip this back to the basics, it really comes down to what enables people within an organisation and how they can be more successful. Getting this right can be truly transformative in terms of future growth both for the team and the business as a whole. The shift to Software as a Service Looking at our own journey within Storm Technology, as well as what we see across our customers, it’s clear that a shift is happening. Increasingly, companies are turning to Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions and seeing a return on this investment both in terms of empowering employees and improving operations. Before we get around to the benefits of the SaaS approach, we must first look at what’s driving this shift. Firstly, and while not realised by many, those who are overly reliant on old-school on-prem technology are facing a shortage of legacy technology professionals who can provide the support required to effectively leverage such systems. As well as experienced professionals moving to the cloud, so too are new software engineers. Not only is this creating a skills gap and making such capabilities more niche, it’s also driving up the cost of owning on-prem systems. The benefits for businesses While the decision to move to SaaS might be out of their control, organisations are enjoying considerable advantages of this model, including streamlined operations and enhanced user experience. Furthermore, with increased security and malware threats, having a multi-billion-dollar entity like Microsoft – which is updating its technology all the time – manage such risks makes business sense, reducing the pressure on in-house teams and saving on costs. Speaking of costs, SaaS means your company can change from a cumbersome annual or upgrade cycle-driven Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) to a manageable and predictable Operating Expenses (OPEX) model. Along with keeping CFOs happy and unlike legacy systems which require costly upgrades or maintenance, SaaS solutions remain evergreen with continual upgrades delivered by the technology provider. The Mould for the modern workplace Specific departments can also gain more value through SaaS, particularly within the modern workplace which is defined by greater flexibility and scalability. In fact, such systems provide businesses with the ability to quickly and easily flex technology capabilities and licenses as they grow. Moreover, to strengthen our internal HR systems, we invested in OurTandem, a cloud-based people-driven tool that improves things such as goal-setting and internal feedback. It delivers the same instantaneous feedback, once covered in-person over coffee, to a workforce operating in a hybrid environment. Where legacy on-prem technologies can be constrained by VPNs or localised access, SaaS solutions are designed and developed for the mobile generation. They enable staff and managers to connect on the devices that best suit their individual needs and preferences, regardless of physical location. The devil is in the data Looking at another example, Microsoft Dynamics 365 can deliver a wealth of real-time data to business leaders which allow them to make better-informed strategic decisions around team structure (including resource allocation and hiring) and business processes (including sales and financial). Alongside useful insights, such SaaS technologies also offer the latest protection and feature functionality to organisations, thus supporting how they work – both today and in the future – and actually equipping them with the means to practise and realise those buzzwords of agility, productivity and efficiency. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland...
Guest post by author John Fordham, who is a management consultant and business advisor with decades of experience in helping turn businesses around to become profitable. Founder of Rocketship Management. How to win more orders and increase sales (in turbulent times) Increasing sales and winning more business can be demanding in the best of times and it goes without saying in difficult times it is even harder. It is not just about having good sales skills, it is imperative to also have all the back up and supporting functions working professionally to support the sales function. The sales people need to be confident that products will be produced with quality and on time. Prices need to be competitive and a prospective customer has to be convinced about customer service. New orders with new customers require extra effort. Rocketship Management For many years now companies have been reducing their number of suppliers to improve their own efficiency. They also look for sole supply by top providers. It can be hard to get in. One route is to offer small supply for a small order to give them confidence and to offer back-up supply if, for example, their main supplier has problems. Longer payment terms of for example 60 days for say a period over six months could help. A more difficult choice is to provide consignment stocks to a customer, which they pay for after 30 days. A robust sales team and process Sales people need to have proper sales training and understand customer requirements. One tried and tested method is using ‘open questions’ to enquire as to the customers needed and follow the SPIN technique – Situation Questions, Problems Questions, Implication Questions, Needs and Benefits. Just this technique alone, plus the sales meeting preparation, samples/ examples, literature and ‘leave behind’ all need to be good. And benefits, not just features, need to be explained about the product or service and the company itself. When submitting quotations they should have a clear product description without jargon or just incomprehensible part numbers. Monitor the orders numbers against the number of quotations. Get that conversion percentage rate up. One telecoms company I consulted at, we changed the quote form to provide clarity, and then orders increased by 30% almost immediately. The company did not recognise that they were selling to FD’s and MD’s assistants who did not understand the quote so the order went to a competitor. Such a small change for such a big improvement. Much of this requires training to achieve improved ability to win more orders, and perhaps at better prices. A good sales person needs good support by the sales administration department, the planning and product supply, with quality, on time deliveries, short lead times, with good, efficient, friendly sales administration support. First class marketing materials and promotions Develop awareness and credibility for your company to support the sales function is key. Create more awareness of your and achievements internally and externally. Send out press releases, get articles in the trade press, get busy on LinkedIn, have hospitality days for customers and staff and publicise activities. Introduce and develop new products, product improvements or changes. Look for new market segments and customers and create target lists of potential customers to be contacted. Make sure your marketing collateral and promotional materials are great quality – dust off your website and invest in updating it to keep potential customers engaged and make sure you highlight the benefits of your products and services. Make it better than your competitors. If you are taking the time to create printed brochures and catalogues give it all you have. Invest in a designer with experience to give it a professional look and feel and spend as much as you can afford on the quality of paper and print. It’s your calling card long after you have left the building so you don’t want it to head strai...
Esri Ireland, the market leader in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), has created an LGBTQ+ Pride Month digital StoryMap. The map highlights ‘The History of Pride in Ireland’ and features a full schedule of Pride celebrations across the country that will last all summer long. Using the interactive map, developed with Esri’s ArcGIS digital mapping system, embark on a captivating journey that follows the story of the LGBTQ+ community in Ireland. Discover pivotal historical moments, significant locations, and transformative events that sparked a profound societal shift towards a more diverse and inclusive Ireland. The map also features LGBTQ+ Resource Centres that offer support, guidance, and meetups across the island of Ireland. As citizens from every corner of the country prepare to unite in a radiant display of rainbow hues, the Summer of Pride Map is your guide to the vibrant tapestry of Pride festivals and parades that are happening around Ireland. This year, the iconic Dublin Pride Festival (19th – 25th June) celebrates the 40th anniversary of the first Dublin Pride Parade. From Belfast to Galway to Cork there will be theatre, live music, quiz nights, rock & roll bingo, parades, and more. To top it all off, this year Laois is making history with its first-ever Pride Festival on September 14-17th. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Tata Consultancy Services’ (TCS) latest survey of senior business leaders worldwide, ‘Connected Future: How Cloud Drives Business Innovation’ reveals that cloud remains a long-term investment priority for 74% of major corporations in Ireland, despite current macro headwinds and the recent slowing of growth of global cloud providers. The global survey of 972 senior executives included 102 respondents from across the UK and Ireland. It reveals that innovation is a major driver of cloud investment, with 70% of Irish respondents reporting that cloud is crucial as a catalyst for innovation for their organisation’s future. This figure is significantly higher than the global average of 59%. This appears particularly true for artificial intelligence (AI): 79% of Irish respondents invested in AI and machine learning capabilities over the past two years, while 83% plan to do so over the coming 12 – 24 months. Both technologies are highly dependent on access to large amounts of data and scalability through cloud. 68% of the Irish executives surveyed say they have invested appropriately in cloud while 11% recognised that they have under-invested in cloud-based technologies to date. Over half of respondents from both Ireland and UK (56%) ranked ‘new ways of working to improve employee engagement and productivity (e.g., remote collaboration technology)’ as their most desired outcome for cloud-enabled innovation. Progress is underway, with 32% already realising their desired innovation outcomes in this area. In addition, the study also finds a clear majority of respondents (75%) in Ireland and the UK are using cloud technologies to achieve their sustainability goals. This is higher than the global average of 67%, however, 48% reported difficulty in understanding the carbon footprints of cloud service providers. This suggests that while most respondents see cloud as an important—and thus far successful—part of their sustainability strategy and increasingly use cloud tools to assess their own carbon impact, they are now demanding the same visibility from their cloud providers. Overall, despite significant progress in recent years, the study reveals that businesses still have a long way to go to unlock the full power and potential of cloud. Other key findings for Ireland and the UK include: Industry clouds or ‘vertical clouds’ are rapidly emerging as a fast path to acquiring greater business expertise and capabilities, with an overwhelming majority of executives (79%) already assessing, adopting, or using them in business today. This is higher than the global average of 73%, indicating Ireland and the UK are ahead in leveraging the cloud for industrial applications. 84% of respondents want to participate in digital ecosystems, but most are still far from realising their full value: 43% are still in the earliest stages of transition towards mature digital ecosystems. Critical skills shortages continue to affect businesses in the cloud space, around half (up to 55%) of respondents report a lack of full cloud proficiencies in-house. Gerard Grant, Director of Strategic Initiatives, TCS Ireland, said: “Despite the challenging economic climate, a majority of large enterprises in Ireland are prioritising long-term investment in the cloud to power innovations such as AI and drive new business models. Interestingly, Ireland is already making progress when it comes to industry-specific cloud deployments and achieving their sustainability goals. We expect to see an acceleration of innovation, as more businesses start to leverage cloud technologies for long-term growth and profitability.” Krishnan Ramanujam, President, Enterprise Growth Group, TCS, comments: “A desire for greater efficiency, resilience, and flexibility drove early cloud adoption, and these remain critical factors. Businesses now more fully understand how cloud drives business growth and innovation for the long-term, and for most, the journey is only just getting started.” “Cloud is a fr...
The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) has published the first edition of standards and requirements to ensure digital health competencies are developed in nursing and midwifery education programmes. These standards and requirements, which were developed following extensive consultation, provide guidance for education bodies and practice partners on how to equip undergraduate nursing or midwifery students with the digital health competencies required to support and enable person-centred care. The Digital Health Competency Standards and Requirements for Undergraduate Nursing and Midwifery Education Programmes outline that digital health is defined as the use of information and communication technologies to improve health, healthcare services and facilitate wellness. The standards are set out under five domains of competence which are: digital professionalism, leadership and advocacy, data and information quality, information-enabled care and technology. These standards and requirements aim to ensure that nursing and midwifery undergraduate education programmes teach digital health competencies in a flexible, innovative and practice-oriented way. Sheila McClelland, CEO of NMBI, launched the publication saying: “Healthcare services are rapidly evolving, particularly in the area of digital technologies which are being implemented at an ever-increasing pace nationally. Digital health is a key priority to support the redesign of health services in Ireland, as set out in the HSE service plan, the Sláintecare Implementation Strategy and Action Plan 2021-2023 and the HSE People Strategy 2019-2024, and the Department of Health’s Report of the Expert Review Body on Nursing and Midwifery (2022). “In an evolving digital health environment, digital education needs to be current and universally included within nursing and midwifery curricula, training and continuing professional development programmes. These standards aim to align with national and international evidence-based practice and provide guidance for education bodies to ensure that nursing and midwifery students learn about digital tools and skills during their education.” Carolyn Donohoe, Director of Education, Policy and Standards, NMBI, added: “These standards and requirements aim to ensure that our nursing and midwifery education programmes stay up to date and adapt to evolving healthcare. It is anticipated that, given the speed with which digital technologies are being adopted and the range of clinical placements that students complete, students will be afforded opportunities to engage in a range of digital technologies to support the development of digital health competency. We will work with and support education bodies and their practice partners as digital health is incorporated into their education programme.” The Digital Health Competency Standards and Requirements for Undergraduate Nursing and Midwifery Education Programmes were developed with nurses and midwives, including through a public consultation earlier this year, and in collaboration with an expert working group to align with national and international evidence-based practice. Read the document on the NMBI website here. See more stories here.
Latest guest post by Ian Scarffe, who is a serial entrepreneur, investor, key opinion leader and Blockchain consultant with business experience from around the world. The US seems to be on a catch-up spree with the efforts and progress of other countries already piloting native central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) with President Biden’s calls for greater research into the subject. Biden has requested guidance from the Federal Reserve System (the Fed) and other regulatory organizations on how to resolve crypto loopholes while reducing economic risks and addressing the security issues associated with cryptocurrencies. Why the USA is Behind the Blockchain Curve Even before this announcement, the US had developed a keen interest in the formation of its own CBDC. However, compared to other nations, its efforts have fallen short. The reason? The US is severely lagging in blockchain, Web3, and crypto developments because it treats them as “technologies of tomorrow”. Continued lingering could prove even more detrimental. Fortunately, there is hope for turning things around. Crypto on the Global Stage: A Picture of Progress and Innovation Today’s global market for blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies attracts a wide range of industries. Blockchain is being viewed as a major collaborative and value-additive technology for additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, space architecture, and automation. Katie Haun, Founder and CEO of Haun Ventures, gets candid about crypto’s global performance in a Bloomberg interview: “I’ve been in crypto for a decade if you can believe it. We’ve seen crypto get really hot and then all of a sudden not.However, I think one of the things that’s a little bit different now is with each new crypto cycle more and more people come into it. And so it’s more and more pronounced each cycle.” “What hasn’t happened is a crypto winter in the midst of kind of really serious global macro conditions. So we have inflation kind of at record highs for our generation and in our lifetime,” Katie adds. “And then we have also a war that’s broken out in the Ukraine. And we have a number of other factors going on here. So that’s very different. There was some serious carnage out there.” Despite the ups and downs of the market due to geopolitical factors, financial organizations have shown no restraint in exploring blockchain solutions to revolutionize insurance, clearing, settlements, and payment applications. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink recently talked about the growing significance of blockchain as an underlying technology in the area of asset management. According to numerous projections, the use of blockchain technology is poised to boost the global GDP by up to $2 trillion by 2030, making it a vital component of the global economy. Lessons can be drawn from the efficient and innovative adoption of the technology in various countries: Japan has been a pioneer and hub for blockchain technology and crypto advancements. It is currently the only country with actual, enforceable laws regarding cryptocurrency, recognizing Bitcoin as a legal tender way back in 2017. The Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) reports over 3.5 million crypto users in the country. To set the pace for new advances around the world, the Japanese government and tech-savvy population are both interested in and supportive of the use of blockchain technology. China may have announced restrictions on cryptocurrencies and crypto mining activities, but it hasn’t stopped experimenting with the development of blockchain-based services. The Chinese government officially supports blockchain technology and appears to be the technology’s most impressive global promoter. The country plans to incorporate blockchain into its financial and expansion plans. To support blockchain-based firms, China also intends to provide industrial standards, licensed property insurance, and tariff incentives. Switzerland offers lenient administrative and tax treatment to ...
Are you out of contract or looking for a better deal for your mobile phone? If so there are some great SIM Only deals available in Ireland right now with huge savings to be made over long contract plans. We’ve teamed up with Switcher.ie, the free and impartial price comparison and switching service, to find the best SIM Only deals available every month. Check back regularly to stay informed of the latest deals and offers and visit the Switcher.ie website to order one of these great packages. Cheapest Bill Pay SIM Only Plans Clear Mobile’s SIM-only plan offers unlimited minutes, texts and data all for just €14.99 per month on a 30-day rolling bill-pay contract. Sign up now and get your first month free. eir’s connect -30 Day SIMO plan is 5G ready and costs just €14.99 per month for 12 months all on a 30-day rolling bill-pay contract. This deal includes unlimited calls, texts and data. If you’re an existing eir broadband customer, you can sign up to this plan for the discounted price of €9.99 per month for 12 months. GoMo’s SIM-only Go More plan offers unlimited minutes, texts and data. This SIM-only deal costs just €14.99 per month on a 30-day rolling bill-pay contract. (If you’ve come across this article after some of these deals may have expired, check out our main SIM Only category page to find the latest offers) More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
A survey from Irish IT service provider Auxilion has revealed that less than half (44%) of business leaders in Ireland think their organisation is adequately prepared to respond to a cyber breach. The survey of 100 C-suite executives in larger companies or enterprises (more than 250 employees) across Ireland, carried out by Censuswide, also revealed that more than a third (36%) of businesses fell victim to a cyberattack in 2022 and 44% of business leaders think their company will fall victim to a cybersecurity breach this year. Moreover, some 42% don’t believe they have enough skills within their organisation to guide it through a cyber-attack and a similar proportion (41%) don’t believe their cybersecurity budget is adequate to protect against all risks. Furthermore, 34% of respondents don’t believe their leadership team or board is doing everything it can to safeguard the company’s digital assets and data. Despite these concerns, just 20% of business leaders expect to invest in cybersecurity solutions in 2023. The research also revealed that only 36% of business leaders think their organisation upholds governance adequately and 43% have had to abandon a project due to poor governance. The average cost of failed IT projects during 2022 came in at €840,671. However, a little over half (51%) undertake an annual self-assessment of performance relating to governance or compliance. To improve governance, 43% said outsourcing to a third party would improve their company’s governance, with 44% already using a managed services provider. The top benefits of working with managed services providers were found to be 24/7 assistance (21%), increased project delivery (21%), cost savings (20%), plugging the skills gap (20%), and improved productivity (19%). Eighteen per cent said supporting compliance, while enhanced security was cited by 17% of respondents. Commenting on these results, Philip Maguire, Auxilion CEO and founder, said: “The survey highlights the need for organisations to identify and implement IT strategies which directly support business goals and address concerns – some of which could prove, or are already proving, to be quite costly. “Not only are companies facing the possibility of cyber breaches due to inadequate safeguards, but failed IT projects are also impacting the bottom line. That’s not to mention the worries business leaders have around plugging the skills gap and achieving company objectives. “Organisations really need to look at what digital solutions and services they can deploy today to overcome such obstacles and capitalise on potential opportunities. As well as rectifying the areas of poor governance and inadequate cybersecurity, these technologies can also boost efficiency, support productivity and drive growth.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Embracing the Future: Apple Vision Pro & the New World of Augmented Reality
apple #VR #AR #VisionPro #metaverse Description: An open discussion, following the introduction of Apple Vision Pro, on the advancements in these technologies.
Founder of the MarthaVerse, Dr. Martha Boeckenfeld Dr. Martha Boeckenfeld’s energy and passion for innovation and customer-centricity are contagious. From being the CEO of Kleinwort Benson and spending 20 yrs in insurance and banking, she is now the founder of Marthaverse and the Dean & Partner of the Metaverse Academy in Switzerland. Dr. Martha Boeckenfeld –. MarthaVerse:- Metaverse Academy –/ Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica. A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter. Join her on the social platforms See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
We look at this book by Minter Dial which is 70% different from the first version that came out in 2018. Heartificial Empathy, Putting Heart into Business and Artificial Intelligence, reviewed This book is accessible and readable. Minter returns to a familiar topic, albeit half a decade later, which, given these particular five years, has certainly been an eventful time. Things have moved fast in certain areas, so this has been probably enough time to revisit some of these topics, and it makes sense that so much of it has been updated and revised. Taking an AI out for dinner with his wife was an entertaining but also informative exercise. Quite quickly he begins to suspect, like a lot of us, that the responses are not completely human-free. AI has certainly got better, and to some degree you can argue it might pass the Turing Test to some degree. Except that this illustrates that the Turing test might now no longer be fit for purpose. Minter discusses the need for ethical AI and empathy in AI also, though how you would achieve this is a more challenging question. To return to taking his AI for dinner, this does enable him to discuss some interesting and thought provoking questions via an engaging hook. Actions like this help to make the book an interesting read and enables it to stand on its own two feet, a different and distinct beast to its successor. Transcripts of conversations were useful and interesting to read, but as the original screenshots were readable already it did seem redundant at times to then also have then transcribed too. This to one side the book is a useful and thought provoking read, check it out. Minter what is different about this version? The rewrite started before ChatGPT with a sense that much more attention (and empathy) was needed to figure out the future of work (post Covid). How to manage hybrid work etc as a leader? Secondly, I read much about the rise in mental health issues (depression, suicides) and the apparent lack of therapists in so many countries. meaning that the need for AI therapists was evermore evident. But how were we going to achieve this? Finally, the rise of generative AI and an ability to play with GPT quickly made it obvious about the step change that’s happening . Voila. More about the book Minter Dial +447399443103 My books on Amazon: “Minter is an extraordinarily talented executive. His inspiration transcends the workplace and transforms lives all over the world.”–Mark Thompson, speaker, author and coach to Richard Branson and Charles Schwab. Minter Dial has a habit of identifying important and topical subjects.In this significantly revised edition of his award-winning book, Heartificial Empathy, he’s updated it for a large number of major developments in the world (i.e. post pandemic, economic uncertainty, mental health.) and the step change that has occurred in artificial intelligence. Today, empathy has become an even more critical skill to develop in business. Heartificial Empathy, which in its first edition won the BookExcellence Award 2019 and was a finalist for the Business BookAwards 2019, explores the power of empathy as a core leadership skill, one of the most untapped levers of productivity in business. It describes how to develop empathy in business as a manner to drive transformation, customer centricity and employee engagement, three of the most critical and strategic issues facing many companies today. What’s new in this edition? A review of the state of AI and efforts to input more humanity, with the implications for society. How generative AI has changed the landscape. Post pandemic-the burgeoning rise of mental health issues and a look at the associated needs for therapy, AI therapy and other solutions.What’s new and how can empathic AI help. The future of work—and how empathy will be necessary to deal with business transformation. Minter is a regular guest on big name podcasts.See/hearhisinterviewshere.He’s also been host of his own weekly podcast, Min...
Eight rising green businesses from across Ireland have successfully completed the 2023 Accelerate Green Programme, a business accelerator programme that Bord na Móna is investing €5million in over the next three years to continue helping emerging Irish innovators in the climate solutions space to scale and thrive. Bord na Móna’s 2023 Accelerate Green Programme This year’s Accelerate Green graduates include NanobOx, Hibra Design, HUB360, HaPPE Earth, Superfy, NEG8 Carbon, EC Charging, and CW Applied Technology. From direct air carbon capture technology, and medical grade compostables for Ireland’s healthcare system, to water treatment technology using nanobubbles, the 2023 cohort of businesses are pioneering some of Ireland’s newest sustainable innovations and creating unique climate focused solutions for a variety of industries in Ireland and internationally. As part of the Accelerate Green Programme conducted in partnership with Resolve Partners, the eight businesses have participated in a series of comprehensive learning and mentoring workshops in recent months, and engaged with a broad range of leaders from enterprise and energy agencies, Irish-founded companies, research networks and investors. The eight 2023 innovators will now join the existing alumni of green businesses who participated in the first rollout of the programme last year, most of whom have reported continued business scaling in the past 12 months. According to research conducted among the 2022 alumni, 60%?have scaled their business operations in Ireland, and 80% have grown their business internationally since graduating from Accelerate Green last year.?40% of the alumni have secured more new investment in the past 12 months versus the previous 12 months, and the vast majority (80%) have expanded their workforce in the past year. This year’s Accelerate Green Programme culminated in Bord na Móna’s Accelerate Green Conference ‘Ireland’s Sustainable Future 2023’ on Thursday 1st June, which showcased and celebrated the eight business to complete the programme and their journeys so far. Over 300 attendees from across the country joined the conference to gain insights from some?of Ireland’s key thought leaders and innovators who are using sustainable business ideas and practices to help tackle climate change. Key speakers and panellists included: Bord na Móna’s CEO Tom Donnellan, Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation Dara Calleary TD, Assistant Prof. Landscape Studies & Environmental Policy at UCD Dr Cara Augustenborg, AWS Director of Energy EMEA Lindsay McQuade, Bord na Móna’s Head of PowerGen Dr John Reilly and Professor of Economics at UL Stephen Kinsella, among many others. Commenting on the 2023 Accelerate Green graduate businesses, Bord na Móna CEO Tom Donnellan said:“I am delighted to welcome eight new businesses to our Accelerate Green alumni and hope to see them follow in the footsteps of last year’s innovators, many of whom have significantly grown their business operations, international footprint, and employee numbers since completing the programme. This year’s cohort of businesses are testament to the breadth of emerging talent, innovation and expertise we have in the Irish climate solutions space. Collectively they are delivering a variety of sustainability focused products and services catering to a wide range of needs and industries, but they all share a common goal – to contribute meaningfully to a more sustainable future. Bord na Móna shares that same ambition as a renewable energy and climate solutions focused business, and we will continue enabling Ireland’s budding green innovators through our Accelerate Green Programme, with €5 million invested in its rollout over the next three years.” Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation Dara Calleary TD said: “Innovators like those who have completed Bord na Móna’s Acccelerate Green Programme and the businesses who have joined its 2023 Con...
Xavatar, the AI-driven entertainment tech company, has announced a partnership with Fexco Group to deliver landmark payment technology in the metaverse. The partnership will create a customer focused payments experience within the Xavatar created metaverse – the Xataverse. The partnership will enable those that use The Xataverse to make transactions using a bespoke digital wallet based on Fexco payment technology. This is a key step for Xavatar as it continues to expand its presence in the real time visual sector. The partnership announcement is the latest milestone for Xavatar following its debut at the Cannes Film Festival 2023 which featured a live production of their soon to be released TV series, “The Art of Movie Music”. The production featured filmmaker David Lynch and music icons Donovan, Elvis Costello, George Clinton (Parliament) and Redman, in partnership with Planet X Studios and The David Lynch Foundation, the Xavatar team showed off their ability to animate in real-time and mesmerized an audience of entertainment leaders. Hosted by the American Pavilion and powered by HP, UnReal Engine and Be Earth Foundation, “The Art of Movie Music is an animated, variety talk show about movies and music. Which can be accessed via terrestrial TV, and entered via the Xataverse (web, tablet, mobile) and even listed to via radio. Brought to life by Xavatar’s proprietary IP, created by cutting-edge AI based real-time animation technology, this multimedia production crosses platforms using storytelling mixed with gamified experiences within a social connected metaverse, that allows the audience to actively participate with celebrities talking about movies and music. The audience can then explore the show’s locations, have interactive experiences with celebrities, social networking, and 3D retail experiences throughout. With Fexco’s help, Xavatar will launch a game changing digital wallet and token which will break down the walls and remove the pain from digital payment methods while providing a safe, easy transaction system throughout the Xataverse as well as real world shopping and entertainment experiences Kevin Sharpley COO of Xavatar said: “When we envisioned the concept of the Xataverse and the accompanying payment system, Fexco helped us to understand the mechanics and together, we were able to integrate what this process will be for the greater ecosystem that encapsulates our immersive experience of The Xataverse. We feel this revolutionary tool will allow people the opportunity to best integrate with our show “The Art of Movie Music” and our other upcoming offerings both in the digital and real world and ultimately save everyone time and money. Xavatar couldn’t have a better partner than Fexco on this exciting journey.” Karl Aherne COO of Fexco said: “We are delighted to announce Fexco’s partnership Xavatar, as they build on their success to date and continue to explore new innovations in experiential content consumption. The metaverse offers an exciting new opportunity for fintech innovations. This partnership allows us to leverage Fexco’s decades of experience in cutting-edge payments technology and the expertise of the Xavatar team to deliver an unparalleled customer focussed payment experience within the Xavatar metaverse and online.” See more stories here.
HP Ireland has issued its quarterly HP Wolf Security Threat Insights Report, showing threat actors are hijacking users’ Chrome browsers if they try to download popular movies or video games from pirating websites. By isolating threats that have evaded detection tools on PCs, HP Wolf Security has specific insight into the latest techniques being used by cybercriminals in the fast-changing cybercrime landscape. To date, HP Wolf Security customers have clicked on over 30 billion email attachments, web pages, and downloaded files with no reported breaches. Based on data from millions of endpoints running HP Wolf Security, the researchers found: The Shampoo Chrome extension is hard to wash out: A campaign distributing the ChromeLoader malware tricks users into installing a malicious Chrome extension called Shampoo. It can redirect the victim’s search queries to malicious websites, or pages that will earn the criminal group money through ad campaigns. The malware is highly persistent, using Task Scheduler to re-launch itself every 50 minutes. Attackers bypass macro policies by using trusted domains: While macros from untrusted sources are now disabled, HP saw attackers bypass these controls by compromising a trusted Office 365 account, setting up a new company email, and distributing a malicious excel file that infects victims with the Formbook infostealer. Firms must beware of what lurks beneath: OneNote documents can act as digital scrapbooks, so any file can be attached within. Attackers are taking advantage of this to embed malicious files behind fake “click here” icons. Clicking the fake icon opens the hidden file, executing malware to give attackers access to the users’ machine – this access can then be sold on to other cybercriminal groups and ransomware gangs. Sophisticated groups like Qakbot and IcedID first embedded malware into OneNote files in January. With OneNote kits now available on cybercrime marketplaces and requiring little technical skill to use, their malware campaigns look set to continue over the coming months. “To limit the chances of a security breach, businesses and users should avoid downloading files from untrusted sites. We have observed that threat actors are hijacking users’ Chrome browsers at times when downloading popular movies or video games from pirating websites. To protect against the latest threats, employees should be cautious of suspicious internal documents and check with the sender before opening. Organisations should also configure email gateway and security tool policies to block OneNote files from unknown external sources,” explains Val Gabriel, Managing Director of HP Ireland. From malicious archive files to HTML smuggling, the report also shows cybercrime groups continue to diversify attack methods to bypass email gateways, as threat actors move away from Office formats. Key findings include: Archives were the most popular malware delivery type (42%) for the fourth quarter running when examining threats stopped by HP Wolf Security in Q1. There was a 37-percentage-point rise in HTML smuggling threats in Q1 versus Q4. There was a 4-point rise in PDF threats in Q1 versus Q4. There was a 6-point drop in Excel malware (19% to 13%) in Q1 versus Q4, as the format has become more difficult to run macros in. 14% of email threats identified by HP Sure Click bypassed one or more email gateway scanner in Q1 2023. The top threat vector in Q1 was email (80%) followed by browser downloads (13%). “To protect against increasingly varied attacks, organisations must follow zero trust principles to isolate and contain risky activities such as opening email attachments, clicking on links, or browser downloads. This greatly reduces the attack surface along with the risk of a breach,” comments Dr. Ian Pratt, Global Head of Security for Personal Systems, HP Inc. HP Wolf Security runs risky tasks like opening email attachments, downloading files and clicking links in isolated, micro-virtual machines (micro-...
Guest Post by David Stephen There is a recent article, Octopuses Are Smart, Sentient. Aliens?, where it was stated that, “Animal intelligence refers to an animal’s cognitive abilities, such as perception, decision-making, and learning. On the other hand, sentience refers to an animal’s ability to have subjective experiences, such as pleasure, pain, fear, and other emotions. While these concepts may be related, sentience pertains explicitly to an animal’s ability to feel the world and is often considered in discussions of animal welfare.” AI: What Do Intelligence and Sentience Share? Sentience and Intelligence Are the mechanisms with which they arise similar and do they share a source? Does the source know that this process is for intelligence and this other one for sentience? What must be present to indicate intelligence, and what else, for sentience? Are the labels or definitions of terms restrictive for how both should be understood? Which one precedes the other, and which is superior? It is generally accepted that sentience and intelligence originate from the brain. Though, more specifically, from the mind. The question that follows is how does the human mind function to setup both? What are the components of the mind and what is the structure? These questions are different from observed labels of mind, like emotions and feelings, because processes underlie their being experienced. They are not components of the human mind, like the mind uses them to function. There is something that must be possessed, to rates, to qualify for intelligence. There is also something that must be, to an extent, to qualify for sentience. Intelligence is defined with cognitive abilities like perception and learning. Sentience, with an experience like pleasure or pain. Taking those labels apart, one thing—knowing—is spread. Learning is known, so are perceptions, and experiences as pleasure and pain. It is not just that they are present or experienced, but they are known. It is known that math is known. It is known that something is painful. It is known that lavender is perceived. It is knowing that determines whatever is described for sentience or intelligence. There are divisions for each, with minimums and totals. Sentience is superior and encompasses intelligence, or all that is known for it. Reasoning, decision-making, creativity, stealth movement to seek prey, or avoid predator are all divisions of intelligence, with varying totals for species at different stages. Emotions, feelings and memory are the major division of sentience. Memory is superior to intelligence. Emotions and feelings are also known. Humans can be said to have the highest rate of sentience at 1. There are minimums in divisions for humans, where other animals compare. There are also minimums for intelligence for humans that AI, possibly compares, given some of the proficiency of LLMs. Sentience and intelligence share knowing. AI, to the extent that it is accurate and dynamic, has some knowing whose maximum compares in some ways to certain human minimums. See more breaking stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Addleshaw Goddard has launched its search for the best high-growth tech businesses in Ireland to join its AG Elevate programme –a fast-track 10-month programme designed to advance tech businesses in all sectors of the economy through legal challenges that arise as they grow. Originally a programme focusing on UK-based startups, Addleshaw Goddard has extended the scope of the programme to include Irish tech startups following the firm’s merger with Eugene F Collins in 2022. Commenting on the launch, Mark Walsh, Addleshaw Goddard Head of Ireland, said: “As a business we are committed to offering new innovative solutions and support to our clients so we are really pleased to announce the expansion of the AG Elevate programme to Ireland, which will empower us to help tech startups achieve their objectives for growth and financial success. Our team of legal mentors have comprehensive knowledge of the priorities and potential obstacles that fast growing and scaling tech businesses in Ireland encounter which provide substantial benefits to AG Elevate members beyond just legal input. Their extensive knowledge of the sector, and experience in handling investments and acquisition in this space ideally positions us to support these startup businesses in achieving their commercial objectives.” He added: “As innovation and disruption continue to be in high demand across all sectors, we are excited to help Irish tech startups scale up to meet these challenges on the next level of their journey. Ireland’s indigenous tech sector has a strong international reputation, and we look forward to supporting continued innovation and growth through the AG Elevate programme.” A Success Story Since it launched in 2017, the programme has supported almost 50 high-growth businesses. Back in 2019, Scotland-based Amiqus was one of nine businesses selected to join AG Elevate and has since not looked back – it now counts the firm, which gave it the opportunity on AG Elevate, as one of its newest clients. Amiqus is a market-leading compliance platform helping businesses digitally manage onboarding and compliance for new clients and staff and is one of the UK’s fastest growing Fintech companies. The business began when CEO and founder Callum Murray noticed a gap in the market for a solution to complex, time-consuming and expensive compliance challenges, for businesses across sectors. As all entrepreneurs know, the journey from the Eureka moment to having a successful, sustainable business is fraught with difficulty and rarely follows a straight path. For the business, which specialises in the legal sector, being selected to participate in AG Elevate was an opportunity that came at the perfect stage in their growth journey. Amiqus applied for a place on the programme and was selected by an independent panel for the 2019 cohort. If that was good fortune, giving Amiqus’ product the opportunity to get insight behind the scenes at an international law firm was invaluable. Along with the rest of the cohort, Amiqus was assigned a legal mentor and a package of legal support. Successful applicants also receive access to professional industry networks, bespoke resources designed by AG and the chance to build networks with like-minded people and businesses in the tech ecosystem. That was in June 2019. Since then, Amiqus has seen its turnover double year-on-year and its client list grow to include leading organisations and professional services firms in the country. To Apply The application process for businesses that would like to be considered for the 2023 AG Elevate programme is open and can be found on the Addleshaw Goddard website. To qualify for consideration for a place on the programme, businesses need to have existing plans for high-growth and have received external funding. The package of support includes: An assigned legal mentor who will meet with you every month 25 hours of free legal advice on specialist areas Access to AG’s legal seminars and networking ev...
Expleo, a global engineering, technology and consulting service provider, has announced the results of new research, which found that 49% of enterprises on the island of Ireland will spend less on sustainability initiatives in the next 12 months, compared to the previous 12 months, due to concerns about the current economic outlook. This comes despite 84% of business leaders believing that their organisation could do more to make their IT infrastructure and projects more environmentally friendly. The research is published in Expleo’s Business Transformation Index (BTI) 2023 Ireland Spotlight report, which is launched today. The global study, which included a survey of 141 business leaders in medium to large-sized enterprises on the island of Ireland, suggests a softening of the importance being placed on sustainability by businesses operating in Ireland. Along with reduced investments in sustainability efforts, the proportion of organisations reporting to have clear plans that will help Ireland to meet its decarbonisation targets has gone down from 90% to 80%. Meanwhile, just 22% of business leaders surveyed said that they are focussing on climate action as part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, versus a considerably higher 37% globally. While economic uncertainty is squeezing sustainability budgets, business leaders also expressed concerns that too great a focus on sustainability can hamper innovation. Expleo’s research found that more than a third (35%) believe that focusing too much on sustainability will limit their organisation’s ability to innovate. This is in contrast to a larger proportion (49%), who believe a focus on sustainability is, in fact, a strong catalyst for innovation. The BTI research found that a failure to act on sustainability is proving costly for businesses in Ireland, as 54% – versus 41% globally – reported having lost customers due to dissatisfaction with their sustainability performance last year. Conversely, 47% of businesses said that they themselves had stopped working with suppliers or customers who were not meeting their sustainability expectations. In addition to reviewing their customer and supply chains, businesses are also offsetting the environmental impact of their technologies and IT infrastructure. Expleo’s research found that the average business is currently offsetting 43% of the carbon footprint of their technologies and IT infrastructure. In the next 12 months, the average enterprise in Ireland will spend €1.4M on offsetting their IT and technologies. Other sustainability initiatives that medium to large-sized businesses are pursuing include: developing more environmentally sustainable products and services (53%); using technology to monitor where resources are being wasted and therefore reduce consumption (45%); using renewable energy sources to power facilities and technologies (45%); and sourcing from environmentally responsible technology suppliers and partners where possible (43%). Looking to the future, the most common plans of action amongst those surveyed included mapping out a Net Zero future for their company (58%) and shifting to a circular business model (57%). Phil Codd, Managing Director, Expleo Ireland, said: “Our Business Transformation Index 2023 Ireland Spotlight provides valuable insights and recommendations on the challenges facing organisations today and the transformative business practices that can pave the way to success. Sustainability has become core to this success to the point where it is not just the right thing to do anymore; it is a deal-breaker for doing business. Our research shows that without it, organisations are suffering reputational damage and the lost revenues that come with it – something that we expect will continue and even intensify in tandem with the widespread focus on sustainability. “While it is important to keep a watchful eye on the economic outlook, businesses must realise that sustainability is not optional. Becoming a mo...
The super-competitive crush-the-opposition entrepreneurial behaviour that has long been lauded isn’t cutting it. The myth that a cut-throat environment somehow cajoles employees into giving their best possible performance (and perhaps even a little bit more) has now been thoroughly debunked. It is widely accepted that the main outcome from such unrelenting pressure is a rapidly rising rate of disconnection, disengagement and even serious illness from burnout. What entrepreneurs need to offer in order to avoid this exemplar of a toxic workplace is a rounded human-orientated experience or, more specifically, a positive emotional culture. HumanForce, How can entrepreneurs cultivate an emotionally healthy company? When an entrepreneur recognises their startup’s emotional culture, it shows that they are paying attention to how employees are or should be feeling. Entrepreneurs who really want to get the best out of their teams need to go further than simply satisfying their basic human needs with smart offices and good working conditions. They need to build a strong emotional culture which recognises their human qualities as well. Employees thrive in cultures that foster joy, love and fun. These are the emotions that influence an employee’s creativity, decision making, quality of work and commitment. They are what will bind the organisation together and have a huge impact on performance and engagement. Fostering a culture of belonging One of the main ingredients to creating an emotionally healthy company is fostering a culture of belonging. 79% of organisations say fostering a sense of belonging is important to their future success. When employees feel they are being respected and treated fairly, it has a positive impact on all areas of the working day. A sense of belonging can lead to a 56% improvement in job performance, a 50% reduction in turnover risk and a 75% decrease in employee sick days. Our desire to belong is driven by a need for strong social connections. When we are connected, we feel we belong. In the workplace, this is where the magic can really happen when leaders are creating a positive emotional culture. Strong social connections lead to increased flows in communication and co-operation. As a result, people find their jobs satisfying and are resilient to the stresses and strains of the workplace, which in turn increases their commitment to their employers. Together, they can all work at a high level. Here are 4 steps any entrepreneur can take to foster a culture of belonging: Use technology wisely Technology has been a fantastic development for SMEs, offering a huge range of benefits from speeding up production processes to making teams more efficient, but we need to think carefully about the extent to which we use it. It’s easy to send an email or WhatsApp message to convey a point about a work issue, but this can get in the way of building and maintaining meaningful social relationships. You as leader need to model the way by regularly picking up the phone or, even better, stopping by someone’s desk to deliver a message in person. Face-to-face communication helps people feel less lonely and disconnected. It creates a sense of belonging and a close affiliation with the workplace. Where possible, hold discussions over an informal cup of coffee or lunch, or a brief stroll around the block. Engineer some in-office social-connection days Even if the majority of your work is done remotely, engineer days when the entire team can be in the office together. Make it a firm ritual placed in everyone’s diary rather than a vague date in the future when ‘we must get everyone together’. It can help to give the event a hook like ‘Storytelling Friday’ when each week an employee will be invited to tell a personal story. Origin stories are powerful ways of creating belonging. Maintain open lines of communication The idea of an open-door policy might seem a little dated now, especially when teams are often apart, but you can reit...
TalentGuard, the world’s leading Workforce Skills Intelligent solutions, has chosen to partner with Galvia, a Galway-based AI company, to support successful workforce transformation for its worldwide client base. Through this partnership, TalentGuard’s platform will leverage Galvia’s AI-generated models to help companies predict results for critical challenges, such as voluntary employee turnover and talent retention. Galvia provides AI-powered infrastructure services and automation to enhance organisational effectiveness and decision-making. “Our machine-learning technology helps companies predict future attrition, identify at-risk employees and reduce the costs associated with constant employee churn” says John Clancy, Founder and CEO of Galvia AI. “We are very excited to be partnering with TalentGuard to support more and more organisations to transform insights into impact and empower teams to do their best work.” Most recently Galvia’s technology helped TalentGuard guide a US private equity firm merging multiple companies to match employees in various roles across multiple companies to new positions and retain their top talent. As workforces continue to change, the demand for insights, automation, and AI-powered applications have become a top priority for organisations. “Many people see artificial intelligence and machine learning as a ‘magic bullet’ to solve HR and business challenges. However, thinking critically about the different AI methodologies available and how to fine-tune models to generate high-quality results while avoiding overfitting and mitigating bias is crucial” says Frank Ginac, Co-Founder and CTO of TalentGuard. “As the Chief Technology Officer of TalentGuard, I can attest to the importance of selecting partners with a disciplined approach to these factors. Galvia AI has impressed us with its expertise. We are excited to collaborate with them to help organisations apply the most effective AI/ML methodology to address their talent needs,” TalentGuard’s client base includes Irish company, Version 1, which provides IT solutions to the private and public sectors. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Renewable electricity registers record growth, but renewable heat and fuels lag far behind, hindering a shift away from fossil fuels With a record 30% share, renewable electricity is driving the energy transition. However, renewable-based electricity needs to more than double. Renewable-based heat and fuels need to grow much faster to ensure equitable access and security of supply. Renewable energy growth is most noticeable in the power sector (electricity generation), whereas critical energy carriers such as renewable heat and renewable-based fuels remain neglected. Solar photovoltaics (PV) had another record year of growth in 2022, with a 37% increase in additional installed capacity. Grid-connected wind energy additions fell 17% relative to 2021, due to delays in permitting, disruption in supply chains, and rising material and shipping costs. China was home to 44% of renewable energy deployment and also represented 55% of total investments in renewables. Renewable investments in Europe reached 11% and in the United States 10%, while Africa and the Middle East received the lowest share by region, at only 1.6%. Barriers must be overcome for growth of renewable electricity, 2023 Global Status Report PARIS – Wide-ranging barriers are preventing renewable energy from contributing effectively to meeting the world’s climate and development goals, according to the Renewables in Energy Supply module, launched today as part of the annual Renewables 2023 Global Status Report (GSR) collection. These barriers include a lack of attention to all energy carriers, a failure to diversify renewable energy technologies beyond wind and solar power, deficiencies in policies, bottlenecks in permitting and grid connections, unequal investment levels in different regions, and continued large investments in fossil fuels. The Renewables in Energy Supply module covers the way final energy is distributed among heat, fuel and electricity, geographies and technologies (bioenergy, geothermal power and heat, heat pumps, hydrogen, hydropower, solar PV, concentrated solar power (CSP), solar thermal heat, ocean power and wind power). Renewables in Energy Supply follows the release of the GSR 2023 Demand Modules, which explored renewable energy use in the key energy-consuming sectors of buildings, industry, transport and agriculture. Energy carriers include electricity and heat as well as solid, liquid and gaseous fuels. Currently, the global energy supply is split mostly among heat (49%) and fuel (29%), with electricity having the lowest share (22%). In 2022, the share of renewables in the power sector reached 30%, mainly because the sector has received long-term policy attention that enabled market and technology development and drove down costs. Across all sectors, renewables cover only 12.7% of the total energy system, a relatively low share in the larger scheme of things. “The record growth of renewables in the electricity sector is positive news. However, we need to more than double this growth and to achieve deep electrification of the heat and transport sectors. We also need to invest heavily in grid infrastructure to address climate change and to provide access to over 700 million people living without electricity, mainly in Africa and Asia,” said REN21 Executive Director Rana Adib. Meanwhile, the other energy carriers – fuels and heat, which provide most of the world’s energy – have only dismal renewable energy shares of 3.6% and 9.2% respectively. This indicates that efforts are narrowly focused on transitioning the power supply. This limited focus is ultimately slowing the shift to a renewables-based system, delaying efforts to reach the Sustainable Development Goals and maintaining the status quo of energy insecurity. Greater attention must be paid to renewable heat and renewable-based fuels and to the diversification of renewable energy technologies. While electricity is expected to play an increasingly important role in the global energy supp...
We will shortly be reviewing this new device. While our testers are road testing it, here are the details from the manufacturer, Infinix. Infinix recently launched the latest smartphone in its NOTE 30 series, the NOTE 30 VIP, bringing users flagship-level wireless fast charging and exceptional performance designed to meet the ever expanding needs of today’s youth. The NOTE 30 VIP features All-Round FastCharge technology with 68W wired and 50W wireless fast charging, offering high-speed charging both with and without wires. Infinix launch NOTE 30 VIP The NOTE 30 VIP is also one of the first smartphones to be fitted with the Dimensity 8050 5G processor. It has received an A Rating in the TÜV SÜD 36-Month Fluency certification in recognition of its long-term smooth experience. Equipped with a 120Hz high refresh rate display designed for eye protection, an under-screen fingerprint recognition, as well as up to 21GB of Extended RAM, the NOTE 30 VIP delivers powerful performance with a faster and smoother user experience. “With All-Round FastCharge technology on the NOTE 30 series, Infinix has brought users an unprecedented fast charging experience. Now, on the newly released NOTE 30 VIP, we have taken the overall performance of this technology to a new level. By introducing faster, flagship-level 50W wireless fast charging and covering more charging methods across different scenarios, NOTE 30 VIP provides a safe, fast, and convenient experience that removes any worries users may have about battery life. Thanks to the new Dimensity 8050 5G processor, high refresh rate screen, and rich audio-visual features, the NOTE 30 VIP is the top choice for users seeking all-round powerful performance.” – Liang Zhang, Deputy General Manager at Infinix. Flagship-level Ultra Fast Charging For the first time on the NOTE series, the NOTE 30 VIP delivers flagship-level wireless fast charging capable of charging the NOTE 30 VIP’s 5,000mAh battery to 50% in just 30 minutes. Users only need to place their phones on Infinix’s wireless fast charge pad to charge their phones anytime, anywhere without being restricted by charging cables, while still enjoying a highly efficient, timesaving charging experience. For even faster charging, the NOTE 30 VIP also supports ultra-fast 68W wired charging, which can charge the battery from 1% to 80% in 30 minutes. The technology also helps to maintain battery longevity, supporting near optimal battery performance for up to 1,000 charge-discharge cycles. In addition, the NOTE 30 VIP supports multiple charging methods, including Reverse Charge (wired & wireless), Bypass Charge, AI Smart Charge, and PD 3.0, offering users more ways to charge their phone using All-Round FastCharge technology in a variety of different scenarios for maximum flexibility. Designed for a Truly Comprehensive User Experience As one of the first smartphones in the industry to feature the Dimensity 8050 5G processor, the NOTE 30 VIP boasts lower power consumption and more stable network connectivity. Built on advanced 6nm process technology and running at up to 3GHz CPU clock speeds, the NOTE 30 VIP smoothly handles multitasking and runs large-scale games at higher frame rates while keeping power consumption to a minimum. The processor also features MediaTek’s HyperEngine5.0, which ensures stable and low latency performance during any type of game or content to ensure mobile gamers to stay connected and in the heart of the action at all times. Thanks to this powerful hardware configuration and Infinix’s own software level algorithm optimizations, the NOTE 30 VIP has obtained an A Rating in TÜV SÜD 36-Month Fluency’s certification, meaning that it provides a guaranteed level of smoothness after as many as 36 months of standard usage. The NOTE 30 VIP is equipped with Infinix’s proprietary UPS (Ultra Powerful Signal) technology. By using software algorithm optimizations tailored for specific scenarios, UPS can increase cellular signal strength by 2...
Codec, one of Ireland’s leading cloud solutions consultancy companies, has announced the launch of an ambitious expansion programme. The expansion will create 65 new jobs in Ireland and sees the opening of a new Codec office in Great Britain this week. The new premises, situated in Paddington, London will enable Codec to hire a further 100 people by 2025, bringing total employment at the company to over 465 Microsoft Cloud professionals. The move will allow Codec to grow its presence in the British market and enable the company to capitalise on its expanding customer base. Established in 1985 and headquartered in Dublin, now with offices in London, Belfast and Malta. Codec is one of the most awarded and recognised Microsoft partners. It provides organisations in the Public and Healthcare sectors with business applications, artificial intelligence, and cloud infrastructure on Microsoft platforms. Codec’s expansion is being supported by Enterprise Ireland, who are backing the investment through its company development funding scheme. The partnership demonstrates the collaborative efforts between Codec and Enterprise Ireland to drive economic development and job creation across Ireland and internationally. Recruitment has already commenced with a range of highly-skilled roles available in Ireland including project managers, IT services consultants and technical support positions. Commenting on the growth announcements, Codec CEO Ronan Stafford said: “We continue to experience significant growth in all our markets and are delighted to be announcing today the creation of these new roles to support our expansion. For nearly forty years Codec has been leading the way in Business Applications and today’s announcements demonstrates our continued commitment to growth and innovation. With this expansion, we aim to strengthen our reach domestically and internationally as we continue delivering exceptional solutions to our valued customers across the Island of Ireland and the UK. We are looking forward to our future, one that fosters collaboration, drives innovation, and propels us towards new success in Ireland and internationally.” he added. Welcoming the announcement, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney TD: “Today’s announcement that Codec, an indigenous company, is creating 65 new high-tech, professional jobs in Dublin is exciting and very welcome. It is testament to the vision and hard work of everyone in Codec that the company has grown in recent years into a highly innovative and successful company, with numerous operations overseas. The Government through Enterprise Ireland looks forward to continued engagement with Codec as they scale their business in international markets. I wish Ronan and all the team at Codec continued success for the future.” Speaking about the announcement, Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD said: “I am thrilled to launch the opening of Codec’s new office in London, marking an exciting milestone for the company. Their expansion exemplifies the absolute potential of Ireland as a hub for innovation and growth internationally. I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to Codec’s talented team on this exciting new chapter as they grow their business and seize the opportunity that new markets offer.” Leo Clancy, CEO, Enterprise Ireland said, “Enterprise Ireland’s mission is to partner with innovative Irish businesses with the drive and ambition to scale. Codec is an Irish Technology company with global ambition, partnering with Microsoft and organisations in the public and healthcare sectors both in Ireland and across international markets. Today’s announcement is testament to the ambition and capabilities of the company and we at Enterprise Ireland are proud to be backing this exciting phase in the company’s development, supporting the creation of new highly-skilled jobs operating from Codec’s Dublin headquarters.” See more stories her...
ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW), the leading digital workflow company making the world work better for everyone, has announced plans to create 400 new jobs in Ireland over the next three years as part of the company’s growth plans across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The new roles will be primarily across digital sales, engineering, research and development. An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD, said, “ServiceNow’s announcement of 400 new high-quality jobs is a massive endorsement of Irish talent and will be a real boost to the tech sector. Across the private and public sectors, we are embracing the power of technology to improve how we live and work. ServiceNow is committed to the making the world of work, work better for people. I am proud to see so many Irish hands and minds helping bring that to fruition. The future is digital and we look forward to many jobs, opportunities and investments.” Visiting ServiceNow’s Irish headquarters, ServiceNow Chairman and CEO Bill McDermott said, “Now more than ever, leaders I talk to in EMEA are putting their trust in strategic partners to achieve their digital business goals. ServiceNow is orchestrating the entire technology value chain with our intelligent platform for end-to-end digital transformation. “We see a once-in-a-generation opportunity to take it to the next level by capitalising on the strength of Generative AI through the Now Platform. This is why ServiceNow stands out, globally and in Dublin. We are welcoming new talent to our award-winning, customer-first culture. Our investment in Dublin is proof of our confidence to create meaningful, sustainable careers for the people of Ireland with ServiceNow.” Today’s announcement is the latest in ServiceNow’s trajectory in Ireland. Last year, as part of ServiceNow’s continued commitment to the Irish market, the company confirmed it had agreed to a 12-year lease in one of Dublin’s most prestigious office buildings, 60 Dawson Street. The new space, which is expected to open in early 2024, will house a variety of global and regional teams across a range of functions, including Global Cloud Services, Technical Support, Internationalisation, Global Sales Development and Digital Sales, seeing the team grow to more than 800 in the next three years. With more than 40 nationalities represented in one office, the unique culture has been recognized as one of Ireland’s Best Workplaces™ in Tech 2023 and ranked 6th best in Ireland’s Great Places to Work ™ large business category 2023. Echoing this sentiment Michael Lohan, CEO at IDA Ireland said, “The addition of 400 new jobs in Ireland at one of the fastest-growing tech companies in the world is a win for the country. It cements Dublin’s position as a leading technology hub. ServiceNow’s investment in Ireland sends the message to other global businesses that Ireland is a great base as it has the skills they need to expand.” ServiceNow has continued to grow across the EMEA region as more enterprises, such as BT, UNHCR, Vodafone, and ICON, seek to harness the power of its platform to meet their digital needs and help them work faster and more efficiently. The bolstered workforce will enable ServiceNow to continue innovating solutions, like generative AI functionality, that bring IT and business together to create ‘exponential enterprises’ and operate as one company. ServiceNow will be hiring for roles at all levels, with a particular focus on early-in-career opportunities. As ServiceNow’s ecosystem grows, it has identified the opportunity gap to help Europeans grow their careers with ServiceNow skills. In order to expand the skills ecosystem in Ireland and globally, in October 2022 the company committed to retraining and skilling one million people through its Rise Up with ServiceNow Program offering broader education on two of the largest platforms in use today. Tech talent, including those in Ireland, will also soon have the opportunity to earn a ServiceNow IT Leadership Professional Certificate on ...
Dirk Lueth, founder of Upland talks to Jillian Godsil and explains how he came to make a metaverse The story so far: Aged 16, German native Dirk Lueth spent a gap year in the States and was really impressed with the concept of the school yearbook, which was not common in Germany. When he returned to finish his schooling, he took this idea with him – launching both a love of writing and entrepreneurialism that would mark out his career. While he claims not to be a good journalist, his track record shows a love of the written word both from his PhD research in private and state-controlled currencies or the fact that he co-founded the German edition of the Financial Times. In 2012 he also became advisor to an online publication called Fair Observer, a non-profit media organization that engages in citizen journalism and civic education. How to Make a Metaverse – with Dirk Lueth of Upland Fair Observer is an interesting exercise in neutral reporting. The organisation relies on citizen-curated reporting but emphasizes 360-degree reporting where all angles of a situation or subject matter are collected and represented. An interesting counterpoint to the agenda-led, entertainment-focused, pop-culture shows popularised particularly in the US. His writing began with a typewriter and coincided with the beginnings of the internet. Lueth knew that the internet was going to be big from the get-go. “My first job was with a media company that was also very interested in technology. I knew that the internet would deliver entertainment and information at a fraction of traditional media’s cost and in a much faster way. That was where the idea for launching an innovative version of the FT with a strong online department in Germany emerged.” A proud boast indeed, as it had to be funded via strategic investors namely the publishing houses Financial Times of Pearson and Gruner & Jahr of Bertelsmann as it was also before Venture Capital funding was commonplace. Being an entrepreneur is core to Lueth’s passion, whether in writing or business. He became the lead mentor in the German Silicon Valley Accelerator and helped grow numerous startups in tech. “I could see very clearly that the internet was going to change how we communicate and when combined with smartphones we were going to witness a lot of innovation.” Lueth is not ashamed to admit he made some mistakes – but then that comes with the territory when one is ahead of the party. For example, he opted for Flash technology but was scuppered when Steve Jobs said it was useless for mobile. “Our company at that time actually was just about starting to see product-market fit with good customers such as Lufthansa but I was forced to pivot to continue providing services to them.” For Lueth, he came to digital currencies through gaming, which fed in nicely from his PhD. He was fascinated that games had their own currencies and the fact that value could be exchanged over the internet. In 2011 a friend told him about the Bitcoin whitepaper and while he did not see at this time why this approach to cryptography was more promising than others, he was interested. “I bought some bitcoin in a back alley from someone in San Francisco and the seller literally handed me a piece of paper with all access information written on it – which I misplaced shortly after I tried it out. I’d love to find that piece of paper today but at that time it was more of a learning curve for me.” “It was a little later that I discovered digital money was not limited to Bitcoin and that the concept of decentralisation was key to this new technology.” Back in 2013 Lueth found himself pitching to Venture Capitalists – which had long time become more commonplace in Silicon Valley – but when he started talking about that in the future the transfer of value in the internet will be decentralised he could see their eyes glaze over. “There are many times when I have been early and that was another such time.” Lueth started attending Bitcoin...
A crypto consultant, James Bowater, Founder & Editor-at-Large of Crypto AM and a finance/tech/Bitcoin investor, Bundeep Singh Rangar, CEO Fineqia have come together to support His Eminence Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche, a world renowned Tibetan Buddhist Monk who is building the Universal Peace Sanctuary at a world UNESCO heritage site in Nepal. Ronan talks to His Eminence Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche. His Eminence talks about his background, his Universal Peace Sanctuary, the true purpose of your life, his Hollywood peace gala, nuclear war, AI, Nepal and more. More about His Eminence Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche: From his birth in the foothills of the Himalayas, His Eminence Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche was recognized as a holy child. He began training as a spiritual leader at the age of four. After attending university in Varanasi, Rinpoche has been spreading peace across North America, Asia, and Europe. As a lineage master and teacher, His Eminence Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche guides those who wish to live fully and freely in the moment. Rinpoche’s teachings show us how to actualize our innate potential and breathe with joy and ease. His Eminence has founded meditation and teaching centers in the United States, including Buddhafield, the Center for Enlightenment in Millerton, New York. In Asia, He founded Wencheng Gongzhu International Foundation in Hong Kong (China), and its branches in Taiwan (China) and Malaysia. His Eminence is the abbot of Shyalpa Monastery and Nunnery in Kathmandu, Nepal, where over 150 monks and nuns are in residence, receiving spiritual and secular education. His charitable organizations include the Bhrikuti Himalayan Foundation and the Himalayan Children’s Fund, which support humanitarian and philanthropic activities in the Himalayan region. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) has launched We-Speak, the first-ever anonymous online platform in Ireland, that aims to empower survivors of sexual violence to safely tell their own stories, in their own time, in their own words. The platform seeks to amplify the voice of survivors, offering a space for them to reclaim their narrative to themselves honestly and share valuable advice and encouragement with others. We-Speak follows the launch of We-Consent, a three-year campaign which aims to ignite an open and meaningful conversation about sex. DRCC wants to progress the conversation started by We-Consent and utilise the We-Speak platform to give voice to the broad variety of experiences which are often silenced. DRCC is reiterating that even if you have never spoken out about your trauma, you are not alone. Speaking about the platform, Sarah Monaghan, We-Consent Project Manager, DRCC said: “I am delighted that the We-Speak platform is up and running, offering a safe place for all victims and survivors to share their stories. For too long, many survivors of sexual violence have suffered in silence. We-Speak empowers them to share their stories anonymously and honestly, but also safely. DRCC has consistently recognised the need for a platform like this for survivors to share their stories, offering an alternative to social media, where ultimately, there is no protection. “The launch of this platform not only marks significant progress for survivors of sexual violence in Ireland, but also sees Ireland take a step forward in terms of how we are combating this issue collectively. The sharing of survivors’ personal stories can drive the shift from people knowing about the issue of sexual violence to people caring about it. I am hopeful that We-Speak will play a part in driving real change when it comes to both facing the reality of the impact of sexual violence and how we as a society can do better. I believe that stories are powerful and can build awareness, cultivate empathy, and ultimately create change.” We-Speak will also serve to highlight the prevalence of sexual assault in Ireland. It is hoped that by gathering this data, we can contribute to establishing a clearer picture of people’s experiences of sexual violence which will assist us in the future prevention of sexual violence. For the development of We-Speak, DRCC has worked in consultation with Our Wave, a US Based platform that launched a similar platform in 2019. Applying Our Wave’s expertise in both web development and trauma, the platform is custom-built, secure and encrypted to allow for complete anonymity, while considering triggers and other sensitivities in the process. On entering the site, you are encouraged to complete a grounding exercise to support users in centering their own self-care before they submit a story or read the stories of others. Support for stories can be shared through a series of “reactions”. These reactions are non-hierarchal and all positive. It is possible for users to return to their stories to update or delete, giving them complete ownership and allowing them to add to their story days, weeks or even months after initially publishing. Supporters can also submit messages of support and empathy for those who visit the site. Advocate for We-Speak and Survivor of Sexual Violence, Charlene Masterson said: “I am so excited to see the launch of ‘We-Speak. During my 7+ years of sexual abuse, I thought no one knows how I feel, no one has ever gone through this – it’s such an isolating feeling not being able to find people to relate to, especially in such horrific circumstances. Sadly, people experience it every day, and to be able to read those stories and realise you’re not alone is one thing that’s priceless to victims/survivors like me. Although I don’t think anyone ever fully heals from sexual violence, I have learned that talking to like-minded people or reading their stories is such an incredible tool during my healing journey.” The W...
The most unique testing environment for new technologies in the Baltic and Nordic regions opened in the Ülemiste City business area in Tallinn is welcoming local and foreign companies to test their new solutions or validate their services in a natural city environment. “The purpose of Ülemiste City that has been developed into a smart business area from scratch within two decades is to become a testing platform for new green urban solutions. As a compact business environment, we can offer testers access to our infrastructure, a community of 16 000 members, different support services and our know-how in development,” said the Chief Innovation Officer of Ülemiste City, Ursel Velve. “The resulting synergy between science and business and the smart implementation of new sustainable technologies is what makes Ülemiste the most unique environment in the Nordic region for different testing purposes – the TestCity.” Estonia’s Ülemiste City launched a new technology testing environment According to Ursel Velve, Ülemiste City invests in creating an ecosystem where testing is a natural part of product development and service design, keeping the focus on the green transition as well as the health and smart city innovation. She says that Ülemiste City is different from other North-European testing environments because of its more significant and more versatile selection of services supported by the actual urban environment in a limited area functioning as a mini-city model. “Ülemiste Test City, Tallinn and Estonia offer a physical testing environment at the level of a business campus, city as well as a compact small state, supported by data and modern technologies necessary for making leadership decisions as well as talents interested in technology who can contribute to the value chain from the beginning till the end,” said Ursel Velve. She added that Test City’s value also lies in bringing together businesses of different sizes and areas of activity, facilitating the creation of new services and business models. Several services have undergone a testing process within the framework of the Test City concept. Logistics firm DPD recently tested package delivery with Clevon’s robot courier CLEVON 1. Auvetech Modern Mobility has also tested their self-driving demand-based transportation service on the campus, Fyma its artificial intelligence-based mobility data solution, R8 Technologies its artificial intelligence-based energy management of buildings, Kone Insight its building usage statistics service, Ringo its reusable food packaging service and Active Health its health management platform. Skeleton Technologies is expanding its test lab in Ülemiste Test City. The company’s board member Ants Vill said they would like to test Skeleton’s technologies more widely in Estonia. “We highly value the level of local engineering, which is extremely competitive in the global context today, and we wish that there would be more engineering professionals in Estonia to enable us to create more value through the development and implementation of deep technology to combat global climate change,” he added. Representative of Enterprise Estonia Joonas Vänto stated that all kinds of test environments, labs or incubators that gather innovation also attract talent. “In terms of location, Ülemiste City is truly great. It is a business district within the city where new technologies could be tested. Estonia increasingly attracts forward-looking international companies which in turn increases the interest of foreign workforce in our opportunities. We see that Estonia in cooperation with the city of Tallinn and Ülemiste City is becoming a talent magnet where people want to work,” he noted. Ülemiste City () located in Tallinn’s international traffic junction is the biggest business area in the Baltics developed by Mainor Ülemiste and Technopolis Ülemiste. The City’s 36 hectare-area includes 167 000 square metres of rentable office spaces. The area hosts more than 50...
We look at three new products from Zagg, see more about these products here. 3-in-1 Travel Charger with MagSafe (RRP £134.95) – The 3-in-1 Travel Charger is a great addition to your travel bag this spring ,allowing you to charge three devices at once This product was the one that caused the most immediate interest among our reviewers. The thinking was that it would be great to have one place where everyone could, cordlessly, recharge their batteries. However it was not quite designed with that usecase in mind. Instead this was more about one location to charge three different types of devices at the same time. Namely earbuds Powerstation Go Rugged Compact (RRP £84.99) – This small but mighty powerstation can power almost every aspect of your life. It can charge your phone or tablet, light up a room during a black out, and jump start your car in an emergency This product is useful for charging phones, and will be helpful in a variety of situations. For getting it to jump start a car battery you need the powerstation to be completely charged. Even then you are slightly crossing your fingers to see if it will re-fire up your car or jeep battery. There are a few variables in play here, how dead is the car battery, will the powerstation have the power to get a larger jeep battery working? We are giving the powerstation some leeway here, but in several situations we didn’t manage to get a flat car battery to work again using this device. Maybe it was us, maybe the car battery was too dead, and maybe the powerstation needs to be firing on all cylinders, so to speak. It would be helpful perhaps if there was also some diagnostic information on the powerstation to help inform which element in the chain was the reason for it not working. Snap+ Wireless Vent Mount (RRP £59.95) – The Snap+ Wireless Vent Mount is perfect for keeping your phone charged whilst checking the route to your getaway location. Magnetically connect your phone to the mount and let the power of mophie do the rest to keep your phone charging This device is handy, and could well be a big hit to ensure more straight forward recharging of your phone. There is certainly scope for a device like this, as it is magnetic and wireless. With previous chargers we have generally found it is the connection point that tends to be the weak link, so this product was popular with our testers. As it plugs into the cigarette lighter point it also fits more snuggly and is less likely to break its connection. Another thing to consider is that you will probably need to take the phone out of its protective case if it has any size or weight, to ensure it connects snugly to the magnetic charger itself. This works if you are going on longer trips, but could get annoying if you are jumping in and out of the car every five minutes. Three new Zagg summer products reviewed See more product reviews here. Three essential accessories for a stress-free weekend getaway, from ZAGG
The Hosts Show LiveThis week on the Futurists our four hosts, Brett King, Robert Tercek, Katie King, and Brian Solis join a live stream with a bunch of listeners and at least one surprise guest to get into the first year of our world beating podcast. We discuss our favorite guests, what we learned and some of the recurring themes. A fantastic look back at a phenomenal year on The Futurists. One year of podcasting The Futurists celebrated, with surprise guests More about the hosts Robert Tercek is an award-winning author, entrepreneur, and educator focused on the process of dematerialization and innovation. In his professional capacity, Mr. Tercek is a seasoned business executive with deep expertise in digital media and internet services. He is a prolific creator of interactive programs and products. He has designed and launched successful consumer experiences on every digital platform, including digital television, game consoles, broadband Internet, and mobile networks. In 2021, Mr. Tercek was recognized as the Humanitarian of the Year by the Media Excellence Awards for his leadership in designing and launching COVID SMART™, an interactive training program designed to keep workers safe on the job during the pandemic. Brett King is a world-renowned entrepreneur, futurist, speaker, international bestselling author, and media personality. China’s President Xi Jinping cited his book Augmented: Life in the Smart Lane on the topic of Artificial Intelligence in his 2018 national address; the same book that was listed as a Top 10 non-fiction book in North America. In 2019 his book Bank 4.0 was awarded the Top Book by a Foreign Author in Russia for that year. See more podcasts here.
Researchers at the School of Business, Maynooth University, have received Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) funding for an innovative citizen engagement project to harness business and community participation in the green energy transition. SFI’s National Challenge Fund has awarded the researchers €250,000 to advance this innovative project, with a further two researchers to join the team as a result of this funding. The team aims to drive change towards green energy and climate action by bringing the local community into the research process, making their needs central to the project, and facilitating knowledge sharing with key MU academics, particularly in the area of renewable and smart energy systems. Over the next 18 months, the researchers will work with local organisations to identify and address their energy transition needs, creating a suite of tools and resources, including a targeted micro-credential course. The MU project is one of 47 competing in the National Challenge Fund – receiving initial funding totaling more than €13 million to work on solutions to major environmental and societal issues. Commenting on the ambitious goals of the project, Prof Fabiano Pallonetto, School of Business and lead researcher said: “We are delighted that our project RENEW has been selected by SFI for funding. We see huge potential for our local community to show leadership in the green energy transition. Our aim is to work closely with the local community, and together explore how Maynooth and Kildare can become an active node of the electrical grid through the co-creation of smart energy management systems.” Dr Amy Fahy, School of Business and co-lead on the project, noted the unique methods employed by the project that involve the community: “This is a perfect example of engaged research at Maynooth University. We are taking a community first approach, addressing the research needs of our local community of Kildare, and creating a process where we can build tools and resources that specifically address community needs, while also providing us with valuable knowledge that can be shared both nationally and internationally.” Speaking at the launch of the National Challenge Fund, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris TD said: “These teams have presented ingenious ideas and committed their talents to working for the benefit of the people of Ireland. We see examples in the news most days of why Ireland needs to work at the green transition and digital transformation and ensure that our innovation and research prepare the country for the future. In fact, the solutions being worked on in all eight challenges in the National Challenge Fund have the potential not just to improve life here in Ireland, but across Europe and around the world.” The National Challenge Fund is supported by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica. In this podcast Efi looks at resilience of the US Banking job market, trends to watch, and why it has performed in the way that it has. The resilience of the US Banking job market A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter. Join her on the social platforms See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Boortmalt, the world’s leading malting company, is announcing the launch of an innovative application that empowers beekeepers and farmers to collaborate in safeguarding the well-being of bees during treatment periods in agricultural fields. This novel solution will help enhance the life cycle of bees by ensuring their safety when farming activities require the use of certain treatments. The BEE SAFE app allows beekeepers to geolocate their hives, providing real-time data on their precise locations. Through the application, farmers can access this information and inform nearby beekeepers about upcoming treatment periods in their fields. This valuable exchange of information enables beekeepers to take necessary precautions such as temporarily closing their hives, thus safeguarding the well-being of their bees. Launching the app, Tom Bryan, Boortmalt’s Regional Agronomy Manager UK and Ireland, said: “Bees play a vital role in pollinating crops, contributing to food security, and biodiversity. Recognising the critical importance of protecting bee populations, Boortmalt developed the BEE SAFE app to enable beekeepers and farmers share information. By sharing information and promoting collaboration, we can contribute to the preservation of these vital pollinators and ensure the sustainability of our food systems”. Louis Bolger, Chairman of the Kildare Bee Keepers Association, welcomed the new app: “Bees are part of the biodiversity on which we all depend for our survival. However, bee populations have been declining globally over recent decades due to several factors including the use of pesticides. I welcome the BEE SAFE app which will make a real difference to the preservation of these vital pollinators. I would like to thank Boortmalt for launching this initiative and call on other agri-bodies to follow Boortmalt’s lead and play their part in protecting all pollinators and their habitats”. Boortmalt has a strong vision on sustainability and in line with this the group promote the continuous improvement of farming methodologies through local sourcing programs that are environmentally sound and beneficial to local communities. Boortmalt’s commitment to sustainability and responsible agricultural practices is further exemplified by its efforts to support bee health. By leveraging technology and facilitating collaboration, the company is driving positive change in the agriculture sector and promoting a more bee-friendly environment. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Dell Technologies introduces Project Fort Zero to provide an end-to-end Zero Trust security solution for global organizations to protect against cyberattacks. The solution will be validated by the U.S. Department of Defense and is part of a Dell Security portfolio expansion. Project Fort Zero builds on the momentum of Dell’s Zero Trust Center of Excellence and partner ecosystem to accelerate Zero Trust adoption. Leading an ecosystem of more than 30 leading technology companies, Dell will deliver a validated, advanced maturity Zero Trust solution within the next 12 months. “Zero Trust is designed for decentralized environments, but integrating it across hundreds of point products from dozens of vendors is complex – making it out of reach for most organizations,” said Herb Kelsey, industry chief technology officer, government, Dell Technologies. “We’re helping global organizations solve today’s security challenges by easing integration and accelerating adoption of Zero Trust.” Dell Project Fort Zero to deliver validated Zero Trust solution The fully configured Project Fort Zero solution will lower the barrier to Zero Trust adoption. Dell will take on the technology integration and orchestration that typically falls to individual organizations across several vendors. In doing so, the estimated time for advanced Zero Trust adoption is reduced through a private cloud. To achieve validation, a government assessment team will evaluate the Project Fort Zero solution for advanced maturity accreditation and certify compliance against the U.S. Department of Defense Zero Trust reference architecture, which is recognized around the world. This end-to-end solution will help global public- and private-sector organizations adapt and respond to cybersecurity risks while offering the highest level of protection. Project Fort Zero can serve a variety of use cases, including: In on-premises data centres for organizations where data security and compliance are paramount. In remote or regional locations like retail stores where secure, real-time analysis of customer data can deliver a competitive advantage. In the field where a temporary implementation is needed in places with intermittent connectivity, like aeroplanes or vehicles, for operational continuity. “Organizations are turning to Zero Trust to modernize their cybersecurity programs and keep pace with an evolving attack landscape. But determining where to start, the capabilities to prioritize and the actions needed to progress towards maturity can be complicated,” said John Grady, principal analyst of Enterprise Strategy Group. “Security and IT leaders need help planning their strategy and implementing the tools to support it. Project Fort Zero can help accelerate this process by delivering a repeatable blueprint for an end-to-end solution that is based on a validated reference architecture recognized around the world.” Dell expands security services portfolio with launch of PSX for Backup Along with Project Fort Zero, Dell is expanding its security portfolio with Product Success Accelerator (PSX) for Backup, a new service to help organizations protect and recover data in the event of disruption. PSX for Backup simplifies the implementation and maintenance of backup environments to enable data recovery. It follows the recent release of PSX for Cyber Recovery, which implements and helps operationalize an isolated cyber recovery vault. Organizations can choose from three levels of backup or cyber recovery based on their needs: Ready includes planning workshops, configuration of a validated backup or vault environment, a success plan, a runbook and outcome-based skills training. Optimize adds quarterly assessments, improvement recommendations and assisted restore test simulations. Operate adds ongoing operational assistance to meet the solution’s performance objectives. Highly skilled experts monitor and investigate alerts, initiate corrective actions and help with restore tasks at the cust...
Envisage, a leading Sage partner in Ireland and member of the Noledge Group, has announced that it will create 12 new jobs as part of a three year, €1M investment to support its appointment as the first Sage partner in the country that will resell Sage Intacct. The partnership with Sage – the leader in accounting, financial, HR and payroll technology for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) – will support Envisage’s plans to grow its business and drive customer acquisition. The company, which currently has annual revenues of €3M and employs 22 people, expects to increase its annual revenues to €6M and grow to a team of 34 people. As demand for cloud-based finance systems increases, this partnership will enhance Envisage’s ability to offer the highest level of service to its growing customer base across Ireland and the U.K. Envisage will be offering customers Sage’s award-winning accounting software, Sage Intacct. With this new partnership, Envisage customers will benefit from automation, cost savings, smooth integration, effortless data access across multiple systems, and real-time insights for informed decision-making. Through Sage Intacct, Envisage can now deliver more automated solutions and controls for billing, accounting, and reporting, enabling finance teams to simplify complex processes and increase data accuracy. To support this growth, Envisage will hire 12 additional people over the next three years. The new roles will be in the areas of sales, marketing, implementation and support. Sage Intacct provides comprehensive visibility into both operational and financial aspects of a business, leading to improved automation, increased profitability, and enhanced customer satisfaction. Sage Intacct is designed to serve a variety of industries, including, Business Services, Financial Services, Not for Profit, Software and Hospitality. David Burke, Technical Director, Envisage, said: “We are delighted to make this significant investment in our expansion and grow our team in Ireland. By adding Sage Intacct to our product portfolio, we can bring additional value to our customers and also open up new opportunities in the services sector. “As a leading Sage partner in Ireland, we are dedicated to providing the best products, training, and resources to help businesses achieve their growth goals. With the addition of Sage Intacct to our portfolio, we are now able to offer an even wider range of solutions and services to meet the evolving needs of our customers. We look forward to this next chapter of growth and success.” Paul O’Riordan, Vice President, Partners & Alliances, Sage UK & Ireland, said: “Envisage has a proven track record in delivering creative, flexible, and long-lasting ERP solutions for some of Ireland’s leading companies. With Sage Intacct, we’re confident that we can help our joint customers drive their businesses forward. We are pleased to partner with an ambitious company that has the resources and capabilities to design and integrate exceptional customer solutions.” Envisage, which was recently recognised as ‘Sage Partner of the Year for Ireland’, now offers Sage Intacct to customers in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
From 2020 to 2022, Apple has rejected 958,000 applications from appearing on the App Store due to privacy violations, recent findings by Atlas VPN reveal. Apple has shared three annual reports on App Store fraud prevention since 2020, detailing how many fraudulent transactions they stopped, how many apps were rejected, user and developer accounts terminated, and similar data. Here, Atlas VPN analyzes all three of those reports in a single article to find trends and get a broader view of Apple’s App Store moderation efforts. One of the outliers in the year-over-year fraud prevention data is the number of apps rejected for privacy violations. The number of applications rejected due to privacy issues keeps increasing exponentially, from 215,000 rejections in 2020 to 400,000 in 2022. User privacy is a major concern, as there have been instances where apps collect more data than necessary or share it with third parties without proper disclosure or user consent. Many users may not fully understand the privacy implications of using certain apps or may not pay close attention to the permissions they grant when installing an app and unknowingly grant access to sensitive information. To address these concerns, Apple has implemented various measures to protect user privacy, including app review guidelines, privacy labels, and app tracking transparency features. Apple stopped $5 bn in fraudulent transactions One of the main focal points of Apple’s fraud prevention strategy is stopping fraudulent transactions. Since 2020, Apple has prevented over $5.09 billion in potentially fraudulent payments and blocked 10.2 stolen credit cards from transacting. “Apple takes credit card fraud extremely seriously and remains committed to protecting the App Store and its users from this kind of stress.” Apple states in their annual report. Apple touts security to avoid third-party stores One angle worth considering as to why Apple began releasing its fraud-prevention reports is to indirectly stand against the constant pressure to open up iPhones and iPads to third-party app stores. One of the main arguing points by Tim Cook as to why sideloading and third-party app stores should not be allowed is privacy issues: “Data-hungry companies would be able to avoid our privacy rules, and once again track our users against their will,” he worryingly stated in IAPP conference in Washington, D.C. last year. Apple’s stance on third-party app stores has faced criticism and scrutiny from developers and regulators who argue that it limits competition and innovation. The App Store is a significant revenue source for Apple, as they take a 30% commission on most app purchases and in-app transactions. Allowing third-party app stores could potentially disrupt this financial model and revenue stream. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Javier Tamashiro is the co-founder and CEO of Ospree, a comprehensive anti-money laundering compliance solution for Virtual Asset Service Providers that seamlessly integrates customer onboarding, blockchain monitoring, and the Travel Rule. Javier and his co-founders Anne Winston and Jukka Pellinen are one of the 12 founding teams forming the Techstars Web3 accelerator class of 2023. By connecting to premium on-chain and off-chain data suppliers, Ospree offers a centralized repository of high-quality alerts for risk and compliance teams. With Ospree, institutions and SMEs serving the crypto and wider digital asset markets today can significantly reduce false positives, benefit from a single point of reference for Travel Rule data transactions, and automate and scale essential compliance operations. Before co-founding Ospree in 2019, Javier’s tour of duty in TradFi included stops at S&P Global Market Intelligence, Standard Chartered Bank and Credit Suisse. At each stop along the way, Javier operated in business intelligence and regtech roles, and he has been actively involved in blockchain projects since 2014. In this episode, Javier and Pete Townsend explore the blend of Japanese and Argentinian cultures that made Javier who he is today and the life experiences that led him to the Ospree vision. We then dive into crypto market growth as a proxy for the wider growth of digital assets and the role that compliance solutions can play in opening up the crypto floodgates for institutional capital. LINKS: Connect with Javier Tamashiro on LinkedIn and Twitter Follow Ospree on LinkedIn and Twitter Episode title inspired by ‘Trust’ by NF Leave a review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Check out our MoneyNeverSleeps website and get in touch via info@moneyneversleeps.ie Follow us on Twitter: MoneyNeverSleeps | Eoin Fitzgerald | Pete Townsend More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
New data published today by LinkedIn has revealed that Ireland has one of the highest shares of hybrid job postings in Europe, second marginally to the UK. Nearly half (42.2%) of all paid job postings in April on LinkedIn offered hybrid working in Ireland, compared to an average of 33% across EMEA in the same month. LinkedIn’s data also revealed a sharp decline in the availability of fully remote roles in Ireland, with only 10.5% of job postings offering remote options in April – down 48.2% year-over-year. Despite the downward trend, Ireland still has one of the largest shares of remote job postings in EMEA and these roles remain fiercely competitive. Applications to remote roles in Ireland accounted for 18.6% of all job applications, which means remote roles received 1.78x the share of applications compared to jobs available. Additional research with the general public in Ireland commissioned by LinkedIn, revealed that four in ten professionals in Ireland would be put off taking a new role if there was a lack of flexible working options available. Work-life balance is top of mind when it comes to questions that professionals will pose to prospective employers to ensure that a role is the right fit for them. 70% of Irish adults would feel comfortable to ask if a potential employer has any flexibility around the working hours, and just over two-thirds (67%) would feel comfortable to query if there is any flexibility around the working location. Family considerations rank highly, with 67% of the research participants prepared to ask a potential boss about their policy for supporting parents, including maternity and paternity leave. Commenting on the trends, Sharon McCooey, LinkedIn Ireland’s Country Manager, said: “Our data reflects the growing trend of companies offering hybrid options as a solution to balancing employees’ need for greater flexibility while at the same time ensuring you don’t lose that element of collective culture and community that is hard to establish with a fully remote workforce. “With an Irish labour market that is effectively at full employment, giving the option of hybrid can be a crucial factor in attracting the best talent available. Our additional research highlights that flexibility is a topic that job applicants are proactively bringing up themselves in interviews, particularly mid to senior-level professionals who are more likely to have caring responsibilities. It’s a case of getting ahead of the curve by ensuring hybrid is an option rather than being left behind in this new world of work.” More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Musk envisions a world where the paralyzed can walk, and the blind can see. How does he do that? Through Neuralink – one of his big brain startups that can revolutionize how we think and interact with people around us. Neuralink comes with enhanced cognitive abilities through a basic chip, which will allow humans to control a mouse, operate a computer, and even send out commands without moving a limb. The device is ready for integration with AI systems that can signal better harmony and communication between AI and humans, leveraging the cognitive thinking skills of humans. In this article, we will wrap our brains around Musk’s Neuralink in greater detail and also study what we expect to see in the future after the recent FDA approval. What is Neuralink? Neuralink is a startup by Elon Musk that uses brain computers to enhance communication between external prosthetics and your brain. The prosthetics could include machine operated computers and much more. The communication could lead to a breakthrough in science and restore basic functions for the paralyzed. With Neuralink, Musk envisions a future where humans can effortlessly interact with artificial intelligence (AI) and experience immersive virtual and augmented reality. Neuralink will inevitably give humans the added leverage they need in this technology world. As the world grows and progresses around us, it will be great to stand on an equal footing with technology and influence actions through neural links. History of Neuralink Neuralink Corporation, an American neurotechnology company, was founded by Elon Musk and a team of seven scientists and engineers in 2016, with its first public report in March 2017. The company is focused on developing implantable brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) and is headquartered in Fremont, California. Since its inception, Neuralink has made several significant advancements. One of the major breakthroughs was the development of a surgical robot designed to implant delicate threads into the brain with micron-level precision. The company has also been testing its prototype in pigs and monkeys, with a notable video demonstration in April 2021 showing a macaque playing the video game Pong hands-free, thanks to two brain implants. The FDA granted Neuralink a Breakthrough Device designation, which expedites the development and review process for devices that offer significant advantages over existing treatments. This designation has enabled Neuralink to move forward with human trials and further develop its technology. How Does Neuralink Work? Neuralink’s technology consists of three main components: The Link, The Threads, and The Robot. The Link The Link is a small, coin-sized device implanted into the skull, acting as the primary interface between the brain and external devices. It contains over 1,000 tiny electrodes that connect to the brain’s neurons, allowing it to read and write neural signals. The Link also has a battery, wireless communication capabilities, and advanced signal processing. The Threads The Threads are flexible, ultra-thin filaments carefully inserted into the brain tissue. These threads connect the Link to specific areas of the brain, enabling precise targeting of neural signals. The threads are designed to minimize damage to the brain and reduce the risk of inflammation. The Robot The Robot is a highly specialized surgical tool designed to implant the Neuralink device safely and accurately. The robot is capable of inserting delicate threads into the brain with micron-level precision, minimizing the risk of damage to blood vessels and neurons. During the implantation procedure, a small portion of the skull is removed, and the Link is placed in the opening. The Robot then inserts the threads into specific areas of the brain, depending on the intended application. Once the threads are in place, the Link is sealed, and the scalp is closed. Potential Applications and Benefits Neuralink’s technology can potentially transform va...
Miscreants use AI to create faked images of a sexual nature, which they then employ in sextortion scams. Scams of this sort used to see crims steal intimate images – or convince victims to send or share them – before demanding payments to prevent their wide release. But scammers are now accessing publicly available and benign images from social media sites or other sources and using AI techniques to render explicit videos or pictures, then demanding money – even though the material is not real. The FBI this week issued an advisory about the threat, warning people to be cautious when posting or sending any images of themselves, or identifying information, over social media, dating apps, or other online sites. Deepfakes have recently seen a revival thanks to innovation and the availability of AI-powered tools to alter any kind of image, video and sound. This technology has been used predominantly by nation-states in war scenarios, but it has recently become available to almost everyone. About five years ago, faked videos and images could still be easily spotted – this has become harder and harder over time. In the past, deepfakes were mostly employed to attack high-value targets, such as politicians or big corporations, in CEO fraud attacks, because creating the fakes used to be relatively costly. The situation has changed dramatically. AI can employ openly available data, for example, from anybody’s social media account and create hyper-realistic but threatening media, which can be used in blackmailing attacks on Average Joe and Jane. It is, therefore, crucial to bolster basic privacy measures, such as “locking” social media profiles to “private”, and apply a thorough thought process before posting any content to the open world. Parents are advised to talk to their (grown-up) children about the potential dangers associated with “revenge porn” attacks via deepfakes, and grandparents need to be advised on how to deal with forged phone calls and messages. This article was submitted by ESET Ireland. You can also follow ESET Ireland on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn for more cybersecurity updates. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Kickstarting Zombie Sci-Fi On this weeks futurist we have the return of New York Times Bestselling Author, Kevin J Anderson. In this week’s episode Kevin takes on a journey as to how technology has dramatically changed his connection with his readers for the publication of new books, including multiple very successful Kickstarter campaigns. We talk writing for the Dune and Start Wars Universes, and dive into Dan Shambles, the detective every zombie needs. Kevin J Anderson, how I Kickstarted Zombie Sci-Fi More about the hosts Robert Tercek is an award-winning author, entrepreneur, and educator focused on the process of dematerialization and innovation. In his professional capacity, Mr. Tercek is a seasoned business executive with deep expertise in digital media and internet services. He is a prolific creator of interactive programs and products. He has designed and launched successful consumer experiences on every digital platform, including digital television, game consoles, broadband Internet, and mobile networks. In 2021, Mr. Tercek was recognized as the Humanitarian of the Year by the Media Excellence Awards for his leadership in designing and launching COVID SMART™, an interactive training program designed to keep workers safe on the job during the pandemic. Brett King is a world-renowned entrepreneur, futurist, speaker, international bestselling author, and media personality. China’s President Xi Jinping cited his book Augmented: Life in the Smart Lane on the topic of Artificial Intelligence in his 2018 national address; the same book that was listed as a Top 10 non-fiction book in North America. In 2019 his book Bank 4.0 was awarded the Top Book by a Foreign Author in Russia for that year. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
We were invited to Iceland by Business Iceland to learn more about innovation, sustainability and diversity in the country during their Iceland Innovation week. Over three days in Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland we met a variety of founders, VCs, startups and members of the local business ecosystem geared to support Icelandic innovation. Iceland Innovation week is a success, insights from visiting Reykjavík Enjoying some opening serenades in Icelandic at the “Ok, bye” climate summit during Iceland Innovation Week ?? #IIW23 Björn (??) Lapakko ??? (@Lapakko) May 24, 2023 Iceland as a whole has a population of not much more than 300,000, similar to the population of Coventry, and definitely not very many. Having visited Tel Aviv, Singapore and Helsinki on similar innovation tours you do sense some similarities in terms of a country / city state that needs to be outward facing, low taxation, and incentives to encourage entrepreneurs to base their businesses here. Iceland is very much in a similar position, but with 1/10th to 1/20 of the population of some of their potential competitors. The everyone is a phone call away vibe is very much apparent. We interviewed the minister for innovation for example with very little hassle in a pleasant and informal setting. Similarly the president dropped into one of the morning talks and was informative, personable and pragmatic too. Why Iceland excels in innovation and diversity, insights with Icelandic Innovation Minister Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir Simply by flying to Iceland it makes it crystal clear that they are pretty much half way to North America and beyond. It was almost three hours from Dublin, and, initially I was wondering why there were so many Americans on the flight, the vast majority in fact. However Iceland Air is running an offer where you can break your journey at little to no extra cost, before your final five hours, approx, hop onto the USA etc. This island in the middle on the northern Atlantic is therefore very much at the midpoint between the two continents. Once we landed we were frequently told this at many of the presentations, but the reality is that the geography speaks for itself. Talking of geography, Reykjavík and the run from the airport itself, 48kms away, is surprisingly flat. On landing it reminded more of a Spanish desert than the epic volcanoes and geothermal sites you might be expecting. It is of course all there, in Iceland, but somewhat in the distance from the capital city itself. Apparently almost 3/4 of the whole population live within an hour of the capital too, which, on an island that is not small when compared to Ireland or the UK, means that it must be pretty quiet and low populated everywhere else. If you are planning to really see Iceland then do plan to get out of Reykjavík if you want to see more than an almost lunar landscape. Interview with Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir, Iceland's Minister of Innovation by @SimonCocking @Irish_TechNewsDiscussing diversity, innovation, why Iceland has to scale quickly, how it engages with global market#Icelandinnovationweek#BusinessIceland Billy Linehan ???? (@BillyLinehan) May 28, 2023 We found the people open, accessible, and interesting in their awareness of the challenges and opportunities that being based in Iceland offered. Childcare was touted as very favourable, as well as LGBT facing openness, with the country scoring highly in global rankings for quality of life and tolerance towards others. The weather was perhaps a little surprising, at times hovering around 6 degrees, though they promised that this was untypical for this time of year. It is probably fair to say that Iceland is never going to be super warm, but, as parts of Europe hit 40+ degrees, even this could become a positive factor in the future too. Why data can help us to save the planet, Smári McCarthy founder of Ecosophy and Icelandic MP for the Pirate Party We definitely found it informative to visit and we hope to feature som...
SIRO, the full fibre network broadband operator, has today announced that it has passed its 500,000th premise with its full-fibre broadband network as part of the open access broadband wholesaler’s billion-euro network rollout. Naas-based VEI Global, a managed IT services provider, is the 500,000th premises to have access to SIRO’s fibre broadband network – a significant milestone for the Gigabit broadband operator’s roll-out programme. VEI Global provides comprehensive ICT services to a wide range of clients, domestically and internationally. VEI Global collaborates with global integration partners and works with clients such as University College Cork, Phoenix Gas, Lynas Foods, South Dublin County Council, and CIE. VEI is currently in the process of implementing a WAAS solution for the European Parliament, covering an extensive network across 27 countries and 50 sites. Until now, with limited broadband alternatives available, VEI Global had been dependent on an outdated copper connection while awaiting the arrival of SIRO’s fibre network in their area. However, with the company’s expansion, including the establishment of a 24/7 managed services team, having reliable connectivity has become a critical requirement. By gaining access to SIRO’s extensive fibre network, VEI Global has successfully resolved latency issues, enhanced productivity, and significantly improved the overall experience for their hybrid workforce. Since SIRO was established in 2015, the open-access broadband wholesaler has gone onto establish an alternative telecoms infrastructure in Ireland as part of a billion-euro investment programme. The full fibre network broadband operator now has over twenty retailers, such as Virgin Media, Vodafone and Sky, offering its services to half a million homes and businesses across the country. SIRO’s unique infrastructure, which leverages the ESB electricity network, means that it has no legacy copper network at any point on its system, enabling the company to offer a 100% fibre optic Fibre-to-the-Building service – recognised as the gold standard for broadband connectivity globally. This has enabled SIRO to become the first broadband operator to make speeds of 2 Gigabits available to residential customers and the first to fully upgrade its network to allow for future speeds of up to 25 Gigabits in the years to come. According to VEI Global co-CEO and founder Lloyd O’Rourke: “The SIRO broadband connection will enhance our company’s productivity and reliability, eliminating the daily frustrations of connectivity lags, dropped calls, and slow uploads. Having access to real-time statistics is crucial to our managed service offerings as it allows us to proactively address any potential, future issues. We believe in providing solutions that act as long-term enhancements rather than just temporary fixes—vitamins, not painkillers!” VEI Global co-CEO and founder Conor Killeen commented: “Over the past 13 years, we have experienced tremendous success, and we hold even greater aspirations for the future. SIRO’s involvement will play a pivotal role in expanding our business and, more importantly, in elevating the level of service we deliver to our valued customers in Ireland and across the globe.” SIRO CEO John Keaney noted: “Since our early days as a start-up broadband operator, with big ambition and challenges rolling out a new broadband network, our purpose has always been to reach into communities across Ireland and give them access to standard of connectivity as good as anywhere else in the world. “As we reach 500,0000 premises passed with SIRO’s full-fibre network, it is satisfying to see that purpose being realised. Homes and businesses up and down the country accessing our network are living and working in new and more sustainable ways. “Working from home, staying connected with family and friends or starting or growing businesses where connectivity and digital technologies are becoming the backbone of their operations a...
Guest post by Rob Allen, who is an IT Professional with almost two decades of experience assisting small and medium enterprises embrace and utilise technology. It’s not enough to lock the front door – minimising the impact of a breach through internal controls Stand First: A layered approach to control measures on a solid foundation gives the best chance of containing the impact of any breach or attack How to reduce the impact of a data breach through internal controls Verizon Data Breach Investigations most recent report has shown that even now, 1 in 5 breaches remain undiscovered for months or more. The report also finds that the most common notifier of a breach is not even the breached organisation itself. That gives a lot of time for attackers to move around in an organisation’s IT system, often unknown to the victim. Additionally, the 2022 report reveals how the threat landscape is changing. The vast majority (82%) of breaches involved a human element, including social attacks, errors and misuse. There was a significant increase (13%) in ransomware breaches — more than in the last 5 years combined. Almost two thirds (62%) of incidents in the System Intrusion pattern involved threat actors compromising partners. We often use the analogy in cyber security of the castle with a stout front door. As this threat intelligence shows, it is not enough to protect the front door. Organisations must implement internal controls and measures to ensure if a breach does occur, attackers are not able to inflict more damage and loss by remaining undetected and moving freely with malicious intent. Extending the analogy, it is now clear that with suppliers being increasingly targeted as a means to gain entry to an ecosystem or supply chain, the trusted side entrance needs acknowledgement and protection too. Cyber security tools and services are constantly evolving in the arms race between cybercriminals, and organisations trying to protect themselves, their customers and their reputations in a hostile landscape. A layered, combined approach that builds on practices such as Network Control, with application containment by way of Ringfencing and managing of local admin rights through Elevation Control, can prevent unwanted behaviour from users and applications. These tools can stop hackers and malware in their tracks,even after a breach; minimising damage, risk of data loss, and protecting reputations and customers. This layered approach to protection is based on the Zero Trust Model (ZTM), the operating model where users, applications and services are given the least privileged access necessary to do what they need to do. The benefit is that should something go wrong, such as in the case of stolen or compromised user credentials, a malware drop, or an application or service compromise, the least level of privilege immediately limits what can be done. A key component of the ZTM is network segmentation, where the network is divided in subsections, often determined by sensitivity or function. This means traffic between the subsections can only take place according to need, permissions and policy. Any attacker gaining access to a system is then prevented from moving ‘east west’ within the network, and any anomalous or malicious activity is easier to see and stop. A type of Network Segmentation can also be effectively achieved through software, endpoint agents communicating together to dynamically control which devices can connect to which server resources. Additionally, Ringfencing further prescribes allowable and acceptable interactions. It controls what applications are able to do once they are running, reducing the likelihood of an exploit being successful or an attacker weaponising legitimate tools, such as PowerShell. Ringfencing allows you to control how applications can interact with other applications, for example, by stopping Microsoft Word from being able to call PowerShell, thus preventing an attempted exploit of a known vulnerabili...
Carlow-based design studio, Stratticus, is urging businesses to update their Google Analytics before the looming June 30th deadline. Google has announced that starting on July 1st 2023, the standard Universal Analytics will stop working. This means that businesses using Google Analytics will have to make the switch to GA4 before June 30th to continue measuring their website traffic accurately. As the deadline for the transition to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) approaches, Stratticus reminds businesses of the potential impact on their website data if they fail to implement the change thoroughly. The Bagenalstown digital studio advises businesses to prioritise this update to avoid losing valuable data and insights. John Foy, Creative Director and former Carlow IT Lecturer in Digital Marketing explains, “From July 1st onwards users of Google Analytics will no longer have access to critical historical data which will affect certain aspects of their business like bidding for ads, audiences or conversion data in Google Ads or on third-party integrations like Facebook. This is a great update from Google with some valuable new features. Having said that, it’s not adequate to simply click on the Google reminder email to update your analytics as there is a high potential of missing integration of key third-party apps like Salesforce, Calendly and Hubspot. The fix is relatively simple however we recommend contacting your website developers or hosting company to ensure that the transition is smooth.” GA4 offers a more comprehensive approach to website analytics, providing businesses with deeper insights into user behaviour and preferences. This change is part of Google’s ongoing efforts to improve user privacy and data protection. Stratticus is reminding businesses, particularly eCommerce businesses and those relying on historical data for Pay per Click (PPC) advertising to make the transition to GA4 as soon as possible to avoid any potential disruptions to their analytics data. By taking action now, Irish businesses can ensure a smooth transition to Google Universal Analytics and capitalise on the benefits of the updated data. For more information on this update and how to ensure your website is ready, contact Stratticus today. For more information visit:/ See more stories here.
Viatel Technology Group (viatel.com) has released details of its strategic partnership with ArmorPoint, LLC (armorpoint.com), a leading global MSSP (managed security service provider). Viatel, a market-leading provider of cloud, security, networking solutions and digital services will deliver ArmorPoint’s best-in-class managed cybersecurity solutions into the European market. This partnership uniquely positions Viatel as the most comprehensive cybersecurity, cloud, connectivity and digital transformation solutions provider in Ireland, with a growing footprint of international customers at home and overseas. CTO, Eilish O’Connor, explains how Viatel Technology Group’s search for a cybersecurity partner led the company to ArmorPoint. “As we learned more about the ArmorPoint offering, it quickly became apparent that it addressed many of the blind spots left exposed by other solutions. We realised that this was something we wanted for ourselves and for our customers. “Choosing a cybersecurity partner is the ultimate trust exercise. The threats are very real, the losses are potentially ruinous and very few organisations have the skills or resources to manage this in-house. Viatel Technology Group partnered with ArmorPoint for our own security almost 12 months ago. We have in-depth insight into the potential threats that have been detected and averted. We have established ArmorPoint’s European base right here in Dublin in our data centres and we are excited to bring this comprehensive cybersecurity offering to market.” Niall Tuohy, Security Product Manager with Viatel Technology Group, adds, “Cybersecurity is becoming more complex. The threats get more malicious and pervasive with each passing day. Organisations are struggling to keep up with the challenge of ongoing threat management. ArmorPoint’s mission is to simplify cybersecurity management once and for all and we know that this is what businesses want more than anything else. “Viatel’s Managed Security powered by ArmorPoint is the sole security solution any organisation needs. The beauty is in the simplicity and the peace of mind delivered. Every alert, threat, event, every piece of data across the customer network is collected, correlated and unified under a single pane of glass and managed by seasoned, certified security experts.” David Trapp, CEO of ArmorPoint, adds, “Selecting the right partner for the next exciting step on our global journey was a crucial decision. We couldn’t be more pleased to partner with Viatel Technology Group. We have been impressed by the breadth of Viatel’s capabilities and the calibre of their team. Working together we will protect organisations, enhance customer experience and fuel the next stage of growth for both organisations.” Earlier this year, Viatel Technology Group announced the creation of 50 new jobs as it prepared to expand its cybersecurity offering. The group continues to grow its industry leading capabilities, recently announcing the acquisition of Sungard Availability’s Irish cloud business, and being named ICT Company of the Year at the Chamber Ireland InBUSINESS Awards. For further details of Viatel Technology Group’s newly expanded, fully managed cybersecurity solution, visit www.viatel.com/security/ See more stories here.
The Member States of the Executive Board of UNESCO have approved the proposal of the Director General to hold a global dialogue to develop an ethical framework for the growing and largely unregulated Neurotechnology sector, which may threaten human rights and fundamental freedoms. A first international conference will be held at UNESCO Headquarters on 13 July 2023. “Neurotechnology could help solve many health issues, but it could also access and manipulate people’s brains, and produce information about our identities, and our emotions. It could threaten our rights to human dignity, freedom of thought and privacy. There is an urgent need to establish a common ethical framework at the international level, as UNESCO has done for artificial intelligence,” said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay. UNESCO to lead global dialogue on the ethics of neurotechnology UNESCO’s international conference, taking place on 13 July, will start exploring the immense potential of neurotechnology to solve neurological problems and mental disorders, while identifying the actions needed to address the threats it poses to human rights and fundamental freedoms. The dialogue will involve senior officials, policymakers, civil society organizations, academics and representatives of the private sector from all regions of the world. Lay the foundations for a global ethical framework The dialogue will also be informed by a report by UNESCO’s International Bioethics Committee (IBC) on the “Ethical Issues of Neurotechnology”, and a UNESCO study proposing first time evidence on the neurotechnology landscape, innovations, key actors worldwide and major trends. The ultimate goal of the dialogue is to advance a better understanding of the ethical issues related to the governance of neurotechnology, informing the development of the ethical framework to be approved by 193 member states of UNESCO – similar to the way in which UNESCO established the global ethical frameworks on the human genome (1997), human genetic data (2003) and artificial intelligence (2021). UNESCO’s global standard on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence has been particularly effective and timely, given the latest developments related to Generative AI, the pervasiveness of AI technologies and the risks they pose to people, democracies, and jobs. The convergence of neural data and artificial intelligence poses particular challenges, as already recognized in UNESCO’s AI standard. Neurotech could reduce the burden of disease. Neurotechnology covers any kind of device or procedure which is designed to “access, monitor, investigate, assess, manipulate, and/or emulate the structure and function of neural systems”. Neurotechnological devices range from “wearables”, to non-invasive brain computer interfaces such as robotic limbs, to brain implants currently being developed with the goal of treating disabilities such as paralysis. One in eight people worldwide live with a mental or neurological disorder, triggering care-related costs that account for up to a third of total health expenses in developed countries. These burdens are growing in low- and middle-income countries too. Globally these expenses are expected to grow – the number of people aged over 60 is projected to double by 2050 to 2.1 billion (WHO 2022). Neurotechnology has the vast potential to reduce the number of deaths and disabilities caused by neurological disorders, such as Epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Stroke. . but also threaten Human Rights Without ethical guardrails, these technologies can pose serios risks, as brain information can be accessed and manipulated, threatening fundamental rights and fundamental freedoms, which are central to the notion of human identity, freedom of thought, privacy, and memory. In its report published in 2021, UNESCO’s IBC documents these risks and proposes concrete actions to address them. Neural data – which capture the individual’s reactions and basic emotions – is in high demand in c...
We recently visited Iceland and this was one of the interesting company’s that help move the needle on pay inequalities, for gender and other factors very quickly, by utlitising a data driven approach. Mind the gap: PayAnalytics’ solution at a glance PayAnalytics helps companies achieve pay equity and build equitable workplaces. Our software solution assists organizations in eliminating pay disparities based on demographic factors, track diversity progress, and eradicate systemic bias. Trusted by companies of all sizes, including Fortune 100 and Fortune Global 500, in over 75 countries for 1 million+ employees. Companies can measure, close the gap, report, and sustain fair pay with PayAnalytics. Empowering organizations of all sizes to eradicate bias Diversity, equity, and inclusion have become top-of-mind across organizations in every industry on a global scale; as a part of this movement toward transparency and equality, fair pay has taken center stage. But corporate mandates and government legislation can’t make the pay gap—across any demographic dimension (e.g. race and, gender)—magically disappear. And simply paying everybody more won’t solve the problems of underlying systemic bias either. PayAnalytics empowers organizations of all sizes to address inequalities in compensation from Day One, with powerful user friendly analytics and visualization tools, no matter where they are on their pay equity journey. Over a decade ago, one of our founders, Sigurjón Pálsson (then the Chief Operating Officer at a major financial institution) noticed a pattern in his employees’ compensation: Women were making less than their male colleagues overall, representing an 8% pay disparity. Over the next year, he and his HR staff made concerted efforts to correct the imbalance, but by the time the next salary assessment came around, they realized their hard work had come to naught. The pay gap wasn’t shrinking, and he could find no obvious solution. Where there isn’t a solution, make one Determined to find the root cause of the bank’s pay gap, Sigurjón paired up with people analytics and statistics experts Dr. Margrét Bjarnadóttir and Dr. David Anderson. The end result? PayAnalytics, a cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) solution that features a full suite of compensation analytics tools to help companies measure and close their pay gaps—and then keep them closed. Equipping HR with quantitative decision-making tools PayAnalytics changes how organizations measure and close the gender pay gap by equipping HR managers and consultants with quantitative decision-making tools. PayAnalytics is underpinned by the belief that we must go beyond ‘equal pay for equal work’, addressing ‘equal pay for work of equal value’ and ‘for substantially similar work’ in order to combat a culture of systemic bias. As such, the solution empowers users to conduct salary reviews and measure discrepancies in pay based on a variety of customizable factors; it then makes recommendations for closing those pay gaps. PayAnalytics was the first tool on the market to integrate additional genders—not just male and female—and to take into account demographic variables beyond gender, such as age, race/ethnicity, and disability. Its sophisticated reporting and visualization capabilities clarify the impact of hiring decisions, promotions, and salary adjustments. By gaining deep insights into their pay structures, users are able to achieve and maintain parity. About our founders In 2016, Dr. Bjarnadóttir co-founded PayAnalytics with Dr. David Anderson. Dr. Bjarnadottir and Dr. Anderson share a background in operations research and data analytics consulting; they have a history of solving complex problems using mathematical modeling. Their scholarly publications on analytics range from finance and public health to sports and— most importantly—people analytics. One of their most recent joint papers, “There are No Colorblind Models in a Colorful World,” described the bias embedd...
We look at this positive attempt to try and hard bake ESG into what companies do, and ensure that it drives future business developments and growth. The Adventure of Sustainable Performance, reviewed The authors have real world experience of trying to tackle and implement ESG compliance and to integrate it into how their companies operate. This seems like a valuable and useful attribute when writing a book like this. They use an elephant related metaphor throughout the book to help capture the nature of the problem and the steps that need to be taken to turn around large organisations and to implement difficult and tricky goals. At the same time these actions are fundamentally necessary if we are going to survive as a species on this planet. There are lots of good examples and case studies which help to illustrate and inform the reader about what can be done, and that they are not the first to walk this path. Hopefully this book inspires more to quickly follow in their footsteps, for all of our sakes. More about the book Leaning into their experiences of working with the C-Suite of some of the world’s largest multi-nationals, they argue powerfully, and with practical case studies and illustrations, how organisations need to build “total value systems” for all stakeholders, and to ensure the transition of value creating assets into the economy of the future. The book starts by highlighting the reality of now. Then, by guiding the reader through the challenges of ESG compliance, it presents this new landscape as a platform for value creation. Finally, it uncovers the opportunities of net-zero, circular business models and a more just and inclusive capitalism as having huge potential in a new emerging era. Through storytelling and interviews from many international leaders in business and sustainability, including from Nespresso, ServiceNow and Heinzel Group, as well as sustainable start-ups and ventures like Made Of Air and Lanzatech, the authors cover: The avalanche of new regulations and changes to the compliance landscape The opportunity for value creation beyond compliance box ticking Inspirational stories on how ambitions can be reset A destination that supports ongoing prosperity for humanity from sustainable performance models How purpose driven brands generate superior value The relationship between sustainability, talent and customer attraction, and How digital will play an increasingly important role as the world pivots in response to the climate crisis This practical guidebook – from authors who work with leaders at the vanguard of this transition in large multi-national organisations, the public sector and start-ups – sets out an exciting invitation to remind us that the real spirit of enterprise is creativity, courage and vision. The Adventure of Sustainable Performance will be available wherever books and ebooks are sold. Praise for the book: “Finally! The Adventure of Sustainable Performance is the ESG guide and an invaluable resource for CEOs, CFOs and any enterprise striving to meet stakeholder expectations. The authors remind us that we must go beyond environmental responsibility and fulfil our corporate social and governance obligations. Embarking on an ESG journey is no longer a nice-to-have; it is a business imperative.” —Gina Mastantuono, Chief Financial Officer, ServiceNow “In The Adventure of Sustainable Performance, Stuart McLachlan and Dean Sanders remind us of the power of leadership in steering our enterprises and economies towards a decarbonised and regenerative future. At Rainforest Alliance we share the conviction that partnerships between the private sector, NGOs and governments are key to accelerate the shift to what the authors call “total value systems” at the scale required this decade. This is essential reading for any leader who wants to be part of shaping that future.” —Santiago Gowland, Chief Executive Officer, Rainforest Alliance About the Authors: STUART MCLACHLAN is a proven business...
An Aston University photonics expert is aiming to make the production of wind power cheaper. Associate professor Dr Sergey Sergeyev has received a grant of almost £100,000 from the Royal Academy of Engineering to find a cost-effective method of monitoring the condition of wind turbine blades. By 2030 wind energy is expected to provide 30% of Europe’s power. The huge turbines operate in harsh environments, which increases their maintenance costs, with almost a third of a wind farm’s total cost being spent on maintenance. Photonics research to improve efficiency of wind turbines In his research, Dr Sergeyev is to explore methods of monitoring wind turbine blades’ shape to check their working condition. Currently there isn’t a technique of revealing how existing damage to a blade started and progressed, which makes it difficult to work out how the damage was caused and its severity. Dr Sergeyev will be working with sensor technology company Insensys. He will develop a technique based on analysing the fundamental property of light, polarisation, and combines fibre optics, laser physics, nonlinear science and signal processing disciplines. Dr Sergeyev is based at Aston Institute of Photonic Technologies (AIPT) within the University’s College of Physical Sciences and Engineering, and is experienced in polarisation phenomena, fibre optic sensors, and laser physics. His research will be cost-effective as it will involve exploring testbeds based on simple specimens of materials similar to actual blades. He said: “I’m delighted to have received this grant to explore methods for improving the efficiency of such an important source of green energy. “The condition monitoring of wind turbine blades includes damage detection, localisation, classification and evaluation. “My project is primarily based on fibre optic sensors – called fibre Bragg grating sensors – which have high sensitivity to distortions, such as stretch, twist and bend, which change the shape of the composite material. “To explore such property we will advance our recently developed polarimetric technique to detect the structural defects.” The Royal Academy of Engineering granted the award as an industrial fellowship and the research is expected to last two years. AIPT is one of the largest photonics research centres in the UK, with a current portfolio of 65 research and industrial projects amounting to £30million and offers a variety of postgraduate courses. About Aston University Founded in 1895 and a university since 1966, Aston is a long established university led by its three main beneficiary groups – students, business and the professions, and the West Midlands region and wider society. Located in Birmingham at the heart of a vibrant city, the campus houses all the University’s academic, social and accommodation facilities for our students. Professor Aleks Subic is the Vice-Chancellor & Chief Executive. In 2022 Aston University was ranked in the top 25 of the Guardian University Guide, based on measures including entry standards, student satisfaction, research quality and graduate prospects. The Aston Business School MBA programme was ranked in the top 100 in the world in the Economist MBA 2021 ranking. See more breaking stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Today, at the Micromobility Europe conference in Amsterdam, Dublin-based Computer Vision mobility safety company Luna Systems, is announcing a global partnership with Segway-Ninebot for the provision of its safety solutions to the shared micromobility market. The partnership will see Luna’s high-accuracy algorithmic solutions for errant rider behaviour being deployed across both Segway’s new open platform, as well as its new retrofit camera-based solution. Luna’s Computer Vision solutions for the shared micromobility market, enable its operator partners to tackle core challenges such as sidewalk riding, collisions and disorderly parking. To date, Luna has provided its own camera-based retrofit solutions, as well as IoT integration on customer vehicles. While its intention is to continue to provide these solutions, the partnership will enable faster scale across the global market, providing operators with greater access to the technology. In recent years, the use of Computer Vision to manage errant shared e-scooter use, such as sidewalk riding, has grown, with more cities requesting this technology as part of their licensing terms. With Computer Vision now widely established as a key tool to improve operational safety, this partnership enables the technology to scale and make a significant impact across the entire shared micromobility market. “We have always believed in the potential of shared micromobility to make a meaningful impact on car reduction. Despite recent developments in Paris, this mode of transport continues to be a popular choice across the globe. We set off in 2020 with the mission of making these schemes more scalable. Core to this were safety issues such as sidewalk riding and collisions. This partnership will make a significant impact so that schemes can realise their full potential”, said Andrew Fleury, CEO & Co-Founder, Luna Systems. The collaboration provides operators of Segway-Ninebot S90L vehicles with access to Luna’s software, while operators looking for a retrofit solution will have access through Segway-Ninebot’s new Pilot Edge. Operators accessing Luna through Segway-Ninebot hardware will have access to Luna’s highly accurate detection algorithms, powered by localised training, in addition to actionable data and visual confirmation of each errant riding event. Tony Ho, Vice President, Robotics & Micromobility at Segway-Ninebot added: “We are proud to work with Luna, whose solutions have proven a popular choice in the industry. Across our S90L or Segway Pilot Edge, we want to offer our operator partners quality solutions that enable them to make a significant and real impact on safety. Unlocking safety is key to helping the entire market scale. The context that Luna provides will ensure our customers can confidently make significant improvements on safety, whilst continuing to scale.” “This is a major milestone for the industry. We are proud to partner with Segway-Ninebot, whose investment in this area is solid confirmation of the demand for Computer Vision,” added Fleury. “For Luna, errant riding behaviour is not just whether a vehicle is on the sidewalk or not – it’s a far more nuanced picture. One of our core differentiators is being able to provide this complete context. Location, speed, the number of pedestrians in the path of the scooter and more are vital elements of that picture. “Armed with this data, as well as visual confirmation of an infringement, our customers are enabled to confidently engage with riders about their behaviour – without the concern of customer friction. There are many aspects that come into play when operators need to make that decision that they need to be confident about. We look forward to going on this journey with Segway-Ninebot. We believe that Computer Vision has the potential to keep all riders safe, both shared and consumer,” he concluded. See more stories here.
Pinergy, the clean energy supply & solutions company has today announced the launch of a €30 million fund to accelerate the delivery of solar energy to businesses across the country. Funded solar is a new service for commercial energy users that will enable them to access lower-cost renewable energy as they get ready for the energy transition. As part of this new service, Pinergy will design, install, and maintain the solar PV installation in their clients’ commercial properties with no capital outlay for the business. The client will agree a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Pinergy to buy electricity generated by the solar panels which will be lower cost than prevailing prices from the grid. When the €30m fund is fully taken up the renewable energy generated would meet the equivalent needs of 7,000 typical homes, reducing demand on the grid. The new service enables commercial clients to experience the benefits of a solar PV installation without the upfront capital cost, whilst ensuring the business can immediately benefit from the generation and use of renewable energy. As a result, clients will see their operating expenses and cashflow improve as they will require less electricity from the grid, thus resulting in reduced energy prices and increased energy security for the next 25 years. This new funded solar service will enable businesses of all sizes with good roof space to utilise renewable energy to reduce their carbon footprint and move towards a more sustainable business model. The initiative is ideally suited to commercial energy users across a range of sectors including retail, hospitality, leisure, manufacturing, logistics, pharma and industrial sectors who have seen their grid energy costs increase in recent years. Speaking at the launch of the new €30m solar energy fund for businesses, Pinergy CEO, Enda Gunnell, said: “Many businesses have been faced with rising operating costs due to volatile energy markets over the last few years. We recognised that there is need to provide a simple solar solution that maintains security of supply while reducing costs to businesses across the country, while also enabling them to play their part in a sustainable energy future.” He added: “The Pinergy Solar Fund is our solution to meet the needs of many businesses, who are not ready to make the upfront capital investment that Solar projects traditionally require. We are delighted to be able to bring this new service to the market. Pinergy will fund the initial installation and maintain the solar PV project, while at the same time our clients benefit from certainty on and reduced energy prices for the next 25 years.” Pinergy was recently awarded the ‘Green Energy Company of the Year’ at the 2023 Chambers Ireland Recognition Awards. The category award celebrates the Company who has stepped up in innovative ways to play their part in helping to make a positive impact on the environment. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Sisu Clinic, the Irish founded group of aesthetic medicine clinics, has seen an 47% YoY increase in revenue globally compared to the same period last year, as the group continues its expansion plans in the second half of 2023 in the US and UK, illustrating the increasing popularity and rising demand for non-invasive cosmetic procedures. Sisu Clinic offers a comprehensive range of the most advanced, non-invasive beauty treatments in the world, and was founded by serial entrepreneur Pat Phelan and doctor brother duo Dr. James Cotter and Dr. Brian Cotter in 2018. 2023 has seen the launch of its brand new line of provider-approved skin care products, ‘Sisu Solutions’. The first two items in the line, the Marine Collagen Supplement and the Bio-Cellulose Sheet Mask, are available online and in stores across worldwide, with further products to follow in upcoming months. “I’m excited by the opportunities in the skincare space, and am delighted to break into this new market with the launch of our new products. At Sisu, our goal is to provide best-in-class service to our patients, both in our clinics and in their own homes, and these products complement what we are doing in terms of treatments, extending their longevity”, says Dr. Brian Cotter, Co-Founder and Global Medical Director. The group has seen exponential growth in recent years. Having launched a funding round earlier this year, Sisu raised $3.5 million to further fuel expansion plans into the UK and US, adding to their $15 million to date from investors. The number of clinics worldwide reached 24 in recent weeks, with openings stateside in Houston, Texas and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, following Sisu’s initial launch into the US and the UK in 2022. “At Sisu, we aim to give our patients the best results possible while also ensuring the treatment is bespoke to their own individual needs, which distinguishes us from others in the industry, and our success this year is proof of that. Our expansion is a result of the rising demand in non-invasive cosmetic operations and the second half of 2023 is likely to see the same trend – it really is an exciting time to be in the aesthetics sector,” added Sisu Clinic CEO and Co-Founder Pat Phelan. Sisu Clinic was created with the belief that patient care should be at the forefront of cosmetic treatment, and this is reflected in the customer experience having reached 10,000 5-star reviews on Google this year. Sisu Clinic has strived to safely bring advancements in aesthetic care to the masses while establishing a dynamic partnership between patients and their practitioners since its inception five years ago, with their locations featuring the latest technology and techniques to make customers look and feel their best. See more stories here.
When engaging with my clients in larger businesses, they have either just come out of a meeting or are under pressure to attend the next meeting. With an exasperated voice, they tell me they spend all their days in meetings with little time for what they would regard as their actual work. The real work is often done after hours, either in the office or at home, leading to frustration for the individual and their family. A time management issue that appears to be becoming more prevalent each day. Remote working and online has increased the time spent in meetings and the stress levels of people participating, as the organiser has often not given enough thought to planning and preparation. While the attendees feel they are just making up the numbers because they are part of the team and have no clear indication of what’s expected of them. My Advice to improve the above situation: Give thought to your title! (Create a headline, headlines sell newspapers) “Why a four-day week on full pay may be the next big thing” Adrian Weckler’s Irish Independent Newspaper headline got my attention. A well-thought-out title for your meeting will help you focus on the event’s purpose while piquing the attendees’ interest. Have some fun with this, and when you become skilled in this area, both you and the audience will be more likely to look forward to attending. Is this familiar: I often see someone pulling out the agenda for the previous meeting, making a few changes and then sending it out to the prospective attendees. Agendas get sent out with little preparation by the organiser and are received with little enthusiasm by the attendees. Action: Under the headline, have a brief chapter that explains the purpose of the meeting and the value to be gained. (Should be readable in one minute) Bullet Points: Five bullet points to explain the objectives are about right. Three is too little, seven is too many. During the meeting: Review the purpose of the session and discuss the bullet points, be sure to engage all the participants. Here is a tip I received from a family member when I sought Advice on leading meetings. (Thanks, Ken) The US Supreme Court Rule – When you’re trying to balance a mixture of dominant and submissive personalities I’ve outlined and used the US Supreme Court rule. They have a simple but very effective rule where “nobody speaks twice until everyone has spoken once”. I used this a while back when I was asked to facilitate a session with another team where there were one or two VERY dominant personalities in the room and some quite submissive ones. When the submissive ones had the opportunity and were invited to open up with the space they needed it made a huge difference to the meeting outcome. Reminder: The person who could have the solution to the topic under discussion may not have the confidence to speak up! The organiser’s job is to create an environment where people are encouraged to contribute. Summarise the meeting: Here is where you summarise the key points of the discussion. Ensure everyone who needs to contribute has done so, but do not lose control of time. Assign next Actions: Finally, assign actions to the people in the room, get their agreement and ideally, a return to you by a specified date. Close: Thank everyone for their time and commitment, and ensure that the meeting ends on or before the intended time. You may still be talking when meetings run over time, but your audience will have mentally left the room. My Best Advice: Finish early, and everyone will thank you for giving them back a little time for themselves. It’s the meeting organiser’s responsibility to ensure that people see the value in attending the meeting. Start and finish on time and fulfil all my suggested actions. Do this, and you will be a good Manager and, more importantly, a Leader. By Executive Coach Andrew Keogh of Aristo.ie More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tec...
Esri Ireland, the market leader in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), has announced that it is transforming the delivery of more sustainable public transport projects for DBFL Consulting Engineers, one of Ireland’s leading consultancies for civil, structural and transportation engineering. DBFL needed the ability to view, analyse, and share geospatial data and maps more extensively across both transportation and civil engineering projects. Esri designed a tailored solution based on its ArcGIS technology which is enhancing DBFL’s approach to complex project assessments. DBFL is extending its use of ArcGIS to gain insight into key issues such as sustainable transport. For example, the technology has been used to visualise the proportion of people using private, public, and active transport for work trips in County Wicklow. The system is also enabling DBFL to analyse catchment areas and evaluate walking times to bus stops and train stations. It easily identifies barriers to public transport use and proposes new access routes for pedestrians and cyclists. In addition, Esri’s ArcGIS is being used to conduct route, transport, and site audits in the field, including a recent audit of a proposed new cycle route in Dublin. Engineers can collect and upload data and images in real time from their mobile devices while walking these routes, and the information is uploaded directly to ArcGIS Online, a central system which can be accessed by all team members. DBFL is increasingly using the platform for communicating and sharing data with its clients. Esri’s system is underpinning growth for DBFL, as the enhanced service offering is enabling the company to tender for an increasing number of projects. It’s more cost efficient as it accelerates the delivery of projects and reduces the need for written reports. Esri’s technology has also streamlined workflows for DBFL’s employees with increased collaboration and improved data sharing. DBFL anticipates that as many as 80 engineers, working on both transportation and civil engineering projects across the business, will use the technology as a vital part of their day-to-day work. Danny Pio Murphy, Associate (Transportation), DBFL Consulting Engineers: “There is high demand for GIS analysis and digital mapping. Since expanding our use of ArcGIS, we have begun to attract more private and public sector clients who want GIS analysis and reports. ArcGIS Online is particularly effective for presenting our results in a non-technical way. Now that the technology is accessible to more engineers at DBFL, we can use it to add value to a larger number of projects, both in transportation and civil engineering. We are really pleased with the direction we are heading in; we are passionate about what we do and are happy that we can now make more use of ArcGIS to make cities safer and create a more sustainable world.” Jack Ffrench, Account Manager, Esri Ireland, said: “We are delighted to build on our valued partnership with DBFL Consulting Engineers. As one of Ireland’s leading engineering consultancies, the use of accurate and up-to-date geospatial data is crucial as its existing and prospective customers increasingly require geospatial data and analysis as part of new project specifications. By using ArcGIS, DBFL has been able to improve insights into complex engineering projects, lower costs, and scale its business. We look forward to continuing to build on this relationship and support the team in providing these important and innovative services.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your busines...
Scottish Enterprise has published a report into Scotland’s blockchain economy with an economic forecast that highlights the technology has the potential to add £4.48bn to Scotland’s GDP by 2030. The report is entitled ‘Blockchain Industry in Scotland Landscape Overview: Companies, Investors, In?uencers and Trends’ and was produced by Deep Knowledge Analytics presenting an overview of the entire blockchain industry ecosystem. Scotland’s blockchain economy set to exceed four billion by 2030 Suzanne Sosna, Scottish Enterprise Director of Economic Opportunities said: “This is the first review of its kind into the companies, investors and impact of blockchain that could unlock new and scalable innovation opportunities for our digital economy in Scotland. “The technology is most associated with the financial sector, but we wanted to look beyond that across industries where blockchain technology might be lesser known, but no less innovative, such as in education where it’s used to make qualifications secure. “Scottish Enterprise will continue to support the development of blockchain technology to help business growth and innovation in Scotland.” Blockchain works by allowing digital information to be recorded and distributed across a network of computers then stored in blocks that hold sets of data and linked together through cryptography, forming a chain of data. Benefits, features and challenges of blockchain technology are summarised in the report alongside regional analysis and case studies to demonstrate how the technology can be applied across different industries in Scotland from entertainment and education to energy. There are currently 60 blockchain centric companies, 78 Investors, 86 leaders and 33 hubs with a blockchain focus in Scotland with most companies located in Edinburgh. Economic opportunities are highlighted across eight sectors within the report – Agriculture, Manufacturing, Health, FMCG, Space, Energy, Finance and Education. Companies profiled in the report include Glasgow-based Gigged.AI that has also been supported by Scottish Enterprise and uses artificial intelligence blockchain technology for businesses to create secure and transparent records of candidate qualifications, experience, and work history. Key challenges include regulation and public awareness of the technology most closely associated with finance, however the report highlights that the technology has applications for industries such as entertainment and manufacturing with solutions for digital rights management and contracts. Dominic Jennings Head of Strategic Partnerships for Deep Knowledge Analytics and Deep Knowledge Group said: “The use of blockchain technology can encourage growth across a diverse range of sectors through the development of innovative and secure solutions with potential to significantly boost Scotland’s economic growth. “Deep Knowledge Analytics is proud to have worked with Scottish Enterprise to produce this landmark report and to promote the future growth of the blockchain industry in Scotland.” Read the report in full: Blockchain Industry in Scotland Landscape Overview: Companies, Investors, In?uencers and Trends’ () Key findings: Blockchain technology can contribute £4.48 billion to Scotland’s GDP by 2030 Blockchain technology has the potential to significantly boost Scotland’s economic growth across various sectors from agriculture to education The widespread adoption of blockchain will lead to improvements in supply chain activities, healthcare systems, and financial transactions Scotland’s energy sector is exploring the use of blockchain technology to enable peer-to-peer energy trading and incentivise renewable energy generation Blockchain technology holds potential to transform the UK Media and Entertainment Industry via digital rights management, micropayments and smart contracts For more information, images or quotes please contact roxy@dkv.global About Scottish Enterprise Scottish Enterprise (SE) is Scotland’s...
Soaring inflation has meant student budgets have been hit hard – with rents, utilities, food and entertainment costs skyrocketing. In the last year the cost of a pint has risen nearly 10%, pizza is up by 16%, and a trip to the movies costs 5% more. Closer to home, energy bills have spiked and many students could be paying on average 8% more for their mobile and broadband. With 1 in 3 students in financial difficulty, new research by Switcher.ie analysed a range of student costs and ranked Ireland’s student towns from cheapest to most expensive. They found that: Students eligible for free tuition fees can expect to fork out €15,096 on average going to college in 2023, while international students may spend around €25,766 per year. Letterkenny is the most affordable town overall for Irish students Tralee is the cheapest town for student entertainment Sligo students get the best value weekly food shop Dundak is easiest on the budget for travel costs Dublin graduates may find themselves €1000’s worse off than students in the cheaper Uni towns. Dublin unsurprisingly tops the table as the most expensive place to study in Ireland for Irish, EU and International students. In fact, Dublin students spend €642 more per month on rent and living costs – with groceries, eating out, drinking and gym memberships all costing more in the City. Sligo is the cheapest destination for international students, with fees and accommodation almost half the cost of studying in Dublin. Top 5 cheapest student towns The biggest chunk of a student’s budget goes on rent and fees, but with the cost of living on the up, they have to stretch their cash even further. Here’s the best place to study on a shoestring: 1. Letterkenny 2. Sligo 3. Waterford 4. Dundalk Athlone Cheapest student rents can be found in Letterkenny, Sligo, Waterford and Athlone, whilst Dublin, Maynooth and Cork top the table. Best value food shop was found in Sligo and Letterkenny, but poor students in Waterford and Dublin could be paying as much as 50% more for their weekly shop. A night on the town could set the average student back €322 per month. The spend on a typical student month of drinks, eating out, takeaways, cinema and nightclubbing is lowest in Tralee, Sligo and Dundalk. Top 5 most expensive student towns The bigger Irish cities are the most expensive, with Dublin students bearing the brunt of high accommodation, fees and entertainment costs. 1. Dublin 2. Maynooth 3. Cork 4. Limerick 5. Carlow The highest accommodation costs are found in Dublin, with students, on average, paying twice as much as those in Letterkenny and Sligo. Having fun costs the most in Dublin and Maynooth, where the tab for a typical month of student ents will set you back up to €358, compared to just €306 in Tralee. Student towns ranked by monthly cost Town Monthly cost by town Letterkenny €1,088 Sligo €1,135 Waterford €1,286 Dundalk €1,289 Athlone €1,301 Tralee €1,325 Galway €1,343 Carlow €1,353 Limerick €1,362 Cork €1,441 Maynooth €1,475 Dublin €1,730 Eoin Clarke of Switcher.ie comments; “The cost of living crisis has walloped Ireland’s students. Although University fees have remained steady for most students thanks to the free fee initiative – everyday bills, food and the cost of just ‘having fun’ has spiralled. Price hikes have hammered everything from the price of a pint and a pizza to student essentials like broadband and mobile. These rises have left many with the stark choice between heating and eating or skipping lectures for paid work to cover living costs. The good news is, despite the financial chaos of the last few years – there are still many ways for students to make their money go further and parents to support their kids through Uni without breaking the bank of mum and dad.” More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platfo...
Guest post by Rob King, who is the founder and CEO of creative sales company The Client Key and author of Selling Creativity. Sales needs a rebrand. What do I mean by this? I have slowly come to realise that there is a problem. The problem is so big that it holds back many thousands of people and businesses around the world. Selling Creativity, 5 ways entrepreneurs can develop their sales This problem is deeply engrained in our collective thinking. It’s a negative viewpoint that is not easy to change or sway. It creates an obstacle that inhibits most small-to mid-sized businesses and their ability to grow. It’s a ball and chain around the ankle. In fact, I would go as far as to say it’s the single biggest threat to any small company and its ability to stay in business. Sales has an image problem. A major image problem. It’s seen as negative when it should be largely a positive force to be celebrated and embraced. As with most public misconceptions, this view on Sales is out of date, largely wrong and quite simply unhelpful. Most of us have all played our part in the great tech revolution and embraced the new technologies we now have at our disposal. However, in the context of start-ups, sales and the business of growth there are many misconceptions that we need to dispel. The convergence of powerful new technologies and hyper-connectivity have brought about new changes and behaviours in a very short space of time. Social networks have brought instant connectivity and with them a digitally savvy customer base. Here is a way of reaching virtually every customer in the world ‘without the need to sell’ because the internet will now do that for us. All we have to do is build it and they will come. This has painted the front-footed sales approach as out of date and even old fashioned. Too many startups and businesses believe that the internet and technology will do the sales job for them, overlooking the fact that it is part of the mix, not the complete solution. The great irony here is that virtually all large SaaS businesses employ huge sales teams. They have some of the best and most sophisticated new business teams and processes in the world. This is how they grow. Not by waiting for customers to find them. Or by suddenly ‘getting to’ $250M in revenues, but by getting out there into the world, connecting with their customers and selling. Companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon have armies of salespeople. Even aspiring unicorns (the definition of a tech business valued at a billion dollars) will probably have a sales team of at least 100 people. A tech company with $100M revenues (and that is small these days) will easily have fifty people in their sales team. So, why shouldn’t smaller companies have them? Because they often have a misguided view that they don’t need to sell in the old-fashioned sense. In its purest sense, the art of Sales and selling is quite simply about making things happen. Specifically, making them happen for you, your startup, or your business. Learning the art of Sales can be simplified as learning to understand people better. Rather than seeing it as you must sell someone something, try reframing the narrative that you are simply trying to understand them. Because once you understand them, then you will understand their needs. Once you know their needs you can take a view if they align with your business and progress the conversation. Here are 5 skills to ensure that your startup thrives and rapidly grows: Practice your Pitch You will be pitching a lot as a startup so get good at it! A great elevator pitch should leave the person who hears it feeling enlightened, engaged and intrigued to find out more about you and your business. (The opposite emotional responses are confused, bored and disengaged but most people are way too polite to ever tell you that’s how they’re feeling!) Keep it simple and human, and focus on the benefits you deliver. The aim is to leave the person you’re talking to excited...
Research led by Atlantic Technological University may have found a simple yet effective solution to supply clean drinking water to rural areas around the world. New research has found that polypropylene (PP) based transparent jerrycans (TJC) and the power of the sun’s ultraviolet rays could be an effective, low-cost solution for treating and collecting safe drinking water in rural areas in developing countries. This investigation was published this week in the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering (Link: Efficient solar disinfection (SODIS) using polypropylene-based transparent jerrycans: An investigation into its effectiveness, viability, and water sample toxicity). Researchers from ATU included Kris O’Dowd and Suresh C. Pillai. With over 2.1 billion people across the world lacking access to safe water, this EU-funded H2020 project may have developed a novel and cost-effective treatment solution to remove contaminants from water. The study, conducted by a team of researchers, evaluated the efficacy of using Solar Disinfection (SODIS) for water disinfection. The results showed that the SODIS process was capable of significantly reducing the presence of harmful microorganisms, including E. Coli, MS2, and Cryptosporidium parvum. It is estimated that by 2025, over 50% of the world’s population will have insufficient access to safe drinking water. Therefore, this research provides hope for a practical and accessible solution to this pressing issue. The idea for the study uses plastic transparent Jerrycans filled with water from local water sources and placed on roofs of houses. Once left on the roof, ultraviolet light from the sun kills bacteria such as E. Coli, leaving safe drinking water at little cost. The research found that the PP TJC had a 6 log (equivalent to a 99.9999% ) microbial reduction value (LRV) in E. coli after 105 minutes of solar irradiation, a 3 LRV (equivalent to a 99.9%) in MS2 after 5 hours, and a 3 LRV (equivalent to a 99.9%) in C. parvum after two days of solar treatment, which corresponds to a 2-star performance according to the Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS) guidelines from the WHO which states water at this level offers Comprehensive protection through high pathogen removal. “This is a wonderful example of international collaborative research at its best. Researchers from Ireland, Spain, India and the UK have worked together to find sustainable solutions to one of the most pressing challenges facing vulnerable communities across the globe – that of reliable access to safe drinking water in a time of climate crisis.” Said Prof. Kevin McGuigan of the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland, who coordinates the PANIWATER project. In addition to evaluating the efficacy of the Solar Disinfection process with the Jerrycan, the study also analysed the plastic’s structural properties after advanced weathering and its cytotoxicity after extended use. The plastic Jerrycan was found to be non-toxic to human cells and biocompatible. However, after two weeks of accelerated ageing, the plastic became brittle and more susceptible to breaks. Further research will focus on developing appropriate UV stabilizers for the plastic Jerrycan to increase the plastic’s structural lifetime. This study highlights the potential for using plastic Jerrycans as a low-cost and effective method for water disinfection in rural areas, where safe drinking water is often inaccessible. This study was led by ATU along with Plataforma Solar de Almería-CIEMAT, Spain, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain, Buckinghamshire New University, United Kingdom and RCSI University of Medicine and Healthcare, Dublin, Ireland. This project is a part of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme PANIWATER, funded jointly by the European Commission and the Department of Science and Technology, India. The PANIWATER project is coordinated by Prof. Kevin McGuigan of the Ro...
We caught up with Eric Waisanen to discuss a range of interesting and relevant issues around Web 3.0 and his role as a tokenisation expert, drawing on his background and economic philosophy. How Archway is solving one of the biggest problems in crypto that not enough people are talking about: stakeholder remuneration Unpacking the value capture engine; all the ways in which Archway is basically the anti-Fat Protocol thesis approach How allowing devs to capture the value they create ultimately creates a scalable, sustainable model that will be the only thing that wins/works over time How this solution ultimately paves the way for mainstream adoption-Why users should consider “Am I involved in a single cycle chain” Eric Waisanen, capturing value for dapps, Tokenomics Lead, Phi Labs Eric Bio: Eric Waisanen is Tokenomics Lead at Phi Labs, a core contributor to Archway,the value capture chain. With an academic background in economic philosophy, Eric has found his niche applying advanced game theory and economic modeling to build customizable and battle-tested token economies for many types of Web3 projects. Eric also co-founded Astrovault and has served as consultant for token projects such as ALTER, Amulet, Data Vault, Kelepar.Links for Eric, Phi, Archway: LinkedIn:: Archway is an incentivized L1 blockchain that allows developers to capture the value their dapps, create, enabling sustainable economic models. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Gen Z research guest post by George Maybury, Public Sector Director at Dell Technologies Ireland In today’s digital age, technology is unlocking new opportunities to advance sustainability and create more resilient economies fit for the future. Enter Generation Z: those born between 1997-2012. This group will make up about 27% of the global workforce by 2025. With Gen Z accounting for 21% of the population in 2016 and preliminary results from the 2022 census pointing towards further growth, Ireland’s younger generations are set to make an increasingly lasting impact on our economy. Gen Z will be critical in navigating the economic, geopolitical and environmental landscapes ahead. To understand their views on key topics like investment priorities, digital healthcare and digital skills, Dell’s Future Proof report surveyed 15,000 Gen Z adults (aged 18-26) globally. Encouragingly, nearly half of Gen Z in Europe (47%) are willing to accept limiting their country’s shorter-term economic health, like lower real GDP growth, for investment in a longer-term strategy that addresses environmental sustainability. At the same time, however, their confidence in government’s ability to deliver a digital-first, resilient global economy is in the balance. Across the European countries in the study, 39% have low or no confidence. To gain Gen Z’s trust and secure our collective future prosperity, government, education, and the private sector have a unique opportunity to work together and invest in the infrastructure and skills that will underpin tomorrow’s digital-first economies. Investing in a sustainable future No matter where you live, the reality of the climate crisis is always present. Gen Z will bear the brunt of the action we take on climate change and they have a clear message: technology must play a central role in addressing this pressing challenge. Almost two-thirds of respondents in Europe (67%) said that technology will play an important role in the fight against climate change. They also recognise the importance of investing in the infrastructure that will underpin more sustainable solutions. Nearly half (44%) of respondents across Europe said that investment in infrastructures for sustainable energy was one of the most important actions the government should take between now and 2026. Many governments are already setting long-term funding pledges for the technology and science sectors centred on how they can help climate change. The Government’s Climate Action Plan 2023 aims to keep Ireland’s emissions within its mandatory carbon budget and achieve the legally binding target of reducing emissions, contemplates approximately €120 billion in investment in infrastructure and technology between 2022 and 2030. Revolutionising healthcare access Unsurprisingly given the events of the last four years, health is another key priority among Gen Z globally. An average of 44% of Gen Z respondents across Europe said that improving healthcare services was the number one priority for government recovery spending between now and 2025. The pandemic accelerated the rollout of digital healthcare solutions, with countries introducing telehealth solutions when face-to-face consultations had to stop overnight. At the same time, however, Gen Z respondents feel there is more providers could do. Nearly half of respondents in Europe (41%), for example, said long waiting times for appointments had caused them to put off making a health appointment in the last two years. Pressures on access will increase as populations continue to grow. To safeguard these healthcare infrastructures, we must therefore redouble efforts to roll out secure, accessible digital healthcare solutions. Plugging the skills gap Responses from Gen Z on topics like the importance of digital skills for their current and planned careers suggest we should do more to equip current and future generations. Despite three-quarters (76%) of Gen Z adults in Europe stating that learning new digit...
Helium Nuclei Research Advances Our Understanding of Cosmic Ray Origin and Propagation The latest observations from Low Earth Orbit with the International Space Station provide further evidence of spectral hardening and softening of cosmic ray particles The CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET), aboard the Kibo’s Exposed Facility (EF) of the International Space Station, has been on a mission to measure the flux of cosmic ray particles since 2015. In a new study, an international team of researchers report the results of a direct measurement of the cosmic ray helium spectrum using the data collected by CALET. In contrast to the single power-law that was previously believed to exist, analysis of the flux data collected between 2015 and 2022 reveals that the energy distribution of cosmic ray helium nuclei follows a Double Broken Power Law. Progress in Understanding Cosmic Ray Origin and Propagation Much of our understanding of the Universe and its mysterious phenomena is based on theoretical interpretations. In order to deepen the understanding of distant objects and energetic phenomena, astronomers are looking at cosmic rays, which are high-energy charged particles composed of protons, electrons, atomic nuclei, and other subatomic particles. Such studies have revealed that cosmic rays contain all the elements known to us in the periodic table, suggesting that these elements originate from stars and high-energy events such as supernovae. Additionally, due to their charged nature, the path of cosmic rays through space is influenced by the magnetic fields of interstellar phenomena and objects. Detailed observations of cosmic rays can, thus, not only shed light on the origins of these particles but also decode the existence of high-energy objects and phenomena such as supernova remnants, pulsars, and even dark matter. In an effort to better observe high-energy radiations, Japan, Italy, and USA collaboratively established the CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) on the International Space Station in 2015. In 2018, observations of the cosmic ray proton spectrum from 50 GeV to 10 TeV revealed that the particle flux of protons at high energies was significantly higher than expected. These results deviated from the conventional cosmic ray acceleration and propagation models that assume a “single power-law distribution,” wherein the number of particles decrease with increasing energy. Consequently, in a study published in 2022, the CALET team, including researchers from Waseda University, found cosmic ray protons in the energy range of 50 GeV to 60 TeV to follow a “Double Broken Power Law.” This law assumes that the number of high-energy particles initially increase until 10 TeV (known as spectral hardening) and then decrease with an increase in energy (known as spectral softening). Extending these observations further, the team has now found similar trends of spectral hardening and softening in the cosmic ray helium spectrum captured over a broad range of energy, from 40 GeV to 250 TeV. The study, published in the journal Physical Review Letters on 27 April, 2023, was led by Associate Professor Kazuyoshi Kobayashi from Waseda University, Japan, along with contributions from Professor Emeritus Shoji Torii, Principal Investigator of the CALET project, also affiliated with Waseda University, and Research Assistant Paolo Brogi from the University of Siena in Italy. “CALET has successfully observed energy spectral structure of cosmic ray helium, especially spectral hardening starting from around 1.3 TeV, and the tendency of softening starting from around 30 TeV,” says Kobayashi. These observations are based on data collected by CALET aboard the International Space Station (ISS) between 2015 to 2022. Representing the largest energy range to date for cosmic helium nuclei particles, these observations provide additional evidence for deviation of the particle flux from the single power-law model. The researchers noticed that deviation fro...
At a time when cybersecurity is a growing concern for Irish businesses, Centripetal have taken the decision to open its European Cyber Intelligence Centre of Excellence in Galway, from where it will aim to address cybersecurity opportunities in the UK and Ireland. Ronan talks to David Silke, CMO of Centripetal. David talks about his background, what Centripetal does, AI, why they are based in Galway and education. More about Centripetal’s move to Galway: According to the International Trade Administration, the cybersecurity market in Ireland is thriving, valued at €280 million. However, cybercriminals continue to retain the upper hand. Grant Thornton Ireland reports that the cost of cybercrime in Ireland exceeded €9.6 billion in 2020. With the opening of Centripetal’s European Cyber Intelligence Centre of Excellence, the company will bring its innovative, patented technologies to the European market to protect organisations from every known cyberthreat, which will also in turn bring 50 cybersecurity jobs to Ireland, and work to democratise access to technology positions away from the large tech centres in the UK. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Granite Digital, Ireland’s leading full-service digital agency, has announced that it has acquired the majority stake (75%) in the digital division of New York’s innovative creative agency, LCM247. The acquisition – which will see the formation of LCM by Granite – is expected to significantly boost Granite’s revenues beyond €13 million this year. This is being boosted by a projected $3 million in new US revenues in the first 18 months following the acquisition. The move will also provide Granite Digital with a strategic foothold in the US and will see the team expand beyond 110 digital professionals, with the addition of LCM247’s 12 experienced digital specialists. Patrick Heaphy, founder and president of LCM247, will also serve as Chief Creative Officer of LCM by Granite. It will solidify the company’s position on both sides of the Atlantic, with offices in Cork, Dublin and Galway in Ireland and now LCM247’s office located just outside Manhattan. LCM247 is a renowned and Emmy-nominated New York creative agency. With its expertise in film production, marketing, branding, and visual creativity, the acquisition will enable Granite Digital to enhance its suite of digital experience offerings to its growing base of Irish and US -based customers. Granite Digital will also add many of LCM247’s diverse clients to its customer base. In Ireland, it continues to deliver a wide range of services – including design, technology, strategy, digital marketing, advertising, and secure managed hosting – to industry leaders like IDA Ireland, Pfizer, Lidl, Dalata Hotel Group PLC, Bord Bia, American Chamber of Commerce, Cork Chamber of Commerce, Shannon Airport, Uniphar, Bon Secours Health System, Travelopia and Webhelp. This latest acquisition marks another milestone in Granite Digital’s journey to becoming a global digital agency leader. It is the latest in a series of strategic expansions by the company, following 13 successful acquisitions -four of which have been in the last two years – including Continuum, Willows, Armour and Connector. Granite Digital offers intelligent solutions to global companies by leveraging AI, Machine Learning, and next generation platforms like Blockchain. It delivers cutting-edge technologies – such as Microsoft Azure, AWS and WPEngine – and innovative architectures – including Headless. Its expertise spans content management systems (CMS), customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise systems and secure payment integration. Speaking about the LCM247 acquisition, Robert Carpenter, Chief Commercial Officer of Granite Digital, said: “This strategic acquisition is an exciting step forward in our global expansion. We are harnessing the creative prowess of LCM247 to propel our growth and deliver a broader range of digital solutions to our clients worldwide. We now have a team on the ground in New York and aim to accelerate our expansion across the East coast over the next 24 months. We love the US and the US loves Ireland too, so we are very excited to get out and meet as many businesses as we can. This is a big move for Granite Digital but we have big ambitions for both ourselves and our customers. To ensure a seamless transition as our teams unite, I plan to relocate to New York this summer, dedicating my efforts to facilitate a smooth and successful integration.” Patrick Heaphy, Founder and President of LCM247, added: “Joining forces with a dynamic and growth-focused digital agency like Granite Digital offers us the resources and shared expertise to continue pushing the boundaries in the digital and creative world. This is a thrilling next chapter for LCM247 and Granite, and I look forward to working with Robert and Conor to bring our creative skills and vision to this fast-growing team and contribute to its global success.” Conor Buckley, CEO of Granite Digital, commented: “This acquisition of LCM247’s digital division is a transformative milestone for Granite Digital. It’s not merely about global scaling; i...
Guest article by Noel Carroll, University of Galway, Associate Professor in Business Information Systems at the J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics. Introduction In the world of application development, the traditional approach has always been to rely on code to build software applications. However, recent advances in technology have led to new ways of developing applications that do not require coding. No-code platforms have emerged as a solution to this problem, allowing individuals with no programming experience to build functional applications. In addition, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) with no-code platforms has paved the way for a new era of app development and fuelling the growth of Citizen Development. No-Code and AI: Is This The Future of App Development? There are some examples for organisations considering the use of Citizen Development and to successfully digitally transform its organization and operations that produce significant benefits. But more recently, there is growing excitement as to what is happening in this intersection of no-code and AI and how it is shaping the future of app development. Benefits of using AI-powered No-Code Platforms No-code platforms have become increasingly popular in recent years due to the many benefits they offer. The benefits of using AI-powered no-code platforms help to reduce the time, training, and resources required to develop an app – and in many cases, reduces the demand on IT departments. Below are some of the main benefits we see throughout our research at the Citizen Development Lab: Faster development time One of the key benefits of using AI-powered no-code platforms is the ability to speed up the development process. Traditional app development requires developers to write code from scratch, which can be time consuming and labour intensive. However, no-code platforms provide pre-built components that can be customised to the needs of the application. By integrating AI, these platforms can automate many of the repetitive tasks involved in app development, such as data entry, testing and debugging. This approach can significantly reduce the time it takes to develop an app, enabling businesses to get their products to market faster. The ability to speed up the development process, often described as hyper- agility is considered to be a gamechanger. Traditional application development requires developers to write code from scratch, which can be time consuming and labour intensive. However, no-code platforms provide pre-built components that can be customised to meet the needs of the application. This approach can significantly reduce the time it takes to develop an application, allowing companies to get their products to market faster. Removing the need for coding expertise One of the key benefits of no-code platforms is that they remove the need for technical expertise in coding, which can be a significant barrier for people without a programming background. Instead, no-code platforms provide a visual interface that allows users to drag and drop elements to build their applications. This approach not only saves time, but also empowers non-technical users to take control of their app development process. Integrating AI with no-code platforms Several no-code platforms have integrated AI capabilities into their offerings, allowing users to take advantage of the benefits of AI without any technical expertise. Many platforms provide users with a drag-and-drop interface for building web and mobile applications. No- code platform increasingly have built-in AI capabilities, including natural language processing and image recognition, which can be used to build intelligent applications. In addition, many no-code platforms have built-in AI-powered chatbots that can be used to automate customer support and improve user engagement. The integration of AI with no- code platforms is a game changer for the app development industry. AI algorithms can help stre...
Yesterday was the second day of this year’s Dublin Tech Summit, and I had a very productive day. I did a podcast in the podcast booth which will also be published on here shortly. I also did four interviews on Twitter spaces. My first interview on Twitter spaces was with Claire Thomas the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer with Hitachi Vantara, and you can hear it below. @Irish_TechNews at #DTS23 with Claire Thomas @HitachiVantara Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer @STOMPSMTraining @SimonCocking @johnmlhll @armstrj2 @ClearStoryInt @DubTechSummit #DiversityandInclusion #tech The Tec Dr (@tecdr) June 1, 2023 My second interview on Twitter Spaces was with Emma Ridderstad CEO & Co founder of Warpin and you can hear it below. @Irish_TechNews at #DTS23 with Emma Ridderstad CEO & Co founder @WarpinMedia@STOMPSMTraining @SimonCocking @johnmlhll@armstrj2 @ClearStoryInt @DubTechSummit#Metaverse #tech The Tec Dr (@tecdr) June 1, 2023 My third interview on Twitter spaces was with Rob Allen VP of operations with ThreatLocker and you can hear it below. @Irish_TechNewsat #DTS23 with Rob Allen VP of operations @ThreatLocker @STOMPSMTraining@SimonCocking @johnmlhll @armstrj2@ClearStoryInt @DubTechSummit#CyberSecurity #CyberSecurityAwareness #tech The Tec Dr (@tecdr) June 1, 2023 My fourth and final interview on Twitter spaces was with Alessandro Lori Chief technology officer with Verizon Connect and you can hear it below. @Irish_TechNewsat #DTS23 with Alessandro Lori Chief technology officer @VerizonConnect @STOMPSMTraining @SimonCocking @johnmlhll@armstrj2 @ClearStoryInt @DubTechSummit #tech The Tec Dr (@tecdr) June 1, 2023 See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Dublin Tech Summit brings Digital Transformation talks to Dublin’s Southside Dublin Tech Summit aka DTS-23, was held in Dublin’s RDS on May 31st and June 1st of the year. I arrived just before 9 am on the 1st day noting a very long attendee queue, that filled up the large exhibition and speaking areas. My first walk around the exhibition area noted some regulars like ThreatLocker and SAP, along with some new faces like Optum, BMW, and Porsche. My circular route saw me stopping off to chat with Jason Cooke from the security company Kaseya. His managed security platform covers a range of key areas including operations management, intrusion detection to incident response. I then stopped off at the Ignite talks area, where a series of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs were speaking in multiple panel discussions over the two days. Dublin Tech Summit Reviewed After meeting with a contact, and chatting about management strategies around company culture, I then went and met Elena from the Ukrainian IT Alliance. Our meet & greet was followed by a commitment to revisit her stand and chat with some IT Alliance members. I then dropped off at the main speaking area to hear Cian O’Maidin from Nearform, Tracy Keogh from Grow Remote, and Mark Jordan from Skillnet in a panel discussion, ‘From Remote to AI’. The challenges that AI can help with do have development potential as long as we tread carefully in its development. My journey continued once more with a look around the exhibition area, noting stands by IBM Redhat, along with UNICEF, plus others that I have not seen in previous years. After checking out another Ignite panel discussion on venture capital’s relationship management with startups, my journey found its way back to the IT Alliance of Ukraine stand. I got chatting with one of their members, Oleksandr Storokha from Itera. He is their country manager for Poland and Ukraine and gave insights on his forthcoming talk around their business response to the Russian invasion. He also introduced me to Olena Berestetska, Head of International Cooperation for the IT Alliance of Ukraine. She explained her organisation’s function as an IT industry body representing its members internationally and also within Ukraine. Her organisation is solely funded by their membership, making them an independent industry body. I wished them both well under the difficult circumstances they operate in, which led me to my final stop of the day. My final stop of the day was with Daniel Curci from MODE. They are a Canadian company, who are at Dublin Tech Summit for the first time. Their commercial communications product is designed to fuse the best of instant messaging with commercial features such as an admin panel, images and video. Their unique selling point lies in their secure design. They have end-to-end encryption along with encryption at rest to a 256-bit standard. Their ‘post-quantum’ encryption feature is based on their integration of the US PKI public handshake algorithm, which has made their end product resilient to current quantum processing power. Day 2 of the event was bustling, but not as busy as the first day. I took the time to stop off and chat at the ThreatLocker stand with one of their engineers about zero trust, policy-based enablement on networks and how SASE is a fit under a zero trust architecture such as the ThreatLocker offering. He also updated me on their latest acquisition, which has brought configuration manager controls for resources into their product offering. I then moved on to a workshop on management systems for franchising, that brings cross-company integration into an end-to-end supply chain. After that, I dropped into a main speaking area for the panel discussion, ‘Supercharging Digital Transformation’. Andrew Macadam, Darryl Gibney, Ross Spelman, Meghan Chayka, and Alfredo Soria discussed this highly topical area and how to move forward as a business in digital adoption and migration. My next visit was to a talk ca...
The event will bring together the top industry leaders to discuss the central theme of “Bringing Trust Back into Web3.” We have already received abundant positive confirmations from industry insiders such as Justin Sun, Pascale Gauthier, Stani Kulechov, and others. The event will take place in Paris on June 14-15 and promises to be a highly engaging and insightful experience. Guest Profile – C-level Executives from the Top 10 Exchanges – Founders/CEOs of top 50 Blockchain Companies with a focus on Layer 1/2, DeFi, exchanges – Representatives from Handelsblatt, Bloomberg, Forbes, and other major media outlets – Top 50 Blockchain thought leaders and influencers – Regulators, regulation, and legal experts Here you can find more information:/ Bringing Trust Back into Web3, Proof of Talk, Paris, June When and where is it on? 14th to 15th June 2023 in Paris Louvre Palace: Musée Arts Décoratifs How many years has it been going? This is our first edition What was the inspiration to start it? A exclusive summit that let people create real interaction together, share their knowledge & investment opportunities; more than traditional summit where too much people and less interested start-ups. What exciting things can people look forward to? Networking, Investment opportunities & stay up to date concerning the incoming trends of the Web3 space. What opportunities are on offer for those attending? Keynotes, Workshop, Pitch competitions, Networking & of courses foods, beverages, VIP Parties, one to one vc/startup Who will be speaking? List of the speakers on our website. More than 60 speakers from the best companies of the Web3 space. What tips would you give to people attending to get the most out of it? Be part of it and come with your own behaviour, enthusiast will come naturally as the event is fully dedicated to enjoy the experience as long as create real interaction with the top builders of the ecosystem How can people book tickets / when does it usually sell out? On our website See more breaking stories here.
We review this product which is aimed for primary school aged kids. NickWatch, created by Watchinu, reviewed This product comes with good velcro straps which makes sense for kids who will probably take it on and off many times, often in a single day. The parental control option is also smart, important and logical. You will need to download the app, and, like all devices like this, you are also going to have to sign up for the subscription too. On one hand this makes sense, but it is something that you should remember when factoring in the pricing and how much it will cost to keep it going. As always it is an open question how long the child will still be wearing and using the watch – not necessarily due to the durability of the watch, but rather the attention span of the child. This is probably one of the ongoing risks and opportunities of building products for younger users though. We didn’t see if it was water proof or not, but this is also something that, as a parent, you will want to factor in, to make sure your little darling doesn’t kill it the first time they wade into the sea with it. Games on their wrist is sort of cool, good for some long trips, at the same time it might create an added headache when you are already trying to watch cumulative screen time across tablets, phones and now watches too. The annual subscription is more than a Netflix one too, so you will want to take that into account too. Needless to say our younger testers liked it, and were positive about their time playing with it, as the adults buying it, you will just want to mentally calculate the cost of this new item for your kids. More about the product Created by Watchinu, the new smartwatch harnesses the popularity of leading kids brand, Nickelodeon Israeli start-up Watchinu has launched NickWatch, a new connected smartwatch under license agreement with the popular kids’ brand Nickelodeon, now available for kids aged six to nine. Offering a wealth of entertainment based on Nickelodeon’s iconic and award-winning characters, the brand new NickWatch features a variety of games, dances, crafts, music, safe connectivity, communication and customisation, all in the one must-have accessory for kids. NickWatch, the new connected smartwatch for kids NickWatch has been developed by the team at Watchinu and will be operated via a licensee agreement with Paramount Global, Nickelodeon’s parent company. The connected smartwatch features characters from a range of beloved Nickelodeon series including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, SpongeBob SquarePants and more. NickWatch also allows parents to monitor their child’s use of the watch and most importantly, keep track of their child’s location via the ‘NickWatch Caretaker App.’ Downloadable on all app stores when subscribed, the Caretaker App gives parents and caregivers peace of mind and reassurance when away from their children. Adults can use the app to enable two-way messaging and calls, and even manage the user account on the watch. This includes muting the device, during school hours, for example, and choosing who can connect and communicate via messaging and voice notes with their child – and no, children can’t override the actions taken! Social media platforms are also not accessible from the watch. NickWatch includes eight key features, to provide an imaginative and explorative environment for children (and their parents), helping to spark intuitive play. The NickWatch’s variety of games encourage roleplay and enhance physical and social play, allowing children to interpret the tasks presented and truly let their imagination run wild. About Watchinu WatchinU is an Israeli technology startup company that focuses on developing experiences, hardware and software solutions in the fields of wearable devices and IoT (the Internet of Things). The NickWatch is the company’s first product, in its smart watch line. WatchinU was founded by two companies, Trackimo and Beta. Trackimo is a world leading company in ...
Approximately 9,000 Irish roles could be made remote if systemic support were implemented, according to research conducted by Grow Remote, the social enterprise that advocates for better remote-working options in Ireland. The findings come ahead of the Grow Remote Summit 2023, which will bring together the remote working community, leaders in government, business innovators, and employers to explore the future of work and have a frank and open discussion of what remote working means for employers and employees. The research, which was conducted on LinkedIn during May 2023, found that just 11.5% of all jobs advertised in LinkedIn in Ireland are remote, compared to 70% in Latvia, Estonia and Slovenia respectively. Approximately 46% of Irish jobs advertised on LinkedIn could potentially be remote jobs, a total of 11,500 jobs, with IT, telecommunications and financial services being sectors identified as having the highest potential to provide more remote and hybrid working roles. Commenting on the findings, Founder and Board Member of Grow Remote, Tracy Keogh said, “We can confidently say that we are only scratching the surface when it comes to the potential for remote work in Ireland. While the common narrative in the media is that we have reached a ‘steady state’ with remote work, our research shows that we are nowhere near where we could be in terms of unlocking job opportunities from urban areas and making them available to people across the country. We can see that there is still huge potential to increase the number of remote jobs available to people across Ireland, leading to increased employment opportunities for people living in rural and regional locations. “At an EU level Ireland is lagging behind other countries, particularly those in Eastern Europe, when it comes to the percentage of jobs that are available remotely. This represents a risk for us in terms of attracting inward investment and the best talent,” said Keogh. The Grow Remote Summit 2023 will take place on June 8th and 9th and will bring together the remote working community, leaders in government, business innovators, and employers to explore the future of work and have a frank and open discussion of what remote working means for employers and employees. The Summit approaches as recent research conducted around remote work in Ireland found that 25% of employees are now working fully remote. Among the benefits cited; 84% believed their productivity increased, 60% felt better able to ‘switch off’ after work and 61% of 25-35 year olds are considering moving to another part of Ireland. In the past, people in rural and regional parts of Ireland would be compelled to leave their hometowns and move to cities to find good quality employment or face hours commuting every day. However, with the increase in remote working, this no longer needs to be the case. Every remote worker who stays in the local area generates increased economic activity locally, which in turn leads to increased job creation. With many employers now subsidising their employees to work from their local co-working hubs, the opportunity to revitalise Ireland’s towns and villages is huge. However, there are challenges preventing remote working opportunities from spreading across the country, which will be tackled head-on at this year’s Summit. Lack of local awareness means that people living regionally are often unaware of international companies that are hiring without location as these companies often don’t advertise roles in regional media. Supply and an adequate number of remote/hybrid roles being made available in Ireland is also an issue as employers are often hesitant to adopt and embrace a remote working model, often preferring that employees return to the office. Speaking ahead of the Grow Remote Summit, Chairman of Grow Remote, John Riordan said “Recent research found that 25% of Irish workers are now working on a fully remote basis. The number of companies that require full-time atten...
Dublin Tech Summit, the uniquely Irish networking conference for global tech leaders, kicks off in Dublin’s RDS today, and will continue through tomorrow, Thursday 1 June. Hundreds of speakers and thousands of attendees have arrived in Dublin to explore and debate the current tech landscape, at a time of significant changes, challenges and opportunities in the space. As the doors open at Dublin’s RDS this morning, keynote speakers and panelists from a broad range of sectors will share their viewpoints on the road ahead. Some of the highlights of today’s proceedings at Dublin Tech Summit include: Dr. Patricia Scanlon, Ireland’s AI Ambassador: The opening address will be given by Dr. Scanlon, who was appointed Ireland’s AI ambassador to lead the national conversation around AI and the opportunities it presents in education, business and much more, as well as the much-talked-about threat it poses to privacy and safety online Nat (Rajesh) Natarajan, Chief Product Officer, G-P (Globalization Partners) – G-P is the pioneer and recognized leader of the global employment industry and has delivered world-class global compliance and workforce products designed to meet the needs of growing companies since 2012. G-P chief product and strategy officer, Nat (Rajesh) Natarajan, will explore how Generative AI, Insights and Human Intelligence will unlock the “everywhere workforce” in a keynote presentation and will also host several other sessions on its new updates later in the day. Sara Sabry – the First Egyptian astronaut and the first Arab woman in space will be interviewed on her unique journey to date, and her mission to advocate for space travel for all in the coming decades AI and Large Language Models – what comes next? The rapidly-evolving realm of artificial intelligence will take centre stage at DTS with a keynote speech by SingularityNET founder and CEO Dr. Ben Goertzel, followed by a fireside chat with Desdemona the Robot The Next Economy and The Future of Payments – Ken Moore, Chief Innovation Officer with Mastercard will explore the technology and culture of payments and the new possibilities presented by IoT, embedded and decentralised finance, blockchain and more Broadcasting, the Metaverse and Beyond – this ambitious panel including leaders from RTE and VR pioneer Volograms and professors from Trinity College, will explore how media and entertainment will evolve to embrace cutting-edge technology in the coming years Dublin Tech Summit will also showcase 150 start-ups throughout the event, on the specially designated Ignite Stage as well as on the conference floor, while the DTS by Night programme will see venues around Dublin and beyond host informal networking events. There are limited tickets for the event still available. For further information, please see click here. Commenting on the return of Dublin Tech Summit for 2023, Managing Director, Tracey Carney said: “The past few years have been a real test for the tech sector in Ireland and beyond, and the challenges are still coming. That’s why an event like Dublin Tech Summit is so timely and vital; it’s a chance to examine where we are and where we’re going, and to share every idea in order to harness every bit of potential that exists out there. We’re thrilled to open our doors this morning and we welcome the world.” Irish Tech News will be at Dublin Tech Summit, and you will find myself alongside my Irish Tech News colleagues John Mulhall and Melanie Boylan, reporting and doing interviews. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a ...
With the chair of the newly formed community-driven World Metaverse Council, we discuss all things Metaverse. What is the Metaverse right now, what is the vision and its challenges? Dr. Jane Thomason is the Inaugural Chair of the World Metaverse Council and a globally recognized thought leader on Metaverse. She holds distinguished roles on the editorial boards of “The Journal of Metaverse” and “Frontiers in Blockchain” and is an Industry Associate at University College London, Centre for Blockchain. Their Metaverse, Our Metaverse, and its challenges, Dr. Jane Thomason She is the author of “Blockchain for Global Social Change,” “Applied Ethics in a Digital World,” and “Advancements in the New World of Web 3: A Look Toward the Decentralized Future” in press (2023). Dr. Jane is frequently invited to deconstruct the Metaverse and explain how this growing industry will impact the future. Dr. Jane was named as one of “8 Metaverse experts to follow,” “top 100 women in Web 3 and Metaverse,” and “Top 25 Women in Fintech and Blockchain, MENA” and was featured by CNN in their series on the Metaverse “Decoding the Secrets of the Metaverse.” She was recently honored by AIBC Eurasia as “Web 3 Leader of the Year.” Dr Jane is the interim chair of the World Metaverse Council and a thought leader in the rapidly developing field of Metaverse, which is projected by Citi to be a $13 trillion industry by 2030. A well known author, she is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of “Metaverse”, and “Frontiers in Blockchain” and has published over 40 peer reviewed articles, and multiple books including “Blockchain for Global Social Change,” and has a book on Web 3.0 forthcoming “Advancements in the New World of Web 3: A Look Toward the Decentralized Future” She is frequently invited by industry to deconstruct the Metaverse and explain how this growing industry will impact on their work. She is a Top 20 Global Thought Leaders in Blockchain (Thinkers 360) and Top 20 Global Thought Leaders in Crypto (Thinkers 360) and named as one of 8 metaverse experts to follow and top 100 women in Web 3 and Metaverse. Featured in CNN Documentary “DeCoded” and CNN OpEd “The metaverse could be transformative, but its a legal and ethical minefield.” Founded successful international development company which reached $250 million revenue. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Everyone has heard about how AI will one day take over our jobs, the rise of the robots and technology singularity, where the world will be taken over by machines, as they will be the ones controlling our lives. Sounds like the plot of an epic sci-fi movie or novel? It’s not something new, as these scenarios are common when it comes to Hollywood scripts.However, the industrial and academic research has indicated that machine learning isn’t as close to reaching such an all-encompassing and overarching state. It’s definitely not at the point, where it has the ability to overpower all forms of human intelligence. The question then remains regarding where does artificial intelligence currently stand in robotics and today’s world? What are the greatest and latest research breakthroughs? What should be expected in the near future?These are all important questions and all pertain to answers related to the state of AI robotics in 2022. So, without further ado, let’s get into it!What Is Robotics?What’s the first thing that comes to your mind whenever you hear anyone mention the word “robot”? Are you picturing metallic humanoids in spaceships in a galaxy far away? It could be that you start imagining a dystopian future where robot overlords have enslaved humanity. Or it could be that you start thinking about assembly lines for automobiles, where machine robots are putting cars together.In spite of what you think about robotics, there is one thing that everyone can agree to and that is: robots are here and they will be a part of our lives for better or worse. The good news though is that robots will most likely be doing dangerous or repetitive tasks instead of seizing executive power and ruling supremely over humans.To define and classify the term, robotics is an engineering branch dealing with the design, application, operation, usage, construction, and conception of robots. If you dig a little deeper, you’ll notice that the literal definition of robots is machines that are automatically operated and carry out multiple actions independently to complete work accomplished by humans usually.Incidentally, even though robots don’t have to resemble humans, some of them do. You can check out images of assembly lines for automobiles as proof of that. Many robots that resemble humans are called ‘androids’ in general. Even though most robot designers try to ensure that their creations tend to appear like a human being, so that people can be comfortable around them, it’s not something that many agree with. That’s because a large majority of people believe that robots, particularly the ones resembling people are downright creepy.What’s the State of Robotics in 2022?In 2022, AI robotics technology has advanced significantly compared to 2020. Robotics have become an integral part of daily life for many people. Self-driving cars are now available as a consumer product in some countries and autonomous robots are used for tasks ranging from cleaning and security to healthcare and entertainment.In the workplace, robots are being deployed to automate manual labor and streamline production processes. AI has also been integrated into robotics systems to enable enhanced decision making capabilities. This allows for faster reaction times, better accuracy, and improved safety measures when handling complex tasks such as manufacturing or surgery.AI has been used to develop more comprehensive algorithms that can learn from their environment like never before. Robots can now understand commands given by humans in natural language instead of a set of preprogrammed instructions. That enables them to respond to changing situations quickly and accurately, making them more versatile than ever before. Autonomous robots are also being used for search and rescue operations thanks to their ability to navigate dangerous environments safely.AI robotics technology has become so advanced that it is now being used in space exploration programs. Robotic probes ha...
Mount Saint Michael’s Secondary School, Claremorris, is one of the first girls’ schools in Ireland to offer Computer Science as a Leaving Cert subject. Last Friday (25th Nov) they officially launched their Computer Science Programme, in collaboration with St Colman’s College Claremorris with TD Alan Dillon, other local politicians and representatives from the business community in attendance.Female participation in STEM subjects is extremely low, with girls making up only 27% of those who took the Computer Science Leaving Cert exam in 2021. Three years on and Mount Saint Michael’s are looking to positively impact that number with their class of 2024.Aoibheann Mangan, a student in the Computer Science class is excited for the future and this class is playing a big part in that.Speaking following the launch Aoibheann said:“I know for me it’s not art or music or sport that I’m good at, it’s coding and computers. It feels great being able to study something that motivates me rather than working through something I dislike in an effort to get good results in my Leaving Cert. We are very lucky and thanks to our schools’ Boards Of Managements, Teen Turn and our parents we are studying computer science for the Leaving Certificate in 2024.We know there are many more who will not be opening the exam hall door to sit the exam, many who would love to and many I would say NEED to – those who want to go to college and study computer science or any other ICT or technology course. Computer science is a subject that needs to be offered in every single second level school in Ireland given that the future of so many jobs rely on these skills.”Principal Ciaran Ryan from Mt St Michael said:“As schools, it is imperative that we remain current in educational provision. As educators, one of our goals must be to help develop logical thinking and problem-solving skills among our students, and these are very much an integral part of the Computer Science curriculum. Students of 2022, regardless of field, must be proficient in the use of ICT systems and computer science lends itself very much to this”.In another historic moment, it is not just the girls in Mount Saint Michael that are benefitting from this new class, as a group of boys from St Colman’s College are making the short trip to their neighbouring school to benefit from the introduction of Computer Science in the girls’ school.Mr Roy Hession from St Colman’s said:“It is a great privilege for me as Principal of St Colman’s college to be here in MSM on such a significant day with our two schools working together collaboratively in the provision of Computer Science. I would like to thank all involved in the initiative including Mr Stephen Burke the class teacher and the students themselves.”Teen Turn, a charity which aims to provide teen girls, particularly those from underserved areas, the opportunity to gain hands-on STEM experience are supporting the girls from Mt St Michael as they pursue their Computer Science course by providing online tuition once a week to them. Teen Turn works with girls to give them the skills they need so they can visualise themselves in those kinds of careers and therefore make third-level course choices accordinglyJoanne Dolan, Teen-Turn Co-Founder, added“There can be no equity in education if there isn’t equality in terms of access to facilities, equipment and instruction for girls and boys in the subjects most necessary for participating in the knowledge economy. By working together, these two schools are demonstrating how 21st-century learning can be undertaken in rural and remote areas. We are delighted to be able to contribute to this valuable initiative.”
Ireland’s sports tech industry has helped to design a new ‘Digital Athlete’ programme to help people build careers in the country’s growing number of sports technology companies.Through a new collaboration between Technology Ireland Digital Skillnet and SportsTech Ireland, a new career pathway into the industry has been created.The first wave of recruitment for ‘Digital Athlete’ is aimed at women. On completion of the programme, participants will achieve a recognised data analytics accreditation and a mentored work placement in a sports tech company in Ireland.With companies such as Stats Perform, Orreco, Kitman Labs, DraftKings, Fitbit, Strava all based here, Ireland is now recognised as a global centre of excellence for SportsTech.‘Digital Athlete’ organisers want to hear from women who enjoy sport and have a digital mindset, pointing out that applicants don’t necessarily need deep technology knowledge. They are looking for women who love sport and are open to developing new digital skills in a dynamic environment which provides active involvement with SportsTech companies.The growth of the sector is notable, bringing many new career opportunities to Ireland. Sports tech companies work across IoT, sports performance, data analytics, broadcast, wearable tech, fan engagement, e-sports and sports ecommerce.Globally, the global sports tech market was valued at $17.9 billion in 2021 and is projected to growth to $41 billion by 2026. The sub-sector of the Sports Data Analytics market is predicted to reach almost $6 billion by 2026.Commenting on the launch of Digital Athlete, Maire Hunt, Technology Ireland Digital Skillnet Network Director, said:“Through the Digital Athlete programme, sports enthusiasts can now fully participate in the digital revolution. We are running the first programme specifically for women to help them access the many job opportunities that are out there.“The Digital Athlete Programme is looking for people with a passion for sports, coupled with a digital mindset. With the right interests and mindset, our expert group of tutors and mentors will provide the skills in data analysis and innovation, familiarisation with the different areas within SportsTech, interaction with SportsTech company leaders and an opportunity to see what it’s like working in a SportsTech company.”Grainne Barry, SVP Operations, Stats Perform said:“Stats Perform is committed to driving diversity and inclusion within the SportsTech industry. The Digital Athlete women’s programme provides an opportunity for us to work with new talent identification and development initiatives. The Digital Athlete programme enables SportsTech companies to participate in the development of skill sets needed for the industry as it embraces digital transformation and the evolution of fan engagement.”Martina Skelly, Director of SportsTech Ireland, said:“SportsTech Ireland is excited to be part of Digital Athlete, with the Technology Ireland Digital Skillnet. The industry of sport has changed as teams, leagues, broadcasters, have embraced new technologies and digital opportunities. As a technology industry, SportsTech is moving mainstream.“We know that Ireland is a leader in the global SportsTech sector, and many great career opportunities exist in this exciting space. Focused on the convergent career of Sport with Tech, our companies want to ensure that women can fully avail of the new career opportunities that SportsTech can offer. So, we are calling for women who are interested in sport to apply and let us help open new opportunities for you through the Digital Athlete programme.”Supply and availability of sufficiently qualified employees is key to continued sectoral development. Currently this is the biggest constraint facing both the FDI and SME SportsTech network within Ireland.In 2023, the new partnership of the Technology Ireland Digital Skillnet and SportsTech Ireland will bring a new suite of domain-specific programmes to enable the ...
HP Inc. has issued its third quarter HP Wolf Security Threat Insights Report, finding that archive file formats – such as ZIP and RAR files – were the most common file type for delivering malware, surpassing Office files for the first time in three years. This report provides an analysis of real-world cyberattacks, helping organisations to keep up with the latest techniques cybercriminals use to evade detection and breach users in the fast-changing cybercrime landscape.Based on data from millions of endpoints running HP Wolf Security, the research found 44% of malware was delivered inside archive files – an 11% rise on the previous quarter – compared to 32% delivered through Office files such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.The report identified several campaigns that were combining the use of archive files with new HTML smuggling techniques – where cybercriminals embed malicious archive files into HTML files to bypass email gateways – to then launch attacks.For example, recent QakBot and IceID campaigns used HTML files to direct users to fake online document viewers that were masquerading as Adobe. Users were then instructed to open a ZIP file and enter a password to unpack the files, which then deployed malware onto their PCs.As the malware within the original HTML file is encoded and encrypted, detection by email gateway or other security tools is very difficult. Instead, the attacker relies on social engineering, creating a convincing and well-designed web page to fool people into initiating the attack by opening the malicious ZIP file. In October, the same attackers were also found using fake Google Drive pages in an ongoing effort to trick users into opening malicious ZIP files.“Evidently, threat actors are becoming more and more agile in their methods to break into systems and smuggle information. With the right tools to detect and eliminate any breaches, it ensures these threat actors don’t gain access to sensitive data and move throughout the system. Organisations can also use Zero Trust Principle to make sure potentially malicious tasks, like clicking on unsecure links or opening deceptive attachments, are executed in a disposable virtual machine separated from the underlying systems” explains Val Gabriel, Managing Director of HP Ireland.HP also identified a complex campaign using a modular infection chain, which could potentially enable attackers to change the payload – such as spyware, ransomware, keylogger – mid-campaign, or to introduce new features, like geo-fencing. This could enable an attacker to change tactics depending on the target they have breached. By not including malware directly in the attachment sent to the target, it is also harder for email gateways to detect this type of attack.HP Wolf Security runs risky tasks like opening email attachments, downloading files and clicking links in isolated, micro-virtual machines (micro-VMs) to protect users, capturing detailed traces of attempted infections. HP’s application isolation technology mitigates threats that can slip past other security tools and provides unique insights into novel intrusion techniques and threat actor behaviour. By isolating threats on PCs that have evaded detection tools, HP Wolf Security has specific insight into the latest techniques being used by cybercriminals. To date, HP customers have clicked on over 18 billion email attachments, web pages, and downloaded files with no reported breaches.About the DataThis data was anonymously gathered within HP Wolf Security customer virtual machines from July-September 2022.
If the last three years taught business leaders anything, it was the importance of agility and resilience. While organisations have largely adapted and addressed the effects of the pandemic, change is constant and there’s a need to keep pace with emerging economic and social circumstances. Therefore, operations must be continually reviewed and reinvented to fit in with the evolving business landscape. For many, they are turning to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to bring company data and applications together, thus taking a fresh approach to core business processes and day-to-day tasks. While ERP is likely to have an immediate effect for these organisations, this is a decision that will impact their trajectory for years to come in terms of operational flexibility and resilience. Overcoming Challenges As companies manage the transition to next-generation ERP with digital solutions and cloud features, they must mitigate risks by first addressing their most urgent business challenges and then preparing for a full transformation using ERP. However, getting this strategy right has the potential to drive business success and growth – both today and in the future – by automating processes, increasing efficiency, streamlining operations, enhancing visibility, and supporting service delivery. One of the biggest issues relates to the disruption of supply chains, particularly for SMBs working with fine margins. Factories and warehouses are operating with smaller workforces and abiding by strict safety procedures. With workers spread thin, it’s vital that managers have total visibility and access to necessary data in order to successfully manage their supply chains and keep business operations continuing as normally as possible. ERP means more access to such necessary information, thus preventing the supply chain from becoming a bottleneck for the business. Another obstacle for organisations is a lack of integration between mobile capabilities and the ERP system. This can result in responsibilities being neglected altogether, but it can be easily addressed given that the technology exists to carry out almost any task remotely on a mobile device. Committing to mobile allows companies to get ahead of the competition and leverage valuable, real-time data – including customer order status, inventory levels and quotes. Reaping Rewards If staff continue to work in a hybrid way, which is likely, organisations will increasingly see sections of their site underutilised. When this occurs, a long-term trend will naturally be to downsize on floor space and make additional savings on rent. Cloud-based servers represent a fantastic opportunity to capitalise on this tendency to downsize by shifting focus online. Traditionally, businesses have had three primary concerns about implementing cloud technology: privacy, interoperability and cost. Decision-makers want to be sure that sensitive data is secure, that major systems on which their business relies can be linked together, and that it will be cost-effective. A report by Gartner has suggested that cloud environments are expected to experience 60% fewer security incidents than traditional data centres. Therefore, while security is always of paramount concern, it seems the cloud is winning out over on-site solutions. Interlinked with this is the capability to take advantage of real-time data analytics, which allows staff at all levels of an organisation to make quick and evidence-based decisions from anywhere in the world. This means that orders and stock levels can be monitored and addressed more quickly and accurately than by antiquated systems that are operated on the factory floor. By giving organisations real-time transparency with and visibility of sales, inventory, production and financials, ERP equips businesses with powerful insights that enable more agile decisions and improve resilience. Furthermore, robust e-commerce capabilities help companies better engage with online customers before...
It is that time of the year again when Christmas is almost upon us, and we try to get back to a normal life as possible after the pandemic. So what festive events are taking place around Ireland this Christmas? Thankfully, Esri Ireland, the market leader in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), has created a digital map of some of the best Christmas festivals, light shows, and ice skating events happening across the country this holiday season. Using Esri’s ArcGIS digital mapping system, the interactive map highlights a range of enchanting spectacles and festive activities to suit all ages. Experience the wonder of Christmas by immersing yourself in a winter wonderland; browsing market stalls, marvelling at the glittering lights, soaking up festive music, and gliding across ice-rinks. From magical train rides in Donegal and family-friendly festivals in Kerry, to glistening light shows in Galway and fun-filled ice-skating in Dublin, this map will help bring festive cheer to life this Christmas season. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Infinix have launched the ZERO 5G 2023, its newest flagship device in the company’s ZERO series. We will be reviewing this device shortly. The new smartphone boasts powerful performance upgrades and massive storage capabilities thanks to the MediaTek Dimensity 1080 5G Power Monster Processor Chipset, a 6.78” FHD immersive display, a 5000mAh battery with 33W Fast Charge and 13GB RAM. Infinix new ZERO series device, ZERO 5G 2023 Key features of the ZERO 5G 2023 include: A MediaTek Dimensity 1080 chipset, giving the ZERO 5G 2023 a 10% overall performance upgrade and 8% CPU upgrade compared to its predecessor. Whether it’s downloading or gaming, everything is faster than ever with the upgraded MediaTek Dimensity 1080. A massive 6.78” FHD screen prioritizes an immersive display for a truly dynamic visual experience with a peak brightness of 500 nits. The screen also features a 60/120Hz Dynamic Refresh Rate that work together and switch based on unique scenarios. A 5000mAh battery and 33W Fast Charge, which can charge 50% of the battery in only 30 minutes. Improved processing speeds and accelerated performance with up to 13GB RAM (8GB plus 5G Extended RAM) and RAM to ROM integration. The ZERO 5G 2023 is available in Pearly White, Coral Orange and Submariner Black. Prices and availability will vary based on region. See more product reviews here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
With up to 95% accuracy: A Dutch startup has released an application that can identify more than 50 skin pathologies using photos According to WHO, today skin diseases are among the ten most frequent reasons to consult a doctor. Around the world, almost 2 billion people have various skin problems. At the same time, about 30% of cases that require medical intervention are diagnosed too late or are not diagnosed at all. A Dutch startup has released the Skinive mobile application that allows you to analyze skin pathologies for free and immediately assess whether they are dangerous or not, and whether there is a necessity to have an additional medical examination. Skin pathologies identified up to 95% accuracy The neural network is able to identify more than 50 skin diseases: melanoma, acne, warts, moles, papillomas, herpes, dermatitis, eczema, psoriasis and much more. According to developers’ idea, the application should teach people to take care not only of their outer beauty, but also of skin health. The team emphasizes the importance of early diagnosis and how modern technologies make it simple and affordable for everyone. Skinive advances the initiative to conduct weekly self-examination of the skin throughout the body and record any changes. And the mobile application will allow you to make an assessment of the risk of diseases based on photos. «People are not used to make self-examination of their skin, they often delay a visit to the doctor, they cannot assess the risks on their own. Our development makes it possible to examine the skin 24/7 and instantly get results about possible diseases with very high accuracy. And all you need is a smartphone,» says Kirill Sokol, Founder/CEO Skinive. It is important to understand that Skinive does not make diagnoses, but assesses the level of risk and indicates the likelihood of the disease. Our task is to teach people to monitor skin health, and this should be a useful a habit like brushing your teeth. The sooner the problem is detected, the more successful and cheaper the treatment will be. Before launching Skinive for mass users, the developers had been collecting one of the largest databases in the world for several years, teaching artificial intelligence algorithms to recognize skin problems using photos, and the effectiveness of its work was tested by general practitioners, dermatologists and cosmetologists. During this time, it was possible to analyze more than 650,000 different skin pathologies and identify tens of thousands of diseases, including melanoma and other forms of skin cancer. After use in their practice, doctors rated Skinive’s performance as high and very high. Today, the degree of accuracy of the application in the study of skin formations reaches 95%, which is comparable to the level of a professional dermatologist. Thanks to the recognition of the professional medical community, the creators managed to successfully pass certification on the territory of the European Union. Skinive is considered a medical device that uses clinically proven technologies. When registering in the Skinive application, the user needs to specify gender, year of birth, skin type and choose one of the six suggested color types – from Celtic and European light- skinned to Indonesian and African-American. The quality of the photo of the neoplasm that the user makes using the application is very important. Bright natural light, the absence of redundant objects on the photo, maximum magnification, and after a few seconds of data processing, the user receives the result. Developers continue to update and train the neural network to increase the list of recognized diseases. The Skinive team plans to become a new standard of dermatological research for both patients and medical professionals who use only a smartphone for screening. The main functions of the Skinive mobile app are available to users for free. But the developers have also provided a paid version with advanced features. The cr...
The fifth National Analytics & AI Awards, hosted by the Analytics Institute of Ireland, will be presented at a Gala Dinner in the Shelbourne Hotel Grand Ballroom on Thursday, June 16th attended by over 300 industry professionals. The finalists were announced in 15 awards categories. This year’s awards are the most competitive yet, with nominations from 110 organisations across the island of Ireland. National Analytics and AI Awards 2022 The finalists in each category are: Analytics Team Of The Year: Fiserv, Hostelworld, Three Ireland, ESB. Public Sector Project: Central Statistics Office, EPA, Dept of Agriculture Food & Marine, OSi. Analytics Employer Of The Year: EY, CarTrawler, ESB, Janssen. Inclusion & Diversity Award: KPMG Belfast, Accenture, Generation Ireland. Implementation Of AI Award: Microsoft, CarTrawler, Marino Software, Kinesense, BOI. Analytics Practitioner Of The Year Award: Musgrave, KPMG, ACI Worldwide, Hostelworld. Social Impact Award: An Garda Siochana, Deloitte, H&H (Derilinx), UCD Conway Sphere. Customer Insight Award: Primark, Showtime Analytics, BOI, Workhuman. Business Value Award: Quidel, Kerry, Information Lab, Three Ireland. Analytics Innovation Award: Sonalake, e-ShopWorld), Glanbia, CIM, AON SME Of The Year Award: iPPi, Showtime Analytics, Information Lab, Full Circle Data. Sustainability Project Of The Year: Marsh McLennan, OSi, AIB, CIM. Analytics Leader Of The Year Award: Janssen, KPMG, Arvoia, Capgemini. Emerging Technology Award: IMGS, Deloitte, ACI Worldwide, UCD Conway Sphere. Lorcan Malone, Chief Executive of the Analytics Institute said: “We are delighted by the number and quality of entries. Many of the projects submitted are genuinely world-class. This reflects how much Data Analytics & AI have become central to many organisations’ business strategies – improving performance, better serving customers’ needs and driving new revenue streams. We also see a massive improvement in how public sector organisations are using Data and AI to provide new and more efficient services to citizens. With this level of competition, the Awards night will be really exciting for everyone involved”. Peter Mc Kenna, Head of Data with headline sponsor, Indeed, said: “As one of the world’s most innovative and data-driven companies Indeed are delighted to sponsor these awards. We look forward to recognising and showcasing the inspiring work and achievements of nominees from all over Ireland. We can’t wait to welcome everyone to the event this June and celebrate the hard work of our peers throughout the industry”
People often say to me that they rarely make presentations in their role, but that’s not true. Regularly you attempt to bring colleagues around to your way of thinking You want to introduce colleagues to new work practices/platforms You need to get one of your clients/customers to buy into your idea Win support or Investment for your business idea Let’s get Started: Follow my advice, and you will likely have more successful outcomes when speaking to an audience of one or one hundred. How best to Prepare: People tell me that they have little time to prepare, it’s time-consuming, and other duties get in the way. First, you can dramatically reduce your preparation time by answering These Three Questions: Who is your Audience? (Research will be required) What Problem do you Solve for your Audience? BETTER, how will your Audience be BETTER as a result of taking your advice? Your closing sentence is about creating desire. People only buy things that they desire. How do you create desire? Remind the Audience of the problem that they have. Get their agreement that they have this problem. Then paint a word picture of how they are BETTER because of your intervention. Let me give you an example. I recently did a lot of work for Irelands leading heat pump supplier. Audience: Here’s how their expert on heat pumps opened his talk to homeowners looking to reduce energy costs and improve comfort within their homes. Problem/Story: The majority of homes in Ireland are cold most of the day. Would you agree? The heating comes on for a couple of hours in the morning while getting ready for work and getting the children out to school. In the evening, it’s the same. A couple of hours while you have dinner and do homework with the children. The rest of the day, your home is very cold. My name is A N Other, and I’m an expert on heat pumps and their installation. We can install a heat pump system that will heat your home by extracting heat from the external air, even when the temperature outside is below freezing. In this part of the conversation, more details can be provided when required depending on the Audience’s level of understanding. The conversation must end with you telling your Audience how they are BETTER. In the scenario I described above, here is the conclusion to the conversation. Remind your Audience of how you can give them what they want and make their life Better. BETTER: There is no need for your home to be cold at any time, be it first thing in the morning or the middle of the night when you or your children get out of their warm beds to go to the bathroom. We will keep your home at the temperature you want all day and night. 365 days a year. Alternative BETTER: Your heating bills will be much the same; however, Your Home will be at a constant comfortable temperature 24/7 – 365 days a year. Choose the one that is most appealing to the Audience. Once you have reached this point, it’s time to STOP. Pause, and let your message sink in. Then call for an ACTION. Presentation Tip: My advice: have your opening and closing sentence memorised. By Executive Coach Andrew Keogh of Aristo.ie More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
A new independent report from The Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA) has ranked Ireland joint lowest of 13 European countries, on its readiness to make the transition to renewable energy. The Energy Transition Readiness Index 2022 sponsored by Irish-headquartered global power management company, Eaton, and global law firm Eversheds Sutherland, analyses the readiness of Ireland’s energy market to support the progression towards net zero, comparing it to other key European markets. The report ranks countries on a scale of 1-5. Higher ranking countries scoring ‘5’ and ‘4’ have effective energy transition policies which encourage technological innovation and market access; while lower ranking countries present barriers to investment through existing policies and rules which are complex and slow to evolve. Ireland ranks lowest of 13 countries to transition to renewable energy While the same report published last year awarded Ireland a score of 4 – showing that the country had a proactive approach to decarbonising electricity – this score has since fallen to 3, meaning that Ireland has been ranked joint lowest of all countries surveyed. Among other causes, the report cites the country’s failure to allow low or zero-carbon projects to connect to the national grid as a factor which is delaying the transition to renewable energy, noting that the situation is “becoming increasingly critical”. The report has also shown that the percentage of newly registered electric vehicles (EVs) in Ireland remains significantly lower, compared to its European counterparts. EVs accounted for 5% of all newly registered vehicles in Ireland in 2021, compared to 12% in the UK, 20% in the Netherlands and 65% in Norway. On EV charging specifically, Ireland has received a score of 2 – together with Poland, this the lowest score of any surveyed country. While acknowledging that “few commercial barriers exist”, the report nonetheless notes that the rollout of EV charging infrastructure across Ireland has been “slow” and “limited”. The widespread adoption of EVs is viewed as an essential component of Ireland’s plan to decarbonise the transport sector. There are approximately 1,900 charging points installed across the country at present. The EU expects that 3 million public chargers will be needed to service its overall target of having 30 million EVs on the road by 2030 – per the same calculation, Ireland would therefore need to install 100,000 chargers within the next eight years. One positive outcome, is the progress that has been made on smart meter penetration. A smart meter is a device that accurately measures electricity usage – eliminating the need for estimated bills and allowing households and businesses to become energy efficient and save on costs by shifting their usage to times with lower unit rates. While just 4% of Irish households had smart meters installed in 2020, the Energy Transition Readiness Index 2022 shows this figure is now closer to 34% – a marked improvement. The main barriers in Ireland include: Reduced confidence in the timely development and deployment of policies to implement the transition. Weakened political and public consensus for the energy transition owing to affordability/current energy crisis Delays in the deployment of renewable generation owing to the current energy crisis Grid accessibility constraints Slow electric vehicle and charging infrastructure rollout Dr Nina Skorupska CBE, CEO of Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA), said: “As ETRI 2022 makes clear, despite impressive progress from a number of European countries, warm words from many Governments around Europe are not being matched by action when it comes to preparing for the energy transition. We now need to see significant action to remove the barriers facing our industry: proper long-term planning; prioritising and accelerating market reforms; and urgently addressing current investment barriers – all are desper...
AI Con, the leading Artificial Intelligence conference hosted by Kainos, is taking place today at Titanic Belfast with contributions from leading AI entrepreneurs, ethicists, researchers and policy experts. Hosted in person, AI Con will also be broadcast live around the world for over 300 attendees including those involved in AI application, policy, and regulation across Europe, the UK, and the US. The full-day conference sponsored by Datactics, Ulster University, Digital Catapult, Matrix NI, Allstate NI and Innovate UK seeks to examine the application of the technology in society and its role in securing a healthier, safer, and more sustainable future. AI Con will explore the continued evolution of AI as it heads towards mainstream adoption, get to the heart of AI’s relationship with data usage and privacy, and investigate ways to responsibly harness it’s potential to support progress across all areas of business and public life. Dr Robert Smith, Director of AI and Data Science at Digital Catapult UK and author of ‘Rage Inside the Machine’, will deliver a keynote address on challenging the long-held assumption that technology is an apolitical and amoral force. Delegates will also hear from Seamus McAteer, Chief Executive of Speechlab in San Francisco, who will be in conversation with Tom Gray, Director of Innovation at Kainos, discussing the opportunities AI offers for policy makers and enterprises across the globe. Barrister and author of Robot Rules: Regulation Artificial Intelligence, and UNESCO and UN Human Rights Council speaker, Jacob Turner, will also be present to share his extensive experience and expertise on AI governance. The full AI Con programme is available here: Speaking ahead of AI Con Hosted by Kainos, Ruth McGuinness, Data & AI practice Lead at Kainos said: “I am thrilled to have played a part in curating this exciting conference that has no doubt been an excellent resource for those in the field for many years. Today we welcome a range of experts from all over the world and across many disciplines, reflecting Artificial intelligence’s proliferation and expansion to become a recognised asset in all sectors including health, education, and business.” “As we hear from experts from all avenues of business and public life and delve further into these issues in our panel discussions, today our focus will be on investigating what’s needed to amplify public trust and integrate AI responsibly and sustainably. I am looking forward to spending an inspiring day with individuals from all over the globe who are passionate and enthusiastic about this technology’s potential for society.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Gamma, a leading provider of location intelligence and risk assessment technologies, has announced a collaboration with MGAM, an Acrisure partner and industry leader transforming the insurance market, to support the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) in the UK in the delivery of professional indemnity (PI) insurance scheme for EWS1 assessors. This partnership serves as part of Gamma’s ongoing growth strategy and international expansion, tying in with the company’s aim to become the leading provider of location risk solutions in the UK insurance sector. Gamma is helping to support the government-backed professional indemnity scheme rolled out by MGAM which provides the cover for external wall system (EWS1) fire review certificate assessors. Gamma has developed a Technical Assurance Platform (TAP) which enables MGAM and the Department to better manage, access, share and utilise data regarding fire assessments. The platform includes Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and documentation extraction processes to streamline and automate procedures allowing great and faster access to relevant documentation including External Wall System Fire Review certificates (EWS1 certificates). Jason Anthony, Chief Executive Officer, MGAM, said: “Fire safety is an incredibly important aspect of building assessment and insurance, so having this platform is invaluable. Not only was it delivered within a tight timeframe and within budget, but Gamma has created something that went above and beyond of what was expected. They have exceeded both our needs and those of the Department, with the ability to fulfil future requirements enabling us to adapt, scale and thrive. “We have a long-standing relationship with Gamma, having previously rolled out a customised version of their Perilfinder™ risk assessment platform to assist with underwriting visualisation, and we knew they’d be able to deliver again on this project.” Richard Garry, Chief Commercial Officer, Gamma, added: “Working on projects such as this, where technology can transform how organisations do business and how specific industries operate, is what we pride ourselves on. Our great relationship with MGAM is only getting started and we look forward to driving further innovation, and growth, into the future.” Speaking previously about the PI insurance scheme in September 2022 when he held the position of Minster of DLUHC, Paul Scully – the current Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport – said: “For far too long leaseholders in high rise buildings have been stuck in limbo, unable to secure mortgages on their properties, sell up and move on to their next step. It is for these leaseholders that we have launched this new indemnity scheme today and I thank our partners for helping make this a reality. This scheme will give EWS1 assessors the confidence to exercise their professional judgement, speed up the sale of flats and allow lenders to lend with confidence.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Last week, scientists from all over Ireland and Europe were trapped on Inishmaan for three days as a result of a typical November storm. Luckily, studying such extreme weather and its effect on the Irish coast and climate change was exactly why they were there. The scientists had been attending a scientific conference showcasing research on ocean science, forecasting and climate change focused on developing a roadmap towards a permanent Aran Islands International Research Station (AIRS). Aran Islands International Research Station (AIRS) Inishmaan is uniquely placed for such a permanent research station, and would open major new perspectives for Irish and European research, not only in wave and storm science but also on a variety of other areas such as geology, agronomy, botany, climate change, archaeology, and renewable energies. This unique location provides unparalleled access to study ocean storms and weather systems, areas of research of critical importance as the world struggles to understand and adapt to climate change. The conference provided a timely forum for leading international scientists to meet with members of the local community to discuss how to best serve ocean and climate science, and to consider how the research station could be adapted into a more permanent facility. The HIGHWAVE station had been planned since 2019 by Professor Frederic Dias and Senior Research Engineer Arnaud Disant, was funded by the European Research Council, and has been operational since 2021. It is now providing invaluable data on local wave conditions and their effects on coastal erosion and future global warming trends. The conference began with opening addresses from Prof Orla Feely, UCD Vice President for Research, Innovation and Impact, and Prof Philippe Maitre, Vice-President, Research Strategy from ENS-Paris, the two founding institutions of AIRS. The local community was represented by the Aran Island Energy Coop (CFOAT), Comhlacht Forbartha Inis Meáin, and Coláiste Naomh Eoin, and there were exciting presentations that caught the attention of the scientific representatives of Ireland, France, Italy, USA, Norway, Uruguay, and the Netherlands. The conference concluded with a clear consensus on the need for a permanent research station on the Aran Islands, and UCD and ENS will work together in pursuit of this. See more breaking stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
A €28M investment has been announced for Kildare as Lufthansa Technik Turbine Shannon, the Irish subsidiary of Lufthansa Technik AG, today officially opened its new Mobile Engine Services facility in Celbridge, Kildare. The state-of-the-art facility has been established for the service and repair of engines for airline and aviation leasing companies from Ireland and across the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region. Skilled Employment The new custom-built operation already employs 30 highly skilled personnel, with plans to more than double this number to 65 within the next two years, as the business grows. Lufthansa Technik Turbine Shannon’s (LTTS) Mobile Engine Services (MES) operation is a 3,500sqm facility and in addition to repairing and servicing aircraft engines from its base in Celbridge, a technical team can be deployed to a customer site anywhere in the world to carry out the necessary work. This project is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland. An Tánaiste Leo Varadkar TD said: “This is a significant and very welcome investment announcement by Lufthansa Technik, which will double its number of highly skilled jobs in the area to 65 in the next few years. It’s great to see the aviation sector growing again. “This new mobile engine services (MES) facility in Kildare is strategically located to service aircraft engines for organisations across the EMEA region. “Lufthansa Technik is a longstanding and significant employer in Ireland and is prominent in the Shannon cluster. This news is particularly welcome given the challenges faced by the aviation sector during the pandemic and it is encouraging to see this level of investment as we look to the future. Thank you to Lufthansa Technik for its continued investment in our country and I wish the team in Kildare all the very best with this exciting new development.” Speaking at an event to mark the official opening of MES Celbridge, Michael Malewski, CEO of LTTS said: “The aviation industry is rebuilding at pace following the significant impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the sector, and our business is focused on supporting our customers by growing our own capabilities and product offering. Today’s announcement is good news for the aviation sector and good news for Ireland, as we actively look to invest in and expand our operation with more recruitment underway for both technical and administrative staff.” With support from the IDA, Lufthansa Technik and its Irish subsidiary, LTTS have been building towards the opening of this facility since 2020 and Interim CEO of IDA Ireland, Mary Buckley said: “Today’s announcement by LTTS to open this new multimillion euro facility in Celbridge is very good news indeed. The decision demonstrates the company’s confidence in the availability of a skilled and talented workforce in the region. IDA Ireland remains committed to winning jobs and investment in regional locations. I wish LTTS continued success.” The event was attended by Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Dara Calleary TD who said: “I am delighted that Lufthansa Technik has committed to a €28M investment in Kildare to establish a new aircraft engine repair operation in Celbridge. The state-of-the-art facility highlights the importance of our EU membership and geographical location and the investment will provide for additional skilled jobs in the locality, which is very welcome, and I know that there is a wealth of talent available in the area to fill these positions. I wish Lufthansa Technik continued success with this new exciting chapter and with their already significant presence in Shannon.” Shannon, Dublin and Kildare Lufthansa Technik AG has had a presence in Shannon since 1992 and already employs 252 people in the region at Lufthansa Technik Turbine Shannon (LTTS), which specialises in the repair of components for specific aircraft engine types. A further 24 technical support personnel are located at the compan...
The leftover straw used by Biobuilds to build sustainable houses blocks in the walls the equivalent CO2 emitted by thousands of flights all over the world. A 10 sqm Biobuilds’ passive house straw wall stores 900 kg of CO2, equivalent to the amount released by a midsize diesel car in 70.000 km or by a flight from London to New York per one passenger 0,9 tons of CO2 per passenger, emitted by a plane from London to New York, can melt 6 sqm of Arctic sea ice 39% of global CO2 emissions are linked to the building conventional industry, using harmful materials. Left over straw used as building material, CO2 savings Burning the leftover straw was a widespread practice until the ‘90s, theoretically prohibited in some countries, discouraged or allowed by permit in others. Nowadays the situation has changed 180 degrees and the straw, from a waste and useless material, is getting a new sustainable and major new life in the building segment. It’s well known that 39% of global CO2 emissions are linked to the conventional building industry. Yet, this situation makes a spectacular switch, offering solutions to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Straw naturally sequesters carbon in grain, and this stored carbon has to be supplementary blocked in the building structure, hence removing it totally from the environment. The figures are amazing. The straw pressed into the wall wood structure blocks around 90 kg of CO2 per sqm. That’s equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide released by a midsize diesel car in 70.000 km or by a flight from London to New York per one passenger. Not quite a UFO or a space capsule, but just as impressive as them. Tell us where you want to build your house, and whether it's in the heart of the city or on a hilltop, we'll land the Module right on your site. #Biobuilds #modular #sustainable #tinyhouse BIOBUILDS (@BIOBUILDS_) October 21, 2022 Given that the biggest straw wall produced by Biobuilds is 12 m long and 3 m high, it will remove from the atmosphere 3.240 kg of CO2. Moreover, being 90% organic and biodegradable, the decomposing of these walls takes only one year and a half. Translating all the above calculations to a midsize house (with a footprint of 120 sqm) means that only exterior walls on a level can store no less than 12.5 tons of CO2. RIA HOUSE The RIA House built by BIOBUILDS in Romania has been certified by the Passive House Institute in Darmstadt, Germany, with a heating and cooling energy demand of only 2 kWh/(m²yr). Therefore it becomes the most efficient passive house in the world, produced with series production technology. According to Passive House Institute certification, RIA House has a space heating and cooling energy demand of only 2 kWh/(m²yr). It’s an outstanding performance considering the required standard value for a passive house is 15 kWh/(m²yr) and taking into account that only few houses in the world fall below the value of 5 kWh/(m²yr). Furthermore, some of them are only prototypes who cannot be replicated at mass production level. On this occasion, BIOBUILDS CEO Alin Muste said that “It’s a great satisfaction that the whole house is not just a house where I live, but it is a project that requires a lot of time to invest and the system we have used can be reproduced. More precisely, in the future we will produce and build houses with this system just as energy efficient.” The RIA House is a duplex house and has a gross area of 360 sqm. It uses a straw panels system, entirely developed in-house by BIOBUILDS, which means wood structure prefabricated walls using straw as insulating material. Furthermore, all materials used are organic and have been chosen to have minimal o or zero emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), providing a comfortable and healthy indoor climate. About the Biobuilds’ straw walls production Due to state-of-the-art technology the factory is one of the first in the world producing negative carbon footprint walls at a semi-finished quality level, rolling of...
A total of 201 free Wi-Fi connectivity access points in public spaces across Ireland have now been installed by Magnet+ as part of the WiFi4EU initiative. The demand for the free Wi-fi connectivity service, which was first introduced in Galway city in October 2020, has grown exponentially over the last two years, with a 30% increase in users nationwide in the last year alone and a total of 8,369 users recorded for the month October 2022. The WiFi4U scheme offers free high-speed access to Wi-Fi connectivity for citizens in public spaces such as parks, squares, public buildings, libraries, museums and in towns and cities throughout Europe. It is an initiative of The European Commission funded by both The European Commission and Department of Rural and Community Development. The areas with the Wi-Fi access points include: Dublin 47 Access Points installed across 17 different towns including Fingal, Blanchardstown, Mulhuddart, Lucan, Castleknock, Portmarnock, Howth, Malahide, Portrane, Donabate, Swords, Balbriggan, Naul, Garristown, Rush, Lusk and Skerries. There were 6,146 users in Fingal alone across September and October this year which is an increase of 15% compared to this time last year. Tipperary County 52 Access Points installed across 6 different towns including Clonmel, Carrick on Suir, Nenagh, Tipperary Town, Roscrea & Thurles. There were 3,030 users in Tipperary County across September and October this year which is an increase of 66% compared to this time in 2021. Galway City 61 Access Points installed across 13 different towns including Ballinfoile, Galway City Centre, Roscam, Ballyloughnane, Liosban, Doughiska, Mervue, Knocknacarra, Blackrock, Salthill, Westside, Tuam Road & Renmore There were 5,358 users in Galway City across September and October this year which is an increase of 88% compared to this time last year. Galway County 41 Access Points installed across 25 Different towns including Kinvara, Portumna, Killimor, Loughrea, Gort, Mountbellew, Ballygar, Ahascragh, Aughrim, Ballinasloe, Moylough, Headford, Dunmore, Tuam, Athenry, Oranmore, Barna, Oughterard, Carraroe, Spiddal, Moycullen, Aran Islands & Clifden. There were 3,991 users in Galway County across September and October this year which is an increase of 239% compared to the same time last year. Under the WiFi4EU scheme, successful local authorities are issued with vouchers worth €15,000 to install Wi-Fi hotspots, which must be free of charge to the user, free from advertising and with no commercial re-use of data. To date 28 of Ireland’s 31 local authorities have now secured WiFi4EU vouchers, with 23 securing the maximum of four available and 12 still to go to tender. The Department of Rural and Community Development is providing matched funding of €15,000 for every voucher awarded to Ireland by the EU, effectively doubling the value of the investment. Commenting on this landmark milestone, Philip Clapperton, Sales Director at Magnet +, says: “Magnet+ is delighted to have brought connectivity services to so many towns across Ireland. The multi-location WiFi4EU service will provide previously unavailable Wi-Fi service in these community locations, which will enhance the user experience when visiting these locations. Areas previously affected by a lack of Wi-Fi services can now access reliable, fast and secure internet services at no cost providing incredible ease of access for these areas and boosting all the local economies in these areas. We’re excited to grow these networks further to even more areas in the country.”
Sandipan Chakraborty Conversations and Insights
The future of Cash and the growing CashTech ecosystem #cash#digital #payments #Fintech CashTech, believe it or not, is an emerging Fintech ecosystem globally. Cash is increasing but cash payments are declining. I discuss CashTech with the founder and CEO of the Swiss-based CashTech Sonect, Sandipan Chakraborty.
He also shares insights and takeaways from the recent Future of Cash conference in Madrid. Sandipan Chakraborty – Sonect – www.sonect.net The future of Cash/ Sandipan is the founder and CEO of SONECT.
Prior to founding SONECT, he spent well over a decade at Credit Suisse in various management roles and specializes in payments, core banking and regulatory compliance. He is an engineer by education and passionate about new technology. He believes technology change management is necessary to adapt any human behavior particularly in the space of payments.
Sandipan Chakraborty Conversations and Insights
Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica.
A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter. Join her on the social platforms
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The Institute of Physics (IOP), alongside the Higher Education Institutes, academics and students across Ireland, is today calling on Government join CERN as an Associate Member. This would cost Government approximately €1.46 million, only 10% of full membership costs, and would demonstrate a clear commitment to R&D alongside the many benefits of being a member. This comes as the IOP, the largest professional body for physics in Ireland and the UK, and academics met today with Senators to outline why Ireland should join CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research and one of the world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific research. The IOP welcomes the commitment of Leader of the Seanad, Senator Regina Doherty, and a large number of Senators who participated in the briefing, among them Senator Malcolm Byrne and Senator Jerry Buttimer, and looks forward to the Seanad debating how to progress Ireland’s membership. Today’s briefing with Senators follows comments from Minister Simon Harris TD, Minister for Further & Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science stating his Department is preparing a submission to Government regarding Ireland joining CERN. Joining CERN would have significant benefits for Ireland in terms of investment in infrastructure, science, education & training, and technology, and would increase job opportunities: Irish-based companies could bid for CERN contracts – Irish companies can currently only bid for contracts that can’t be sourced in CERN member states. Only one contract has been secured to date. Irish citizens could apply for job positions at CERN – those working across physics, engineering, legal, accounting and administration could avail of significant international job opportunities. Irish academics could apply for CERN research projects – this would create massive investment in Irish academia in addition to showcasing the depth and breadth of Ireland’s education expertise. Irish students at all levels could apply for CERN training programmes – training the next round of experts would result in massive job creation in Ireland, in addition to increasing Ireland’s scientific knowledge and expertise. Membership would put Ireland at the forefront of pushing advancement in the areas of technology and research. The IOP commends Government’s recognition to date of the importance of joining CERN. Associate Membership was recommended by the Joint Committee on Business, Enterprise and Innovation in 2019 and as part of Government’s Innovation 2020 strategy. Commenting, Lee Reynolds, Head of IOP Ireland and Northern Ireland (Job Share) with the Institute of Physics said: “We are today calling on Government to move forward and to join CERN as an Associate Member. Doing so will ensure job creation in addition to significant investment in research, training and technology, while ensuring Ireland is at the forefront of scientific discovery and research. We welcome today’s engagement with Senators from across the political spectrum, and we look forward to working alongside Senators, Ministers and Department officials into the future to realise Ireland’s potential in this area. “The urgency to join CERN is evident; Ireland is currently one of only three EU countries not to have a relationship with CERN, alongside Malta and Luxembourg. This means Irish researchers wishing to avail of opportunities are reliant on using their own relationships with university abroad to access research projects. This means that, once innovation is achieved and projects complete, Irish researchers can’t reap the full benefits. Equally Irish companies are barred from tendering for a broad range of high value contracts. “Joining CERN will create job opportunities and employment, will ensure Irish companies working in these areas can thrive, and will create further international opportunities for our students. In addition, it will clearly demonstrate Ireland’s commitment to research and development and will si...
The tech sector is in upheaval at the moment resulting in job losses. However, there is one tech company that is bucking this trend, the tech unicorn ClickUp. Since starting in 2017 they have had a meteoric rise and opened its European HQ in Dublin last year. Ronan talks to Richard McGuinness, who heads up their Ireland office and is also their VP of Sales EMEA. Richard talks about his background, the pandemic, bringing yourself to work, portfolio management, what ClickUp does and more. About ClickUp ClickUp launched in 2017 and has raised $535 million over three rounds of funding since, valuing the business at $4 billion during its most recent fundraise in October 2021. In the last year, they have tripled their revenue and grown its user base to 800,000+ teams worldwide, with notable customers including teams at Netflix, Booking.com, McDonald’s, Zynga and Swift Transportation. In Europe specifically, they announced the opening of its Dublin Office towards the end of 2021 to be the starting point for their wider international expansion, largely in the EMEA market. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Bitpanda, one of Europe’s leading investment platforms, has announced it is expanding its services to Ireland to meet growing demand for safe and secure access to digital assets. The platform will empower potential, first-time and seasoned Irish investors to take full control of their finances. Leading this growth is former CMO of MyWallSt and former Head of EMEA Growth at Hailo, Rob Cumiskey, now Country Lead and Head of Marketing for Bitpanda in Ireland. ERIC DEMUTH, co-founder and CEO of Bitpanda, says “At Bitpanda, we are setting the bar for retail investing in Europe with regulation and security for digital assets and bringing a trusted, seamless and secure trading experience to all. As recent events have shown, where you invest matters. We are giving European investors a better choice because we believe that digital assets and blockchain technology are reinventing what it means to invest, and we remain committed to building simple, easy-to-use, and fully regulated financial products for everyone.” Rob Cumiskey, Country Lead and Head of Marketing for Bitpanda in Ireland added: “’We have a growing community of Bitpanda users in the Irish market, which doesn’t surprise us at all given the early adopter nature of the market. With this in mind, we have been investing in our local Bitpanda team and we want to make sure that we have the best possible product based on local needs across Europe. I personally can’t wait to lead our growth efforts here and show Ireland what Bitpanda has to offer.” Ireland will play a central role in Bitpanda’s expansion goals as it aims to become the number one investment platform in Europe. Bitpanda aims to simplify wealth creation for investors of all-aptness and levels of experience by building the infrastructure they need to take control over when and how they invest. The platform’s intuitive design gives people an easy, fast and safe way to invest in a wide range of digital assets. Underpinning this is Bitpanda’s absolute commitment to customer security and safety. Bitpanda’s crypto assets are held in a highly-secure environment and customers’ crypto funds are 100% backed. Additionally, the Bitpanda Group diligently follows European laws and regulations. Bitpanda operates business based on various VASP registrations, as well as MiFID II, E-Money and PSD II licences amongst all its core markets. The future of fintech is partnerships As Europe’s largest and most regulated trading platform Bitpanda wants to help accelerate the transition to a tokenized world by removing significant barriers to investing, and partnering with existing financial institutions to modernise traditional financial products. By bringing its White Label API-infrastructure to Ireland, the platform will allow traditional banks and fintechs here to access 24/7 trading and provide their current and future customers with an easy, convenient and secure way to invest in digital assets as a significant value-added service. Leading European financial firms already using Bitpanda White Label include French neobank – Lydia, UK based smart money app – Plum, and the largest digital bank in continental Europe – N26, and Bitpanda sees a similarly large appetite amongst Irish banks. Simplifying wealth creation Approximately 12% of Ireland’s population is actively investing in cryptocurrency, according to data by GWI. However, as macroeconomic events continue to impact people’s finances, an openness to making investments coupled with exposure to money based apps has dramatically increased Irish customer interest in investing in digital assets. Bitpanda’s Irish data shows that Bitcoin and Ethereum are the most popular assets being traded on the platform with both male and female users. Terra Classic (more popular male) and Cardano (more popular female) follow in third place. Elon Musk’s Tesla and Twitter are the most heavily traded securities with Irish users showing us that Irish users have not been immune to the news cycles of the past...
Positive interventions that distract us from difficult tasks actually help to reduce our stress levels, according to new research from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management and Trinity Business School. The research, conducted by an international team of researchers, shows that short positive interventions, such as watching a funny YouTube video, can help you to overcome daily demands like dealing with annoying emails or the tasks you dread. In turn, this allows you to be more engaged, creative, and helpful toward your coworkers. The research was led by Vera Schweitzer from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management with co-authors Wladislaw Rivkin (Trinity), Fabiola Gerpott (WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management), Stefan Diestel (University of Wuppertal), Jana Kühnel (University of Vienna), Roman Prem (University of Graz), and Mo Wang (University of Florida). So, according to this research, next time you find yourself secretly laughing at a hilarious video your colleague sent to you during the lunch break, you should embrace it. This will help you to recover from a stressful morning and prepare you to make the rest of the day a success. Professor Vera Schweitzer, researcher at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, explained: “Our study shows that experiencing feelings of positivity throughout your workday can help you to remain effective particularly when daily work demands require you to invest a lot of self-control, that is, regulatory resources to control your temper. “Trying to stay calm after reading an annoying email, for example, is typically quite depleting for employees. Consequently, they might struggle to demonstrate self-control throughout the rest of their workday, which, in turn, would hamper their engagement, creativity, and behaviour toward their colleagues. “This is where positivity comes into play: Watching a funny video increases feelings of positivity. Such positive emotions allow employees to protect their regulatory resources even after dealing with resource-consuming self-control demands. In turn, this positively affects their effectiveness at work.” Dr Wladislaw Rivkin, Associate Professor in Organisational Behaviour, Trinity Business School, added:“Today’s work environments are increasingly demanding, but we have limited understanding of what organisations and employees can do to prevent the stressful effects of self-control demands such as negative emails or unloved tasks. “Our research shows that short positivity interventions can help employees make the best of their day and that employers and employees should consider incorporating more positivity into the workday! For example, organisations could provide employees with recommendations about short funny videos via a daily newsletter or post a ‘joke of the day’ on the intranet. By doing so, employers can help mitigate the negative effects of self-control demands.” The researchers gathered their results by examining 85 employees over 12 workdays, who received a daily text- or video-based positivity micro-intervention. The paper, entitled ‘Some positivity per day can protect you a long way: A within-person field experiment to test an affect-resource model of employee effectiveness at work’, was published recently in the journal ‘Work & Stress’ and is available on request. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Guest Post by David Stephen If the metaverse was predicated on reorganizing how the experiences of mental health and illness are understood, Meta would [most likely] not have needed to cut jobs. If Alexa had pivoted to providing moment-to-moment explanatory mechanism of experiences by the brain for mental health, illness and addictions, Amazon would [most likely] not have lost much in market value. Metaverse a Voice Assistant for Mental Health? Mental order and disorders are top health concerns globally but there is hardly a clear lead in terms of the conditions for the experience, as given by the brain. The brain is an organ of experiences as well as of cells and molecules. It is this experience that is used to interact with the world. The mechanisms of experiences are an opportunity for the metaverse, voice assistants, towards changing the direction of care for mental health and illness. In the moment before using an illegal drug, what is the state of mind, during and after, what are the states of mind? Usually, the mind can be confusing to explain, but with digital yellow pages of experiential pathways in the brain, individuals and their loved ones can pick from a set, to understand what it might be, at any particular point. For all experiences in the brain, there are quantities that relay to acquire properties. It is shown that emotional pain and physical pain have similar pathways in the brain. It can be explained that pain is a property, its acquisition by a quantity is possible by physical input or emotional. The same goes for anger, irritation, emptiness, boredom, loneliness, thirst, cravings, extremism, lethargy, stress and so on. There are properties destinations in the brain, where quantities relay to acquire. They include what is traditionally called emotions, memories and reaction. They are all property sets. People in the same situations don’t often have the same properties acquired by their quantities, neither does the same person have owns quantity acquire the same property in the same situation at different times. This is how the brain decides, conceptually, for mental health, illness and addictions. Quantities and properties are the build or construct of cells and molecules of the brain for experiences. There are two key sensory processing or integration centers in the brain: the thalamus for most, and the olfactory bulb for smell, before senses are relayed to the cerebral cortex for interpretation. It is postulated that sensory processing or integration is into a uniform quantity which is thought or its form. It is what becomes the representative, equivalent or version of senses to the brain. Interpretation is postulated to be knowing, feeling and reaction, as sets of properties also built or constructed by cells and molecules in the brain. This is the basis of experiences in the brain. Displaying or reading this out in each situation is a revenue opportunity and growth path for tech, amid inflationary uncertainty in the near future. David Stephen does research in theoretical neuroscience. He has a research experience in computer vision at Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona. He was a visiting scholar in medical entomology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His writings explore the experiential mechanisms of the brain for human interactions with the world. He blogs on troic.medium.com
Sparkd, a full-service AI company based out of Dublin are representing Ireland’s growing AI talent pool as part of FEROX. Members of the Sparkd team attended a partner meeting in Tampere, Finland to officially launch the project in September. FEROX is a 3-year HORIZON2020 research project funded by the European Commission. The project is made up of 9 tech-oriented organisations and academic partners developing a new way of monitoring workers. Wild berries are one of Finland’s greatest exports. Approximately 500 million kg of berries grow naturally there every year. But less than 10% of the wild berry crop is harvested from the country’s forests. The main challenge in collecting wild berries lies in manual forest harvesting, namely pickers’ working conditions. Due to the short season, the majority of the work is conducted by foreign workers with limited knowledge of the language, culture, and landscape. To better manage and protect these workers, the FEROX project was born. The project will employ autonomous drones equipped with various sensors to acquire data, build 3D models of the forests and accurately predict location, amount, and types of berries. The collected data will be used to build AI models to help workers locate berries and optimise their operations. In addition, FEROX will provide wild berry pickers with navigation and locating services and physical support to improve their working conditions. The holistic solution of FEROX will contribute to the overall safety of the workers by automatically monitoring the pickers and providing aid where it is needed. Sparkd will spearhead all AI activities throughout the development of the project. Commenting on the launch of FEROX, Dr. Luca Marchesotti, founder and CEO of Sparkd said: “We are thrilled to be a part of the FEROX team. The ability to extract insights from drone footage makes this project particularly special for us. “The technical outcomes are huge. Drones are creating incredible opportunities in multiple markets like agriculture, health and safety, and manufacturing. Combining drone technology with state of the art of computer vision and machine learning algorithms is a game-changer. We are positive that the technology we’re working on will be a hot niche in the future”. For more information on the FEROX project, visit here. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
University College Cork (UCC) has recognised Dell Technologies for its contribution to the education, research, and development of electronic engineers. The donation of high-end computing and data storage equipment enables UCC’s Embedded Systems research group in the School of Engineering and Architecture to rapidly accelerate research in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT). Dell’s support for UCC has contributed to ground-breaking research activity in AI, specifically its application in medicine and cyber security. The digital equipment has also been an accelerant for financial mathematics, circuit design and IoT for environmental monitoring. Part of this research is conducted in collaboration with UCC’s world-leading research centres, including the Insight SFI Centre for Data Analytics, CRT-AI (SFI Centre for Research Training in Artificial Intelligence), and MaREI (SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine). UCC President, Professor John O’Halloran, welcomed Dell’s Aongus Hegarty, President of International Markets, and Des O’Sullivan, Vice President, Customer Solution Centers, to the university in recognition of the company’s contribution to the university. Professor John O’Halloran, President University College Cork commented: “I am delighted to welcome Aongus and Des and thank Dell for their continued support for our education and research activities at UCC. Dell’s commitment to the advancement of technological innovation has enabled us to provide the cutting-edge facilities necessary to pursue game-changing research in areas such as These are strategically important disciplines for UCC that will build a foundation for economic, societal, and cultural resilience and prosperity”. Dr Emanuel Popovici, Chair of the Industry Relations Committee at the School of Engineering and Architecture and Director of Embedded Systems@UCC group, said: “We are delighted with the help and support provided by Dell. It will enable us to bring AI and IoT research, teaching, and learning to new heights. By using state-of-the-art computing from Dell, we are already reaping the rewards with some tremendous success in the multi-award-winning Embedded Systems research group through prizes, medals, and awards for our students and staff.” Aongus Hegarty, President of International Markets, Dell Technologies said: “We’re proud to build on our strong partnership with UCC’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering by providing high-end computing power and data storage equipment to help their researchers unlock opportunities. Our support will assist cutting-edge research at every level – from undergraduate to ground-breaking post-doctoral research. By combining our technology with the innovations the UCC students are developing, we can collectively put AI to advance the development of connected healthcare, smart manufacturing and sustainable energy systems. ” University College Cork has a longstanding relationship with Dell spanning many years. The company has facilitated employability initiatives such as student internships, and many of UCC’s engineering graduates have pursued highly successful and fulfilling careers with Dell. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Dell’s support was crucial in maintaining an excellent standard of learning, teaching, and research for students by providing continuity of access to state-of-the-art computing – a key component of many of UCC’s engineering courses. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we ca...
Huckletree, the flexible workspace providers operating from the Academy building on Pearse Street, Dublin 2, has seen a 35% growth in occupancy rates this year, bringing total levels to 98%. This month Huckletree celebrates its 5th anniversary in its flagship Irish location. Companies including Starling Bank, Tines, NewsWhip and Axonista are part of the Dublin community. The company, which also has five hubs across the UK, first opened its doors in Dublin in late 2017, with founding members Silicon Valley Bank, Kontainers and Datadog. Supported by a network of ambassadors, including Dee Coakley, Pete Townsend, and Edel Coen, it has since been a home to tech start-ups and scale-ups at the forefront of the developments and trends hitting the Irish and international tech scene in recent years. With the global tech industry in a period of transition, Huckletree’s mission is proving that it is more important than ever to build a community for innovation. The team has been witness to the transition from pandemic-enforced remote working to flexible and hybrid models, and believes that it is clear that the desire to gather together has driven this. “The tech industry is no stranger to change and external pressures and there’s no denying that we are moving into a period of uncertainty. Sustainable, steady growth must be the key focus for tech companies going forward. Now more than ever, shared workspaces and communities like ours should be spaces where people can gather to seek advice, guidance, pivot, innovate and navigate this period together. We really believe in strength in numbers, and the power of network,” says Andrew Lynch, co-founder and board member of Huckletree. As part of celebrations to commemorate five years in business, Huckletree are bringing the Dublin tech community together as part of ‘The Great Gathering’, a campaign that celebrates the importance of gathering with purpose, with a series of events throughout the month of November. In addition, Huckletree has released The Great Gathering Zine, a playbook for business leaders, creatives and entrepreneurs. As demand for traditional office space continues to shift, with a move towards flexibility and options that prioritise employee experience, shared workspaces and communities like Huckletree have been at the forefront of this evolution. “People are looking for interesting opportunities that support their learning and development, and spontaneous moments that harness their creativity at work. We spend a lot of time designing our events and experiences at Huckletree across our hubs, researching topics that will resonate with our members and spark lively debate and meaningful conversation,” commented Aislinn Mahon, Head of Ecosystems at Huckletree. As growth in the Pearse Street space continues, Huckletree are now looking to find new locations for more spaces across Dublin in the next few years. Areas of interest include Dublin 2 and Dublin 8, where Huckletree has already identified potential opportunities. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Venture capital funding into Irish SMEs increased by 34% to €309m in the third quarter of 2022, compared to €230.6m in the same period last year, according to the Irish Venture Capital Association VenturePulse survey published today in association with William Fry. Funding into Irish SMEs, mostly tech firms, for the nine months to end September 2022 reached just over €1 billion (€1,087m) up by a quarter (25%) from €871.8m on the same period last year. “In view of continuing global uncertainty, this is an encouraging outcome for the indigenous technology sector and compares favourably to Europe where funding year on year for the third quarter fell by 35% and by 44% for the nine months1,” commented Leo Hamill, chairperson, Irish Venture Capital Association. “However, when you drill down into the data, it shows that the growth in the third quarter in Ireland was driven by two deals in the €30m plus category (Fonoa and Tines) and five deals in the €10-€30m range. Deals in categories under €10m fell, with the exception of seed funding.” Sarah-Jane Larkin, director general, Irish Venture Capital Association pointed to a decline in deals between €5-€10m which fell 54% from €72.2m to €33.5m, and deals under €1m which fell by 41% from €11.4 to €6.7m. “More tellingly perhaps, the number of deals in the latter category dropped sharply to six from twenty-two in the same quarter last year. The softness in these two categories probably reflects uncertainty over the global economic outlook combined with the impact of the Russian war against Ukraine.” However, she said that the outlook remained encouraging for Irish-based start-ups and companies looking to raise first-round funding. “Seed funding, which represents early stage first round investments, increased by 45% in the third quarter to €44.8m, from €30.9m in the same quarter in 2021. Seed funding for the nine months rose by 13% to €92m on the same period last year.” She said this compared favourably to Europe where seed funding fell by 29% quarter over quarter, and 20% for the year to date compared to 2021. She said that this outperformance compared to the rest of Europe was probably due to the number of Irish funds currently investing at the seed stage in the Irish market including ACT, Delta, Elkstone, Furthr and Lightstone Ventures, amongst others. “This will be further backed up by the Government’s €90m Irish innovation seed fund which is supported by the European Investment Fund.” Cybersecurity and fintech were the leading sectors in the third quarter, each raising 28% of total funding. These were followed by software (13%), life sciences (10%) and other (17%). More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Pure Telecom, the Irish-owned high-speed broadband company, has revealed insights into changes in data usage, which shows that super-users of data – those who download more than 1 terabyte (Tb) of data per month, or 33Gb per day – has increased almost three-fold since 2019. Pure Telecom’s data was taken from a sample of 5,000 business and residential fixed-line broadband customers. The company can provide services to the majority of households and businesses in Ireland that have access to high-speed broadband and its data reflects the changes in how we live and work, with the pandemic playing a significant role in those changes. Pure Telecom found that some 7% of households with a fixed-line broadband connection are now using more than 1Tb of data per month, compared to 2.7% in 2019. Currently, 3.6% of businesses are using more than 1Tb of data per month. Overall data usage is now more than double pre-pandemic levels. Businesses are using an average of 11Gb per day in 2022, versus 4.8Gb in 2019, while households are now using 14Gb per day, versus 8.1Gb in 2019. Paul Connell, CEO, Pure Telecom, provided some insights into what is driving the rise in data usage. He said: “When we compare our digital lives in 2019 to how we live now, they don’t seem that different. We were all streaming TV series, we were gaming, and many of us had jobs that relied almost entirely on an internet connection. It’s only when you see the data that you realise just how much has changed and how much our data consumption has increased. “Globally, data volumes are more than twice what they were in 2019 and by 2025, they will be almost double what they are now1. So while streaming, gaming and remote working may not be new, people are doing more of each. They have multiple streaming subscriptions, are playing more games and for longer periods of time, and many have not returned to the office full-time. All of these activities require a large amount of data, so the increase in super-users reflects this trend and we expect that the proportion of households using more than 1Tb per month will continue to rise year-on-year. “The last couple of years have seen the role of broadband change. While it has long been an integral part of our lives, it has evolved to become something that is helping us to cope with and manage real-world crises. During the pandemic, it helped businesses to survive and people to retain their jobs; during the fuel crisis, it is helping people to work remotely as prices soar; and to offset the rising cost of living, people are resorting to online resources to make ends meet. For many of us, fixed line broadband has become our saviour. “The role broadband plays in our lives is only going to increase over time. We are seeing how telemedicine is increasing the opportunity for everyone to have medical care, but it can also reduce the cost of delivering that care – from checking a cold to dealing with a sore joint or muscle. By separating vital in-person needs from needs which can be addressed through a virtual visit, broadband can reduce the cost of everyday health for everyone while also freeing up time for doctors.” See more stories here. nCube Hub Smart Home Controller Review Positives:As I mentioned above the two key features here for us were the flexible programming options and the fact that you have cut out round trip to a third part server.People who have spent some time trying to set up multiple pieces of Smart Home tech, trying to set up triggers and routines will instantly see the value in this product and for people with privacy concerns it also solves another problem. Negatives:We did have some teething problems when setting things up initially but as I mentioned, they were resolved quickly which hopefully bodes well for future support.There’s no doubt that this product prefers being connected to a wired access point. Using WiFi slows thing down but this will hopefully be addressed in future updates. 4.0Overall Score Price Funct...
The broadband market in Ireland is now flooded with providers all offering a myriad of deals. We know it’s hard to find the perfect deal that suits your needs but we’re here to help. We’ve teamed up with Switcher.ie, the free and impartial price comparison and switching service, to find the best broadband deals available every month. Check back regularly to stay informed of the latest deals and offers and visit the Switcher.ie website to order one of these great packages. Best Broadband Deals Pure Telecom’s Purely Broadband is currently one of the cheapest broadband offers on the market. For just €30 per month for the first year, you’ll get unlimited broadband with speeds of up to 100Mb. Priced at €32 per month for the first 12 months, Sky Broadband Superfast also offers a competitive plan. You’ll get unlimited broadband with speeds of up to 100Mb, ideal for busy homes. Priced at just €34.99 per month for 24 months, eir’s Unlimited Broadband with Talk plan is available exclusively via Switcher.ie. Offering a 2-year discount, you won’t find this deal anywhere else! Plus, sign up before 30/11/2022 and get €100 credit on your eir bill. If you don’t want to commit to a 2-year contract, eir also offers this plan on a 12-month basis, priced at €34.99 for the first year with their Unlimited Broadband & Talk plan. Sign up to Vodafone Simply Broadband during their Black Friday sale and get a free Smart Home Starter Pack worth €99. Priced at just €35 per month for the first year, where you’ll get unlimited broadband with speeds of up to 100Mb. Offer ending 29/11/2022. (If you’ve come across this article after some of these deals may have expired, check out our main Broadband Deals category page to find the latest offers) More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Guest post by Paul Turley, Director of Enterprise Sales at ServiceNow Ireland Irish businesses across all industries are facing myriad challenges. So, it’s unsurprising that business confidence has plunged to a two-year low. The looming threat of recession, supply chain disruptions, and rising costs are testing day-to-day operations to the absolute limit. And business leaders are under mounting pressure to make faster, smarter decisions to stay competitive during these turbulent times. That said, it’s not all negative, and making these critical changes is achievable. But organisations must understand what technology platforms are available and how to use them to build resilience. Minimising disruption through hyperautomation Technology solutions can help Irish firms to prepare for and adapt to crises. Hyperautomation is one of these solutions – it provides a way for organisations to minimise supply chain disruptions and lagging production. Hyperautomation takes automation a step further by combining multiple tools into a comprehensive package that spans entire organisations. It integrates siloed automation from different vendors into a single, convenient solution and is implementable as part of a company’s digital platform. This way, IT teams can oversee the entire hyperautomation landscape to manage its lifecycles efficiently. From intake through to workflow and publishing, users have the visibility to align business performance with goals for maximum impact. Optimising schedules for greater efficiency In the face of rising costs, firms can’t afford inefficiencies in their day-to-day operations; this is where schedule optimisation plays a vital role by modernising field services through connected digital workflows. Schedule optimisation makes analysing work schedules, skill sets, job priorities, and parts simpler, which also helps to assign the best person to any job. Field service resources can then ensure a first-time fix and fit more jobs into working hours to boost overall productivity. When you think about the scale of operations across enterprises, these gains yield massive business value at a time when it’s so important. Enhancing customer service with AI As the digital environment continues to evolve rapidly, so do customer expectations. But how do businesses meet such expectations while grappling with economic pains? Artificial intelligence (AI) provides an answer. Automated task creation, triage, and investigation help users solve issues faster and smarter. The key – Sentiment Analysis. It provides a quick understanding of communicative tone to prioritise urgent or sensitive cases. Contrary to popular belief, AI is remarkably accessible, so teams can easily harness the technology for task management. In effect, customer service agents can meet customer expectations while managing caseloads and staying on top of critical issues. Strengthening company-wide operations Operational resilience becomes even more vital during times of economic vulnerability. That’s why organisations need to use technologies to minimise risk. Operational Resilience Management provides a real-time, holistic view of potential service threats. Organisations can, as a result, anticipate, mitigate, prevent, and respond to such threats more effectively. At the same time, teams looking to go one step further and plan ahead can use Scenario Analysis tools to design and simulate uncertain scenarios. It’s this kind of proactive approach that supports businesses to minimise risk. Without preventative measures in place, configuration changes can cause costly outages for DevOps. Not only does this put further strain on DevOps teams, but it also exacerbates business disruptions. Digital platforms centralise configuration management, security, and validation within development pipelines, so issues are directly addressed. Users are fully equipped with access controls and continuous, automatic validation to reduce all likelihood of incorrect configuration...
Friday, 24th November will mark the return of Black Friday, the shopping mega-event that sees thousands of consumers in the US, UK and Ireland go online and in-store in the hope of getting a jump on their Christmas shopping or grabbing some unbeatable value deals for themselves. Three days later, on 27th November, shoppers will log on once again for Cyber Monday, the follow-up day of online sales, creating a shopping holiday event referred to as BFCM (Black Friday / Cyber Monday). This year, retailers could be set for one of the most successful BFCMs of all time thanks to a recent lift in consumer spending. Visa’s Irish Consumer Spending Index, which measures expenditure across all payment types (cash, cheques, and electronic payments), signalled the fastest acceleration in consumer spending in six months in September. It’s an exciting time for e-commerce retailers and if adequately prepared for, a highly profitable one. Here is everything you need to know to help your business capitalise on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Your BFCM planning starts at least two to three weeks before the event itself. It’s not just a matter of slashing prices, there are several items you need to check off your list before the shopping bonanza begins to make sure your sale season goes swimmingly. These include: Pre-Awareness Campaign for Customers Inventory Preparation Creative Assets Sales Timetable Testing Site Durability Housekeeping PRE-AWARENESS CAMPAIGN FOR CUSTOMERS Both your existing customers and potential new customers will be doing their own planning for BFCM and will be researching deals beforehand, to find out where they should best spend their disposable income in late November. Take the following measures to ensure you have everything in place to convert their curiosity into sales. Email Existing Customers Design and send an email newsletter to your subscriber base, letting them know that you will be participating in BFCM this year. Give the dates and times that your sales will be in operation. It’s important to be specific here, particularly if you ship internationally and to different time zones. If you are new to email newsletters try an easy-to-use platform such as MailChimp. Write up a Blog Post You can also capture some organic searches on the topic of BFCM, by publishing a blog about the deals event on your website. You can include information about the deals you will be running and more general information about the history of Black Friday to create the richest content possible. Leverage Social Media Change your page’s profile photo / banner or simply create a post or tweet and pin it to the top of the page telling your visitors “Black Friday deals are coming soon”. On Facebook, you can promote your post a week earlier as part of an ad campaign to raise further awareness of your sale to fans of your page and a wider audience, thanks to Facebook’s diverse suite of targeting options. PR Outreach In November the web will be littered with articles helping users find the best deals each day. Do a Google search for BFCM articles like these in newspaper sites and blogs from last year and then email a copy of your proposed deals to the journalist in question with a link to your online store. INVENTORY PREPARATION Carefully plan your inventory in accordance with a sales strategy that suits your business. Maybe your plan is to sell five units of a big-ticket item at a loss to generate some publicity and bring users on site. Other stores may reduce their profit margin by 20% on all items or drop a portion of their inventory to cost price. Whatever you decide to do, do what makes sense for your business. You are not obliged to go into financial ruin just to keep your customers happy. CREATIVE ASSETS It’s important to give your designers (or yourself, depending on the size of your team) the time needed to pull creative assets together for your website and social channels. A temporary design overhaul that capitalises on a new colour s...
Guest post by Adam Coleman CEO of Lahinch-based HR software solutions provider HRLocker Blink, and you’ll miss it. HR has been digitalised. Spurred on by the rise in remote working, numerous lockdowns, and widespread automation, HR has undergone a significant digital transformation. In the rush to build comprehensive remote work policies, handle departures and hires, and virtually onboard new recruits, HR teams have been forced to adopt new technology at lightning speed. Many of the activities we associate with traditional HR have since been outsourced to systems and software. Now, benefits, payroll, and performance management can be handled by a toolkit of software and subscriptions. This has alleviated the administrative burden for HR teams and led the department towards a more ‘human’ and less’ resource’ focused function. But it also means HR teams have a new challenge to contend with: data. The structured stuff is generally easier to manage. Unstructured stuff gets complicated. The rule of thumb is that if you can record it in a spreadsheet, it’s structured data (like a name, address, or national insurance number). Unstructured data typically consists of text, media files, and things that aren’t so easily categorised. With both kinds of data, there’s a difference between using it and letting it use you. HR departments collect lots of it, spanning measurables such as engagement, productivity, and performance. This data can be used to guide decision-making and influence the organisational trajectory. But data can also be misleading. Without the right tools and knowledge to properly collect, analyse, and act on it, organisations with the best intentions could make the worst decisions. But why did data become so critical for HR in the first place? Let’s explore. Data matters Today, HR is a boardroom affair. As organisations come to terms with new ways of working and managing people, HR teams are the ones building policies and systems to make it a reality. Organisations also face increasingly human-centric challenges. A recent survey found that CEOs are increasing their focus on talent attraction and retention, developing the next generation of leaders, and employee wellbeing in 2022. The kind of stuff HR has been tasked with for years. Of course, many of these activities now need to happen virtually. For starters, attracting remote talent has to be done – you guessed it! – remotely. And anything that happens online produces data. That’s mostly a good thing: data tells stories. But data doesn’t always give you the whole picture. Businesses that rely on data alone get sloppy in their decision-making. If you’re not checking your ATS, you could overlook unconscious bias. If you only collect self-reported productivity data, your employees could be unintentionally biased. With workforces distributed around the world, a simple performance review can include several pieces of software and several layers of data. Let’s say a manager schedules 30 minutes with an employee to discuss performance, engagement, and anything else relating to the employee’s experience over the past six months. The performance review is hosted on a video calling platform, recorded with a live transcription tool, and the transcript is saved in HR software, where both the team member and team leader can refer back to it. So. Much. Data. Taking back the wheel See how easy it is to get lost in the sea of organisational data? To lose sight of what matters in a plethora of noughts and ones? If the data is driving you, it’s time to take back the wheel. Here are some quick tips to take control of your data: For every byte, there’s a story Have you analysed the benefits software data only to discover that no one is using the free gym membership? Guess you better take it off the benefits package! Or not. Every byte of data has a story behind it. Maybe your employees aren’t using the gym membership because the locations are hard to reach, the equipment is outdated, or ...
Horizon Quantum Computing, a Singapore-based company building software development tools to unlock the potential of quantum computing hardware, has today announced its plans to set up its European office in Ireland. Horizon Quantum Computing’s expansion is part of its growth plan to leverage skilled quantum computing and software engineering talent in the region. It looks to benefit from the wealth of talent and serve customers in Europe, one of the world’s major markets for quantum computing. Headed up by Irishman Joe Fitzsimons, Horizon Quantum Computing is opening a brand new office in Dublin, its first outside Singapore. The office paves the way for recruiting over 10 new roles over the next six months, which is already underway. The company is hiring for a range of positions, including product managers as well as a director of engineering, who will build and lead a new software engineering team. Horizon Quantum Computing also plans to partner with local Universities to provide internship opportunities. “We are excited to set up our European office in Ireland, a country with a substantial pool of technical talent,” said Joe Fitzsimons, CEO of Horizon Quantum Computing. “Our growth highlights the strength of the quantum computing ecosystem at a time when major tech players are struggling. We’re looking forward to calling Dublin our second home and rolling out further recruitment to boost worldwide operations.” Committed to supporting mutual connections and collaborations between Singapore and Ireland, Horizon Quantum Computing has recently become a Foundation sponsor of the Irish Chamber of Commerce Singapore, with Dr Fitzsimons joining the Chamber’s board. About Horizon Quantum Computing Horizon Quantum Computing is developing a new generation of programming tools to simplify and expedite the process of developing software for quantum computers. By removing the need for prior quantum computing experience to develop applications for quantum hardware, Horizon’s tools are making the power of quantum computing accessible to every software developer. The company was founded in 2018 by Dr Joe Fitzsimons, an expert in the space of quantum computing applications. Dr Fitzsimons has over 18 years of experience in quantum computing and computational complexity theory and holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford on quantum computing architectures. The leadership team also includes Dr Si-Hui Tan, Chief Science Officer, who holds a PhD in Physics from MIT and has been actively involved in quantum research for 18 years.
Suicide is a prominent cause of death worldwide, particularly among young people. It occurs throughout the lifespan and was the fourth leading cause of death among 15-19 year-olds globally in 2019. Suicide prevention guidelines recommend safety planning alongside follow-up treatment by mental health services for those at-risk of suicide. Safety planning and other evidence-based psychological interventions involve maintaining and updating paper-based records or worksheets in between sessions. Insight researchers have found that mobile technology can offer a way to support the implementation of evidence-based psychological techniques and the acquisition of protective coping skills. SafePlan is a mobile app, developed by a team led by Insight FI, Professor Jim Duggan with the support of the HSE National Office for Suicide Prevention. The app aims to facilitate service users to access their safety plan when they need it and in-situ. The development process involved eliciting expert input from clinicians who are actively engaged in the provision of mental health care. The project is an integral part of the Connecting for Life Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2022-2024 for HSE Community Healthcare West. You can read about the app development process here. So how does it work from a data science perspective? Annual suicide figures are critical in identifying trends and guiding research, yet challenges arising from significant lags in reporting can delay and complicate real-time interventions. In a parallel project, Prof. Duggan and the SafePlan team utilized Google Trends search volumes for behavioural forecasting of national suicide rates in Ireland between 2004 and 2015. Official suicide rates are recorded by the Central Statistics Office in Ireland. While similar investigations using Google trends data have been carried out in other jurisdictions like the United Kingdom and the United States of America, similar research had not yet been completed in Ireland. The team compiled a collection of suicide- and depression-related search terms suggested by Google Trends and manually sourced from the literature. Monthly search rate terms at different lags were compared with suicide occurrences to determine the degree of correlation. Their findings supported the findings in other countries that there is real benefit in using Google Trends, the neural network approach, and the applied search terms to forecast suicide risk increase. Overall, the combination of societal data and online behaviour provides a good indication of societal risks; building on past research, the team’s improvements led to robust models integrating search query and unemployment data for suicide risk forecasting in Ireland. You can read more about that here. A trial of the resulting SafePlan app is set to happen in the near future and will be led by Dr Ruth Melia of the HSE. You can read more here and here. For more information on mental health supports and services, see: www.yourmentalhealth.ie The SafePlan Team includes researchers from Insight at the University of Galway and the University’s School of Computer Science (Jim Duggan, Karen Young and Hamda Ajmal), the School of Psychology at the University of Galway (John Bogue), and the Health Service Executive (Ruth Melia and Mary O’Sullivan).
AVCOM, the premium event production agency, has announced that it will create 30 new jobs in the next two years as part of a €3M investment in the company. The jobs and investment will support AVCOM’s plans to more than double its revenues by year-end 2024. The agency, which currently records revenues in excess €5M and employs 44 people, expects to increase its annual revenues to €12M and grow to a team of 74. With a heavy focus on innovation and technology, AVCOM is the biggest event production company in Ireland and has recently enhanced its services to drive the organic growth of its business. Established in Dublin 42 years ago, the company started out specialising in audio-visual production for events, but since COVID it has evolved to offer a full suite of events services that enable event attendees to ‘experience more’. Using design-led production with the latest technologies, the company offers technical production, set design, video, content creation and audio-visual services. AVCOM now offers clients, which include Fáilte Ireland, Croke Park Meetings & Events, PepsiCo, PwC and Opel, end-to-end premium production services and recently established a new design department to include animators and motion graphics specialists. AVCOM expects this will enable it to increase creative revenue streams, while also appealing to clients looking for a full service from one provider. The enhancement of its services has enabled AVCOM to win large public tender projects; multinational contracts across Europe, the UK and US; new domestic clients; while also increasing services to existing clients. To support this growth, AVCOM will hire 30 people over the two years. The new roles will be in the areas of technology, design, production, sales, administration and logistics. AVCOM carried out research in October which found that there is an appetite among professionals who attend corporate events to experience more. Some 44% of corporate event attendees said that they would be more likely to attend events with enhanced production values supported by new technologies such as the metaverse, or augmented and virtual reality. The research also found that professionals are becoming more selective about the events that they attend in-person. With the increased focus on work/life balance, 37% of professionals who attend corporate events said they will only go in-person if they know they are going to have a very good experience. This data reflects AVCOM’s experience of the changing attitudes and expectations for events, which was central in influencing AVCOM’s new business direction. Paul Murphy, Managing Director, AVCOM, said: “Events, and people, have changed. The aftermath of COVID has put a greater focus on work/life balance and event organisers need to ensure that they are giving people something special in exchange for their time; a truly immersive experience that will stay with the attendee long after the event has finished. “At AVCOM, we recognised the need to cater to a new reality and we have become the drivers of change in our industry. We have invested significantly in our business to provide premium design-led production services that use technology to engage and excite audiences. We have established ourselves as an event production agency collaborating with event planners and helping them to produce events that they never could have imagined were possible. “This is an exciting time for the future of AVCOM, as well as the events industry. Our focus on, and knowledge of, design and technology is helping us to win major contracts in Ireland and across the globe. Now, we will expand our team to support and drive further success and build on our reputation as a game-changer in the events industry.” See more stories here.
New research by Wise Business, the business account for going global, finds that 70% of Irish small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) fear closure in 2023 in the face of rising business costs. The study also reveals that over 76% of respondents believe that the banking sector requires greater competition to meet the needs of SMBs. The research, which saw Censuswide independently poll 250 SMBs across the Republic of Ireland, shows that more than two thirds of Irish SMBs admit there is a ‘possibility’ they will have to shut next year, with nearly half (48%) considering it at least a ‘moderate risk’. Only one-in-three have no doubt they will be fine. Small businesses’ uncertainty is being driven by increasing economic pressures and costs. More than 40% of Irish SMBs say that rising business costs or economic turbulence represent the greatest challenge to their business, with 86% concerned by rising costs. Promisingly, Irish businesses are responding. Nearly two thirds (62%) are investing in or expanding their online presence. More than half (56%) are planning to expand abroad, either by finding international customers, hiring overseas staff or sourcing from international suppliers. However, their international expansion faces hurdles. Of those not currently operating overseas, almost half (43%) do not have the capital or investment needed to expand abroad – while Ireland’s banking sector provided further challenges. Banking sector uncompetitive There was clearly a desire to see a change within the Irish banking sector, as more than three-in-four businesses (76%) say the sector requires greater competition. Unsurprising, then, that 57% are having their growth restricted by poor banking solutions. Poor services are having a real impact on SMBs’ international ambitions and operation. Of those that don’t operate abroad, 16% say the cost of banks’ international services deterred them from international expansion, while 11% said these services’ inconvenience had put them off. In fact, more than 95% of all SMBs have frustrations when using banks’ international banking services – with almost a third (32%) noting the complexity and slowness of these services, and more than a quarter (27%) saying fees are either too high or too confusing. Clara Nobre, Head of Wise Business, said: “This year has been tough for SMBs, and next year looks set to be similarly challenging. The rising costs of business are creating real pressure on many brilliant businesses’ bottom lines. However, SMBs are resilient and innovative – which is why so many are looking overseas. “Overseas expansion can offer brilliant opportunities. But Ireland’s SMBs need support, not least from their bank. For too long, banks have only offered inefficient, overpriced international banking services. At Wise Business, we don’t think that’s good enough – we’re committed to giving SMBs a service that is transparent, convenient, affordable and quick.” Wise Business is Wise’s service for small and medium-sized businesses, and aims to help solve their international banking needs – with these businesses long neglected by big banks and offered slow, expensive services. Today, Wise Business has more than 3,000 active business customers in Ireland. See more stories here.
AVCOM, the premium event production agency, has announced that it will create 30 new jobs in the next two years as part of a €3M investment in the company. The jobs and investment will support AVCOM’s plans to more than double its revenues by year-end 2024. The agency, which currently records revenues in excess €5M and employs 44 people, expects to increase its annual revenues to €12M and grow to a team of 74. With a heavy focus on innovation and technology, AVCOM is the biggest event production company in Ireland and has recently enhanced its services to drive the organic growth of its business. Established in Dublin 42 years ago, the company started out specialising in audio-visual production for events, but since COVID it has evolved to offer a full suite of events services that enable event attendees to ‘experience more’. Using design-led production with the latest technologies, the company offers technical production, set design, video, content creation and audio-visual services. AVCOM now offers clients, which include Fáilte Ireland, Croke Park Meetings & Events, PepsiCo, PwC and Opel, end-to-end premium production services and recently established a new design department to include animators and motion graphics specialists. AVCOM expects this will enable it to increase creative revenue streams, while also appealing to clients looking for a full service from one provider. The enhancement of its services has enabled AVCOM to win large public tender projects; multinational contracts across Europe, the UK and US; new domestic clients; while also increasing services to existing clients. To support this growth, AVCOM will hire 30 people over the two years. The new roles will be in the areas of technology, design, production, sales, administration and logistics. AVCOM carried out research in October which found that there is an appetite among professionals who attend corporate events to experience more. Some 44% of corporate event attendees said that they would be more likely to attend events with enhanced production values supported by new technologies such as the metaverse, or augmented and virtual reality. The research also found that professionals are becoming more selective about the events that they attend in-person. With the increased focus on work/life balance, 37% of professionals who attend corporate events said they will only go in-person if they know they are going to have a very good experience. This data reflects AVCOM’s experience of the changing attitudes and expectations for events, which was central in influencing AVCOM’s new business direction. Paul Murphy, Managing Director, AVCOM, said: “Events, and people, have changed. The aftermath of COVID has put a greater focus on work/life balance and event organisers need to ensure that they are giving people something special in exchange for their time; a truly immersive experience that will stay with the attendee long after the event has finished. “At AVCOM, we recognised the need to cater to a new reality and we have become the drivers of change in our industry. We have invested significantly in our business to provide premium design-led production services that use technology to engage and excite audiences. We have established ourselves as an event production agency collaborating with event planners and helping them to produce events that they never could have imagined were possible. “This is an exciting time for the future of AVCOM, as well as the events industry. Our focus on, and knowledge of, design and technology is helping us to win major contracts in Ireland and across the globe. Now, we will expand our team to support and drive further success and build on our reputation as a game-changer in the events industry.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platfo...
Despite plastic waste posing one of the biggest environmental challenges of our time, the recent statistics released by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) show little or no progress against the targets set out in the Global Plastics Commitment. Major brands all agreed that, by 2025, 100% of the packaging they used would be recyclable, compostable, or reusable; 26% of the packaging would be made from post-consumer recycled content; and the amount of virgin plastic used would fall by 20% (from 11.9Mt to 9.5Mt). Opinions by Dr John Williams, Chief Technology Officer, Aquapak, developing innovative materials enabling the circular economy Plastic COP out, more action needed on plastic waste As other commentators have flagged, this is a not just a blow for EMF but for carbon emission goals in general. Like many other NGOs and campaign groups, EMF has lost its teeth because its dependency on support from the large corporates has inevitably meant moving at their pace, as we can see from the statistics. It is one thing to promote cooperation between all parties, but this cannot lead to an ability to drive change. The inherent conflict of getting paid to solve a problem is that there may never be the incentive to solve it and do yourself out of a job. This is a self-defeating position when it comes to solving the plastics problem. It also set an uncomfortable backdrop ahead of COP 27 and the focus on the circular economy and decarbonisation. When it comes to plastic packaging, the functional benefits are clear. It keeps food and drink safe and fresh, helping to deliver products to customers in prime condition and extending shelf life by weeks and even months, cutting food waste, which itself generates 8-10% of the world’s greenhouse emissions. However, at end of life it is also part of the overall environmental problem, which we urgently need to address by replacing traditional plastics and packaging design with the viable alternatives which are now available. There is positive headwind when it comes to tackling the plastic waste problem as part of the circular economy. We know that the UK Government is working on its Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme (with similar schemes globally) for packaging waste, which aims at placing the costs of collection, sorting and processing waste back onto the producer through fees, as is already in place in countries such as France. We also have other pressures to change such as legislation and plastic taxes in developed markets such as North America and Europe. Yet resistance to change and introducing disruptive new materials which will help dramatically reduce the use of traditional plastics remains. Over the years, the problem has also been blighted by each party passing the buck down (and ultimately back up) the supply chain – a circular system of its own, but not the one we want. We need the waste sector to adopt new technologies much more quickly and with less resistance (there is business opportunity in waste refining). It is time for them to be part of the solution and stop finger pointing at everyone else – including the consumer. Likewise, we need global brands to be more flexible in their global supply chain approach and stop pointing to the lack of waste infrastructure in developing countries with the explanation that they can’t do things differently because these markets can’t cope with it. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started” – Mark Twain. I also believe that the conventional view of the waste hierarchy doesn’t really get to the nub of the problem. Reduce, reuse, recycle and recover are all very important, but it doesn’t challenge the fact that we really don’t need all the packaging material used day in day out. This isn’t just about light weighting or reducing the amount of plastic being incorporated into packaging, it is thinking much more fundamentally about its use, the items being packaged, and the materials used to do it. The other significant factor at pl...
Guest post by Martin Cohen, author of Rethinking Thinking: Problem Solving from Sun Tzu to Google. See our review of it here. The problem is that at a lot of big companies, process becomes a substitute for thinking. You’re encouraged to behave like a little gear in a complex machine – Elon Musk Does the self-styled Chief Twit really know what he is doing? To scandalised Tweeps on the site, to outsiders looking on, Elon Musk’s reign as Twitter’s new boss can look a bit like, well, chaos. Yet, according to philosopher Martin Cohen, governing the interplay of Musk and Twitter, just as in many apparently chaotic relationships, there is a hidden logic governing the activity. Rethinking Thinking with Elon Musk We should expect this as engineers, like Musk, are practical people, with their expertise rooted in creating systems capable of meeting specific requirements within multiple, often opposed, constraints. Like Archimedes though, who suddenly realised how to calculate the volume of irregularly shaped objects (such as a statue) while lying in his bath, to find those elusive new solutions we often need to change the way we look at the world and think about things. It is in this spirit that Cohen offers several specific thinking strategies for Elon – and us! – to get back in the the driving seat and head towards a bright new future! Thinking Strategy Number 1 Don’t rush to conclude it’s all a mess, instead, try to find the pattern. Biologists and computer programmers alike know that a key part of this task is knowing what information to disregard. At the moment, Musk sees Twitter as essentially a project for software engineering, that runs in real-time and generates weird outputs and he’s essentially trying to reverse engineer it. Political and ethical debates over content he sees as a distraction. This strategy of observing and working out which elements to drop and which to major on apply not only to Musk and Twitter, but to complex relationships of all kinds – including, most definitely, our personal ones! The first step is always to work out what really makes something tick. Thinking Strategy No. 2 is Stop being binary. As a general rule, business leaders like Elon should beware performative leadership or implementing pre-conceived ideas and, instead, try to interact with staff and clients in a non-linear, less directive way. Another way to put it is that, instead of questions and answers, which are like a series of straight lines, sometimes it is better to go for narratives – which are more like shapes. Think like an artist and pause to look, to observe, before shoehorning what is before you into a preconceived frame. Facilitate this is by avoiding ‘yes/no’ language and questions, and encourage story- telling. This goes against many prejudices we have from school—that stories aren’t reliable, may contain unnecessary and ‘distracting’ details or, worst of all, are not ‘true’. But storytelling – like images – can be a deeper form of communication than exchanges based on the mere exchange of facts, and allows people to draw on their intuition. Thinking Strategy No. 3 is Brainstorm. If your business is in need of a rethink, as Elon believes Twitter is, then start, as many real life design agencies regularly do, with a brainstorm. You can brainstorm on your own, but the real advantages of the technique only work when you’re in a group, because that’s where other people’s ideas can spark new ones among participants. Under Elon Musk, Twitter has become the world’s biggest brainstorm, with Musk himself regularly tweeting ideas and questions to millions of people and summarising the feedback. Musk has asked vague things like ‘What is best in life?’ and specific things, like whether Donald Trump should be allowed back. And Musk has apparently respected the brainstorming principle that it’s vital to initially treat all ideas and suggestions with equal weight. Thinking Strategy No. 4 Understand what really drives people. What is really ...
Refurbed, Ireland’s leading refurbished electronics marketplace, has launched a new partnership with 48, which is powered by Three – Ireland’s fastest mobile network. Refurbed and 48 will come together to provide new and existing 48 customers with the option of buying a cheaper, sustainable refurbished smartphone through the 48 dedicated app and website. The announcement marks refurbed’s first partnership within the Irish market as more consumers, particularly young people, are making the conscious decision to buy more sustainable products to reduce their carbon footprint. 48 is Ireland’s first totally digital mobile brand, popular among customers who enjoy commitment-free, data-controlled packages. As a result of this partnership, 48 customers will enjoy a holistic experience as phones and sim cards will be brought to one place, making life a little bit easier for those wanting to buy ‘green.’ Through the My48 App and website, 48 customers will enjoy refurbed’s full selection of refurbished smartphones. Refurbed, who was recently awarded the LinkedIn Top Start-Up in Austria for 2022, and 48 are both passionate about sustainability and financial empowerment. Refurbed’s smartphones are up to 40% more affordable than new devices and are 100% sustainable. The refurbishment process that refurbed’s smartphones undergo is up to 40 steps and produces 70% less CO2 emissions compared to the creation of a new device. To offset the remaining 30%, refurbed plants a tree for every product sold. 48 sends its sim cards in compostable packaging and offers its customers the best value plan on the market as awarded at the 2022 Switcher.ie Mobile Awards. Both companies go hand-in-hand in offering their customers a sustainable and affordable mobile package. As part of this partnership, refurbed will plant a tree for every smartphone sold to 48 customers, with the option to plant a native tree in Ireland. Speaking on the announcement, Pádraig Power, refurbed’s Marketing Manager for Ireland said, “We are delighted to partner with 48, Ireland Best Value Mobile Network. We are excited to broaden our reach through this partnership, bringing refurbed’s smartphones to 48 customers. It is essential that affordable and sustainable alternatives are available to Irish consumers, particularly those looking to make a saving as the cost of living crisis continues. “As a society, we often try to improve our sustainability efforts, but find it challenging. This is why we are proud to present an offer that is actually both sustainable, and cheaper. Together with 48, we will help new and existing 48 customers stay up-to-date with the latest smartphones at more affordable rates while also positively impacting the environment. “This partnership is a milestone in refurbed’s journey in Ireland. We are thrilled to partner with a prominent Irish brand such as 48. The demand for sustainable alternatives in all industries is becoming more apparent among Irish consumers. With this partnership, we are demonstrating that sustainable practices can be incorporated into everyday life such as your mobile sim plan. We are excited to see what the future holds for this partnership.” David Ward, Head of New Products and Propositions, 48 added, “We are proud to announce that 48 is partnering with refurbed, who recently launched their proposition in Ireland of selling refurbished devices at a very reasonable cost and who are offering products up to 40% cheaper and 100% sustainable. This collaboration allows us to place our customers at the core of the partnership, as any existing 48 customer now has the option to buy a refurbished device from refurbed through the My48 app and website once logged into their account. “We also know our customers are very passionate about sustainability, which is another key element of the partnership, and to demonstrate this commitment, for every device bought from refurbed, they will plant a tree on behalf of our customers. We invite all customers, c...
At Hemp Heros we are massive animal lovers and are on a mission to positively impact as many lives as possible, even furry ones. Our pets give us so much, so we believe it is only fair we give back and help those most in need. This is the reason why we support and work with a number of Animal Welfare Charities and rescues across Ireland and the UK. Local Animal Welfare Charities are often the last change for animals have been abused and mistreated. These local charities do incredible work on a daily basis and we are delighted to support them with products and donations to help with expenses. Hemp Heros Giving Back Program to help Animal Welfare Charities “We have been using Hemp Heros Products on our dogs for the past number of months. We have noticed a huge improvement in dogs with pain issues and in dogs with a nervous disposition, it has helped so many dogs here. Thank you Hemp Heros” Fiona – Wicklow Animal Welfare “We are grateful for the collaboration with Hemp Heros we currently use their cbd products to support a range of issues from arthritis, to clean some skin issues and for our more anxious dogs to help them with life at a centre, all of this with the guidance of our vet and team at Hemp Heros. We’ve seen great improvements across all our dogs both past and present.” Jamie – Husky Rescue Ireland “We are delighted to be working with the team at Hemp Heros. Kennels can be an extremely stressful place with such a large number of dogs in residence. Many of our dogs can become quite stressed and anxious during their stay. In order for us to help them overcome this we have started using cbd oil. We find it has a very calming effect on our dogs that need it and takes the slight edge off during their time with us. We are very pleased with the results so far” Anita – Galway SPCA “Dogs Angels have been using Hemp Heros CBD oil products for a number of months now. We had huge improvement with joint pain issues, older and sore dogs have been exhibiting similar improvements to veterinary prescribed pain killers. I would whole heartily recommend, if you have similar issues to try CBD as an alternative or complementary medicine in the relief of joint pain.” Karl – Dogs Angels Hemp Heros is Europes leading a seed to shelf Hemp Company based in the heart of Wicklow, established in 2018. We manufacture a range of healthy hemp based products in our HSE approved facaility. Our products are made using a patent pending cold press technology to ensure our products meet the Novel food standards At Hemp Heros are massive animal lovers and this love for our furry friends was one of the key reasons why Hemp Heros was established. Hemp Heros is an Irish and UK company founded in 2018 and was launched in response to a demand by Customers for high quality CBD/Hemp Products. At Hemp Heros we work directly with Organic Hemp Farmers across Europe to ensure we use only the finest raw materials in our products. All our products are made using Industrial Hemp which ensures it has no intoxicating effect whatsoever. Continuous research and development have enabled us to deliver the very best CBD Oil Ireland has to offer. When it comes to Hemp/CBD we are leading experts in this field and are members of the European Industrial Hemp Association, Guaranteed Irish and Retail Excellence Ireland. See more breaking stories here.
The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar TD today joined Microsoft as it announced new renewable energy contracts, which will see the company contribute close to 30% of Ireland’s corporate power purchase agreement target by 2030. Microsoft entered into multi-year Corporate Power Purchase Agreements (CPPAs) with Statkraft, Energia Group, and Power Capital Renewable Energy, related to the development of more than 900 megawatts of onshore wind and solar energy projects across Ireland. The new power purchase agreements will help support efforts to add additional clean energy capacity to the electricity grid. The Government’s Climate Action Plan includes a target of 15% of electricity demand to be delivered from renewable energy CPPAs by 2030. This equates to approximately 6 terawatt hours of additional electricity generation. Microsoft’s procurement will contribute 28% of that target before the end of the decade. The company is seeking to make a material contribution to accelerating the country’s journey to a net-zero future. In line with the company’s global sustainability goal, Microsoft forecasts that it will cover 100% of its data centre electricity load by 2025 with renewable energy. Commenting on the announcement, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar TD, said: “Data is an enabler of our digital world facilitating everything from remote working and online learning to e-commerce, e-health and online banking. As we position Ireland as a global digital leader and achieve our climate change objectives, Government is determined to progress both the digitalisation of our economy and its decarbonisation. Today’s announcement by Microsoft is very welcome news and will help to ensure that the company’s data centres play a more positive role in bringing new green power to the electricity grid and driving Ireland’s renewable energy transition.” Noelle Walsh, Corporate Vice President, Cloud Operations and Innovation, Microsoft said: “At Microsoft, we’re committed to becoming carbon negative by 2030, working with Governments globally to accelerate the journey to a net-zero future. That’s why I’m delighted to announce today that Microsoft has signed 900MW of onshore wind and solar renewable energy power purchase agreements, which will enable Microsoft to achieve our 2025 sustainability goals and to contribute close to 30% of Ireland’s corporate power purchase target by 2030. With these agreements, we support new renewable energy infrastructure in Ireland. We’re proud to be partnering with leading energy providers to bring this additional renewable energy on stream and help industry and Government and the broader energy sector to achieve its climate action ambitions. “This announcement builds on our efforts to make our data centres more sustainable and foster new innovations to support the growth of renewables on the energy grid here in Ireland. As we continue to support the growing demand for Cloud across public and private sectors, Microsoft is committed to partnering with all stakeholders to help Ireland on its grid decarbonisation journey while unlocking the opportunities of a digital economy and society.” Kevin O’Donovan, Managing Director, Statkraft Ireland said: “As Europe’s largest renewable energy company, Statkraft is already a key player in the Irish market. Given our rapidly growing wind and solar portfolio, as well as our market trading business, we are well-placed to support companies like Microsoft in achieving their renewable energy ambitions. “Today’s announcement shows that our continued rollout of new wind and solar projects is not just having a significant impact on Ireland’s renewable targets, but helping to deliver affordable, green energy to homes, communities – and businesses – amid a fossil fuel-driven energy crisis.” Ian Thom, CEO, Energia Group said: “As an Irish energy company with a proven history of delivering new renewable energy proj...
The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Caroline Conroy, joined Sky Ireland today to launch the first Sky Up Digital Hub in Ireland at a Peter McVerry Trust young persons service in Dublin 8, as part of Sky Ireland’s partnership with the organisation. Backed by an €11 million fund, the ‘Sky Up’ programme is a new initiative that aims to help up-skill 250,000 people across Ireland and the UK by providing them with technology, connectivity and training. The initiative is targeted to support people under 25 in low-income areas and those over the age of 65 – the two primary groups most at risk of digital exclusion. Speaking at the launch, Sky Ireland CEO, JD Buckley, said: “The Sky Up Digital Hubs we are opening across the country will ensure that those who are most at risk of digital exclusion are given access to skills, technology, and connectivity. It is important to Sky that we support the communites where our customers and employees live and work, and that is why we are very proud to launch this iniative with our partners at Peter McVerry Trust, to deliver the first Sky Up Digital Hub in Dublin 8. We look forward to the rollout of more hubs across the country next year.” In 2023, Sky Up Tech Grants will help young people aged between 16 and 25 who have left the care system, to get connected. Recipients will receive a personal tech device pre-loaded with relevant software, an internet connection through Sky Broadband and access to skills training. Pat Doyle, CEO of Peter McVerry Trust said: “We’re delighted to expand our valued partnership with Sky Ireland in such a tangible and practical way. Our specialised homeless accommodation service, here in Dublin 8, provides 35 young people with a safe and secure home whilst they transition into adulthood. The Sky Up Digital Hub will help these young people access education and training opportunities online – enabling them to up-skill and eventually progress on to live independent lives.” Sky Ireland first partnered with Peter McVerry Trust in 2021 as part of the Sky Cares programme. So far this year, the Sky Cares programme has seen almost 300 Sky Ireland staff volunteer over 1000 hours of their time. Sky staff have spent time fundraising for and volunteering at the charity’s residential community service in North County Dublin. Also speaking today, Lord Mayor of Dublin, Caroline Conroy, said: “The opening of this Digital Hub by Sky Ireland with Peter McVerry Trust will provide a vital service for the charity’s young participants. We must ensure that those in our society who are vulnerable are not excluded in the digital age and can have equal access to the digital world. This initiative from Sky Ireland is a practical example of how we can help address digital inequality.” The Sky Up initiative is part of parent-company Comcast’s ‘Project UP’ – a comprehensive initiative to advance digital equity and build a future of unlimited possibilities. Backed by a $1 billion commitment to reach tens of millions of people over the next decade, Project UP encompasses the programmess and community partnerships across the organisation that connect people to the internet, advance economic mobility, and open doors for the next generation.
Bord na Móna are reminding Irish companies that applications to the Accelerate Green accelerator programme will close on Friday 2nd of December. Any early-stage company involved in developing products and services based on green innovation is encouraged to apply to the Accelerate Green programme. Bord na Móna has undergone a significant transformation from a traditional peat-based business to a progressive climate-solutions focused company. In the past year they have invested more than 90% in areas such as renewable energy, land use change and the circular economy. As they redefine their role in tackling the challenges posed by the climate crisis, they are interested in partnering with leading companies and organisations to develop new approaches for climate action. One of these approaches is Accelerate Green which is the first programme of its kind in Ireland. It was developed by Bord na Móna in conjunction with Resolve Partners and is delivered in person in Boora, Co. Offaly. The programme is designed to support early-stage companies leading the response to climate action and sustainability in Ireland. Over the course of the programme, successful companies will be brought through a series of deep learning and mentoring with experts from enterprise and energy agencies, Irish corporates, research networks, investors and successful business leaders as well as access to Bord na Móna’s commercial expertise and knowledge. Previous companies that have successfully taken part in Accelerate Green include Borrisoleigh Bottling Ltd, GoEve, Real Leaf Farm, EpiSensor, Jones Celtic BioEnergy (JCBE) and Positive Carbon. Brendan Carroll, CEO of Limerick headquartered company Episensor, is encouraging companies operating in the sustainability sector to apply. He said: “Accelerate Green gave me time and headspace while being challenged on strategy, that has been really important for our progression and growth with our corporate partners. Being part of a community of founders, all aligned on a climate/sustainability track is also a big peer mentor support. The breadth of speakers and mentors across the programme is both challenging and hugely worthwhile.” Echoing Brendan’s advice, Dermot Honan, CEO of Borrisoleigh Bottling Ltd (BBL) said: “I would highly recommend the programme to any business that is already in the start-up or growth phase. Programme leaders and peers will constructively challenge your core assumptions which should ultimately result in a better outcome and/or product”. Interested companies involved in sustainable innovation can visit accelerategreen.ie to apply or register for the online seminar on the 29th November to learn more. The deadline for applications is COB 2nd December 2022. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Guest Post by David Stephen who looks at Labor Economics Tech work should be tiered, with the lowest tier for just 2-hours per shift, where the pay is considerably low, but output in that duration is sizable enough to match efficient productivity. The recent layoff in tech that many have said would continue through the new year is an opportunity to reorganize what it means to work in tech and for labor to be far more affordable. Labor Economics, Layoffs: How Tiers can save Tech Jobs There are already remote work, gig roles and well as freelance, but tier, with capped hours, pay and consistent intervals, for roles is a direction that could increase productivity and cut costs without layoffs. People can work for just 2 hours, in 3 shifts every 12 hours, making work and offs, 2 hours each. In that time, responsibilities via itemization and breakdown would likely be met, cutting out lost time during work, shared time with random stuff, distractions or multitasking inefficiencies. Those to take over can continue where the last person stopped, or can continue where they left from their last shift, but work and stop is to shape deliverables, to be underscored by the freshness or energy bump from the shift’s break. Work is still mostly the traditional 8-hour shift, with pay and compensation at a level that makes cutting costs means to cut jobs, or outsource. Instead, with this new tier model, it is possible to have people work, pay them far less, and let them have breaks to rest or do whatever they choose, outside the area. This model can begin with tech jobs, but percolate to manufacturing, construction, small businesses and others, even as discussion of migrant workers and labor policies around the world are scrutinized. There will be people hired on higher tiers where they can work for regular hours, to design and coordinate work for the lower tier. The tier role will be arranged by software, to partition duties, contracts and chunking for tasks. There are regular maintenance and operation roles where 2 – 4 people can work on rotation within a day, spreading out what would have been for 1 person for a longer duration or 2 for the whole day. There are some cases the model will be applied, outside of tech, where lower than the minimum wage can be paid, by SMEs, just to reduce labor cost, while the intensity of what should become stressful is tapered. The other purpose of this is to explore free time, so that creativity and observations can improve, as an alternative to sole focus on assigned tasks, to see things differently, which could become helpful in seeking out new frontiers in the field, or for novel products and services to win competition. David Stephen does research in theoretical neuroscience. He has a research experience in computer vision at Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona. He was a visiting scholar in medical entomology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He blogs on troic.medium.com See more stories here.
We look at the eco friendly backpack produced by Targus, you can see more about the 15-16” Work Compact 25L Daypack on their website here. Targus 15-16” Work Compact 25L Daypack reviewed One of our testers was keen to try out a rucksack from the Targus range, as an alternative to taking a suitcase everywhere. The eco credentials were also a positive aspect for all of the testing team. It is a win win, people want to buy ecofriendly products, and if they are well put together then they become a positive validation of trying to close the circle between products we need and helping the planet at the same time. Naturally it is also important to have a solid and secure place to put your laptop within the backpack. This backpack achieves this effectively which is great as it feels more secure than having it bounce around within a suitcase. The size would also give you the chance of getting this bag onto the plane too which could be very useful, give or take the carbon footprint implications of continuing to fly. The testers found the backpack useful, stylish, useful and it already seems to have disappeared as one of them has taken it with them on their travels. Always a good sign. We look forward to learning more about this company and their evolving product range. More about the product The streamlined construct of the Targus 15-16” Work+™ Compact 25L Daypack will stylishly carry the day’s essentials in its padded main compartment with a quick zip to expand its capacity. Stow a bottle of water to-go in its designated pocket to stay hydrated, put a spare pair of shoes in the external compartment, and be prepared for whatever comes your way. Rain or shine, this lightweight bag is made from water-resistant materials to help protect your tech from the elements, while its lockable zipper can help to keep your things secure. This backpack offers a top and lay-flat loading feature, two additional grab-and-go handles, plus a trolley strap to conveniently attach to your rolling luggage. Sleek and Spacious With a quick unzip, this unique bag increases its capacity by 25% to hold your essentials and more. A change of clothes or some extra gear, this bag has room for it all. Stay Hydrated and Stay Organised Protect your water bottle inside this bag’s hidden, designated pocket or keep snacks handy in the exterior pocket for that midday lull. The bag’s clamshell opening gives you full access to your laptop and other accessories to help you make the most of your day. Quarantine Your Shoes Hitting the gym before work or the dance floor after? Keep your spare set of shoes separated from everything else in your bag in its lined, ventilated side compartment. Specifications Works With16″ Laptops and under ColourBlack StyleBackpack Protection LevelGood Capacity25L CollectionWork+™ Dimensions29 x 19 x 50 cm Weight1 kg Laptop Compartment (W x H)38.6 x 26 x 2 cm WarrantyLimited Lifetime Warranty EAN5051794033304 Country of OriginChina More about Targus Targus has been a leading brand in backpacks, tablet cases and tech accessories for almost 40 years. With Christmas just around the corner, we thought we’d give you a sneak peak at what will be under the tree this year with the Top 10 Christmas Gifts from Targus. These are gifts for everyone on your list, whether they are a big techie or a sustainable shopper, and your friends and family will use them all year (and for many more). Recommendations include a gaming backpack, travel tech accessories, eco-friendly laptop cases and iPad cases for all the newest models, including the new 2022 10.9″ iPad Air. Take a look at the image below or the attached sheet, or check out more products at Targus.com. Headquartered in Anaheim, California, Targus has global operations in more than 24 offices and distribution in more than 100 countries. Learn more about us at targus.com, like or follow us on Facebook, and LinkedIn. See more product reviews here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Onl...
Invertebrate conservation charity Buglife is thrilled to announce that two new populations of one of Britian’s rarest beetles have been discovered in Devon. The rare Blue Ground Beetle (Carabus intricatus) has been found at two new sites on Dartmoor – thanks to the efforts of Buglife staff, volunteers, and local naturalists. Laura Larkin, Buglife Conservation Officer shared “Previously, the Blue Ground Beetle was only known from 13 sites in Devon, Cornwall and South Wales, so these new sightings are really significant, and they show how much we still have to learn about this magnificent beetle!” Blue Ground Beetle, rare beetle discovered on Dartmoor Up to 38mm in length, the Blue Ground Beetle is the UK’s largest ground beetle. Given its name as a result of the beautifully marked and strikingly blue-coloured wing cases, the Blue Ground Beetle makes its home in damp, deciduous, often ancient, woodlands of Oak and Beech. Both the adults and their larvae feed on slugs; upon finding their prey, the beetle will bite with its large jaws and inject digestive juices into the slug, eating it by sucking out its insides. Blue Ground Beetles are mainly nocturnal and can be found all through the year, although they are most active and easiest to see from March to June, when adult beetles can be found clambering up mossy tree trunks under cover of darkness, in search of prey. Blue Ground Beetles can be easily confused with some of their smaller, more commonly seen relatives including the Violet Ground Beetle (Carabus violaceus); these beetles can be found throughout the UK, are smaller in size and more purple in their colouring. It would be highly unlikely to find a Blue Ground Beetle outside of its known range. Buglife’s Dartmoor Blue Ground Beetle project was established to survey Dartmoor woods; seeking undiscovered populations of the Blue Ground Beetle. Working with local volunteers and naturalist John Walters, the project team have spent many damp torchlit nights searching for the beetle. The hard work and late nights have been rewarded with the addition of two new Blue Ground Beetle sites on Dartmoor during 2022. Claire Hyne, from Papillon Gin who have funded the project said: “We are delighted to be able to provide funding for this important project on Dartmoor. It is very exciting that two new sites have been found this year. Great work from the Buglife team and volunteers”. Richard Knott, Dartmoor National Park Authority’s Ecologist, said: “Dartmoor is of national importance for the Blue Ground Beetle, Britain’s largest and rarest beetle, and the combination of ancient valley woodlands and humid climate create the perfect conditions for slugs, which adults and larvae feed on. The discovery of these new sites is very exciting and indicates that Dartmoor habitats remain favourable for this rare and fascinating species. There has been further excitement following a member of the public finding a deceased beetle whilst out walking near Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. Tom Waters, who discovered the beetle said “‘I was genuinely thrilled to discover the Blue Ground Beetle in what is one of my favourite spots, and also very proud to be able to provide a new record for the beetle in Cornwall.” Laura Larkin added “These new Blue Ground Beetle records are really exciting. To find two additional sites on Dartmoor and realise that a third site in Cornwall is much larger than we originally thought are very significant for this very rare species. The fact that we now know of 15 UK sites is an incredible boost for these magnificent beetles, and there is still more work to do.” If you’re interested in learning more about Buglife’s Dartmoor Blue Ground Beetle Project and would like to get involved please visit Dartmoor Blue Ground Beetle Project – Buglife projects Buglife is the only organisation in Europe devoted to the conservation of all invertebrates our aim is to halt the extinction of invertebrate species and to achieve sustainable populations of...
We look at our first product from the German company Kärcher. You can see more about the Wet and dry Vacuum Cleaner WD 4 product here. Kärcher Wet and dry Vacuum Cleaner WD 4 reviewed For heavier jobs it is good to have a more robust vacuum cleaner. Dyson are very popular with our testers, but they can be a little fragile sometimes too, both in terms of their build and also their operating parts. For our testers with heavier cleaning loads, we’re talking building dust from cutting lintels, sawdust and general home renovation debris a product like this one offers more robustness and less likelihood of breaking the actual product itself. Out of the box our testers found it easy to set up, easy to fire up, and to use. They found that worked well, and they were happy with how it performed. Naturally filters and wear and tear are elements that are harder to assess from an initial usage, but ongoing testing should give us more of an idea of the durability of the product too. For a new company and company it seems like a good entrant into the market and it is one that we will keep an eye out for. We would have added a demo video, but the last videos added to their YouTube channel were eight years ago. This is something they might want to fix and probably reboot asap. As with all products and their promotion it makes sense to have an integrated marketing strategy going forwards. Maybe it’s coming down the line? More about the product The Kärcher WD 4 Wet & Dry vacuum cleaner makes light work of the toughest cleaning jobs, for the car, garage and garden. The WD 4 is super-powerful with a power consumption of just 1,000 watts and a robust 20L plastic container. The specially designed floor nozzles guarantee effortless vacuuming and perfect dirt pick up for the tasks too tough for your indoor vacuum. The WD 4 comes complete with a flat pleated filter, which makes emptying the machine quick and easy, for no contact with the filter or dirt. The flat pleated filter is ideal for wet and dry vacuuming with no need for filter replacement. The practical cable and accessory storage on the WD 4 means that the suction hose, power cable and accessories are always to hand, and can be stored neatly when not in use. The WD 4 is easy to transport and store, and comes equipped with a 2.2m suction hose, 2x 0.5m suction tubes, wet to dry floor tool, and a fleece filter bag. Patented filter removal technology Quick and easy removal of the filter from the filter box – without contact with dirt. For wet and dry suction without changing the filter. Newly developed floor nozzle and suction hose For perfect cleaning results, with dry or wet, fine or coarse dirt. For maximum convenience and flexibility when vacuuming. Removable handle Offers the possibility of attaching different nozzles directly on the suction hose. For easy vacuuming even in the tightest of spaces. More about Kärcher The world market leader for cleaning technology, Kärcher is making the long winter months ahead that bit easier for Irish homeowners with their new Wet and Dry vacuum range. The WD range is powerful, easy to operate and prepared for any cleaning task thrown at them. Their design offers strong aesthetics, robust material, superb user-friendliness and innovative functional features that present an industrial ready machine designed for the home. Kärcher will be running 20% off all Home & Garden products on www.karcher.ie running from Friday 25th – Monday 28th for Black Friday and Cyber Monday See more product reviews here.
In this review we look at the SONY LinkBuds, you can see more on their website here. Also see our recent preview of other SONY products here. SONY LinkBuds reviewed We received the grey LinkBuds variety to review. The box is snug, compact and works well in the hand. The exterior packaging was all cardboard too which seems like a good, positive, small win in terms of more ecologically friendly packaging. There is little to no other plastic packaging associated with the product, which our testers liked and found to be positive. The earbuds aim to walk that line between delivering you with the sounds you want to hear from your device, while still being able to hear the immediate outside world around you when needed. There is an actual hole, donut like, in the middle of the ear piece to allow this duality to take place. As always with earbuds the big question for any tester is, will it fit, and remain in my ear while I use it? With this one it takes some getting used to as it works in a different way to many of the other models on the market that we have tested. They are helpfully labeled left and right to speed up this process, and, while initially requiring some adjustment to be fair they do stay in, so ‘remaining in your ear’ should not be a lasting issue. Once you have cracked that issue, the sound is good, both for music and audio interactions. This is the first SONY device our team have reviewed in a long, long time, what is that about SONY? Our team were a little tentative at first, but they found it well put together, with good quality in terms of the product and usability. It will be interesting to see how this range continues to develop, and, as SONY do have a good product reputation in general it could be the first of many positive products for our reviewers to tackle. More about the product Never off With LinkBuds, you are always connected with your everyday life. Comfortably wear them around the clock as you hear sounds around you transparently, feeling nothing on your ear, while you remain in touch with people and places, without ever having to pause your personal soundtrack. LinkBuds bridge your daily life and the entertainment you love, wherever you go, whatever you do. Keep every world on LinkBuds series are comfortable enough to wear all the time and smart so they adapt to your life – keeping you connected to the people and entertainment you love. Ultra clear, noise-free calls With precise voice pickup technology with advanced audio signal processing, the person on the other end of the call will hear your voice clearly, even when you are in noisy situations. Our noise reduction algorithm was developed using AI machine learning using more than 500 million voice samples to suppress ambient noise and extract your voice clearly in a wide range of environments. Authentic, natural sound Enjoy well balanced, high quality sound with a clear mid-high range. Our Integrated Processor V1 reproduces all the detail in your music with minimal distortion for an authentic listening experience. A specially designed 12mm ring driver with a high compliance (low recoil) diaphragm provides rich, well-balanced sound. Give your favourite music a boost When an original music source is compressed, it loses the high-frequency elements that add detail and richness to a track. Our Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE) faithfully restores these to produce high-quality sound that’s closer to the original recording. Simply tap near the ear LinkBuds may be small but that doesn’t mean they’re difficult to use. With Wide Area Tap, you can use double or triple taps in front of either of your ears to control your music playback – so there’s no need to touch the LinkBuds themselves to operate. See more product reviews here.
After the past three tricky years coping with Covid-19 and hybrid and remote working, businesses have had a lot to deal with. One thing they can do to shape the future of work and redefine their company culture is by using recognition. By using recognition as a tool, businesses can ensure that employees are happy and engaged and in turn, will stay for the long term. One of the world’s foremost experts on employee recognition and engagement is Derek Irvine, a senior vice president at Irish tech unicorn Workhuman. Derek talks to Ronan about his background, how organisations can use recognition to shape the future of work, lack of trust and more. More about Derek Irvine: As senior vice president, client strategy and consulting at Workhuman, Derek helps clients – including some of the world’s most admired companies – leverage proven recognition strategies and best practices to elevate employee engagement, increase retention, and improve bottom-line results. While he currently leads the company’s strategy & consulting services division, Derek oversaw the company’s global marketing and rewards functions from 2000 to 2010, growing Workhuman from a start-up to the Unicorn organisation it is today. Derek is one of the world’s foremost experts on employee recognition and engagement and continuous performance management, helping business leaders set a higher vision and ambition for their company culture. As a renowned speaker and co-author of three books – “Making Work Human,” “Winning with a Culture of Recognition” and “The Power of Thanks” – he teaches HR leaders how to use recognition to proactively manage company culture. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Research from Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, has found that 90% of Irish homeowners have plans to boost the efficiency of their homes this winter and are willing to spend an average of €1,705 on the necessary upgrades to do so. However, two thirds (61%) of Irish homeowners just don’t know where to start and with a full retrofit costing as much as €75,000 it’s clear that homeowners need help understanding where to prioritise investment. Energy saving tips for homeowners The findings of the research, show that homeowners are ready to make positive changes to lower their home energy consumption but with 77% being discouraged by the perceived expense that comes with green retrofitting they are leaning towards simpler everyday actions in the home. The top 10 actions being considered are: Turning off lights/appliances when not in use (76%) Wearing warm clothing around the house rather than turn on the heating (63%) Reduce the use of appliances (59%) Closing curtains/blinds before dark to retain heat (48%) Only heating certain rooms in the house (47%) Turning down the thermostat (44%) Using more energy efficient appliances (39%) Using a fire/wood burner instead of central heating (37%) Investing in draught excluders/thicker curtains (27%) Using a kettle rather than a hob to heat water (25%) The energy crisis is helping to accelerate the retrofit market and encouraging people to live more sustainable lives. Whilst the rising cost of energy bills is a key concern for Irish homeowners, those whose home is BER C and below, in the next 12 months, would be willing to invest an average of €1,705 on home efficiency upgrades. However, with funds tight, homeowners are looking for a quick return on their investment with 65% wanting to see a return on their investment within 5 years. Only 20% are willing to wait 5-10 years. Ireland’s National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme provides a grant of 50% of the cost of a typical deep retrofit to a B2 energy rating. Schneider’s research shows that four in five (86%) are interested in accessing government grants to fund home improvements for energy efficiency. But what is also clear is that there needs to be more transparency on the topic as four in five (89%) believe there is still a need for education and guidance on how to make homes more efficient. Clearly “Common sense” approaches to energy saving, alongside home improvements and smart technology could provide a fast, low-cost solution. For example, simply draught-proofing gaps can save the average person in Northern Ireland £100 on their annual energy bills and restricting time spent in the shower to 4 minutes could save up to £90. When paired with home energy management systems to provide a comprehensive overview of their energy usage these small changes can make a big, overall impact on homeowner’s bills this winter. Other energy saving tips include: Switching appliances off standby mode (annual saving of £30) Switching off lights (annual saving of £12) Washing at 30 degrees and reducing use by one run a week (annual saving of £16) Avoiding using the tumble dryer (annual saving of £35) Switching one bath a week for a 4-minute shower (annual saving of £19) Fitting an aerator and not overfilling the kettle (annual saving of £36) Insulating the hot water cylinder (annual saving of £65) Chris Collins, Country President of Ireland at Schneider Electric UK & Ireland, says: “Evidently homeowners are keen to access government grants to fund home improvements, but they may need more guidance when it comes to finding the right energy saving solutions for them. Clearly there is a need for inexpensive energy saving solutions and upgrades that offer quick returns on investment, especially at a time when homeowners need to future-proof against volatile energy prices and power cuts.” “Home improvements and access to smart technology will reduce energy bills, energy poverty and make homes more comf...
Virgin Media, the official sponsor of Usain Bolt’s esports organisation and Ireland’s premier esports team WYLDE, will host Ireland’s most unique football battle, which will see Irish football legends David Meyler and Stephanie Roche take on Ireland’s top FIFA players Ciaran Walsh and Tyrone Ryan. In a League of Ireland first, the game, powered by Virgin Media broadband, will take place in Cork City FC’s Turner’s Cross Stadium on Tuesday 29th November and will be live on Twitch at 5pm. WYLDE players Tyrone Ryan and Ciaran Walsh represent Ireland in international FIFA competitions and are Ireland’s highest ranked FIFA players. The esports athletes will compete with former Ireland and professional footballer David Meyler and former Ireland women’s football player, Stephanie Roche. Another great Ireland footballer, and Virgin Media Sport pundit, Damien Delaney will provide live commentary and analysis alongside esports caster and football commentator, Darren Gibson. Speaking at the launch of the big game, Virgin Media Ireland Marketing Manager, Clare Quinlan said: “Ireland’s gamers are the next generation of esports athletes and professional players. With this unique Irish football game, Virgin Media is keen to turn the spotlight from Qatar to Cork and recognise the huge talent that gamers in Ireland represent. Irish esports players and gamers at home compete internationally every day. “At Virgin Media, we understand, that just like in every sport, gamers need the right equipment – in this case, the best broadband. We are delighted to sponsor Ireland’s first esports academy, the WYLDE Academy, in Cork powered by Virgin Media’s 1Gb speeds and 9.99% reliable broadband, the academy is an exciting opportunity to help nurture and support gaming talent in Ireland.” An avid online gamer, former professional midfielder, David Meyler said: “After retiring from professional football, I started gaming online and have since become a keen content streamer on Twitch. I am delighted to be part of this campaign, especially as it takes place on my home turf. I began my career playing for Cork City, and although I’ve played many a soccer game in Turner’s Cross, this will be my first-time gaming on a pitch. I am thrilled to be competing with WYLDE esports players, Tyrone and Ciaran, as I understand the level of skill and dedication gaming at his level takes. They are both seriously impressive.” Stephanie Roche added: “I love playing FIFA, but I am not a patch on Ciaran and Tyrone on the FIFA pitch! As an athlete, routine is a major part of my life, from diet to hours of training and competing. Ciaran and Tyrone’s commitment to perfecting their craft is incredible. This experience has been totally eye-opening, and the WYLDE players are a testament to the fact that gaming is serious business, and they truly are athletes.” Speaking on behalf of WYLDE, which is co-owned by the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt, co-owner and Chief Executive Steve Daly added; “We are really excited to see our professional esports athletes competing with some of Ireland’s best footballing talent. Both David and Stephanie represented Ireland internationally on the pitch, while Tyrone and Ciaran represent Ireland internationally online. Thanks to Virgin Media for bringing these four talented professional players together for this high-octane, superfast and unique football event in Ireland.” This event is forms part of a nationwide campaign, where two of Ireland’s top FIFA champions Ciaran Walsh and Tyrone Ryan are showcased as elite athletes who, like other athletes, rely on their kit to perform at the highest level. As part of the campaign, Tyrone Ryan and Ciarán Walsh from Team WYLDE, show how they leverage the speed and reliability of Virgin Media broadband to bring their A-game. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previ...
Datapac, Ireland’s leading ICT Services and Solutions provider, has announced it has achieved Blue Diamond partner status with Datto, the leading global provider of on-premise and cloud-based backup and business continuity solutions. The Blue Diamond status is the highest classification provided by Datto and represents the top 2% of the company’s partners worldwide. Datapac has successfully qualified for Blue Diamond status through Datto’s Global Partner Programme. The company was recognised for its innovative solutions and high standard of service delivery to customers. This offers increased access to Datto’s most highly trained and qualified support technicians, enabling Datapac to enhance its backup and business continuity services for its customer base nationwide. Datapac is one of the longest standing, entirely indigenously owned and operated ICT services and solutions providers in Ireland, boasting a proud heritage of servicing the needs of Irish organisations for over forty years. In that time, Datapac has honed and perfected its approach to customer success, collaboratively working with each of its customers as a trusted advisor, carefully considering the unique needs of each individual organisation with strategic road mapping to design and deliver solutions which are not only best-in-class, but best for them. Having partnered with Datto since 2015 and acting as a strategic market growth advisor through Datto’s Partner Advisory Board, Datapac has benefitted from Datto’s likeminded vision, leveraging the power of its solutions for a wide range of organisations from SMB to enterprise, both in the public and private sector. Greg Jones, Vice President of Business Development, EMEA, Datto: “We are thrilled to recognise Datapac as a Blue Diamond Partner. We are committed to providing Datapac and all of our partners with the necessary capabilities to develop deep relationships with their customers and keep growing their brands and businesses. We look forward to more success from Datapac in 2023, as we continue to roll out new partner services.” Christine Fortune, Sales Manager ICT Services and Solutions, Datapac: “We’ve always enjoyed working with Datto; the intuitive and flexible nature of their Partner Programme has enabled us to meet and exceed the needs of Datapac and our customers. Data backup and business continuity is such an essential component for any organisation’s cybersecurity position; having Datto in our corner has allowed us to deliver the very best-fit solutions for our valued customers.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Online channels with saturation levels of junk food marketing are the biggest influencers of Irish teenagers’ food choices, a new study shows. As the Irish Heart Foundation launched a hard-hitting campaign to confront the deluge of unhealthy food ads, 57% of teens say online media is the most influential factor dictating their food preferences. The Empathy Research study for the charity also found that over a third (35%) claim they consume junk food after seeing them. “Children are being bombarded with junk food marketing and this research shows it is strongly impacting their food choices,” said Chris Macey, the Irish Heart Foundation’s Director of Advocacy. “It is now at saturation level, particularly through online marketing behind parents’ backs, manipulating children’s food choices and thereby fuelling an obesity crisis threatening their health. “Meanwhile, the Government stands by and allows voluntary regulation of online marketing.” Launching its ‘Stop Targeting Kids’ campaign and video in Dublin, the Foundation said it wants a blanket ban on junk food marketing online, an extension of the broadcast watershed from 6 pm to 9 pm and a ban on junk food advertising on State-owned transport and buildings. It is also demanding the Government fulfils its 2020 commitment to introduce a Public Health (Obesity) Act. The study of 500 parents and 500 teenagers shows social media (64%) is where most teens are exposed to high-fat, sugar and salt foods, particularly on TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube and Instagram – platforms teens access, on average, 38 times daily. Separate UK research shows under-16s are exposed to 15.1 billion junk food ads every year online, Australian studies show junk food brands are targeting children with three ads every 10 minutes online and in Canada, youngsters are exposed to more than 100 ads a week. The charity believes a similar trend exists here. “One in 20 of this generation’s children will die prematurely due to being overweight and obesity. We are seeing cases of children as young as six presenting to doctors with high blood pressure,” said Mr Macey. “If the Government does not act now, future generations will suffer and children will continue to die prematurely. “In the midst of this crisis, the State continues to earn revenue from the promotion of junk foods on public transport, profiting from the damage being done to children’s health.” He said it would have been “impossible” to reduce Ireland’s teen smoking rate from 41% to 12% if tobacco advertising had continued. The data also shows Irish teenagers appear to know the risks of consuming unhealthy foods they see online, with over a third (35%) very worried and 32% saying they would support a junk food advertising ban to under-18s. Meanwhile, 45% of parents are “very worried” about their child’s consumption of junk food and 49% say it is becoming more difficult to get their teenager to eat healthily. Mr Macey asked the public to support the Foundation’s campaign and sign an online petition calling for the introduction of the Public Health (Obesity) Act at irishheart.ie.
With Black Friday almost upon us, Commercial Director of Switcher.ie Eoin Clarke shares his latest tips for consumers looking to secure the best deals: Set your sites: Jot down specific items before you shop, with rough price estimates. Next list the sites you plan to visit in priority order. Remember to compare the final cost with your budget. Make a budget: And stick to it. It may sound simple, but having a north star from the outset means it’s easier to resist deals you don’t necessarily need. Preview prices: Advertised discounts aren’t always what they seem, so take note of pre-sale prices to ensure you’ve bagged a genuine bargain. Watch for exclusives: Newsletters and social media are great spots to get the first sniff of discount codes, special offers and sale dates. Get rewards: Check if your credit card or debit card offers cashback or shopping rewards. Just remember to pay your balance in full at the end of the month, or the interest owed could outweigh the savings. Shop trusted brands: If a deal seems too good to be true, it might be. Check for any hidden catches, as you don’t want to be saddled with a faulty product or a delivery no-show at this time of year. Make sure each website has a reputable address, customer care number or online chat. Try older tech: New smartphone models are usually released every year. If you’re on the hunt for a mobile phone, you can often clinch a good iPhone or Samsung deal by choosing a slightly older model with a bigger price cut. Be snappy: The early bird gets the worm and planning ahead means bagging the best Black Friday deals. You can usually snap up big savings on the biggest tech, toy, beauty and fashion retailers in Ireland if you’re quick. Know your refund rights: Shopping online has lots of advantages, including extra refund rights that you don’t get on the high street. Always check out the retailer’s refund policy before you click the buy button. Buy online: Shopping online comfort of your home can mean better refund rights, an easier way to compare prices and additional savings on parking or transport. Eoin Clarke, Commercial Director of Switcher.ie says: “Consumers are really feeling the pinch this year, and every penny counts this Black Friday as shoppers try to cut costs ahead of Christmas.” “It’s important to plan ahead if you want to get the best deals. Stick with a list of websites, set a budget and only purchase what you planned to – it’s not a bargain if you don’t need it. Remember that discounts aren’t always what they seem, either. Take note of pre-sale prices so you know you’ve got a genuine bargain.” “If you’re thinking of shopping online, it can be a good way to save extra money on transport, and it comes with additional refund rights, too.”
The winners of the prestigious 2022 Science Foundation Ireland Awards were revealed at the annual SFI Science Summit, held in person for the first time in two years. Joined by over 500 leading members of the Irish research community, SFI is celebrating the contribution researchers have made to our society and economy. Acknowledging the award winners Prof Philip Nolan, Director General, Science Foundation Ireland, said: “I want to congratulate all the award recipients. The SFI Awards recognise exceptional achievements within our research community, and the ways in which research contributes to our wellbeing and our environmental, social and economic development and sustainability. These awards reflect the dedication and determination of our researchers as they work to discover new knowledge, to innovate, and to make the world a better place. The awardees are truly inspiring. “I would like to congratulate Prof Orla Hardiman as the 2022 SFI Researcher of the Year. She has made an outstanding contribution to our understanding of, and the treatment and care of people with motor neurone disease. It is wonderful to acknowledge her achievements and the achievements of researchers across all in our Higher Education Institutions and the wider research ecosystem.” This year there are nine categories in total, with Engaged Research being acknowledged for the very first time: SFI Researcher of the Year 2022 Recipient: Professor Orla Hardiman, Trinity College Dublin Prof Hardiman is a clinician scientist and a world authority on the causes, diagnosis, and treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)/ Motor Neuron Disease (MND). ALS/MND. Prof. Hardiman is a professor of neurology and the Head of the Academic Unit of Neurology at Trinity College Dublin and leads the SFI Precision ALS Spoke. She is a researcher at the FutureNeuro and ADAPT SFI Research Centres. She is the founder and director of the National Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)/ Motor Neuron Disease (MND) Clinical and Research Programme, and the HSE National Clinical Lead for Neurology Commenting on receiving the Award Professor Hardiman stated: “I am greatly honoured to receive this prestigious award, which is a reflection of the hugely talented individuals with whom I have had the privilege of supervising, mentoring and collaborating over the years. I am also aware of the enormous benefits of being in a position to engage in international collaborations with like-minded clinician scientists. Understanding the processes that drive neurodegeneration is the “final frontier” in neuroscience. As clinician scientists, we seek to unravel the complexity of neurodegenerative disease in humans, and our work in Ireland has focussed on how best to enable the successful translation of laboratory discoveries to new drugs for those with different subtypes of disease. “Our ultimate collective objective is to ensure that we provide the right drug for the right patient at the right time. I am particularly conscious of my privileged position as a female leader in science, and of the importance of mentoring from experience other younger women as they juggle careers, family life and research. I am enormously grateful to both SFI and the HRB in enabling my scientific career over the years, and of course to my husband Gerry and my children for their ongoing love and support.” The other eight award winners were: SFI Early Career Researcher of the Year 2022 Recipient: Dr Claire Gillan, Trinity College Dublin Dr Gillan is an internationally renowned expert on mental illnesses, and was the first to show that patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have tendencies to form habits, a ground-breaking discovery in OCD that features in several undergraduate textbooks today. SFI Commercialisation Award 2022 Recipient: Dr Alison Liddy, University of Galway Dr Liddy and her team are developing a novel, disruptive, treatment for chronic pain without the usual addictive side-effects current treat...
In this conversation we catch up with Shawn Deegan, Head of Cloud at Presidio, to get his take on the latest trends in technology and cloud based solutions What customers want, Shawn Deegan, Head of Cloud at Presidio Shawn Deegan, Head of Cloud at Presidio Shawn joined Presidio in 2021 and is responsible for Presidio’s Cloud Solutions Group in EMEA. He has over 20 years’ experience helping customers get the most out their IT investments. Born and raised in Montreal, Canada, Shawn moved his family to the UK in 2017 after stints in the US over the previous 10 years. He has been working with Cloud technologies since 2008 and is passionate about supporting customers accelerate their digital innovation initiatives utilizing the most powerful cloud solutions on the market. When not working, Shawn loves to travel and explore new places and cultures with his family. Cloud has turned business inside out by providing multiple possibilities for digital transformation. Changes to your networking strategy have significant implications for IT infrastructure and the business. Presidio has teamed up with networking partner Cisco to publish an eBook titled ’10 key steps to successfully re-invent your network for a digital, cloud-driven world’. To learn more about how Presidio can help support your business in its move to the cloud and to download your free eBook, please click below: About Presidio Presidio is a global digital services and solutions provider accelerating business transformation through secured technology modernisation. Highly skilled teams of engineers and solutions architects with deep expertise across cloud, security, networking and modern data centre infrastructure help customers acquire, deploy and operate technology that delivers impactful business outcomes. Presidio is a trusted strategic advisor with a flexible full life cycle model of professional, managed, support and staffing services to help execute, secure, operationalise and maintain technology solutions. Presidio has an unrivalled network of partnership accreditations with leading global IT vendors and is an AWS Premier partner, Microsoft Gold, Cisco Gold, Citrix Platinum, Dell Technologies Titanium, HP and Lenovo Platinum and an IBM Gold partner. Presidio is a global scale Apple Authorised Enterprise Reseller. In Ireland, Presidio employs over 300 people and generates revenues of over €260m. Headquartered in New York, USA, Presidio serves approximately 7,300 middle-market large and government organisations across a diverse range of industries. Presidio employs approximately 3,200 professionals including 1,600 technical engineers and drives revenues of over $3.1 billion. See more podcasts here.
Oxford’s experts cover every aspect of the COP27 agenda: Finance, Energy, Nature, Adaptation, Loss and Damage, Science & Innovation, Transport Key COP27 contact list, including academics at the conference here:%20COP27%20list.pdf Expert comments as COP27 draws to a close Dr Stephanie Hirmer, who researches climate compatible growth, said: ‘It is hard to miss the emotionally-charged state of those impacted by the consequences of climate change at COP27. The few protestors that are brave enough to openly voice concerns here – those that do not shy away from the difficult conversations that should happen – actually represent the voices of the many, despite their limited numbers. ‘While everyone knows that the 1.5-degree target is off the table, it is not openly discussed in official sessions. And while successes here are few, at least Loss and Damage has officially been discussed for the first time, with $1 billion pledged by the EU. ‘Additionally, this is the first COP where biodiversity and nature are a fundamental part of the climate discussions—we are finally collectively acknowledging that without the absorptive capacity of nature, climate targets would have been surpassed long ago. This COP was branded as the “implementation COP” following on from COP26 as the “COP of the pledges” – however, nothing has been implemented, and it has thus failed to achieve what it set out to do..What I hope for COP28 is that the difficult questions are more at the forefront of discussion, and not relegated to a few brave and quickly silenced protestors.’ From Egypt – Alycia Leonard, postdoctoral research assistant, energy and power group, said: ‘There is a sense on the ground that this COP could be the beginning of the end of 1.5 degrees..But this COP has also normalised the once radical notion of North-to-South loss and damage reparations. People are beginning to realise the dire warnings put forward by small island states for years will soon come home. ‘The most inspiring voices to me this COP were those of indigenous women, which rang loud and true with the wisdom we need to confront this crisis..It doesn’t have to be a zero sum game. We can and must all win together.’ Dr Linda Speight, a hydro-meteorologist, whose research seeks to develop early warning systems to improve disaster risk management, particularly for flooding, said: ‘As the climate changes and urban populations grow, the number of people around the world at risk of flooding is increasing. We must prepare for tomorrow’s climate today by investing in early warning and disaster management tools that support increased climate resilience.’ See more breaking stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
We look at this new book by Erica Thompson, Escape from Model Land How Mathematical Models Can Led Us Astray and What We Can Do About It. Hardback, £20.00, ISBN: 9781529364873, Basic Books UK, 24 November 2022 Escape from Model Land How Mathematical Models Can Led Us Astray and What We Can Do About It, reviewed At times it can feel like progress and humanity are not on a solely upward journey. As species we have invented lots of amazing things, and achieved many great things, reducing infant mortality, deaths in childbirth, and increasing life expectancy. And yet in some countries these benefits have stalled or even fallen backwards. In many ways modelling scenarios was a helpful shorthand to work out potential solutions and answers to the best ways to help the most people. However at the same time, if the model is not an accurate representation of what you are trying to model then errors can slip in. Naturally the challenge is that when is a model too minimal and too brief a representation of the problem you are trying to solve. At the other extreme, if you don’t make any reductions or assumptions, then your model is merely a facsimile and is not actually serving any purpose or saving any time. The author Erica Thompson explains this key question effectively and from there the book unfolds. A thoughtful, timely and interesting book to read. More about the book From pandemic responses to tackling climate change, mathematical models increasingly affect our lives. But models can also lead us astray, and badly. How can we improve them and make better decisions? Models are at the centre of everything we do. They became headline news as we navigated the COVID-19 pandemic and are helping us navigate the uncertainties of climate change. Whether we use them or are simply affected by them, they act as metaphors that help us better understand the increasingly complex problems facing us in the modern world. Without models, we couldn’t begin to tackle three of the major challenges facing modern society: regulation of the economy, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. This book explains for the general reader, for the first time, what models are, how they work and why they matter. It also sheds light on the debate over the validity of the models we use, and the disastrous consequences when the makers and interpreters of models get things wrong. Erica Thompson shows how our current modelling system is inherently biased towards a particular view of the world, which can distort our thinking. Once we become aware of the limits of our models, we can improve them and be more critical when using them to make real-world policies. Writing with passion and humour, Erica Thompson draws upon contemporary examples from finance, climate and health policy, to explore what models are, why we need them, how they work and what happens when they go wrong. We shouldn’t do away with models, she argues, but we should better understand them and be aware how the assumptions that underlie our models can have significant unintended consequences. More about the author Erica Thompson is a senior policy fellow at the London School of Economics’ Data Science Institute and a fellow of the London Mathematical Laboratory. With a PhD from Imperial College, she has recently worked on the limitations of models of COVID-19 spread, humanitarian crises, and climate change. She lives in West Wales. See more reviews here.
Kirstie Affleck reviews Decoded: The Science Behind Why We Buy, Second Edition by Phil Barden, published by Wiley. See more about the book here. This book successfully brings together data from neuroscience and behavioural economics, cognitive and social psychology to show why people choose to buy what they buy. It aims to demonstrate how to use empirical measurements to build brands and drive revenue. It covers a range of marketing media including print advertising, digital and TV. Decoded: The Science Behind Why We Buy, reviewed The book shows how scientific data can be used in order to take a logical evidence based approach to marketing a product or service. This book gives scientific backed explanations and real life case studies on how a brand can become a leading market player in a competitive marketplace. It also points out where brands got it wrong. It explains how consumers have implicit and explicit goals and the reasons for why these exist, and offers up the technique of using a product or service to be ‘hired’ to fulfil the end goal. How setting an anchor price and adding a discount or premium priced product can affect consumer behaviour is also covered, and how framing a product increases its relevancy. The book includes useful pictures and charts to make the points easily viewable. The layout is written as if for academic study with handy chapter summaries and additional reading suggestions. The chapters on seller interfaces, and product positioning I found especially interesting. A chapter on Covid -19 brings the book up-to-date and explores how the psychological impact of the pandemic altered consumer motivation and how some companies adapted to this. Phil Barden is the Managing Director of DECODE Marketing Ltd. Having switched from a 25+ years career from Brand Development at Unilever, Diageo, and T-Mobile, he moved into the field of decision science. DECODE is a consultancy founded, and staffed by former scientists from the fields of decision science. They collaborate with leading universities for neuro-economics such as California Institute of Technology and consultants still practice in academe. I would recommend this book to all marketing students, SME business owners, and to anyone seeking to understand the individual and collective behaviour of people. As a small business owner I found this book well worth a read and will take forward some of what I have learnt as I grow my brand. More about the book A groundbreaking exploration of purchasing behaviour and its essential role in smarter marketing practices to benefit your organization If you understand why people buy, you are already one step ahead in reaching out to them effectively with your products and services. Decoded: The Science Behind Why We Buy offers a groundbreaking exploration into the science of purchasing. The book specifically demonstrates why decision science has proven invaluable to the field of marketing by helping to explain purchasing behaviours. Decoded delivers a practical framework and guidelines for applying science to the marketing practices you use every day. As a marketing professional, you can look to this book for behavioural knowledge, timely case studies, and an understanding of methodologies. You’ll gain advice on how to employ knowledge about behaviours for more effective brand management, from strategy to implementation to new product development. You’ll also gain useful insight into the latest research on consumer motivations that lead to purchasing decisions. Learn more about what happens in the human brain as buyers make their choices. This updated edition of Decoded provides new material that marketers can apply to informed, successful practices. Gain an understanding of the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) approach Take a closer look at the Ferrero neuroscience study that supports JTBD See updated and relevant case studies of JTBD at work Discover how to engage customers through digital touchpoints If you’re a marketing pr...
Eoin Fitzgerald and Pete Townsend take the inevitable plunge into what to make of the FTX mess and then resurface with some of the scenarios unfolding on what Elon Musk has in mind for the 250 million daily active users of Twitter. The guys also look at the hubbub around the control of Tech Nation in the UK, a Digital Dollar pilot in the US, and how the Big Tech layoffs in Ireland may be short-term pain but long-term gain. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges. STORIES COVERED: The Casino and the Genie (Mario Gabriele, The Generalist newsletter, 13-Nov-22, h/t Packy McCormick) ‘FTX Has Been Hacked’: Crypto Disaster Worsens as Exchange Sees Mysterious Outflows Exceeding $600M (Coindesk, 11-Nov-22) 5 More Disturbing Revelations About Sam Bankman-Fried (NY Magazine, 14-Nov-22) Elon Musk details his vision for a Twitter payments system (TechCrunch, 9-Nov-22) Startup founders go to war with UK government over its moves to appoint bank into key ecosystem role (TechCrunch, 15-Nov-22) Global Banks Partner With New York Fed for 12-Week Digital Dollar Pilot (Watcher Guru, 12-Nov-22), ‘I’m doing this 26 years and I’ve never seen anything like it’: Laid-off tech staff hunt for new work (Business Post (paywall), 12-Nov-22) LINKS: Leave a review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Check out our MoneyNeverSleeps website and get in touch via info@moneyneversleeps.ie Follow us on Twitter: MoneyNeverSleeps | Eoin Fitzgerald | Pete Townsend More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Standing on a rock glacier is what Tyler Meng imagines it would be like to stand on the surface of Mars. The glacier’s barren and wrinkled landscape looks like Silly Putty that’s drooped under gravity’s pull, offering few clues that a frozen, debris-laden giant lurks beneath the surface. Rock glaciers are so named because unlike pure ice glaciers, they are a mix of frozen water, sand and rocks. They are generally found at the base of steep mountainsides or cliffs that have slowly dropped rock debris, which then mixes with glacier ice and refrozen snowmelt. Rock glaciers also exist on Mars. Mapping rock glaciers to understand their future on Earth and Mars Meng – who is pursuing a doctoral degree in planetary science at the University of Arizona, with a minor in geosciences – is lead author of a study in the Journal of Glaciology that describes a new method to determine rock glaciers’ ice thickness and the ratio of ice to debris, allowing for more precise measurements of these glaciers than previously possible. Meng and his adviser and co-author Jack Holt, a UArizona planetary sciences and geosciences professor, used this information to create maps of four rock glaciers in Colorado, Wyoming and Alaska. Their work, and future work that uses this method, will allow scientists to better understand water resources on both Earth and Mars, as well as how resilient this type of buried ice will be to the changing climate on both planets. More than ice Rock glaciers are hidden and insulated by debris on top of ice, and their movement is affected by the rocks trapped inside of them. “You can think of the rocks like an insulating blanket,” Meng said. “Beyond a certain thickness, insulation basically turns off the melting, allowing for the ice to be preserved and slowly move or flow down a valley at elevations and temperatures where clean ice may be completely melted.” Both pure ice glaciers and rock glaciers can move across landscapes – very slowly. However, the debris in rock glaciers causes them to flow even more slowly than ice glaciers, as the inclusion of rocks makes them much stiffer. They’re also typically smaller and thinner than clean ice glaciers, measuring just a couple miles in length, a few hundred or thousand feet wide and between 50 and 200 feet thick. Ice glaciers, in contrast, can be many miles in length and thousands of feet thick. To collect the information needed to map and characterize these hidden giants, Meng, Holt, other UArizona students and their collaborators hiked rugged mountain terrain in the western U.S., lugging computers, battery packs and radar antennas on their backs. They navigated steep landscapes with loose rocks ranging in size from grains of sand to houses. “Standing on a debris-covered glacier is pretty surreal, because it’s in this barren area on a mountainside, and each rock glacier seems to have its own personality,” Meng said. “They each have a slightly different type of bedrock supplying debris, and the valley geometry dictates its shape and appearance.” Using two different antenna configurations, the researchers used ground-penetrating radar to measure both the radar wave speed and the angle at which the wave was reflected from the subsurface. In the same way that humans have two eyes to see in three dimensions, two antenna configurations allowed the researchers to better calculate the dimensions of the rock glacier. They also estimated the ratio of ice to rock at each survey location using radar wave velocity. “In the process, we made the most precise estimates of rock glacier geometry and composition to date,” Meng said. From Earth to Mars Understanding rock glaciers on Earth is important because they are essentially water reservoirs, Meng said. “Our research gives us a better idea of the total water budget in mountainous regions, where major rivers have headwaters,” he said. “Snow is a year-to-year accumulation that covers an entire landscape, whereas rock glaciers are a more localized ...
This Black Friday Teemill, the world’s biggest dedicated circular economy platform, is working with its community of 10,000 stores to ask customers to send back Teemill-made clothing they no longer wear as part of its #TakeBackFriday campaign At Teemill, we’re reversing Black Friday (November 25) to create Take Back Friday. Instead of discounting to get our customers to buy new products, we’re asking them to send back their old Teemill-made clothing so we can make it into new products – and we’re paying them to do it.
TakeBackFriday, learn more about reversing Black Friday with Teemill
Currently, less than 1% of the world’s clothes are made back into new clothes once they are worn out. Teemill was designed to solve that crisis by creating an open-access circular economy supply chain that could be used by anyone in the world. With more than 10,000 brands using it, Teemill is the world’s biggest dedicated circular economy platform. It enables users – from global organisations such as WWF, Greenpeace, and BBC Earth, to brands, influencers, artists, and content creators – to create ecommerce stores connected to a circular supply chain, so they can create, sell or remake sustainable and circular clothing products. All Teemill products are designed to be remade. We use natural materials and renewable energy to make clothing on demand and when items wear out, customers scan a QR code on the label to send them back. In return, they get £5 credit to spend on the future purchase of a circular economy product. Using our innovative Remill process, we turn returned products into new high-quality products, all of which can go through the same process over and over again. To date, Teemill has diverted 30,000kg of organic cotton from landfill, avoiding 1 million kg of CO2e emissions, and saving 586 million litres of water. Our goal is to take 100m items back around the loop by 2027 and we need as many people to help as possible, so this Black Friday we are encouraging people to look in their wardrobes and turn worn out products back into store credit and useful material – it’s a way to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. We’re calling it Take Back Friday. Teemill co-founder Mart Drake-Knight said: “Black Friday is a symptom of how waste has been woven into the way our world works. Products have been designed to be thrown away, meaning the only way to create growth is make and sell more products and create more waste. It fuels climate change and destroys nature. We built Teemill to solve that issue. Our products are designed from the start to come back and be remade, and that means that instead of creating waste we create new products from it. Doing the right thing shouldn’t cost the earth, so we made the platform free because we want to encourage everyone who cares about these issues to have the chance to co-create a more sustainable future with us.” The campaign has the support of organisations including WWF, BBC Earth, and Surfers Against Sewage. For more details and to send back items visit remillfibre.com Returned products are used to make new products using Teemill’s innovative Remill technology Customers will be rewarded with £5 credit to spend on future purchases of circular economy products that have been designed to keep materials in the loop and out of landfill Founded in 2014, Teemill is the world’s biggest dedicated circular economy platform. It works with more than 10,000 brands, including global NGOs and businesses, media, online content creators, influencers and side hustlers, providing an open-access circular design and supply chain platform. Its users include Greenpeace, WWF, BBC Earth, Google, Selfridges, Fortnum and Mason, and Lush. Find out more and see how products are made at teemill.com See more breaking stories here.
Australia’s foremost trainer of futurist leaders, Zoe Routh, shares practical insight into her business. She explains how senior executives can improve the entire organization when they master the skill of foresight. Zoe is the author of five books about futurism and leadership and foresight practice to be better leaders. Humility and Curiosity: The Antidote to Hubris, Zoe Routh WEBSITE: Subscribe and listen to the Futurists Podcast where hosts Brett King and Robert Tercek interview the worlds foremost super-forecasters, thought leaders, technologists, entrepreneurs and futurists building the world of tomorrow. Together we will explore how our world will radically change as AI, bioscience, energy, food and agriculture, computing, the metaverse, the space industry, crypto, resource management, supply chain and climate will reshape our world over the next 100 years. Join us on The Futurists and we will see you in the future! Brett King is a world-renowned entrepreneur, futurist, speaker, international bestselling author, and media personality. China’s President Xi Jinping cited his book Augmented: Life in the Smart Lane on the topic of Artificial Intelligence in his 2018 national address; the same book that was listed as a Top 10 non-fiction book in North America. In 2019 his book Bank 4.0 was awarded the Top Book by a Foreign Author in Russia for that year. Robert Tercek is an award-winning author, entrepreneur, and educator focused on the process of dematerialization and innovation. In his professional capacity, Mr. Tercek is a seasoned business executive with deep expertise in digital media and internet services. He is a prolific creator of interactive programs and products. He has designed and launched successful consumer experiences on every digital platform, including digital television, game consoles, broadband Internet, and mobile networks. In 2021, Mr. Tercek was recognized as the Humanitarian of the Year by the Media Excellence Awards for his leadership in designing and launching COVID SMART™, an interactive training program designed to keep workers safe on the job during the pandemic. See more podcasts here.
In this Drone Radio Show Podcast, host Randy Goers talks with Andrew Asher, Founder and CEO of Lucid Drone Technologies. Lucid Drone is a North Carolina-based company that builds industrial spraying drones for labour-intensive tasks. The company’s goal is simple – provide customers with a safer, faster and smarter alternative to traditional spraying methods while reducing costs and adding top-line revenue. Lucid began in 2018 with the vision of retrofitting existing off-the-shelf drones to handle exterior soft washing. After a significant investment of time and money, the founders learned that the drone they needed was unavailable in the marketplace. The right product and support required to be successful had to be designed and built from the ground up. That’s where Lucid excels. Andrew manages the overall operations of Lucid, including product development, strategic partnerships, and investor relations. He is a prolific learner with a demonstrated track record for extreme productivity. Andrew graduated with a double major from Davidson College in just three years while founding Lucid. In this interview, Andrew talks about Lucid Drone Technologies, its revolutionary C1 Cleaning Drone and how it is disrupting the industrial cleaning industry by providing a solution that is much faster and safer than traditional cleaning methods. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Are you out of contract or looking for a better deal for your mobile phone? If so there are some great SIM Only deals available in Ireland right now with huge savings to be made over long contract plans. We’ve teamed up with Switcher.ie, the free and impartial price comparison and switching service, to find the best SIM Only deals available every month. Check back regularly to stay informed of the latest deals and offers and visit the Switcher.ie website to order one of these great packages. Best SIM Only Deals Virgin Media’s Unlimited Plan offers unlimited data, calls and texts plus 23GB EU roaming, ideal if you’re looking for no limitations. Operating on Three’s network, this plan is priced at just €10 per month for 12 months, and €25 thereafter. Offer ending 01/12/2022. If you don’t want to commit to a monthly bill, 48 offers a flexible option. Their SIM-Only prepay plan is offering all calls, texts and data for only €12.99 per month. (If you’ve come across this article after some of these deals may have expired, check out our main SIM Only category page to find the latest offers)
We review our first product from Zens, see more about their products here. Zens 4-in-1 Wireless Charger (incl. Apple Watch Charger) reviewed First up this is a nice looking piece of gear. Out of the box it works in a straightforward and logical way. It has a good design feel to it, with a decent solidity to it as well. It seems like it should offer some durability too. These are all pluses. It seems to be an Apple aligned, and even facing product though, for better and worse. New EU guidelines have come in to reduce the amount of separate cables for different devices, which is great, and arguably Apple were always one of the worst for having little to no compatibility with any other products. We mention this because as several of the testers had android based watches and devices it raised some questions about whether this device, the charging dock, was actually charging the various devices. It seemed to play well with the Pixel for example, but for the Infinix there was less visual confirmation that it was doing the required job. There is a low tech work around where you can run a USB port cable from the charger to your phone. Overall we liked this product, but just remember that it might be a bit more loved for those Apple users in the household. Product description In the built-in Apple Watch holder you can easily integrate the Apple Watch MFi charging cable (included). Connect it to the USB-A port on the back of the charger and place your Apple Watch on the charging module to start charging. The built-in USB-A port on the side of the charger allows charging a fourth device, like your iPad or any other USB-A powered device. The charger is made out of high-grade aluminium and comes with a 45W USB-C PD universal power adapter. Features 4-in-1 wireless charger to keep all your Apple devices charged Wirelessly charges two devices simultaneously Built-in Apple Watch holder to integrate Apple Watch MFi charging cable (included) and charge an Apple Watch 20W output (2 x 10W) with Apple Fast Charge Built-in USB-A port to charge a fourth device Made out of high grade aluminium 45W USB-C PD power adapter included Extended 3 year warranty Tech specs Model number:ZEDC14B/00Type:4-in-1 wireless chargerCharges:2 devices wirelessly, 1 Apple Watch, extra device through built-in USB portOutput:20W (2 x 10W)Fast Charge:Apple Fast ChargeUSB-port:built-in USB-A port to charge fourth deviceProduct material:aluminiumCompatibility (wireless charger): works with all devices that support Qi wireless chargingCompatibility (watch module):works with all Apple WatchesCase friendly:works with most lightweight cases (< 3 mm) Certification:Qi certifiedProduct dimensions (LxWxH):19,0 x 9,0 x 5,3 cmProduct net weight:228 grExtra included:Apple Watch MFi charging cable (30 cm)Power supply:45W USB-C PD power adapter (EU/UK/US)Power supply cable length:1.5 m What’s in the box? Zens 4-in-1 Wireless Charger Aluminium Apple Watch Charger 45W USB-C PD power adapter (EU/UK/US) User manual Extended warranty registration card See more products reviewed here.
Nature4Climate, along with climate investment platform, Capital for Climate, have today released a new landscape analysis report of the nature tech market in order to bring attention and finance to this burgeoning sector. Nature tech will grow to $6 billion by 2030 The report, The Nature Tech Market: Necessary, Emergent, Dynamic, comes as businesses search for investable, profitable and high-integrity solutions to help them meet climate and nature targets and the UN calls for transparency, accountability, high-integrity and a focus on nature and people in the transition to net zero. Nature tech encompasses any technology that can be applied to enable, accelerate, and scale-up nature-based solutions (NbS). The current nature tech market size is approximately $2 billion and is estimated to grow to $6 billion in less than ten years. “We are hugely excited by the findings of this report. We need nature-based solutions to provide 30% of the mitigation required by 2030 in order to keep our global climate and nature goals in reach. The application of technology to NbS makes sense, both for the sake of the planet and financially, since an estimated $44 trillion of economic value relies on nature. It also has a huge role to play in giving people confidence in how nature can help us deliver on our climate targets,” said Lucy Almond, Chair, Nature4Climate. Global public and private flows of capital to NbS are currently $133 billion per year, with estimates suggesting that investment levels need to increase four-fold in real terms by 2050 if the world is to meet its climate change, biodiversity and land degradation targets. “This is a market-defining report of a space that is necessary, dynamic, and investable. Nature tech is critical to scaling and accelerating investment in nature-based solutions. While emergent, the nature tech space also has substantial opportunities for investors,” said Tony Lent, Co-founder, Capital for Climate. As the world looks for new solutions to the climate crisis, and with the benefits of ‘climate tech’ and ‘clean tech’ now widely understood, nature tech – which de-risks investments in nature, boosts crop yields, increases transparency and promotes national and global growth – will play an increasing role in the next 10 years. The report predicts investment in nature tech will accelerate, providing bankable benefits for those who protect, restore, and manage natural systems, ecosystems, and landscapes. Many industry leaders have already got involved: PitchBook investment platform reported that startups in the area of tech-led precision agriculture attracted more than $2bn in funding last year, a 46% increase year-on-year. The market for agricultural drones has also skyrocketed, forecasted to reach $5.9bn by 2026. Several high profile funds for land restoration have also sprung up – such as Mirova’s $200m Land Degradation Neutrality Fund, to acquire, protect, restore forests in Latin America. In the monitoring space, Digital MRV 2.0 (remote monitoring, reporting and verifying for nature-based programmes) has been lauded by the World Bank for providing open source, low-energy support to users, which integrates across platforms, and opens the market to everyone from big business to smallholder farmers. As Web3 and blockchain technologies take hold, several new tech-led initiatives for carbon credits have started, such as Toucan Protocol, Carbonplace and the Voluntary Registry Offsets Database. Blockchain has demonstrated its potential to improve the verifiability of credits and to reduce transaction costs. In addition, because data is recorded as a permanent ledger that cannot be modified, transparency is increased. The risk of “double counting” of credits is also reduced as transaction information is readily available for verification. On the ground, NatureMetrics is bringing the power of genetics to frontline ecology. They use cutting-edge DNA analysis to monitor biodiversity and measure natural capital in ...
This week on The Futurists, HG Wells, Philip K Dick and Prometheus award wining author and Singularity University faculty Ramez Naam talks the future of the world’s energy systems, and how the Russia-Ukraine conflict has had an accelerating effect on systemic energy thinking. Beyond that we get into sci-fi, multi-generational systems thinking, large scale systems design of the 21st and the incentives and levers in the system for leading humanity to a world of free energy and abundance. Retooling the World’s Energy Systems, Ramez Naam Subscribe and listen to the Futurists Podcast where hosts Brett King and Robert Tercek interview the worlds foremost super-forecasters, thought leaders, technologists, entrepreneurs and futurists building the world of tomorrow. Together we will explore how our world will radically change as AI, bioscience, energy, food and agriculture, computing, the metaverse, the space industry, crypto, resource management, supply chain and climate will reshape our world over the next 100 years. Join us on The Futurists and we will see you in the future! Brett King is a world-renowned entrepreneur, futurist, speaker, international bestselling author, and media personality. China’s President Xi Jinping cited his book Augmented: Life in the Smart Lane on the topic of Artificial Intelligence in his 2018 national address; the same book that was listed as a Top 10 non-fiction book in North America. In 2019 his book Bank 4.0 was awarded the Top Book by a Foreign Author in Russia for that year. Robert Tercek is an award-winning author, entrepreneur, and educator focused on the process of dematerialization and innovation. In his professional capacity, Mr. Tercek is a seasoned business executive with deep expertise in digital media and internet services. He is a prolific creator of interactive programs and products. He has designed and launched successful consumer experiences on every digital platform, including digital television, game consoles, broadband Internet, and mobile networks. In 2021, Mr. Tercek was recognized as the Humanitarian of the Year by the Media Excellence Awards for his leadership in designing and launching COVID SMART™, an interactive training program designed to keep workers safe on the job during the pandemic. See more podcasts here.
Responding to Nassim Talebsbashingof Bitcoin & Cryptocurrencies in the same Journal of Quantitative Finance, can only be attempted by a few. Enjoy a lively & witty discussion on thinking through Markets, Money, and Mathematics with Prof. Alexander Lipton whose credentials include MIT Connection Science, Sila, and more.
He is also the co-author of two new books Mathematics, Technology, and Economics, A. Lipton & Adrien Treccani, Ph.D. (July 2021) Building the New Economy Data as Capital, By AlexSandy’ Pentland, Alexander Lipton, Thomas Hardjono (Oct 2021) We spoke about value, price, religion, money, technology,.
Markets, Money, and Mathematics with Prof Alexander Lipton
Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica.
A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter. Join her on the social platforms
See more podcasts here.
Guest Post by David Stephen The United States and two philanthropic partners have announced a carbon offset plan “with the creation of an Energy Transition Accelerator (ETA) intended to catalyze private capital to accelerate the clean energy transition in developing countries. COP27: Effecting Carbon Offset by Solving the Global Food Crisis The partnership will work towards launching the ETA as an innovative, independent initiative to drive private investment in comprehensive energy transition strategies that accelerate the deployment of renewable power and the retirement of fossil fuel assets in developing countries. The ETA is expected to operate through 2030, possibly extending to 2035.” The approach is to enable developing countries to pivot from fossil fuels, to reduce emissions. This, as a carbon offset program, aligns with reforestation and forest initiatives in several nations around the world. One metric ton or one thousand kilograms of carbon dioxide costs just £3 to offset on average. Reforestation is a necessity against climate change. Developing countries can grow massive amounts of trees as a part of the collective carbon sink. But how does this become sustainable and pay for itself, aside just external dependency? Several developing countries are affected by the global food crisis. Solving it provides a channel towards carbon sequestration by reforestation for the rest of this decade and beyond. Food Security Agricultural necessities include land, seeds, irrigation, fertilizers, farm machinery, pesticides and transport to market. These necessities vary in importance depending on the crop and location of the farmer. Many developing countries have farms away from their major cities, so transportation gets stuff to market. There are cases where farm produce is cheaper somewhere but more expensive elsewhere, signaling transport to be the problem. Agricultural necessities can be subsidized to make food cheaper, but how does the subsidy pay for itself sustainably? Agricultural incentives for farmers and for those in rural communities can be bifurcated to benefit food security, water security and reforestation. How? There can be what is called food security insurance, where people in a country buy then enter into a raffle draw, where they can win food items every week. Winners would get deliveries as in e-commerce for those with national and state or regional premiums. The profit from this insurance would be used to subsidize one or more agricultural necessity, for two or three crops of staple meals in the country. Simply, there is an insurance program for food security where people buy, then enter into a raffle draw to win food items, in national and regional sets. Profits from this insurance would be used to subsidize agricultural necessities for crops of some staple meals in the country. Selected necessity may depend on several factors, including which ones would benefit reforestation as well as sustainable agriculture. Water provision for example, can solve water security, by providing clean water to communities, as well as find usefulness for irrigation for farming and for tree planting. Other necessities like fertilizers, seeds, pesticides, farm machinery and transport to market can be evaluated for selected based on how appropriate they are to discounts for the crops. The insurance holders would be the first to have access to buy the cheap produce, by a digital determination of insurance. Winning or not in the raffle guarantees cheap food, with this insurance program, as a general food security in one or two crops in that country. Carbon Offset Developing countries can be provided cheaper farm equipment, fertilizers, groundwater drilling machines, pesticides, transport forms, as a way toward subsidies for their food security. They can pay with profits from the food security insurance, but at a discounted price as part of carbon offset, for what would go into sustainable agriculture as well as for reforestatio...
Guest Post by David Stephen The campaigns to end stigma and discrimination about mental health are an important step towards care. There are articles about men’s mental health and how the experience of mind can be heavy for men, with evidence along academic performance, economic burdens, substance abuse and suicides. How Does the Brain Decide Mental Health for Men? For men, opening up is better, but there are responsibilities that cannot be relinquished. Talking may ease the mind, but having to face more, and worse, deepens the struggle—making some see little benefit with talking. Talking is also not unusual if the candidate with whom to discuss is right. This may have led some to certain corners or crowds, finding acceptance and ‘support’. There are several suggestions about men’s mental health that point to factors like social, environmental, economic, political, upbringing and so forth, excluding the key factor, the brain. The brain is what determines every moment of mental health or problem, with or without an aligning external factor. The brain is the ultimate support for men, where explanations of why, what, how and where can be developed on academic performance, economic burdens, societal expectations, substance abuse and suicides. It is common to have experiential contradictions, like feeling differently from what is obtainable in the immediate environment. It is also normal to have experiential matches with the environment. It may often seem like the environment decides for the brain, but the brain decides what the experience should be at any moment. The same word that should help or hurt may not in one moment, but do some other time. The thing that should cause fear may not at one time, but do at another. The things that should be okay for everyone may not be, for all, at all times. It is the brain that says, by its constants. Constants in the brain are things unique to it. The constants build or construct higher constants for experiential interactions. There are specific cell types and molecules in the brain. They construct quantities and properties that decide what is experienced. It is these quantities and properties that explain why anything feels the same or different from the external, why something feels like a burden or not, why substances seem to help or not, or why addiction festers and so on. In the brain, theoretically, quantities are thoughts. Properties are memory, with extensions including feelings and reactions. It is the relay of quantities to what properties and the degree that say what that experience is, for work, school, habit, interest, mood, cravings and so on. This is how the brain should be understood for the basis of male’s mental health, as a direct approach away from saying solve this about school, or work, when those would still become subject to constants in the brain that may express delight for some, or depression for others, at any moment. In brain science, it is established that all senses converge at the thalamus, except for smell that does at the olfactory bulb. They are both hubs for sensory processing or integration before relay to the cerebral cortex for interpretation. It is theorized that sensory integration or processing is into a uniform unit, quantity or identity, which is thought or its form. It is what becomes the version of senses to the brain. Anything external exists in the form of thought to the brain. It is what is used for thinking, memories, inner speech, subvocalization, imagination and so forth. Interpretation is propounded to be knowing, feeling and reaction. Knowing is memory, where thoughts are stored in large and small forms. Large stores are collections of what is common between small stores. For example, delight, depression, anxiety, fear, desire, hate, love, hurt, sleep, pain and so on, are all large stores. Small stores collect the most unique information on any particular thing. Small stores relay in sequences to large stores. Small stores can be prio...
DPD Ireland has deployed Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) as a replacement fuel for diesel in its heavy goods vehicles (linehaul) as part of an ambitious drive to decarbonise its Irish fleet by 2030. The parcel-delivery firm is leading the charge towards sustainable deliveries, having achieved the milestone of 1 million sustainable deliveries in August of this year. The company is in the process of switching all its domestic linehaul routes to 100% HVO in a bid to slash its linehaul emissions by 87% (vs 2020). These line-haul routes carry parcels between DPD Ireland’s central sorting hub in Athlone and its 35 depots on the island of Ireland. This follows a successful trial of the biofuel which ran from June to September 2022. Powering all domestic linehaul routes with this sustainable biofuel, DPD expects to reduce its emissions by over 4,350 tons CO2e per year versus a conventional diesel operation. This is the equivalent of taking 937 cars off the road for a year. This is a big win for DPD’s customers, who place a higher emphasis than ever on reducing emissions. HVO is not available yet at commercial pumps, which is why DPD Ireland is installing dedicated HVO storage tanks on site at its central sorting hub in Athlone. Once complete, the company will be able to supply 100% of its domestic linehaul routes on renewable HVO. DPD Ireland Chief Executive Des Travers said the company began looking at alternative fuel options for its line-haul fleet after difficulty sourcing electric heavy goods vehicles. “We’ve had HVO on our radar for several years. It has become imperative for our business to reduce our emissions which is why we are taking action. We are on a journey to become the most sustainable parcel delivery company in Ireland and this is just the next step for us. We will continue to overcome the challenges as we 100% decarbonise our business”. He continued, “At full capacity, the company will be avoiding 16 tons of CO2 equivalent per day versus a fully diesel operation. This is due to the reduced well-to-wheel emissions that HVO offers.” The company is currently delivering more than 4,000 parcels per day by electric van, and expects delivery of 205 new all-electric Ford eTransits, more than double the target amount announced last year. This will bring the electric fleet to 258, nearly 20% of its total fleet, by mid-2023. Mr Travers said the switch to lower carbon fuels is one of the actions DPD Ireland is taking to decarbonise its Irish fleet by 2030. Unlike electric vans where you need to purchase a new van, HVO is seamless in that it can be used as a drop-in replacement for diesel in the transition to low-carbon fuel alternatives. The vehicle or engine does not need to be replaced, which is very inviting for companies looking to change their fleet to more sustainable means. James Atkinson, Sustainability Programme Manager emphasised the importance of tracking. He said, “In order to validate our emissions savings, we are using a smart pump system. The HVO dispensed at the pump is automatically recorded to track our total usage. The vehicles’ odometer is tracked when the fuel is dispensed, and a digital record is kept that correlates fuel used with kilometres driven. By tracking the vehicle type, we can more accurately calculate the emissions avoided. This is a step up in our emissions tracking and enables better reporting.” DPD Ireland last year announced a further €2 million investment to decarbonise its Irish fleet with the addition of 100 new electric vehicles by the end of 2022. The company has already invested €3.2 million since 2019 in electric vans and infrastructure. DPD Ireland is part of the DPD Group, the second-largest international parcel delivery network in Europe. The group delivers 7.5 million parcels each day – 1.9 billion parcels per year. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantasti...
A new initiative aimed at introducing a new group of females to the idea of setting up their own business has been launched today. Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs is a programme which aims to inspire female entrepreneurs who have not yet taken the steps towards starting a business. It is focused on tapping into the entrepreneurial potential of female professionals, women in senior corporate positions, as well as those with doctoral and post-doctoral qualifications, or females seeking a change of direction. Supported by Enterprise Ireland and KPMG, this programme will support these early-stage entrepreneurs to follow through on their ambitions and go on to establish businesses that are scalable, innovative and focused on export markets. The first event to showcase Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs will be held today (November 17) hosted by IdeasLab, University of Galway. Attendees will hear from three successful entrepreneurs – Andrea Doolan, co-founder and CEO of Atlantia Food Clinical Trials, Dr. Anne Cusack, co-founder and formerly of Critical Healthcare and Leonora O’Brien, founder and formerly of Pharmapod. Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs has been developed by the same team behind the award-winning Going for Growth development programme. Key to the initiative is the panel of Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs, a group of successful businesswomen selected to mirror by their achievements the entrepreneurial ambition we are seeking to inspire. The panel — who are volunteering their time to this initiative — has been selected on the basis of their shared backgrounds in corporate life, the professions and academia, along with their experience building innovative companies across a range of sectors. They are Áine Denn, founder of Altify; Andrea Doolan, co-founder and CEO of Atlantia Food Clinical Trials; Dr Anne Cusack, founder of Critical Healthcare; Dr Barbara Anne Murphy, Head of Equine Science at UCD and Chief Science Officer at Equilume; Dr Emmeline Hill, Professor School of Agriculture and Food Science at UCD and founder of Equinome; Fidelma McGuirk, Founder and CEO of Payslip; Jennifer Corley, founder of EquiTrace; Leonora O’Brien, founder of Pharmapod; Louella Morton, founder of TestReach; and Dr Vanessa Creaven, co-founder of Spotlight Oral Care. There are five steps in the Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs initiative for those wishing to develop a scalable, export-focused business. 1 Inspiring: Partner organisations will invite appropriate groups from their networks to come together to hear from a selection of the Inspiring Lead Entrepreneurs – who will mirror their own background. Those interested in beginning their own entrepreneurial journey will be asked to register their interest on the spot via this website. 2 Fostering Entrepreneurial Capacity: Those deemed to have innovative business ideas with global ambition will be invited to participate in a series of workshops facilitated by KPMG and other experts. There will also be a chance to develop peer support networks. 3 Gathering Information: Participants will have the opportunity to attend a meeting with Enterprise Ireland executives to gather information about available supports open to them. 4 Participating on a Round Table: Prospective entrepreneurs who have completed the previous stages will have the opportunity to apply to take part in a series of round tables led by an Inspiring Lead Entrepreneur, who will offer insights on how to start an innovative business focused on growth, with a particular focus on moving from concept to implementation. 5 Continuing Support: Those who complete the series of Inspiring round tables will be offered membership of the Going for Growth Community for a year, where they will continue to be supported on their early-stage entrepreneurial journey. Entrepreneurs who have completed the Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs programme and have begun to generate revenues will be eligible to apply for Starting Strong, which is a similar programme to Going f...
Dell Technologies is expanding its industry leadership in data protection appliances and software to help customers protect their data on-premises, in public clouds and at the edge. The Dell PowerProtect Data Manager Appliance leads a series of advancements for multicloud data protection that are simple to use and easy to consume. Dell innovation in AI-powered resilience and operational security accelerates the adoption of Zero Trust architectures, helping protect organisations from the increasing threat of cyberattacks. The new solutions help address rising data protection challenges facing organisations. According to the 2022 Dell Global Data Protection Index (GDPI) survey, organisations have experienced higher levels of natural and modern disasters than in previous years, resulting in more data loss, downtime and recovery costs. In the past year, cyberattacks accounted for 48% of all disasters (up from 37% in 2021), leading all other causes of data disruption. The survey also revealed 85% of organisations using multiple data protection vendors see a benefit in reducing their number of vendors. Furthermore, it revealed that organisations using a single data protection vendor incurred 34% less cost recovering from cyberattacks or other cyber incidents than those who used multiple vendors. “With virtually everything connected to the internet in today’s digital world, the need to protect valuable data is more important than ever,” said Jeff Boudreau, president and general manager, Infrastructure Solutions Group, Dell Technologies. “This digital landscape requires a modern data protection and security strategy to address cyber threats. Point solutions don’t go deep or wide enough to help protect organisations. Dell helps customers strengthen cyber resiliency by offering integrated data protection software, systems and services to help ensure data and applications are protected and resilient wherever they live.” The GDPI survey found that 91% of organisations are either aware of or planning to deploy a Zero Trust architecture – a cybersecurity model that shifts how organisations approach security from relying solely on perimeter defences to a proactive strategy that only allows known, authorized traffic across system boundaries and data pipelines. However, only 23% are deploying a Zero Trust model and 12% are fully deployed. With embedded security features, designed into the hardware, firmware and security control points, Dell’s holistic approach helps organisations achieve Zero Trust architectures to strengthen cyber resiliency and reduce security complexity. The simplest path to modern data protection Dell continues to deliver innovation for its data protection software, Dell PowerProtect Data Manager, to help organisations simplify their IT operations and reduce risk. PowerProtect Data Manager software addresses the increasing need for cyber resiliency and supports Zero Trust principles with new built-in operational security capabilities, such as multifactor authentication, dual authorization, and role-based access controls. The Dell PowerProtect Data Manager Appliance offers a simple path to adopt modern data protection. The debut system is ideal for small and mid-sized use cases with support that scales from 12 to 96 terabytes of data. The appliance offers customers a: Modern, software-defined architecture: Allows automated discovery and protection of assets and delivers unique VMware protection to ensure the availability of all VMs without business disruption. Secure, cyber resilient solution: Provides more secure access to restricted functions with Identity and Access Management to strengthen cyber resiliency. Simple, unified user experience: Delivers software-defined data protection, making it easy to deploy and use. “Dell PowerProtect Data Manager simplifies our backup environment, giving us the business agility needed to protect our data as we digitally transform,” said James McNair, vice president, distributed syste...
Bank of Ireland, has launched their anti-smishing campaign to mark the start of International Fraud Awareness Week, which takes place from the 14th to the 19th of November. The main purpose of this campaign is to bring awareness to the dangers of smishing, calling for people to ‘Stop. Think. Check’ before opening any suspicious text messages that may be fraudulent. Supporting this campaign is Professor Mary Aiken , who will act as an ambassador. Ronan talks to Professor Mary Aiken. Professor Aiken talks about her background, the Bank of Ireland campaign, examples of fraud SMS’s and more. More about the Bank of Ireland anti-smishing fraud awareness campaign : Bank of Ireland has launched a new Text-Checker service that verify’s if text messages are legitimate has been launched for their customers. The new Text-Checker service coincides with the revelation that fraudsters are targeting the Irish population with increasing frequency. A Red C survey revealed that 74% of adults surveyed have received fraudulent text messages that appeared to be from their bank, an increase of 37% on 2021 figures. 43% of adults surveyed have received a fraudulent telephone call from a fraudster saying they were from their bank, an increase of 25% on 2021 and 52% have received a fraudulent email, an increase of 8% on 2021. You can find more information here and here. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
With Christmas approaching, presents are now high on our agenda. The Irish Company myVolts have just released their latest product that is ideal for the musician in your life. Candycord Halo is a unique range of illuminating premium audio cables for modular synths and more. Candycord Halo was developed in close collaboration with Toronto-based music and video producer Andrew Huang. “It’s something I feel I will use all the time and I’m sure a lot of other synth nerds would also appreciate!”– Andrew Huang. Features and benefits of Candycord Halo include: Beautifully designed: subtle LED in a metallic lacquered enclosure Premium connectors: gold-plated with a reassuring snap-crunch on connecting Unique colours: 7 yummy colours help keep track of gear, including Sunset Peach, Jellybean Purple, and Marshmallow Pink plus Midnight Black Untangleable: bespoke thermoplastic rubber resists tangles, cables coil just right Hard-wearing: thoughtful cable construction ensures long life Pleasing finish: matte rubber velvet finish makes Candycords Halo a joy to handle Different lengths: 15cm, 30cm, 50cm, 80cm and 150cm available, a cable for every situation Different styles: Curly and straight available, right-angled and straight connectors available Great for Modular, semi-modular or CV controller keyboard scenarios Candycord Halo is live on Kickstarter until December 2nd. Prices start at 19 EUR for a pair of Halo Cables. The first run of the product is already manufactured and ready to ship worldwide at campaign end, so backers can buy with full confidence. Visit the Kickstarter campaign here. myVolts Ltd has been solving the power problems of consumers and professionals for well over a decade, has four previously successfully funded and shipped Kickstarter campaigns, and served tens of thousands of happy customers on Amazon, eBay and their own webshop. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
With the countdown to Christmas well and truly on, PayPal’s 2022 Gifting & Giving Study1 reveals how four in five (83%) are worried about items being much more expensive this Christmas and 76 per cent are concerned about keeping track of their spending. Based on a poll of 1,000 adults across Ireland, this year’s research explores how people in Ireland are managing their budgets in light inflation and runaway energy bills, from savvy spending to splitting the bill for Christmas dinner. Tis the season to save money When it comes to gift-buying, a third (29%) of people plan to spend more this year to bring joy to family and friends, while the rest are thinking of cost-effective ways to balance their festive finances. Eight in ten (80%) will look for coupons and discounts. Almost a third (32%) will buy a big present as a group and split the cost, rather than buying lots of little presents and over half (54%) want to do Secret Santa/Kris Kindle as it’s less expensive. Furthermore, 68 per cent will only buy gifts when they see something the person will like, and a quarter (25%) will order all their presents online. Alongside all money-saving measures, more than half (59%) will be setting a strict budget and sticking to it this Christmas. Unsurprisingly, the average spend on Christmas presents is estimated to be lower than last year – €647 compared to €7212. Although this is still higher than lockdown Christmas budgets, where the average spend was estimated at €541. The research found that people from Kerry are set to be generous this year when it comes to buying Christmas presents (with an estimated average spend of €1,183), followed by Laois (€908) and Offaly (€878). Adopting a smart and savvy approach is also seeping into festive celebrations, with the survey revealing that for more than half of people (55%), Christmas celebrations this year are changing to save on costs. Splitting the cost of celebrations is set to be a popular approach with nearly two-thirds (64%) of people happy to contribute to the costs of a friend or family member’s festive party, and 50 per cent agreeing that the cost of hosting Christmas dinner should be split between family members. Splitting the bill for Christmas celebrations Each December, the pressure of Christmas can get to all of us. It doesn’t take much for the financial strain to show and it all culminates in the big split. That’s right – splitting the bill. The poll found that two thirds (67%) of people have felt awkward to ask for money they were owed so decided not to mention it. Furthermore, some 64 per cent of people said they had not been paid back by friends in the past and a third (33%) of those surveyed said they had forgotten to pay a friend back. Taking this one step further, 16 per cent of people admitted to telling someone they had paid them back when they hadn’t. It seems these actions are also causing friction in some instances, with almost a fifth (19%) of those surveyed saying they had fallen out with friends over difficulty when splitting bills or paying people back. The insights revealed that, on average, people in Ireland pay others back after five days. Gen Z (aged 16-24) were found to be the slowest when paying people back (7.3 days), while Boomers (aged 45-54) were the fastest group for paying people back, taking 1.86 days on average. In terms of a county breakdown, the slowest people to organise payback were from Meath (12.65 days), Sligo (11.21 days) and Limerick (10.57 days). So how can you ensure a successful bill split? More than three quarters of respondents (79%) agreed that digital payment apps make splitting bills easier, with the most used/popular method for paying people back found to be digital money transfer apps like PayPal (34%). The main benefits of paying people back digitally rather than in cash were found to be that it saves time as its quick (47%), it’s more convenient (43%), and there’s proof of payment (34%). Speaking about the findings, Maeve Dorman...
42% of Irish consumers plan to shop the Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales this year, an increase of 10% on 2021, according to new research from Visa. With more people hoping to bag a bargain during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year, Visa is raising awareness of the things we can do to help protect ourselves from fraud. Almost two-thirds (65%) of people surveyed said they are more alert to the possibility of being targeted by online fraudsters during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales compared to other times of the year. However, with almost three-quarters (73%) of people saying that they were targeted by fraudsters this year, and 29% falling victim to fraud in the past, it’s more important than ever to know how you can keep your payments safe. Saving money priority for Irish consumers According to Visa’s research, 18% of people who plan to shop the Black Friday sales say they will do so simply because they enjoy shopping. However, with people more conscious of their finances than ever, it’s clear saving money is a top priority for consumers in Ireland. Visa’s research also showed: 45% of consumers plan to shop the November sales to save money on Christmas presents — 44% said they plan to shop the sales to save money on an essential item that they’ve been waiting to buy — 61% said they enjoy getting a bargain — Of the 58% of people who don’t plan on a Black Friday or Cyber Monday purchase, 28% of them say they are cutting back on spending this year — Almost one in five (17%) say they can’t afford to shop the sales this year due to rising prices Mandy Lamb, Managing Director, Visa UK & Ireland, said: “With fraudsters using increasingly sophisticated techniques to target online shoppers, this is a particularly important time of year to let people know that there are things we can do to help keep our payments safe. That’s why we’re empowering shoppers to know how to spot the signs of fraud. When it comes to paying with Visa, you can feel confident that your payment has protection – Visa’s Zero Liability Policy means you won’t be held responsible for unauthorised or fraudulent charges made with your card details.“ Protection from payment fraud With online fraudsters able to imitate everything from the language commonly used by businesses or organisations to logos and names, Visa is empowering shoppers by helping them spot the strategies commonly used by fraudsters so they can protect themselves from payment fraud online. Since 2018, Visa has spent more than $9 billion to boost cybersecurity and reduce fraud, with an investment of $500 million in artificial intelligence and data infrastructure. In the last 12 months, Visa’s technology has blocked over $4.2 billion in fraudulent payments, preventing many from ever knowing they were at risk of a potentially fraudulent transaction. With more people planning to shop over the November sales, Visa is sharing top tips for recognising the tell-tale signs of fraud: 1. Spell-check messages; look for inconsistencies, such as errors in grammar and spelling, or differences between the sender’s name and the URL link provided, which could indicate it’s fraud. If you receive a message from a company or individual out of the blue, be vigilant in checking for these errors. 2. Be cautious of urgent actions; this is a common tactic used by fraudsters to provoke the person they’re targeting to take immediate action. Look out for phrases like ‘send (.) here’ or ‘click (.) below’, or ‘within 48 hours’ and take the time to consider whether the message is genuine. If you’re unsure whether the action is legitimate, contact the organisation separately to check before carrying out any action. 3. Watch out for hidden prompts; fraudsters often provoke a response from you by either suggesting a problem (e.g. asking you to rearrange a disrupted delivery) or making a tempting offer (e.g. suggesting you have won a prize). Think about your recent dealings with that organisation and individual. I...
EarlyBird Education, developer of the game-based early literacy assessment, announced its partnership with SoapBox Labs, the speech recognition company that enables joyful learning and play experiences for kids. The integration of speech recognition technology allows educators to use the EarlyBird dyslexia screener to quickly and accurately assess pre-reading students’ oral language skills, and in turn, identify the challenges facing struggling young students before they even start reading. Developed and scientifically validated at Boston Children’s Hospital in partnership with faculty at the Florida Center for Reading Research, EarlyBird brings together all the relevant predictors of reading in one easy-to-administer assessment. The age-appropriate assessment, powered by voice technology, helps educators identify and support children at risk for dyslexia and other reading difficulties — even before they learn to read. In its first year of serving schools, more than 2,500 teachers in over 100 school districts are using EarlyBird, impacting 20,000 pre-kindergarten through first-grade students. “Our mission is to change the learning trajectory of pre-readers with a proactive approach to reading support — and speech recognition enables educators to do that, consistently and without bias,” said Carla Small, co-founder and CEO of EarlyBird Education. “Not only does speech recognition technology enable educators to assess oral language skills much earlier and faster, the technology intentionally draws upon a diverse set of young accents and dialects, to help mitigate racial bias and subjectivity in assessment. SoapBox Labs was an obvious partner for us — they share our commitment to developing innovative edtech tools that are grounded in the science and embrace evidence-based practice.” Unlike consumer speech technologies, the SoapBox voice engine is built specifically for young children’s unique speech patterns, and processes differences in accents or dialects, reducing implicit bias in learning. SoapBox is the first and only automated speech recognition solution to demonstrate that it can deliver accurate and equitable assessments, receiving the Prioritising Racial Equity in AI Design Product Certification by global education nonprofit Digital Promise. By powering its reading assessments with the SoapBox voice engine, EarlyBird provides teachers with a much more comprehensive picture of a student’s reading proficiency, at a much earlier age. EarlyBird assessments are administered three times a year. A friendly robot character appears on the screen, holding out a microphone when it’s the child’s turn to speak. AI technology provides automatic scoring, so teachers get immediate results in the dashboard. “Speech pathologists perform high-quality assessments that include oral responses, but teachers rarely have access to tools with that level of sophistication. Unfortunately, they’re missing data that would help them to identify potential reading difficulties in young children,” said Dr. Martyn Farrows, CEO of SoapBox Labs. “Our partnership with EarlyBird makes this gold-standard approach to reading assessment more readily available at scale to teachers. The implications for our youngest learners — and their dedicated teachers — is really exciting.” EarlyBird is available for pre-K through first grade today, and is expanding to include assessments of second- and third-graders. See more stories here.
Guest post by Nell Watson, Researcher in AI Ethics and Curator of AI Con 2022 Formative AI technologies are those which can be directly applied to optimise processes based upon rapidly changing variables. Such situations can be found almost anywhere, from healthcare and business to autonomous vehicles. These technologies have the capability to transform practically every sector or domain of the economy because they can make existing processes more efficient. Those who embrace these technologies and master their deployment can enjoy very strong advantages over competitors. The transformative nature of such AI technologies can be compared to how electricity and motive power changed every sector a century ago, with the creation of power drills and tractors instead of mule-driven plows. All businesses must now learn to recognise the advantages that AI is bringing and will continue to bring to their sector. One of the most exciting and immediately applicable areas of machine learning is generative AI. Generative AI techniques involve multiple neural networks competing against each other. Some try to make plausible yet fake pieces of content, and others try to detect content as being fake. If we set up a loop between them, we can breed more accurate representations of something – human faces for example. Generative techniques can be used to turn a simple sketch into a painting in the style of a great artist at the touch of a button. They can restore damaged, lost, or obscured content. Simply by providing a few examples, they can massively upscale images or video and can even transform a video taken in winter into a summer scene, or vice versa. In many ways, this generative form of artificial intelligence can be described as the closest thing to magic in the world today. Such technologies are being widely deployed to restore and upscale older pre-HD content in movies, TV, and games, as well as for video filters in Zoom or Snapchat. The earliest applications have focussed on visual content, but recent developments upon these generative techniques are about to unleash a great step forward. ML is one of the hottest careers, and that is likely to increase even further. Deep Learning has emerged in the past ten years or so, enabling amazing new predictive processes that can find patterns with patterns, and make order out of chaos. This has transformed industry but has had less immediate uptake in the office. That’s about to change, thanks to revolutionary new models such as Large Language, Transformers and Diffusions which can be dynamically reconfigured to solve thousands of problems. With this new technology, ML is finally accessible to the masses, as we no longer require much skill beyond asking a simple question to obtain quick and reasonable assistance with almost any digital office task we could imagine. The latest models are even generating computer code, video, 3D models, virtual personalities, and music on demand from nothing more than a description of the desired output. One might think that ML skills will be less needed as a result. However, by making the power of state-of-the-art ML clear to the public, the desire for improved machine learning capabilities to optimise almost any problem will be greatly increased. ML is here to stay, and we will explore where it goes next with leading researchers in the field when AI Con, a conference Hosted by Kainos, returns next month. View the schedule and find out more about the conference here:. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@I...
Hydrogen Ireland says an entirely new energy market structure is needed to realise the true potential of alternative forms of energy. In its report launched today, entitled ‘The Commodification Of Green Hydrogen For Europe’, Hydrogen Ireland argues that green hydrogen can be the catalyst Europe uses to develop renewable energy technologies exponentially and take control of our energy supply. The organisation, which works to raise awareness of green hydrogen’s role in our energy future, will present its findings and other research at its inaugural conference next week (November 22-23) in the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Dublin. Green hydrogen is emerging as one of the most efficient and cleanest fuels possible while also being potentially carbon neutral – a vital factor as Ireland aims to transition to net zero by 2050. Paul McCormack, Hydrogen Ireland board member, says it’s important to realise green hydrogen’s role as a disruptor in the energy equation: “Green hydrogen innovation can and will convert our energy systems to the green alternatives we need to fully transition to a new zero-carbon energy model. With green hydrogen as a constituent vector we need a different energy market structure, one which will deliver on the renewables opportunity and provide us with renewable capacity and flexibility. “This is about nonlinear change in a linear world. We are looking to decouple the old energy model and implement a new integrated energy model that places the customer at the front of the process not at the end. Disruption, by definition, changes the traditional way of doing things, and accelerates change and transformation, which are both urgently needed in our approach to energy.” Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan TD, will deliver the keynote at the conference which is being sponsored by key industry players ESB, Gas Networks Ireland and Siemens Energy. Hydrogen Ireland is calling for an ‘all hands on deck’ effort that would see governments, scientists, innovators, industry, and communities all working in cohesion as partners in the clean energy transition. With a range of factors around the world putting pressure on the cost of energy and the cost of living, Dr Rory Monaghan of University of Galway, and Hydrogen Ireland board member, says it can be hard to see and focus on the long-term issues: ”The green energy transition is fragile. Across the globe and especially in Europe nations are turning to fill gaps in their fossil fuel supplies by looking to reopen coal mines, expanding domestic gas production, and securing new import contracts. This new landscape offers difficult terrain. Renewed energy security concerns among many nations risk pushing clean energy ambitions back down the agenda while short-term crises are tackled”. Hydrogen Ireland’s inaugural annual conference in Dublin will focus on the theme ‘Hydrogen: Securing Ireland’s Green Energy Future’. Along with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan TD, the speaker lineup also includes Paul McGowan, Chairperson, CRU, Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO, Hydrogen Europe, and Mary Considine, CEO, Shannon Airport Group, as well as representatives from sponsors and Hydrogen Ireland members Jim Dollard of ESB, Matthew Knight of Siemens Energy and Edwina Nyhan of Gas Networks Ireland. For more information on the event and registration, go to www.h2irl.com. To access the full report ‘The Commodification of Green Hydrogen’, click here.
Irish dairy farmers are being encouraged to breed their way to a cleaner, greener future with the launch of a new breeding tool which will allow them to select the parents of the next generation of dairy cows according to their expected ‘carbon hoofprint’. Now, researchers at the VistaMilk SFI Research Centre (in conjunction with international researchers at AbacusBio) have added a carbon efficiency layer to animals in the EBI (the Irish cattle breeding tool), meaning that Irish dairy farmers will have the choice to breed calves specifically because they are more environmentally friendly, as well as being more profitable. The EBI (in its original form) has been around for 21 years helping farmers identify the most profitable bulls and cows for breeding dairy herd replacements. Thanks to the farmers who’ve worked with it, it has already reduced the average amount of carbon associated with each litre of milk produced by 14% over that period. The launch of the new carbon index, which will ‘go live’ in January, comes as the dairy sector strives to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by the end of this decade, with some commentators suggesting the only way of doing so is to cull the national herd. The new improved EBI, which allows farmers to choose specific genetic characteristics such as longevity, fertility, milk yield and now carbon efficiency, is set to be a major contributor to Irish dairy’s strategy for meeting the 25% target – without threatening the sector’s future. This cattle breeding tool is based on nature’s own principles that genetic characteristics are likely to be passed down across generations, and the effects of the breeding programme are both cumulative and permanent. Delivering evolution takes time however, and the beneficial effects of the enhanced EBI will take several years to show through. Donagh Berry, Director of the VistaMilk Research Centre and one of the team who have spent two years developing the new carbon index for the EBI, believes that this development will be a real game-changer. “You can’t argue with the benefits of breeding programmes – the improvements build over time and once they’re established, they don’t drop off. We’ve been working with the breeding index for two decades and we’ve seen a 14% reduction in carbon hoofprint. This new piece of work specifically targets carbon efficiency in cattle and will provide farmers with the choice of breeding green into their cows. “The beauty of the EBI is that there is no reason for farmers not to use it – they have to breed cattle and they might as well ensure that they’re doing it in a way that improves the performance, the value and the environmental impact of their animals. On that basis – everyone should be doing it.” Siobhan Ring, Senior Research Geneticist at the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), commented: “The EBI works on the principle of ‘more from the same’. It’s the same cow, buts she’s better in any number of different ways – healthier, more fertile, longer-lived, more productive. “Now we can include more carbon-efficient in that list of improvements to our animals – which means we’re delivering more sustainable and environmentally-friendly dairy products to the consumer, attributes which we know are increasingly important to them when they’re making food choices.”
This article was written in collaboration with, and supported by, some of the world’s leading circular economy actors Even if all the existing pledges and national targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are fully achieved, by 2030 we will still not limit warming to 1.5-degrees—the threshold necessary to avoid irreversible climate breakdown. Additional strategies and actions are urgently needed to close the emissions gap. Nine ways the circular economy can help avert the climate crisis New research from PACE, WRI, Chatham House and NREL details current knowledge on the circular economy’s role in managing climate change. It finds that circular economy strategies can: Complement decarbonisation measures to further reduce emissions; Support the sustainable scaling of the clean energy transition, and; Enhance adaptation to climate change. What actions are needed to maximise circular economy climate benefits? These nine calls-to-action are climate strategies that decision makers need to adopt to help accelerate a circular economy with the highest potential climate benefit, and for the research community to close critical knowledge gaps. Shift consumption patterns. There is clear consensus that circular approaches with the highest emission reduction potential are those that shift consumption patterns in higher income populations: reducing floor space per capita, car-sharing, and keeping clothes in use for longer, for example. Achieving this at scale requires various levers, such as awareness raising and education, service-based business models and policies that encourage behavioural changes. One powerful example is urban planning, which can reduce the need for resources through better design. Many governments have started to co-develop policy roadmaps to design for city-level circularity; looking at minimising unused buildings, rolling out green public active transport options and designing cities that can respond to shifting societal needs. Stimulate product circularity from the design phase. More attention needs to be given to designing products, particularly as material-efficient design for the built environment and transport is forecasted to have high emission reduction potential. But product design also enables other circular economy strategies such as extending a product’s life and enabling its ability to be recycled. Since current market mechanisms often insufficiently incentivise product design, policy has a large role to play. The European Commission proposed the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation this year to reinforce design for durability, repairability and recyclability. Policies and tools such as building codes and standards, construction material passports and assessing building circularity can stimulate material-efficient design and the reuse of building components. Incorporate circularity across clean energy value chains. A circular economy for clean energy value chains is a young yet increasingly active field. While encouraging progress has been made, a lot more still needs to be done. Current efforts are overwhelmingly focused on end-of-life recycling, which ignore environmental and social benefits in other circular economy strategies. Businesses, governments, NGOs and researchers need to come together to define a common vision and establish collective actions to embed circular economy strategies in clean energy value chains, to support their sustainable scale-up and to avoid having to repair any unintended environmental and social negative consequences. Integrate circular economy strategies into national climate policies and plans. There has been increasing momentum to call on policy makers to include circular economy approaches in national climate plans. Germany, for instance, has integrated the circular economy along with other strategies in its national greenhouse gas neutrality scenario analysis. While the number of COP parties mentioning the circular economy or equivalent strategies has incr...
For tech lovers across the board, Sony has an array of innovative and exciting products to gift family, friends, and loved ones this festive season. Sony Christmas Gift Guide 2022 Throughout 2022, Sony has delivered a selection of items perfect for Christmas presents, from TVs to cameras and headphones to smartphones, suitable for every budget – and not a partridge in sight. A world class pair of noise-cancelling headphones. Tune into music, film and TV on the go, while tuning out from frantic festivities with the gift of the WH-1000XM5 industry-leading noise-cancelling headphones. These headphones are the latest in Sony’s top-of-the-range 1000X headphone range, with a new design and 30 hours’ battery life. Available in black and silver. A stylish pair of wireless headphones on the go. Ideal for those who are constantly on the move, are the small, light and mighty wireless LinkBuds S headphones. These innovative headphones can be worn comfortably around the clock and their high-quality wireless calling and music capabilities makes them the perfect gift for all ages. Available in white, black and ecru. A speaker worth a party. Perfect for those who love a party and to ‘Live Life Loud’, the exciting XG300 speaker has powerful sound and ambient illumination housed with a nifty retractable handle for tunes on the go. Available in black and light grey. A soundbar for movies. Give the gift of amazing sound for a full home cinema experience with a brand-new soundbar for Christmas this year. For those who want simple, but rich surround sound, the HT-A3000 is ideal for watching favourite movies and TV series. Available in black. A gamer’s delight. For the avid, or newcomer gamer, the latest in Sony technology is wrapped into the comfy and premium INZONE H7 headset, an excellent choice to keep gamers happy. Game all night with long battery life and a high-quality boom microphone, shaped so it can be brought closer to your mouth, ensuring you’ll always be heard clearly. INZONE H7 also feature 360 Spatial Sound for Gaming and our proven hardware technology, you can detect where your opponents are and how far away. Hear them before they see you – even players hiding in shadow, or behind walls and obstacles, can’t stay hidden for long. Available in white. A camera delight for vloggers. Budding content creator on your present list? Treat them to the best camera for capturing the perfect shot or long-form video with the ZV-E10: with precise auto focus, a shooting grip and interchangeable lenses, it is designed from the ground up for a super-premium vlogging experience. Available in black. For the budding professional. With extreme full-frame movie performance including high sensitivity (expanded ISO up to 409600), 15-stop wide dynamic range, 4K 120p1, fast and dependable autofocusing, and extra-strong image stabilisation, the ?7S III again raises the bar for movie makers. A blockbuster TV. The hero BRAVIA A95K Series is the ultimate premium gift to impress, with the best quality picture to watch the best movies this Christmas. Our revolutionary Cognitive Processor XR™ processor on Sony BRAVIA XR™ TVs reproduces content the way humans see and hear for an incredibly lifelike experience. It understands how the human eye focuses, cross analysing images to give real life depth, extraordinary contrast and beautifully vivid colours. See other product related content here.
The James Dyson Award has given more than £1m in prize money to over 300 promising inventions from young engineers and scientists around the world. This year, Sir James Dyson has selected two global winners, each receiving £30,000, and one runner-up, receiving £5,000 in prize money, to support the next stages of their inventions. 2022 James Dyson Award Global Winners announced Commenting on this year’s competition, Sir James Dyson said: “Every year, the James Dyson Award offers proof that young people are passionate about improving the planet and solving environmental and medical problems. There are people who grandstand over the issues they care about, but these young inventors are doing something more productive. They are diligently applying themselves to problem-solving using engineering, science and ingenious design.” The winning inventions International winner – SmartHEAL, invented by Tomasz Raczy?ski, Dominik Baraniecki and Piotr Walter The problem When covered by a dressing, it is very hard to know how well a wound is healing. The most common mistake in wound healing is changing the dressing too often, which can lead to infections and tissue disruption. Current methods of assessing a wound rely on subjective scoring of colour, smell, temperature – or expensive laboratory biochemical tests. Poor wound healing not only leads to tissue inflammation, but also necrosis (death of body tissue that is irreversible), and can lead to severe illness or death. In the United States, 3% of people older than 65 years have open wounds. The US government estimates that by the year 2060, the elderly population will be over 77 million. Chronic wounds are likely to be a persistent problem in this population. The solution SmartHEAL is a precise, affordable and scalable smart pH sensor for dressings. By using Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) communication systems and monitoring the pH of a wound, SmartHEAL can assess the wound’s condition and detect infection without removing the dressing, and therefore without disrupting the tissue. Medical professionals can subsequently analyse the data and prescribe the appropriate treatment for the wound. Smart bandages create and preserve a balanced wound environment. “We’ve all nervously peeled back a dressing or plaster to see what is happening underneath. SmartHEAL, a smart dressing, has won the International James Dyson Award because it provides doctors and patients with a key piece of data – the pH level – that can tell them how a wound is healing. This can improve treatment and prevent infection, saving lives. I hope the Award will give the team impetus to proceed down the tricky path towards commercialisation.” – Sir James Dyson, Founder and Chief Engineer at Dyson. Next steps The team will finish testing and then start clinical trials. Their aim is to then finish the certification process in three years’ time so they can start to distribute and sell SmartHEAL dressings in 2025. On winning the James Dyson Award International prize, the SmartHEAL team said: “We are super excited to be the International Winners of the James Dyson Award this year! This is and will be a great opportunity for us to become a part of something bigger, something that hopefully can change the world. We strive to refine our prototype, obtain a patent and pass the necessary clinical trials to commercialise SmartHEAL. We were honoured to be greeted by Sir James Dyson himself. His words: “Congratulations! You are the International winners of the James Dyson Award “still ring in our ears – we’re still in disbelief, joy and happiness!” Facts and stats It is estimated that 1 to 2 % of the population will experience a chronic wound during their lifetime in developed countries. The dramatic increase in the ageing population will increase these numbers as wound closure is negatively associated with age. Chronic wounds impact the Quality of Life (QoL) of nearly 2.5% of the total population in the United States and the manage...
Targus, a leader in laptop cases and mobile computing accessories, today announced that it has been named a CES 2023 Innovation Awards Honoree in the Computer Peripherals & Accessories category for its Energy Harvesting EcoSmart Keyboard. This CES 2023 Innovation Awards Honoree is part of Targus’ continued mission to expand its EcoSmart Collection of high-quality, thoughtful products that are also environmentally friendly. Computer sustainability, Targus named a CES 2023 Innovation Awards This year’s CES Innovation Awards program received a record high number of over 2,100 submissions. The announcement was made ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2023), the world’s most influential technology event, taking place Jan. 5-8 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Made for eco-conscious consumers, this patent pending, full-size keyboard is primarily powered by advanced amorphous silicon photovoltaic cells and uses the Atmosic ATM3 series Bluetooth SoC. The photovoltaic cells used are optimized to harvest light from indoor lighting. The ATM3 series integrates advanced power management technology and has extremely low-power capabilities, making it three-to-four times more power efficient than any other Bluetooth solution on the market. In addition, the keyboard is made with post-consumer recycled materials and is sold in sustainable packaging. While Targus has been using recycled PET polyester and plastic water bottles in its laptop cases and backpacks since 2008, the introduction of this keyboard now brings its EcoSmart technology to its tech accessories offerings. “70% of consumers are looking to big brands and businesses to provide sustainable solutions to everyday needs,” says Dave Crew, EMEA Commercial Director, Targus. “Our EcoSmart offerings meet that demand head-on, and we look forward to continuing our product innovation to include more sustainable options.” The energy harvesting keyboard joins an EcoSmart sustainable ergonomic keyboard and an ambidextrous ergonomic mouse as Targus’ first sustainable accessories. Their addition to Targus’ EcoSmart family expands on EcoSmart tablet cases and the Cypress, Sagano, Mobile Tech Traveler, EcoSpruce, and MultiFit EcoSmart collections of laptop bags, sleeves, and backpacks. This makes for a well-rounded offering of sustainable cases and tech accessories. Targus’ CES Innovation Awards Honoree will be showcased at CES in Targus’ booth #15901 Central Hall, located in the Las Vegas Convention Center. The product will also be demonstrated at CES Unveiled Las Vegas booth #509 on the evening of 3 January, as well as in the Innovation Awards Showcase during the show. About the 2023 CES Innovation Awards The CES Innovation Awards program, owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)®, is an annual competition honoring outstanding design and engineering in 28 consumer technology product categories. Those with the highest rating receive the “Best of Innovation” distinction. An elite panel of industry expert judges, including members of the media, designers, engineers and more, reviewed submissions based on innovation, engineering and functionality, aesthetic and design. New for CES 2023 — CES has partnered with the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS) to showcase the critical role of technology in support of the United Nations efforts to advance human security around the world. For CES 2023, CTA introduced a new category of Innovation Awards showcasing technologies advancing human rights. The Human Security for All category includes eight new tech subcategories. The CES 2023 Innovation Awards honorees, including product descriptions and photos, can be found at CES.tech/innovation. More will be revealed in January. Many honorees will showcase their winning products in the Innovation Awards Showcase at CES 2023. Owned and produced by CTA, CES 2023 will take place in Las Vegas on January 5-8, 2023, with Media Days taking place January 3-4, 2023. Attendees will experience new ...
Equinix, Inc., the world’s digital infrastructure company™, has joined the international non-profit association, Gaia-X, to support its ambitious plans to develop a trusted, sovereign digital infrastructure for Europe. Given recent geopolitical developments, European leaders are focused on ensuring solidarity and assurance, including in matters such as data privacy and digital sovereignty. The Gaia-X project was born from this desire to develop the next generation of digital infrastructure for Europe, ensuring European values of transparency, openness, data protection, and security are fully embedded. Gaia-X aims to build a framework of open information technology standards and APIs to support a comparable and decentralised regional, federated digital infrastructure. This qualified data infrastructure will enable European service providers to interoperate and exchange data through an interconnected ecosystem of providers. With its shared mission to provide a secure, open and transparent foundation for the digital economy, Equinix aims to further the project by sharing its expertise in delivering a global, federated network interconnection platform, based on neutral traffic exchange points. Equinix Fabric™ and Equinix Internet Exchange® facilitate interoperability and information sharing between autonomous customer and partner networks, technology systems, and applications. Gaia-X members are also working towards a common repository of data sources and infrastructure systems to ensure stored data can be exchanged in conformance with European data protection regulations, addressing data sovereignty goals, availability and innovation. Commenting on Equinix’s role in the project, Peter Waters, Chief Privacy Officer for Equinix, said:“Equinix hopes to use its vast expertise in interconnection and digital infrastructure to play a key role in bringing this ground-breaking project to fruition as part of the company’s global efforts to play a role in future-proofing businesses and societies alike. “In recent years, cybersecurity vulnerabilities have increased due to the vast amounts of data generated by companies as they grow their digital footprints to meet demand. Digital ecosystems should be designed to meet data privacy requirements, but also foster a free, but secure, flow of data, so users can collaborate without needing to worry about security issues. “Equinix Fabric, and the diverse service provider partners it hosts, is delivering on the same essential elements Gaia-X is working towards. We are pleased to offer our expertise to support Gaia-X’s mission to create a federated and secure data infrastructure where businesses and individuals can retain data sovereignty and ensure their data can be exchanged, securely.” h The software framework developed through the Gaia-X initiative will also provide significant learnings for other regions looking to increase connectivity between countries while maintaining data sovereignty. The common set of policies and rules promoted by the European project can be applied to any existing cloud/edge technology stack to obtain transparency, controllability, portability, and interoperability across data and services. This is vital as companies continue to look for new business opportunities, expanding into new markets to reach broader audiences. The latest Global Interconnection Index findings show digital leaders have grown their digital infrastructure more in the last five quarters than in the past five years. As businesses continue to expand into new markets, interconnection bandwidth is forecast to grow at over 35% CAGR, with 85% of global companies expected to expand multicloud access across several regions by 2025. This demonstrates just how vital connecting network and cloud operators through secure and open digital infrastructure will be for future business growth and stability. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication ...
Skytek has been awarded a significant contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop flight support software for the newGateway space station, an essential element of their ambition to bring a European to the Moon by 2030. Gateway is an international initiative led by two main contributors, NASA (United States) and ESA (Europe). It is one of the pillars of NASA’s Artemis program, supporting a sustainable presence on the Moon and exploration beyond. The announcement of the contract for Skytek comes after Artemis 1, the most powerful space rocket in history, launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida (today) Wednesday. The spacecraft, comprising the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule, is on a 25-day, 1.3m-mile journey to the moon and back. The Gateway space station is not intended for permanent occupancy but will be able to host 4-person crews for periods of one to three months. Gaining new experience around the Moon will prepare international partner space agencies to send the first humans to Mars by 2040: the Gateway will play a vital role in this process. Commenting, Dr Ruediger Seine, ESA Head of Astronaut training, said: “We are awarding Skytek the contract for the Flight Data File software suite for the Lunar Gateway after open competition. Skytek has decades of experience and a proven track record of developing software for the International Space Station. We look forward to working with Skytek as we send astronauts back to the Moon and beyond. The ground components of the software will also help to make ISS operations even more efficient.” Dr Sarah Bourke, Skytek CEO, said: “The awarding of this contract is testimony to the skill and excellence of our technical team. Working in the Space sector has afforded us the opportunity to work at the leading edge of science and technology. Indeed, we have taken this knowledge and successfully transferred it to other sectors including insurance and security.” The overall aim of the Flight Data File (FDF) Lunar Gateway Software is to provide Gateway operation using innovative solutions that will capitalise on the decades of experience of ISS operations. The software suite is aimed at supporting both ground operations and crew activities. The project will develop a suite of software tools to support both ODF and FDF procedures and provide a complete end-to-end solution. The Skytek project will streamline the authoring of thousands of crew procedures and processes; it will provide mobile web applications to support daily maintenance and support scientific activities. Finally, it will provide critical decision support software to assist the astronaut to undertake complex and emergency tasks. Currently, Skytek’s IPV (International Procedural Viewer) technology is a core component of International Space Station operations, with over 60,000 Open Data File (ODF) procedures guiding and supporting astronaut activity. The new project will build on this current system. Paul Kiernan, Skytek CTO said: “The technology which Skytek will develop for Gateway will include the latest in Augmented Reality based applications supporting the complex operations which astronauts will have to perform on board the Gateway.” Skytek has expanded significantly over the past few years, and Gateway software development will be undertaken at Skytek’s three European operations in Ireland, Poland, and the United Kingdom. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience....
96% of Irish CFOs say that retaining and attracting skilled talent is one of the biggest risks they face in the coming year, overtaking economic outlook (85%) and geopolitical risks (59%) – which ranked as the top two risks earlier this year. Cyber risk (76%) and supply chain logistics (68%) round out the top five concerns. Just 37% of CFOs see climate change as a risk over the next 12 months. The Deloitte CFO bi-annual Europe-wide survey benchmarks the sentiment of 1,151 CFOs based in 15 countries. The survey heard from 75 senior finance executives in Irish businesses across multiple sectors including tourism, construction, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, and transport. The Irish findings of the survey launch today at Deloitte’s Annual Reporting Plus Conference taking place in the Convention Centre Dublin. Upskilling workforces & attracting the right talent Despite the increasingly uncertain economic signals, seven in 10 (72%) CFOs believe that upskilling their workforce is one of the biggest investment opportunities for the year ahead. To attract and retain the right talent, businesses are re-looking at their working strategies and policies with 85% of CFOs focused on rolling out flexible working patterns, 69% reviewing total reward offering, 68% investing in wellbeing and assistance programmes and 59% are investing in sustainability initiatives such as measures to reduce carbon footprint. Commenting on the results of the survey and feedback from clients, Daniel Gaffney, Partner, Deloitte Ireland said: “It’s clear from the survey findings that retaining and attracting the right, skilled talent is the biggest challenge for organisations now, despite a tightening in recruitment. It’s not about scale– it’s about ensuring businesses have the right talent, skillset and expertise to navigate more uncertain terrain.” Speaking from a tax perspective, Colin Forbes, Partner and Head of Global Employer Services, Deloitte Ireland said: “From a tax perspective, Finance Bill 2022 had a number of welcome measures to help support employee attraction and retention with the extension of SARP (Special Assignee Relief Programme) relief and the Key Employee Engagement Programme (KEEP), a tax efficient share option scheme – which may give businesses an additional competitive edge when attracting and retaining employees.” Business confidence wanes with driving efficiencies the focus for tackling risk The external environment is an area of increasing concern for these leaders. While Irish CFOs perceive there to be less economic and financial uncertainty than their European counterparts (81% vs 61%), significant concerns still remain. Just 32% of CFOs are forecasting an increase in revenue over the next 12 months – down from 61% six months ago. As CFOs look towards 2023, they are responding to uncertainty by prioritising efforts to reduce OPEX (78%), reviewing supply chain efficiencies (75%) and investing in digitisation and tech transformation (64%). 73% of CFOs are focusing on organic growth rather than expanding by acquisition (22%). When it comes to inflation, the majority of CFOs in Ireland expect rates to remain over 8% for the next 12 months. As inflation levels remain high over a prolonged period, CFOs are reviewing strategies to mitigate the risk: 93% will increase energy efficiency or reduce use — 89% will increase investment to reduce costs (e.g. labour or energy savings) — 89% will improve cash flow management — 85% will pass on costs to customers — 78% will increase product/service differentiation — 75% absorb inflation by reducing margins — 64% will focus on higher margin markets/products/services — 60% will reduce investment — 56% will reduce staff costs, including hours or headcount “As inflation rates remain higher for longer, the means for CFOs to absorb costs on top of additional costs will become more challenging”, Gaffney said. “In turn, with the cost of debt rising and risk appetite waning, organic growth has become more ...
One of my most significant observations of the last few months is that very few people provide adequate preparation time for important meetings or presentations. The “It will be alright on the night” attitude is the strongest impression I gain when observing people speaking to a small team or a larger group. Stop before you are stopped: At a recent competition, five executives pitched their business ideas. Unfortunately, only two people adhered to the time they were allotted, which was five minutes. Despite being very experienced business executives, the other people went on for fifteen minutes before being brought to a halt, having been given several reminders. An example of not properly preparing, while disrespecting the organisers and your audience. Big Brother: We all now have some form of a digital calendar on our devices, which reminds us of upcoming events, also allowing us to block out focus time, study time, preparation time etc., I am often annoyed when a computer starts telling me what to do before remembering that this was a plan set by me to ensure that I adhered to my commitment to respect my audience’s time or client commitment. Busy Bees: We’re all guilty of committing to doing too much. Or have too much imposed upon us by circumstances, or “the Boss”. My advice: Each day, review your week and block out time for preparation, research, and in particular, add time for creative renewal. When should you do this? Early in the morning or in the evening; it’s your prerogative. Are you a morning or evening person? Whichever you are, get into the habit of blocking out time for preparation, and your days and weeks will become far more relaxing, enjoyable, and full of more successful outcomes. “Good luck is when opportunity meets preparation, while bad luck is when lack of preparation meets reality.” – Eliyahu Goldratt P.S. Ensure you plan time with your family and friends as your TOP priority. By Executive Coach Andrew Keogh of Aristo.ie
The latest InterTradeIreland Business Monitor (Q3 2022) reveals that while businesses are still expanding, the pace of growth is starting to flatten. The latest data shows that while sales and profits remain relatively buoyant, quarter-on-quarter, a pattern of slowing growth is emerging as rising costs pile on the pressure. Martin Robinson, InterTradeIreland’s Director of Strategy says, “There is a great deal of uncertainty in the wider economy – with rising inflation, interest rates and a volatile energy market. The road ahead looks to have a number of caution signs for business. While the majority of firms that we speak to are in a stable position, the number in growth mode has dropped to just over a third, compared to 41 per cent for the same period last year.” Not surprisingly, energy and the rising costs of other overheads are the overwhelming concerns for SMEs. The impact has been particularly acute for the manufacturing industry with over 20 per cent now indicating they are contracting. However, no sector is immune- over a fifth of businesses expect their sales to decrease in the next 6 months – this jumps to 41 per cent of companies in the leisure, hotel and catering sectors. Martin comments, “Our data shows us that 90 per cent of firms have experienced a significant increase in their energy costs, and that is feeding through to nearly half experiencing a large increase in supplier costs, while 44 per cent have experienced a substantial increase in transport costs.” “In terms of Brexit, 27 per cent of firms have reported it as an issue this quarter, compared to 35 per cent of businesses in the previous quarter. Half of firms report that they have adapted in full or to a large extent to the changes brought about by Brexit.” According to the survey, 73 per cent of businesses have passed on price rises to their customers in the last 12 months and profitability remains stable. Firms are also reporting that cost increases have not as yet impacted business and consumer confidence quarter-on-quarter; however, it remains to be seen what will happen if firms continue to pass on price rises – in particular as 9 out of 10 firms expect the rising costs of doing business to persist over the next 12 months. Martin concludes, “We know that businesses that trade cross-border, tend to be more robust. However, businesses across the island are operating against a difficult backdrop and their resilience continues to be tested. There are a number of supports out there for firms, including from InterTradeIreland. We will continue to collaborate with partners and actively review our range of programmes to ensure we can help firms in the current challenging economic landscape. To find out how we can assist your businesses and to avail of our wide range of initiatives please visit www.intertradeireland.com.” More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Cognitive AGI and robotics In this weeks episode of The Futurists, cognitive scientist and AI researcher Ben Goertzel joins the hosts to talk the likely path to Artificial General Intelligence. Goertzel is the founder of SingularityNet, Chairman at OpenCog Foundation, and previously as the Chief Scientist at Hanson Robotics he helped create Sophia the robot. Goertzel is on a different level, get ready to step up. Cognitive AGI and robotics with Ben Goertzel Welcome to the Futurists where your hosts Brett King and Robert Tercek interview the worlds foremost super-forecasters, thought leaders, technologists, entrepreneurs and futurists building the world of tomorrow. Together we will explore how our world will radically change as AI, bioscience, energy, food and agriculture, computing, the metaverse, the space industry, crypto, resource management, supply chain and climate will reshape our world over the next 100 years. Join us on The Futurists and we will see you in the future! Brett King, Bestselling Author, Founder, Radio Host Home: The Futurists Podcast with Brett King & Robert Tercek See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Looking for a present for the music lover, gamer, or the eco-conscious urban explorer? JBL and Harman Kardon have you covered with something for any lifestyle or budget. New products from JBL and Harman Kardon JBL Quantum 910 Wireless Make your gaming epic this holiday season. Total gaming immersion and pinpoint accuracy without wires, the JBL Quantum 910 Wireless is the perfect gift for those looking to take their performance to the next level. It’s time to gain the upper hand. The JBL Quantum 910 Wireless headset puts you in the centre of every game with the JBL QuantumSPHERE360 TM , JBL QuantumSPATIAL 360 TM and integrated head tracking. Built-in sensors precisely track the tiniest of head movements for a next level sound placement and immersive in-game audio experience. Hear every footstep and precisely locate enemies as sounds appear in a 3D, 360 o space, giving you the competitive edge. JBL Quantum 910 Wireless is available for £199.99 JBL Live PRO 2 Whether it’s music, a podcast or Zoom call – JBL Live PRO 2 earbuds deliver the highest performance with JBL Signature Sound, for anywhere life takes you. The earbuds feature 11mm drivers in a stylish ‘stick’ closed design with oval tubes to ensure better noise cancellation and enhanced audio quality. The True Adaptive Noise Cancelling with smart ambient enables you to adjust the amount of background noise you want to let in to stay aware of surroundings or enjoy conversations without having to remove the earbuds. With up to 40 hours of playback time, an IPX 5 rating and adjustable EQ settings through the JBL Headphones App, the JBL Live PRO 2 will never let you down. JBL Live PRO 2 are available for £129.99 JBL Reflect Aero Own your sound this holiday season with this versatile addition to the JBL true wireless line- up. The JBL Reflect Aero delivers sound that fits you with the perfect fit for every lifestyle – whether you’re out and about or hitting the gym. Enhance your performance with JBL’s Signature Sound and the JBL Headphones App. JBL Reflect Aero is engineered to keep listeners motivated at the gym, on the trail, or while walking around town with 6.8mm dynamic drivers delivering the tunes. Featuring an adjustable POWERFIN ear tip design, a secure fit and comfort are guaranteed – even in the most intense workouts, you can rely on your Reflect Aero earbuds. With up to 24 hours playback and IP68 dustproof and extreme waterproof rating, your performance is never compromised, even in salt water. JBL Reflect Aero are available for £119.99 JBL Go 3 Eco and JBL Clip 4 Eco Two of the most popular Bluetooth speakers are now eco-friendly and make the perfect portable gift for anyone consciously making more sustainable purchase decisions. The JBL Clip 4 Eco and JBL Go 3 Eco deliver great sound and all the best features, sustainably. Created using 90% PCR plastic (Post-Consumer Recycled) for the main construction with 100% recycled fabric on the speaker grille, the new portables also arrive in JBL’s most sustainable packaging yet. The pocket-size JBL Go 3 Eco is the ultra-portable speaker in the JBL range but still packs an audio punch. The compact JBL Clip 4 Eco has 10 hours of playtime and a big bass performance in a compact and convenient speaker. The integrated clip can take whatever life throws at it, so hook it onto a backpack or bike as the Clip 4 Eco supplies the soundtrack for your adventures. The JBL Go 3 Eco and JBL Clip 4 Eco will be available in Forest Green, Ocean Blue and Cloud White from December 2022 for £34.99 RRP and £49.99 RRP respectively. JBL Partybox Encore JBL’s popular Partybox speaker series now includes the JBL Partybox Encore. This party speaker outputs an impressive 100W of sound and features a built-in lightshow that syncs to music. The JBL Partybox Encore also comes with a digital wireless microphone allowing partygoers to sing along to their favourite tunes all night long. Its portable design has no limitation to the power it boasts and endles...
One of the most important things to a business is data, but is it being used correctly? Did you know that data tells the story of your business so that it can grow? One person who is an advocate of this is Ray Ryan founder and CEO of The Noledge Group. Ray talks to Ronan about his background, what the Noledge Group does, ERP systems, and data. More about The Noledge Group: The Noledge Group has OSSM (Leading NetSuite Solution Provider) and Envisage (Ireland’s Largest Sage Partner), these are two long-established cloud ERP specialist companies. Through these companies, they use the skills and experience of their people to assist their customers to achieve their business ambitions by delivering the right advice and the right technology. Most importantly they adhere to their philosophy of “Right First Time”. The Noledge Group recognises that while the cloud can be right for lots of things, it is not always right for everyone. They know It is important that they listen to their clients’ needs to make sure that they are proposing the correct solutions for them. Their clients may have made serious investments in current systems which are business-critical and these aspects need to be considered as part of an overall proposed solution. They want their customers to have the ability to choose the best solution for their business now and in the future. See more stories here.
Europe has always been known for its rich industrial, agricultural, and socio-economic diversity. In the last few decades, the continent has become the centre of global trade and commerce. One of the main reasons for this staggering achievement has been the rapid technological development of its most popular cities, including London, Barcelona, Paris, Vienna, Stockholm, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen, to name a few. Even though most cities still ooze and showcase their ancient history, their governments have optimized their available resources and maximized their citizens’ welfare through continuous digital transformation in every major sector. As a result, there’s been a rapid influx of smart city technologies in the last decade to optimize public services, infrastructure, and economic growth. Smart City Explained According to IBM, a smart city is a city that leverages data analysis and advanced technologies to centralize information and optimize limited resource allocation, utilization, management, and conservation. In other words, smart city governments and bodies deploy a standard framework of integrated information and communication technologies that combine to address different social, economic, and environmental challenges. Moreover, this framework enables a connected, sustainable infrastructure with the aid of Industry 4.0 technologies, such as: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Quantum Computing Big Data and Analytics 5G Application Programming Interface (API) The Internet of Things Industrial Automation and Smart Manufacturing Cyber-Physical Systems, etc. All these technologies (and more) combine to deliver connected solutions to the public, whether it’s through on-street sensors for traffic control, autonomous vehicles, or smart appliances. Essentially, these technologies collect, communicate, and exchange data that allow different sectors in Europe nations to improve their value offerings and improve their citizens’ lives. Latest Innovations in European Cities Smart Mobility Smart mobility has become one of the essential requirements in the modern age. It leverages different technologies to improve urban mobility and move around different cities efficiently and cost-effectively. Popular innovations in this space include intelligent traffic management with real-time updates, autonomous vehicles, long-distance/high-speed rail, and e-scooter rentals, to name a few. Security Digitalization One of the most important advancements in the last decade in European cities has been the rapid digitalization of public safety and security. With the aid of big data, AI, and IoT, cities have equipped their infrastructure with advanced surveillance systems to enable real-time traffic and crime monitoring. Using these innovations, cities have become more interconnected and proactive in handling incidents. Smart Energy Another major advancement in recent years has been the development and integration of more reliable, efficient, and eco-friendly energy solutions into the European market. Cities such as Munich, Lyon, Reykjavik, and Stockholm currently top the charts in terms of renewable energy usage (solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, etc.). Moreover, many European cities have optimized energy conservation and efficiency by leveraging IoT, AI, and other technologies to improve storage, distribution, and management. For instance, many wind power plants are using augmented and virtual reality to improve visibility and manage operations. Electronic Governance E-governance has taken off in the last decade with the advancement of smartphones, the internet, and other digital technologies. In most European nations, it has made public services more accessible, transparent, and collaborative. Many state and local bodies utilize IoT, blockchain, and AI-enhanced solutions, such as online voting, digital passports, biometric verification, tax filing, licensing, etc. Agriculture 4.0 With global populations rising sharply, there’s been an i...
The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar TD, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD and the Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, Dara Calleary TD today announced that 11 innovative projects have been approved funding of up to €40m in the first tranche of awards under the fourth round of the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund. Announcing the successful projects today the Tánaiste said: “Today I have approved funding under the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF) for another 11 ground-breaking projects that embody innovation and technological change. “Now more than ever we should look to the future and embrace innovation as a means of building our capacity to conquer the challenges we face. “Throughout the pandemic, the research community showed a commendable ability to adapt and rise to previously unthinkable challenges. We want to encourage and support that ingenuity and inventiveness through this fund, helping to deal with the adverse effects of COVID-19, Brexit, the war in Ukraine, and rising inflation. “Projects announced today will benefit patients with heart failure, make online space safer for children and reduce greenhouse gases, paving the way for Ireland’s journey to a carbon neutral society, to name a few. These and other successful projects have identified emerging areas of opportunity in future markets to help solve societal challenges by building on our regional economic and research strengths. “DTIF project partners continue to develop cutting-edge technologies and we will continue to invest in those enterprises and experts in the research community who apply innovative thinking to push boundaries and drive change.” DTIF places a large emphasis on SME participation, to utilise their potential as drivers of disruptive innovation. The 11 successful consortia in this call have 40 partners, of which 58% (23) are SMEs and 10 of which are leading their projects. To date, 153 SMEs have been awarded funding in the four calls to date. This brings the total allocation of DTIF funding to €275m. Over €157m (57%) of that funding has been awarded to project partners outside of Dublin. This will contribute to further economic growth in all regions and create high-quality jobs for talented people who live and work in rural Ireland. Simon Harris, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science said: “This fund reinforces the significant impact research and innovation has on our industrial development and economic prosperity. “Ireland continues to lead the world in research excellence, consolidated by our sustained commitment to research, development and innovation. “This call includes many of Ireland’s talented and motivated research community which covers a wide range of disciplines. The diversity of these disciplines makes Ireland an attractive place for graduates to find sustainable long-term employment and gives enterprises, particularly SMEs, access to highly skilled talent. “Of the 40 partners involved in this call, I am delighted to see that 15 research performing organisations have been awarded €15m. This level of funding reaffirms our Government’s commitment to supporting Irish ingenuity and the development of cutting-edge technologies in our higher education institutions and universities.” Dara Calleary TD, Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation congratulating the successful projects said: “Innovation through collaboration is a key part of Ireland’s success now and into the future. The DTIF calls are terrific opportunities for companies and research institutions to harness the potential of disruptive technologies, such as AI, and apply this to real-world problems. “The 11 projects announced today demonstrate that such innovation is alive and well within the Irish ecosystem and that collaboration can lead to significant...
Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) has announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with leading cloud computing services provider, Amazon Web Services (AWS), to cooperate on skills, sustainability and inclusion projects that support local communities and deliver a positive impact on a national and global scale. The collaboration will span a broad range of activities including targeted educational programmes to address national digital skills needs in fields such as cloud computing and data centre operations. It will also encourage an interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) careers amongst young people through mentorship, hackathons, competitions and fairs. The organisations will work together on training programmes to create technical career opportunities in the local community for those seeking to return to the workplace, and for minority groups traditionally underrepresented in Ireland’s tech sector. As part of the MoU, the organisations will launch the AWS Renewable Energy Lab. Located in the University’s Central Quad in Grangegorman, the facility will provide a space for undergraduate and postgraduate laboratory-based education in the technologies associated with renewable energy generation and distribution. AWS will provide students with training and support, including guest lectures, mentorship programmes, and tailored workshops. Speaking at the signing of the MoU in the Central Quad at Grangegorman, Thomas Stone, Vice President for Partnerships, said, “TU Dublin welcomes this opportunity to strengthen our long-standing relationship with AWS, and we look forward to a varied programme of activity in strategic areas of mutual interest in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Sustainability and targeted education programmes to address skill shortages in Ireland’s high-tech sector. This work will complement the University’s involvement in the Tallaght District Heating Scheme in South Dublin County, which will provide recycled heat from an AWS data centre to our Tallaght Campus, and our Data Centre Technician and Data Centre Operations part-time courses, designed in consultation with AWS.” Mike Beary, Country Manager, AWS Ireland, added: “AWS has invested in Ireland for over fifteen years and we want to do more to ensure we continue to make a positive impact on Irish society, the environment, economy, and education. This MoU further strengthens the long and enduring relationship we have with TU Dublin, and will help to advance the creation of new programmes in areas we are both committed to: sustainability, skills, and inclusion, diversity and equity. We are delighted to work with the University and look forward to seeing the results of this collaboration come to fruition in the coming years.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Gamma, a Dublin-based leading location intelligence technology company in Ireland and the UK, has announced that it is expanding into the Spanish market with its property risk assessment solutions. This move serves as part of the company’s plan to grow its operations in new international markets following a successful entry into the UK market in 2020. To showcase the value of this expansion, Gamma has analysed FloodFutures® data from Ambiental Risk Analytics for Spain through its Perilfinder™ platform – which enables insurance companies and local authorities to assess location risk for properties including flooding, fire, subsidence and crime – to reveal provinces in Spain most at risk of flooding. The analysis shows that Gipuzkoa has the highest risk rating per property. The other provinces at higher risk are Bizkaia, Cantabria, Asturias and Pontevedra. Finishing out the top 10 are A Coruña, Huelva, Tarragona, Girona and Cádiz. However, in terms of the provinces with the highest expected annual loss from flood risk, based on properties at risk and the estimated average damages incurred from flooding (€270,000), the provinces along the Mediterranean coastline rank highest. Barcelona comes in on top, with an expected annual loss of €17,531,757. It is followed by Valencia (€13,878,134), Sevilla (€12,473,571), Girona (€9,348,161) and Murcia (€8,793,702). Also coming in with an annual cost over €5 million are Tarragona (€7,603,185), Alicante (€6,686,007) and León (€5,951,882). For the country as a whole, excluding the Canary Islands, the expected annual loss is estimated to be €178,478,423. Based on the total number of properties in each province and the average annual loss per property, Gipuzkia, Asturias and Bizkaia are the most impacted areas. Richard Cantwell, Senior Spatial Data Scientist, Gamma, said: “The effects of climate change are being felt across the globe and whilst wildfire damage and drought tend to be more prevalent in Spain, flooding also occurs in winter months and is increasing due to climate change. In fact, in the second half of 2021 alone, there were several severe flood events in the likes of Navarra, Cantabria and La Rioja. Terrible floods have also wreaked havoc in recent months across Murcia, Tarragona and Madrid. “Our aim in Spain, as well as Ireland and the UK, is to assess and visualise the impact of climate change using high-quality data at the individual property level. In turn, this helps local authorities, banks and insurance providers to make better informed decisions, to assess their exposure for climate-related disclosure reporting and to lower investment and underwriting risk. Even though our analysis shows that the predicted physical damage varies greatly across Spain’s climatic regions, the impacts will be felt across the entire country.” For more information on the analysis regarding Spain, check out this report by Gamma. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The Earth Prize, a global €200,000 environmental sustainability competition for 13-to-19-year-old students, founded by Irishman Peter McGarry, has returned for its second year, and young people across Ireland are being urged to sign up. The initiative was created by The Earth Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, founded by Kildare native Peter McGarry. The Irish father of four was inspired by his own children’s enthusiasm for the environment, in particular seeing his daughter taking part in the school strikes for climate. Combining this passion with his experience in global financial markets McGarry established The Earth Prize to create a force for positive environmental change. The competition rewards teams whose projects have potential to address the environmental problems facing societies across the globe, with the winning team receiving a €100,000 prize to be split between the team members and their school, while the three runner-up teams receive €25,000. The competition also provides students with access to 40 mentors from top universities, and with exclusive video-based learning content covering key environmental topics and featuring nine young international environmental entrepreneurs. Teachers are also in with a chance to be recognized as the Educator of the Year with an award of €10,000. Speaking about the inspiration for The Earth Prize, Peter McGarry, Founder of The Earth Foundation said: “It can be easy to feel a sense of resignation about climate change and that there is nothing we can do, especially for young people who can have so little control over the decisions being made around them. Yet, I saw the passion young people have for the environment during the school strikes and in talking to my own daughter. “I knew that through mentoring and access to the right resources, we could take that enthusiasm and channel it to come up with sustainability solutions that can make a difference. The Earth Prize is all about giving young people access to those resources so they can have a positive impact on the world around them.” CEO of The Earth Foundation, Angela McCarthy said: “The Earth Prize is all about bringing youth’s unrestricted thinking to the table, inspiring them, helping them collaborate and build networks, and ultimately, turn great ideas into action. We’ve created opportunities for students with a passion for climate change to engage with world-renowned Ambassadors for the environment and showcase their solutions to a global audience.” Last year, 516 schools across 114 countries and territories took part in the competition. The winning team in Vietnam came up with a fully biodegradable sanitary pad made out of dragon fruit peels – the “Adorbsy pad” – which should degrade in only 6 to 8 months, as opposed to the widely used plastic ones which take up to 800 years to decompose, and clog landfills. Students in Ireland have until 30th November to sign up at www.theearthprize.org. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
In this article we look at the Reno8 created by Oppo. See more about the product here on their website. Oppo Reno8 series reviewed This phone was new to our testers, but out of the box they found it easy to use, and intuitive to pick up and play around with. They liked the quality of the camera, and the ability to take pictures both ways at the same time they found fun and a bit quirky. In some ways this reflected their overall user experience with the phone. In terms of pricing it is coming in at the upper end of the midrange market if you know what we mean. In terms of comparison, it is not a bargain basement phone by any mark, and with that you get a better level of performance and quality. At the same time it is still significantly cheaper than a Pixel, Samsung or an iPhone. This does then offer an appealing proposition, as long as the phone is still performing well 12 months and beyond later. For the all the more immediate road testing our team were very happy with it, and, as they enjoyed that aspect of using this phone, we are all quite curious how it will continue to perform by Q2 and beyond in 2023. For the moment it is an interesting product to use, and therefore a company that we will be keeping an eye out for. OPPO Reno8 Series launch is coming to Europe ? Reno's latest glow-up is real. Join us on Aug 31st to watch how we light up the night in Paris ?#OPPOReno8Series#LightUpYourNight #ThePortraitExpert OPPO Ireland (@OPPOIreland) August 31, 2022 More about the phone The OPPO Reno series features great camera capabilities and a unique design; and coming to the newest generation, Reno8 Pro 5G and Reno8 5G employ the latest camera innovation for users to capture their best moments even in the most challenging lighting scenarios. Both devices feature Dual Sony Flagship Sensors, including the 32MP IMX709 RGBW sensor for the selfie camera, which enables users to capture clearer selfies in low light, and the 50MP IMX766 sensor in the rear for flagship-level camera performance. Reno8 Pro 5G houses the MariSilicon X imaging NPU, enabling unrivalled videography capabilities in its class. MariSilicon X enables 4K Ultra Night Video for ultra-clear, brighter, and more detailed videos at night, as well as 4K Ultra HDR Video to keep details in both highlights and shadows. Flagship charging speeds with incredible battery lifespan 80W SUPERVOOCTM on Reno8 Pro 5G and Reno8 5G empowers users to charge the 4500 mAh battery to 50% in around 10 minutes, and to 100% in around 30 minutes. With Battery Health Engine, Reno8 series devices keep up to 80% of their original capacity after 1,600 full charge cycles, which is twice the industry standard (800 cycles), making it the longest smartphone battery lifespan on the market. With the Reno8 series, OPPO continues its devotion to offering industry-leading charging experience to the global users. Since 2014, thanks to OPPO’s charging technologies over 220 million people around the world have earned back countless hours in their day. Light and streamlined unibody design for a smooth hand feel The new Reno8 series features a streamlined unibody design that integrates both the camera module and back cover for a smooth hand feel. Reno8 Pro 5G is the thinnest Reno series handset yet at only 7.34mm thickness and feels light in the hand at 183g. It comes in the gorgeous Glazed Green and Glazed Black colour variants. At only 179g and 7.67mm thickness, Reno8 5G is available in Shimmer Gold and Shimmer Black and features OPPO Glow for a stunning gradient look and fewer fingerprints. Both Reno8 Pro 5G and Reno8 5G feature high refresh rate AMOLED displays. Reno8 Pro 5G has the slimmest bezels in any Reno for a more immersive display experience. Powerful performance that lasts The combination of the MediaTek Dimensity 8100-MAX SoC, Ultra-Conductive Cooling System, together with fast 8GB LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB UFS 3.1 storage, makes Reno8 Pro 5G the most powerful Reno ever. More importantly, Reno8 Pro 5G ...
SSE Airtricity has announced plans to develop a nationwide EV charging network. The initiative will see SSE invest €35m to install 30 ultra-rapid electric vehicle (EV) charging hubs across Ireland over the next four years, all of which will be powered by 100% green electricity from SSE Airtricity. SSE Airtricity launches nationwide EV charging network As part of the EV infrastructure rollout, it has been confirmed that the first hub will open at the Lough Sheever Corporate Park in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath next year. The site will be publicly accessible and designed to accommodate long-wheelbase vehicles and buses, as well as cars and fleet vehicles. As part of Phase One of the project in 2023, and subject to planning permission, additional hubs with 10 charging bays will be installed in Blanchardstown Business Park and Greenogue Industrial Estate in Dublin. It is expected that a total of six sites will be operational by the end of 2023, with a further 10 coming online in 2024. Each ultra-rapid bay will have charging capabilities of up to 150 kilowatts (kW), sufficient to deliver 12.5 kms of range per minute of charging. The announcement follows the Electric Vehicle Summit 2022 at the RDS in Dublin this week, where SSE Airtricity was a headline sponsor. Kevin Welstead, EV Director Sector SSE, said: “At SSE, we have extensive experience in the development and rollout of EV charging infrastructure. From our network in the UK, we understand that when it comes to charging people just want to be back on the move on in the shortest amount of time possible. “We’re delighted to launch our first EV charging hubs in Ireland, and we’re really excited about the network we are going to develop over the coming years. In building out this infrastructure, we want to ensure peace of mind for all EV drivers – domestic, car fleet, commercial – that when they show up at one of our facilities, they can plug in to a working, high power charger as soon as they arrive, and that they can be back on the move within the shortest amount of time possible.” Klair Neenan, Managing Director SSE Airtricity, said: “SSE Airtricity has a long-standing commitment of delivering green energy and green energy solutions to our customers, and we’re delighted to take that a step further with the announcement of the SSE Airtricity EV charging hubs. “With COP27 underway in Egypt, today’s announcement is fitting as we renew our commitment to supporting Ireland’s climate change targets and support Government’s Climate Action Plan and EV transport targets.” SSE has committed to installing 300 ultra-rapid charging hubs powered by traceable, renewable energy across Ireland and the UK over the next five years. The very first hub, on Castlebank Street in Glasgow, went live at the end of September. A 2021 study by the UK’s Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology found that Ireland ranked joint-last in terms of implementing charging infrastructure. The Government’s 2021 Climate Action Plan has set a target of one million EVs on the roads by 2030, including private cars, heavy goods vehicles, small public service vehicles, and larger public transport vehicles. Figures released last month by the UK’s Department for Transport revealed that Northern Ireland has the lowest level of charging device provision in the UK (18 devices per 100,000). In addition to announcing this nationwide infrastructure across Ireland, SSE has also just completed a deal with pan-European portfolio company, M7 Real Estate, to install charging hubs at the 20 locations the company manages in the United Kingdom. About SSE Airtricity SSE Airtricity is the largest supplier of green energy in Ireland, proudly providing 100% green electricity, natural gas and energy-related services to home and business customers. Since 2008 SSE has invested significantly in Ireland, with a total economic contribution of more than €3.8bn to the economy. SSE owns and operates 28 onshore wind farms totalling 890MW ac...
The world’s leading sustainability initiative for cotton, Better Cotton, whose members include international fashion and textile brands, has issued a stark warning to leaders during COP27: global leaders must not only strengthen their commitment but turn talk into action. They must ensure a just transition for everyone and prioritise climate justice for the world’s farmers and agricultural workforce. Sustainability for cotton Better Cotton urges COP27 to support farmers Better Cotton calls for greater collaboration across the fashion sector and its textile value chains to drive greater transparency, advocacy, and action to support smallholder farming communities around the globe. The sector’s key players, including alliances, trade associations, brands, retailers, and governments, must continue to advance the goals of the Paris Agreement to avoid catastrophic climate and environmental tipping points. Better Cotton believes that climate mitigation and adaptation as well as a just transition are only possible if there is sustained investment in regenerative agriculture and sustainable farming. Leaders must strengthen and accelerate climate interventions that support the world’s smallholder agricultural producers before further catastrophic climate change events change the course of many peoples’ lives. Changes in temperature and rainfall patterns linked to climate change are likely to make cotton more challenging to grow in many regions. Expected increases in temperatures and the difference in their seasonal patterns could lead to a decrease in the agricultural productivity of some crops. Lower yields will therefore impact the lives of already vulnerable communities. The recent tragic floods in Pakistan illustrate how the cotton sector can be impacted overnight by extremes in weather patterns and affect the livelihoods of millions of people. According to McKinsey, the fashion sector must align with the 1.5-degree pathway over the next eight years and intensify its efforts to make agricultural practices more sustainable. If the textile industry does not address this, the 2030 emissions reduction targets will be missed. Solutions already exist. Egyptian cotton farmers have been embracing and implementing the Better Cotton Standard as a tool to set metrics and establish more sustainable production practices in recent years. Since 2020, Better Cotton has been working closely with on-the-ground partners – the Cotton Research Institute and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). They help to ensure that Egyptian farmers gain access to the knowledge and tools they need to adopt more sustainable practices and improve their livelihoods. Some 2,000 smallholder cotton farmers in the Kafr El Sheikh and Damietta Governorates of Egypt participate in the Better Cotton programme. As part of Better Cotton’s bold strategy designed to deliver substantial environmental, social and economic impact across the cotton industry by 2030, it launched its climate change mitigation target in 2021. The target was set to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions per tonne of Better Cotton produced by 50% by 2030 (from a 2017 baseline). Four additional targets covering soil health, pesticide use, smallholder livelihoods and women’s empowerment are expected to be announced in early 2023 with impact indicators providing robust metrics for tracking and evaluating against the baseline. Since its formation in 2009 Better Cotton has had a significant impact on the sustainability of the world’s cotton production. For example, on average Better Cotton production had a 19% lower GHG emissions intensity per tonne of lint than comparison production across China, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkey, a recent study analysing data from three seasons (2015-16 to 2017-18) showed. Alan McClay, CEO, Better Cotton said “We know that climate change poses a great risk to cotton farmers – with rising temperatures and more extreme weather events like floo...
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath TD joined Dell Technologies Ireland to officially open the newly redeveloped Customer Solution Centre at the company’s campus in Ovens, Co. Cork. The centre provides unique ‘proof-of-concept’ testing for businesses and organisations worldwide to evaluate new technologies and solutions and ensure they unlock new business opportunities. As well as giving Dell’s customers the opportunity to test drive solutions with their datasets and workloads prior to deployment, offering the chance to gain valuable hands-on experience before going live, customers will be able to avail of hands-on demonstrations of how complex IT solutions can be implemented within an organisation and in tandem assess the solutions that best meet their business needs. The state-of-the-art centre will also bring together deep-domain experts with business and IT leaders to showcase the latest in enterprise technology and explore business-critical topics such as cybersecurity, hybrid work and digital transformation. One of 15 such centres globally, the €2M investment in the Customer Solution Centre in Cork further strengthens Ireland’s position as a strategic location for Dell globally. The company’s three campuses in Cherrywood, Cork and Limerick have made Ireland a global hub for Dell in Sales, Services, Centres of Excellence Solutions Development, Manufacturing, Supply Chain Operations, Engineering, IT and Finance. “Dell Technologies has developed a strong presence here in Ireland over the past three decades, and over that time, it has consistently evolved its operations in Cork, Dublin and Limerick,” said Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath TD at the opening of the facility. “This new investment by Dell in Cork is very welcome news and strengthens the city’s location as a global digital hub. I wish all the team at Dell Ireland continued success as they help businesses and organisations to transform.” “We’re delighted to open the newly redeveloped Customer Solution Centre at our Cork campus,” said Aongus Hegarty, President of International Markets, Dell Technologies. “In today’s data-driven world, there is a growing demand amongst businesses and organisations to explore new technologies and make sure they meet their business needs. Our Customer Solution Centre in Cork has been designed to address these needs and provide access to Dell’s expertise in areas ranging from cybersecurity to hybrid working.” Mary Buckley, Interim CEO of IDA Ireland said: “Today’s announcement by Dell Technologies Ireland of a €2m investment in its newly redeveloped Customer Solution Centre in Cork is a terrific development. Dell has had operations in Ireland since 1990 and the plans announced today to grow operations so significantly is excellent news for the South-West region and indeed for the entire country. I wish Dell Technologies, every success with this expansion.”
SMEs must adopt digital and automation skills in order to not get left behind, with the manufacturing sector noticeably lower than average when it comes to digital competency. This is according to a new report by MentorsWork which was published recently by the Small Firms Association (SFA), supported by Skillnet Ireland. The research found that younger businesses are lacking when it comes to awareness and adoption of emerging technologies and its impact on business performance. The survey revealed that older businesses as well as those with 50+ employees were most likely to understand the range of emerging technologies and their impact on business and customers. SMEs in the food and drink sector were least likely to be aware of emerging technologies, with the ICT sector ranking itself 17% above average when it came to awareness and adoption. The manufacturing sector is noticeably lower than average when looking at overall digitalisation and automation competency.? The research, which surveyed 615 business owners, asking them to self-assess digital and automation competencies, further found that when it comes to protecting customer’s data, preventing ransomware attacks and other cybersecurity breaches, younger businesses see themselves as being least competent, with competency levels in managing these challenges increasing in line with the maturity of the business. According to the research, older businesses of 21+ years, and those that employ over 50 employees, are over 10 percent more competent than younger businesses. Organisations operating in manufacturing, retail and hospitality are the ‘least competent’ when it comes to understanding and protecting against tech threats. As many sectors look to get back on track post–Covid, it is the retail and hospitality sector as well as the food and drink sector that are most interested in adopting digital tools to help add to their customers’ journey and experience. The findings from the research come as MentorsWork, the nationwide business–support programme for SMEs, launches its new consultancy offering. This years’ MentorsWork programme will specifically address supporting SMEs to navigate the challenges within their current operating environments including operating cost increases, price inflation, recruitment and retention challenges, cybersecurity threats and overall corporate governance. The new consultancy offering will allow participants who have completed the 12-week programme to apply for hands-on consultancy services which will focus particularly on addressing SMEs’ digital and sustainability needs. The MentorsWork 12-week programme and the new consultancy offering are both now open for applicants. Commenting on the findings of MentorsWork’s latest report and the 2022 programme, Elizabeth Bowen, Acting Director of the Small Firms Association says: “This year’s programme was designed to support SMEs in navigating the various challenges that are most prevalent in today’s market, providing hands on, tailored guidance around issues such as managing cost inflation, addressing recruitment and retention pressures, and protecting businesses and their customers against cyber threats. “As the results from our latest report reveals to us that younger businesses are lacking when it comes to awareness and adoption of emerging technologies, our programme for the year ahead aims to provide some much-needed relief to our SMEs around the country. With the support of our mentors and consultants, we want our Irish SMEs to feel supported at all stages of their business journey. No matter the age, size or sector of their business, we are here to help.”? Rachael McFarlane, MentorsWork Programme Manager, said: “Our MentorsWork programme, looks to directly support SMEs at every stage of their growth journey. Our team works with businesses of every age and size to make sure they are set up for success and aware of their options. In turbulent times, it is important that we are not putting our b...
Ambitious female entrepreneurs who are determined to develop their businesses have just a few days left to apply for the latest cycle of Going for Growth, the award-winning business development programme. The deadline for applications is Friday, November 18th. Going for Growth is a six-month, part-time programme, supported by Enterprise Ireland and KPMG, which assists ambitious female entrepreneurs to achieve their growth aspirations. This is the 15th cycle of Going for Growth which is seeking applications from female entrepreneurs – across all sectors – who are strongly focused on growth. Up to 60 places will be available on Going for Growth. Anyone interested is encouraged to register on the website goingforgrowth.com and a link to the application form will be sent to them. There is no charge for those selected and the six-month initiative will begin in January 2023. The programme brings together female entrepreneurs for monthly peer-to-peer roundtable discussions led by successful Lead Entrepreneurs with the aim of growing their business. The participation of Lead Entrepreneurs is completely voluntary and five of this year’s Lead Entrepreneurs are former Going for Growth participants themselves. Those selected for the Going for Growth initiative join interactive round table sessions led by Lead Entrepreneurs. The Lead Entrepreneurs are successful businesswomen with personal experience of growing a business. These high-profile business leaders volunteer their time to encourage participants to set and achieve personalised goals and milestones to address the opportunities and challenges they face in driving growth in their businesses. This year’s voluntary Lead Entrepreneurs include Anne Cusack, formerly Critical Healthcare; Chupi Sweetman-Durney, Chupi; Jeananne O’Brien, Artizan Food Co.; Leonora O’Brien, formerly Pharmapod; Louise Phelan, Phelan Energy Group; Monica Flood, formerly Olas IT; and Oonagh O’Hagan, Meaghers Pharmacy Group. Ideally, businesses applying should be well established. In exceptional cases, businesses at an earlier stage will be considered if they are generating sales, and it is felt that the business is highly innovative, plans to have export customers and the entrepreneur has significant growth ambitions. If accepted, these participants are included in the ‘Starting Strong’ element of the programme. Leo Clancy, CEO Enterprise Ireland, says: “Increasing support for ambitious female entrepreneurship is a key national priority and Enterprise Ireland is proud to support Going for Growth. I believe our close partnership with Going for Growth provides excellent support to our incredible women entrepreneurs in scaling their businesses and achieving global ambition. Strong peer groups, wonderful Lead Entrepreneurs, excellent formal learning opportunities and frameworks for business growth make this a ‘must consider’ for anyone seeking to accelerate her business.” Olivia Lynch, Partner KPMG, says: “KPMG is committed to encouraging domestic entrepreneurship and supporting female entrepreneurs in achieving their growth aspirations. As part of our commitment to diversity we are passionate about ensuring females have the supports they need to succeed. We are delighted to continue supporting Going for Growth; this is an exceptional programme for ambitious women looking to take their businesses to the next level. With the invaluable expertise and encouragement of the Lead Entrepreneurs, this programme engages participants with insights and experiences to succeed and connects them with their peers to boost entrepreneurship in Ireland.” Going for Growth has been designed and is being implemented by Fitzsimons Consulting, specialists in areas related to entrepreneurship and growth. Paula Fitzsimons, founder and managing director of Fitzsimons Consulting, says: “Going for Growth has recognised from the outset that it is not just the numbers of men and women that are starting a business that is important. That is only...
This week, Pete gives some insight into the new Techstars Web3 accelerator and goes on a quick rant on FTX before he and Eoin riff on Block’s flywheel and their ambitions with Cash App, then they go through a hall-of-fame list of fintech and crypto apps from Rex Salisbury, and finally dive into NFTs and VR through an Apple lens with a dash of Reddit. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges. STORIES COVERED Announcing the Techstars Web3 Accelerator (Techstars Newsroom, 7-Nov-22) Sam Bankman-Fried’s Twitter Apology (Twitter, 10-Nov-22) Block Says Goal of Cash App Is To Be Primary Bank (PYMNTS, 4-Nov-22) Rex Salisbury on Consumer Fintech ARPUs (Twitter, h/t Simon Taylor, 2-Nov-22) Apple cracks down on NFT functionality, social post boosts with App Store rules (TechCrunch, 25-Oct-22) Web3 With a16z: Key Insights From Podcast With Chris Dixon, Sonal Chokshi & Punk6529 (Blockster, 9-Nov-22) How Reddit defied Crypto Winter and created a $10 million market for customizable avatars—just don’t call them NFTs (Fortune, 3-Nov-22) LINKS Leave a review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Check out our MoneyNeverSleeps website and get in touch via info@moneyneversleeps.ie Follow us on Twitter: MoneyNeverSleeps | Eoin Fitzgerald | Pete Townsend More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
New research commissioned by All human, the award-winning end-to-end digital growth agency, has revealed how social commerce is growing, the biggest consumer online shopping gripes and that consumers value transparency and clarity around online shopping. Capturing the mood and behaviour of online shoppers, the research revealed that COVID hastened the shift of Irish consumers, with two-thirds of consumers (65%) currently making more online purchases than before the pandemic with 9 in 10 of those shoppers responding they expect to continue this behaviour. Speaking on the All human Digital Pulse 2022 report, John Mitchell, Chief Executive of All human said, “To ensure retailers stay on top of the trends in the post-pandemic world, they must have an effective online business strategy in order to effectively sell their products online to their target audience. From the data we collected, a picture is emerging of a new paradigm where the shopping experience is transforming into a social and collaborative transaction. “One where consumers look to their social channels, their friends, and family for information and inspiration. We are seeing a dramatic shift away from Google and traditional search engine behaviour. This should sound alarm bells for those brands not actively promoting themselves on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. While currently, these platforms attract a younger audience, these are the consumers who will dictate brand relevance in the coming years.” The full All human Digital Pulse 2022 report can be found here and a summary of notable findings can be seen below. A Frictionless Online Shopping Experience According to survey results, the most important considerations when making a purchase are pricing (57%), return convenience (11%), next-day delivery guarantee (10%), and online customer care (8%). Digital consumers are looking for a convenient, seamless, personalised brand interaction. From the data, business owners should be considering offering next-day delivery services or providing other incentives such as free delivery over a certain price and stating upfront an estimate of shipping times. The good news is that, overall, 63% of consumers are satisfied with the current level of customer service provided when purchasing online. The majority of consumers (67%) are conducting online shopping via mobile phone. Merchants should be prioritising making their online stores mobile compatible or face losing sales. This is especially the case if a retailer’s target market is women, with over three-quarters of women (77%) using a mobile to shop. The biggest frustrations with online shopping Findings from the survey revealed the top five biggest online shopping frustrations for Irish consumers in order are Pop-ups (33%) Sites with unclear customer charges e.g. pricing, taxation or shipping (33%) Unclear returns process (30%) Vague Delivery/fulfilment timelines (27%) Poor mobile experience (15%) Another prominent gripe was no option to check out as a guest. Today’s online shopper values choice when it comes to how they will pay. Brands that limit payment options face unhappy customers and cart abandonment. The top 3 methods of payment were: PayPal (30%), Debit Card (26%) and Revolut (16%). Identifying the pain points is important for companies to understand customers and their sources of frustration so that they can adapt their processes to user preferences with as much clarity as possible. Making sure that eCommerce services meet the needs and desires of website visitors is an important step on the path toward a better user experience in online stores. The online shopper is always right Despite general satisfaction with the level of online customer service, there is ample opportunity for brands to examine how they are providing online shoppers with optimal assistance. Thanks in huge part to Amazon and Netflix, we are all familiar with the concept of personalisation. 71% of respondents say they make addit...
Vodafone Ireland has announced that it is to provide SMEs with business support tools worth almost €900 to businesses or €900,000 in total. Available to new and existing business customers, these supports include six months free broadband with speeds of up to 2GB and six months free cybersecurity solutions. In addition, SMEs can access relevant content on Vodafone’s Business knowledge centre, V-Hub – a free, comprehensive library of easy-to-follow, informative articles and advice for SMEs on digital marketing, cyber security and much more. The initiative has been launched alongside a new global report from Vodafone titled ‘Fit for the Future’, which shows that many businesses in Ireland are struggling to cope with disruption and adapting to changing demands. According to the study, which surveyed 250 Irish businesses, over half of firms {52%} regard their performance for addressing top risks within their business as being ‘under-performing’ or ‘average’. More than 30% of Irish firms highlighted high-speed broadband as the top technology that would enable their business plans. Cybersecurity was the third highest priority (out of 9) for businesses to improve their resilience and yet, only 28% of firms have a clear plan for cybersecurity and have implemented most of their planned actions. Commenting on the launch, Managing Director of Vodafone Ireland Business, Sinead Bryan said: “We know that the current climate is putting a lot of pressure on the Irish business community, especially small and medium enterprises. We also know that technology adoption and digital transformation are crucial to their survival and will help them navigate challenging market forces and rising costs. High-speed connectivity and cyber resilience are vital elements to enable SMEs digitally, so “I am delighted to launch a range of supports to help businesses during this difficult period. This initiative is part of our ongoing commitment of keeping Ireland connected and we are working closely with our customers to offer solutions that will help as well as encouraging them to get in touch with us should they need additional support.” Over the last 12 months, Vodafone Ireland also launched a range of other supports for SMEs including the Go and Grow Online initiative in collaboration with Enterprise Nation, Microsoft and Klarna which is a completely free digital upskilling programme for SMEs incorporating drop-in advice sessions, workshops and webinars. A new webinar series focussing on how to minimise costs and the latest economic supports available to Irish businesses is also planned as part of this programme before the end of the year. Businesses also have the ability to trade in any of their old smartphones for cash back of up to €400 each. Vodafone then recycles and repurposes them, helping the planet in the process. Beyond business customers, Vodafone also have a series of supports in place for consumers, such as the Vodafone Rewards programme that offers customers exclusive discounts, deals and freebies throughout the year to keep families enjoying everyday treats – including the Fantastic Days free cinema tickets. Every week customers can get up to four free tickets in any ODEON cinema nationwide through the MyVodafone app. Additionally, Red Family plans provide the best value offering in the market for Irish families, as they can save a minimum of €240 a year. Customers can save up to €20 on every plan after the first two accounts and can get €5 sims for the 3rd -6th on their account and up to €200 discount off handsets, providing connectivity services for the whole family. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to dis...
Timothy Ferris from Kilkenny, who graduated last week from Munster Technological University with a BSc (Hons) in Instrument Engineering, developed and built a new automation system for a wastewater treatment unit as part of his final year project in MTU’s Department of Physical Sciences in conjunction with O’Dwyer Industrial Automation (Tipperary). The innovative system was acquired by OMC Technologies in Limerick where it is currently up and running in full commercial operation and making a positive impact on the environment. Wastewater is produced when fresh water is used by homes and industries in a number of applications including leaching, flushing, or washing away waste. This wastewater contains various harmful chemicals which have been introduced to the freshwater during these uses. According to Timothy: “Water has been misused for decades, with wastewater ending up in rivers and waterways killing wildlife and fauna and contaminating the water used for human consumption. The automation solution that I developed for the wastewater treatment unit for my final year project benefits both the client company and the environment by reducing chemical disposal costs and conserving the incoming water for recycling within the facility. Once treated, the industrial wastewater may be safely reused or released to a sanitary sewer or to a surface water in the environment. It is great to see the unit up and running in OMC Technologies in Limerick and making a positive impact on the environment. I am grateful for the opportunity to carry out this project at O’Dwyer Industrial Automation and for the support received from the company and my supervisor. I was happy to apply the knowledge acquired during the studies at MTU to the practical project. Timothy’ project supervisor, Dr Svetlana Slepneva, a lecturer in the Dept. of Physical Sciences MTU, said: This industry-led project was carried out at O’Dwyer Industrial Automation’s facility in Tipperary, high-level specialists in turnkey automation & control systems. The automation system was acquired by OMC Technologies in Limerick, which specialises in metalwork fabrication for biomedical, pharma, and other industry sectors. The unit cleans water used in various manufacturing stages of metal processing and it is fantastic to see that, even at the beginning of their career, our student’s work has such a positive impact on the region’s economy and environment. Our department of Physical Sciences has a long and successful history of working closely with local, national and international companies and our graduates become sought-after specialists of whom we are very proud. The project was a great opportunity for Tim to work in the business, gain hands-on experience in a commercial environment and be supervised by high-quality specialists of O’Dwyers Industrial Automation. Sean O’Grady, Project Manager and R&D Lead at OMC, said: Steel industry is an important economic sector in Ireland, but its operation entails substantial environmental impact. Wastewater treatment is a challenging technological issue, related to the environmental performance of industry. Businesses today are striving to meet high environmental and social standards and be more sustainable. One of the most difficult tasks is the complex analysis of technological processes and the search for tailor-made solutions. This task is very demanding for high level professionals. The technology used previously involved less effective and costly method of transporting polluted waters to the plant’s central water treatment facilities. The new equipment will significantly improve the environmental performance. In particular, it will allow the use of the equipment where it is most needed – at the site of the discharge of the polluted water. Timothy’s industrial supervisor, Brendan O’Dwyer, Head of O’Dwyer Industrial Automation, said: Our company specialises in turnkey automation and control solutions, always considering sustainability and m...
Let’s face it: the last few years have been difficult for everyone. We’ve endured a pandemic. We’ve experienced the loneliness and isolation of lockdowns. We’ve faced empty store shelves and skyrocketing prices. We are confronted with the lingering threat of a global recession. Yes, our world today is fraught with anxiety and uncertainty. It’s little wonder, then, that the need for affordable, accessible, and high-quality mental healthcare is perhaps greater than it has ever been before. Why Users Should Be Wary of Mental Health Apps It’s also unsurprising that, now more than ever, people are looking to their smartphones, tablets, and PCs to secure the mental healthcare they need. Indeed, mental health apps have surged in popularity in recent years, but do they really live up to the hype? Unfortunately, in some cases, the answer is no. In fact, there are some important issues you should be aware of before you download that mental health app you’ve heard so much about. This article explores the reasons why existing and prospective users should be wary of mental health apps. Factors Driving the Popularity of Mental Health Apps It’s easy to understand why mental health apps have become so popular in recent years. They fulfil a critically important need. For far too many segments of the population, quality mental health care is simply out of reach. For instance, seniors, persons with disabilities, or people who are low income may lack mental health insurance coverage and may turn to apps as an affordable alternative. This can be highly problematic, though, as few apps designed for the general public are capable of providing the kind of intensive, evidence-based care that many need, particularly when they are facing extreme financial hardship, chronic illness, or drug or alcohol dependency. Privacy Concerns When it comes to your medical care, there are few things more important than the issue of privacy. This issue is perhaps even more of a concern when it comes to your mental healthcare. After all, if you want to receive the best care, then you must have the freedom and security to be open and honest with your counselor. However, many mental health apps simply cannot offer the level of data security you would want for your medical records. In fact, many mental health apps actually mine your data for commercial and research purposes. This means that your information may be sold to product development teams or retail enterprises. In other words, you are likely to have very little insight into how your data is collected and very little control over how it is used. The Limitations of Mental Health Apps Privacy concerns are not the only significant challenges associated with mental health apps. There is also the simple reality that apps are limited in their capacity to address the root causes of most users’ mental distress. For instance, if you are faced with a toxic work culture, even the most advanced technologies will not cure it. This is why it is incumbent on employers and employees alike not to rely on trendy technology to address more pernicious and pervasive issues. Employees may need more than a subscription to a relaxation and meditation website to help them deal with workplace stressors. They may need employer-provided individual and even group counseling to rehabilitate both their work and personal lives. Viable Alternatives Although there can be important concerns in the use of mental health apps created for the general public, that does not mean that all virtual mental healthcare is ineffective, unsecured, or dangerous. In fact, online mental health counseling can be an ideal option for those who want a convenient and cost-effective alternative to traditional, in-person care. The key, however, is to do your homework and be discriminating in your choice of care providers. Ensure that you are working with a clinician who is licensed and accredited. Consider, as well, the technology they provide and the data security prac...
Storm Technology, the market-leading digital solutions provider, has announced that it has future proofed how Trinity College Dublin staff communicate and access information internally in a digital transformation deal. A world-leading university and Ireland’s highest ranked university, Trinity has approximately 3,500 staff members and serves a community of 20,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students. To bring staff together on a communications platform and support the organisation’s strategic goals, Trinity partnered with Storm Technology to roll out a new staff intranet. Leveraging SharePoint, which was already in use across the campus, a one-stop knowledge centre and communications hub was implemented by Storm Technology to address the requirements of university staff. The solution ensures that staff have instant access to the resources they need on a day-to-day basis – including news, events, job listings, health and safety information, and learning and development resources. It also helps the communications team to maximise the impact of their own content by measuring same, in terms of engagement and reach. The platform also automatically pulls content from social media channels and allows staff to interact with posts – while protecting employee privacy through the anonymisation of data. Furthermore, the cross-organisational initiative streamlines internal communication processes within Trinity and enhances user experience by enabling two-way communication via a centralised and easy-to-use channel. By streamlining communications, content and accessibility for staff, the intranet minimises the impact on Trinity’s internal IT resources. In fact, the system can be easily managed by the in-house communications team, reducing the need for ongoing third-party support and associated costs. Mike Lillis, Chief Commercial Officer, Storm Technology, said: “By digitally transforming the way Trinity staff share, publish and access information, we are driving success for the organisation. This is both enhancing how they work today and will enable them to scale and maximise value for the future. In turn, this helps Trinity to deliver educational support to thousands of students and remain a leader in its field.” Trinity’s Deputy Director, Public Affairs and Communications, Sally-Anne Fisher, said: “Our aim was to create a community for staff and modernise our methods of communication, moving from the dependence on internal emails to a hub where people can easily interact, collaborate, and innovate. By transforming the employee experience, we are improving not just their working lives but how we operate as an educational establishment. “Our decision to partner with Storm was an easy decision, given their experience and expertise in intranet design and user experience. It has also been key to project success. We were impressed by the professionalism of the entire team – a team which looked beyond the technical implementation, providing us with tips and advice to support roll-out and system adoption, this was really appreciated and added to the overall positive experience.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
AI Con, the leading Artificial Intelligence conference hosted by Kainos, returns next month to examine the application of the technology in society and its role in securing a healthier, safer, and more sustainable future. Taking place in person at Titanic Belfast on Thursday 01 December, AI Con will also be broadcast live for over 300 attendees including those involved in AI application, policy, and regulation across Europe, the UK, and the US. The conference will explore the continued evolution of AI as it heads towards mainstream adoption, and ways to responsibly and sustainably harness it’s potential to support progress across all areas of business and public life. Robert Smith, Director of AI and Data Science at Digital Catapult UK, will deliver the keynote address to over 300 attendees. A widely respected leader in the field of AI, Robert authored Rage Inside the Machine which was shortlisted for the 2020 Business Book Awards, and has worked for over 30 years to improve the effects of AI on society. At Digital Catapult, the UK authority on advanced digital technology, Robert works with high-growth potential start-ups and sits on the AI Ethics Committee, working to ensure responsible and ethical development of AI-enabled products and services. Speakers at the full-day conference, which is sponsored by Ulster University, Digital Catapult, Matrix NI, Allstate NI and Innovate UK, include Jacob Turner, a leading barrister and internationally recognised expert on the governance of AI and author of Robot Rules: Regulating Artificial Intelligence. A UNESCO and UN Human Rights Council speaker, Jacob advises on some of the leading Artificial Intelligence cases and consults with governments, including advising the Chinese government and military on the implications of AI on national security. AI Con Hosted by Kainos will convene those involved in policy, regulation, application, and every senior technology role in between to get to the heart of AI’s relationship with data usage and privacy when it takes place in Belfast next month. The virtual conference will also be streamed live around the world. For further information or registration details please visit:/ Speaking at the launch of AI Con Hosted by Kainos, Ruth McGuinness, Data & AI practice Lead at Kainos said: “AI Con has been a significant resource for those in the field for many years and I am thrilled to have played a part in curating the conference this year. Artificial Intelligence has expanded across all sectors to become a clearly recognised asset in many areas, from business and education to health. This year, we will investigate this acceptance and consider what’s needed to further public trust and integrate the technology responsibly and sustainably to improve and enhance more areas of life.” “We are thrilled, given this new approach, to welcome Robert Smith from Digital Catapult UK as our keynote speaker. We look forward to his expert insight that will no doubt provide the perfect platform to bring debate, discussion, and ideas to a large audience on how best we can ensure ethical development and deployment of AI products and services.” Robert Smith, Director of AI and Data Science at Digital Catapult UK added: “It is a privilege to deliver a keynote address at AI Con Hosted by Kainos. The effects of Artificial Technology are obvious right across society, which in many ways permeates all our lives irrespective of location or lifestyle. We as a sector therefore have a responsibility to act ethically and sustainably as we develop it. Collaboration is the best way to do this and coming together with senior professionals in all areas of AI will be particularly beneficial following the pandemic. I look forward to not only delivering my keynote address but engaging with the wider AI Con community when we unite in Belfast next month.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Te...
Latest guest post by David Stephen about the brain. Disagreements are hardly by thoughts, they are mostly by the diverging properties thoughts acquire. It similarly applies to agreement, where thought acquires identical properties, by both parties. There are cases where the actual property [thought acquired in a situation] of one is suppressed for the other, or for the sake of peace, but could often precipitate resentment [a property] to lead to worse later on. Do Brain Differences Cause Divorce and Break-ups? There is a way to understand relationships and marriages for the brain, which could become important in the future towards mapping long term matches. The memory does not know love differently from how it knows any object. The memory does not know thirst in a different way from how it knows sound, or a language. Across the brain, there are cells and molecules in action all the time, but they build or construct what is experienced for what is known, felt and reacted to. Cells and molecules are different from the experience of anything. This parts the brain into separate mechanisms, both formidable, but one is more closely related to existential interactions. There are molecules of love and bond, but no one experiences those molecules. There are two constructs of cells and molecules—quantities and properties—for all experiences. Quantities are thoughts, properties are dominated by memory. Like cells and molecules, quantities and properties are constant in every experience and interaction, but they make determinations, per moment. Therefore, what should feel like love does not feel so all the time, same for hurt, interest, anger, empathy, desire, stress and so forth. There are acts by a partner that may be taken personally, or seem offensive, but not necessarily the case. There are others too that could be done, just to make the partner happy, which is not necessarily desired. There are some relationships and marriages that would have worked if this was known, that this event is a property problem of memory, so rather than escalate, things are defused. It is known that there are sensory inputs from the skin, ears, eyes, nose and tongue, but they become something else to the brain—identical that then transports to destinations to acquire properties for how to relate with things. In brain science, sensory inputs get in at the thalamus, except for smell that does at the olfactory bulb. It is where they are processed or integrated before relay to the cerebral cortex for interpretation. It is postulated that sensory processing or integration is into a uniform unit, identity or quantity which is thought or its form. It is what becomes the version of senses and gets relayed to the cerebral cortex for interpretation, which is theorized to be knowing, feeling and reaction. Having quantities of behavioral reaches in relationships and marriages could be useful against breakups and divorces, in a way to understand one’s mind and of the partner against some failures, affecting mental health, kids, precipitating to substance abuse and worse. See more stories by David Stephen on Irish Tech News here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Marinating startup security has become a key concern for online entrepreneurs in 2022. As the startup scene recovers from a remote shift and new calls for a digitally driven future, it’s no surprise that cybersecurity now sits at the top of every business owner’s list. In fact, cybercrime increased by 600% on the back of the pandemic alone. From a rise in phishing scams to ransomware attacks, SMEs have become prime targets for cyber-hackers. Lacking the cybersecurity solutions that protect larger organisations, just one breach could see a small business sinking. DDoS Attacks On The Rise: How Can You Protect Your Startup Without a cyber-safe structure and secure web host, small business servers are at more risk than ever before. After a recent Netscout Systems report discovered that over 6 million distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks targeted small business servers in just the first half of 2022, it’s time to take action if you want your startup to stay afloat in 2023. Are DDoS attacks on the rise? In the first six months of 2022, DDoS attacks climbed up by 203% in comparison with 2021. Ranging from terabit attacks to mass hacktivism, the corporate sector remains the number one target for cybercriminals. The question is, why is server hacking the newest cybercrime trend on the block? According to Radware’s 2022 H1 Global Threat Analysis Report, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had a significant impact on the rise of cyber-hacking. With an added reliance on the use of online servers, Russia’s effect on the disruption of global business has pushed more services into a completely digital realm. With more businesses going remote on the back of both the pandemic and the effects of the Russia/Ukraine war, comes a new era of opportunity for smart cyber hackers. What is a DDoS attack? A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, targets your server or network service. In an attempt to disrupt and ruin the flow of normal site traffic, DDoS hackers work to overwhelm a severer with a number of bot-generated, infected hosts, in turn causing a mass crash of all web content. (Image Source: AVI Networks) Using a number of compromised CPU systems as a source of host traffic, DDoS attackers can quickly exploit a server and prevent regular users from accessing web content, otherwise known as a denial of service. What does a DDoS attack look like for a small business? Identifying a DDoS attack can be tricky at first, as botnet-based hacks are easily disguised as traffic pouring in from hundreds of legitimate IP addresses. Learning to identify trends in your traffic, is a great place to start when searching for a potential threat. Here are some of the most common clues that your server might be under attack: Seeing large numbers of site traffic flood in from just one IP address or range. Noticing a suspicious surge of traffic from shared device types, behavioural features or the same geolocation. An unexplained influx of endpoint requests or single-page activity. Odd engagement times, such as surges in the middle of the night or an unusual pattern of user traffic, such as a spike every 30 minutes. As one of the easiest targets for cyber hacking, small business owners need to know not only how to identify a breach, but how to prevent one in the first place. Read on as we jump into cyber-proofing your startup and what it could mean for SME success. How to protect your startup from DDoS attacks Startups can no longer have the ‘we are too small to be attacked’ mindset when facing cybersecurity threats in 2023. In fact, a DDoS attack is far easier to orchestrate on a small business server as they are likely to be using a shared hosting service and are often not backed up. With the average cyber attack now costing a small business over £100,000, startups can not afford to be a victim. Not only could a breach finish off a company before it even started, but a whopping 69% of consumers also refuse to even interact with a site that has suffere...
Dell Technologies announces the next generation of Dell PowerEdge servers with 4th Generation AMD EPYC processors. With their highest application performance to date, these new systems are designed to help customers more effectively power today’s demanding, compute-centric workloads such as data analytics. Designed for efficiency and security in mind, the new PowerEdge Servers are equipped with Dell’s Smart Cooling technology to help reduce CO2 emissions and a built-in cyber-resilient architecture to help reinforce customers’ security efforts. “Customers demand uncompromised compute performance delivered in the most sustainable manner possible. Our latest PowerEdge servers are purpose built-to meet the needs of today’s demanding workloads with efficiency and resiliency,” said Rajesh Pohani, vice president of portfolio and product management for PowerEdge, HPC and Core Compute at Dell Technologies. “With up to double the performance of the previous generation, combined with the latest in power and cooling innovations, these servers are designed to meet the growing demands of our customers.” More performance and storage options for the data centre of the future The next generation of Dell PowerEdge servers with 4th generation AMD EPYC processors provides performance and storage advancements while integrating into existing customer environments. The servers are well-suited for organizations with advanced workloads such as data analytics, AI, high-performance computing (HPC) and virtualization. Available in one- and two-socket configurations, with support for as much as 50% more processor cores compared to the previous generation, the latest systems offer the highest performance to date for AMD-powered PowerEdge servers. Customers can expect up to a 121% performance improvement, up to 33% more front-drive count for 2U servers and up to 60% higher front-drive count for 1U servers. PowerEdge R7625 offers increased application performance and data storage. With the performance of dual 4th generation AMD EPYC processors, this server is designed to be the backbone of a data centre. This 2-socket, 2U platform has proven to accelerate in-memory databases by over 72% surpassing all other 2- and 4-socket SAP Sales & Distributions submissions, achieving a new world record. PowerEdge R7615 is a one-socket, 2U server with a faster memory bandwidth than previous generations. Improved drive density is designed to complete multiple jobs faster with a smaller data centre footprint. This platform accelerates AI workloads with maximum accelerated expansion capabilities, achieving an AI benchmark world record. PowerEdge R6625 is a two-socket, 1U server delivering the optimal balance in performance, flexibility and density. The system is suited for HPC workloads or running multiple virtual desktop infrastructure instances. PowerEdge R6615 is a one-socket, 1U server that offers more virtual machine density than previous generations. The thin design offers increased compute power in a dense form factor, limiting data centre footprint expansion without losing performance. “AMD and Dell Technologies are committed to delivering leadership products that help organizations improve the performance and efficiency of their data centres while also working toward a more sustainable future,” said Ram Peddibhotla, corporate vice president, EPYC product management, AMD. “With the launch of Dell PowerEdge servers, powered by 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors, we continue to break performance records while delivering on the most stringent environmental goals and business outcomes our joint customers demand.” For sustainable data centres, less is more Built with sustainability in mind, the servers offer advancements in Dell Smart Cooling technology that allow for more airflow through the systems than previous generations, keeping them cool while performing at the highest levels for long periods of time. With greater core density, organizations can replace older, less eff...
We review Gonzo Wall Street: Riots, Radicals, Racism and Revolution. See more about the book here. Gonzo Wall Street: Riots, Radicals, Racism and Revolution, reviewed An interesting book. Written well, a good and insightful take on the sixties, banking, the Kennedys, US politics and how it stumbled along, and through to later government bailouts of books. It does bring new insights into some more recent ways of the US governments feeling the need to bail out failing US banks. In many ways this bigger picture context lurks, implicitly across the whole narrative, and yet, at the same time a lot of this book feels like its sole focus is the 1960s and what happened then. This is fine, as far as it goes, but, as we read it, late in 2022 we found ourselves repeatedly wondering, what inspired the author to write this, and yet not join up the dots into why we are where we are now. Maybe this is an unfair request, but no book is isolated from the time it is written, and the blurb and the author’s own perspective are related to why the actions of the sixties created an ongoing belief that failing banks need to be bailed out. This book does shine new insights on the 1960s, and also subsequent US banking bailout decisions. Beyond that, despite being a story well told, does this tackle all the questions that it could have? The reader may need to decide this. Farley does do a good job of describing how, no nicer word for it, incompetent and corrupt many of the players he featured were. This then left us wondering, how on earth has the US financial system managed to keep stumbling across the last six decades since those events. In this way the book scores well, and does suggest that, while the dollar is still used as a go-to global currency, it is a fair question to ask how much longer this may continue for. More about this book Before there were SPACs, before there were meme stocks, before there was the 2008 bailout, there was Wall Street in the 1960s. Today, we remember the sixties for the Vietnam War, assassinations, women’s and gay liberation movements, and the drugs that were changing American culture. Hidden from view, though, was Wall Street, where bankers were living large, and a crisis was brewing that would cause more investment banks to fail than during the Great Depression–and set the stage for the 2008 Wall Street bailout. Finance attorney Richard E. Farley’s forthcoming book, GONZO WALL STREET: RIOTS, RADICALS, RACISM, AND REVOLUTION: How the Go-Go Bankers of the 1960s Crashed the Financial System and Bamboozled Washington (Regan Arts, October 2022) unveils this history for the first time–and shows what this forgotten Wall Street era tells us about finance in 2022. Farley takes us back to 1968, when Wall Street witnessed the greatest bull market since the Roaring ’20s. The Dow was breaking records. Trading volume was exploding. A hot IPO market for high-flying technology companies was defying gravity. Traders were partying like sixties rock stars. Despite how flush Wall Street firms looked to outsiders, the banks were falling apart. When business exploded in 1968, they were so overwhelmed by the stacks of stock certificates piled from floor to ceiling that their antiquated back offices could not process them–and the failing banks held Congress over a barrel and got an outrageous taxpayer-funded bailout of what they owed their customers. GONZO WALL STREET shows how the sixties set the stage for the financial corruption of today. The stranger than fiction stories include: ? Tino De Angelis, the Salad Oil Swindler who took down a prominent investment bank on the day President Kennedy was assassinated—and nearly took down many more. ? John Coleman, the most powerful man on Wall Street in the twentieth century that you have never heard of—and why he liked it that way. ? Francine Gottfried, the humble heroine whose dignity in the face of cruel mistreatment as a result of her voluptuous figure inspired a revolution for women on Wal...
SSE Airtricity has today announced plans to develop a nationwide EV charging network. The initiative will see SSE invest €35m to install 30 ultra-rapid electric vehicle (EV) charging hubs across Ireland over the next four years, all of which will be powered by 100% green electricity from SSE Airtricity. As part of the EV infrastructure rollout, it has been confirmed that the first hub will open at the Lough Sheever Corporate Park in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath next year. The site will be publicly accessible and designed to accommodate long-wheelbase vehicles and buses, as well as cars and fleet vehicles. As part of Phase One of the project in 2023, and subject to planning permission, additional hubs with 10 charging bays will be installed in Blanchardstown Business Park and Greenogue Industrial Estate in Dublin. It is expected that a total of six sites will be operational by the end of 2023, with a further 10 coming online in 2024. Each ultra-rapid bay will have charging capabilities of up to 150 kilowatts (kW), sufficient to deliver 12.5 km of range per minute of charging. Kevin Welstead, EV Director Sector SSE, said: “At SSE, we have extensive experience in the development and rollout of EV charging infrastructure. From our network in the UK, we understand that when it comes to charging people just want to be back on the move on in the shortest amount of time possible. “We’re delighted to launch our first EV charging hubs in Ireland, and we’re really excited about the network we are going to develop over the coming years. In building out this infrastructure, we want to ensure peace of mind for all EV drivers – domestic, car fleet, commercial – that when they show up at one of our facilities, they can plug in to a working, high-power charger as soon as they arrive, and that they can be back on the move within the shortest amount of time possible.” Klair Neenan, Managing Director SSE Airtricity, said: “SSE Airtricity has a long-standing commitment of delivering green energy and green energy solutions to our customers, and we’re delighted to take that a step further with the announcement of the SSE Airtricity EV charging hubs. “With COP27 underway in Egypt, today’s announcement is fitting as we renew our commitment to supporting Ireland’s climate change targets and support Government’s Climate Action Plan and EV transport targets.” SSE has committed to installing 300 ultra-rapid charging hubs powered by traceable, renewable energy across Ireland and the UK over the next five years. The very first hub, on Castlebank Street in Glasgow, went live at the end of September. A 2021 study by the UK’s Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology found that Ireland ranked joint-last in terms of implementing charging infrastructure. The Government’s 2021 Climate Action Plan has set a target of one million EVs on the roads by 2030, including private cars, heavy goods vehicles, small public service vehicles, and larger public transport vehicles. Figures released last month by the UK’s Department for Transport revealed that Northern Ireland has the lowest level of charging device provision in the UK (18 devices per 100,000). In addition to announcing this nationwide infrastructure across Ireland, SSE has also just completed a deal with pan-European portfolio company, M7 Real Estate, to install charging hubs at the 20 locations the company manages in the United Kingdom. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also fi...
ServiceNow, the leading digital workflow company making the world work better for everyone, has been named a Leader in the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for IT Service Management (ITSM) Platforms. ServiceNow was recognised for its Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision with its ITSM solution being evaluated, marking the ninth consecutive year that ServiceNow has been named a Leader by Gartner. Additionally, ServiceNow scored highest in all three Use Cases within the 2022 Gartner Critical Capabilities for IT Service Management Platforms, which include Service Operations (3.73/5), Business Workflow Automation (3.81/5), and Service Desk (3.76/5). According to Gartner, “IT service management (ITSM) platforms offer workflow management and related insights that enable organisations to design, automate, manage and deliver integrated IT services and digital experiences.” Further stating, “Infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders select solutions to be consumed by service desks, service operations teams and the product teams they support, as well as for business workflow administration in other IT-adjacent departments.” “At ServiceNow we are pushing the envelope with ITSM as we continue to add new capabilities, like Service Operations, to best optimise experiences for customers to resolve issues fast and reach ever greater levels of productivity,” said Matt Schvimmer, SVP, Product and Service Operations, ServiceNow. “With more than half the ITSM market share, we are humbled and honored for the trust customers have in us to deliver on the demands of today’s digital transformation necessities. This includes redefining Service Management as a more agile and automated service that empowers teams to operate at DevOps speed. From our perspective, this recognition by Gartner in both the Magic Quadrant and Critical Capabilities reports validates ServiceNow’s dedication to improve the world of work for everyone.” ServiceNow ITSM provides a modern, cloud-based, service management solution that transforms the impact, speed, and delivery of IT, while eliminating siloes between services, operations, and DevOps teams. Built on the ServiceNow platform, ServiceNow ITSM enables customers to consolidate IT tools into a single data model to automate workflows, gain real-time visibility, improve IT productivity, and transform the service experience. Additionally, as the role of centralized IT is evolving to be more of an enabler for a decentralised product team, ServiceNow ITSM allows enterprises to release value faster without sacrificing governance while ensuring a great experience for Developers and SREs. ITSM is also part of ServiceNow’s Service Operations solution which combines the power of ITSM with IT Operations Management (ITOM), automating and optimising service, operations, and DevOps teams to deliver better employee and customer experiences and productivity. A new capability of this solution, introduced in 2022, Service Operations Workspace enables teams to predict, prevent, and resolve incidents proactively from a single workspace with clear visibility into content and impact before users are affected. The Now Platform supports a wide range of employee, customer, technology, and creator experiences by delivering workflow automation at an enterprise scale, while optimising business processes for productivity, agility, and resiliency. ServiceNow ITSM enables organisations to: Empower employees to self-solve issues 24/7, raise questions, and get relevant, accurate, and consistent information to improve employee satisfaction. Make smarter decisions, automate services, and continually improve services in role-based workspaces. Triage, collaborate, and enable agents to resolve incidents, find answers, and stay connected from anywhere to resolve high-impact incidents and improve agent productivity by 30% See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 T...
By David Higgins, Senior Director at CyberArk’s Field Technology Office We’ve all become better at spotting phishing attacks, especially when they hit in our inboxes. In fact only 2.9% of employees click on phishing emails now. Yet, news of successful cyber attacks are still making headlines – highlighting how sophisticated some multi-pronged phishing schemes have become. Phishing attacks: Five things to watch Five commonalities major phishing attacks share Phishing can be accomplished in a number of ways, employing an ever-growing range of attack tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). Layered protections are essential, since what deters a phishing attempt one day might not deter it the next. Cyber defenders are best-placed by knowing when and where to concentrate their efforts. In this piece, we’re going to investigate five trends seen in recent well-known phishing attacks, at the same time relaying advice from our CyberArk Labs and Red Team on how to reduce cyber risk. 1. Using social engineering to locate people employed by particular tech companies According to a recent study of security leaders, security awareness training is the second-best defence-in-depth method for preventing ransomware, often delivered through phishing techniques. To prevent employees from falling foul to targeted attacks, security-conscious behaviour must be integrated into business culture. To do this, and to keep staff members abreast of evolving social engineering and phishing attack strategies, hold regular training and education sessions. Think about adding phishing exercises to these trainings. Additionally, check that your spam filters are functioning properly to stop the flow of shady emails, mass mailings, and unsolicited marketing materials from getting to employee inboxes. 2. Identity compromise through network entry using stolen first-factor credentials. For instance, by focusing on cached passwords kept in users’ browsers or by man-in-the-middle (MitM) assaults that intercept passwords User phishing cannot always be avoided by awareness programmes, especially as they become more sophisticated in nature. When deploying endpoint security controls, focus on the higher risk users. In the grand scheme of defence strategies, endpoint privilege management – which can protect client-side credentials and help prevent the theft of cookies that could enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) bypassing – is an important layer. 3. MFA fatigue attacks, which spoof reliable sources via voice and SMS phishing, repeatedly ask users to accept MFA notifications in order to “fatigue” them, then utilise their responses to access the corporate VPN and other target systems Attackers continue to develop new techniques to target MFA and undermine security measures. These attempts can be thwarted by choosing phishing-resistant MFA factors, such as a FIDO, QR codes, or physical tokens. Changing your organisation’s MFA setup or configuration to need a one-time password (OTP) rather than a push message is one way to lessen MFA fatigue. Users frequently grow careless and unintentionally open doors for attackers when confronted with repeated authentication notifications and touchpoints. OTP can reduce the danger brought on by MFA fatigue even if it demands greater user participation. MFA fatigue occurs when the attacker already has access to the user’s credentials and must ask them to accept the MFA notice in order to obtain access. If a company is able to prevent MFA fatigue, the attacker will be compelled to select another attack vector. The OTP configuration can greatly lower risk and lessen susceptibility to this kind of attack for the user. A more user-friendly approach is to require number matching for successful MFA authentication. Users who use the authenticator app to reply to MFA push alerts are shown a number when number matching is active. To complete the permission, they must enter that number into the app. The end-user cannot authorise the reques...
Firstly some details about the Origins of XBOX The idea that Microsoft should create its own gaming console first gained popularity in 1998. It started when Kevin Bachus, Seamus Blackley, Otto Berkes and Ted Hase formed the company’s first console team, after convincing Bill Gates to support their concept. The engineers designed and constructed the console, also known as the DirectX Box, as the first made like a PC. Consequently, it brought the capability of a gaming PC to the console industry. A short history of Xbox The system would be powered by Windows 2000 and boast more than twice the processing power of the market-leading PlayStation 2. This made it simple for PC software companies to operate inside the console’s design. Finally, the business got one of the last things it needed for the product, a memorable name. Focus groups approved the label, despite marketing fears that the shortened “Xbox” would not grip the public imagination. They were wrong. In the US today, Xbox has a market share of 50.18%, compared to PlayStation’s 49.8%. Integration of Xbox Live Xbox originally suffered from proprietary software disadvantages, unlike rivals Nintendo and Sony. Nonetheless, it offered superior technology and performance. Luckily, in 2002, Microsoft launched the Xbox Live online gaming network, enabling players to take part in online contests. Today, Xbox Live has almost two million subscribers. It remains one of the console’s most popular features. The beta testing phase of Microsoft’s long-rumoured gaming network started in August 2002. However, the system did not go live until November, when Microsoft released the Xbox Live Starter Kit. This exposed early adopters to a multiplayer gameplay experience that was totally new to the console market. Excitingly, it pitted rivals from all over the world against one another in a social setting. Xbox Live finally made it possible to get new content, advance multiplayer activity and communicate with friends (and complete strangers!) The launch of Xbox Live saw over 150,000 customers signing up within the first week. Furthermore, those numbers continued to rise exponentially. Xbox Live was introduced on Xbox’s first birthday. It was arguably the most significant event in the development of the system. What’s more, this took place alongside the rapid elevation of Microsoft’s position in the video game industry. The Xbox Series Microsoft introduced the Xbox 360, its second system, in 2005. As of October 2021, it has sold 86 million units. The third generation Xbox One hit the stores in November 2013 and has since racked up 51 million sales. Xbox Series X and Series S, the fourth generation of Microsoft’s consoles, introduced themselves in November 2020. The Xbox Series S and Series X have significant improvements compared to their predecessors. The greatest improvement is how its games look. Microsoft claims the Series X runs games at 60fps at native 4K resolution. Meanwhile, the Series S will do the same, albeit at a lesser 1440p resolution. The graphics capacity makes the Series S similar to the Xbox One and One X. It represents a significant power difference between the two, although Microsoft released the two consoles simultaneously, rather than years apart. Series S The Xbox Series S offers great value, while still allowing access to the next generation of games. Arguably, anyone who primarily uses Xbox Game Pass — a subscription service giving users access to a variety of old and new game — probably won’t miss the disc drive. Moreover, the Series S is a very cost-effective option for smaller children. The cheaper console and monthly subscriptions still provide more games than a kid can play, without having to keep buying new ones. Series X The Xbox Series X is frequently worth paying the additional price because it has superior graphics, larger storage, and a disc drive. It’s seriously worth considering if you own a 4K TV, especially one with high-end capabilities like 120 Hz and...
A new sustainability report launched today at Microsoft Envision has revealed that Irish businesses are significantly underprepared when it comes to making the transformative changes required to transition to a net zero future. The new UCC Sustainable Futures report entitled “The Sustainability Transformation: Assessing the Readiness of Irish Businesses” was commissioned by Microsoft Ireland to understand the level of business preparedness for a sustainable, net zero future and includes a national survey of 380 SMEs and larger enterprises across a range of sectors. The report found that one in five (19%) businesses are yet to start their sustainability journey, while less than one in ten (9%) consider themselves to be well-advanced or truly sustainable. Concerningly, even for those who are in the early stages of their sustainability journey, three in five businesses are yet to formulate a dedicated sustainability strategy or policy. 20% of businesses surveyed said they had no set commitments or targets relating to any critical sustainability issues. The research also points to a concerning lack of sustainability leadership and suitable skills among Irish businesses when it comes to driving sustainable transformation. Approximately seven in ten (69%) do not have someone tasked with developing and implementing a sustainability strategy. A similar proportion (69%) do not have someone tasked with identifying environmental sustainability priorities. When it comes to sustainability skills, approximately two-thirds of Irish businesses said they were either yet to develop the required skills or had basic competencies in this area. There is strong evidence to suggest that Irish businesses underestimate the scale of ambition and action that are required to build a path to net zero emissions by 2050 with just 22% of Irish businesses having committed to a net zero target. This is despite Government setting out to reduce emissions nationally by 51% by 2030 and to become carbon neutral by 2050. Moreover, larger Irish businesses will be required to publicly disclose information on how they engage with environmental, social, and governance issues as part of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive from 1st January 2024. Whilst many businesses are yet to start addressing the sustainability crisis, it’s clear that Irish businesses see digital technologies as an enabler of their journey to a net zero future. Four in five (81%) businesses stated that digital technology was “important”, “fairly important” or “very important” to their organisation’s sustainability transition. However, almost two thirds (64%) of Irish businesses said they had not adopted digital technologies to support their sustainability efforts or were in the early stages of adopting technology for this purpose. Only a very small proportion (6%) of businesses are either “well advanced and ahead of most others” or “an exemplar of best practice” in this area. Commenting on the research results, Anne Sheehan, General Manager, Microsoft Ireland, said: “The ever-growing need to protect the planet is forcing companies of all sizes to transform how they operate, with “business as usual” no longer a sustainable way forward. Whilst organisations globally are putting sustainability at the heart of their business, Microsoft included, many are yet to commence their sustainability journeys and that’s why we commissioned UCC Sustainable Futures to assess the readiness of Irish businesses for this transformation. “It’s clear from UCC’s report that Irish businesses underestimate the scale of ambition and action that is required to transition to a net zero future. The lack of progress is concerning given Government’s overarching climate action commitments for 2030 and beyond. In order for national targets to be met, every organisation must play its part and take action by making sustainability a business imperative and a leadership priority. “Simplifying sustainability measurement and ...
Following the release of a Plant Based Treaty position paper Critical for survival but it’s treated like dirt:how a Soil Treaty can save the world, climate campaigners are holding a press conference to call for a rapid transition to plant-based diets and the negotiation of a Soil Treaty at COP27. The roots of the Soil Treaty The proposition of a Soil Treaty was inspired by George Monbiot’s book Regenesis, Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet. He said, “One indication of how badly we have neglected the ecosystem that underpins our lives is that, while there are international treaties on telecommunication, civil aviation, investment guarantees, intellectual property, psychotropic substances, and doping in sports, there is no global treaty on soil. The implicit belief that this complex and scarcely understood system can withstand all we throw at it and continue to support us could be the most dangerous of our assumptions about the global food system.” Plant Based Treaty calls for a Soil Treaty as necessary climate action Land degradation is a significant threat to our future survival. 52% of the world’s soils are already degraded which is a serious risk to food security. Based on current trajectories, 90% of the world’s soil will be degraded by 2050 if urgent and necessary action is not taken. Monbiot notes that “instead of developing new policies to protect our soils, our governments are accelerating their destruction.” The position paper points to studies that consistently demonstrate that grazing farmed animals are detrimental to wider ecosystems, even when carried out using so-called ‘regenerative’ approaches. A review article found that the abundance and diversity of almost all animal groups increased once grazing animals were removed. Soil solutions for new global treaty “Land has been widely stripped to graze animals destined for human consumption, or intensively farm large-scale monocultures to grow animal feed crops such as soy and corn,” said Nilgun Engin, Plant Based Treaty campaigner, “If we switched to plant-based diets, we could reduce our land use by 76% and restore our soil and biodiversity.” We need a shift to so-called “stock free” [sic, animal free], veganic farming, no ‘till’ approaches, adding mulch such as compost, utilizing permaculture and agro-ecological nature-based principles, preventing topsoil erosion, and using perennial crops and creating food forests. Embracing restorative plant-based farming can actively improve and protect soils whilst providing locally-grown, nutritious and resilient food. George Monbiot, author of Regenesis has called for the end of animal agriculture through a shift to sustainable plant-based diets and precision fermentation. He said, “I’m backing the Plant Based Treaty, which urges leaders to recognise animal agriculture as a leading cause of climate change and promotes a shift towards sustainable vegan meals. If COP27 organisers are serious about preventing an imminent climate catastrophe, they must address the elephant in the room: so long as we raise and kill animals for food, we’re putting our future at risk.” Background A bottom-up pressure coalition of individuals, groups, businesses and cities is calling for a global Plant Based Treaty with three core principles to (1) relinquish the expansion of animal agriculture, (2) promote a shift to healthy sustainable plant-based diets through public education and redirecting subsidies and taxation, and (3) reforest and rewild the Earth and restore carbon sinks to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Governments are being urged to support food justice, help farmers in a just transition to plant-based agroecological agriculture and rewild the Earth so we can live safely and ethically within our planetary boundaries. The Plant Based Treaty has been endorsed by 60,000 individuals, 2000 groups and businesses and 20 cities including the latest to sign on, Los Angeles. See more breaking stories here.
Esri Ireland, the market leader in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), has announced that its digital mapping system is being used by Bord na Móna to restore and rehabilitate 33,000 hectares of peatlands over a five year period. Bord na Móna is a climate solutions semi-state body helping Ireland to achieve a net carbon zero future. Now that commercial peat extraction has ceased, the organisation is leading the way in restoring and rehabilitating precious peatland ecosystems. Having previously worked with Esri Ireland on other projects, Bord na Móna is now using Esri’s ArcGIS system to support and optimise its rehabilitation efforts. Bord na Móna is currently planning or implementing rehabilitation schemes on 19 sites annually throughout Ireland. Using Esri’s digital mapping capabilities, its ecologists can analyse and examine the ground level to identify which rehabilitation measures are most appropriate on different areas of bogland. This enables them to devise specific map-based solutions such as drain-blocking or bunding to optimise hydrological conditions to re-wet peat and restore peatland function. Through their collaboration, Esri Ireland has helped Bord na Móna transform their rehabilitation operations, as all employees have access to real-time information on a central system which saves time, helps to improve workflows, and allows constant updating. ArcGIS Online dashboards provide greater visibility on the progress of all projects, wherever they are happening in Ireland. Teams can also use the dashboards to generate automated, accurate reports for stakeholders, such as the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, and the National Parks and Wildlife Service. The technology also enables effective working in remote, wild landscapes, as apps can be used in the field to capture data. This eliminates the need for paper use and improves the accuracy of data collection. In areas with little or no mobile coverage, maps can be downloaded to mobile devices and updates synchronised later. Michael Lenihan, GIS Manager, Bord na Móna said: “ArcGIS is engrained in our bog rehabilitation process. Using ArcGIS, we can quickly visualise the existing conditions across thousands of hectares of bogs using numerous datasets and design and implement the most appropriate rehabilitation measures to restore peatland function and deliver climate action benefits. “With ArcGIS Online, everyone sees the most up-to-date plans, whether they are working in the office or in a bog, and this helps to ensure that ecology plans are carried out as intended. Without the dashboards, we would have to spend a lot of time producing PDF maps and reports. Instead, we can output progress data in a matter of minutes.” Phil McLaughlin, Client Manager, Esri Ireland: “Having worked extensively with Bord na Móna, they knew that we were the natural fit to deliver on this next stage in their journey. Esri’s technology has provided the organisation with an effective way of analysing, capturing and storing data to help them renew and rehabilitate our precious peatlands. It is already starting to deliver very positive results supporting Ireland’s ambitious climate goals and protecting our rich biodiversity. “We look forward to continuing to strengthen our relationship with Bord na Móna as it carries out this vital work.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, ...
Virgin Mobile is sponsoring a new, interactive and immersive brand experience called ‘CineGame’ that is launching exclusively at ODEON cinemas nationwide. ‘CineGame’ is a bespoke branded game played on the big screen by the cinema audience, through their mobile phone as part of the pre-show. The concept of interactive gaming on-screen is currently live across 8 countries in EMEA & APAC and proving to be very popular. This is the first ever interactive mobile game to come to the big screen in Ireland, and a media first sponsorship with Virgin Media. As an innovative brand activation, CineGame combines the power of gaming with the shared social experience of the cinema. Cinemagoers connect to the cinema screen via their mobile device to play games with their friends and to compete against others in the auditorium. Prizes can be won at every movie. Before every movie showing, a stunning 3D on-screen avatar alerts the audience to a game, along with the game code, to input into their CineGame app. As participants join, they meet each other on the big screen in a landscape created uniquely for Virgin Mobile and ready themselves to race against each other for prizes which arrive into the winner’s app. Prizes can be redeemed at any ODEON food and beverage stand. CineGame is downloadable for both iOS and Android devices and features an in-app branding takeover by Virgin Mobile. Between cinema visits, people also have the chance to hone their CineGame skills and play ‘always-on’ games within the app to unlock special seasonal prizes from Virgin Mobile. The Virgin Mobile game is now live at all ODEON cinemas in the Republic of Ireland until the 28th February 2023. Fiona Mahon, Senior Marketing Manager at Virgin Media said: ”We’re delighted to be the first sponsor of Cinegame at ODEON cinemas throughout Ireland. Virgin Mobile is about giving our customers freedom to connect and enjoy new experiences, which is exactly what this fun and interactive game delivers to cinema audiences.” Paul Wren, Senior Commercial Manager at ODEON Cinemas Group adds: “The ODEON cinema team in Ireland is very excited about this new development – as our aim is to give our guests the very best cinema experience possible. ODEON is the only cinema group in Ireland to be offering this fun and social gaming experience and we predict it is going to be extremely popular in the months ahead.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
It’s time to turn Black Friday on its head and turn it RED with the sale you’ve been searching for. As part of the Virgin Media Red Friday promotion, there will be amazing offers and free gifts across TV and Broadband bundles & Virgin Mobile. Starting this Thursday, November 10th until December 1st, new customers signing up to a new 12-month TV and broadband bundle for just €59 a month will bag themselves a free 40” Smart TV worth €349. With this bundle, you’ll get ultrafast 500Mb broadband and TV 360, our fastest ever TV experience. Virgin Mobile is also going on offer for anyone joining with the unbelievable Unlimited Mobile for just €10 a month for 12 months and just €25 a month thereafter now available meaning everyone can enjoy this incredible Virgin Mobile deal. That’s not all, Virgin Media are also running an online exclusive broadband offer allowing new customers to bag a real bargain. You can get superfast 500Mb broadband with 99.9% reliability for just €45 a month for 12 months. Orla Kelly, Propositions Marketing Manager, Virgin Media said: “It’s that time of year again and we’re turning Black Friday red to offer customers some truly fantastic deals. New customers signing up to our Big Bundle TV and broadband Red Friday offer, which is just €59 a month for 12 months, can pick up a fantastic 40” Smart TV absolutely free! We’re also bringing back one of our most popular Virgin Mobile offers ever where you can get Unlimited Mobile for just €10 for 12 months and, with 99.7% coverage across Ireland, there’s never been a better time to pick up a great deal.” With our Red Friday deals starting early this year, Virgin Media customers can also get a head-start on their Christmas Shopping with great gifts and still enjoy fantastic value.” To find out more about Virgin Media and Virgin Mobile’s free gifts and great offers go to www.virginmedia.ie See more stories here.
Ireland’s leading biopharmaceutical and life science companies have joined forces with three Cork schools in a bid to tackle Ireland’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) skills shortage. Transition year (TY) students from Carrigaline Community School, Kinsale Community School and Christ King Secondary School – are taking part in the STEM TY Challenge, an initiative which aims to increase interest in – and experience of – STEM amongst young students and in doing so, improve the numbers of young Irish people pursuing careers in Ireland’s STEM sector. The STEM TY Challenge will culminate in an exhibition held in Munster Technological University (MTU) on Friday Nov 11th between 10 am – 12 pm, where participants will showcase their work in front of their fellow students and key industry and education players. The initiative is being piloted by top cork-based Irish pharmaceuticals Pfizer, Lilly, Janssen, DePuy Synthes, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Hovione, who have given 24 of the TY students the opportunity to complete a mentorship with them. “The impetus for this initiative is three-fold: to deal with the myths surrounding STEM, to showcase the breath of the opportunity that is in STEM and STEM careers in the region, and to generate a pipeline of talent for companies in Cork region – and beyond,” said Marguerite O Sullivan, Director of Learning and Development at Johnson & Johnson and chair of STEM South West. “The students involved have learned an incredible amount from the initiative and developed key skills which will stand to them, and their employers, in the future.” The Cork-based consortium involved in the initiative believe that the region’s future economic performance depends, in part, on the pursuit of STEM careers by students. “As advocates of STEM and working in STEM roles in Pfizer, we see this opportunity to provide a greater understanding of STEM to TY students as an invaluable experience which we would have loved to have been involved in during our time at school. As past pupils of the school to which we are mentors, we can see how beneficial this experience would have been during our time spent in TY and we hope to see some of the mentees working in the biopharmaceutical industry in the future” say Keeva McCarthy and Aoife Dunlea, of Pfizer Ireland Pharmaceuticals, Ringaskiddy about the STEM TY Challenge. Norma Kelly, Senior Process Chemistry Manager from Thermo Fisher Scientific, and a key backer of the STEM TY Challenge, explained why the exhibition is being made open to the students’ peers: “We are keen to increase the appeal of STEM careers to young people. The huge influence friends have on the career choice of students was evident in a government-commissioned report. The report – by the economic consultants, Indecon – found that students consult friends when deciding what career path to pursue in life”, she added, “As well as gaining an understanding of the breadth of career opportunities in STEM, the students have also built their communication, problem-solving and creativity skills – skills that employers are looking for in candidates.” STEM TY Challenge organisers are inviting schools and employers who would like to attend the MTU Event, to visit More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Black Shamrock – a Virtuos Studio today announced the expansion of its operations at the Guinness Enterprise Centre (GEC) in Dublin City Centre. The co-development studio aims to create 80 new jobs with this expansion, bringing its total headcount to 200 by the end of 2023. Founded in 2015, Black Shamrock is a co-development studio that specializes in RPG and action-adventure games for PC and console. Since its establishment, Black Shamrock has contributed to Ireland’s presence in the video game industry, having developed some of the world’s most popular AAA titles. The studio has worked on games such as The Outer Worlds, Grounded, Back 4 Blood, Destroy All Humans!, Starlink: Battle for Atlas, and Pillars of Eternity. Currently, the Black Shamrock team has multiple AAA game projects in active development and is excited about their public release. Black Shamrock was acquired by Virtuos, one of the world’s largest independent game developers, in 2017 as part of its expansion to cater to an increased demand for AAA co-development services globally. Leveraging Virtuos’ global exposure and reach, Black Shamrock has also expanded its co-development capabilities, collaborating with the biggest game studios around the world. The studio is rapidly expanding to take on some of the games industry’s most ambitious projects. Black Shamrock is actively seeking talent in art, design, engineering, and production, with additional business support roles opening up in the coming months. Interested candidates can learn more about Black Shamrock’s current opportunities here. Leo Varadkar TD, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, said, “It’s really welcome that Black Shamrock plans to create 80 new jobs in Dublin as part of its expansion. This initiative underlines the company’s commitment to Ireland by employing 200 people by the end of 2023. Black Shamrock is a global leader in game development, and having such a skilled and talented workforce at its disposal is no doubt a driving force behind this further investment. The news is particularly welcome at a time when other tech companies are announcing job losses. It also shows that the tax changes recently introduced for the digital gaming industry are working. I wish the team all the best in this exciting new chapter.” Gilles Langourieux, CEO of Virtuos, said: “Ireland’s pool of young, diverse and highly-skilled talent has empowered it to become a key global player in video game development. In 2017, we saw the opportunity to expand into Dublin in partnership with Black Shamrock, which has proven to be a good fit with Virtuos’ company culture of innovation and creativity. Through Black Shamrock, we hope to continuously enable the long-term development of local talent and the expansion of the games industry in Ireland.” Lukas Codr, General Manager of Black Shamrock – a Virtuos Studio, said: “We are rapidly expanding all areas of production at Black Shamrock to cater to the growing needs of our client partners. The game projects that we are currently developing are some of the most exciting in the world, so it is the perfect time to join us if you want to work on the most awe-inspiring AAA games and do some of the best work of your career.” Eileen Sharpe, IDA Ireland’s Head of Growth Markets, said, “Ireland’s combination of creative and technical talent makes it the perfect location from which to grow and develop the video gaming sector. IDA Ireland welcomes this investment, and the opportunity to create high-quality jobs for talented people in this exciting growth area.” More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services availa...
Guest Post By David Stephen The World Meteorological Organization recently released its latest Greenhouse Gas Bulletin where they stated that, “Atmospheric carbon dioxide reached 149% of the pre-industrial level in 2021, primarily because of emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels and cement production. Since 2007, globally averaged atmospheric methane has been increasing. The annual increases in 2020 and 2021 are the largest since the systematic record began in 1983.” Parallels of Brain Science, Mental Health, Climate Change and War The report indicated that the necessary emissions cuts to prevent climate change problems before the end of this century are not not being met. The risk of climate change is known, but why does it appear that doing more is not prioritized everywhere? Aside the economy and politics, could the brain also be a factor? Brain Science It is generally agreed that fear is powered by the brain. Some agree that depression is a brain problem. Memory is known to be the brain. Hate, anger, violence and so forth are sometimes not thought of as brain problems, at least on the surface. There are brain world problems, responsible for degree of action and reaction to crisis and events, away from just the thing as its own problem. Some dismiss climate change because the degree of the fear it should cause did not transport [in the brain] directly from evidence, as they are used to—for fears. If something had dropped and shattered, there is caution with handling the next one, since the fear [risk and consequence] is directly connected. For climate change, some don’t have ‘this experience’, so it is not that real. There are wars or conflicts after resolutions were not reached because the parties had this unshakable property in their heads, for some reasons of being right [memory], advantage [memory], hate [memory], defend [memory], resist [memory] and so forth. How does the brain make these determinations? Is this different from how the brain places [problem] and replaces [therapy] in mental health? What does it mean to experience anything but the brain decides for all? Conceptually, the brain is a constant of quantities and properties. Quantities relaying to locations to acquire properties that determine what is experienced. Cells and molecules of the brain construct these quantities and properties for experiential interactions. It is possible to say this molecule handles this, or that, but to be in a situation where the function of that molecule should be expressed but vetoed by knowing what consequences would follow, if carried out. There are different internal processes of quantities and properties to hold still, express, or oppose something at any moment. Remembering is a result of the quantity acquiring that property across a certain sequence, away from how the recollection was the last time, or how others would have described it. It is the same constants in the brain for all experiences that apply to mental health, climate change, consciousness and war. In brain science, all sensory inputs arrive at the thalamus, except for smell that does at the olfactory bulb. It is where they are processed or integrated before relay to the cerebral cortex for interpretation. It is postulated that sensory input or processing is into a uniform quantity or identity which is thought or a form of thought. It is gets relayed to the cerebral cortex for interpretation. It is thought that becomes the version of all senses, or everything in the external exists in the brain in the form of thought. Interpretation in the cerebral cortex is theorized to be knowing, feeling and reaction. Knowing is memory. Climate Change Thoughts and their form are quantities. Memory—extended to feelings and reactions—are properties. It is the quantity that any external sense becomes, and the property it acquires in memory areas that decide. This explains how climate change is important to some, but not to others. To some, the quantities for future...
The majority (80%) of European commercial real estate asset managers are accelerating plans to improve energy efficiency across their property portfolios to help deal with the energy crisis and rising energy bills. The new research by Deepki, the ESG data intelligence firm, which surveyed 250 European commercial real estate asset managers in the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy, also highlighted the huge energy cost increases asset managers are experiencing within their portfolios. Real estate asset managers improving energy efficiency Over half (53%) of those questioned said they had seen energy costs rise by over 51% across their commercial real estate portfolios. Staggeringly, of these, 18% cited a massive increase of between 71% and 90% in the cost of their energy. The need for more energy efficient commercial buildings is also highlighted by the increase in green premia – the higher pricing power of more sustainable buildings. The research reveals that over half (56%) are seeing an uplift of 11%-15% and a further 28% said they had experienced a 5%-10% value enhancement, reflecting the growing demand for more efficient buildings from occupiers and the people that use them. At the other end of the scale, 82% expect the energy crisis to cause a dramatic increase in unoccupied buildings which do not perform well when it comes to energy efficiency. Those assets with poor energy efficiency will also be sold more quickly than originally planned, according to 81% of respondents. Commenting on the research findings, Vincent Bryant, CEO and co-founder of Deepki, said: “Businesses across Europe are counting the cost of the energy crisis, and commercial real estate is no exception. However, rather than stopping investment, the sector is taking action, either by accelerating plans to improve the energy efficiency of buildings or to divest those where the performance is particularly low.” Deepki is the only company in the world offering a fully populated ESG data intelligence platform to help commercial real estate investors, owners and managers improve the ESG performance of their real estate assets, and in the process enhance their value. The SaaS platform enables clients to collect ESG data, get a comprehensive overview of their portfolio’s ESG performance, establish investment plans to reach net zero, and assess results. It also allows users to report to key stakeholders. The platform is supported by carbon and ESG experts who partner with clients across data collection and analysis, through to ESG strategy definition and implementation. Now with over 250 employees, offices in five European capitals and operating in over 41 countries, Deepki has become the global leader in ESG and data intelligence solutions for environmental transition in the commercial real estate sector, with more than 500 million m² – almost five times the area of Paris – under management. For further information about Deepki’s end-to-end solutions, visit: www.deepki.com Notes Research conducted by Pureprofile with 250 commercial release estate asset management professionals in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy (50 respondents per market) in October 2022. 70% of respondents work for an institution with over £0.5 billion AUM. About Deepki Founded in 2014, Deepki has developed a SaaS solution that uses data intelligence to guide real estate players in their Net Zero transition. The solution leverages customer data to improve assets’ ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) performance and maximize asset value. Deepki operates in over 41 countries, with over 250 team members across offices in Paris, London, Berlin, Milan and Madrid. The company serves clients including Generali Real Estate, SwissLife Asset Managers and the French government, helping to make their real estate assets more sustainable at scale. In March 2022 Deepki raised €150 million in a Series C round of funding which was jointly led by Highland Europe and One Peak Partners. Other ...
Equinix, Inc., the world’s digital infrastructure company, has announced the results of research which uncovers a concern amongst businesses in Ireland about the consequences of failing to meet their sustainability targets. Equinix’s research found that as a result, 63% of IT leaders in Ireland have made reducing environmental impact a priority for their technology strategy. However, many are struggling and half (49%) of those surveyed believe that the challenges they face in meeting their environmental sustainability targets are a threat to their business. The research, which was carried out for the Equinix 2022 Global Tech Trends Survey, included 2,900 IT decision-makers globally, of which 100 were based in Ireland. The results indicate that the majority of businesses are becoming increasingly aware of the environmental footprint of their IT, with 65% reporting that they are actively measuring and trying to limit the impact of their IT infrastructure and equipment. The survey findings show that organisations that lack sustainability credentials could face severe business damage. More than half (55%) of those surveyed say they will only work with IT partners who can meet key carbon reduction targets. This is a fundamental consideration for their customers also, as 58% of IT decision-makers say their customers want to know that they are taking steps to reduce the carbon footprint of their business’ IT infrastructure. The Global Tech Trends Survey also lifts the lid on the crucial role that data centres – the home of the cloud – are playing in helping tech decision-makers in Ireland to reduce the environmental impact of their IT infrastructure. It found that 56% of businesses in Ireland have plans in place to manage the environmental impact of their growing data usage and some 68% of IT decision-makers say that their data centre is helping them to achieve this. Furthermore, 74% of businesses in Ireland believe that the cloud is an essential element in reducing their company’s carbon footprint. The research found that almost all businesses in Ireland (92%) are now utilising the cloud, while 58% are moving more functions to the cloud this year. Meanwhile, 31% are increasing their spend on carrier-neutral data centres this year. As their reliance on data centres and the cloud increases in tandem with data volumes, 62% of those surveyed report that their number one criterion when choosing a data centre provider is its sustainability credentials. Judith Gardiner, Vice President, Growth and Emerging Markets, Equinix, said: “With the increased use of data and technology comes a responsibility on all of us to not only find a sustainable way to manage this increase, but to proactively reduce the environmental impact of our entire digital footprint. Our research found that, like Equinix, 54% of businesses in Ireland have committed to science-based targets, which provide organisations with a clearly defined pathway to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and reach net zero. “No medium or large-sized organisation can achieve climate neutrality by themselves. They are relying on their partners, like Equinix, who share the same values and can help them to pursue a green agenda. The majority of businesses now realise that the greater efficiency gained from moving functions off-premise and to the cloud can significantly reduce their carbon footprint. “The survey findings reflect our own experiences, whereby businesses will only partner with other businesses that can support their sustainability goals. As a digital infrastructure and data centre provider, it is right that we play a central role in the sustainable growth of Ireland’s digital economy. We must be able to show our customers that we will help them achieve their own sustainability goals and demonstrate how our colocation and interconnection services enable companies to operate more sustainably and with greater agility in the face of market uncertainties. “Equinix is an environmen...
Fourth-year mechanical and biomedical engineering students from MTU Cork who developed a new medical device to increase cervical cancer detection rates by making the examination process more comfortable for practitioners and patients have been awarded the Siemens Innovative Student Engineer of the Year Award 2022 by Engineers Ireland. The student team, comprising of Mary O’Riordan, Daineadh Power, Sean O’Shea, Eoin McGrath, Joe O’ Reilly, Andy Leahy, Ali Rezk, Jamie O’Hanlon were awarded the prestigious accolade for the development of the Tulipa device. Tulipa is a modern, universal take on the vaginal speculum designed not only with the patient in mind but also the practitioner. The device aims to restore comfort, reduce fear, increase the attendance of women at these vital exams, and will provide a sterile solution for speculums in Third World Countries. Commenting on behalf of the winning team, Mary O’Riordan, said: “We are incredibly proud and honoured to be awarded the Siemens Innovative Student Engineer of the Year Award 2022 by Engineers Ireland. The Tulipa device has the potential to transform the lives of women across Ireland and globally and we would like to thank both Siemens and Engineers Ireland for recognising our hard work and the potential of this medical device. We look forward to bringing this product to the next stage of development and we hope that Tulipa will soon play a key role in combatting cervical cancer globally.” The winners were announced at the 2022 Siemens Innovative Student Engineer of the Year Award final at Engineers Ireland’s headquarters at 22 Clyde Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin on Thursday evening, 3 November. The winning project was selected by a panel of judges, including Joe Walsh, General Manager of Siemens Ireland, Aisling Hahessy, Engineer Ireland’s Engineer of the Year 2021 and Senior Structural Engineer with Arup, Barry Bowen, Manager of Engineering & Senior Recruiting Consultant, Morgan McKinley and Mia Fahey McCarthy, Head of Sustainability, SSE. The student team were also joined by finalists Aine Kane from Atlantic Technological University Galway who presented on her project, the Endosteal Dental Implants with Cellular Architecture and Sam French, Beverly Jones, Olin Hennessy, Harry Sweetnam, Philip Healy, Niall Marley, Dylan Hogan, Ben Donovan from MTU Cork who presented on their product, Honeyroam, which helps to help combat losses of bees by bringing the beehives and their colonies online. Commenting at the event, Joe Walsh, General Manager of Siemens Ireland, said: “At Siemens, we are passionate about innovation, ingenuity and creativity. Since 1999, we have been proud to partner with Engineers Ireland to celebrate Ireland’s most innovative engineering students and graduates. “On behalf of Siemens, I would like to offer a warm congratulations to the MTU student team who created the Tulipa device on being awarded the prestigious title of Siemens Innovative Student Engineer of the Year. This innovative device has the potential to transform the lives of women globally and will help to support early medical intervention and diagnoses of cervical cancer worldwide. “I would also like to sincerely congratulate both Aine Kane from ATU – Galway and the Honeyroam team from MTU Cork who demonstrated innovation, creative thinking, technical excellence, and hard work at today’s competition final. I have every confidence that our winner and those shortlisted for this much-valued and respected award will enjoy great success in their respective careers ahead.” John Power, President of Engineers Ireland, added: “The initiatives showcased at the Innovative Student Engineer of the Year Award competition are a testament to the talent and creativity that exists in our third-level engineering institutions. Today’s engineering students will soon assume the role of Ireland’s future leaders and will be at the forefront of developing innovative and sustainable solutions for communities in Ireland and o...
Hemp, the forgotten billion euro Industry is making a come back, guest post by David Hartigan Hemp and hemp derived products have been a hot topic the last number of years as it comes back into the mainstream with high level Celebrities such as Whoopi Goldberg and Olivia Newton-John promoting its benefits. Hemp trends to watch in 2023 and beyond But hemp has been around long before the word Celebrity even existed. There are suggestions that the plant was first cultivated as far back as 8000 B.C. and evidence that it was used by the Egyptians for paper, sails and medicine. Hemp is ingrained in human history with over 25,000 uses and has been relied upon through History for use in textiles, food and fuel. Hemp was such a vital resource that wars have been fought over its supply. At one point in History in the 1600’s Hemp was so valuable that it was regarded as legal tender in the US and you could pay your taxes with hemp in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland. During WW2 the US Government even ran a Campaign “Hemp For Victory” to encourage farmers to grow hemp for fibre which was used to help with the war effort. Unfortunately shortly after the war ended heavy taxation and political policies resulted in Hemp being classified as a schedule 1 drug in the US and damaged its demand in Europe. Only in recent years has the Industry been allowed to flourish again with the Farm Bill in 2018 which removed hemp from the Controlled Substances Act. Since then Hemp has been making a comeback in a big way and has huge potential to disrupt a number of sectors: Textiles, Construction, Food and food supplements, Fuel Textile Industry With natural resources in short supply and an increasing demand to move away from petroleum based products, the textile Industry is going through a dynamic change as it looks for more sustainable alternatives. This is where hemp has a huge potential to fill the gap in this $900+ billion Industry Hemp Clothing and Textiles Hemp unlike cotton does not require vast amounts of water so is much more sustainable and can be used to make a wide range of items such as jeans, T-shirts, socks, hoodies, towels etc. Hemp fabric is extremely durable as it is highly absorbent, lightweight and three times stronger than cotton. Already big brands like Patagonia have been using hemp fabrics in its clothing lines for nearly a decade and this trend is only set to increase. Construction Like all sectors the Construction Sector is really feeling the squeeze due to the rising cost of materials combined with supply issues. Not to mention a push from Governments to use more sustainable building materials to reduce their carbon footprint. Fortunately hemp may hold the solution to some of these problems as it can be used to create strong, durable, ecological building materials. One of the most exciting uses of hemp is as a replacement for petroleum-based materials in new builds and retrofits. One example of this is Hempcrete, a product made from a mixture of hemp hurds (shives) and lime, sand, or pozzolans, which is used as a material for construction and insulation.With the global insulation market valued at over $64.9 Billion Hemp certainly has a promising future. Hempcrete is non toxic, fully biodegradable and has great insulation properties making it a superior building material. Insulation As an insulation hemp works wonders as it absorbs heat during the day and stores it in the thermal mass of the wall which is then slowly released. This ensures it keeps your house cool during the day and warm at night. Non-Hazardous and Non-Toxic Hemp is extremely safe to work with as it is non-toxic and non-hazardous. This makes it a much safer material to work with compared to the likes of fibreglass or other petrochemical materials which are linked to adverse side effects. Fully Recyclable, Natural Fire Resistant & pest resistant As hempcrete is bio based it is fully recyclable meaning it won’t end up in a landfill making it even more eco friend...
Gerd Leonhard, renowned Futurist and Humanist, bestselling author and thought leader joins The Futurists this week to talk a positive future. Like many of our previous guests Gerd is an optimist, but warns us that we need a new mission for humanity writ large. One that is inclusive, sustainable and purpose driven. We dive into his new “Good Future” project as well as talking his books, the future of capitalism and the planet. Why we we need a new mission for humanity, Gerd Leonhard Brett King Bestselling Author, Founder, Radio Host Welcome to the Futurists where your hosts Brett King and Robert Tercek interview the worlds foremost super-forecasters, thought leaders, technologists, entrepreneurs and futurists building the world of tomorrow. Together we will explore how our world will radically change as AI, bioscience, energy, food and agriculture, computing, the metaverse, the space industry, crypto, resource management, supply chain and climate will reshape our world over the next 100 years. Join us on The Futurists and we will see you in the future! Home: The Futurists Podcast with Brett King & Robert Tercek See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Moon bouncing, Star Trek, signals to space and tours of the National Space Centre come together to bring SpaceFest visitors an out of this world celebration of space in Cork. An astronomical week of events is set to kick off at the National Space Centre (NSC) from 13 – 20 November as the secure facility opens to the public for an inaugural celebration of space held with Greywood Arts. After a sold-out weekend pilot programme last year, this year’s arts and science collaboration has grown into an 8-day Science Week Space Festival thanks to funding and support from Science Foundation Ireland. Each event explores space through both science and art, and events include an astrophotography workshop, an interactive demonstration exploring the physics of flight through circus skills, and an experimental music communication workshop with the final recording sent into space. “Art and science both begin with curiosity and experimentation in pursuit of understanding, whether we seek answers to the inner workings of the universe or about the human condition. Space inspires us to look at what lies beyond our planet, but also ultimately to look back at ourselves and our relationship to Earth,” said Jessica Bonenfant, Artistic Director of Greywood Arts. Tuesday night features The Science of Science Fiction with best-selling SciFi and fantasy author Diane Duane. A long-time resident of Ireland, her incredibly varied science fiction and writing career includes authoring nine novels in the Star Trek® universe as well as her immensely popular Young Wizards fantasy series. She’ll be joining Frances McCarthy of MTU Blackrock Castle Observatory for a 60 minute online discussion on grounding fiction in accurate science, in making complex concepts accessible to both authors and readers, and the changes and challenges of being a woman in Science Fiction through her long career. Fans of all ages are invited to submit questions for Diane in advance of the workshop to @spacefestIE on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. The week culminates in The Inevitable Ether exhibition at the NSC, featuring collaborative Artists-in-Residence Emilia Tapprest and Valerie van Zuijlen. The pair will present an immersive video installation for the fictional documentary Our Side of the Moon, which follows the story of a pair of “moon bouncers” who utilise an archaic form of radio communication to bounce messages back and forth off the moon. Parts of the film have been shot on site at the National Space Centre, including a cameo from Rory Fitzpatrick, CEO at the NSC, who commented: “We are living in a time where what was science fiction is now reality. With missions to Mars, passenger space flights and the first Irish satellite, we’re seeing an interest in space we haven’t seen since the 1960s and the first moon walk. Space Fest is a great opportunity to capture that fascination and open the science of space to a wide and inclusive audience.” Tickets to the exhibition include a tour of the National Space Centre. Tickets for all events are free of charge but online booking is essential at
ServiceNow, the leading digital workflow company making the world work better for everyone, has announced that Virgin Media Ireland will standardise its service assurance and operations capabilities on the ServiceNow Platform. Virgin Media Ireland, the country’s leading connected entertainment cable and broadcast business, is using the ServiceNow Platform as part of its effort to partner with retail service providers to deliver high-speed, uninterrupted broadband services to over 1 million households and businesses across Ireland. In order to increase network speeds, and provide reliable uptime and proactive customer service, Virgin Media Ireland has embarked on a €200m network upgrade and long-term strategy to enable speeds of up to 10Gbps and delivered through wholesale access for retail service providers. “At Virgin Media Ireland, we’re committed to innovating for our customers and investing in Ireland’s long-term digital future and connectivity needs,” said Monika Nowak-Toporowicz, Chief Technology Information Officer at Virgin Media Ireland. “Our partnership with ServiceNow is critical as we look to transform old ways of working to be more agile and scale to meet the needs of our customers to deliver the exceptional, transparent experiences that are expected by every customer in today’s digital world,” concluded Monika. While the future and direction for Virgin Media Ireland was clear, the company was challenged with silo-based IT structures, network and care teams operating in isolation. With limited integration between service assurance platforms, therefore increasing the overhead required to manage customer service requests and reducing operational efficiency. To meet these demands, Virgin Media Ireland needed an automated platform that could eliminate the manual work and help break down siloes between network and customer care teams that hamper efficiency and service. With the Now Platform, Virgin Media Ireland is now enabled to achieve real-time visibility on the root causes of issues and take corrective action, monitor and prioritise issues based on customer impact and business value, and deliver exceptional customer experiences by proactively notifying customers of network issues and resolution, all while reducing costs. “As the telecom ecosystem continues to expand, it’s increasingly complex for providers to deliver the high-quality, reliable service that we all rely on. Yet, it’s a critical differentiator and one that they must get right,” said Jordi Ferrer, VP & General Manager of UK&I at ServiceNow. “Anytime, anywhere uninterrupted service and proactive customer care is not only wanted but expected by every customer today. We’re proud to partner with Virgin Media Ireland as they leverage the power of ServiceNow’s solutions to deliver next-level customer experiences.” With ServiceNow Telecommunications Service Management and Telecommunication Service Operations Management, Virgin Media Ireland is connecting customer and service operations and using the power of AI to proactively monitor service health across complex networks, identify and address problems quickly, and improve communications between customers, care agents, and operations teams. Additionally, with the use of ServiceNow Impact, Virgin Media Ireland is able to accelerate time to value and immediately showcase the return on its digital investments by way of AI-powered recommendations, expert guidance, and premium tech support and tools in a personalised digital experience. See more stories here.
Auxilion, a leading provider of digitally transformative IT services and solutions, today announces the results of a survey which reveals that over two thirds (69%) of business leaders in Ireland believe their company will fall victim to a cybersecurity breach within the next 12 months. The research – conducted by Censuswide and involving 100 c-suite executives from enterprises across Ireland – shows that some 67% of respondents are more worried about cyber threats over the next year than they were previously. Moreover, 64% of executives have noticed an increase in cybersecurity attacks during the last 12 months and more than half (52%) of the organisations involved in the survey have suffered a cybersecurity breach in the past. According to the study, almost a quarter (23%) of business leaders cited dealing with the increasing number of cyberattacks as one of the biggest challenges to their organisation in terms of managing IT infrastructure and applications day to day. In terms of the five biggest cybersecurity risks, executives cited insecure user interfaces (27%), malware (23%), phishing attacks (21%), data loss (21%) and account hijacking (21%). More than one in 10 (16%) said human error was one of the biggest risks in terms of cybersecurity. Despite the growing concerns about and frequency of attacks, over a quarter (28%) of Irish businesses do not have a cybersecurity strategy currently in place. Furthermore, 30% do not provide regular cybersecurity training to staff members. Perhaps this is linked with the fact that 72% of respondents agree that their team has the ability to effectively manage cyberthreats and some 78% think their company is adequately securing operations. Donal Sullivan, Chief Technology Officer, Auxilion, said: “Our survey highlights a major disjoint between what business leaders believe and the actual reality of the situation. On one hand, there are major concerns about emerging threats and imminent breaches. On the other hand, there is a complacency in terms of taking action and equipping people with the means to address the problem. “As well as locking down their company systems and data, leaders are equally concerned about protecting their employees when sharing information with others, both internally and externally. For example, any company that is reliant on email for communicating and collaborating is at risk in terms of data storage, access, retention and governance. “Business owners and IT managers therefore need to think about cybersecurity from two different perspectives. Firstly, they must protect computer systems and networks to prevent service disruption and data theft. Secondly, data needs to be safeguarded against fraudulent activity, unauthorised access, and intentional or unintentional leakage. “In the age of hybrid working, that means minimising the surface area for risks and the chances of a data breach by having an adequate IT strategy, implementing the right collaboration platforms, and empowering staff through effective technologies.” See more stories here.
As energy costs continue to soar, new research from Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) shows that two-thirds (64%) of consumers have carried out at least one significant energy efficiency home improvement with 42% planning to do at least one in the next three years. The research, carried out by Amárach, as part of a new paper by BPFI on Sustainable Finance also found: reducing energy/fuel costs is the main motive for customers to go green (47%) followed by making the home warmer (24%) and reducing the amount of energy wasted (13%) a total of 8% cited reducing carbon emissions as their main reason for home energy efficiency improvements. 50% of consumers who have improved or plan to improve their home’s energy efficiency rely on savings; between 43% and 54% of those planning to make home energy improvements in the next three years plan to use savings with between 26% and 38% planning to use government grants, credit union or bank loans or mortgage top-ups, for the most part, make up the rest of the financing. more than half of respondents (53%) had attic or wall insulation while about a quarter had upgraded heating controls (26%) or condensing boilers (24%); only circa one in ten respondents said their home used solar power (13%) or heat pump systems (11%) with only 18% and 13% of respondents respectively planning to invest in these in the next three years; 42% of respondents said they had looked into solar power (33% for heat pumps) but were unlikely to make the investment in the next three years; Published alongside the research, BPFI’s Sustainable Finance Paper looks at the role banks are and must play in the context of targets set by the Government’s Climate Action Plan and sets out a number of recommendations which will be crucial in enabling the sector to remain a core part of the climate transition. Speaking about the report and its key recommendations Brian Hayes, Chief Executive, BPFI said: “Irish retail banks have already made significant movements to deliver on the objectives of the Climate Action Plan by providing much-needed finance at preferable green interest rates to thousands of customers to improve their energy efficiency. However, there is still a way to go. It is estimated €20 billion per annum of investment will be required over the next ten to reach Ireland’s emission reduction target – about one-third of which will be public capital spending with the rest needing to come from private investment. It is clear therefore that without the mobilisation of private finance, targets set out within Climate Action Plan cannot be reached.” “As well as calling for an enhanced government-private sector partnership to help scale up green finance to households and businesses, our report today also highlights additional asks from the banking sector including access to detailed and accurate information on energy performance, the need for great policy certainty for planning purposes and a clear understanding of transition pathways for each economic sector.” Access to SEAI’s BER Register “In order to be effective in scaling up financing of energy efficiency and understanding balance sheet risks and opportunities, lenders need access to detailed, accurate information on energy performance particularly given that almost 80% of lending by retail banks in Ireland is linked to property. BPFI is therefore seeking access to the SEAI’s BER Register, the database on energy performance certificates. This access is critical in enabling lenders identify and manage climate-related risk in their portfolios, and align with the new EU Taxonomy on sustainable economic activies, as required under new regulation. Risk of considerable disruption without continued policy certainty Mr Hayes continued: “The radical and long-term policy changes required to deliver on the government’s 2050 net zero targets could potentially create considerable disruption if not implemented in a targeted and measured way. Policy certainty is essential fo...
Microsoft Ireland employees successfully completed a month-long fundraiser in aid of LauraLynn, Ireland’s Children’s Hospice, which saw the team raise over €270,000 – breaking the €150,000 fundraising target set for this year’s initiative. This brings the total amount raised through Microsoft’s annual cycle for LauraLynn since it began in 2014 to an incredible €840,000. This year’s charity fundraiser – ‘The Microsoft Way’ – saw Microsoft Ireland employees take part in a number of activities, including walking, running, swimming, and a cycle along the Wild Atlantic Way. As part of this cycle, a group of 100 cyclists and support crew travelled 350km along the Wild Atlantic Way from Ballybunion, Co Kerry, to Clifden, Co Galway, over three consecutive days. All funds raised go directly to LauraLynn to provide palliative care and supports for children with life-limiting conditions and their families. These include therapies such as music therapy, play therapy and counselling, as well as vital short stays at the hospice for families in need of respite or crisis care. Announcing the news today, James O’Connor, Microsoft Ireland Site Leader and Vice President of Microsoft International Operations, said: “Our team at Microsoft Ireland continue to be inspired by the work undertaken by LauraLynn as it provides vital care and support to children and their families across Ireland. That’s why our employees once again organised a month-long fundraising challenge this autumn to raise much needed funds. Over 100 cyclists and support crew cycled 350km from Ballybunion to Clifden, while others played their part by walking, running and swimming. “Since 2014, we have enjoyed a close relationship with the charity and raised over €840,000 in vital funds to empower LauraLynn to provide palliative care and supports to children with life-limiting conditions. We are very proud of all our employees for achieving such an incredible fundraising milestone.” Kerry McLaverty, CEO of LauraLynn Children’s Hospice, said: “We are humbled by the continued support shown to LauraLynn by one of our closest neighbours, Microsoft Ireland. This is the nineth consecutive year that Microsoft employees have come out in force to fundraise for LauraLynn, and we are so thankful for their support. The generosity and commitment shown by the Microsoft Ireland team, year in and year out, has made a huge difference for children with life-limiting conditions and this year’s funds will ensure the continued delivery of vital hospice services to children and families across the country.” More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Datapac, Ireland’s leading ICT services and solutions provider, has announced it has delivered an integrated digital transformation solution to the National Opera House in a deal worth over €200,000. This digital reimagining represents the latest milestone in the long relationship between the National Opera House and Datapac, who has served as the Official ICT Partner for almost two decades. The National Opera House is Ireland’s first custom-built, multi-purpose opera house, home to the world-renowned Wexford Festival Opera which this year celebrates its 71st anniversary. The venue recognised the need for a completely re-vamped ICT infrastructure to enhance its ability to deliver world-class experiences to guests, artists and employees alike. It enlisted Datapac as a trusted strategic advisor who performed a detailed analysis of the current ecosystem, designed a complete roadmap, and implemented a futureproofed technology solution. As a premier performing arts venue, a robust telephone system capable of handling high-volume traffic at peak timesis pivotal for effective box office management. Datapac upgraded the existing on-premise infrastructure to a fully-managed unified communication (UC) cloud-hosted phone solution. Offering superior operational flexibility, Datapac’s solution allows the team to stay connected regardless of location and the predictable monthly per-user fee has led to significant telephony cost savings. Datapac also provided a new and improved managed data backup and business continuity service. Powered by industry-leading Datto technology, Datapac’s solution provides automated granular data backups which significantly increase cyber-resilience should data loss or theft occur. True business continuity is achieved with the capacity to recover data locally or from the cloud within minutes, ensuring that should disaster strike the curtains don’t have to close. To enhance IT performance and reliability, Datapac’s team of professional services engineers deployed a next generation HPE server platform, guaranteeing improved availability and enhancing security. This overhaul equips the National Opera House to better serve patrons by eradicating disruptions, increasing server uptime, and bolstering the cybersecurity position across the organisation with fully-supported server hardware. Datapac also rolled out a completely refreshed PC and laptop hardware fleet with best-in-class HP devices running on the latest operating system, including a migration to the latest Microsoft Office 365 platform. Featuring a comprehensive suite of communications tools, including Microsoft Teams, this overhaul provides a faster, more reliable employee experience which enables effective remote and hybrid working, safe in the knowledge that all devices are securely managed and protected. Underpinning all digital transformation efforts was the managed support provided by Datapac. From its state-of-the art Enniscorthy-based Network Operations Centre, Datapac’s team of IT Support Specialists provide full 24/7 coverage 365 days a year, delivering proactive alerting and monitoring of the environment along with speedy remediation should any issues arise. The 71st Wexford Festival Opera is currently running in Wexford town until Sunday 6th November 2022. Dan Kickham, Chairman, Datapac: “This fully integrated digital transformation has future proofed the National Opera House’s systems for their evolving requirements, ensuring they are prepared for whatever the future may hold. With our ongoing support and 24/7 monitoring of their systems, Datapac has provided the National Opera House with more than just a technology refresh, it has allowed for continued peace of mind in knowing that their systems are always optimised, allowing them to focus on what they do best. “With our own roots in Wexford spanning over 40 years, having such a world-renowned venue like the National Opera House on our doorstep offers such incredible value to our staff, our ...
According to Statista, the data analytics global market has been forecast to reach $70 billion and more by the year 2025. It is shown in another report that the data volume consumed, copied, captured, and generated all over the world is expected to be 182 zettabytes in the same year. When you consider the rise in data volume, it’s imperative for businesses to ensure data quality and leverage that data to drive their decision-making processes. A poll by Statista found that 45% of organizations surveyed in Europe and the United States have listed that their employees don’t have analytical skills, which is proving to be the main challenge in using data for driving business value in 2022. To stay competitive in the marketplace and achieve greater confidence for their data sets, organizations are turning towards data profiling as the core ingredient for their overall data management strategy. What Is Data Profiling? The assessment of data is known as data profiling, using a combination of business rules, tools, and algorithms to create high-level reports of the condition of the data. The main goal of data profiling is to uncover missing data, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies so that data engineers can do their investigation and correct the sources. The reports of data profiling are generally graphs and visualizations with tables that display the relevant metrics, like the duplication degree in the set of data. Furthermore, data profiling isn’t only meant to be used to troubleshoot risks to data integrity and data quality. It can also become a core discovery process used by analysts for uncovering the relationships, structure, and content between different sources of data. To sum it up, data profiling helps create a profile of the quality and state of the data. The collected information for building this profile involves metadata like data length and type, generated statistics related to the data set, and dependencies between the tables. Data profiling also involves tagging the set of data like assigning categories and keywords for making the data searchable and speeding up future analysis. Now that you know what data profiling is, let’s share a couple of examples to define data profiling in a more expansive manner. Examples of Data Profiling There are many use cases of data profiling within organizations that seek to better maintain and understand their data. Here are some examples to better paint the picture: Data Warehousing When a data warehouse is created by a business, its goal is to collect data from different sources and store it in standardized formats, where it can be easily accessed to be analyzed. However, if the data quality is poor, then gathering all of it in one location doesn’t solve the bigger issues, as you get bad decision-making from bad data. When you incorporate data profiling in the workflow of the data warehouse, it offers a check against data of low quality. As the collection of information is done via ETL processes, you can use data profiling to validate the integrity of the data and comply with data rules during or before the intake processes. Now your business has centralized data, which you are confident can be reliable for making informed decisions. Mergers and Acquisitions Let’s assume that your business is merging with your competitor. You’ll then have access to a wealth of data that is entirely new for discovering new customers and finding new insights. However, you’ll first have to integrate all that data with the data that already exists. Data profiling offers a higher-level overview of the newer data assets made available, along with their dependencies. Here, data profiling can be used to identify data that has been duplicated between the two systems and can show where the format of the newer data is different so that your data teams can work on standardizing it. Now your data is ready to be merged and cleansed into one place. Data Profiling Benefits Apart from offering an improvement in data...
The ball is now in your court, and you are expected to return the ball and, ideally, participate in an enjoyable back-and-forth rally which is exciting and engaging before bringing the rally to a conclusion with a final flourish. The back and forth is where you build a relationship and develop an understanding of the other person, their strengths and weaknesses. Then, evaluate how you can use this information to add value, and gain an advantage for your side of the net. Great sporting challenges are where both competitors emerge as heroes despite only having one winner on a particular occasion – Muhammad Ali v Joe Frazier Barcelona v Madrid Leinster v Munster Dublin v Kerry Navratilova v Billie Jean King (14 matches) Graf v Navratilova (18 matches) Federer v Nadal Nicholas v Watson (duel in the sun) Great sporting occasions often lead to long-time respect and friendship between individuals and teams. The same is true of business situations where initially business rivalry often turns into relationships that generate mutual respect and sometimes business partnerships. In a business situation like this, the outcome must be satisfactory to both sides, and each must feel they have emerged victorious. Over my career, my competitors have often become people to whom I now refer business, and they, in return, support me. Sometimes the business situation results in successful outcomes, other times it does not. Therefore, what is critical is to build relationships that will lead to success at some future date. Simplify your business; adhere to your values and find and work with people who have similar values. By Executive Coach Andrew Keogh of Aristo.ie
We review the Dyson Purifier Cool Autoreact, see more about their products on the Dyson website here. Dyson Purifier Cool Autoreact reviewed This is a nice looking piece of kit. Though it is also large, pricy and, to some degree noisy too. At the same time we are all now more aware that we are what we breathe, so taking out small, invisible pollutants and potentially toxic or other bad to breathe items is not a bad idea. It does stand on a small, compact base, but it does require some vertical space too, so you should think through how and where you might want to position it within your home. From the images that they shared with us in terms of what the purifiers take out after a year’s worth of use it is clear that these devices are working, and taking plenty out of the air around us. It is also a clear reminder that your purifier is only going to be as effective as the frequency at which you switch these out too. This does illustrate, much like printers that there is clearly going to be an important secondary market in selling the filters to keep the device working at an optimal level. There is a display to demonstrate what is going on, which is good, though it seems strange perhaps to not have an app where you can monitor, view and play around with the data and information that it is generating and collating. There are not lots of buttons and controls on the actual purifier itself, as they are intended to be controlled by the remote control. On one hand you can see why the designer might have liked this idea, aiming to be sleek, minimal, Apple like. We get this, but what happens if there are kids around, or just absent minded adults who forget where they put that remote – anyone spent time looking for their TV remote? You can see where we are going with this line of thought, and that is even before you run out of batteries. It would be more appealing perhaps to have both physical and remote options? In terms of better air quality, this is not cheap, but it does do a good job, and it is a smart combination to also deliver cooling air too. There will be a lot of fans for this product and generally you can be fairly confident that as it is a Dyson it should be fairly robust and long lived too. More about the Dyson Purifier Cool Autoreact machines Dyson Air Multiplier technology generates the circulation power to draw even distant pollutants into the machine, projecting purified cool air to every corner of the room. In Auto Mode, Dyson Purifier machines automatically sense and capture pollutants – with the ability to capture 99.95% of particles as small as 0.1 microns Integrated sensors constantly analyse air, while our unique algorithm cross-checks data every second. It diagnoses pollutants at a molecular level, displaying live results on the LCD. (You can see the air quality in your home displayed on the screen/watch the air quality level spike when you cook etc.) Night mode for lighter sleepers – monitors and purifies using the quietest settings, along with a dimmed display. €549.99 Price includes VAT You can ask Dyson’s Digital Assistant common questions about your machine and our service. Open Dyson’s Digital Assistant by clicking the yellow icon at the bottom left of the page. Automatically senses and captures pollutants. Purifies and Cools you Dyson purifiers combine intelligent sensing with an advanced filtration system that captures gases and 99.95% of particles as small as 0.1 microns.And only Dyson purifiers have powerful Air Multiplier™ technology to purify the whole room. See more reviews here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help prom...
I reviewed a new Wiley publication, The Human Side of Digital Business Transformation by Kamales Lardi for Irish Tech News. I found it to be a fiercely relevant book for anybody thinking of migrating to the cloud in a green field project or developing their digital presence to a point where their online digital product portfolio is essentially their company’s product range. The Human Side of Digital Business Transformation, reviewed The author sets an effective context for the age we live in exploring the disruptive impact of technology from web 2.0 heralding the start of the cloud computing era to the massive digital disruption of numerous industries. The book starts with this analysis of the “end of business” as we know it and how the leveraging of modern technology has created a competitive advantage for businesses. The background analysis in the early chapters is compelling as are the observations it makes about the effects of modern technology’s impact on people and businesses. This includes shorter timelines for technology-savvy companies to reach greater results with fewer resources. It also highlights the once prized “industry focus” of companies as becoming a thing of the past. Technology companies such as amazon are competing in multiple industries that all benefit from a technological approach as a product differentiator. The book nicely introduces examples such as this to support key points made in the chapters. The book then looks at the people impact of rapid technological progress in recent years and our near-paced adoption of its development, especially in the COVID era where the accelerated process of digital transformation was noted. The paradigm shift in the digital era is thoughtfully explored where old norms are thrown out for those in the digital transformation process. This allows for a new focus by teams on what works in a sustainable manner and what they as a business should prepare for. An interesting segway on COVID talked about how digital migration projects for many senior managers in the initial period were about business continuance through lockdowns and not longer-term alignment with business objectives in a digital transformation process. After exploring organizational culture and its intimate importance in digital transformation, the people aspect around tailored leadership practices was tied into the organizational culture area and its management. The goal of influencing change for people involved with the digital transformation process comes through very clearly here. The main topic is then explored in the following chapters. The digital transformation framework is the subject of a deep dive into its detail providing a structured approach to digital transformation. It incorporates the reality of what is actually been done into the planning, rather than execution stages. This from experience is a key boon of reading this book and one not to be missed by functional and project management professionals in particular. By the final chapter, the summation of what has been explored is very clear to see in the use cases presented by companies like Bayer and Novartis. Here, a thoughtful planning approach clearly set their digital transformation process on a successful trajectory. An interesting takeaway in this chapter was what’s good for the company is not necessarily good for digital transformation success. This led to decisions on structure and approach that many can rightly consider key to the digital transformation success of these companies. I can say for certain that some aspects of the book from my own 12 years as a 1st and 2nd line leader in my prior career have been around for a long time. What is very new for me is the innovative and insightful adoption of these aspects into the digital paradigm we live in creating a solution for success that otherwise would be missed. John Mulhall @johnmlhll | john@maolte.ie is a writer with Irish Tech News for over 6 years and also Founder, Writer and...
Meet Climeworks, the Swiss technology pioneer that is fighting climate change with a technology called “Direct Air Capture”. Since the industrial revolution, the level of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased drastically. This excess carbon is the number one cause of climate change. Simply reducing our emissions will therefore not be sufficient anymore – we need to actively remove CO2 from the air to lower the overall concentration. Fighting climate change with Direct Air Capture, Climeworks And this is exactly what Climeworks is doing. With direct air capture, they can remove CO? emissions from the air and put them back in the ground. Once the CO2 is stored underground, it mineralizes and turns into solid rock where it can no longer contribute to climate change. Climeworks’ has made it one of Time100 Most Influential Companies Of 2022. Its Orca plant in Iceland, which is solely powered by renewable energy, has the capacity to remove 4,000 tons of CO2 per year. With its most recent $650M funding round, Climeworks aims to reach a million-ton scale in the 2030s. Both companies and individuals like you can support Climeworks in accelerating their journey to million-ton scale. For this year’s Christmas season, they are offering the gift of climate impact. That gift gives you the opportunity to inspire climate action and remove CO2 in the name of your friends, family, partner or colleagues. What you receive is a virtual gift: a festive CO2 removal PDF that you can personalize to your giftee. All in all, it only takes you 5 minutes so you can also order it last minute if needed. Every dollar spent removes ~1kg of CO2 from the atmosphere. Climeworks, the Swiss company pioneering in the fight against global warming with the first and largest direct air capture and storage plant.Its Orca plant in Iceland has the capacity to remove 4,000 tons of CO2 per year. With its most recent $650M funding round, Climeworks aims to reach a million-ton scale. Orca’s nominal capacity is equivalent to the annual emissions of between 10’000 and 20’000 electric cars (which represents approx. 5% of annual Tesla based on 2020). Climeworks’ gift allows people to capture CO2 directly from the air and store it permanently underground, helping fight climate change. See more breaking stories here.
Description: The power of predictive analytics in the Investment space is undeniable. Bambu is a new Microsoft ecosystem partner and this prompted my curiosity to discover more use cases within the Microsoft ecosystem. Capital Markets is no low-hanging fruit within financial services and its digitalization requires in-depth expertise. I discuss these topics with Ruchi Nanda, an Industry Advisor in the US Capital Markets business at Microsoft. Powering the investment space with predictive analytics, Ruchi Nanda Ruchi Nanda is an Industry Advisor in the US Capital Markets business at Microsoft where she helps business and technology executives in the industry digitally transform their firms using advanced software. Her areas of specialization include wealth management, market infrastructure, and regulatory compliance. Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica. A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter. Join her on the social platforms See more podcasts here.
Despite a move by many organisations to get back to the office, fully remote working is fast emerging as an enticing incentive for technology talent, with a quarter of all new job postings tagged as ‘remote’ or ‘fully remote’ – a rise of 104% in just six months. This is according to Accenture’s Ireland Talent Tracker, which analysed data from LinkedIn’s Professional Network to uncover the latest trends in the Irish technology jobs market. The tracker assesses skills of both existing roles and open positions in nine skills areas: artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cyber security, data analytics, data ethics and responsibility, extended reality, quantum computing, robotics, and sustainability. The report follows Accenture’s inaugural research in March of this year, and finds there has been a change in several trends across the technology jobs market over the last six months: Remote working technology jobs have doubled in advertisements, from 12% in March 2022 to 25% in August 2022. 72% of the jobs advertised by businesses across Ireland are currently available in the eight major hubs being studied: Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Limerick, Waterford, Westmeath and Sligo – a 24% decline from March. In March this figure stood at 96%, demonstrating the lessening impact of the pandemic on office and general remote working roles. The pool of those with technology skills including cloud computing, analytics and has increased by almost 30 per cent (29%) in the six months from March across the eight major hubs. This indicates that Irish people are recognising the importance of upskilling in key skill areas. The number of technology jobs advertised has decreased by 27% across the eight major hubs being studied, however, there has been a significant increase (104%) in remote jobs across Ireland. Antony Keane, Strategy and Consulting lead, Accenture in Ireland, said: “The second iteration of Accenture’s Ireland Talent Tracker points to some interesting trends emerging. The drop in available roles listed could mean that businesses are dialing back on large-scale innovation projects. The second half of this year is becoming one of uncertainty for the market given inflation and the rising cost of living and energy prices, and businesses’ practices seem to have reflected that. However, we would expect that number to bounce back next year as companies look set to innovate and grow through new technology initiatives. “There is a tremendous opportunity right now for businesses that have been proactive against the backdrop of uncertainty. Those that have sought new opportunities and embraced innovation are set to benefit in the long term.” Further findings from the Accenture’s Ireland Talent Tracker revealed: Ninety-four percent of the total job postings in Ireland are for the four technology skills groups: AI, cloud, cybersecurity, and data analytics. The highest demand from businesses across Ireland is for people with cloud skills (38%) followed by cybersecurity (22%). More than three quarters (78%) of the total technology talent pool of Ireland is residing in the eight technology hubs listed within the study, compared to 67% in March. AI, cloud, cybersecurity, and data analytics are most common technology skills amongst candidates. Close to 56.7% of the total technology talent pool is in Greater Dublin and the city has the highest demand for jobs, with close to 56% of the total jobs advertised in Ireland available in Greater Dublin. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews....
EY has reported record levels of growth for its business on the island of Ireland, with revenues to the end of June 2022 up 26% to €536 million (up from €425 million in the prior Financial Year). Globally EY reported revenues of US$45.4b in FY22. EY reported strong performance across all four service lines: Assurance, Consulting, Tax and Law, and Strategy and Transactions in its offices in Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford. Its headcount on the island of Ireland now stands at 4,208, an increase of 23% on FY21. EY today also proudly announces 900 net new jobs on the island of Ireland which will grow our total headcount to 5,100. 550 of the positions will be for experienced hires while 350 will be filled by new university graduates. It is our intention to fill these 550 experienced roles as soon as possible. The majority of the 350 university graduates who were offered roles in EY for this financial year are now in the process of being onboarded with the remainder due to take up their new roles over the coming months. EY will be actively recruiting candidates to fill a wide variety of roles across its core areas of tax, audit, corporate finance and consulting as well as in new growth areas including technology consulting, digital and emerging technology, data analytics, cyber security, sustainability, law, strategy and transformation. The firm is also recruiting heavily across other growth areas such as workforce and organisation design and planning, change management, transaction diligence, and valuations, modelling and economics. Commenting on the results, Frank O’Keeffe, Managing Partner, EY Ireland said, “EY is proud to have delivered market-leading growth in our most recent financial year from 30 June 2021 to 30 June 2022. This exceptional result for EY Ireland is testament to our world class teams and our fantastic client base who turn to us to help them solve their most complex strategic challenges. Our long-term investments in our people and in technology have allowed us to work seamlessly with our clients to deliver exceptional service as we help them to stimulate innovation, increase organisational agility and strengthen resilience. “Our plan to increase our current headcount on the island of Ireland from 4,200 to 5,100 people is hugely exciting for us. Strong client demand for our services gives us confidence to continue with our ambitious growth plans. We’re seeking to recruit the brightest and most diverse talent across a host of disciplines to join our brilliant teams. We recognise the important role we play in supporting the development of Ireland’s future business leaders and so we have a laser focus on ensuring our people have access to world class training and mentoring throughout their career at EY. “As EY looks to boldly reshape the future of professional services we will do so from a position of strength as we harness the global and local momentum in our business. Our future plans to deliver even greater choice for our clients and the most exciting career opportunities possible for our people, are huge drivers for us as we chart our future path.” Societal Impact Report EY Ireland has today also launched its first Societal Impact report. This report sets out how, over the past financial year, EY Ireland has worked to create long-term value for a wide range of stakeholders including clients, people, suppliers and the communities we serve. EY Strategic Review – looking ahead Last month EY announced that the strategic review of its businesses has progressed and that EY leaders have reached the decision to move forward with partner votes on a proposal to separate into two organisations. One would be a global network of multidisciplinary member firms committed to assurance, tax and advisory services with all the capabilities required to deliver high-quality audits, serve the public interest and focus on the CFO agenda and sustainability; and the other would be a new global corporate comprisi...
It is now undeniable: climate change and extreme weather caused by carbon emissions is here, and the need to transition to a green energy economy in America is imminent. But supporters and critics alike have reasonable questions and concerns, how can we transition the energy economy at scale without upending whole markets and suffering massive job losses? Many argue the answer is Green Hydrogen, including Michael Hecht, CEO for Greater New Orleans Inc. (GNO Inc.) Ronan talks to Michael about his background, green hydrogen, Irish tech, the American energy mix in the future, New Orleans, and how tech has helped. More about Green Hydrogen in America: The global Green Hydrogen market is on track to grow 6,000% by 2031, and with tax credits thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, could become much cheaper than traditional gray hydrogen – hydrogen that is produced using environmentally harmful natural gas or fossil fuels. Three cities are leading the way for America’s transition with regional Green Hydrogen hubs: New Orleans: Louisiana is the #1 consumer of gray hydrogen in the country – 3 times as much as the next stateIn and produces more oil and gas jobs per capita. Southern Louisiana is now at the forefront of the energy evolution, leveraging scale to kickstart a Green Hydrogen hub that will reduce the cost of Hydrogen to $1/gallon, retain and create 100,000 jobs, grow regional GDP by 3.5%, and shrink carbon emissions by 68%. Building on its success in offshore wind, the aptly named H2theFuture project, will develop a new energy cluster in South Louisiana, spanning the clean hydrogen life cycle, from R&D at Louisiana universities, to an end-use project at the Port of South Louisiana, fueling Mississippi River Barges with Green H2. New York: The Empire State is leading a regional “hydrogen ecosystem” for the northeast. By leveraging a 4-state partnership with New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, the coalition can integrate offshore wind and PV to decarbonize the entire hydrogen value chain. Port Authority will even be taking advantage, acting as a customer and facilitating Green Hydrogen exports. Utah: The ACES Delta Green Hydrogen project located in central Utah is a one-of-its kind- clean energy storage project that will be crucial for a a 100% clean energy economy in the region. The Green Hydrogen hub will have the capability to store energy for months at a time. Once completed, the hub will be able to provide Green Hydrogen to other states in the Intermountain West. See more stories here.
An international team of globally renowned scientists are collaborating on a joint research project to generate green hydrogen by exclusively harnessing solar energy, earth-abundant water, biomass and non-critical raw materials. Central to the €3.3 million project, which is being funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme and Innovate UK, is the creation of a pioneering hydrogen production process that neither uses nor produces CO2 or environmentally harmful methane. As a result, the GH2 project could play a leading role in the reduction of the emissions discharged during the hydrogen production process, which the International Energy Authority estimate to stand at 830 million tonnes of CO2 per year, a tonnage equivalent to the combined emissions of the United Kingdom and Indonesia. Professor Junwang Tang believes that the GH2 project could substantially lower our dependency on fossil fuels by establishing a sustainable source of on-demand hydrogen that could be employed across multiple industries including transport, energy, agriculture and construction. “This project further provides a promising solution to the storage of renewable solar energy”. “As a result, it could make a substantial contribution to the development of a low carbon economy and the growth of sustainable cities, with strong impact on the environment, economy and human wellbeing”. Currently, most commercial hydrogen producers use fossil fuels to generate steam methane heated to between 704° and 982° Celsius to split water into its two constituent parts, hydrogen and oxygen, so that the gas can be extracted. Describing the science behind the GH2 project, Dr Yang Lan said that the research team hopes to extract hydrogen from water and bio alcohols by developing a far more efficient way of capturing and projecting solar energy within double-tube flow reactors. “The environmental and financial cost associated with splitting water to extract hydrogen can be quite high”. “We want to reduce those costs by strategically harvesting light using a full solar spectrum to drive a chemical reaction that will ultimately produce green hydrogen and high-value chemicals such as acetic acid”. “Our aim is to induce this process in a reactor coated with catalysts to rapidly generate the temperatures required to split water”. “Ultimately, we hope to create a process that can be scaled rapidly so that it will generate a lasting environmental, societal and economic impact”. “That ambition drives our international consortium of global experts in photocatalysis, thermal catalysis, reactor engineering, product separation, simulation and social science”. Michael Browne, CEO, at Crowdhelix, an Open Innovation platform that forges links between an international network of excellent researchers and innovative companies, believes that the project demonstrates how international collaboration can drive innovation in the green economy. “Research projects like GH2 drive innovation across multiple disciplines by fostering international collaboration and excellent science”. “They also speak to the ambitions of the European Union’s Green Deal agenda, and to the goals of its Horizon programme, which foregrounds collaboration to amplify research impact in numerous fields, including climate science and energy”. “Crowdhelix is privileged to contribute to such a significant project”.
A new report released today led by a collaboration of regional stakeholders identifies an unprecedented opportunity for the Atlantic Region in the Growth of Onshore to Offshore Wind. The study was commissioned by the Mid-West, North-West and West Regional Enterprise Offices and funded by the Enterprise Ireland Regional Enterprise Transition Scheme, Clare County Council, Donegal County Council, Leitrim County Council, Limerick County Council, Mayo County Council, Tipperary County Council and the Western Development Commission. The report found that by 2037 there could be upwards of 5,000 jobs supported directly by the offshore wind sector, generating up to €400 million in Gross Value Add annually for the Atlantic region. The impact on indirect employment will be equally transformative. The figures projected in the report are a direct correlation to wind farm delivery and the indirect benefits could be many times greater. The report also points towards many more positive downstream economic, environmental and societal impacts that would be likely following the direct impact of jobs and the supply chain delivery. When assessing the skills needed for the industry to grow, the report identified engineering, applied sciences, logistics, digital, and supply chain management as essential. Other occupations and skills required to support the industry include science and humanities; construction and technical; legal and professional services; transport; electrical maintenance and infrastructure. Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Dara Calleary TD commented, “This report is an asset for the Atlantic region to progress and develop the wind energy industry, identifying the huge opportunity for the region in the onshore to offshore wind energy sector and the potential for thousands of high-quality, sustainable jobs that it brings. I look forward to working with all of the regional stakeholders, public and private, in striving to deliver on the promise of this study.” The report considered three build-out scenarios across the Atlantic region. These allow projections under Steady, Rapid, and Aspirational outcomes. The projections from the analysis in the study indicate that the offshore wind sector will overtake the onshore industry in the Atlantic Region within 15 years. The longitudinal economic model built in this study estimated that the combined GVA of onshore and offshore wind in the Atlantic Region will be €2.85bn up to 2037 in the ‘Rapid’ build-out scenario. In the ‘Steady’ scenario the GVA is reduced to €1.86bn and for the ‘Aspirational’ scenario the GVA is increased to €4.21bn to 2037. The modelled scenarios anticipate that the level of economic activity in the region will grow throughout the 2030s. By 2037 it is expected that in the Atlantic Region the wind sector will annually generate €220 million GVA in the Rapid Build Out Scenario, €170 million GVA in the Steady Build Out Scenario, and €400 million GVA in the Aspirational Build Out Scenario. The study also identified several barriers to success and made a number of key recommendations. These include the delivery of a regionally inclusive national energy strategy to co-ordinate route to market, grid upgrades along the Atlantic region and developing new courses and centres targeting the wind energy sector, with a particular emphasis on floating offshore wind skills and expertise not currently offered by Irish educational bodies. The report compiled by Dublin Offshore Consultants and Bigger Economics was presented to stakeholders across the region today and is now available to read in full on the Western Development Commission Website. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTec...
Nigel Verdon is the CEO and co-founder of Railsr (formerly Railsbank) and is a 3x fintech founder and ‘Finance 4 Good’ evangelist focused on building great ideas – first with Evolution (exited to BAE Systems), followed by Currency Cloud (exited to Visa), and now with Railsr. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges. In this episode, Nigel Verdon riffs with Pete Townsend and Eoin Fitzgerald on the foundational experiences that pushed him towards becoming a fintech founder before the word fintech even existed, the rebranding of Railsbank to Railsr, the impact of Railsr’s $46mn Series C funding round and spending it on the right things, fintechs as public utilities, Nigel’s view on the digital asset market and decentralized finance, and the difference between starting a startup and scaling a startup. KEY QUOTES: Nigel Verdon on what’s inside him that has keep him going as a third-time fintech founder: “It’s really the frustrations of coming across something you feel that can be sold, and then being able to build a business around that. I do like solving problems as a trained engineer – I’ve got two engineering degrees and that sort of mindset that’s always sort of inquisitive and trying to solve things. “I also found working in large companies that I’m probably not the best sort of employee in larger companies, and that it’s better to go and find something where you can actually make change and do something that helps other people or other businesses in their journeys as well.” Nigel Verdon on the inspiration to build Railsr: “A lot of our inspiration for Railsr came from Amazon and their AWS business because when we set up Currency Cloud, we had a data center, we had rackspace, we had to buy computers and routers, and we needed people to manage those. You’re a few million down before you even started running your platform. “With Amazon, it’s your credit card and 15 minutes and you’ve got a data center for a few thousand bucks. The inspiration for Railsr to be able to do that for financial products, and not just for fintechs, but for other businesses as well that want to engage with their customers using finance. “Why finance? Well, ‘A’, to make revenue out of it, and ‘B’, you get data on what your customers are doing, especially in the retail world – where they’re going, where they’re shopping, and what sort of things they’re buying. Any brand that wants to engage better with their customers can use finance strategically now.” Nigel Verdon on focusing on the importance of a customer-driven product roadmap: “We focus on the things that are super-impactful because customers always ask for tons and tons of features. When you actually look at usage of the features, you’ll see it skewed up to only 20% of the features have the massive usage. “We think we can sit around the table and say ‘these are actually going to be killer features and everybody will love them and want them’ and we pay for all of the investment and launch those features – and then nobody uses them. Part of being a product company is having a clear roadmap that’s very driven by customer feedback. “When you start the company, you’ve got to have the mindset to really switch the motors – the customer drives everything.” Nigel Verdon on hiring smart people and letting them get on with things: “While you think you can do everything if something’s not going right, you’ve got to give people the space to get their way as opposed to your way – it’s a different way of looking at things.” Nigel Verdon on starting a startup vs. scaling a startup: “Scaling is way harder. Doing something once – getting something out there and getting your first customers – is easier than scaling. ...
Guest Post by David Stephen There is a recent story, Gender and the brain: Why neuroscience is still searching for evidence, where the conclusion is “No study has yet been published that explains once and for all whether men and women are born different or merely conditioned to fit certain gender roles—and the studies referenced here are a snapshot of some of the complicated reasons why.” The story looked at sizes, socialization and other factors. Sizes, relative or not, make little determination when considering humans and animals, so average sizes between males and females can be brushed aside. Mice do things similar to humans, though tiny. Some large animals do as well, yet are different from humans. Gender, Do Women and Men Have Different Brains? The story also stated that for human brains, “there was almost no difference between the size of the female amygdala and the male amygdala.” Looking at the brain for sizes as a factor of advantage limits understanding of how the brain functions. Even with neurodegeneration where the brain shrinks for those living with the conditions, it is not about the size but about quantities and properties dent in the brain. Both are shaped by neuroplasticity but indented by neurodegeneration. Animals also have quantities but they don’t have properties availability that give human intelligence, languages and so forth. There are constants [or quantities and properties] in the brain that make determinations. It is the dimension of the quantity and the sequences, directions, destinations of the properties that express what the brain gives for any experience. No two brains are the same in this regard. Most of what is obtainable in the environment with people behaving the same, or following the same pattern is due to constants conditioning. The quantities are conditioned towards directions of certain properties, so when those are acquired within the same interval or for the same situations, it seems like these people behave the same, think or feel the same, but actually they don’t. There is no universal fear factor, mostly conditioning for what should be feared. There are myths that women are more emotional than men, or express more emotions than men, but that is not the case. Any sensory input can end up in an emotional outcome. It is the emotional end of senses that does not make men work like machines. Machines can do as programmed because they have no emotion for pain, fear, injury and so on. Men do, and with too much work or no breaks, breakdown would be surplus, making the project [expected to succeed] suffer in different ways, so supervisors are somewhat cautious, no matter how intense it gets, across eras. In other cases where it seems like a people [without emotions] are involved in some harmful behavior to others, it is not for lack of emotions, but that the quantity was [conditionally] redirected from acquiring or expressing that property at that time, at least. This is possible with substances or others. Conceptually, there are property differences in every brain, by sides, degree or motion. There are groups of people who seem to have similarity across property sides, degree or motion that makes it seem like those are average or dominant, but that is not the case. There are different women and different men by brain constants: strictly speaking about brain constants, not anything else. There are men in unexpected categories, as well as women, defying what it means to be what, by brain constants. This is similar to how empathy, fear, delight, anxiety, depression, interest, fatigue, lethargy and so on vary at each moment for everyone. The same experience can be stressing to one or light to another at one time, and the reverse is the case the next time. There is the internal administration of the brain that runs its own show for what becomes of anything for the owner—controlled or automatic, including for mental health. It is possible that some constants in the brain are sometimes passe...
Halloween is almost upon us and you are probably wondering what events can you attend. Well, no need to fret, help is at hand. Esri Ireland, the market leader in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), has created a digital map of some of the most fun, spooky and frightful happenings across the country this Halloween. Using Esri’s ArcGIS digital mapping system, the interactive map highlights both popular events and hidden gems to suit all tastes. For those who want to get into the spirit, keep the kids entertained, or have a fun fright, our island has something for everyone to make this Halloween a spooktacular night. From terrifying train rides in Belfast and haunted hayrides in Cork, to pumpkin trails in Offaly and family-friendly fall fests in Wexford, this map will help witches and wizards of all ages and interests plan their weekend for Halloween 2022. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Guest post by Stuart Warner and Si Hussain, authors of The Finance Book: Understand the numbers even if you’re not a finance professional. Finance is the lifeblood of every business or organisation. Every employer cares about the prosperity of their organisation and any candidate who does not understand the fundamentals of finance will, in the eyes of an employer, be at a disadvantage when it comes to a promotion. Whilst it is true that most businesses have accountants to “prepare the numbers” this is no substitute for understanding core finance terminology. If you understand finance terminology and concepts, you will be ready to engage confidently with the boss when that promotion opportunity next comes around. Financial Literacy Might be Holding You Back Here are some key financial terms and concepts that you should understand. 1. Financial Accounts and Management Accounts Every company has to prepare financial accounts annually and file these with the Companies Registration Office. For large companies, the term encompasses a balance sheet, profit and loss account, auditors report and directors report. Smaller companies may have some exemptions although all companies must, as a minimum, file a balance sheet annually. In contrast, management accounts are prepared monthly and distributed amongst the management team, typically 5-10 days after each month end. Management accounts provide directors (and managers) with a timely performance snapshot so that managers can understand how the business (or an area of responsibility) is performing against the annual plan (budget). If a business is undershooting revenue or incurring excessive cost, the management accounts will highlight this to that management can take corrective action to get the organisation back on track. 2. Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss A balance sheet is a list of assets owned and liabilities owed at a point in time. Look at any balance sheet and it will be dated “as at” a date in time. An organisation will prepare its balance sheet annually to the same date. This enables any reader to identify and compare movements in assets and liabilities year on year. A Profit and Loss account is a record of the revenue earned and costs incurred in running the business. The difference between revenue and cost, if positive, is profit. Look at any Profit and Loss account and you will see that it is dated “for the year ended.” The Profit and Loss account describes what has happened during the 12 months between two balance sheet dates (as explained above). Reviewing the Profit and Loss account in conjunction with two balance sheets enables a reader to understand not only how a business has performed but also how it has used profit and cash generated by the business during the year. Understanding the link between a Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss account is fundamental to financial literacy and will help you to interpret the performance of any business. 3. Budget and Forecast A budget is an annual financial plan set by an organisation. It sets out the financial ambitions for the organisation comprising a revenue target and the (maximum) costs that may be incurred to deliver that revenue. In normal times, most organisations seek year on year turnover and profit growth so every year’s targets will typically be higher than the previous year. In contrast, and as the name suggests, a forecast is an attempt to produce a “best guess” of how the business will actually perform for the year, based on how it has performed so far. Organisations typically prepare forecasts twice or three times within a year. When the forecast revenue or profit is projected to fall below budget, managers will take remedial, sometimes drastic action, to try to meet annual budget performance expectations. A forecast is different to management accounts because it projects likely future performance (i.e. for the rest of the year) rather than actual performance delivered in past months. 4. Profit and Cash Profit...
The broadband market in Ireland is now flooded with providers all offering a myriad of deals. We know it’s hard to find the perfect deal that suits your needs but we’re here to help. We’ve teamed up with Switcher.ie, the free and impartial price comparison and switching service, to find the best broadband deals available every month. Check back regularly to stay informed of the latest deals and offers and visit the Switcher.ie website to order one of these great packages. Best Broadband Deals Priced at just €34.99 per month for 24 months, eir’s Unlimited Broadband with Talk plan is available exclusively via Switcher.ie. Offering a 2-year discount, you won’t find this deal anywhere else! Plus, sign up before 31/10/2022 and get one month free. Perhaps it’s broadband-only you require? If so, Pure Telecom’s Purely Broadband is one of the cheapest offers on the market. For just €35 per month for the first year, you’ll get unlimited broadband with speeds of up to 100Mb.Vodafone Simply Broadband is also just €35 per month for the first year, where you’ll get unlimited broadband with speeds of up to 100Mb. If you sign up before 31/10/2022, you’ll receive a credit equal to the value of one-month intro promo pricing on your second bill. Meaning, you’ll get one month free! (If you’ve come across this article after some of these deals may have expired, check out our main Broadband Deals category page to find the latest offers)
Galvia, the Galway based AI company has been announced as a finalist in the IT/Fintech of The Irish Times Innovation Awards 2022. Leaders in their field, Galvia has been nominated for their AI-powered student engagement platform, which has been designed to safeguard the student journey in third level institutions. John Clancy, Founder and CEO from Galvia, said: “With hybrid learning, cost of living, the accommodation crisis, amongst other challenges, the college experience is at risk. “Galvia’s platform allows higher education institutions to provide 24/7 student engagement at scale as well as generate insight led data to enhance decision making, ensuring the institution is best positioned to serve and encourage students through every step of their college experience. “Our team is always looking at ways AI technology can help us do things better in areas that matter, like education. We are delighted to be recognised amongst our peers for the groundbreaking work we have achieved with the University of Galway in particular” added Clancy. The Irish Times Innovation Awards aim to recognise and promote the best service, product, or operational innovations throughout the island. The finalists were selected by an independent panel of judges to secure a place at the final and a chance to win the overall ‘Innovation of the Year’ award as well as a unique and high profile communications and advertising package worth €100,000. Category Winners will receive a €10,000 communications package in Business+Innovation and a one year premium digital subscription to The Irish Times. Galvia will be competing against two other finalists in their category. The winners of the competition will be announced at an awards ceremony in Dublin on Wednesday November 9th, 2022. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Article by Vera Petryk, Chief Marketing Officer at EOS Data Analytics, who shares the details of the participatory mapping project in Chad powered by EOSDA’s space technologies using Satellite Imagery. Chad is a developing country with many communities relying on subsistence farming and pastoralism. Because of climate change and the extreme weather events it bears, it gets harder for them to provide for themselves every new year. Since EOS Data Analytics is a global provider of AI-powered satellite imagery analytics that is driven to make space tech a global driver of sustainability on Earth, it decided to help locals by supplying their leader Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim with a precise map of their area and its resources. How Satellite Imagery Helped Share Resources In Chad Knowledge as a way to address the conflict Mayo-Kebbi Est is one of the regions in Chad suffering the most from climate change. The latter brings disruption in the lifestyles of people so critical it caused a conflict among local communities taking place for more than 15 years. The key issue for farmers and pastoralists is how to use the freshwater points and lands fairly. To address this conflict, EOSDA and Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim initiated a project aimed at creating a precise map pinpointing the local resources and launching a dialog on the ways to adjust to climate change and the ways it affects the environment. “The project’s objective is to mitigate the ongoing conflict over shared resources between the communities. How? By combining the traditional spatial knowledge of indigenous people and scientific knowledge to create a sustainable resource management strategy and that way to adapt to climate change,” says Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Member of the Mbororo pastoralist people, Founder and president of the AFPAT. Building a map for Indigenous people 101 Before creating any map, its requirements should be outlined. In November 2021, after almost two years of meetings and workshops with the leaders of indigenous territories, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim came up with an area of 1,728 sq km the future map was expected to cover.Then EOSDA obtained a satellite image of the necessary territories using EOSDA LandViewer, a digital tool for on-the-fly searching, visualizing, and processing of satellite data. On the image retrieved by the Sentinel-2 satellite, every 100 m2 was represented by 1 pixel. This means that with the map size of 2.8m x 2.3m, 1 cm was equal to 100 meters of the territory. Having this image, the team prepared a map layout using QGIS, a software product that helps compose maps using obtained spatial data. This was necessary to annotate the map with objects important to indigenous people. In the end, the map not just contained the satellite image of the territory but also revealed areas with different vegetation densities, wetlands and croplands, as well as roads and settlements. “Spectral indices are also used for detecting water objects. Additionally, one can use open data sources such as OpenStreetMap to identify objects on the surface and add them to the map. While working with the RGB image, we relied on brightness and contrast parameters, which allowed us to choose similar groups of objects for further map annotation,” adds Andriy Kuzmenko, GIS Analyst at EOS Data Analytics. To print it, the map was exported from QGIS in PDF format. A map that settled a conflict Once the map was delivered to Chad, the leaders of 116 communities living in 23 villages across Mayo-Kebbi Est assembled together and spent two weeks making necessary decisions. First, the leaders of those communities shared their knowledge of the lands and took part in the mapping exercise. During these meetings, they defined the disputed areas and resources and decided on how to use them fairly. The outcome of this negotiation was a series of compromises about crop growth planning and cattle corridors. At the end of 2021, the finalized map representing their decisions was presented to lo...
Guest post by Adam Coleman, CEO of Lahinch-based HR software solutions provider HRLocker. You’ve seen the news and heard the new buzzword. Workers are dissatisfied with their jobs and are silently protesting. Unlike The Great Resignation, they’re not leaving their employers in search of better development opportunities. They’re staying – Quiet Quitting is in full swing. You might think your organisation is immune, but a new poll has found that 40% of Irish workers under 30 say they do the “bare minimum” to fulfil their job description while their pay or job progression remains unchanged. In short, they’re ‘acting their wage’. But what can companies do to counteract this trend? Would we see more workers happily engage with their work if it always feels fresh and exciting? Research says yes. According to a recent Work Institute Retention Report, one of the main reasons employees are dissatisfied is a lack of career development. By providing workers with the opportunity to expand their skills, employers can not only energise their best staff but also plug skills gaps in their company with existing talent. Now, I’m not saying there aren’t more apparent and critical aspects that need addressing if your workforce is currently resigned to doing the bare minimum. In this instance, you need to examine your organisation from top to bottom and reassess your policies and practices. Learning and development aren’t a silver bullet antidote to the Quiet Quitting pandemic. What I am saying, though, is that as part of a risk mitigation strategy wherein you bolster productivity, providing colleagues with the opportunity to learn, develop, and grow in the workplace is a way of immunising your personnel against Quiet Quitting. Don’t just pitch these opportunities to existing staff, either. Learning and development is an additional string to your employer value proposition (EVP) bow. Now more than ever, potential recruits are looking for personal growth in their next job. Learning and development is a top priority for Gen Z, the next big demographic to join the jobs market. Of course, how these initiatives are delivered will depend on your industry, the needs of your staff, and your business goals. Employers should assess their teams’ current skill levels and determine the desired skill level they’d like employees to reach. For example, if you’re a small business rapidly shifting operations to the cloud, your employees’ digital skills are the first thing you’ll want to upgrade. Consult with your employees to figure out what takes their fancy. If an employee is interested in a lateral move within your company, you’ll want to ensure that training opportunities outside the scope of their regular job are also available. To reap the full reward of L&D, programs need to be accessible to everyone. Otherwise, you risk alienating members of staff who wish to develop but don’t have the means to. Employers should implement a combination of social learning (learning on the job, through others), on-demand education (resources, apps, and e-learning platforms), and individualised learning (from industry experts in person, via podcasts, and in written formats). For businesses experiencing uncertainty because of the cost-of-living crisis, looming recession, and a slowdown in investment, digital learning is likely to be the safest bet. Fortunately, it’s also one of the cheapest and most impactful ways of delivering education. The CIPD 2021 Learning and skills work survey shows that businesses with a sophisticated approach to technology in L&D are more likely to have a supportive learning environment. In turn, this inspires a greater desire for learning and development, enhancing the supportive climate further. One big, beautiful circle of learning and engagement! The benefits of well-designed and delivered L&D are ample for employers and employees. When teams are equipped with the skills to take on bigger and bolder challenges – like those experienced during the...
Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology Researchers Design AI Model that Predicts Extreme Wildfire Danger Combining artificial intelligence and weather forecast models can boost extreme wildfire forecasts by up to 7 days, finds new study Accurate wildfire risk prediction is essential for an efficient allocation of resources for their mitigation. Current forecast models are, however, incapable of providing sufficiently long lead times. Now, researchers have a developed a hybrid wildfire forecast system that combines deep learning algorithms with existing weather forecast models. The new AI-based system can predict wildfire conditions farther ahead with better coverage than that provided by conventional approaches. AI Model to Predict Extreme Wildfire Danger Raging wildfires occurring worldwide have caused tremendous economic damage and loss of life. Knowing when and where a widespread fire could happen in advance can improve fire prevention and resource allocation. However, available forecast systems only provide limited information. Moreover, they do not provide lead times long enough to gain useful regional details. Scientists have now applied a deep learning algorithm to enhance the prediction of wildfire danger in the Western United States. Researchers from South Korea and the United States developed a hybrid method that combines AI techniques and weather forecasts to produce improved predictions of extreme fire danger out to one week at finer scales (4km x 4km resolution), increasing its utility for fire suppression and management. “We tried numerous approaches to integrate machine learning with traditional weather forecast models to improve forecasts of wildfire risks. This study is a big step forward as it demonstrates the potential of such an effort for enhancing fire danger prediction without the need for extra computing power,” says lead author Dr. Rackhun Son, a recent Ph.D. from the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) in South Korea, who currently works at The Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Germany. “The fire danger forecasts could be improved further using constant development in both Earth System Models and recent AI developments,” he adds. While data-driven AI methods have shown excellent capabilities for inferring things, explaining why and how the inferences are arrived at still remains a challenge. This has led to AI being labeled a black box. “But when AI was combined with computer models based on physical principles, we could diagnose what was going on inside this black box,” says co-author Prof. Simon Wang of Utah State University, USA. “The AI-based predictions associated with extreme levels of fire danger are well grounded to strong winds and specific geographical characteristics, including high mountains and canyons in the Western United States that have been traditionally difficult to resolve with coarser models.” Computational efficiency is another major advantage of this method. Conventional methods of predicting fire risks at finer spatial resolutions, a process called “regional downscaling,” are often computationally demanding, expensive, and time-consuming. “Although comparable computational resources were required at the developing stage, once the training task for the AI was complete, i.e., performed once initially, it only took few seconds to use that component with the weather forecast model to produce forecasts for the rest of the season,” says co-author Prof. Kyo-Sun Lim at Kyungpook National University, Korea. Therefore, the newly developed AI-based method with the ability to make accurate high-resolution forecasts in a shorter time was much more cost-effective compared to conventional forecast systems. “In this study, the AI is only tested for fire danger forecasting in the Western United States. In the future, it could be applied to other types of weather extremes or to other parts of the world,” said co-author Dr. Philip J. Rasch of the Pacific Northwest...
Dublin City Council in partnership with Water Safety Ireland and the Department for Rural and Community Development has launched an innovative Smart Ring Buoys project aimed at saving lives on our waters. Smart Dublin worked with technology partners Civic Integrated Solutions Ltd, mSEMICON Teoranta and ZiggyTec Ltd to develop this life-saving technology. The deployment of this new low-cost sensor technology will provide real-time alerts when life buoys are stolen or tampered with. This problem is an issue for Councils across Ireland and 600+ sensors will now be installed in eight local authorities including Fingal County Council, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, South Dublin County Council, Dublin City Council, Laois County Council, Meath County Council, Sligo County Council and Limerick City & County. The Smart Ring Buoy technology works through low-cost sensors paired with a mobile, map-based platform with real-time monitoring. It will alert Water Safety officers when ring buoys are tampered with or go missing and ensure their timely replacement. This is an essential and lifesaving action as a stolen ring buoy could mean a stolen life. Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys commented, “In 2021 alone, we tragically lost 80 lives through drowning. Such incidents have devastating and long-lasting effects on families and communities. Safety tools like ring buoys are in place to save lives and protect people when they are close to water. Sadly, the theft or vandalism of this life-saving equipment is still commonplace in both our rural and urban communities. The initiative that I am launching today in conjunction with Dublin City Council is both unique and important. With the support of funding from my Department’s Digital Innovation Programme, we will roll out this sensor technology in 8 different local authorities. This project is a leading example of how the public sector is tackling community challenges with innovative approaches. I want to commend Dublin City Council and all the project partners and stakeholders involved.” The project began back in 2018 as part of a workshop to identify challenges in Dublin’s Smart Docklands area. Members of the community highlighted that ring buoys were frequently being stolen or tampered with, with a delay to replacement devices being installed. At present, around 15 ring buoys go missing or are stolen every week from Dublin City Council alone costing over €20,000 per annum for replacement. Dublin City Council realised that this was a problem not just in Dublin but across Ireland and set out to find a solution through their Smart Dublin innovation programme. Across Ireland, there are approximately 5,000 life buoys installed. The Ring Buoy project has taken a unique approach to procurement in an Irish context led by Dublin City Council where the Dublin local authorities have been able to pilot a number of innovative solutions initially and then purchase the best solutions as part of a wider framework with 23 local authorities. The project was shortlisted for an Innovation leadership award from the European Innovation Council – recognising the efforts done by the public sector to promote and implement innovation procurement across Europe. Owen Keegan, Chief Executive of Dublin City Council speaking about the new technology said, “This is a great example of collaboration across the Irish Local authorities and Water Safety Ireland through our Smart Dublin programme. It is also the first time we have used a procurement approach like this to pilot an innovative technology solution before we buy. We look forward to scaling this type of approach to accelerate the deployments of new innovations that can address city challenges.” Roger Sweeney, Acting CEO of Water Safety Ireland said, “Every year, ring buoys are used by the public to save lives from drowning however many ring buoys are regularly stolen or vandalised. A stolen ring buoy can mean a stolen life. Ring bu...
We will be reviewing this product shortly, so here is some information about the Dyson Purifier ahead of our review. Dyson Purifier Automatically senses and captures pollutants. Purifies and Cools you Dyson purifiers combine intelligent sensing with an advanced filtration system that captures gases² and 99.95% of particles as small as 0.1 microns. And only Dyson purifiers have powerful Air Multiplier™ technology to purify the whole room. Dyson Purifier machines Dyson Air Multiplier technology generates the circulation power to draw even distant pollutants into the machine, projecting purified cool air to every corner of the room. In Auto Mode, Dyson Purifier machines automatically sense and capture pollutants – with the ability to capture 99.95% of particles as small as 0.1 microns Integrated sensors constantly analyse air, while our unique algorithm cross-checks data every second. It diagnoses pollutants at a molecular level, displaying live results on the LCD. (You can see the air quality in your home displayed on the screen/watch the air quality level spike when you cook etc.) Night mode for lighter sleepers – monitors and purifies using the quietest settings, along with a dimmed display. €549.99 Price includes VAT See more product reviews here.
Are you out of contract or looking for a better deal for your mobile phone? If so there are some great SIM Only deals available in Ireland right now with huge savings to be made over long contract plans. We’ve teamed up with Switcher.ie, the free and impartial price comparison and switching service, to find the best SIM Only deals available every month. Check back regularly to stay informed of the latest deals and offers and visit the Switcher.ie website to order one of these great packages. Best SIM Only Deals Clear Mobile’s SIM-only plan offers unlimited minutes, texts and data all for just €14.99 per month on a 30-day rolling bill-pay contract. GoMo’s SIM-only Go More plan offers unlimited minutes, texts and data. This SIM-only deal costs just €14.99 per month on a 30-day rolling bill-pay contract. Looking for 5G? eir’s connect SIM-only plan is 5G ready and costs just €14.99 per month for 12 months all on a 30-day rolling bill-pay contract. This deal includes unlimited calls, texts and data. (If you’ve come across this article after some of these deals may have expired, check out our main SIM Only category page to find the latest offers) More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
ServBlock, a Blockchain and pharmaceutical compliance company is collaborating with Microsoft’s Early Access Engineering programme to produce a novel business case for the use of NFT technology in meeting compliance standards. Servblock translates the current human to human based quality assurance process to a digital first trust system underpinned by machine to machine interactions and blockchain technology, providing verified data that is automatically checked for compliance. Pharmaceutical compliance entails a multitude of processes requiring manual checking of data and tasks which require detailed attention, passing numerous levels of scrutiny often multiple times. ServBlock automates this process in a much more secure, timely and cost-efficient manner than the current status-quo with the use of blockchain technology. The use of blockchain helps create validated digital traceability systems for pharmaceutical parts by recording data in real-time throughout a supply chain. With blockchain solutions, pharmaceutical-based transactions and processes can become secure, cheaper, and quicker than usual. For new biotech facility start up projects ServBlock can save 14,400 commissioning hours resulting in an average saving of 1.5 million euros per project. As well as cost reduction ServBlock’s technology: Eliminates fraud in the pharmaceutical supply chain Eliminates the risk of counterfeit or contaminated drugs entering the market Greatly reduces human error in the supply chain. Blockchain is most commonly known for its uses in the financial industry and being particularly rooted in cryptocurrency over the last decade, but its fundamental data integrity properties means it is particularly suited to regulated industries, such as pharmaceutical production and distribution. In collaboration with Microsoft, ServBlock has developed a novel use of non-fungible token (NFT) technology. NFTs are unique cryptographic tokens that exist on a blockchain and cannot be replicated, normally bought and sold. This model presents the perfect framework to ensure transparency for all stakeholders from beginning to end. John Ward, CEO and founder of ServBlock, said: ‘Implementing new technologies to aid in the continued improvement of compliance standards is a core pillar of what ServBlock does. To have Microsoft on board gives further validation to the work we have been doing since founding the company and blockchain as a powerful business tool. NFTs have gained recognition and popularity for their use in selling art and a new internet culture, but we are glad to be starting the adoption of real world use within an enterprise setting.’ Quality assurance data is tokenized and in this way shows an end-to-end business use case for NFT use in the pharmaceutical industry. Every business process is signed by business participants, stored then shared through a ledger which itself shows ownership of assets from their creation. Every business process is shared among business participants ensuring traceability at every stop. Small, Medium & Corporate Lead for Microsoft Ireland, Peter Lougheed said: “NFTs are one of the most exciting concepts to emerge from blockchain technology, and have grown to be hugely significant. It’s great to see a Microsoft Founders Hub member, like ServBlock, continue to scale and expand. We, at Microsoft, are excited to collaborate with ServBlock in developing their technology to better enable the pharmaceutical industry to meet their, often very complex, compliance standards.” This collaboration presents the first use case of NFTs within a pharmaceutical manufacturing setting and therefore uncovers great potential for the use of blockchain technology in a variety of areas which rely heavily on secure, transparent ownership of assets. See more stories here.
When and where is it on? The Analog Devices Building – University of Limerick, Thursday 3rd November 2022 How many years has it been going? This is the inaugural Transforming Education event. We plan to make it an annual gathering of experts in this field. Human Capital Initiative Conference, University of Limerick, What exciting things can people look forward to? This full day conference will be packed with debate and talks from innovators in higher education and industry both nationally and internationally. This event is for academics, innovators and pioneers for best practice in education and skills preparation. Prepare to listen to some interesting case studies and research on: Disruption in higher education Industry and education co-design and delivery Reflections on the University of Limerick’s innovation and transformation Micro-credentials Debating the value of a degree There is a list of international speakers lined up to share their work in respect to the above. What opportunities are on offer for those attending? Discovery of international best practice in education that is targeted for workplace based learners. Listen to reflections from international collaborators in relation to best practice. Networking opportunities for joint or dual track co-design and co-delivery or workplace based education Who will be speaking? Associate Professor Josephine Lang Josephine Lang is currently the Academic Program Director for the discipline cluster of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences which includes Education and Law within the Melbourne School of Continuing and Professional Education (MSPACE), University of Melbourne. This is a whole-of-university approach to (re)thinking the way The University of Melbourne might engage with professional education. Josephine is a member of the UL@Work International Advisory Panel, contributing to all WPs as needed Dr Nan Travers Nan is Director of the Centre for Leadership in Credentialing Learning at State University of New York Empire State College. Her work focuses on the policies and practices of self-designed student degree programs, advanced standing, the assessment of prior college-level learning and ePortfolios. Member of the UL@Work International Advisory Panel, contributing to the design of work- based learner online education, WPs 4 and 5 and microcredential / IUA proposal linked to WP7. Professor Mark Mon-Williams Mark is Director for the Centre for Immersive Technologies at the University of Leeds and is also leading the creation of a Centre of Applied Education Research, a multidisciplinary Centre based at the Bradford Royal Infirmary. Mark is a member of the UL@Work International Advisory Panel, contributing to the use of emerging technologies in education and digital literacy for WPs 2 and 7. Professor Joyce O’Connor Joyce is Co-Founder of Block W, Chair of the Digital Future Working Group for the Institute of International and European Affairs, and was President of the National College of Ireland for 1 5 years. Joyce will sit on the UL@Work Advisory Panel with input to postgraduate part- time and full-time programmes for WPs 4, 5 and 6. Professor Gilly Salmon Gilly has been a learning innovator for more than 30 years and is one of the world‘s leading thinkers in digital and blended learning. She is currently Academic Director for Open Education Services in the UK and previously, Professor of Innovation and Transformation, and Associate Dean, Online, at the University of Liverpool Management School. Gilly will sit on the UL@Work International Advisory Panel as an educational consultant in learning and module design and professional development across all WPs, in particular 1, 4, 5 and 6. Professor lan Solomonides Ian is Vice President Learning and Teaching at Victoria University in Melbourne. He has led and been involved in a number of large scale changes, including the implementation of the revolutionary VU Block Model, as well as a range of other initiatives designed to...
Virgin Media Ireland and Vodafone Ireland have agreed a wholesale network access deal, which will see Vodafone offering their customers fixed line broadband services using Virgin Media’s superfast fibre broadband network. The Virgin Media network passes 1 million premises across Ireland, offering broadband speeds of 1Gbps (gigabits per second). Virgin Media’s ongoing €200m network upgrade to full fibre over the next three years will support speeds up to 10Gbps. Virgin Media has already upgraded over 150,000 premises to fibre across the Virgin network. Through this new wholesale network access agreement between the companies, Vodafone’s customers will now have more choice and will be able to avail of Virgin Media’s expanding Fibre network. Tony Hanway, Chief Executive of Virgin Media Ireland said, “We’re very pleased to provide network access opportunities to other operators for the first time and we welcome Vodafone as our first wholesale network partner. It’s all systems go as we continue to expand our network nationally and bring ultrafast fibre connectivity to over 240,000 homes by the end of 2022, and over 1 million homes by 2025. Our entry into the wholesale market will support more competition while improving service delivery for consumers, businesses and communities across Ireland.” Amanda Nelson, CEO of Vodafone Ireland said, “As Ireland’s largest Fibre to the Home market provider, and the fastest growing broadband provider over the last 12 months, we are always looking for new and innovative ways to bring the best products and solutions to our customers. Our new broadband partnership with Virgin Media means Vodafone customers will be able to avail of their Fibre to the Premise network, as they continue to upgrade to fibre around the country. “Having recently celebrated 21 years in Ireland, we are looking forward to supporting our customers and businesses across the country long into the future, ensuring balanced regional development and a resilient and strengthened economy. Partnerships such as this, demonstrate our continued focus on our significant network investment strategy, as we look to continually upgrade and refresh our capabilities in Ireland.” See more stories here.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has announced the launch of the 2022 UK and Ireland Sustainathon, a problem-solving competition that challenges university students to address corporate sustainability problems through innovative digital technology, creativity, and teamwork. Registrations are now open for the 2022 Sustainathon, which invites university students to work alongside TCS and its partner network (via a virtual online portal) during a two-week sprint to devise digital solutions that can help businesses overcome their most urgent sustainability challenges. “TCS is fully committed to addressing environmental challenges in the countries and communities we operate in, and to building a sustainable future through innovation and adoption of digital technologies,” said Andrea McBride, Head of TCS Global Delivery Centre, Letterkenny. She added, “This is the first year that the TCS Sustainathon is available to students in Ireland. The competition has had great success in the UK and other regions over the last number of years and we are delighted to be able to offer Irish students the opportunity to be involved this year.” TCS is engaging with universities across the UK and Ireland, including Atlantic Technological University (ATU) and North West Regional College (NWRC), Derry, to launch the competition, as part of its ongoing commitment to promote STEM skills, nurture young talent and support sustainable enterprise. TCS will work closely with its clients and supporting organisations as the challenge partners for 2022, including Phoenix Group, Lloyds Banking Group and Marks & Spencer. Participating teams will be given a unique opportunity to join a series of interactive masterclasses, virtual mentoring sessions and online webinars with business and community leaders who will guide them through each stage of the ideation process and help to turn their concepts into a reality. Irish academics partnering with TCS on this year’s competition, include Dr. Mark Kelly, Head of ATU Galway and Mayo Centre for Sustainability who will deliver an online ‘Sustainability Masterclass’ to all participating students from Ireland and UK and Francine Moran, Lecturer in Science and Sustainable Technologies at NWRC, participating as a guest panellist for a discussion session on ‘Sustainability and Career Paths’. After presenting their solutions to the judges, the winning teams will be rewarded with sustainable prizes and an opportunity to showcase their ideas at the grand finale event on Tuesday 6th December. The judging panel will be comprised of representatives from UnifAI Technology, the Rail Delivery Group, a selection of not-for-profit organisations, and sustainability experts who are independent from the competition process. The members of the Grand Finale winning team will be offered one month paid internships with TCS. Last year, the winning team ‘Biophilic’ from University College London was challenged to increase community engagement around sustainability by enhancing the digital functionality of Scotland’s National Entitlement Card (NEC) app. Biophilic was invited to present their winning concept to an audience of business leaders at TCS’ Innovation Forum in London, which resulted in the companies working with the students to develop their ideas into a real solution. For more information and how to register, please visit: See more stories here.
“It’s the guide I needed in the White House to save me years of mistakes” Tom Cochran, Digital Advisor to Barack Obama (2011-2016) President Obama’s Digital Advisor Helps Launch New Book by Irish Author Joanne Sweeney Joanne Sweeney’s new book ‘Public Sector Marketing Pro’ helps governments and public sector agencies to navigate communications online has been launched at the Public Sector Digital Marketing Summit. Lessons from the White House “We don’t want our governments failing because of a lack of preparedness,” says Tom Cochran, who worked as a Senior Digital Advisor to President Barack Obama 2011-2016. The former White House advisor says that “a key lesson from the pandemic includes the importance of being prepared versus reacting in a crisis”. “The pandemic accelerated the use of digital platforms by governments and public sector agencies, but the citizen expectation of a government service is akin to Amazon, Netflix or Starbucks. “Joanne Sweeney’s book, Public Sector Marketing Pro, is the guide to being prepared for any crisis. It’s the handbook that would have saved me a decade of errors,” says Cochran The revised edition Public Sector Marketing Pro was updated to reflect the expectations of citizens in the post-pandemic age. Written by digital marketing consultant Joanne Sweeney, the first edition of the book is on the curriculum in San Francisco University and is used as a best practice guide for many communications professionals across the world. Speaking today, Ms Sweeney says her motivation to write the book comes from a deep-rooted interest in public interest communications. “I’m a citizen too. But I also know how the Internet works for good and how it can be used to distort the truth. My contribution to social media for good is in this book. While it’s written for government, political and public policy professionals the real winners if my advice is implemented is you and me – the citizen. “It’s high time the standards of digital communications in public life are raised for public good. The Internet is eroding public trust in organs of the state and mainstream media and this spells bad news for democracy and society in general. Blaming the Internet is not the solution, using it to communicate transparently is.” Case Studies Case studies shared in the book include how Ireland’s HSE turned its Twitter account into a customer service channel. While the World Health Organization leaned into WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger for daily updates country-by-country. The book is available now for order on Amazon. The audiobook will be released on Audible for Christmas. Please visit her website to see more about her books:/ Public Sector Marketing Pro (Revised Edition) Written by Joanne Sweeney Published, 27th October 2022. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
We look at this topical and relevant book, The Privacy Mission: Achieving Ethical Data For Our Lives Online, published by Wiley. The Privacy Mission: Achieving Ethical Data For Our Lives Online, reviewed We do need to be up to speed and aware about why these issues are important and why we have to evolve and build robust structures to protect ourselves. Global social media companies may change their names, partly to dilute impact from scandals about how much of our personal data they have allowed to be sold to third parties to use for their own ends. However even with name changes, the bottom line remains that these companies do not have our best interests at heart. For these reasons and many more similar ones this book is topical and important. The authors capture the key issues well, and explain what they are, and why these are a problem. Then they also discuss solutions and potential routes to take us toward what good to better could look like. It makes sense to be discussing these issues and we hope that this book does help to raise the bar in terms of what is expected of global social media companies, and everyone else who interacts with us when we go on line. An important book, well worth reading. More about the book As our personal and professional lives increasingly take place online, data ethics is no longer an academic or niche concern for regulators and privacy enthusiasts. From copyright law to the increasing inseparability of corporate and state power, criminal hacking enterprises, and media censorship, this new book takes a deep dive into every important aspect of an issue that has a noticeable and direct impact on all of us. In The Privacy Mission, Machon presents important perspectives on how the relevant historical and recent developments – such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the meaning of the word “privacy,” the existence of both fascism, communism, and populist politics, and the value of a free press – shape and change how we think about data ethics. Including discussions of who controls access to the hardware and software that is increasingly used to spy on us, hack us, and farm our data, and which democratic, social, and personal threats we need to meet, mitigate, and respond to, The Privacy Mission offers practical solutions for individuals wishing to protect themselves, their families and communities through to leaders at modern companies, governments, and security agencies who wish to minimise the harmful impact of technological revolution. It will also be of interest to policymakers, regulators, and academics who seek to influence the conversation around privacy, digital transformation, technology, and data. More about the author Annie Machon began her career working as an intelligence officer for MI5 and has extensive experience as an international public speaker, writer, media commentator, and political campaigner. She is now the director of the World Ethical Data Foundation – head of planning the World Ethical Data Forums – Machon has given keynote presentations at many international conferences focusing on technology, digital civil liberties, security and surveillance. She also served for four years as the European Director of the drug reform organisation, LEAP:/ and, while helping to establish various national LEAP groups across the continent, gave a number of presentations to the UN, European parliaments and contributed to films such as “The Culture High”. Machon now does extensive media commentary on intelligence matters, Middle Eastern politics, internet freedoms, and much more. Further information can be found at my website: www.anniemachon.ch. She also provides strategic media advice to companies and political campaigns, and give training in technology & ethical data solutions. See more reviews here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous ep...
I Wish, the organisation inspiring teenage girls towards Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) careers, has announced a new partnership with Iarnród Éireann to secure free transport for female students travelling from Munster to the annual I Wish STEM Showcase event 2023 on February 28th in the RDS, Dublin. As part of the partnership, Iarnród Éireann will put on dedicated I Wish STEM return trains to Dublin, for students departing from Cork, Mallow, Killarney, Tralee, Limerick and Thurles. The Iarnród Éireann chartered trains for female students attending the annual I Wish STEM showcase 2023 will also feature talks from female STEM influencers. As places are limited, schools are encouraged to sign up via iwish.ie/register The 9th annual I Wish STEM hybrid event 2023 is set to host an audience of 3,000 teenage girls from around the country in-person, with the virtual TV-style live broadcast aiming to reach more than 10,000 teenage girls globally. The 2022 I Wish STEM event drew an audience of 17,036 second-level students from all 32 counties in Ireland as well as from 28 countries across Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and South America. Gillian Keating, co-founder, I Wish commented: “We are delighted to announce Iarnród Éireann as our national travel partner. This will enable teenage girls to travel for free by train from designated Iarnród Éireann stations to the I Wish STEM showcase event where they will have access to top female STEM role models. It is very exciting to get back to our live events for 2023, even bigger and brighter than ever.” She continued: “The ethos of I Wish is to make STEM accessible to all and ensure #NoGirlGetsLeftBehind. Our partnership with Iarnród Éireann reinforces that.” Barry Kenny Corporate Communications Manager said: “This is an important partnership for Iarnród Éireann which will see us supporting the I Wish mission to inspire more teenage girls towards STEM careers. This is also a fantastic opportunity, as record investment sees us become the backbone of Ireland’s sustainable transport network, to highlight the STEM roles available to these young women at Iarnród Éireann from ecologists to environmental scientists, mechanical engineers to digital forensics and cyber security experts.” He continued: “With barriers persisting for female students in STEM according to the recent annual I Wish Report 2022, including poor gender equality and a lack of confidence, we hope that partnerships like this, will help towards accelerating the pace of change.” The I Wish aim is to continue to provide female STEM role models, and STEM work experience opportunities; to develop policies that address gender differences in STEM after graduation, which deplete the pool of role models; to improve and better inform access to STEM subjects for all Senior Cycle students; and enhance focus on STEM-related careers in the Junior Cycle curriculum. I Wish advocates for engagement in STEM from early years education. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
There are just three days left to register for Red Bull Campus Clutch. The Global VALORANT tournament is open to college and university students in Ireland and across the globe. Players are invited to show their skills for a chance to play on the world stage with €20,000 up for grabs for the winning team. What is Red Bull Campus Clutch: Red Bull Campus Clutch is a grassroots esports initiative bringing up-and-coming student VALORANT players of every skill level together as they team up and experience competitive gaming like never before. In its first year, the tournament showcased up-and-coming talent who went on to establish a career in the professional gaming scene. How to Enter: Entries are now open to currently enrolled College and University Students over the age of 18, visit RedBullCampusClutch.com. Students can enter as an individual and will be placed into a team, or they can enter a team of five. How Does it Work: Teams of five will battle it out in an online Irish qualifier event on Saturday 29th of October which will find the top three teams in the country. These top three teams will then face off at the live National Final on 11th of November with the winning team crowned National Champions. The Irish National Champions will then receive an all-expenses paid trip to São Paulo, Brazil to show their skills against 50 other country teams at the Global Final where the winning team will be treated to a VIP Experience at a 2023 VALORANT Champions Tour Event and €20,000 in prize money. More details on the date and location of the Red Bull Campus Clutch National and World Final will be revealed. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Enactus and Citi Foundation are now accepting applications to their joint ‘Pathways to Progress’ Social Inclusion Entrepreneurship Development Programme for 2022/2023. The Programme, which aims to elevate and empower young people from disadvantaged or underrepresented backgrounds to succeed in today’s rapidly changing economy, is open to third-level students in the Enactus network. The projects will focus on diversity and inclusion for underrepresented groups in Irish society and the collaborative approach will be instrumental in generating significant social impact. Throughout the process, students and young people have the opportunity to develop a wide range of skills, preparing them for their professional futures. In addition to securing a €1000 grant and mentorship from the Citi Foundation team, successful applicants will be invited to specialised training days aimed at developing and refining ideas. Projects will be presented to a panel of Citi judges and Enactus alumni at a showcase event in April 2023, where more seed funding can be won. Citi and Enactus are looking for programme/project applications that will impact people from the following underrepresented groups: · Socioeconomically disadvantaged background · Ethnic minorities · Physical/intellectual disability or learning difficulty · Communities with lowest progression to third-level education · History of low educational attainment in their families · Identify as LGBTQA+ Isobel Walton, Enactus Ireland Country Manager, said: “The Pathways to Progress initiative is one of our most impactful programmes, and we are delighted to continue our partnership with Citi Foundation for another year. Last year the programme received dozens of applications, and from those we selected ten projects run by Enactus students to participate in mentorship sessions and develop their ideas alongside professionals from Citi and Enactus. Ceangal, last year’s winner, is testament to the scope of excellence we see in applications to the programme; in fact, they are one of the projects that will be presented at this year’s Enactus World Cup in Puerto Rico. I’m looking very forward to seeing what comes our way this year.” Joanna Petty, Head of Public Affairs at Citi Ireland, said: “We are thrilled to continue working with Enactus on the Pathways to Progress initiative for another year. The entrepreneurial spirit of the applicants is always impressive, and Citi is proud to support young people in the projects that have such strong impacts on underrepresented communities.” More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
As schools become more dependent on technology, ransomware attacks against schools are increasing. To help schools worldwide proactively prepare for and respond to cyberattacks, IBM today announced the first eight recipients of the 2022 IBM Education Security Preparedness Grants, totaling USD$5 million in in-kind services, including $500,000 to the City of Dublin Education Training Board. Each grant will sponsor IBM Service Corps volunteers to address the selected school districts’ cybersecurity resiliency. With cybercriminals continuing to view schools as compelling targets, IBM’s 2022 Cost of a Data Breach Report revealed that the cost of a data breach averages $3.86 million for education institutions. While the report found that 49% of data breaches the industry experienced were caused by a malicious attack, nearly 30% occurred due to human error, emphasising the need for proper cybersecurity training and education in schools. The IBM Education Security Preparedness Grants program, now in its second year, received more than 120 applications from schools across the U.S. and will award six school districts with grants. This year the program is also expanding overseas with grant recipients in Ireland and UAE being announced today, and with recipients in Costa Rica and Brazil to be announced at a later date. “Ransomware operators are increasingly setting their sights on schools and colleges, putting more pressure on these institutions to prioritise their cybersecurity. The impact of cyberattacks on schools also cascades down to students and their families, and so can have a significant impact on the wider community,” said Deborah Threadgold, IBM Ireland Country General Manager. “IBM is proud to be able to support schools through this initiative and I’m delighted that City of Dublin ETB will be one of the recipients. The team at IBM Security here in Ireland are looking forward to partnering with City of Dublin ETB over the coming months to build cyber resilience and address any gaps in cyber security planning and preparedness.” Commenting on the partnership announcement, Blake Hodkinson, Director of Further Education and Training at City of Dublin ETB said, “Cyber security is of huge importance to City of Dublin ETB. In recent years, particularly after Covid-19, digital teaching, learning and data have become increasingly important to us and our learners. We have over 48,000 learners and anything that might inhibit from delivering on our primary functions is a key concern.” “The new partnership between City of Dublin ETB and IBM will help us protect our learners and staff from unwanted cyber threats impacting on the educational services we deliver. It will allow us to confidently continue to develop innovative digital learning techniques. It will also reassure learners that their data is safe with us. This partnership is a significant step forward for City of Dublin ETB and we are delighted to be chosen as the programmes first European partner.” The grant applications that IBM received shed light on the schools’ levels of cybersecurity awareness, preparedness, and training, confirming that there is always a growing need for improved security education and skills across industries and around the world. Key findings from applications included: Targets of Cyberattacks – One in four applicants has experienced a cybersecurity breach or ransomware attack, indicating that cybercriminals are taking advantage of the sectors’ security constraints. Absence of Readiness – The majority of school districts say they do not have a cybersecurity plan in place and have not received any cybersecurity training, increasing the security risk posed by human error. Lack of Resources – Just 20% of districts has personnel dedicated to cybersecurity. IBM Service Corps volunteers are expected to be working with the schools to help them proactively prepare for and respond to cyber threats. Depending on each school’s needs, the engagements may include the...
New figures released today by FraudSMART, the fraud awareness initiative led by Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), show that in excess of €12m was illegally transferred via money mule accounts in H1 2022, with the number of bank accounts linked to money mules almost doubling to over 3,000 from a year earlier. With the average sum which is transacted through money mule accounts in the region of €4k, the data collected from FraudSMART members also shows that the majority of money mule accounts belonged to young adults, between 18 and 24 years of age, with some as young as 15. As the cost of living crisis continues to put pressure on people’s finances, FraudSMART and An Garda Síochána are warning all consumers, particularly young people, to be alert to the risks and consequences of recruitment as money mules and are highlighting the red flags to watch out for to protect themselves from getting involved. Financially Vulnerable Groups Most Susceptible to Becoming Targets Speaking on today’s figures, Niamh Davenport, Head of Financial Crime, BPFI said: “With our latest figures showing a sharp increase in the numbers of money mule accounts in operation, we are appealing to all consumers to be on high alert to the dangers of this crime. Those most susceptible to being targeted are often financially vulnerable groups including students, those who are unemployed and people in economic hardship. And as the cost of living crisis deepens over the coming winter months we are particularly concerned that criminals engaging in money mule recruitment will seek to capitalise on this.” “Unfortunately it can be all too easy to get caught out by the promise of quick and easy cash in exchange for for something which appears as simple as opening a new bank account on behalf of the criminal or using your bank account to lodge or transfer money. People can be conned unknowingly or coerced into working with fraudsters through social media posts, seemingly legitimate job adverts or even be approached directly in person.” Serious Consequences Ms Davenport continued: “And while on the surface this may seem like a harmless crime to those who get involved, what the money mules often don’t realise is that behind the façade of the quick cash schemes are organised criminal gangs who use the money mule’s bank account to launder money they’ve stolen often from innocent victims they’ve scammed. That is why the consequences for money muling are so serious. As well as the prospect of a prison sentence and a criminal record, those who are caught will have their bank account closed and will have difficulty obtaining access to basic financial services including opening another account, getting loans or even a phone contract and entry into countries such as Australia or the United States will be denied. Therefore our strong message to all consumers today is know the warning signs and what to look out for to avoid becoming involved and if in doubt contact your bank or local garda station.” For further information on fraud prevention tips and advice including on money mules, consumers can visit www.fraudsmart.ie Top Thing to Look Out for to Avoid Falling Victim to Money Mule Recruiters: Be very cautious of unsolicited emails or approaches promising opportunities to make easy money, particularly on social media. — Thoroughly research any work-from-home opportunities and do not get involved unless you are sure the business is legitimate. — Never give your bank account details to anyone unless you know and trust them. — Never allow your bank account to be used by someone else. — If you have been approached to act as a money mule or have been a victim of this type of crime, report it to your local Garda Station and contact your bank. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like vi...
While progress has been made in driving gender diversity on corporate boards, there are still massive gaps in how diversity is defined and represented on boards around the world, according to Diligent, the global leader in modern governance providing SaaS solutions across governance, risk, compliance, audit and ESG. New research shows that boardroom diversity by race, ethnicity, age and LGBTQ+ representation lags significantly behind gender diversity globally. Female directors hold approximately 29% of board seats in continental Europe. When analysing companies in Ireland, this is significantly less at just 24%, lower than the global average (27%). The inaugural Board Diversity Gaps: The Global Modern Leadership Report is the first-ever global analysis of several major dimensions of boardroom diversity including gender, race/ethnicity and nationality, skillset, and LGBTQ+ representation. Produced by Diligent, in collaboration with 22 partnering organizations around the world, the report provides a first-of-its-kind holistic view into the progression of diversity and inclusion on public and private boards worldwide. In large part due to laws and quotas, Europe as a region leads the world in terms of boardroom gender diversity — despite regional variations from country to country. “Diversity has risen up the boardroom agenda as organizations face increasing pressure to better reflect the diversity of their customer bases and communities, but progress has been slow and there are still many gaps when it comes to reporting on race, ethnicity and LGBTQ+ representation on boards,” said Lisa Edwards, President, and COO of Diligent and board director at Colgate-Palmolive. “This report provides new, critical insights into how boardrooms worldwide are progressing against diversity goals and where there is still much work to be done.” Among the top findings of the Modern Leadership Report: Diversity by directors’ nationality, race, and ethnicity lags gender diversity globally, with the majority of analyzed countries not disclosing the ethnicity of each of the directors on the board. The percentage of S&P 500 directors from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups is only 22% and has not increased since 2021. Meanwhile, the percentages for Fortune 100 and 500 boards are 17.5% and 20.6% respectively as of 2020, and 24% for the Russell 3000 as of June 2022. Director appointments are far from gender parity. Only 36% of director appointments through May 2022 were female, on pace with the average for all of 2021. Female directors currently hold approximately 27% of public company board seats, up from 26% in 2021 and a four-percentage point increase from 2019. Female directors in Europe trend younger than their male counterparts and have shorter tenures. The average age of female directors is roughly four years younger than their male counterparts, at 60 and 63.5 respectively. Female directors also have shorter tenures than their male counterparts at 4.7 years compared with 7.6. The issue of LGBTQ+ representation is significantly behind other elements of boardroom diversity, with the U.S. being the only region analyzed that provides this data. Members of the LGBTQ+ community hold only 0.5% of board seats in the Fortune 500. Currently, the collection and disclosure of board race/ethnicity and LGBTQ+ representation data is non-existent in continental. New expertise types are being added to the boardroom, with 35% of newly appointed board directors bringing skillset backgrounds in areas like technology, marketing, sales, HR, ESG and legal in 2022. 7% of female directors in the UK have technology expertise compared to 4% of male directors, the highest percentage of female board members is in the communications sector at 33%, while the energy sector has the lowest level of female representation at 25%. All-Male Boards Persist for Private Companies. In a review of 228 private growth-stage companies, Diligent found 58% have all-male-boards, compared wi...
CÚRAM, the SFI research centre for medical devices at University of Galway, has been awarded almost €14 million to create 50 postdoctoral fellowship opportunities to develop future leaders in medical device research. The co-funding programme involves €7.1m from the European Union and €6.8m from CÚRAM to launch MedTrain+, an enhanced innovative Marie Sk?odowska-Curie Action training programme. CÚRAM is hosted by University of Galway, with academic partners at 10 higher education institutions across Ireland. The new postdoctoral research positions will be based across all the partner institutions. This award adds to the substantial funding generated by researchers at CÚRAM who have attracted more than €70 million in EU investment during its first eight years. Professor Abhay Pandit said: “CÚRAM is perfectly positioned to coordinate MedTrain+ given its innovative strengths, active industry collaborations, and its missions to continue to train and empower the next generation of researchers who can engage with the public and stakeholders to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines and CÚRAM outputs. The 50 postdoctoral researchers will join our large team of multidisciplinary researchers working at the cutting edge of medical devices.” The MedTrain+ programme duration is 60 months, with fellows free to choose any research area within CÚRAM’s remit, as well as their supervisor and secondment organisation. This unique postdoctoral training program is structured so that researchers will be provided with a unique skill set that will give them an option of a multitude of career choices. In January 2021, CÚRAM began its second phase of work with a further investment of €46.3m from SFI to bring new treatments from the laboratory to patients. This came as part of the Government’s re-investment in SFI Research Centres across the country. Professor Abhay Pandit added: “The MedTrain+ funding supports CÚRAM’s vision to be a global leader in creating and translating clinic-ready and patient-focused medical devices; to develop the next generation of industry-relevant, publicly engaged researchers and to become an anchor for industry applicable research.” MedTrain+ research outputs will benefit outcomes for chronic illnesses such as diabetes, cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, and musculoskeletal diseases. It also offers fellows the unique opportunity to work in Europe’s first certified Green Lab at University of Galway. MedTrain+ will combine the expertise across CÚRAM’s academic network to host and train fellows with existing partnerships with SME and multinational companies in the medical device, pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors based in Ireland and abroad. These non-academic secondment visits will provide the training ground for designing and manufacturing next-generation devices and implants, some of which can be developed with strong clinical collaborations to enable rapid translation to clinics. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
CeADAR, Ireland’s National Centre for Applied AI, has launched AI NewsHub, a smart and easy-to-use digital news platform for reliable information on global developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning. CeADAR’s aim is to inform the AI community in Ireland and worldwide by providing free, reliable, and up-to-date information anywhere and anytime. AI NewsHub in itself uses AI to source information on AI and related topics to make accessing accurate and fresh information about AI simple and straightforward. The AI system developed by CeADAR employs natural language processing to automatically summarise each article, saving readers time. Up to now, any business or individual trying to keep abreast of developments in AI has had to engage in laborious searches that often yield poor quality or inaccurate information. By only sourcing information from reputable outlets, AI NewsHub maintains a tight quality control on the information it provides to its users. All original sources of the material will be acknowledged and all stories will be linked back to the original publishing source. The initiative reflects the fact that artificial intelligence has taken the world by storm to the extent that no industry vertical is uninfluenced by the applications of AI. The global AI market was worth $328 billion in 2021, and it has a 39.4% CAGR forecast for 2022 to 2028. AI is also expected to touch 85 million jobs and add 95 million jobs to the global economy. The AI news portal was developed by CeADAR’s team of data scientists, led by Technology Solutions Lead Dr. Arsalan Shahid. In building AI NewsHub, the CeADAR team focused on delivering elegance in architecture, functionality and layout while ensuring that the site is accessible, focused on credible regional and international news sources, has a good user interface and is ultra-responsive on multiple devices. Technology Solutions Lead and Head of CeADAR Connect Group, Dr. Arsalan Shahid said: “Business, industry, academic and research communities need help to access high-quality information in a timely manner. Information gathering from too many sources in a fast-moving world can be overwhelming and time-consuming. AI NewsHub eliminates those problems by providing immediate accurate information on developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning. AI NewsHub users can now spend time absorbing the information they need rather than searching for it.” CeADAR Centre Director Dr. Edward McDonnell said: “Already, since the release of CeADAR’s AI NewsHub it has become an indispensable tool enabling me to more easily keep current with developments in AI global and nationally. The AI-powered summarisation engine is brilliant for condensing long articles into easily digestible chunks. It’s a great resource and well worth a try!” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
PayPal’s new Thrills & Bills study reveals that nearly six in ten (59%) of Irish people are extremely worried about the cost-of-living crisis, rising to 65 per cent for those between 25 to 44 years of age. PayPal polled 1,000 adults across Ireland to explore changes in spending habits that people are making in order to navigate the crisis, from adjusting their lifestyles to savvy money management. Lifestyle changes that help save money The research revealed that two thirds (66%) of Irish people are planning to cut back on going out and eating out, making this the top lifestyle change in response to the cost-of-living crisis. Female respondents were found to be more open to this (72%) than male respondents (49%). Irish people are also trying to make more conscious choices when it comes to their shopping habits, with 63 per cent planning to buy fewer items and less often, and 62 per cent opting to switch to cheaper brands. Furthermore, the study found that some 31 per cent say they will buy second-hand items and nearly four in ten (37%) plan to change utility providers for the best deals on energy (including electricity and gas). Switching to alternatives is also proving to be a popular trend in order to navigate inflation as a third (33%) plan to turn to online shopping for what they need to limit temptations in store, 32 per cent will host friends for drinks rather than going out, and 27 per cent intend to take up outdoor exercise rather than having a gym membership. Importantly, savings were top of the list for what Irish people refuse to compromise on. Nearly half (44%) of consumers will continue to focus on building up their savings. Other priorities people are not prepared to eliminate are maintaining a healthy lifestyle such as a gym membership and healthy food options (24%), and buying coffee, drinks and snacks from cafés or coffee shops (23%). Money well spent Over three quarters of people (79%) agree that while changes to spending habits are necessary due to the cost-of-living crisis, it’s still important to occasionally spend money on a treat. Females agreed with this more than males – 83 per cent compared to 68 per cent. While 72 per cent of Irish consumers have had to slow down or pause lots of plans which were making up for lost time during the pandemic, there are some niceties they will continue to spend on this year as a treat, such as: Occasional meal at a restaurant (43%) Food takeaways (42%) Night outs with friends or family every now and again (37%) Cinema trips (30%) Beauty and grooming treatments (30%) The survey reveals that nearly half (47%) of people are open to splitting costs with friends, family or housemates to enjoy more group experiences over the coming months. Those aged 16 to 24 are most likely to do this (58%), while those over 55 are least likely (17%). Flexing money-management muscles The report revealed that Irish people are doing more than simply cutting back and making thrifty swaps, with nearly six in ten (58%) planning to regularly track their spending and creating budgets to stick to (53%). In addition, almost two-thirds (65%) of people plan to look for discounts, coupons and promotions where relevant, and 39 per cent plan to track their spending habits via banks, credit card accounts and digital wallets like PayPal. The survey found that nearly half (49%) of respondents are more likely to split the cost of a meal at a restaurant in response to the cost-of-living crisis. Some 44 per cent said they are more likely to split costs on taxis and transport fares, and 43 per cent are more inclined to do so on food takeaways. Nearly a third are even more likely to split the cost of a group drinks or dinner cooked at someone’s home (29%). Speaking about the findings, Maeve Dorman, Senior Vice President, Customer Success at PayPal, shared: “The cost-of-living crisis is impacting everyone. Without a doubt, it’s a challenging time and people are adapting quickly and making changes. While some are...
As we move through this digital decade, businesses are coming to rely on technology in ways never thought possible just over two years ago. Today, as we navigate uncertain times and the shift to hybrid working, this reliance is more important than ever – enabling businesses to grow and thrive, connecting employees to their work and linking people to their families all over the globe. According to the Dell Technologies Cyber Resilience Survey 2022, seven-in-10 Irish companies have plans to accelerate their digital transformation, meaning that the role that technology plays across the Irish business landscape will only continue to grow in the months ahead. Cyber Resilience However, as the pace of digital transformation accelerates, so too is there a growing need for businesses to place cyber resilience at the heart of their digital transformation journey. Geopolitical factors, the shift to hybrid working, as well as the rise in the volume and value of data we all use, have made businesses of all sizes prime targets for cyber attackers in today’s environment. And with cyberattacks occurring globally every 11 seconds, it’s no longer a matter of “if” a business will encounter an attack, but “when”. As we mark Cyber Security Month this October, it’s vital to make cybersecurity a top business priority. With data and technology at the heart of every organisation, never has business resilience been so closely intertwined with cyber resilience. The good news is that, across Ireland, many business leaders are taking note. According to Dell Technologies Cyber Resilience Survey 2022, 91% of organisations recognise the importance of cyber resilience at the senior leadership level. Moreover, amid the evolving world of work, the same number of businesses have taken steps to enhance data protection in the past 12 months. While these are positive first steps on the road to enhanced resilience, the results also show that several challenges remain. Cybersecurity Barriers Over half of business leaders who responded to the survey stated that the ever-growing number of cyberattacks were themselves a barrier to strengthening cyber resilience, followed by outdated technology, insufficient in-house cyber skills and upfront investment. Moreover, only 28% say they have a well-defined incident response strategy in response to an attack, while less than a third have stated they would restore the data lost from a standard back-up solution. As the number of cyberattacks continue to rise, these findings point to a growing need for business leaders across Ireland to ensure that the importance assigned to cyber resilience within their organisations is reflected in the strategies, infrastructure and resources they have in place to withstand and recover from a cyberattack. Protecting Your Data As Irish organisations increasingly look to protect their most critical data amidst evolving threats, it’s clear that business leaders need greater clarity on the steps they should be taking to enhance their cyber and business resilience. From engaging with leaders around the country, I’ve found that many struggle to differentiate cyber security and cyber resilience, as well as data backup versus disaster recovery. At Dell Technologies, our team of cyber experts have been enabling some of Ireland’s leading businesses to not only navigate the ever-changing cyber landscape, but to better understand and distinguish between the best protection strategies to increase their cyber resilience as they continue to transform at speed. The most effective cyber resiliency strategies involve using best practices involved in protecting data. That’s why, at Dell Technologies, we encourage all businesses to understand what their DNA is – that’s the critical 10% to 15% of data and mission critical business applications that must be protected at all costs. The next step is to explore a more resilient infrastructure than solely back-up environments to protect an organisation’s data. This pr...
Earlier this month the EU passed a new law on common chargers that comes into effect by the end of 2024, requiring all mobile phones, tablets and cameras sold in the EU to be equipped with a USB Type-C charging port. From spring 2026, the obligation will extend to laptops. The new law, is part of a broader EU effort to reduce e-waste and to empower consumers to make more sustainable choices. Under the new rules, consumers will no longer need a different charger every time they purchase a new device, as they will be able to use one single charger for a whole range of small and medium-sized portable electronic devices. Regardless of their manufacturer, all new mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones and headsets, handheld videogame consoles and portable speakers, e-readers, keyboards, mice, portable navigation systems, earbuds and laptops that are rechargeable via a wired cable, operating with a power delivery of up to 100 Watts, will have to be equipped with a USB Type-C port. Alex Agius Saliba, the Maltese EU lawmaker who steered the common charger bill through the EU assembly talks to Ronan about this new law and why it was badly needed. More about Alex Agius Saliba: Alex is a Maltese politician who was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2019 on behalf of the Labour Party. Alex has been serving on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, the Committee on Petitions as Coordinator and the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
A €7 million EU project involving researchers at the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) aims to tackle single-use plastic waste by analysing consumer psychology around reuse and creating new food packaging solutions. TUS is one of 19 members of BUDDIE-PACK, a multinational consortium consisting of packaging manufacturers, consumers, and logistics, cleaning and recycling experts from six European countries. The project, which is expected to take three and a half years to complete, will see researchers look to behavioural psychology and the drivers of reuse to help them figure out how to promote consumer acceptance of reusable food packing. €7M Food Packaging Project to Meet EU Sustainability Targets In tandem, the BUDDIE-PACK team will also devise new food packaging cleaning solutions to prevent any possible contamination of packaging, while preserving its durability and enabling it to be reused up to 300 times. Dr Declan Devine, director of TUS’s PRISM research institute, believes outputs from BUDDIE-PACK could drastically reduce the volume of single-use plastic waste in landfills. “Food packaging plays an essential role in reducing food waste, enabling long food shelf life and preventing tampering,” Dr Devine explained, “However, it is clear that our relationship with single-use plastic must change due to its negative effect on the environment.” “Due to the importance of the meat industry to the Irish economy, this research has the potential to remove millions of tonnes of single use packaging from the environment,” he continued. In addition to cutting down the production of single-use plastic packaging, BUDDIE-PACK is also expected to significantly reduce water and energy consumption and avoid the release of microplastics into the oceans. According to Dr Romina Pezzoli, applied packaging platform lead at APT, an Enterprise Ireland technology gateway based at TUS’s Athlone campus, the project will help Ireland and the EU meet their sustainability targets: “To tackle the plastic waste crisis, we need to approach the challenge from the design of new packaging systems; the development of reusable food packaging technologies is a key strategy,” Dr Pezzoli explained. “We will work together with Irish and European industry partners, research centres and consumer behavioural psychologists to progress the state of the art and to find a solution that involves all stakeholders.” BUDDIE-PACK is funded by Horizon Europe and coordinated by the Industrial Technical Centre for Plastics and Composites (IPC) in France. The 19 partners include IPC (FR), project coordinator; Technological University of the Shannon (IE), Dawn Meats Group (IE), Trivéo (FR), ACTIA (FR), CTCPA (FR), LNE (FR), o AIMPLAS (ES), Searious Business BV (NL), Vytal Global GMBH (DE), Eternity Systems (FR), Uzaje (FR), Betelgeux SL (ES), Plasmion GMBH (DE), Knauf Industries Gestion (FR), Auzo Lagun S. Coop (ES), Plasticos Vicent SLU (ES), Echo Brand Design LTD (IK), The University of Sheffield (UK). See more breaking stories here.
A €7 million EU project involving researchers at the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) aims to tackle single-use plastic waste by analysing consumer psychology around reuse and creating new food packaging solutions. TUS is one of 19 members of BUDDIE-PACK, a multinational consortium consisting of packaging manufacturers, consumers, and logistics, cleaning and recycling experts from six European countries. The project, which is expected to take three and a half years to complete, will see researchers look to behavioural psychology and the drivers of reuse to help them figure out how to promote consumer acceptance of reusable food packing. €7M Food Packaging Project to Meet EU Sustainability Targets In tandem, the BUDDIE-PACK team will also devise new food packaging cleaning solutions to prevent any possible contamination of packaging, while preserving its durability and enabling it to be reused up to 300 times. Dr Declan Devine, director of TUS’s PRISM research institute, believes outputs from BUDDIE-PACK could drastically reduce the volume of single-use plastic waste in landfills. “Food packaging plays an essential role in reducing food waste, enabling long food shelf life and preventing tampering,” Dr Devine explained, “However, it is clear that our relationship with single-use plastic must change due to its negative effect on the environment.” “Due to the importance of the meat industry to the Irish economy, this research has the potential to remove millions of tonnes of single use packaging from the environment,” he continued. In addition to cutting down the production of single-use plastic packaging, BUDDIE-PACK is also expected to significantly reduce water and energy consumption and avoid the release of microplastics into the oceans. According to Dr Romina Pezzoli, applied packaging platform lead at APT, an Enterprise Ireland technology gateway based at TUS’s Athlone campus, the project will help Ireland and the EU meet their sustainability targets: “To tackle the plastic waste crisis, we need to approach the challenge from the design of new packaging systems; the development of reusable food packaging technologies is a key strategy,” Dr Pezzoli explained. “We will work together with Irish and European industry partners, research centres and consumer behavioural psychologists to progress the state of the art and to find a solution that involves all stakeholders.” BUDDIE-PACK is funded by Horizon Europe and coordinated by the Industrial Technical Centre for Plastics and Composites (IPC) in France. The 19 partners include IPC (FR), project coordinator; Technological University of the Shannon (IE), Dawn Meats Group (IE), Trivéo (FR), ACTIA (FR), CTCPA (FR), LNE (FR), o AIMPLAS (ES), Searious Business BV (NL), Vytal Global GMBH (DE), Eternity Systems (FR), Uzaje (FR), Betelgeux SL (ES), Plasmion GMBH (DE), Knauf Industries Gestion (FR), Auzo Lagun S. Coop (ES), Plasticos Vicent SLU (ES), Echo Brand Design LTD (IK), The University of Sheffield (UK). See more breaking stories here.
Who owns your streaming TV service? A computer maker, a retailer, or a search engine? This week on The Futurists we learn about the never-ending cyclone of disruption that has been tormenting the media industry for years. Our guest is Jeffrey Cole of the Center for the Digital Future, a longtime advisor to the major motion picture studios. Who owns your streaming TV service? Insights with Jeffrey Cole URL for Jeffrey Cole: Welcome to the Futurists where your hosts Brett King and Robert Tercek interview the worlds foremost super-forecasters, thought leaders, technologists, entrepreneurs and futurists building the world of tomorrow. Together we will explore how our world will radically change as AI, bioscience, energy, food and agriculture, computing, the metaverse, the space industry, crypto, resource management, supply chain and climate will reshape our world over the next 100 years. Join us on The Futurists and we will see you in the future! Home: The Futurists Podcast with Brett King & Robert Tercek See more podcasts here.
Who owns your streaming TV service? A computer maker, a retailer, or a search engine? This week on The Futurists we learn about the never-ending cyclone of disruption that has been tormenting the media industry for years. Our guest is Jeffrey Cole of the Center for the Digital Future, a longtime advisor to the major motion picture studios. Who owns your streaming TV service? Insights with Jeffrey Cole URL for Jeffrey Cole: Welcome to the Futurists where your hosts Brett King and Robert Tercek interview the worlds foremost super-forecasters, thought leaders, technologists, entrepreneurs and futurists building the world of tomorrow. Together we will explore how our world will radically change as AI, bioscience, energy, food and agriculture, computing, the metaverse, the space industry, crypto, resource management, supply chain and climate will reshape our world over the next 100 years. Join us on The Futurists and we will see you in the future! Home: The Futurists Podcast with Brett King & Robert Tercek See more podcasts here.
buymie, the same-day delivery platform, has announced it is partnering with new Money Saving app Woolsocks to provide discounts to its loyal shoppers. The new multi million euro funded fintech app Woolsocks launched in Ireland on 17th October 2022. buymie, Ireland’s leading same day grocery delivery company is one of Woolsocks first partners and is expected to feature in its TV advertising campaign in early 2023. Consumers that download the Woolsocks app can save up to 2% on their weekly shop at either Dunnes Stores or Lidl when they get their groceries delivered via buymie. Following its recent launch with buymie, residents of South East Dublin can also avail of the 2% discount when they shop with Woodie’s. CEO of buymie, Devan Hughes, said of the partnership: “Myself and Laiz are watching our spending like every other family right now. Online shopping is a great way of keeping to a budget and saving petrol money. As well as the weekly deals, this Autumn, we have added new lower cost eco slots. This extra 2% saving for buymie customers with Woolsocks is the icing on the cake. It is a great app and good luck to the team at Woolsocks”. CEO of Woolsocks, Carlos Valenzuela also commented ”Woolsocks is aimed at creating an ecosystem where users and local shops can benefit, allowing everyone to easily save money on their daily expenses. For that reason, we are more than thrilled to partner with buymie – the go to brand for grocery delivery in Ireland. Here’s to a great partnership!” How it works : Download the Woolsocks app from the app stores and each time you do your grocery shop with buymie you automatically get up to 2% back on your weekly shop , which is added to your savings “sock” in the Woolsocks app, that you can either save, spend or donate to charity. The deal will initially last for six months. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
buymie, the same-day delivery platform, has announced it is partnering with new Money Saving app Woolsocks to provide discounts to its loyal shoppers. The new multi million euro funded fintech app Woolsocks launched in Ireland on 17th October 2022. buymie, Ireland’s leading same day grocery delivery company is one of Woolsocks first partners and is expected to feature in its TV advertising campaign in early 2023. Consumers that download the Woolsocks app can save up to 2% on their weekly shop at either Dunnes Stores or Lidl when they get their groceries delivered via buymie. Following its recent launch with buymie, residents of South East Dublin can also avail of the 2% discount when they shop with Woodie’s. CEO of buymie, Devan Hughes, said of the partnership: “Myself and Laiz are watching our spending like every other family right now. Online shopping is a great way of keeping to a budget and saving petrol money. As well as the weekly deals, this Autumn, we have added new lower cost eco slots. This extra 2% saving for buymie customers with Woolsocks is the icing on the cake. It is a great app and good luck to the team at Woolsocks”. CEO of Woolsocks, Carlos Valenzuela also commented ”Woolsocks is aimed at creating an ecosystem where users and local shops can benefit, allowing everyone to easily save money on their daily expenses. For that reason, we are more than thrilled to partner with buymie – the go to brand for grocery delivery in Ireland. Here’s to a great partnership!” How it works : Download the Woolsocks app from the app stores and each time you do your grocery shop with buymie you automatically get up to 2% back on your weekly shop , which is added to your savings “sock” in the Woolsocks app, that you can either save, spend or donate to charity. The deal will initially last for six months. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Energia Group has partnered with Calmast STEM Engagement Centre (SETU) to deliver an innovative sustainability programme in schools in Wexford and Waterford. The programme called STEMreach Sustainability; Our Future, Your Story has been developed by the Calmast STEM engagement hub at South-East Technological University and its expansion is being supported by leading Irish renewable energy company, Energia Group. The initiative encourages transition year students to engage with sustainability and biodiversity through digital storytelling. Last year, over 420 students from 10 schools across the South East took part in a successful pilot of the new programme. With support from Energia Group, the programme will now be extended to students to schools in Counties Wexford and Waterford including; Presentation Secondary School; Meanscoil san Nioclás; Newtown School; Scoil Muire, Greenhill, Edmund Rice Secondary School; Bridgetown College and Presentation Secondary School. Over six weeks, students will learn about topics including: Engineering and Renewable Energy; Consumption and Sustainability; and Digital Story Telling and Video Production. Students will also hear from experts in sustainability and renewable energy from the Energia renewables team. Eoin Mc Partland, Offshore Manager, Energia Renewables said: “Energia is aligned to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and we’re committed to promoting climate action and supporting sustainable communities. Our partnership with Calmast helps us to work towards these sustainability goals while also supporting education and awareness among young people in the South East. This is an excellent and important new initiative which we are very pleased to support.” “Energia is one of Ireland’s leading developers of renewable energy, and as such we understand the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) in climate action and we see it in action everyday across our windfarms, on our solar farms, in hydrogen production from wind, and our energy storage solutions. We are also progressing 2 offshore windfarms, the North Celtic Sea and South Irish Sea projects. These projects form part of our Positive Energy investment programme for Ireland, creating jobs and economic benefit for coastal communities, and clean, green electricity on an ongoing basis into the future. We’re delighted to be able to help encourage so many students to get involved in STEM and in their communities to look after the environment” Sheila Donegan from Calmast STEM Engagement Centre said: “STEMreach is all about connecting schools with higher education, industry, governmental and non-governmental bodies to engage students with all areas of STEM. In particular this programme seeks to raise awareness of not only the issues facing our environment, but also the solutions which can be developed through engineering, critical thinking, science and communal action. As a renewable energy provider, Energia is a clear example of that and so an ideal partner for this programme.”
Energia Group has partnered with Calmast STEM Engagement Centre (SETU) to deliver an innovative sustainability programme in schools in Wexford and Waterford. The programme called STEMreach Sustainability; Our Future, Your Story has been developed by the Calmast STEM engagement hub at South-East Technological University and its expansion is being supported by leading Irish renewable energy company, Energia Group. The initiative encourages transition year students to engage with sustainability and biodiversity through digital storytelling. Last year, over 420 students from 10 schools across the South East took part in a successful pilot of the new programme. With support from Energia Group, the programme will now be extended to students to schools in Counties Wexford and Waterford including; Presentation Secondary School; Meanscoil san Nioclás; Newtown School; Scoil Muire, Greenhill, Edmund Rice Secondary School; Bridgetown College and Presentation Secondary School. Over six weeks, students will learn about topics including: Engineering and Renewable Energy; Consumption and Sustainability; and Digital Story Telling and Video Production. Students will also hear from experts in sustainability and renewable energy from the Energia renewables team. Eoin Mc Partland, Offshore Manager, Energia Renewables said: “Energia is aligned to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and we’re committed to promoting climate action and supporting sustainable communities. Our partnership with Calmast helps us to work towards these sustainability goals while also supporting education and awareness among young people in the South East. This is an excellent and important new initiative which we are very pleased to support.” “Energia is one of Ireland’s leading developers of renewable energy, and as such we understand the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) in climate action and we see it in action everyday across our windfarms, on our solar farms, in hydrogen production from wind, and our energy storage solutions. We are also progressing 2 offshore windfarms, the North Celtic Sea and South Irish Sea projects. These projects form part of our Positive Energy investment programme for Ireland, creating jobs and economic benefit for coastal communities, and clean, green electricity on an ongoing basis into the future. We’re delighted to be able to help encourage so many students to get involved in STEM and in their communities to look after the environment” Sheila Donegan from Calmast STEM Engagement Centre said: “STEMreach is all about connecting schools with higher education, industry, governmental and non-governmental bodies to engage students with all areas of STEM. In particular this programme seeks to raise awareness of not only the issues facing our environment, but also the solutions which can be developed through engineering, critical thinking, science and communal action. As a renewable energy provider, Energia is a clear example of that and so an ideal partner for this programme.”
By Samson Williams and George S. Pullen Why Data is greater than Money Data is greater than money because its worth more. Now there are lots of different ways to say that but once you state the obvious the realization comes home quickly. Data is greater than and even better than money. Why this is is for a myriad of reasons but for the purposes of this article we’ll stick to the basics. Yes, it will sound a bit conspiratorial. Alas, every major paradigm shift in Human history was “crazy” until it became so normalized that we forgot exactly how revolutionary it was when: After 200+ years the sun finally set on the British Empire The fledgling United States of America, less than a generation removed from its own Civil War, became the global superpower The gold standard was abandoned with the stroke of a Presidential pen The USSR dissolved overnight, leaving the winning side of the Cold War perplexed This thing called the internet transformed humanity in less than a generation The world’s richest man built rocket ships for the sole purpose of deploying satellites in orbit to provide “free” internet to the world.and collect all their data in exchange Again, this sounds conspiratorial. However, in digital ecosystems “money” isn’t the desired commodity. Data is. Money after all, isn’t actually anything beyond a record of debt. And in a digital ecosystem with digital currencies, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), cryptocurrencies etc.”money” gets reduced to currency and the realy currency of the metaverse isn’t cash/money, its data. For instance, if a 1B people read this article and I was able to steal all the money in their bank accounts, how much money would I have? Maybe $900B given inflation and today’s exchange rates? But what if instead of stealing 1B people’s money I could instead set up a system that collected, aggregated, analyzed and monetized “their data”, what is the value of that system? Further, upon monetizing “their data” I didn’t have to share in the revenue that “their” data generated. How much would that system be worth.today and for the next 100 generations of their descendants? Thats the thing about cash, money, fiat, cryptos, stablecoins, bitcoin, etc.All those things only represent value, whereas Data is value. Data is the reason that Elon Musk built Tesla and then invested billions of dollars of US Taxpayer money into SpaceX. (Side note – Elon Musk is the real Welfare Queen but we’ll talk about that later.) Tesla isn’t actually a car company. Even Tesla will admit that. What Tesla is, is a mobile data collection entity that collects, aggregates, analyzes and montizes data by using that data to refine AI and autonomous algorithms the world over. Yes, they also monetize user data (aka Drivers). From what your favorite songs are, to what restaurants you drive to, to where you charge your car, to what bank you bank at. Tesla’s real business isn’t transportation. Its hoarding driver’s data to monetize it in a million different ways, apps and marketplaces; while never paying their real employees (the drivers) for creating this treasure trove of priceless data. Data > Money. Money expires. Money is perishable. Depending on inflation, country of origin and what that money has been programmed to do, money can be a very fleeting thing. Yes, money can be programmed. Programmable money is the whole point of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). The “beauty” of CBDCs is that they’re not money. They’re data tracking chips designed to capture every transaction that the user engages in. What this means is that the government who issued the CBDCs (China’s Digital Yuan, US Digital Dollar, Bahamian Sand Dollar etc.) isn’t just issuing a medium of exchange that is universally accepted, aka currency. No no no. CBDCs are programmable tracking chips that a) track your every financial transaction, complete with geospatial information and b) can be programmed however the issuing government wishes. The programmable features...
By Samson Williams and George S. Pullen Why Data is greater than Money Data is greater than money because its worth more. Now there are lots of different ways to say that but once you state the obvious the realization comes home quickly. Data is greater than and even better than money. Why this is is for a myriad of reasons but for the purposes of this article we’ll stick to the basics. Yes, it will sound a bit conspiratorial. Alas, every major paradigm shift in Human history was “crazy” until it became so normalized that we forgot exactly how revolutionary it was when: After 200+ years the sun finally set on the British Empire The fledgling United States of America, less than a generation removed from its own Civil War, became the global superpower The gold standard was abandoned with the stroke of a Presidential pen The USSR dissolved overnight, leaving the winning side of the Cold War perplexed This thing called the internet transformed humanity in less than a generation The world’s richest man built rocket ships for the sole purpose of deploying satellites in orbit to provide “free” internet to the world.and collect all their data in exchange Again, this sounds conspiratorial. However, in digital ecosystems “money” isn’t the desired commodity. Data is. Money after all, isn’t actually anything beyond a record of debt. And in a digital ecosystem with digital currencies, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), cryptocurrencies etc.”money” gets reduced to currency and the realy currency of the metaverse isn’t cash/money, its data. For instance, if a 1B people read this article and I was able to steal all the money in their bank accounts, how much money would I have? Maybe $900B given inflation and today’s exchange rates? But what if instead of stealing 1B people’s money I could instead set up a system that collected, aggregated, analyzed and monetized “their data”, what is the value of that system? Further, upon monetizing “their data” I didn’t have to share in the revenue that “their” data generated. How much would that system be worth.today and for the next 100 generations of their descendants? Thats the thing about cash, money, fiat, cryptos, stablecoins, bitcoin, etc.All those things only represent value, whereas Data is value. Data is the reason that Elon Musk built Tesla and then invested billions of dollars of US Taxpayer money into SpaceX. (Side note – Elon Musk is the real Welfare Queen but we’ll talk about that later.) Tesla isn’t actually a car company. Even Tesla will admit that. What Tesla is, is a mobile data collection entity that collects, aggregates, analyzes and montizes data by using that data to refine AI and autonomous algorithms the world over. Yes, they also monetize user data (aka Drivers). From what your favorite songs are, to what restaurants you drive to, to where you charge your car, to what bank you bank at. Tesla’s real business isn’t transportation. Its hoarding driver’s data to monetize it in a million different ways, apps and marketplaces; while never paying their real employees (the drivers) for creating this treasure trove of priceless data. Data > Money. Money expires. Money is perishable. Depending on inflation, country of origin and what that money has been programmed to do, money can be a very fleeting thing. Yes, money can be programmed. Programmable money is the whole point of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). The “beauty” of CBDCs is that they’re not money. They’re data tracking chips designed to capture every transaction that the user engages in. What this means is that the government who issued the CBDCs (China’s Digital Yuan, US Digital Dollar, Bahamian Sand Dollar etc.) isn’t just issuing a medium of exchange that is universally accepted, aka currency. No no no. CBDCs are programmable tracking chips that a) track your every financial transaction, complete with geospatial information and b) can be programmed however the issuing government wishes. The programmable features...
Ten Irish start-ups have been selected by Huawei and Dogpatch Labs to participate in a three-week scale-up bootcamp designed to help them grow and scale their businesses internationally. The programme, run by Dogpatch Labs, is the result of a new partnership between the start-up and innovation hub and the global telecoms leader. The companies involved are Empeal, Tracworx, Little Red Edu, Helgen, Graphite Note LTD, Halosos, Energy Elephant, Xpanse AI, Sensipass, and Defactor and come from a variety of sectors including SaaS, MedTech, Fintech and more. Launching the programme, Minister for Trade Promotion, Digital, and Company Regulation, Dara Calleary TD, said: “We all know the importance of our multinational sector, but start-ups are the dynamos of our economy and are also pivotal to job creation. The entrepreneurial spirit is ingrained in the DNA of Irish business and so it is imperative we continue to support startups by providing every support possible. And so, I welcome this latest programme from Dogpatch Labs and Huawei, which will give the companies taking part access to mentorship, insight, and guidance to scale their business effectively. I wish them every success on the programme.” The new programme will allow the start-ups to draw on Huawei’s expertise and wider network from around Europe and Asia. This includes: Expertise: Expert speakers from around the ecosystem and Huawei including Jacqueline Shi, Vice President of Huawei Cloud Computing, and Tony Yangxu, CEO of Huawei Ireland. Market access: Start-ups will gain access to Huawei’s digital network, with a footprint across 170 countries and deep network access to Asian market, along with international business exposure via its global network and partners. Tech support: Start-ups will also receive technical support from Huawei Ireland and West Europe in the form of cloud credits, as well as access to Huawei R&D. Funding Opportunities: Huawei’s venture arm, Hubble, will be present at the Showcase along with VCs from the Dogpatch Labs network. Huawei Ireland CEO Tony Yangxu said: “Huawei is committed to supporting Ireland’s fast-developing start-up ecosystem, which is critically important to long-term national economic development and innovation. This partnership with Dogpatch Labs is focused on helping these participating companies to scale up and achieve their ambitions through an impactful scale-up acceleration programme. “Globally, through Huawei Cloud infrastructure, we are helping start-ups to grow, develop new products, and expand into new markets and we will bring this global expertise to Irish start-ups. We will enable Irish start-ups to scale by giving them access to cloud-native, AI, big data, and other technologies. In addition, we will give start-ups taking part in the programme the opportunity to meet experts and investors from across the business in Huawei.” Huawei is a company that began as a start-up and it is passionate about supporting Ireland’s start-up community to grow, innovate and succeed on the global stage like it has. This programme will provide a launchpad to deploy the business, to access new markets and customers. It will also allow the companies to interact with thought leaders from Huawei and to learn from other Irish founders who had successfully scaled and launched internationally. Expert mentoring from industry experts will be provided by participation in interactive workshops. The programme will kick off at the end of this month (October), and will run for three weeks, with one intensive day of workshops each week. It will be held between Galway (Portershed) and Dublin (Dogpatch Labs). Dogpatch Labs will provide the start-ups with entrepreneurial mentorship, workshops on international sales and funding, and industry networking opportunities. The programme will culminate in a final Showcase Day in Dublin, where the 10 start-ups will showcase their businesses to key stakeholders and influencers including senior leadership from Hua...
Ten Irish start-ups have been selected by Huawei and Dogpatch Labs to participate in a three-week scale-up bootcamp designed to help them grow and scale their businesses internationally. The programme, run by Dogpatch Labs, is the result of a new partnership between the start-up and innovation hub and the global telecoms leader. The companies involved are Empeal, Tracworx, Little Red Edu, Helgen, Graphite Note LTD, Halosos, Energy Elephant, Xpanse AI, Sensipass, and Defactor and come from a variety of sectors including SaaS, MedTech, Fintech and more. Launching the programme, Minister for Trade Promotion, Digital, and Company Regulation, Dara Calleary TD, said: “We all know the importance of our multinational sector, but start-ups are the dynamos of our economy and are also pivotal to job creation. The entrepreneurial spirit is ingrained in the DNA of Irish business and so it is imperative we continue to support startups by providing every support possible. And so, I welcome this latest programme from Dogpatch Labs and Huawei, which will give the companies taking part access to mentorship, insight, and guidance to scale their business effectively. I wish them every success on the programme.” The new programme will allow the start-ups to draw on Huawei’s expertise and wider network from around Europe and Asia. This includes: Expertise: Expert speakers from around the ecosystem and Huawei including Jacqueline Shi, Vice President of Huawei Cloud Computing, and Tony Yangxu, CEO of Huawei Ireland. Market access: Start-ups will gain access to Huawei’s digital network, with a footprint across 170 countries and deep network access to Asian market, along with international business exposure via its global network and partners. Tech support: Start-ups will also receive technical support from Huawei Ireland and West Europe in the form of cloud credits, as well as access to Huawei R&D. Funding Opportunities: Huawei’s venture arm, Hubble, will be present at the Showcase along with VCs from the Dogpatch Labs network. Huawei Ireland CEO Tony Yangxu said: “Huawei is committed to supporting Ireland’s fast-developing start-up ecosystem, which is critically important to long-term national economic development and innovation. This partnership with Dogpatch Labs is focused on helping these participating companies to scale up and achieve their ambitions through an impactful scale-up acceleration programme. “Globally, through Huawei Cloud infrastructure, we are helping start-ups to grow, develop new products, and expand into new markets and we will bring this global expertise to Irish start-ups. We will enable Irish start-ups to scale by giving them access to cloud-native, AI, big data, and other technologies. In addition, we will give start-ups taking part in the programme the opportunity to meet experts and investors from across the business in Huawei.” Huawei is a company that began as a start-up and it is passionate about supporting Ireland’s start-up community to grow, innovate and succeed on the global stage like it has. This programme will provide a launchpad to deploy the business, to access new markets and customers. It will also allow the companies to interact with thought leaders from Huawei and to learn from other Irish founders who had successfully scaled and launched internationally. Expert mentoring from industry experts will be provided by participation in interactive workshops. The programme will kick off at the end of this month (October), and will run for three weeks, with one intensive day of workshops each week. It will be held between Galway (Portershed) and Dublin (Dogpatch Labs). Dogpatch Labs will provide the start-ups with entrepreneurial mentorship, workshops on international sales and funding, and industry networking opportunities. The programme will culminate in a final Showcase Day in Dublin, where the 10 start-ups will showcase their businesses to key stakeholders and influencers including senior leadership from Hua...
Alex Amartei is an Irish entrepreneur originally from Shannon, Ireland, and is also an investor, film writer, and producer. He recently won the Hollywood Icon award and the Monaco Streaming Film Festival Award alongside James Cameron and Mark Wahlberg. Alex is the producer of Antara – the first major DeFi Hollywood movie in history financed by NFTs and the power of web3. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges. With a strong background in equities, real estate, corporate finance, and an extensive Hollywood network, Alex has built a brand around the democratization and decentralization of the movie business through web3, community and blockchain. In addition to launching the Antara Movie NFT, Alex also carried out the NFT campaigns for Arabian Camels, David Bowie and Queen, and is soon to launch the full physical DC Comic collection onto Blockchain. Alex has also been a governmental advisor on the future of industry as it convergences with web3, tokenization, DeFi, and blockchain. In this episode, we dive into: – Alex’s view on entrepreneurship as a self-exploratory path where purpose, business, and passion all come together in an interesting way. – What triggered Alex to dive into the massive project to bring Antara to life, both as a movie and as an ecosystem merging IRL and virtual experiences with intellectual property (IP). – How success in the film space is dependent on both creative minds and business minds, and how having a balance of both can be helpful – “it’s not just about the dream – you need to make the dream stack up financially.” – Uncovering a gap in the typical Hollywood storylines with the inspiring story of Antara, the famed 6th-century Arab poet born a slave in the desert 80 years before the Islamic era. – How Alex’s background in traditional finance enabled him to make sense of NFTs and DeFi and lay the foundation for financing the Antara movie and IP-driven projects. – “I just thought this would be an amazing story to not only do as the first major movie in Hollywood history financed by NFTs, but to also be the most modern example of the future of Hollywood.” – How the Arabian Camels project is providing owners with the experiential opportunities to go on set while filming Antara, get producer credits and go to the film premiere, while also acting as a masterclass on the future of Hollywood for actors, aspiring producers, and financiers. – How the lore and mythology of the Antara story support the broader IP ecosystem integrating NFTs with physical merchandise, web3 gaming, IRL experiences, graphic novels, comics, and even a line-up of potential sequels (and how this is all reminiscent of the Disney Flywheel). – The opportunity to apply the whole Arabian Camels vision across big Hollywood brands such as Star Wars and the Marvel Universe – “Imagine a one-thousand-person limited edition club owning the IP of Darth Vader – that’s where we’re going.” – Alex’s view on modern-day alchemy – “Humans have the ability to turn ideas into reality. It’s better than turning stone into gold. You can turn an idea into a multi-billion dollar situation, and that’s really fascinating for me.” LINKS: Learn more about Antara the Movie and the Antara NFTs on the Arabian Camels website Follow Arabian Camels on Twitter Episode title inspired by All Eyez on Me by 2Pac Leave a review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Check out our MoneyNeverSleeps website and get in touch via info@moneyneversleeps.ie Follow us on Twitter: MoneyNeverSleeps | Eoin Fitzgerald | Pete Townsend More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds ...
Alex Amartei is an Irish entrepreneur originally from Shannon, Ireland, and is also an investor, film writer, and producer. He recently won the Hollywood Icon award and the Monaco Streaming Film Festival Award alongside James Cameron and Mark Wahlberg. Alex is the producer of Antara – the first major DeFi Hollywood movie in history financed by NFTs and the power of web3. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges. With a strong background in equities, real estate, corporate finance, and an extensive Hollywood network, Alex has built a brand around the democratization and decentralization of the movie business through web3, community and blockchain. In addition to launching the Antara Movie NFT, Alex also carried out the NFT campaigns for Arabian Camels, David Bowie and Queen, and is soon to launch the full physical DC Comic collection onto Blockchain. Alex has also been a governmental advisor on the future of industry as it convergences with web3, tokenization, DeFi, and blockchain. In this episode, we dive into: – Alex’s view on entrepreneurship as a self-exploratory path where purpose, business, and passion all come together in an interesting way. – What triggered Alex to dive into the massive project to bring Antara to life, both as a movie and as an ecosystem merging IRL and virtual experiences with intellectual property (IP). – How success in the film space is dependent on both creative minds and business minds, and how having a balance of both can be helpful – “it’s not just about the dream – you need to make the dream stack up financially.” – Uncovering a gap in the typical Hollywood storylines with the inspiring story of Antara, the famed 6th-century Arab poet born a slave in the desert 80 years before the Islamic era. – How Alex’s background in traditional finance enabled him to make sense of NFTs and DeFi and lay the foundation for financing the Antara movie and IP-driven projects. – “I just thought this would be an amazing story to not only do as the first major movie in Hollywood history financed by NFTs, but to also be the most modern example of the future of Hollywood.” – How the Arabian Camels project is providing owners with the experiential opportunities to go on set while filming Antara, get producer credits and go to the film premiere, while also acting as a masterclass on the future of Hollywood for actors, aspiring producers, and financiers. – How the lore and mythology of the Antara story support the broader IP ecosystem integrating NFTs with physical merchandise, web3 gaming, IRL experiences, graphic novels, comics, and even a line-up of potential sequels (and how this is all reminiscent of the Disney Flywheel). – The opportunity to apply the whole Arabian Camels vision across big Hollywood brands such as Star Wars and the Marvel Universe – “Imagine a one-thousand-person limited edition club owning the IP of Darth Vader – that’s where we’re going.” – Alex’s view on modern-day alchemy – “Humans have the ability to turn ideas into reality. It’s better than turning stone into gold. You can turn an idea into a multi-billion dollar situation, and that’s really fascinating for me.” LINKS: Learn more about Antara the Movie and the Antara NFTs on the Arabian Camels website Follow Arabian Camels on Twitter Episode title inspired by All Eyez on Me by 2Pac Leave a review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Check out our MoneyNeverSleeps website and get in touch via info@moneyneversleeps.ie Follow us on Twitter: MoneyNeverSleeps | Eoin Fitzgerald | Pete Townsend More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds ...
If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. Imagine if the financial industry events and the voices in financial media, truly reflected the diversity of society. DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) must be measured and we can choose to become accountable and transparent about our intentional practices. Sonya Dreizler, is the co-founder of Choir,a US-based tech platform that aims to empower and lift voices of women, people of color, non-binary folks, in our industry that white men traditionally dominate. Event organizers can become ChoirCertified, experts can choose to sign the Choir Pledge and be profiled as a Voice on the tech platform. Choirs and orchestras are all about diversity and harmony. A platform for Financial DEI activism, Sonya Dreizler Sonya Dreizler/ Choir/ Sonya Dreizler is the co-founder of financial services diversity tech platform Choir. She is a sought after speaker for national financial services conferences, writes for Morningstar, and is the author of the acclaimed Do Better Series about sexual harassment, assault, and discrimination in financial services. She is a former financial services CEO with two decades of industry experience. She spent 13 years at Protected Investors of America, a boutique Broker Dealer and SEC registered Investment Adviser. Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica. A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter. Join her on the social platforms See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. Imagine if the financial industry events and the voices in financial media, truly reflected the diversity of society. DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) must be measured and we can choose to become accountable and transparent about our intentional practices. Sonya Dreizler, is the co-founder of Choir,a US-based tech platform that aims to empower and lift voices of women, people of color, non-binary folks, in our industry that white men traditionally dominate. Event organizers can become ChoirCertified, experts can choose to sign the Choir Pledge and be profiled as a Voice on the tech platform. Choirs and orchestras are all about diversity and harmony. A platform for Financial DEI activism, Sonya Dreizler Sonya Dreizler/ Choir/ Sonya Dreizler is the co-founder of financial services diversity tech platform Choir. She is a sought after speaker for national financial services conferences, writes for Morningstar, and is the author of the acclaimed Do Better Series about sexual harassment, assault, and discrimination in financial services. She is a former financial services CEO with two decades of industry experience. She spent 13 years at Protected Investors of America, a boutique Broker Dealer and SEC registered Investment Adviser. Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica. A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter. Join her on the social platforms See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Gartner defines artificial intelligence as a technology that applies logic-based techniques and advanced analysis, including machine learning for interpreting events, supporting and automating decisions, and taking actions. It is the buzzword for organizations grappling with customer demands that are ever-changing, and a shortage of skilled labor. Artificial intelligence (AI) has a knack of freeing up employees so that they can focus on things that are more important, such as being creative, solving problems that are complex, and allowing customers to get facetime, etc., and for managing repetitive and mundane tasks. When it comes to supply chain management, AI has gained momentum quickly. It may have to deal with plenty of inefficiencies, but the expectation still remains that it must perform at higher levels of speed and efficiency. That’s why this vital business component remains ripe for automation and improvement through machine learning and artificial intelligence. Market Worth Billions A new report from Research and Markets has already revealed that artificial intelligence has revamped the operational processes and facilitated supply chain solutions that are cost-effective. The report states that different forms of artificial intelligence have been integrated into solutions for supply chain management for improving everything from processing automation to offering enhanced visibility into real-time and static data and management information systems that are related. Apart from decision-making that is fully automated, artificial intelligence systems have also leveraged different forms of cognitive computing to optimize the combined efforts of human and artificial intelligence. The report from Research and Markets has estimated that the global market for artificial intelligence in supply chain management is going to reach $1.4 billion by the year 2025. Artificial intelligence in supply chain management has enabled enhanced automation of supply chain by using virtual assistants that are both used internally (inside organizations) and by the members of supply chain (these are customers of supply chain). Research and Markets has predicted that combining the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence in supply chains is going to enhance operational efficiency and flow, as supply chains supported by artificial intelligence will become at least 50% more effective for on-time deliveries with fewer errors. Tech you Can’t Ignore Gartner named artificial intelligence as one of the top technology trends for supply chain in 2019, and today supply chain leaders simply can’t ignore artificial intelligence as a technology. Through natural language and self-learning, for instance, artificial intelligence capabilities may help in automating different processes for supply chain such as predictive maintenance, demand forecasting, or production planning. Artificial intelligence supports the shift toward broader automation of the supply chain, which is what many companies are seeking. For instance, artificial intelligence can improve risk mitigation by identifying evolving patterns continuously, analyzing data in large sets, and predictive events that are disruptive as well as their potential resolutions. Artificial intelligence is everywhere, and it is thought that its biggest impact would be felt in the supply chain. The technology can manage deliveries and anticipate orders thereby drastically increasing the efficiency in all departments of the supply chain. It is estimated by McKinsey, the research firm, that organizations can gain between $1.4 trillion and $2 trillion every year by using artificial intelligence in manufacturing and supply chain. Painting the Picture Organizations have already posted excellent results from their investments in artificial intelligence, and especially within their supply chains. For instance, Rolls Royce is using artificial intelligence algorithms on their ships for sensing everything around them in ...
Gartner defines artificial intelligence as a technology that applies logic-based techniques and advanced analysis, including machine learning for interpreting events, supporting and automating decisions, and taking actions. It is the buzzword for organizations grappling with customer demands that are ever-changing, and a shortage of skilled labor. Artificial intelligence (AI) has a knack of freeing up employees so that they can focus on things that are more important, such as being creative, solving problems that are complex, and allowing customers to get facetime, etc., and for managing repetitive and mundane tasks. When it comes to supply chain management, AI has gained momentum quickly. It may have to deal with plenty of inefficiencies, but the expectation still remains that it must perform at higher levels of speed and efficiency. That’s why this vital business component remains ripe for automation and improvement through machine learning and artificial intelligence. Market Worth Billions A new report from Research and Markets has already revealed that artificial intelligence has revamped the operational processes and facilitated supply chain solutions that are cost-effective. The report states that different forms of artificial intelligence have been integrated into solutions for supply chain management for improving everything from processing automation to offering enhanced visibility into real-time and static data and management information systems that are related. Apart from decision-making that is fully automated, artificial intelligence systems have also leveraged different forms of cognitive computing to optimize the combined efforts of human and artificial intelligence. The report from Research and Markets has estimated that the global market for artificial intelligence in supply chain management is going to reach $1.4 billion by the year 2025. Artificial intelligence in supply chain management has enabled enhanced automation of supply chain by using virtual assistants that are both used internally (inside organizations) and by the members of supply chain (these are customers of supply chain). Research and Markets has predicted that combining the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence in supply chains is going to enhance operational efficiency and flow, as supply chains supported by artificial intelligence will become at least 50% more effective for on-time deliveries with fewer errors. Tech you Can’t Ignore Gartner named artificial intelligence as one of the top technology trends for supply chain in 2019, and today supply chain leaders simply can’t ignore artificial intelligence as a technology. Through natural language and self-learning, for instance, artificial intelligence capabilities may help in automating different processes for supply chain such as predictive maintenance, demand forecasting, or production planning. Artificial intelligence supports the shift toward broader automation of the supply chain, which is what many companies are seeking. For instance, artificial intelligence can improve risk mitigation by identifying evolving patterns continuously, analyzing data in large sets, and predictive events that are disruptive as well as their potential resolutions. Artificial intelligence is everywhere, and it is thought that its biggest impact would be felt in the supply chain. The technology can manage deliveries and anticipate orders thereby drastically increasing the efficiency in all departments of the supply chain. It is estimated by McKinsey, the research firm, that organizations can gain between $1.4 trillion and $2 trillion every year by using artificial intelligence in manufacturing and supply chain. Painting the Picture Organizations have already posted excellent results from their investments in artificial intelligence, and especially within their supply chains. For instance, Rolls Royce is using artificial intelligence algorithms on their ships for sensing everything around them in ...
Guest Post by David Stephen looking at Digital Education trends. Learning, retention, understanding and creativity are operations of memory. Not knowing how the memory does often makes learning and education complicated across stages. There are several approaches to learning better, understanding and remembering, but they don’t work for everyone because they are subject to memory determinations. Digital Education trends So how does the memory pick, relay, place and give whatever comes in, per moment? What other factors aside the memory are involved? Why is something easier to learn for some but difficult for others? What is the role of interest, as a factor in learning anything? Why is it generally easier to learn, hold, pass a test, or learn by necessity then forget? Why is understanding difficult in some subjects? Why is retention of learning a second language difficult for many adults? Why do people explain what they understand differently, even when discussing the same things? What constants of memory make these decisions? If the memory is a building, what goes on inside, if this is displayed, how does it change what it means to learn or influence the future of education, beyond remote and others? Representation First, how does the memory represent senses? Or whatever is heard, smelled, touched, tasted or seen, how does it become what the memory can use? Or in what form is it to memory? In brain science, all senses converge at the thalamus, except for smell that does at the olfactory bulb. It is where they are processed or integrated, before relay to the cerebral cortex for interpretation. This means that in class, or while studying with any method, all that sensory input from the eyes, ears, hands goes to the thalamus. It is where they are first processed, before relay for interpretation in the cerebral cortex. It happens so seamlessly that it looks like there are no stages but there are. It is theorized that sensory processing or integration is into a uniform unit, or identity. This means that after senses get to the brain, they go into what can be described as a changing room, getting into a uniform, before proceeding or relaying to the field to play. This uniform unit is postulated to be thought or its form. This means that any word, image, video, board, note, paper, pen, person, all exist in the brain in the form of thought. It is what they have to become before going to the cerebral cortex for interpretation. Smell is different from sight, which is different from sound, taste and touch, getting into the brain in their differentiated forms. Proceeding as differentiated could reduce efficiency for the brain, hence the integration into uniformity, albeit they still have their equivalent indexes—so to speak. Interpretation in the cerebral cortex is theorized to be knowing, feeling and reaction. Knowing is memory. Sense to memory is so fast that sensing is almost a process to know. Or simply, see and know, or hear and know. It is by knowing something—or not, that relation or interaction is made. The process, however, is not sense and know, because something comes in between [thought], or sense-thought-know. This is how the brain creates the mind, where senses become thought, then proceed to memory. Thought and memory are builds or constructs of cells and molecules of the brain, for mind. Thinking, memories, imagination, dreams, subvocalization, inner speech and others are all forms of thought. Feelings follow knowing, since a smell, or sight or alarm can cause fear because what it is, is known, before reaction, which can be parallel or perpendicular. Memory Memory is where everything that is known is stored. It is what goes on in memory that holds the power to shape the future of learning and education, when displayed, as constants. It is the quantity, thought that comes into memory, as the first stage of interpretation of any sense. Thought is picked up by a transient packet. Conceptually, there are two kinds of store...
Guest Post by David Stephen looking at Digital Education trends. Learning, retention, understanding and creativity are operations of memory. Not knowing how the memory does often makes learning and education complicated across stages. There are several approaches to learning better, understanding and remembering, but they don’t work for everyone because they are subject to memory determinations. Digital Education trends So how does the memory pick, relay, place and give whatever comes in, per moment? What other factors aside the memory are involved? Why is something easier to learn for some but difficult for others? What is the role of interest, as a factor in learning anything? Why is it generally easier to learn, hold, pass a test, or learn by necessity then forget? Why is understanding difficult in some subjects? Why is retention of learning a second language difficult for many adults? Why do people explain what they understand differently, even when discussing the same things? What constants of memory make these decisions? If the memory is a building, what goes on inside, if this is displayed, how does it change what it means to learn or influence the future of education, beyond remote and others? Representation First, how does the memory represent senses? Or whatever is heard, smelled, touched, tasted or seen, how does it become what the memory can use? Or in what form is it to memory? In brain science, all senses converge at the thalamus, except for smell that does at the olfactory bulb. It is where they are processed or integrated, before relay to the cerebral cortex for interpretation. This means that in class, or while studying with any method, all that sensory input from the eyes, ears, hands goes to the thalamus. It is where they are first processed, before relay for interpretation in the cerebral cortex. It happens so seamlessly that it looks like there are no stages but there are. It is theorized that sensory processing or integration is into a uniform unit, or identity. This means that after senses get to the brain, they go into what can be described as a changing room, getting into a uniform, before proceeding or relaying to the field to play. This uniform unit is postulated to be thought or its form. This means that any word, image, video, board, note, paper, pen, person, all exist in the brain in the form of thought. It is what they have to become before going to the cerebral cortex for interpretation. Smell is different from sight, which is different from sound, taste and touch, getting into the brain in their differentiated forms. Proceeding as differentiated could reduce efficiency for the brain, hence the integration into uniformity, albeit they still have their equivalent indexes—so to speak. Interpretation in the cerebral cortex is theorized to be knowing, feeling and reaction. Knowing is memory. Sense to memory is so fast that sensing is almost a process to know. Or simply, see and know, or hear and know. It is by knowing something—or not, that relation or interaction is made. The process, however, is not sense and know, because something comes in between [thought], or sense-thought-know. This is how the brain creates the mind, where senses become thought, then proceed to memory. Thought and memory are builds or constructs of cells and molecules of the brain, for mind. Thinking, memories, imagination, dreams, subvocalization, inner speech and others are all forms of thought. Feelings follow knowing, since a smell, or sight or alarm can cause fear because what it is, is known, before reaction, which can be parallel or perpendicular. Memory Memory is where everything that is known is stored. It is what goes on in memory that holds the power to shape the future of learning and education, when displayed, as constants. It is the quantity, thought that comes into memory, as the first stage of interpretation of any sense. Thought is picked up by a transient packet. Conceptually, there are two kinds of store...
Oblivious, an Irish privacy data start-up, today announced that it is seeking applications from Ireland for the UN PET Lab’s first global 3-day hackathon which will run from 8th to 11th November. Further details and to register available via/ The UN PET (Privacy Enhancing Technologies) Lab was launched earlier this year at the Dubai EXPO 2020 by the UN Committee of Experts on Big Data and Data Science for Official Statistics. The UN PET Lab brings together national statistics bureaus, researchers and PET providers, such as Oblivious, to work through the challenges in safely utilising the world’s most important information. PETs help data providers and data users to safely share information by using encryption and protocols that allow someone to produce useful output data without “seeing” the input data.?They also typically?ensure that data will be protected throughout its lifecycle, and that outputs cannot be used to ‘reverse engineer’ the original data. The purpose of this first-of-its-kind 3-day PETs Data Science Hackathon is for participants to learn more about privacy enhancing technologies and popular frameworks, and to propose potential solutions to balance the utility/privacy tradeoff, a major challenge for the next generation of data scientists. Oblivious has developed pioneering PETs to help organisations keep sensitive data safe while creating insight opportunities for the data owners. The NovaUCD-headquartered company was co-founded in 2020 by Robert Pisarczyk and Jack Fitzsimons. Jack Fitzsimons, co-founder, Oblivious said, “Oblivious is delighted to be part of the team organising this first of its kind 3-day hackathon which is open to everyone and is absolutely free to enter.” “As an Irish start-up we are especially encouraging participants from Ireland to register to attend. Students, mentors, industry professionals, or anyone passionate about enhancing PETs and using data for good are all welcome to take part, grow networks and collectively foster ideas about privacy technology. Participants are welcome to compete remotely, but there is financial support for small, on-site events all over the world, with locations confirmed so far in Boston, Toronto and Zürich.” Robert Pisarcyzk, CEO, Oblivious added, “This Hackathon differs from the typical Kaggle or DrivenData competitions because it focuses on the use of PETs to access and learn from the data. Over the course of the Hackathon, participants will interact with secure enclaves, differential privacy and synthetic data and become familiar with some of the leading privacy data science libraries like OpenDP (Harvard), SmartNoise (Microsoft) and DiffPrivLib (IBM Research).” At the end of the Hackathon the participating teams’ scores will be calculated by the core developers of the PET Frameworks and the winning team will be flown to the next major UN Conference to present their approach and learnings, with the top few teams winning swag and electronic gadgets. Oblivious is partnering with OpenMined, OpenDP, IBM Research and Microsoft to organise the Hackathon. Further details and to register available via/. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Oblivious, an Irish privacy data start-up, today announced that it is seeking applications from Ireland for the UN PET Lab’s first global 3-day hackathon which will run from 8th to 11th November. Further details and to register available via/ The UN PET (Privacy Enhancing Technologies) Lab was launched earlier this year at the Dubai EXPO 2020 by the UN Committee of Experts on Big Data and Data Science for Official Statistics. The UN PET Lab brings together national statistics bureaus, researchers and PET providers, such as Oblivious, to work through the challenges in safely utilising the world’s most important information. PETs help data providers and data users to safely share information by using encryption and protocols that allow someone to produce useful output data without “seeing” the input data.?They also typically?ensure that data will be protected throughout its lifecycle, and that outputs cannot be used to ‘reverse engineer’ the original data. The purpose of this first-of-its-kind 3-day PETs Data Science Hackathon is for participants to learn more about privacy enhancing technologies and popular frameworks, and to propose potential solutions to balance the utility/privacy tradeoff, a major challenge for the next generation of data scientists. Oblivious has developed pioneering PETs to help organisations keep sensitive data safe while creating insight opportunities for the data owners. The NovaUCD-headquartered company was co-founded in 2020 by Robert Pisarczyk and Jack Fitzsimons. Jack Fitzsimons, co-founder, Oblivious said, “Oblivious is delighted to be part of the team organising this first of its kind 3-day hackathon which is open to everyone and is absolutely free to enter.” “As an Irish start-up we are especially encouraging participants from Ireland to register to attend. Students, mentors, industry professionals, or anyone passionate about enhancing PETs and using data for good are all welcome to take part, grow networks and collectively foster ideas about privacy technology. Participants are welcome to compete remotely, but there is financial support for small, on-site events all over the world, with locations confirmed so far in Boston, Toronto and Zürich.” Robert Pisarcyzk, CEO, Oblivious added, “This Hackathon differs from the typical Kaggle or DrivenData competitions because it focuses on the use of PETs to access and learn from the data. Over the course of the Hackathon, participants will interact with secure enclaves, differential privacy and synthetic data and become familiar with some of the leading privacy data science libraries like OpenDP (Harvard), SmartNoise (Microsoft) and DiffPrivLib (IBM Research).” At the end of the Hackathon the participating teams’ scores will be calculated by the core developers of the PET Frameworks and the winning team will be flown to the next major UN Conference to present their approach and learnings, with the top few teams winning swag and electronic gadgets. Oblivious is partnering with OpenMined, OpenDP, IBM Research and Microsoft to organise the Hackathon. Further details and to register available via/. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
By Calvin Jones. The Asus Zenfone 9 packs a lot into a small package. With Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 flagship chipset at its core, the handset delivers class-leading performance, combined with excellent battery life, a stunning 5.9” FHD+ 120Hz AMOLED display, up to 256GB of storage and a whopping 16GB of RAM, and a gimbal stabilised 50MP main camera for steady photos and ultra smooth video. Could this be the best compact Android smartphone on the market in late 2022? Asus Zenfone 9: a pocket-sized phone that’s big on performance Pros: Superb performance Compact, pocket-friendly design that’s easy to use one-handed Great build quality, a premium feel and full IP68 water and dust rating There’s a headphone jack. on a flagship handset. in 2022. A headphone jack! Cons: Commitment to software support is well off the pace for a phone of this calibre. Asus specifies only 2 guaranteed Android updates and a further 2 years of security updates. That falls a long way short of the competition. Absence of wireless charging is a surprise for a flagship-level handset in 2022 Charging speed from the bundled 30 watt charger is OK, but hardly cutting edge Asus Zenfone 9: Full Review Over recent years, smartphones have become progressively larger, to the point where today’s flagship and mid-market handsets feature displays pushing 7 inches. They may sport sleek, modern designs, but there’s no getting around the fact that any phone that big is going to feel unwieldy in an average-sized hand, and cumbersome when slipped into a pocket or purse. Many people relish the extra screen real-estate offered on larger phones, and are prepared to put up with the inconvenience, but there’s a sizable cohort of the market (myself included) that craves a smaller, more manageable device. We want a phone that sits comfortably in the hand, and that’s easy to use one-handed without becoming a contortionist. The trouble is, if you’re looking for top tier performance and specs in a smaller form factor phone in 2022, your choices are seriously limited. Small phone, minimal compromise Choosing a compact phone usually means taking a serious hit in areas like performance, build quality, feature-set, battery life and more. However, one thing that sets the Asus Zenfone 9 apart from most of its competition is that you really don’t have to compromise very much. Remarkably, you get true flagship-grade specs and performance that rivals anything currently available, just in a smaller, more manageable and much more pocketable package. Squeezing so much into a smaller device means Asus inevitably had to leave some things out. On that score though, they’ve made what I think are sensible choices, and for most people, in most day-to-day use cases, those omissions (we’ll touch on exactly what they are later) are unlikely to prove deal-breakers. The result is a remarkably accomplished and uniquely capable compact flagship handset. Asus Zenfone 9: First impressions The Asus Zenfone 9 comes in a stylishly understated grey box with a large 9 printed on the top along with minimal embossed Zenfone branding. Inside you’ll find the Zenfone 9 itself, a USB C to USB C charging cable, a 30 watt USB C charging adapter (a welcome addition that’s becoming scarce with new phones), a sim-ejection tool and a snap-on protective hard case to shield your new phone from bumps and scrapes. The phone itself is noticeably diminutive. Sitting alongside a regular 6.7” handset it looks positively dainty, and in the hand it just fits. It’s the most natural feeling phone I’ve handled in quite a while. At just 169g it’s light too, yet still has a solid, premium feel. As soon as I held this phone in my hand, I knew I was going to love it. Asus Zenfone 9: Appearance and design The Zenfone 9 uses a flat front panel, eschewing curved edges and giving the phone a sharp, contemporary feel. A flat panel all the way to the edge also gives Asus a smidgen more volume to work with under the hood — which is a s...
By Calvin Jones. The Asus Zenfone 9 packs a lot into a small package. With Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 flagship chipset at its core, the handset delivers class-leading performance, combined with excellent battery life, a stunning 5.9” FHD+ 120Hz AMOLED display, up to 256GB of storage and a whopping 16GB of RAM, and a gimbal stabilised 50MP main camera for steady photos and ultra smooth video. Could this be the best compact Android smartphone on the market in late 2022? Asus Zenfone 9: a pocket-sized phone that’s big on performance Pros: Superb performance Compact, pocket-friendly design that’s easy to use one-handed Great build quality, a premium feel and full IP68 water and dust rating There’s a headphone jack. on a flagship handset. in 2022. A headphone jack! Cons: Commitment to software support is well off the pace for a phone of this calibre. Asus specifies only 2 guaranteed Android updates and a further 2 years of security updates. That falls a long way short of the competition. Absence of wireless charging is a surprise for a flagship-level handset in 2022 Charging speed from the bundled 30 watt charger is OK, but hardly cutting edge Asus Zenfone 9: Full Review Over recent years, smartphones have become progressively larger, to the point where today’s flagship and mid-market handsets feature displays pushing 7 inches. They may sport sleek, modern designs, but there’s no getting around the fact that any phone that big is going to feel unwieldy in an average-sized hand, and cumbersome when slipped into a pocket or purse. Many people relish the extra screen real-estate offered on larger phones, and are prepared to put up with the inconvenience, but there’s a sizable cohort of the market (myself included) that craves a smaller, more manageable device. We want a phone that sits comfortably in the hand, and that’s easy to use one-handed without becoming a contortionist. The trouble is, if you’re looking for top tier performance and specs in a smaller form factor phone in 2022, your choices are seriously limited. Small phone, minimal compromise Choosing a compact phone usually means taking a serious hit in areas like performance, build quality, feature-set, battery life and more. However, one thing that sets the Asus Zenfone 9 apart from most of its competition is that you really don’t have to compromise very much. Remarkably, you get true flagship-grade specs and performance that rivals anything currently available, just in a smaller, more manageable and much more pocketable package. Squeezing so much into a smaller device means Asus inevitably had to leave some things out. On that score though, they’ve made what I think are sensible choices, and for most people, in most day-to-day use cases, those omissions (we’ll touch on exactly what they are later) are unlikely to prove deal-breakers. The result is a remarkably accomplished and uniquely capable compact flagship handset. Asus Zenfone 9: First impressions The Asus Zenfone 9 comes in a stylishly understated grey box with a large 9 printed on the top along with minimal embossed Zenfone branding. Inside you’ll find the Zenfone 9 itself, a USB C to USB C charging cable, a 30 watt USB C charging adapter (a welcome addition that’s becoming scarce with new phones), a sim-ejection tool and a snap-on protective hard case to shield your new phone from bumps and scrapes. The phone itself is noticeably diminutive. Sitting alongside a regular 6.7” handset it looks positively dainty, and in the hand it just fits. It’s the most natural feeling phone I’ve handled in quite a while. At just 169g it’s light too, yet still has a solid, premium feel. As soon as I held this phone in my hand, I knew I was going to love it. Asus Zenfone 9: Appearance and design The Zenfone 9 uses a flat front panel, eschewing curved edges and giving the phone a sharp, contemporary feel. A flat panel all the way to the edge also gives Asus a smidgen more volume to work with under the hood — which is a s...
CWSI, Europe’s most experienced mobile and cloud security specialist, has announced it will become one of the first Samsung Knox Managed Service Providers (MSP) in Ireland and the UK. Samsung Knox provides a complete toolkit for businesses across Samsung mobile devices including cybersecurity, mobile device management, compliance, device enrolment, device health, and configuration. CWSI was chosen for its deep knowledge and expertise in mobile security and mobile operating systems. Knox licensing and capability come bundled free with Samsung Enterprise Edition devices for up to 12 months. CWSI’s Samsung Knox Managed Service will enable customers to leverage Samsung mobile technology within their own organisations, providing a unique level of control with the day-to-day running of the platform managed by CWSI’s mobility experts. This frees up customers to focus on their core tasks and own clients to save time, increase productivity and, ultimately, grow their business. In turn, the solution will enable CWSI to expand its customer base, scale into larger customer organisations, and target new markets and industry sectors. It will also be able to cross-sell its own products and services to Samsung’s customer base. Ronan Murphy, CEO, CWSI: “We have been enabling and securing mobile workers since the first smartphones and tablets were introduced to the business market, and we are focused on helping our customers to thrive and stay secure in today’s cloud first, mobile first world. “We are delighted to have the opportunity to work at the coalface with Samsung to deliver this service to customers, removing the pain points of day-to-day management and enabling them to focus instead on organisational growth. At CWSI, we have more Knox engineers and Android experts than any other company in Europe. We’re well-placed to help companies planning to adopt Knox suite capability or those who have already adopted the Knox suite but lack the resources or expertise to manage it. We look forward to continuing to build on this exciting partnership.” Cheng Luo, Head of Channel Support, Samsung: “At Samsung, we want to work with our partners in the enterprise eco-system, so we launched the Knox Partner Programme back in 2019. We have now added new benefits of the Knox Partner Programme to Managed Service Providers with our recent beta release. We are honoured to have CWSI in our Knox Partner Programme as a Recommended MSP partner. CWSI has certified in-house Knox Experts to design, deploy, integrate, and manage Knox solutions on behalf of our customers and we can’t wait to see more customers benefit from this partnership.” Watch the video here to see the solution in action.
CWSI, Europe’s most experienced mobile and cloud security specialist, has announced it will become one of the first Samsung Knox Managed Service Providers (MSP) in Ireland and the UK. Samsung Knox provides a complete toolkit for businesses across Samsung mobile devices including cybersecurity, mobile device management, compliance, device enrolment, device health, and configuration. CWSI was chosen for its deep knowledge and expertise in mobile security and mobile operating systems. Knox licensing and capability come bundled free with Samsung Enterprise Edition devices for up to 12 months. CWSI’s Samsung Knox Managed Service will enable customers to leverage Samsung mobile technology within their own organisations, providing a unique level of control with the day-to-day running of the platform managed by CWSI’s mobility experts. This frees up customers to focus on their core tasks and own clients to save time, increase productivity and, ultimately, grow their business. In turn, the solution will enable CWSI to expand its customer base, scale into larger customer organisations, and target new markets and industry sectors. It will also be able to cross-sell its own products and services to Samsung’s customer base. Ronan Murphy, CEO, CWSI: “We have been enabling and securing mobile workers since the first smartphones and tablets were introduced to the business market, and we are focused on helping our customers to thrive and stay secure in today’s cloud first, mobile first world. “We are delighted to have the opportunity to work at the coalface with Samsung to deliver this service to customers, removing the pain points of day-to-day management and enabling them to focus instead on organisational growth. At CWSI, we have more Knox engineers and Android experts than any other company in Europe. We’re well-placed to help companies planning to adopt Knox suite capability or those who have already adopted the Knox suite but lack the resources or expertise to manage it. We look forward to continuing to build on this exciting partnership.” Cheng Luo, Head of Channel Support, Samsung: “At Samsung, we want to work with our partners in the enterprise eco-system, so we launched the Knox Partner Programme back in 2019. We have now added new benefits of the Knox Partner Programme to Managed Service Providers with our recent beta release. We are honoured to have CWSI in our Knox Partner Programme as a Recommended MSP partner. CWSI has certified in-house Knox Experts to design, deploy, integrate, and manage Knox solutions on behalf of our customers and we can’t wait to see more customers benefit from this partnership.” Watch the video here to see the solution in action.
Guest post by Kirstie Affleck 175 Years of Siemens Technology and the Industrial Metaverse 175 years of Siemens was celebrated with tours of Siemensstadt in Spandau, Berlin, including extensive Siemens archives, followed by a top class Gala evening in the Schaltwerk factory. Talks were given by Siemens CE0 Roland Busch, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Nathalie von Siemens, great great grand-daughter of founder Werner von Siemens. It was a celebration of the roughly 4 million people who have been employed by Siemens and 175 years of research, invention, and development including laying a transatlantic cable (1875), and the first electric tram (1881), and SIMATIC (1958). CEO Roland Busch explains in his opening speech at the celebrations ‘there’s a term that we’re now hearing with increasing frequency: the “industrial metaverse.” Working together with the American company NVIDIA, my colleagues simulated a photorealistic digital twin of a factory in just a few weeks. In the future, experts will literally be able to immerse themselves in the digital twin and work together better virtually – and in real time – almost as if they were actually on site. A few months ago, we launched Siemens Xcelerator, our digital business platform that also accelerates our customers’ journey into the industrial metaverse. "The 3rd Mega trend .#Digitalization . #DigitalTwin's. And now the #IndustrialMetaverse. "@BuschRo at #Siemens175 #Siex . Kevin O'Donovan (@Kevin_ODonovan) October 12, 2022 Siemens 175 Years and the Industrial Metaverse Xcelerator launched on June 29th 2022 and is expected to make digitalization easier, faster, and at scale. By using real-world data a digital twin simulation is created that can predict how a product or service will behave, and allow product alterations within hours instead of weeks or months. Xcelerator allows for design of a product or service to be carried out entirely digitally before going to production, thereby avoiding potential costly mistakes. Have you ever seen a digital twin of city?Here is an example created by @Siemens and @BentleySystems #IndustrialMetaverse #SIEX #SiemensXcelerator #DigitalTransformation @Kevin_ODonovan @CyrilCoste @ralph_ohr @ellen_schramke Antonio Vieira Santos – #WebSummit (@AkwyZ) October 13, 2022 Data collected from the ‘real’ product or plant is then fed back into the Digital Twin to allow for real time adjustments. An example of this is Simrod, a fully electric sports car that was developed and improved using Simcenter, a key component within Xcelerator. Going forward, Siemens have partnered up with Volta trucks to bring e-trucks into cities. Checking out the SimRod at @Siemens Media Day for @Irish_TechNews @SimonCocking #ecar #automatedcar Caora Chléire (@CapeClearSheep) October 13, 2022 Siemensstadt is being redeveloped using Xcelerator. Peter Körte, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Strategy Officer of Siemens AG explained how Siemensstadt Square is customer zero for the Siemens Xcelerator platform. Working in partnership with Bentley who provide infrastructure engineering software solutions, Siemensstadt Square will be built twice, first digitally and then in reality. Bentley plugged the digital twin into gaming software to give an immersive tour. The 73 hectare historical industrial district is being reconceptualised and rebuilt in a sustainable and smart way. Described as a ‘City of Short Distances’ the aim is that people will be able to access the digital and real world from the new square that is to be developed in the centre of the urban zone. Ground works for the construction have already begun with digitalization throughout the complex, manufacturing hubs moving to North and South of the district, with construction to begin in 2023, and an expected completion date of 2035. 2700 apartments are to be built with the intention of people being able to live, work, and socialise with minimal travel needs. The S-Bahn railway is to be rebuilt and reopened connecting Sei...
Guest post by Kirstie Affleck 175 Years of Siemens Technology and the Industrial Metaverse 175 years of Siemens was celebrated with tours of Siemensstadt in Spandau, Berlin, including extensive Siemens archives, followed by a top class Gala evening in the Schaltwerk factory. Talks were given by Siemens CE0 Roland Busch, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Nathalie von Siemens, great great grand-daughter of founder Werner von Siemens. It was a celebration of the roughly 4 million people who have been employed by Siemens and 175 years of research, invention, and development including laying a transatlantic cable (1875), and the first electric tram (1881), and SIMATIC (1958). CEO Roland Busch explains in his opening speech at the celebrations ‘there’s a term that we’re now hearing with increasing frequency: the “industrial metaverse.” Working together with the American company NVIDIA, my colleagues simulated a photorealistic digital twin of a factory in just a few weeks. In the future, experts will literally be able to immerse themselves in the digital twin and work together better virtually – and in real time – almost as if they were actually on site. A few months ago, we launched Siemens Xcelerator, our digital business platform that also accelerates our customers’ journey into the industrial metaverse. "The 3rd Mega trend .#Digitalization . #DigitalTwin's. And now the #IndustrialMetaverse. "@BuschRo at #Siemens175 #Siex . Kevin O'Donovan (@Kevin_ODonovan) October 12, 2022 Siemens 175 Years and the Industrial Metaverse Xcelerator launched on June 29th 2022 and is expected to make digitalization easier, faster, and at scale. By using real-world data a digital twin simulation is created that can predict how a product or service will behave, and allow product alterations within hours instead of weeks or months. Xcelerator allows for design of a product or service to be carried out entirely digitally before going to production, thereby avoiding potential costly mistakes. Have you ever seen a digital twin of city?Here is an example created by @Siemens and @BentleySystems #IndustrialMetaverse #SIEX #SiemensXcelerator #DigitalTransformation @Kevin_ODonovan @CyrilCoste @ralph_ohr @ellen_schramke Antonio Vieira Santos – #WebSummit (@AkwyZ) October 13, 2022 Data collected from the ‘real’ product or plant is then fed back into the Digital Twin to allow for real time adjustments. An example of this is Simrod, a fully electric sports car that was developed and improved using Simcenter, a key component within Xcelerator. Going forward, Siemens have partnered up with Volta trucks to bring e-trucks into cities. Checking out the SimRod at @Siemens Media Day for @Irish_TechNews @SimonCocking #ecar #automatedcar Caora Chléire (@CapeClearSheep) October 13, 2022 Siemensstadt is being redeveloped using Xcelerator. Peter Körte, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Strategy Officer of Siemens AG explained how Siemensstadt Square is customer zero for the Siemens Xcelerator platform. Working in partnership with Bentley who provide infrastructure engineering software solutions, Siemensstadt Square will be built twice, first digitally and then in reality. Bentley plugged the digital twin into gaming software to give an immersive tour. The 73 hectare historical industrial district is being reconceptualised and rebuilt in a sustainable and smart way. Described as a ‘City of Short Distances’ the aim is that people will be able to access the digital and real world from the new square that is to be developed in the centre of the urban zone. Ground works for the construction have already begun with digitalization throughout the complex, manufacturing hubs moving to North and South of the district, with construction to begin in 2023, and an expected completion date of 2035. 2700 apartments are to be built with the intention of people being able to live, work, and socialise with minimal travel needs. The S-Bahn railway is to be rebuilt and reopened connecting Sei...
Guest post by Martin O’Leary, Data Edge Energy is the hot topic of every business and household at the minute. With energy prices increasing and energy-intensive sectors taking the heat, the data centre industry is one that is particularly in the news. Fears of blackouts on the energy grid this Winter is a big threat to everyone. Supply is struggling to meet demand, thus, something must be done. The reality is, that data usage will continue to grow as it is a necessity, and data centres are crucial to this, as well as being critical infrastructure in allowing Ireland to be an attractive digital hub for national and international business growth. What we must remember is that the data centre industry as well as large enterprises are not lost causes in the realm of sustainability. In fact, climate action goals, emissions targets and sustainability objectives are possible to achieve with the help of such industries – paired with the right measurement and management support. A business or data centre cannot manage what it does not measure, so that’s where they can start. The first step of measurement is real-time accurate information. A clear picture of power utilisation and environmental conditions is essential to improving energy efficiency, lowering costs, and ensuring sustainability. Effective power-saving solutions will be underpinned by accurate information and detailed monitoring over time. Remote monitoring and measuring Just as remote working has become essential for many businesses, so too has remote monitoring. The exponential growth of hybrid working has led to large-scale data sharing and storage outside of the traditional office environment, mainly into data centres. The ability to remotely monitor is becoming more and more important for data centre operators to ensure they can adapt quickly to environmental conditions and minimise energy usage. . Monitoring systems need to be capable of seamless, remote upgrades of all software and firmware components, which includes all wired and wireless communication sensors. The systems should be able to completely upgrade and reconfigure all monitoring components with no physical access and no power cycling of anything, without any exceptions. Submetering This is where power submetering comes in. It’s common in Ireland among tenants, business departments, universities, data centres and so on. A submetering system informs your energy usage habits as it provides a precise understanding of what drives your power use. Adding such a system means you can measure power usage at a variety of levels – room, equipment, subsystem and even customer levels. You can then accurately allocate costs, bill customers accurately, optimise energy usage, identify and eliminate waste and plan for future needs which will cater to budget, capacity and targets. Adding submetering monitoring provides a benchmark to power quality readings or “signatures”. When equipment is failing, or about to fail, it will often be identified by changes in its power usage. Thus, monitoring power signatures can reduce downtime and avoid system failure. Often, areas of a business will need to be revamped which can be done through retrofitting, which can be underpinned by the data collected from power monitoring. The trend is that once the data is collected, measured and monitored, the rest follows! Submetering is also very beneficial considering the popularity of colocation services providers, which rent out space to third parties. Submetering allows for breaking down costs at the individual user level which enables billing for actual usage as opposed to estimations. Measuring power consumption doesn’t need to be an overwhelming task. With the right scalable solutions and accurate information, reducing power consumption is a viable option for a business, data centre, your home or even the local shop down the road. The key to effective measurement, monitoring and managing is accurate information and choosing a solution t...
Guest post by Martin O’Leary, Data Edge Energy is the hot topic of every business and household at the minute. With energy prices increasing and energy-intensive sectors taking the heat, the data centre industry is one that is particularly in the news. Fears of blackouts on the energy grid this Winter is a big threat to everyone. Supply is struggling to meet demand, thus, something must be done. The reality is, that data usage will continue to grow as it is a necessity, and data centres are crucial to this, as well as being critical infrastructure in allowing Ireland to be an attractive digital hub for national and international business growth. What we must remember is that the data centre industry as well as large enterprises are not lost causes in the realm of sustainability. In fact, climate action goals, emissions targets and sustainability objectives are possible to achieve with the help of such industries – paired with the right measurement and management support. A business or data centre cannot manage what it does not measure, so that’s where they can start. The first step of measurement is real-time accurate information. A clear picture of power utilisation and environmental conditions is essential to improving energy efficiency, lowering costs, and ensuring sustainability. Effective power-saving solutions will be underpinned by accurate information and detailed monitoring over time. Remote monitoring and measuring Just as remote working has become essential for many businesses, so too has remote monitoring. The exponential growth of hybrid working has led to large-scale data sharing and storage outside of the traditional office environment, mainly into data centres. The ability to remotely monitor is becoming more and more important for data centre operators to ensure they can adapt quickly to environmental conditions and minimise energy usage. . Monitoring systems need to be capable of seamless, remote upgrades of all software and firmware components, which includes all wired and wireless communication sensors. The systems should be able to completely upgrade and reconfigure all monitoring components with no physical access and no power cycling of anything, without any exceptions. Submetering This is where power submetering comes in. It’s common in Ireland among tenants, business departments, universities, data centres and so on. A submetering system informs your energy usage habits as it provides a precise understanding of what drives your power use. Adding such a system means you can measure power usage at a variety of levels – room, equipment, subsystem and even customer levels. You can then accurately allocate costs, bill customers accurately, optimise energy usage, identify and eliminate waste and plan for future needs which will cater to budget, capacity and targets. Adding submetering monitoring provides a benchmark to power quality readings or “signatures”. When equipment is failing, or about to fail, it will often be identified by changes in its power usage. Thus, monitoring power signatures can reduce downtime and avoid system failure. Often, areas of a business will need to be revamped which can be done through retrofitting, which can be underpinned by the data collected from power monitoring. The trend is that once the data is collected, measured and monitored, the rest follows! Submetering is also very beneficial considering the popularity of colocation services providers, which rent out space to third parties. Submetering allows for breaking down costs at the individual user level which enables billing for actual usage as opposed to estimations. Measuring power consumption doesn’t need to be an overwhelming task. With the right scalable solutions and accurate information, reducing power consumption is a viable option for a business, data centre, your home or even the local shop down the road. The key to effective measurement, monitoring and managing is accurate information and choosing a solution t...
TerraCycle, a global leader in creating innovative sustainability solutions, has announced the launch of its Zero Waste Boxes in Ireland. The boxes allow anyone to conveniently recycle everyday “hard-to-recycle” waste at home, the workplace or school, including items not collected by councils that would ordinarily be destined for landfill, incineration, or the natural environment. Zero Waste Boxes for hard-to-recycle products The launch comes following a warning from the EPA that 2020 plastic packaging recycling rates in Ireland were “a long way off” 2025 EU targets. More than 20 Zero Waste Boxes are available for individuals and organisations to recycle plastic packaging and more. Beauty products and packaging such as mascara tubes and makeup compacts, coffee pods, contact lenses, crisp and snack packets, empty medicine blister packs, pet food packaging, and oral care waste including plastic toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes and dental aligners are all guaranteed a second life with the boxes. These items are often made up of a mix of materials that make them more complex and costly to recycle. As a result they have traditionally not been collected and recycled by local authorities, and many still aren’t. A study found that making bins more convenient to use increases recycling rates. Having a designated container to recycle items in the bathroom or kitchen can help ensure as much as possible is recycled. The Zero Waste Boxes have been created to facilitate this and make the process as simple as possible. The box is sent to the location where it will be used, and once full collection can be arranged with UPS who will pick it up. The price of the Zero Waste Boxes covers the entire process to ensure this waste is recycled – the box itself, its collection by UPS, the delivery back to TerraCycle’s Material Recovery Facility, and the recycling of the material. The boxes come in a variety of sizes and can take months to fill, making them a cost-effective choice for anyone looking to recycle more. Julien Tremblin, General Manager for TerraCycle Europe said: “Our Zero Waste Boxes have proven to be an invaluable recycling solution for consumers and businesses alike elsewhere in Europe, and we’re delighted to be able to offer them in Ireland where demand for zero waste solutions is higher than ever. “One of our main goals is to ensure we keep waste out of landfill, incineration and the environment, instead giving it a second life by recycling it. The Zero Waste Boxes are a great solution for anyone looking to do the same.” To find out more, visit: About TerraCycle TerraCycle () is an international leader in innovative sustainability solutions, creating and operating first-of-their-kind platforms in recycling, recycled materials, and reuse. Across 21 countries, TerraCycle is on a mission to rethink waste and develop practical solutions for today’s complex waste challenges. As well as its free National Recycling Programmes, TerraCycle offers a paid-for solution in the form of Zero Waste Boxes™. A Zero Waste Box™ is a complete and convenient solution that includes the storage, shipping and recycling of a particular type of waste. Zero Waste Boxes™ are easy to set up and use, making them the perfect option for households, schools, businesses, manufacturing facilities and events looking to offset their impacts and reduce their environmental footprint. See more breaking stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can al...
TerraCycle, a global leader in creating innovative sustainability solutions, has announced the launch of its Zero Waste Boxes in Ireland. The boxes allow anyone to conveniently recycle everyday “hard-to-recycle” waste at home, the workplace or school, including items not collected by councils that would ordinarily be destined for landfill, incineration, or the natural environment. Zero Waste Boxes for hard-to-recycle products The launch comes following a warning from the EPA that 2020 plastic packaging recycling rates in Ireland were “a long way off” 2025 EU targets. More than 20 Zero Waste Boxes are available for individuals and organisations to recycle plastic packaging and more. Beauty products and packaging such as mascara tubes and makeup compacts, coffee pods, contact lenses, crisp and snack packets, empty medicine blister packs, pet food packaging, and oral care waste including plastic toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes and dental aligners are all guaranteed a second life with the boxes. These items are often made up of a mix of materials that make them more complex and costly to recycle. As a result they have traditionally not been collected and recycled by local authorities, and many still aren’t. A study found that making bins more convenient to use increases recycling rates. Having a designated container to recycle items in the bathroom or kitchen can help ensure as much as possible is recycled. The Zero Waste Boxes have been created to facilitate this and make the process as simple as possible. The box is sent to the location where it will be used, and once full collection can be arranged with UPS who will pick it up. The price of the Zero Waste Boxes covers the entire process to ensure this waste is recycled – the box itself, its collection by UPS, the delivery back to TerraCycle’s Material Recovery Facility, and the recycling of the material. The boxes come in a variety of sizes and can take months to fill, making them a cost-effective choice for anyone looking to recycle more. Julien Tremblin, General Manager for TerraCycle Europe said: “Our Zero Waste Boxes have proven to be an invaluable recycling solution for consumers and businesses alike elsewhere in Europe, and we’re delighted to be able to offer them in Ireland where demand for zero waste solutions is higher than ever. “One of our main goals is to ensure we keep waste out of landfill, incineration and the environment, instead giving it a second life by recycling it. The Zero Waste Boxes are a great solution for anyone looking to do the same.” To find out more, visit: About TerraCycle TerraCycle () is an international leader in innovative sustainability solutions, creating and operating first-of-their-kind platforms in recycling, recycled materials, and reuse. Across 21 countries, TerraCycle is on a mission to rethink waste and develop practical solutions for today’s complex waste challenges. As well as its free National Recycling Programmes, TerraCycle offers a paid-for solution in the form of Zero Waste Boxes™. A Zero Waste Box™ is a complete and convenient solution that includes the storage, shipping and recycling of a particular type of waste. Zero Waste Boxes™ are easy to set up and use, making them the perfect option for households, schools, businesses, manufacturing facilities and events looking to offset their impacts and reduce their environmental footprint. See more breaking stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can al...
Guest Post by David Stephen about Brain Science How does the world turnaround mental health for good? What is the core of mental health, to be sought, towards a better approach from the generally expressed it is ok to ask for help, or ok to not be ok, or to reduce stigma, fight discrimination or to increase psychiatrists per population, or some chatbot, some mindfulness app. It is important to talk, virtual reality, psychedelics, affordable, assessable care, vulnerability, if you’re having a hard time it’s no wonder you’re in good company, lived experiences, best practices, mental health first aid, mental health kit, tips or to embrace our sense of community and normalize mental health. Brain Science: After World Mental Health Day 2022, What Next? Mental health issues are part of being human, well-functioning promotion, prevention programmes, to reshape environments that influence mental health, to develop, strengthen community-based mental health services, mental health struggles can be the start of something new, experts to consider what measures would be helpful beyond clinical support, overall well-being, maximize personal potential, and so on. Some of these are helpful to many, but the core of what a mental health problem is, is not with any of the above. What is constant in all mental health experiences? Why would someone without an economic problem have anxiety, and someone with an economic problem have anxiety? Why does word hurt to the point that someone who can get access to help contemplate suicide? What makes disappointment saddening, even for someone who has alternatives? What constants in the brain make determinations for mental health or problem per moment, across situations? Whatever is constant in mental health, how do they relay for experience expressing decisions? This is what the October 10, mental health day should have been about this 2022, beyond mental health as a trendy speak or mental health as a brand add, obtainable in some quarters. There are people who cannot cope with their situations and depend constantly on drugs. For some, even knowing the risk is not enough to give it up or easily ask for help when they are in a bad situation everyday. There are those who cannot explain what goes on in their mind, even remotely, but continue to have promptings that lead them to problems. How does the mind work what mental health or problem is? If this is displayed, how can this architecture boost understanding that this is the mind or this is where this constant must not go, and this is why this property should be avoided. There are serious mental illnesses with similar constants, though degree, relay and properties are different. There are also similar constants for kids, teens, adults, older, those with diseases and so on, regarding the mind. Mental health is the brain, where the mind is made. There is no known mental health problem that is not an outcome of the brain. Anything that is said to affect mental health is an expression of mind. It does not do so, for everyone all the time. What should cause fear does not, for everyone all the time. Tickling, which is more common from others to an individual does not happen at every try, neither does tickling self fail all the time. There are constants of mind that make determination, each time. The mind is thought [the quantity] and memory [its properties]. It is thought and memory, as constants of the mind, that determine what mental health, problem or illness becomes for anyone at any moment. How should this be understood, displayed and approached, is how mental health would turnaround for the better. It is the effect of thought and its properties per moment that shapes whatever comes into the mind, for what to experience, resulting in mental health or not, regardless of economic, political, or social situation. Though there are many ways to try, but if the core is absent, chances for general progress would be slight. See more new stories here.
Guest Post by David Stephen about Brain Science How does the world turnaround mental health for good? What is the core of mental health, to be sought, towards a better approach from the generally expressed it is ok to ask for help, or ok to not be ok, or to reduce stigma, fight discrimination or to increase psychiatrists per population, or some chatbot, some mindfulness app. It is important to talk, virtual reality, psychedelics, affordable, assessable care, vulnerability, if you’re having a hard time it’s no wonder you’re in good company, lived experiences, best practices, mental health first aid, mental health kit, tips or to embrace our sense of community and normalize mental health. Brain Science: After World Mental Health Day 2022, What Next? Mental health issues are part of being human, well-functioning promotion, prevention programmes, to reshape environments that influence mental health, to develop, strengthen community-based mental health services, mental health struggles can be the start of something new, experts to consider what measures would be helpful beyond clinical support, overall well-being, maximize personal potential, and so on. Some of these are helpful to many, but the core of what a mental health problem is, is not with any of the above. What is constant in all mental health experiences? Why would someone without an economic problem have anxiety, and someone with an economic problem have anxiety? Why does word hurt to the point that someone who can get access to help contemplate suicide? What makes disappointment saddening, even for someone who has alternatives? What constants in the brain make determinations for mental health or problem per moment, across situations? Whatever is constant in mental health, how do they relay for experience expressing decisions? This is what the October 10, mental health day should have been about this 2022, beyond mental health as a trendy speak or mental health as a brand add, obtainable in some quarters. There are people who cannot cope with their situations and depend constantly on drugs. For some, even knowing the risk is not enough to give it up or easily ask for help when they are in a bad situation everyday. There are those who cannot explain what goes on in their mind, even remotely, but continue to have promptings that lead them to problems. How does the mind work what mental health or problem is? If this is displayed, how can this architecture boost understanding that this is the mind or this is where this constant must not go, and this is why this property should be avoided. There are serious mental illnesses with similar constants, though degree, relay and properties are different. There are also similar constants for kids, teens, adults, older, those with diseases and so on, regarding the mind. Mental health is the brain, where the mind is made. There is no known mental health problem that is not an outcome of the brain. Anything that is said to affect mental health is an expression of mind. It does not do so, for everyone all the time. What should cause fear does not, for everyone all the time. Tickling, which is more common from others to an individual does not happen at every try, neither does tickling self fail all the time. There are constants of mind that make determination, each time. The mind is thought [the quantity] and memory [its properties]. It is thought and memory, as constants of the mind, that determine what mental health, problem or illness becomes for anyone at any moment. How should this be understood, displayed and approached, is how mental health would turnaround for the better. It is the effect of thought and its properties per moment that shapes whatever comes into the mind, for what to experience, resulting in mental health or not, regardless of economic, political, or social situation. Though there are many ways to try, but if the core is absent, chances for general progress would be slight. See more new stories here.
Outmin, the automated accounting solutions platform, has raised €1.5m in funding led by Middlegame Ventures with participation by Fuel Ventures, KellySan Enterprises Ltd and several strategic angel investors to enhance and develop their technology that tackles the distraction of financial admin. The traditional accounting market is broken, as current processes and tools do not work for small, high-growth companies. SME business owners are required to spend a considerable amount of time and money on professional services and/or solutions that ultimately do not resolve the underlying friction points, therefore diverting finite resources away from other value-add activities. Moreover, SME business data is often unstructured and messy, making it difficult for business owners to extrapolate actionable insights to understand the health of their business. Outmin provides SaaS-based accounting, bookkeeping and CFO services to SMEs with an initial focus on the technology and hospitality industries across the UK and Ireland. Outmin has over 150 clients currently using its platform, offering a unique approach combining professional services with automation, providing easy-to-use technology powered by human expertise and experience. The platform provides businesses with an accountant, bookkeeper and accounting software as a consolidated service, eliminating the need for multiple employees and software packages. By leveraging AI and cloud technology, the integrated service takes care of everything from payroll and expenses management, to tax returns and compliance filings meaning businesses can focus on what’s best for the business. In doing so, Outmin provides a best-in-class experience that helps businesses tackle the administrative burden, improve the quality of their financial data and dramatically reduce costs, with some clients already saving up to €100k a year by using the service. Speaking about the raise, co-founder and CRO of Outmin, David Kelleher said: ‘Many industries are facing financial uncertainty. SMEs are among the first to feel the strain and cutting costs, streamlining in-house administration and gaining valuable business insights can be paramount during these periods. This fundraise will enable us to help more and more small businesses get quicker and better data about their business to inform their decision making in these uncertain times.’ Outmin replaces the need for costly finance hires and multiple software systems, subscriptions and packages used by SMEs, by providing better quality data faster, with less effort by the client, all with a single login. Once onboarded, Outmin receives all the business’s data, eliminating the lengthy integration processes and giving business owners and operators the opportunity to focus on tasks that improve their product or customer experience. Ross Hunt, CEO and co-founder, added: ‘As a company, Outmin has more than doubled in size over the last year and with this funding we plan to do so again within 12 months as we grow internationally. We are excited to continue to build our technology with the investment, enabling more businesses to get faster, better AND cheaper results from their finance function thanks to our hands free accounting solution.’ This recent injection of investment will enable Outmin to accelerate development of its cutting-edge technology and meet global demand to provide SMEs with a peerless service that improves business information, saving time on their financial admin. It also marks a significant milestone in Outmin’s rapid geographical expansion with the opening of a UK office and plans to double headcount by the end of next year. MGV Venture Partner, Ellen McCance shares her thoughts on the investment: “Outmin is changing the game for SMEs by making the accounting and bookkeeping process straightforward and simple, using cutting edge AI technology. We are excited to partner with Ross, David and the Outmin team who have adopted a truly customer-centric ...
Outmin, the automated accounting solutions platform, has raised €1.5m in funding led by Middlegame Ventures with participation by Fuel Ventures, KellySan Enterprises Ltd and several strategic angel investors to enhance and develop their technology that tackles the distraction of financial admin. The traditional accounting market is broken, as current processes and tools do not work for small, high-growth companies. SME business owners are required to spend a considerable amount of time and money on professional services and/or solutions that ultimately do not resolve the underlying friction points, therefore diverting finite resources away from other value-add activities. Moreover, SME business data is often unstructured and messy, making it difficult for business owners to extrapolate actionable insights to understand the health of their business. Outmin provides SaaS-based accounting, bookkeeping and CFO services to SMEs with an initial focus on the technology and hospitality industries across the UK and Ireland. Outmin has over 150 clients currently using its platform, offering a unique approach combining professional services with automation, providing easy-to-use technology powered by human expertise and experience. The platform provides businesses with an accountant, bookkeeper and accounting software as a consolidated service, eliminating the need for multiple employees and software packages. By leveraging AI and cloud technology, the integrated service takes care of everything from payroll and expenses management, to tax returns and compliance filings meaning businesses can focus on what’s best for the business. In doing so, Outmin provides a best-in-class experience that helps businesses tackle the administrative burden, improve the quality of their financial data and dramatically reduce costs, with some clients already saving up to €100k a year by using the service. Speaking about the raise, co-founder and CRO of Outmin, David Kelleher said: ‘Many industries are facing financial uncertainty. SMEs are among the first to feel the strain and cutting costs, streamlining in-house administration and gaining valuable business insights can be paramount during these periods. This fundraise will enable us to help more and more small businesses get quicker and better data about their business to inform their decision making in these uncertain times.’ Outmin replaces the need for costly finance hires and multiple software systems, subscriptions and packages used by SMEs, by providing better quality data faster, with less effort by the client, all with a single login. Once onboarded, Outmin receives all the business’s data, eliminating the lengthy integration processes and giving business owners and operators the opportunity to focus on tasks that improve their product or customer experience. Ross Hunt, CEO and co-founder, added: ‘As a company, Outmin has more than doubled in size over the last year and with this funding we plan to do so again within 12 months as we grow internationally. We are excited to continue to build our technology with the investment, enabling more businesses to get faster, better AND cheaper results from their finance function thanks to our hands free accounting solution.’ This recent injection of investment will enable Outmin to accelerate development of its cutting-edge technology and meet global demand to provide SMEs with a peerless service that improves business information, saving time on their financial admin. It also marks a significant milestone in Outmin’s rapid geographical expansion with the opening of a UK office and plans to double headcount by the end of next year. MGV Venture Partner, Ellen McCance shares her thoughts on the investment: “Outmin is changing the game for SMEs by making the accounting and bookkeeping process straightforward and simple, using cutting edge AI technology. We are excited to partner with Ross, David and the Outmin team who have adopted a truly customer-centric ...
An Irish robot that decontaminates air is being trialled in a major NHS hospital in Cornwall, UK – with early results suggesting it could reduce room downtime in critical parts of the hospital by more than 60%. The robot, made by Akara who are based at The Digital Hub, has been on the ground at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (RCHT) since June 2022 where it has been used in parts of the hospital where the air has a higher chance of contamination. The idea was born out of COVID-19 pressures, where thorough cleaning of air was paramount to avoid infection spread. The robot is designed to eliminate COVID-19 as well as other viruses, including flu. Dr Conor McGinn, co-founder and CEO of Akara explained the project’s potential: “We need technology to disinfect the air because it’s simply not a job that people can do. While ventilation helps, the cost and time needed to upgrade rooms to the levels needed is rarely practical. Our disinfection robots are mobile, allowing them to be rapidly deployed in minutes to the regions that need it most while their sensors and AI enable them to dynamically respond to the environment in ways that aren’t possible with static purification units.” Already being utilised by staff, the robot is being trialled in the endoscopy department and is showing promising results in its ability to disinfect the air. Following certain medical examinations where aerosol-generating procedures are performed, rooms needed to be left vacant for periods of more than 25 minutes in order to allow the air in the room to be replenished by clean air from the ventilation system. With the Akara robot, the process of air replenishment can be greatly accelerated, cutting the downtime to just 10 minutes. These findings will be presented at the Infection Prevention Society (IPS) Conference in Bournemouth on Oct. 17-19. Joanne Taylor, Consultant Nurse and Deputy Director of Infection Prevention and Control at RCHT, commented: “The robot has definitely improved things for patients as the reduced downtime means we can get more patients seen in a day, while maintaining the highest standards in environmental cleanliness. Based on time savings made during the trial period, we estimate that its use could enable as many as 2,400 additional procedures a year which would have a very significant effect on reducing the waiting lists.” Lynsey Farrell, Endoscopy Unit Lead at RCHT, said: “The robot has had a really positive impact on the department. Staff are concerned about the increased risk of COVID-19 for patients due to aerosol-generating procedures, and also for themselves, so they’re very keen to work with new technologies offering the potential to make the environment safer for everyone.” The trial has been carried out in collaboration with the University of Plymouth and DIH Hero, a European innovation hub with a goal to accelerate innovation in robotics for healthcare European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 825003. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
An Irish robot that decontaminates air is being trialled in a major NHS hospital in Cornwall, UK – with early results suggesting it could reduce room downtime in critical parts of the hospital by more than 60%. The robot, made by Akara who are based at The Digital Hub, has been on the ground at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (RCHT) since June 2022 where it has been used in parts of the hospital where the air has a higher chance of contamination. The idea was born out of COVID-19 pressures, where thorough cleaning of air was paramount to avoid infection spread. The robot is designed to eliminate COVID-19 as well as other viruses, including flu. Dr Conor McGinn, co-founder and CEO of Akara explained the project’s potential: “We need technology to disinfect the air because it’s simply not a job that people can do. While ventilation helps, the cost and time needed to upgrade rooms to the levels needed is rarely practical. Our disinfection robots are mobile, allowing them to be rapidly deployed in minutes to the regions that need it most while their sensors and AI enable them to dynamically respond to the environment in ways that aren’t possible with static purification units.” Already being utilised by staff, the robot is being trialled in the endoscopy department and is showing promising results in its ability to disinfect the air. Following certain medical examinations where aerosol-generating procedures are performed, rooms needed to be left vacant for periods of more than 25 minutes in order to allow the air in the room to be replenished by clean air from the ventilation system. With the Akara robot, the process of air replenishment can be greatly accelerated, cutting the downtime to just 10 minutes. These findings will be presented at the Infection Prevention Society (IPS) Conference in Bournemouth on Oct. 17-19. Joanne Taylor, Consultant Nurse and Deputy Director of Infection Prevention and Control at RCHT, commented: “The robot has definitely improved things for patients as the reduced downtime means we can get more patients seen in a day, while maintaining the highest standards in environmental cleanliness. Based on time savings made during the trial period, we estimate that its use could enable as many as 2,400 additional procedures a year which would have a very significant effect on reducing the waiting lists.” Lynsey Farrell, Endoscopy Unit Lead at RCHT, said: “The robot has had a really positive impact on the department. Staff are concerned about the increased risk of COVID-19 for patients due to aerosol-generating procedures, and also for themselves, so they’re very keen to work with new technologies offering the potential to make the environment safer for everyone.” The trial has been carried out in collaboration with the University of Plymouth and DIH Hero, a European innovation hub with a goal to accelerate innovation in robotics for healthcare European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 825003. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The AgTechUCD Innovation Centre today announced the twelve start-ups (profiled below) selected for its second accelerator programme dedicated to early-stage AgTech and Agri-food start-ups with global potential. The participating start-ups are based in Cork, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Sligo, Tipperary, Waterford and Westmeath. The 2022 AgTechUCD Agccelerator Programme, which has just commenced, is an intensive 12-week programme, tailored to address the particular needs and challenges facing start-ups in the AgTech and Agri-food sectors. It is focused on fast tracking the business development and leadership skills of participants and to provide them with the support and guidance needed to accelerate their start-ups in Ireland and internationally. The programme includes dedicated business development workshops and investor readiness training, mentoring from industry experts and business advisors, guest speakers and facilitated introductions to AgTechUCD’s venture capital and business angel networks. Niamh Collins, Director, AgTechUCD Innovation Centre “The cohort of start-ups selected to take part in our second Agccelerator programme are developing disruptive innovations with global potential in the wider AgTech sector. We now look forward to the next 12 weeks when we will focus on supporting the commercial development of the participating start-ups.” She added, “Through the AgTechUCD Agccelerator Programme we will also be working with the participants to help enhance their visibility in the marketplace, attract new customers and investors and forge new partnerships at home and internationally.” She concluded, “AgTechUCD has established key relationships with strategic players in the agtech and foodtech sectors in Ireland, Europe and in the US, which will leverage to support the participating start-ups to launch or scale their products or services into existing and new territories.” AgTechUCD, based at UCD Lyons Farm and part of NovaUCD, is focused on promoting and accelerating the launch and scaling of start-ups and SMEs, in Ireland and internationally, with disruptive innovations in the AgTech, Agri-food and VetTech sectors, as they build their innovative businesses into leading companies on the global stage. AgTechUCD, funded through the Regional Enterprise Development Fund administered by Enterprise Ireland, supports founding entrepreneurs as they build their innovative businesses into leading enterprises, though the AgTechUCD Agccelerator Programme, and by providing access to incubation space and to on-farm testing for new products and services at UCD Lyons Farm. The 2022 AgTechUCD Agccelerator Programme will conclude next January when participating start-ups will pitch their businesses to a panel of investors. Partners on the 2022 AgTechUCD Agccelerator Programme, include, Enterprise Ireland, AIB, The Yield Lab Europe, Devenish, Carbery, Ornua, HerdWatch, IFAC, Thrive/SVG Ventures and The Virtual Vet who are supporting the programme. Participating Start-ups Acregreen, based in Co. Tipperary, is developing an innovative automated vertical farming technology to provide on-site reliable, sustainable and nutritious animal feed in challenging environments where natural resources are in scarce supply. Founder Iain Munro is taking part in the programme. www.acre.green Agricom, based in Co. Cork, is focused on leveraging technology to agri-food supply chain digitization to reduce waste and improve resilience towards climate change, economic and environmental events. Founder Nadim Al-Khoury is taking part in the programme. www.agricom.io Biotec, based in Dublin, provides independent thermal process validation services to the Irish food sector. Biotec has developed a machine learning algorithm that can be used as an early warning food safety management system for food companies to minimise food safety issues. Founders Professor Francis Butler, UCD Centre for Food Safety, UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering and Dr Fergal ...
The AgTechUCD Innovation Centre today announced the twelve start-ups (profiled below) selected for its second accelerator programme dedicated to early-stage AgTech and Agri-food start-ups with global potential. The participating start-ups are based in Cork, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Sligo, Tipperary, Waterford and Westmeath. The 2022 AgTechUCD Agccelerator Programme, which has just commenced, is an intensive 12-week programme, tailored to address the particular needs and challenges facing start-ups in the AgTech and Agri-food sectors. It is focused on fast tracking the business development and leadership skills of participants and to provide them with the support and guidance needed to accelerate their start-ups in Ireland and internationally. The programme includes dedicated business development workshops and investor readiness training, mentoring from industry experts and business advisors, guest speakers and facilitated introductions to AgTechUCD’s venture capital and business angel networks. Niamh Collins, Director, AgTechUCD Innovation Centre “The cohort of start-ups selected to take part in our second Agccelerator programme are developing disruptive innovations with global potential in the wider AgTech sector. We now look forward to the next 12 weeks when we will focus on supporting the commercial development of the participating start-ups.” She added, “Through the AgTechUCD Agccelerator Programme we will also be working with the participants to help enhance their visibility in the marketplace, attract new customers and investors and forge new partnerships at home and internationally.” She concluded, “AgTechUCD has established key relationships with strategic players in the agtech and foodtech sectors in Ireland, Europe and in the US, which will leverage to support the participating start-ups to launch or scale their products or services into existing and new territories.” AgTechUCD, based at UCD Lyons Farm and part of NovaUCD, is focused on promoting and accelerating the launch and scaling of start-ups and SMEs, in Ireland and internationally, with disruptive innovations in the AgTech, Agri-food and VetTech sectors, as they build their innovative businesses into leading companies on the global stage. AgTechUCD, funded through the Regional Enterprise Development Fund administered by Enterprise Ireland, supports founding entrepreneurs as they build their innovative businesses into leading enterprises, though the AgTechUCD Agccelerator Programme, and by providing access to incubation space and to on-farm testing for new products and services at UCD Lyons Farm. The 2022 AgTechUCD Agccelerator Programme will conclude next January when participating start-ups will pitch their businesses to a panel of investors. Partners on the 2022 AgTechUCD Agccelerator Programme, include, Enterprise Ireland, AIB, The Yield Lab Europe, Devenish, Carbery, Ornua, HerdWatch, IFAC, Thrive/SVG Ventures and The Virtual Vet who are supporting the programme. Participating Start-ups Acregreen, based in Co. Tipperary, is developing an innovative automated vertical farming technology to provide on-site reliable, sustainable and nutritious animal feed in challenging environments where natural resources are in scarce supply. Founder Iain Munro is taking part in the programme. www.acre.green Agricom, based in Co. Cork, is focused on leveraging technology to agri-food supply chain digitization to reduce waste and improve resilience towards climate change, economic and environmental events. Founder Nadim Al-Khoury is taking part in the programme. www.agricom.io Biotec, based in Dublin, provides independent thermal process validation services to the Irish food sector. Biotec has developed a machine learning algorithm that can be used as an early warning food safety management system for food companies to minimise food safety issues. Founders Professor Francis Butler, UCD Centre for Food Safety, UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering and Dr Fergal ...
The inaugural Belfast XR Festival will take place on Wednesday 9 November at the Black Box Theatre as part of Belfast Film Festival. In the first event of its kind to take place in Belfast, the line-up showcases the best of local and international immersive technology content (XR). The Belfast XR Festival is supported by Future Screens NI and Northern Ireland Screen and is curated by Deepa Mann-Kler. This year’s programme showcases a rich selection of works from creators working at the forefront of emerging technologies, including interactive virtual reality and screen-based installations. The festival brings together 10 projects from countries across the world (Ireland, Canada, Poland, UK, Germany, and Switzerland). Three projects are from Northern Ireland, and eight have lead artists that identify as women or with mixed-gender production teams. This year’s programme also shines a light on some of the most urgent social and political issues of our time, with works exploring topics like the climate emergency, loneliness, and estrangement during lockdown. The festival is also proud to showcase work by the BAFTA award-winning filmmaker Antonin Niclass. In Midnight Story narrated by BAFTA award-winning actress Miriam Margolyes. Also included is Genesis, by German filmmakers Maria and Joerg Courtial, in which 4.7 billion years of evolution are condensed into an intense 24-hour journey. Other highlights of the festival are: Mental Abuse Matters, a film by Lucy Baxter that utilises virtual reality to capture the visceral experiences of an abusive relationship. — Alone Together uses advanced AI, voice recognition and cutting-edge hologram production in which the audience becomes rented family members, procured to help their hosts deal with the challenges of everyday life. — Visiting James Simon by Gerda Leopold transports you to Berlin, 1915 and a private tour of renowned art collector James Simon most prized possessions. Deepa Mann-Kler, Director, Belfast XR Festival said: “We are thrilled to present the inaugural Belfast XR Festival, featuring projects by creators from all over the world and a strong presence of excellent Northern Irish talent. Belfast XR Festival highlights the enormous diversity and vibrancy of the ever-growing international immersive and expanded realities scene, from high-profile international filmmakers who are experimenting with new technologies, to new works from some of the most exciting emerging talent in the field. This year’s programme considers pertinent issues of our time from a hugely diverse range of perspectives and art forms.” Professor Paul Moore, Director, Future Screens NI said: “Future Screens NI is delighted to be supporting the inaugural Belfast XR Festival. It is a critical component in supporting the immersive ecosystem. It is a platform for content creators to share their work publicly and a chance for young people and the public to access high-quality immersive experiences. It is not often that one can stand in both the present and the future at the same moment.” Richard Williams, CEO of Northern Ireland Screen said: “We are delighted to support the Belfast XR Festival as part of Belfast Film Festival. This is a fantastic platform for local talent to showcase immersive virtual and augmented projects to the public. This is an exciting time for the interactive sector in Northern Ireland and we welcome continued support in this growing economy.” The entire Belfast XR Festival can be viewed at Tickets can be purchased on the Belfast Film Festival website. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business...
The inaugural Belfast XR Festival will take place on Wednesday 9 November at the Black Box Theatre as part of Belfast Film Festival. In the first event of its kind to take place in Belfast, the line-up showcases the best of local and international immersive technology content (XR). The Belfast XR Festival is supported by Future Screens NI and Northern Ireland Screen and is curated by Deepa Mann-Kler. This year’s programme showcases a rich selection of works from creators working at the forefront of emerging technologies, including interactive virtual reality and screen-based installations. The festival brings together 10 projects from countries across the world (Ireland, Canada, Poland, UK, Germany, and Switzerland). Three projects are from Northern Ireland, and eight have lead artists that identify as women or with mixed-gender production teams. This year’s programme also shines a light on some of the most urgent social and political issues of our time, with works exploring topics like the climate emergency, loneliness, and estrangement during lockdown. The festival is also proud to showcase work by the BAFTA award-winning filmmaker Antonin Niclass. In Midnight Story narrated by BAFTA award-winning actress Miriam Margolyes. Also included is Genesis, by German filmmakers Maria and Joerg Courtial, in which 4.7 billion years of evolution are condensed into an intense 24-hour journey. Other highlights of the festival are: Mental Abuse Matters, a film by Lucy Baxter that utilises virtual reality to capture the visceral experiences of an abusive relationship. — Alone Together uses advanced AI, voice recognition and cutting-edge hologram production in which the audience becomes rented family members, procured to help their hosts deal with the challenges of everyday life. — Visiting James Simon by Gerda Leopold transports you to Berlin, 1915 and a private tour of renowned art collector James Simon most prized possessions. Deepa Mann-Kler, Director, Belfast XR Festival said: “We are thrilled to present the inaugural Belfast XR Festival, featuring projects by creators from all over the world and a strong presence of excellent Northern Irish talent. Belfast XR Festival highlights the enormous diversity and vibrancy of the ever-growing international immersive and expanded realities scene, from high-profile international filmmakers who are experimenting with new technologies, to new works from some of the most exciting emerging talent in the field. This year’s programme considers pertinent issues of our time from a hugely diverse range of perspectives and art forms.” Professor Paul Moore, Director, Future Screens NI said: “Future Screens NI is delighted to be supporting the inaugural Belfast XR Festival. It is a critical component in supporting the immersive ecosystem. It is a platform for content creators to share their work publicly and a chance for young people and the public to access high-quality immersive experiences. It is not often that one can stand in both the present and the future at the same moment.” Richard Williams, CEO of Northern Ireland Screen said: “We are delighted to support the Belfast XR Festival as part of Belfast Film Festival. This is a fantastic platform for local talent to showcase immersive virtual and augmented projects to the public. This is an exciting time for the interactive sector in Northern Ireland and we welcome continued support in this growing economy.” The entire Belfast XR Festival can be viewed at Tickets can be purchased on the Belfast Film Festival website. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business...
Nearly half (48.5%) of SMBs have reported that they’ve experienced multiple cyber security breaches over the last three years, with the total financial loss amounting to €8,500 each or €2.3 billion across the industry, according to a new joint study (include link) carried out by Vodafone Ireland and Microsoft Ireland. According to the research, which was carried out with more than 250 SMB business owners with 9-50 employees, of those that reported a breach, 43% said that they experienced up to five attacks in that period. However, despite the financial and reputational risk that cyber-attacks create, 34% of businesses have reduced their spend on cyber security and nearly 60% of business owners reported that they are unprepared or very unprepared against preventing a cyber-attack. When asked about their wider business confidence, the report found that the majority of business owners expect to see growth in the next 12 months, with more than 40% expecting to achieve growth of between 25 – 50%. The majority are seeking growth opportunities via a combination of new local and international markets. E-commerce solutions are increasingly being used to drive revenue, with almost 60% of business owners suggesting that this accounts for between 21% and 50% of their revenue. Business owners highlighted that digitalisation has brought them significant productivity gains, efficiencies and / or increased sales to their business within the past 12 months. That said, more than 50% of business owners consider digitalisation to be a medium to low priority. In fact, the rate of digitalisation is starting to decrease from its high point during the pandemic. Commenting on the report, Sinéad Bryan, Managing Director of Vodafone Ireland Business said: “Despite rising inflationary costs, economic and political unrest, and the aftereffects of the pandemic, we have seen SMBs transform, grow, and adapt through significant change. Our research shows that for SMBs to stay resilient and insulated from risk, security needs to be front and foremost in their strategic plans. “It?is also evident that?technology will?play an even bigger role in how SMBs plan for continued recovery?and growth. In fact, our study shows that those SMBs who were agile and adaptable and embraced technology over the last 24 months managed to grow revenue, reduce debt and move to target opportunities across international markets. Irish SMBs are traditionally known for their strong focus on the domestic market, but with expansion to markets abroad, they will have a need to invest in new technologies to achieve a strong position.” Anne Sheehan, General Manager of Microsoft Ireland, said: “Our study highlights the significant rise in the rate of digitalisation among SMBs during the pandemic, and the direct financial and business growth that this has created. However, despite the many benefits of a digital strategy, it is still considered to be a low to medium priority for many companies we surveyed. Indeed, our findings show that since the end of the pandemic, the rate of digitalisation has decreased. “As the cornerstone of Ireland’s economy and a core driver of post-pandemic economic recovery, it is of the utmost importance that SMBs maintain a position of digital perseverance. With digital perseverance as an imperative, technology will “support company-wide growth, despite internal and external risk and allow them to achieve their business goals and do more with less.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to f...
Nearly half (48.5%) of SMBs have reported that they’ve experienced multiple cyber security breaches over the last three years, with the total financial loss amounting to €8,500 each or €2.3 billion across the industry, according to a new joint study (include link) carried out by Vodafone Ireland and Microsoft Ireland. According to the research, which was carried out with more than 250 SMB business owners with 9-50 employees, of those that reported a breach, 43% said that they experienced up to five attacks in that period. However, despite the financial and reputational risk that cyber-attacks create, 34% of businesses have reduced their spend on cyber security and nearly 60% of business owners reported that they are unprepared or very unprepared against preventing a cyber-attack. When asked about their wider business confidence, the report found that the majority of business owners expect to see growth in the next 12 months, with more than 40% expecting to achieve growth of between 25 – 50%. The majority are seeking growth opportunities via a combination of new local and international markets. E-commerce solutions are increasingly being used to drive revenue, with almost 60% of business owners suggesting that this accounts for between 21% and 50% of their revenue. Business owners highlighted that digitalisation has brought them significant productivity gains, efficiencies and / or increased sales to their business within the past 12 months. That said, more than 50% of business owners consider digitalisation to be a medium to low priority. In fact, the rate of digitalisation is starting to decrease from its high point during the pandemic. Commenting on the report, Sinéad Bryan, Managing Director of Vodafone Ireland Business said: “Despite rising inflationary costs, economic and political unrest, and the aftereffects of the pandemic, we have seen SMBs transform, grow, and adapt through significant change. Our research shows that for SMBs to stay resilient and insulated from risk, security needs to be front and foremost in their strategic plans. “It?is also evident that?technology will?play an even bigger role in how SMBs plan for continued recovery?and growth. In fact, our study shows that those SMBs who were agile and adaptable and embraced technology over the last 24 months managed to grow revenue, reduce debt and move to target opportunities across international markets. Irish SMBs are traditionally known for their strong focus on the domestic market, but with expansion to markets abroad, they will have a need to invest in new technologies to achieve a strong position.” Anne Sheehan, General Manager of Microsoft Ireland, said: “Our study highlights the significant rise in the rate of digitalisation among SMBs during the pandemic, and the direct financial and business growth that this has created. However, despite the many benefits of a digital strategy, it is still considered to be a low to medium priority for many companies we surveyed. Indeed, our findings show that since the end of the pandemic, the rate of digitalisation has decreased. “As the cornerstone of Ireland’s economy and a core driver of post-pandemic economic recovery, it is of the utmost importance that SMBs maintain a position of digital perseverance. With digital perseverance as an imperative, technology will “support company-wide growth, despite internal and external risk and allow them to achieve their business goals and do more with less.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to f...
Driven by the same mission to decarbonise professional mobility, Renault Trucks has joined forces with Kleuster, a Lyon-based electric cargo bike manufacturer, to accelerate the production and distribution of the Freegônes e-cargo bikes. These cargo bikes will be assembled at the heart of Renault Trucks’ Vénissieux industrial site and distributed through the manufacturer’s European network. Through this partnership, Renault Trucks is adding last mile delivery solutions to its electric vehicle range. Renault Trucks assembles e-cargo bikes With the expansion of low-emission zones (LEZ), booming demand for last mile delivery, and increased environmental awareness, agile and decarbonised transport is clearly the future in urban areas. To address this pressing need, Kleuster launched its pioneering Freegônes professional e-cargo bike 8 years ago. Renault Trucks is equally committed to developing decarbonised transport modes. The manufacturer is gradually electrifying its vehicle ranges for customers operating in cities. To respond to the demands of urban logistics, Renault Trucks has entered the field of cycle logistics by partnering with Kleuster to produce Freegônes at its Vénissieux plant. These e-cargo bikes are now being sold through the French Renault Trucks network and in its European network from 2023. A Synergistic and Complementary Partnership By joining forces with Kleuster, Renault Trucks is sharing its expertise, industrial infrastructure, and large-scale production capacity. Freegônes’ assembly and logistics have moved to a 2,100 m2 building in Renault Trucks’ long-standing Vénissieux site, which also boosts the regional economy. Renault Trucks has already put in place a production team of around a dozen people to meet increasing demand. In the very short term, production capacity will increase fivefold in comparison to 2022. This partnership reflects Renault Trucks’ desire to strengthen its positioning in urban logistics and prepare its plants to take on new future-looking activities. Kleuster’s Freegônes is an outstanding product developed through years of research and adaptations based on feedback, with an active portfolio of key accounts working primarily in last mile delivery. Nearly 200 Freegônes are currently pedalling all over France, some for more than 7 years, a testament to their reliability and durability. By integrating Kleuster products as a complement to its range of electric vehicles, Renault Trucks is providing professionals with an effective and innovative solution for last mile delivery. Renault Trucks is now the only European manufacturer with such a wide range of electric vehicles, varying between 650 kg and 44 t GVWR. A Partnership to Benefit Both Users and Urban Mobility The sharing of a common clientele also motivated this partnership on the commercial side through the distribution of a cyclo-logistics solution in the Renault Trucks network. Using the truck manufacturer’s distributors in several European countries allows Kleuster to take full advantage of a dense and local network to guarantee top-notch sales and after-sales services. Renault Trucks, for its part, is adding another string to its bow and opening up to potential new clients by covering the entire logistics chain. Freegônes take over where trucks stop. “E-cargo bikes can be a great option for customers in urban environments that need to access zero emissions zones. Through this partnership with Kleuster, Renault Trucks is differentiating itself and taking the lead in offering even better solutions to our current and future clients,” says Bruno Blin, President of Renault Trucks. Kleuster Freegônes: Reliable, Durable, Cost-effective Not only can Freegônes access roads, cycle lanes, pedestrian zones, and LEZs, their small size and agility mean they can get close as possible to delivery sites, and therefore, customers. With its 80 km range, this e-cargo bike can be more productive than a utility vehicle and more cost-effective, tha...
Driven by the same mission to decarbonise professional mobility, Renault Trucks has joined forces with Kleuster, a Lyon-based electric cargo bike manufacturer, to accelerate the production and distribution of the Freegônes e-cargo bikes. These cargo bikes will be assembled at the heart of Renault Trucks’ Vénissieux industrial site and distributed through the manufacturer’s European network. Through this partnership, Renault Trucks is adding last mile delivery solutions to its electric vehicle range. Renault Trucks assembles e-cargo bikes With the expansion of low-emission zones (LEZ), booming demand for last mile delivery, and increased environmental awareness, agile and decarbonised transport is clearly the future in urban areas. To address this pressing need, Kleuster launched its pioneering Freegônes professional e-cargo bike 8 years ago. Renault Trucks is equally committed to developing decarbonised transport modes. The manufacturer is gradually electrifying its vehicle ranges for customers operating in cities. To respond to the demands of urban logistics, Renault Trucks has entered the field of cycle logistics by partnering with Kleuster to produce Freegônes at its Vénissieux plant. These e-cargo bikes are now being sold through the French Renault Trucks network and in its European network from 2023. A Synergistic and Complementary Partnership By joining forces with Kleuster, Renault Trucks is sharing its expertise, industrial infrastructure, and large-scale production capacity. Freegônes’ assembly and logistics have moved to a 2,100 m2 building in Renault Trucks’ long-standing Vénissieux site, which also boosts the regional economy. Renault Trucks has already put in place a production team of around a dozen people to meet increasing demand. In the very short term, production capacity will increase fivefold in comparison to 2022. This partnership reflects Renault Trucks’ desire to strengthen its positioning in urban logistics and prepare its plants to take on new future-looking activities. Kleuster’s Freegônes is an outstanding product developed through years of research and adaptations based on feedback, with an active portfolio of key accounts working primarily in last mile delivery. Nearly 200 Freegônes are currently pedalling all over France, some for more than 7 years, a testament to their reliability and durability. By integrating Kleuster products as a complement to its range of electric vehicles, Renault Trucks is providing professionals with an effective and innovative solution for last mile delivery. Renault Trucks is now the only European manufacturer with such a wide range of electric vehicles, varying between 650 kg and 44 t GVWR. A Partnership to Benefit Both Users and Urban Mobility The sharing of a common clientele also motivated this partnership on the commercial side through the distribution of a cyclo-logistics solution in the Renault Trucks network. Using the truck manufacturer’s distributors in several European countries allows Kleuster to take full advantage of a dense and local network to guarantee top-notch sales and after-sales services. Renault Trucks, for its part, is adding another string to its bow and opening up to potential new clients by covering the entire logistics chain. Freegônes take over where trucks stop. “E-cargo bikes can be a great option for customers in urban environments that need to access zero emissions zones. Through this partnership with Kleuster, Renault Trucks is differentiating itself and taking the lead in offering even better solutions to our current and future clients,” says Bruno Blin, President of Renault Trucks. Kleuster Freegônes: Reliable, Durable, Cost-effective Not only can Freegônes access roads, cycle lanes, pedestrian zones, and LEZs, their small size and agility mean they can get close as possible to delivery sites, and therefore, customers. With its 80 km range, this e-cargo bike can be more productive than a utility vehicle and more cost-effective, tha...
We look at the new watch from Google, the Google Pixel Watch, see more about it on their blog here. Google Pixel Watch reviewed This is the new offering from Google and their Pixel division, previously known for their evolving range of phones, the Pixel series. Now we have the first watch offering. This makes sense, Huawei, Apple and many more are looking to grow in this section of the market, therefore you can see why Google are keen to have a product, and a presence here. This offering is built around a lot of Fitbit functionality too. There are good reasons for this, many potential users are already familiar with the Fitbit brand and may well have used their products. To power the Pixel watch, and get the most functionality out of this, you are recommended to use both the Google and Fitbit apps. This does sound a bit messy, or rather the user is going to quickly wonder why there isn’t just one app to deliver all the cool functionality. Except perhaps that this is a watch that gives you all the additional functionality that Google can offer, on top of what Fitbit can deliver. Going forwards you just figure that later iterations of this device will have a simpler, more elegant solution to this. The design of the watch is pretty good. It looks nice, sleek, small, not too big, or heavy, being round rather than square also has its appeal too. The display is good, and our testers had nothing negative to say about that. Battery power will get you through the day, but when is the best time to charge it? If you do so while you are sleeping, then how do you capture all those vital statistics? That said it does recharge quickly, so this is probably going to be one of those issues that you work out the best solution based on your own usage patterns. This is, and feels like a first generation watch, it is pretty good, though perhaps towards the higher end of the price point you might expect to pay for something like this. At the same time, if the developers iterate with this at a similar pace to the Pixel Phone range, it could be that the next versions of the watch are the ones that solve some of the bumps in the road with this one. More about the watch Designed with comfort and durability in mind, the Google Pixel Watch is sophisticated for a night out or a business meeting, can endure your activities and workouts, and is pleasant to sleep in. The bold, circular 3D domed glass blends seamlessly into the stainless steel body giving it a slim look on the wrist. It is both water-resistant (up to 5 ATM/50 meters) and scratch-resistant, meant to be worn all day and night. Inspired by a classic timepiece, the tactile crown controls on-screen scrolling, accesses shortcuts and initiates the app tray to get you the helpful information you need. The side button subtly above the crown opens your most-recently used apps, so favourites are just a click away. Google Pixel Watch is powered with Wear OS by Google (Wear OS 3.5) and delivers the information you need at a glance, making tasks more convenient and providing help whenever and wherever you need it. Interaction is extremely smooth, responsive and easy to use. With tiles and watch faces you can easily customize to be full of information or minimal – the experience is uniquely yours to choose what you see at a glance. With Google Assistant built in, your personalized help on the go is quick and hands-free. You can easily control your smart home devices through the Google Home app or just say “Hey, Google” to your watch to adjust the thermostat, turn on or off the lights, and get notifications from your Nest doorbell when a person or package is at the door (with compatible smart devices). Check your notifications from Gmail and Google Calendar, make contactless payments in stores and at transit with Google Wallet, and get turn-by-turn directions with Maps, including an interactive view that makes it easy to see where you are and where you’re going. Enjoy access to over 100 million songs with ...
We look at the new watch from Google, the Google Pixel Watch, see more about it on their blog here. Google Pixel Watch reviewed This is the new offering from Google and their Pixel division, previously known for their evolving range of phones, the Pixel series. Now we have the first watch offering. This makes sense, Huawei, Apple and many more are looking to grow in this section of the market, therefore you can see why Google are keen to have a product, and a presence here. This offering is built around a lot of Fitbit functionality too. There are good reasons for this, many potential users are already familiar with the Fitbit brand and may well have used their products. To power the Pixel watch, and get the most functionality out of this, you are recommended to use both the Google and Fitbit apps. This does sound a bit messy, or rather the user is going to quickly wonder why there isn’t just one app to deliver all the cool functionality. Except perhaps that this is a watch that gives you all the additional functionality that Google can offer, on top of what Fitbit can deliver. Going forwards you just figure that later iterations of this device will have a simpler, more elegant solution to this. The design of the watch is pretty good. It looks nice, sleek, small, not too big, or heavy, being round rather than square also has its appeal too. The display is good, and our testers had nothing negative to say about that. Battery power will get you through the day, but when is the best time to charge it? If you do so while you are sleeping, then how do you capture all those vital statistics? That said it does recharge quickly, so this is probably going to be one of those issues that you work out the best solution based on your own usage patterns. This is, and feels like a first generation watch, it is pretty good, though perhaps towards the higher end of the price point you might expect to pay for something like this. At the same time, if the developers iterate with this at a similar pace to the Pixel Phone range, it could be that the next versions of the watch are the ones that solve some of the bumps in the road with this one. More about the watch Designed with comfort and durability in mind, the Google Pixel Watch is sophisticated for a night out or a business meeting, can endure your activities and workouts, and is pleasant to sleep in. The bold, circular 3D domed glass blends seamlessly into the stainless steel body giving it a slim look on the wrist. It is both water-resistant (up to 5 ATM/50 meters) and scratch-resistant, meant to be worn all day and night. Inspired by a classic timepiece, the tactile crown controls on-screen scrolling, accesses shortcuts and initiates the app tray to get you the helpful information you need. The side button subtly above the crown opens your most-recently used apps, so favourites are just a click away. Google Pixel Watch is powered with Wear OS by Google (Wear OS 3.5) and delivers the information you need at a glance, making tasks more convenient and providing help whenever and wherever you need it. Interaction is extremely smooth, responsive and easy to use. With tiles and watch faces you can easily customize to be full of information or minimal – the experience is uniquely yours to choose what you see at a glance. With Google Assistant built in, your personalized help on the go is quick and hands-free. You can easily control your smart home devices through the Google Home app or just say “Hey, Google” to your watch to adjust the thermostat, turn on or off the lights, and get notifications from your Nest doorbell when a person or package is at the door (with compatible smart devices). Check your notifications from Gmail and Google Calendar, make contactless payments in stores and at transit with Google Wallet, and get turn-by-turn directions with Maps, including an interactive view that makes it easy to see where you are and where you’re going. Enjoy access to over 100 million songs with ...
Auxilion, a leading provider of digitally transformative IT services and solutions, has announced that it is planning to acquire a company as part of its €17.5 million investment in its UK expansion plans for the next three years. Auxilion also plans to increase its existing UK workforce by 60 people over the next two years. Operating from Sheffield, Telford and Warrington in the UK, the Irish organisation is actively looking to acquire a mid-tier IT service provider in the UK which will complement its existing portfolio of high-quality managed services and innovative IT solutions. Part of the multimillion investment will go towards Auxilion’s Services Centre of Excellence in Sheffield, which delivers 24/7 support to its growing customer base spanning both the public and private sectors – including Dell, HP Inc, BT, Canford Health, Applegreen and Mainstream Renewable Power. As well as developing the space as a hub for collaboration, ideation and value creation, Auxilion is expanding its floor space by 60% and adding to its team. The aim is to increase its UK workforce by 60 people over the next two years and will be focused on the extension to its Services Centre of Excellence, which will have the capacity for up to 120 employees. The company’s Sheffield location will be a hub of innovation and service excellence for Auxilion group, with part of the investment going towards new tools and technologies which will drive increased efficiencies and services innovation, necessary for the complex multi-cloud world. The organisation – which works with industry-leading partners such as Microsoft and Hewlett Packard Enterprise – expects the investment to further strengthen its presence in the UK market, enabling it to drive significant business growth, strengthen its partner ecosystem and attract quality talent to achieve its ambitious growth strategy. This growth will be driven by the acquisition and organic sales, with increasing demand across the areas of managed services, modern and hybrid workplace solutions, digital transformation strategies, ICT development, Business Process Optimisation solutions, resourcing and project governance services. Earlier this year, Auxilion announced that it is on course to grow its revenues by 25% by the end of 2022, compared to 2021, taking its revenues beyond €48 million. Speaking about the news, Philip Maguire, CEO of Auxilion, said: “Our acquisition plans and this significant investment show how committed we are to building on our success in the Irish market and expanding our presence in the UK, where we have operated for more than 20 years. The north of England offers unique opportunities, most notably due to the access it provides to top-quality talent. “We, as a company, are also uniquely positioned in terms of the quality of service we deliver and our experience in the industry. We see ourselves as not merely a partner for, but a part of, our customers’ operations. Furthermore, we are laser-focused on providing innovative services and solutions that deliver near-term and future value, enabling companies to navigate disruption and transformation successfully. “Central to this is our people and culture. Having a team of highly skilled, engaged professionals is crucial in terms of our ability to deliver digital thinking, built differently. By taking advantage of the talent pool in the north of England and acquiring a like-minded, similarly aligned company, we can lead digital change and make a real impact.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at I...
Auxilion, a leading provider of digitally transformative IT services and solutions, has announced that it is planning to acquire a company as part of its €17.5 million investment in its UK expansion plans for the next three years. Auxilion also plans to increase its existing UK workforce by 60 people over the next two years. Operating from Sheffield, Telford and Warrington in the UK, the Irish organisation is actively looking to acquire a mid-tier IT service provider in the UK which will complement its existing portfolio of high-quality managed services and innovative IT solutions. Part of the multimillion investment will go towards Auxilion’s Services Centre of Excellence in Sheffield, which delivers 24/7 support to its growing customer base spanning both the public and private sectors – including Dell, HP Inc, BT, Canford Health, Applegreen and Mainstream Renewable Power. As well as developing the space as a hub for collaboration, ideation and value creation, Auxilion is expanding its floor space by 60% and adding to its team. The aim is to increase its UK workforce by 60 people over the next two years and will be focused on the extension to its Services Centre of Excellence, which will have the capacity for up to 120 employees. The company’s Sheffield location will be a hub of innovation and service excellence for Auxilion group, with part of the investment going towards new tools and technologies which will drive increased efficiencies and services innovation, necessary for the complex multi-cloud world. The organisation – which works with industry-leading partners such as Microsoft and Hewlett Packard Enterprise – expects the investment to further strengthen its presence in the UK market, enabling it to drive significant business growth, strengthen its partner ecosystem and attract quality talent to achieve its ambitious growth strategy. This growth will be driven by the acquisition and organic sales, with increasing demand across the areas of managed services, modern and hybrid workplace solutions, digital transformation strategies, ICT development, Business Process Optimisation solutions, resourcing and project governance services. Earlier this year, Auxilion announced that it is on course to grow its revenues by 25% by the end of 2022, compared to 2021, taking its revenues beyond €48 million. Speaking about the news, Philip Maguire, CEO of Auxilion, said: “Our acquisition plans and this significant investment show how committed we are to building on our success in the Irish market and expanding our presence in the UK, where we have operated for more than 20 years. The north of England offers unique opportunities, most notably due to the access it provides to top-quality talent. “We, as a company, are also uniquely positioned in terms of the quality of service we deliver and our experience in the industry. We see ourselves as not merely a partner for, but a part of, our customers’ operations. Furthermore, we are laser-focused on providing innovative services and solutions that deliver near-term and future value, enabling companies to navigate disruption and transformation successfully. “Central to this is our people and culture. Having a team of highly skilled, engaged professionals is crucial in terms of our ability to deliver digital thinking, built differently. By taking advantage of the talent pool in the north of England and acquiring a like-minded, similarly aligned company, we can lead digital change and make a real impact.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at I...
Natural Capital Ireland (NCI) has made a submission to the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss which calls for the natural capital approach to be embraced as a core decision-making tool across government. “One factor that underpins biodiversity loss is the failure of mainstream economics to take nature’s hidden wealth into account. This failure leads to our adopting policies that exploit natural resources as though they are limitless, with increasingly disastrous consequences for natural systems. It is as though our society is rapidly spending from a bank account, confident that it is flush with money, while all the time invisible withdrawals are pushing us towards bankruptcy.” Value nature, Citizens’ Assembly Biodiversity Loss submission The natural capital approach, applying the UN-standard framework of the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA), seeks to incorporate the value of our natural assets and ecosystem services into public policy and corporate strategy. These assets include forests, soil and water, which have an obvious monetary valuation, as well as less immediately apparent benefits such as carbon storage, air quality, habitats for wildlife, leisure and tourism, health & wellbeing. NCI proposes that embedding the natural capital approach in policymaking will enable alignment of national, European and global policies. NCI asked the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss to consider recommending that the Government: Embed the natural capital approach as a core decision-making tool across government. Fully enforce the legally binding policies to halt biodiversity loss Establish an Irish equivalent to the UK’s Natural Capital Committee or include natural capital approaches in the remit of the existing cross-departmental working group on biodiversity Accelerate the development of natural capital accounts Adequately fund and support projects to address knowledge gaps on biodiversity to establish where losses are occurring and enable further research on applying the natural capital approach at scale, i.e. from small scale (e.g. farm level), to catchment, to county levels. The full text of our submission can be found here. For more information, please contact: Fiona Smith, Communications Executive, Natural Capital Ireland info@naturalcaptialireland.com About Natural Capital Ireland Natural Capital Ireland (NCI) is a not-for-profit organisation driving research and policy to value, protect, and restore Ireland’s natural resources. We are a group of organisations and individuals committed to the development and application of the natural capital approach which reveals the hidden costs and benefits of policies and actions. See www.naturalcapitalireland.com See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Natural Capital Ireland (NCI) has made a submission to the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss which calls for the natural capital approach to be embraced as a core decision-making tool across government. “One factor that underpins biodiversity loss is the failure of mainstream economics to take nature’s hidden wealth into account. This failure leads to our adopting policies that exploit natural resources as though they are limitless, with increasingly disastrous consequences for natural systems. It is as though our society is rapidly spending from a bank account, confident that it is flush with money, while all the time invisible withdrawals are pushing us towards bankruptcy.” Value nature, Citizens’ Assembly Biodiversity Loss submission The natural capital approach, applying the UN-standard framework of the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA), seeks to incorporate the value of our natural assets and ecosystem services into public policy and corporate strategy. These assets include forests, soil and water, which have an obvious monetary valuation, as well as less immediately apparent benefits such as carbon storage, air quality, habitats for wildlife, leisure and tourism, health & wellbeing. NCI proposes that embedding the natural capital approach in policymaking will enable alignment of national, European and global policies. NCI asked the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss to consider recommending that the Government: Embed the natural capital approach as a core decision-making tool across government. Fully enforce the legally binding policies to halt biodiversity loss Establish an Irish equivalent to the UK’s Natural Capital Committee or include natural capital approaches in the remit of the existing cross-departmental working group on biodiversity Accelerate the development of natural capital accounts Adequately fund and support projects to address knowledge gaps on biodiversity to establish where losses are occurring and enable further research on applying the natural capital approach at scale, i.e. from small scale (e.g. farm level), to catchment, to county levels. The full text of our submission can be found here. For more information, please contact: Fiona Smith, Communications Executive, Natural Capital Ireland info@naturalcaptialireland.com About Natural Capital Ireland Natural Capital Ireland (NCI) is a not-for-profit organisation driving research and policy to value, protect, and restore Ireland’s natural resources. We are a group of organisations and individuals committed to the development and application of the natural capital approach which reveals the hidden costs and benefits of policies and actions. See www.naturalcapitalireland.com See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Enterprise communications company DigitalWell has announced a five-year sponsorship agreement with Leinster Rugby to provide upgraded secure communications and collaboration services that will allow seamless and more consistent team communications. Since the pandemic, Leinster Rugby, as an organisation, has seen an increased need for and usage of digital solutions enabling remote communications and connectivity between professional and domestic rugby staff across all five rugby playing areas of the province. Many of these solutions have subsequently been adopted long-term by the club and the partnership with DigitalWell will see upgraded 24/7 professionally managed service support for the team and club employees, in areas such as internet connectivity and new virtual team rooms. “With clubs, schools and indeed centres of excellence all across our 12 counties, staying connected and collaborating is one of the most important things to our club,” explains Kevin Quinn, Head of Commercial and Marketing, Leinster Rugby. “Digital solutions have given us many new ways to communicate and even benefit training, for example by making it easier for injured players to stay up-to-date with team briefings and training while recovering. “Through our partnership with DigitalWell, our communication systems will see an important upgrade to better support and future-proof our team, and ensure our technology meets the same professional standards as everywhere else in our club.” For DigitalWell, the motivation behind the sponsorship is both business-related and personal for Kildare-born CEO, Ross Murray. “Our recent new business wins in the Americas and mainland Europe are helping us cement our position as an international player in the enterprise communications market,” explains Murray. “However, we also wanted to remain true to our Irish roots and the client-first approach with the customers who gave us our start in this business two decades ago. Serving as Leinster Rugby’s secure collaborations and communications partner enables us to reinvest in our local community, but with a pan-European brand that matches our overseas aspirations. It makes it even better to do it with the club I have supported for many years. “I thought Leinster’s collaboration with the Crusaders during Covid showed how Sport could leverage the latest communications technology. Video, data analysis, white board brain storming is now as important to Professional Rugby teams as the work done on the training park and we are really excited to see what we can do to give Leinster a real competitive advantage for years to come.” The sponsorship agreement will see DigitalWell assess Leinster Rugby’s current internal communication and collaboration needs, while a new communications system will be installed and integrated across the Leinster Rugby communications ecosystem. This deal is the first long-term sponsorship DigitalWell has committed to, marking the continued expansion of the brand into the European communications market and beyond. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Enterprise communications company DigitalWell has announced a five-year sponsorship agreement with Leinster Rugby to provide upgraded secure communications and collaboration services that will allow seamless and more consistent team communications. Since the pandemic, Leinster Rugby, as an organisation, has seen an increased need for and usage of digital solutions enabling remote communications and connectivity between professional and domestic rugby staff across all five rugby playing areas of the province. Many of these solutions have subsequently been adopted long-term by the club and the partnership with DigitalWell will see upgraded 24/7 professionally managed service support for the team and club employees, in areas such as internet connectivity and new virtual team rooms. “With clubs, schools and indeed centres of excellence all across our 12 counties, staying connected and collaborating is one of the most important things to our club,” explains Kevin Quinn, Head of Commercial and Marketing, Leinster Rugby. “Digital solutions have given us many new ways to communicate and even benefit training, for example by making it easier for injured players to stay up-to-date with team briefings and training while recovering. “Through our partnership with DigitalWell, our communication systems will see an important upgrade to better support and future-proof our team, and ensure our technology meets the same professional standards as everywhere else in our club.” For DigitalWell, the motivation behind the sponsorship is both business-related and personal for Kildare-born CEO, Ross Murray. “Our recent new business wins in the Americas and mainland Europe are helping us cement our position as an international player in the enterprise communications market,” explains Murray. “However, we also wanted to remain true to our Irish roots and the client-first approach with the customers who gave us our start in this business two decades ago. Serving as Leinster Rugby’s secure collaborations and communications partner enables us to reinvest in our local community, but with a pan-European brand that matches our overseas aspirations. It makes it even better to do it with the club I have supported for many years. “I thought Leinster’s collaboration with the Crusaders during Covid showed how Sport could leverage the latest communications technology. Video, data analysis, white board brain storming is now as important to Professional Rugby teams as the work done on the training park and we are really excited to see what we can do to give Leinster a real competitive advantage for years to come.” The sponsorship agreement will see DigitalWell assess Leinster Rugby’s current internal communication and collaboration needs, while a new communications system will be installed and integrated across the Leinster Rugby communications ecosystem. This deal is the first long-term sponsorship DigitalWell has committed to, marking the continued expansion of the brand into the European communications market and beyond. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Thomas Frey is who you will undoubtedly find when you do a Google search on “futurist speaker”. Having shared the stage with many A-listers, Frey has earned that moniker. But his true skill demonstrated repeatedly in this week’s episode is taking an event or innovation and the extrapolating the future. In this episode we see him do that in real time. It’s a unique glimpse into the futurist process. Demonstrating Futurist Thinking with Thomas Frey Thomas Frey – Architect of the Future Why a futurist? As a futurist, my goal is to expand our understanding of the future. Every day, thousands of emerging technologies spring to life, thousands of researchers make new discoveries, and thousands of new trends start to reveal themselves. As we move down the path of advancing technology, our relationship with the future has never been clearer; making this both the most exciting and scariest time to be alive, in all human history. There is a constant battle being waged over the needs of the present vs. the needs of the future. Naturally the future cannot be our only priority; otherwise, we lose our ability to function in the present. Near-term issues invariably take precedent over long-term potential; yet, our ability to prioritize importance is directly tied to our vision of the future. Still, it is our vision of the future that determines our actions today. I use this phrase a lot: “The future creates the present!” Yes, this is just the opposite of what most people think. They believe the work we’re doing today will automatically create the future, but from a little different perspective, it is the images of the future that we hold in our head that determines the decisions we’ll make today. Welcome to the Futurists where your hosts Brett King and Robert Tercek interview the worlds foremost super-forecasters, thought leaders, technologists, entrepreneurs and futurists building the world of tomorrow. Together we will explore how our world will radically change as AI, bioscience, energy, food and agriculture, computing, the metaverse, the space industry, crypto, resource management, supply chain and climate will reshape our world over the next 100 years. Join us on The Futurists and we will see you in the future! See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Thomas Frey is who you will undoubtedly find when you do a Google search on “futurist speaker”. Having shared the stage with many A-listers, Frey has earned that moniker. But his true skill demonstrated repeatedly in this week’s episode is taking an event or innovation and the extrapolating the future. In this episode we see him do that in real time. It’s a unique glimpse into the futurist process. Demonstrating Futurist Thinking with Thomas Frey Thomas Frey – Architect of the Future Why a futurist? As a futurist, my goal is to expand our understanding of the future. Every day, thousands of emerging technologies spring to life, thousands of researchers make new discoveries, and thousands of new trends start to reveal themselves. As we move down the path of advancing technology, our relationship with the future has never been clearer; making this both the most exciting and scariest time to be alive, in all human history. There is a constant battle being waged over the needs of the present vs. the needs of the future. Naturally the future cannot be our only priority; otherwise, we lose our ability to function in the present. Near-term issues invariably take precedent over long-term potential; yet, our ability to prioritize importance is directly tied to our vision of the future. Still, it is our vision of the future that determines our actions today. I use this phrase a lot: “The future creates the present!” Yes, this is just the opposite of what most people think. They believe the work we’re doing today will automatically create the future, but from a little different perspective, it is the images of the future that we hold in our head that determines the decisions we’ll make today. Welcome to the Futurists where your hosts Brett King and Robert Tercek interview the worlds foremost super-forecasters, thought leaders, technologists, entrepreneurs and futurists building the world of tomorrow. Together we will explore how our world will radically change as AI, bioscience, energy, food and agriculture, computing, the metaverse, the space industry, crypto, resource management, supply chain and climate will reshape our world over the next 100 years. Join us on The Futurists and we will see you in the future! See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
A coalition of almost 200 groups and businesses, including Veg Climate Network, Plant Based Treaty, Better Food Foundation, Future Food 4 Climate, Compassion in World Farming, Humane Society International and Pro Veg International, has called for accelerated action on plant-based food solutions to the climate emergency in an open letter addressed to 100 mayors ahead of a C40 summit this week in Buenos Aires. Plant-based transition to cut food emissions, C40 Summit The open letter to the mayors of the C40 cities applauds the efforts of cities to act collaboratively on climate solutions but highlights concerns over the lack of meaningful progress on food-related greenhouse gas emissions. The coalition urges cities to use their collective power to make advances on their climate commitments by following 19 key recommendations on best practices for a plant-based food transition. C40’s research has identified that the single most impactful action cities can take is to accelerate dietary change towards plant-based diets. To reach C40 targets, such as lowering per capita meat consumption from 58kg to 16kg by 2030, cities must adopt and diffuse best practices to increase plant-based food consumption. Cities play a key role in shifting food norms in their communities and making veg foods more accessible. Nital Jethalal, President of VegTO and co-chair of the Veg Climate Network, said, “Shifting diets plant-based is the single most impactful climate action cities can take and would save lives, reduce costs and spur innovation. The commitments and public support are there. The mayors of the 100 C40 cities, especially in the global north, must act boldly and immediately to move our food systems plant-based. To date, just 14 cities have signed the C40 Good Food Cities Accelerator, including New York City, where healthy plant-based meals are now served by default across the Health+Hospitals system. The city says the healthier meals are being well-received by patients (95 percent satisfaction rate) and about 60% of eligible patients are opting for the plant-based option. Laura Lee Cascada, Campaigns Director, Better Food Foundation, said, “Last month, New York City boldly revealed how it’s flipping the script on harmful food norms: serving plant-based foods by default across an entire public institution, its hospitals. As global climate leaders, all C40 cities have a responsibility to model a sustainable food system by following New York, Berkeley, Amsterdam, and other trailblazers with their own plant-based commitments.” The coalition is calling on all C40 cities attending this triennial meeting in Buenos Aires to: Implement best practices on plant-based food solutions to the climate emergency. Sign and take concrete steps to implement the Good Food Cities Declaration, which includes a commitment to support “increased consumption of healthy plant-based foods by shifting away from unsustainable, unhealthy diets.” Urge cities to join Buenos Aires and 19 municipal governments worldwide in endorsing the Plant Based Treaty as an essential step towards addressing food related emissions. Allie Molinaro, Campaigns Manager, Compassion in World Farming, said, “With the renewable energy transition now underway in most major cities, reducing overreliance on animal-sourced food is the next frontier in tackling climate change. If C40 leaders are serious about upholding the Paris Agreement, they must turn their attention toward transitioning to a plant-based food system.” Anita Krajnc, global campaign coordinator for Plant Based Treaty, said, “The IPCC consistently shows the vegan diet to be the optimal diet to fight the climate and methane emergencies. Cities play a crucial role in our bottom-up campaign to urge national governments to negotiate a global Plant Based Treaty. C40 cities are considered leaders on local climate action and can accelerate much needed progress by implementing best practices such as serving plant-based food at council events a...
A coalition of almost 200 groups and businesses, including Veg Climate Network, Plant Based Treaty, Better Food Foundation, Future Food 4 Climate, Compassion in World Farming, Humane Society International and Pro Veg International, has called for accelerated action on plant-based food solutions to the climate emergency in an open letter addressed to 100 mayors ahead of a C40 summit this week in Buenos Aires. Plant-based transition to cut food emissions, C40 Summit The open letter to the mayors of the C40 cities applauds the efforts of cities to act collaboratively on climate solutions but highlights concerns over the lack of meaningful progress on food-related greenhouse gas emissions. The coalition urges cities to use their collective power to make advances on their climate commitments by following 19 key recommendations on best practices for a plant-based food transition. C40’s research has identified that the single most impactful action cities can take is to accelerate dietary change towards plant-based diets. To reach C40 targets, such as lowering per capita meat consumption from 58kg to 16kg by 2030, cities must adopt and diffuse best practices to increase plant-based food consumption. Cities play a key role in shifting food norms in their communities and making veg foods more accessible. Nital Jethalal, President of VegTO and co-chair of the Veg Climate Network, said, “Shifting diets plant-based is the single most impactful climate action cities can take and would save lives, reduce costs and spur innovation. The commitments and public support are there. The mayors of the 100 C40 cities, especially in the global north, must act boldly and immediately to move our food systems plant-based. To date, just 14 cities have signed the C40 Good Food Cities Accelerator, including New York City, where healthy plant-based meals are now served by default across the Health+Hospitals system. The city says the healthier meals are being well-received by patients (95 percent satisfaction rate) and about 60% of eligible patients are opting for the plant-based option. Laura Lee Cascada, Campaigns Director, Better Food Foundation, said, “Last month, New York City boldly revealed how it’s flipping the script on harmful food norms: serving plant-based foods by default across an entire public institution, its hospitals. As global climate leaders, all C40 cities have a responsibility to model a sustainable food system by following New York, Berkeley, Amsterdam, and other trailblazers with their own plant-based commitments.” The coalition is calling on all C40 cities attending this triennial meeting in Buenos Aires to: Implement best practices on plant-based food solutions to the climate emergency. Sign and take concrete steps to implement the Good Food Cities Declaration, which includes a commitment to support “increased consumption of healthy plant-based foods by shifting away from unsustainable, unhealthy diets.” Urge cities to join Buenos Aires and 19 municipal governments worldwide in endorsing the Plant Based Treaty as an essential step towards addressing food related emissions. Allie Molinaro, Campaigns Manager, Compassion in World Farming, said, “With the renewable energy transition now underway in most major cities, reducing overreliance on animal-sourced food is the next frontier in tackling climate change. If C40 leaders are serious about upholding the Paris Agreement, they must turn their attention toward transitioning to a plant-based food system.” Anita Krajnc, global campaign coordinator for Plant Based Treaty, said, “The IPCC consistently shows the vegan diet to be the optimal diet to fight the climate and methane emergencies. Cities play a crucial role in our bottom-up campaign to urge national governments to negotiate a global Plant Based Treaty. C40 cities are considered leaders on local climate action and can accelerate much needed progress by implementing best practices such as serving plant-based food at council events a...
Huawei has announced a €150 million investment and the creation of 200 new jobs as it plans to open its first European cloud hub in Dublin. The announcement was made at the Huawei Connect event in Paris, France. The hub will create 60 jobs in the next two years and 200 by 2027, including sales, pre-sales, legal, tax, operational, management and research positions. The new European hub will serve customers across the continent and help ambitious Irish enterprises to expand into new global markets, by providing a secure, compliant, innovative, and sustainable cloud platform for growth and development. Supported by Huawei’s industry-leading technology, investment in R&D, and open digital ecosystem, Huawei Cloud will offer a suite of cutting-edge cloud services across Europe, using Ireland as the platform. The investment is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland. Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment Leo Varadkar said: “This significant €150 million investment by Huawei with the creation of 200 jobs over five years is really welcome and demonstrates the company’s ongoing commitment to Ireland. It’s also an endorsement of Ireland as an enterprise-friendly environment where companies like Huawei can grow and prosper. Huawei is expanding its portfolio of services in Ireland with this investment, which will substantially enhance our thriving technology ecosystem. I wish Huawei continued success in developing its presence here.” Speaking about the positioning and business development goals of Huawei Cloud in Ireland, Tony Yangxu, CEO of Huawei Ireland, said: “I am honoured to announce the arrival of Huawei Cloud to Ireland. We see Ireland as a strategically important location for the global deployment of Huawei Cloud. The new offering will be based on stable, reliable, secure, compliant, innovative, and sustainable cloud services customised to meet the needs of various Irish and European customers, but particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It offers innovative Irish and European enterprises the opportunity to access new markets and potentially reach global customers. Digitalisation represents the biggest opportunity for all industries over the next decade, and it is set to supercharge the cloud sector.” Speaking about the launch, Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland, added: “Huawei’s latest expansion further positions Ireland as an important hub for its European and global operations, and is clear evidence of the company’s continued commitment to this country. Its decision to choose Ireland as its European Operation Centre for cloud services is another endorsement of our strong business-friendly environment and digital ecosystem. These new services leverage Huawei’s industry-leading technology and R&D expertise, and are testament to the strength of Ireland’s offering including our extremely strong talent pool.” Huawei Cloud will align with existing Huawei functions in Ireland, supporting SME and start-up digitalisation in partnership with industry partners and state agencies including IDA Ireland. It will offer customers resources such as cloud credits, technical support and access to international venture-capital networks to help speed up digitalisation and support expansion into global and Asian markets, also facilitating Asian and Chinese enterprises to increase investment in Ireland. Speaking about the regional strategies of Huawei Cloud, Tim Tao, President of Huawei Cloud West European region commented: “Huawei Cloud draws on Huawei’s over 30 years of expertise in ICT technologies, products, and solutions and provides customers with reliable, secure, and sustainable cloud services. In Europe, Huawei Cloud is committed to building the cloud foundation for an intelligent world with ubiquitous cloud and pervasive intelligence. We will continuously innovate and work with our customers, partners, and developers with a mindset of “Think cloud-native, act cloud native”, building an a...
Huawei has announced a €150 million investment and the creation of 200 new jobs as it plans to open its first European cloud hub in Dublin. The announcement was made at the Huawei Connect event in Paris, France. The hub will create 60 jobs in the next two years and 200 by 2027, including sales, pre-sales, legal, tax, operational, management and research positions. The new European hub will serve customers across the continent and help ambitious Irish enterprises to expand into new global markets, by providing a secure, compliant, innovative, and sustainable cloud platform for growth and development. Supported by Huawei’s industry-leading technology, investment in R&D, and open digital ecosystem, Huawei Cloud will offer a suite of cutting-edge cloud services across Europe, using Ireland as the platform. The investment is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland. Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment Leo Varadkar said: “This significant €150 million investment by Huawei with the creation of 200 jobs over five years is really welcome and demonstrates the company’s ongoing commitment to Ireland. It’s also an endorsement of Ireland as an enterprise-friendly environment where companies like Huawei can grow and prosper. Huawei is expanding its portfolio of services in Ireland with this investment, which will substantially enhance our thriving technology ecosystem. I wish Huawei continued success in developing its presence here.” Speaking about the positioning and business development goals of Huawei Cloud in Ireland, Tony Yangxu, CEO of Huawei Ireland, said: “I am honoured to announce the arrival of Huawei Cloud to Ireland. We see Ireland as a strategically important location for the global deployment of Huawei Cloud. The new offering will be based on stable, reliable, secure, compliant, innovative, and sustainable cloud services customised to meet the needs of various Irish and European customers, but particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It offers innovative Irish and European enterprises the opportunity to access new markets and potentially reach global customers. Digitalisation represents the biggest opportunity for all industries over the next decade, and it is set to supercharge the cloud sector.” Speaking about the launch, Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland, added: “Huawei’s latest expansion further positions Ireland as an important hub for its European and global operations, and is clear evidence of the company’s continued commitment to this country. Its decision to choose Ireland as its European Operation Centre for cloud services is another endorsement of our strong business-friendly environment and digital ecosystem. These new services leverage Huawei’s industry-leading technology and R&D expertise, and are testament to the strength of Ireland’s offering including our extremely strong talent pool.” Huawei Cloud will align with existing Huawei functions in Ireland, supporting SME and start-up digitalisation in partnership with industry partners and state agencies including IDA Ireland. It will offer customers resources such as cloud credits, technical support and access to international venture-capital networks to help speed up digitalisation and support expansion into global and Asian markets, also facilitating Asian and Chinese enterprises to increase investment in Ireland. Speaking about the regional strategies of Huawei Cloud, Tim Tao, President of Huawei Cloud West European region commented: “Huawei Cloud draws on Huawei’s over 30 years of expertise in ICT technologies, products, and solutions and provides customers with reliable, secure, and sustainable cloud services. In Europe, Huawei Cloud is committed to building the cloud foundation for an intelligent world with ubiquitous cloud and pervasive intelligence. We will continuously innovate and work with our customers, partners, and developers with a mindset of “Think cloud-native, act cloud native”, building an a...
If you believe that insurance is boring, then you will change your mind after listening to our conversation with Sabine VanderLinden, the Insurtech Queen. We talk about the risks that are increasing like climate-related risks and the new risks like cloud outages and supply chain disruptions, that need to be insured. We talk about the new business models in insurance which are following the footsteps of those in Banking. In the second part of our conversation, we discuss Sabine`s takeaways from the largest insurtech event, ITC 22 in Las Vegas. She organized an event on Commercial Sustainability at ITC and shares with us insights. Emerging Commercial insurance risks & Sustainability, Sabine VanderLinden Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, and commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers and accelerating over 150 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, and an investor, and multi-award winner. Twitter: SabineVdL LinkedIn: Sabine VanderLinden Website: www.alchemycrew.com Website: www.sabinevdl.com Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica. A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter. Join her on the social platforms More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
If you believe that insurance is boring, then you will change your mind after listening to our conversation with Sabine VanderLinden, the Insurtech Queen. We talk about the risks that are increasing like climate-related risks and the new risks like cloud outages and supply chain disruptions, that need to be insured. We talk about the new business models in insurance which are following the footsteps of those in Banking. In the second part of our conversation, we discuss Sabine`s takeaways from the largest insurtech event, ITC 22 in Las Vegas. She organized an event on Commercial Sustainability at ITC and shares with us insights. Emerging Commercial insurance risks & Sustainability, Sabine VanderLinden Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, and commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers and accelerating over 150 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, and an investor, and multi-award winner. Twitter: SabineVdL LinkedIn: Sabine VanderLinden Website: www.alchemycrew.com Website: www.sabinevdl.com Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica. A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter. Join her on the social platforms More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
&Open, the platform delivering better gifts at scale for companies that care, has announced the global launch of On-Demand, a new curated marketplace that gives businesses of all sizes the flexibility to gift in an instant and the freedom to pay as they go. The realisation that good relationships aren’t built on thoughtless freebies inspired Ciara Flood, her husband, Jonathan Legge, and his brother, Mark Legge, to found a unique B2B gifting platform called &Open. The company’s mission is straightforward: to build loyal relationships between brands and the people that power their businesses with thoughtful, easy gifting. With the launch of On-Demand, &Open is making best-in-class gifting accessible to companies who are looking for a more flexible solution outside of an annual contract, particularly the smaller and medium-sized businesses that have emerged since the pandemic. Unlike &Open’s enterprise offering, On-Demand allows anyone to sign up immediately and send a gift within seconds. With intuitive performance tracking and insights, businesses can then measure the impact of their gift-giving. With hundreds of gift options (+95% of them exclusive to &Open) ranging from cocktails to flowers, hot sauce to puzzles, &Open’s platform allows people to send products from vendors, including Irish vendors like Bean & Goose, Craft Cocktails, White Mausu and The Lismore Food Company and more. Gift givers can easily search On-Demand’s collection according to their values, with gifts from LGBTQ+, BIPOC, family founded and female-owned businesses, as well as sustainably-sourced gift options. By filtering based on interest, price point and locality, companies of all sizes can source locally while gifting globally to more than 120 countries. To save time, companies can also set up gift reasons — whether it’s to celebrate personal milestones, anniversaries, birthdays, etc. These micro-automations ensure gifting is made easy, thoughtful and impactful everytime. “Corporate gifting is broken,” said CEO and co-founder Jonathan Legge. “At &Open, we’re putting the emotion back into gifting in an effort to show people they matter. For brands, that means making it easy to send thoughtful, unique gifts, and with On-Demand, we’re excited to finally introduce a product that can help companies of any size build those relationships with the people that matter most to them.” An Irish success story, &Open has rapidly become a serious global player in the corporate gifting and loyalty market, a sector estimated to reach $312B by 2025. The company has grown its enterprise gifting platform by working with household names like Airbnb, Spotify, Peloton, and Intercom, with new clients growing by 270% in the last year alone. Brands that gift with &Open have all seen positive, quantifiable impacts on their bottom line in the past year, with one client seeing a 200% return on investment and another a 28% increase in retention among customers who received &Open gifts. With On-Demand, small and medium-sized businesses now have access to that level of growth. Earlier this year, &Open announced a $26 million Series A funding round led by Molten Ventures, with participation from First Round Capital and LocalGlobe, bringing total capital raised to $33.2 million.
&Open, the platform delivering better gifts at scale for companies that care, has announced the global launch of On-Demand, a new curated marketplace that gives businesses of all sizes the flexibility to gift in an instant and the freedom to pay as they go. The realisation that good relationships aren’t built on thoughtless freebies inspired Ciara Flood, her husband, Jonathan Legge, and his brother, Mark Legge, to found a unique B2B gifting platform called &Open. The company’s mission is straightforward: to build loyal relationships between brands and the people that power their businesses with thoughtful, easy gifting. With the launch of On-Demand, &Open is making best-in-class gifting accessible to companies who are looking for a more flexible solution outside of an annual contract, particularly the smaller and medium-sized businesses that have emerged since the pandemic. Unlike &Open’s enterprise offering, On-Demand allows anyone to sign up immediately and send a gift within seconds. With intuitive performance tracking and insights, businesses can then measure the impact of their gift-giving. With hundreds of gift options (+95% of them exclusive to &Open) ranging from cocktails to flowers, hot sauce to puzzles, &Open’s platform allows people to send products from vendors, including Irish vendors like Bean & Goose, Craft Cocktails, White Mausu and The Lismore Food Company and more. Gift givers can easily search On-Demand’s collection according to their values, with gifts from LGBTQ+, BIPOC, family founded and female-owned businesses, as well as sustainably-sourced gift options. By filtering based on interest, price point and locality, companies of all sizes can source locally while gifting globally to more than 120 countries. To save time, companies can also set up gift reasons — whether it’s to celebrate personal milestones, anniversaries, birthdays, etc. These micro-automations ensure gifting is made easy, thoughtful and impactful everytime. “Corporate gifting is broken,” said CEO and co-founder Jonathan Legge. “At &Open, we’re putting the emotion back into gifting in an effort to show people they matter. For brands, that means making it easy to send thoughtful, unique gifts, and with On-Demand, we’re excited to finally introduce a product that can help companies of any size build those relationships with the people that matter most to them.” An Irish success story, &Open has rapidly become a serious global player in the corporate gifting and loyalty market, a sector estimated to reach $312B by 2025. The company has grown its enterprise gifting platform by working with household names like Airbnb, Spotify, Peloton, and Intercom, with new clients growing by 270% in the last year alone. Brands that gift with &Open have all seen positive, quantifiable impacts on their bottom line in the past year, with one client seeing a 200% return on investment and another a 28% increase in retention among customers who received &Open gifts. With On-Demand, small and medium-sized businesses now have access to that level of growth. Earlier this year, &Open announced a $26 million Series A funding round led by Molten Ventures, with participation from First Round Capital and LocalGlobe, bringing total capital raised to $33.2 million.
HCS, a leading business IT, security and telecoms company, has announced that it is investing €1.13 million and creating five new jobs to accelerate its growth in cybersecurity over the next three years. Additionally, HCS will provide a new Fortinet Security Operations Centre (SOC) as-a-service to customers, which uses AI and SOC analysts to alert of any incidents on organisations’ networks 24/7. The company is hiring for technical engineers across cybersecurity in response to increased demand from customers.These roles will involve proactively managing customer networks both in the cloud and on-premise, providing consultancy and professional services to securely configure Fortinet and Microsoft solutions, and providing security managed services to maintain and improve clients’ security posture on an ongoing basis. The investment will enable new certifications and upskilling for both new hires and existing employees within HCS’ Fortinet and Microsoft security portfolios. HCS provides secure integrated IT, telecoms and productivity solutions to enable better business performance for Irish organisations. The company uses secure by design principles to ensure that it significantly reduces risk for customers with security built in. Headquartered in Waterford and with a base in Dublin, the company recently opened a third location in Cork. Customers will be able to fully leverage the security features within Microsoft365, while Fortinet’s Operational Technology (OT) Security will cater to specific security requirements within production environments. HCS is one of two Fortinet Advanced Partners in Ireland. The investment will also enable the expansion of HCS’ services in high-growth areas such as manufacturing, utilities and cloud security. The company’s secure solutions have already been adopted by customers including Connolly’s Redmills and Avis Budget Ireland. Dan Hegarty, Head of Sales, HCS: “This investment means that HCS can scale up our capabilities in the cybersecurity space and bring our services to progressive organisations that take security seriously. We are seeing a huge demand for more secure solutions among our customers. Covid-19 has accelerated security demands around remote working and cloud in particular, while geopolitical moves have resulted in a rise in cyberattacks in recent years. “We are excited to expand our Microsoft and Fortinet security offerings and are working closely with both partners to bring the full benefit of each solution stack to customers. Our growing team will provide our customers with the skills and expertise they need at every stage of their cybersecurity journeys.” See more stories here.
HCS, a leading business IT, security and telecoms company, has announced that it is investing €1.13 million and creating five new jobs to accelerate its growth in cybersecurity over the next three years. Additionally, HCS will provide a new Fortinet Security Operations Centre (SOC) as-a-service to customers, which uses AI and SOC analysts to alert of any incidents on organisations’ networks 24/7. The company is hiring for technical engineers across cybersecurity in response to increased demand from customers.These roles will involve proactively managing customer networks both in the cloud and on-premise, providing consultancy and professional services to securely configure Fortinet and Microsoft solutions, and providing security managed services to maintain and improve clients’ security posture on an ongoing basis. The investment will enable new certifications and upskilling for both new hires and existing employees within HCS’ Fortinet and Microsoft security portfolios. HCS provides secure integrated IT, telecoms and productivity solutions to enable better business performance for Irish organisations. The company uses secure by design principles to ensure that it significantly reduces risk for customers with security built in. Headquartered in Waterford and with a base in Dublin, the company recently opened a third location in Cork. Customers will be able to fully leverage the security features within Microsoft365, while Fortinet’s Operational Technology (OT) Security will cater to specific security requirements within production environments. HCS is one of two Fortinet Advanced Partners in Ireland. The investment will also enable the expansion of HCS’ services in high-growth areas such as manufacturing, utilities and cloud security. The company’s secure solutions have already been adopted by customers including Connolly’s Redmills and Avis Budget Ireland. Dan Hegarty, Head of Sales, HCS: “This investment means that HCS can scale up our capabilities in the cybersecurity space and bring our services to progressive organisations that take security seriously. We are seeing a huge demand for more secure solutions among our customers. Covid-19 has accelerated security demands around remote working and cloud in particular, while geopolitical moves have resulted in a rise in cyberattacks in recent years. “We are excited to expand our Microsoft and Fortinet security offerings and are working closely with both partners to bring the full benefit of each solution stack to customers. Our growing team will provide our customers with the skills and expertise they need at every stage of their cybersecurity journeys.” See more stories here.
An innovative €2.5 million education project at Maynooth University aims to address the skills gap that is slowing our transition to sustainable energy. The RES4CITY project led by Maynooth University’s School of Business and funded by the Horizon Europe Programme, will create a suite of education programmes and tools providing inclusive opportunities for all learners to develop skills in renewable energy systems, fuel technologies, and sustainability. This highly innovative education project was Ireland’s only successful application under the Horizon Europe ‘Sustainable, secure and competitive energy supply’ programme. The project aims to address a projected EU skills shortage in the renewable energy sector, which has the potential to create 38 million jobs by 2030, and 43 million jobs by 2050. Led by Dr Fabiano Pallonetto and Dr Emmanuel Kypraios, RES4CITY’s education programme will be designed by a multi-disciplinary group of partners across European academia, industry, and NGOs with expertise in energy management, renewable energy systems, renewable fuel technologies and the development and implementation of sustainability strategy design. The project brings together 17 partners across eight countries (Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, France, Sweden and Belgium) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). RES4CITY aims to ensure that education systems are at the core of the green transition. It will address diverse educational needs to ensure that access to appropriate skills are delivered in an equitable and inclusive manner. The team will co-design a suite of micro-credential programmes targeting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and non-STEM graduates, as well as professionals wishing to re-skill from a wide variety of industries and diverse career paths. These micro- credentials will meet needs and priorities of businesses, public institutions and citizens. The project focuses on urban contexts, as most of the EU population is concentrated in cities, where the consumption of resources has been steadily increasing. By addressing knowledge, attitudes and skills, the RES4CITY researchers expect to empower society to grasp new opportunities and face the challenges posed by a fast-changing and digital world. Dr Fabiano Pallonetto, of Maynooth University’s School of Business, said: “By bringing together 17 different academic, industry and non-governmental partners, from across Europe, including the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), we will ensure that the educational programmes produced by RES4CITY meets the needs of a diverse array of learners from a variety of backgrounds and career paths. Key to this and the longevity of our outputs will be the careful integration and use of digitalisation, gamification, AI and web platforms.” Dr Emmanuel Kypraios, project co-lead, said: “A rapid shift toward renewable energy, sustainable fuels, and sustainable development is imperative for the European Union to meet the Green Deal target to become climate-neutral by 2050. Particular attention needs to be paid to urban areas since most of the EU population is concentrated in cities and these are areas of high resource consumption. The purpose of RES4CITY is to create a new educational model to ensure urban societies are ready for the green transition and can maximise the economic opportunities it presents.” More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience...
An innovative €2.5 million education project at Maynooth University aims to address the skills gap that is slowing our transition to sustainable energy. The RES4CITY project led by Maynooth University’s School of Business and funded by the Horizon Europe Programme, will create a suite of education programmes and tools providing inclusive opportunities for all learners to develop skills in renewable energy systems, fuel technologies, and sustainability. This highly innovative education project was Ireland’s only successful application under the Horizon Europe ‘Sustainable, secure and competitive energy supply’ programme. The project aims to address a projected EU skills shortage in the renewable energy sector, which has the potential to create 38 million jobs by 2030, and 43 million jobs by 2050. Led by Dr Fabiano Pallonetto and Dr Emmanuel Kypraios, RES4CITY’s education programme will be designed by a multi-disciplinary group of partners across European academia, industry, and NGOs with expertise in energy management, renewable energy systems, renewable fuel technologies and the development and implementation of sustainability strategy design. The project brings together 17 partners across eight countries (Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, France, Sweden and Belgium) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). RES4CITY aims to ensure that education systems are at the core of the green transition. It will address diverse educational needs to ensure that access to appropriate skills are delivered in an equitable and inclusive manner. The team will co-design a suite of micro-credential programmes targeting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and non-STEM graduates, as well as professionals wishing to re-skill from a wide variety of industries and diverse career paths. These micro- credentials will meet needs and priorities of businesses, public institutions and citizens. The project focuses on urban contexts, as most of the EU population is concentrated in cities, where the consumption of resources has been steadily increasing. By addressing knowledge, attitudes and skills, the RES4CITY researchers expect to empower society to grasp new opportunities and face the challenges posed by a fast-changing and digital world. Dr Fabiano Pallonetto, of Maynooth University’s School of Business, said: “By bringing together 17 different academic, industry and non-governmental partners, from across Europe, including the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), we will ensure that the educational programmes produced by RES4CITY meets the needs of a diverse array of learners from a variety of backgrounds and career paths. Key to this and the longevity of our outputs will be the careful integration and use of digitalisation, gamification, AI and web platforms.” Dr Emmanuel Kypraios, project co-lead, said: “A rapid shift toward renewable energy, sustainable fuels, and sustainable development is imperative for the European Union to meet the Green Deal target to become climate-neutral by 2050. Particular attention needs to be paid to urban areas since most of the EU population is concentrated in cities and these are areas of high resource consumption. The purpose of RES4CITY is to create a new educational model to ensure urban societies are ready for the green transition and can maximise the economic opportunities it presents.” More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience...
Increased digital dependency means that ransomware is the next global pandemic, and this time there is no vaccine that can act as a silver bullet to prevent it. The last twelve months have witnessed an explosion of ransomware incidents across the world. These incidents have also started to have real life consequences, with the attacks on both the Colonial Pipeline and Ireland’s Health Service Executive highlighting that ransomware can impact the public’s everyday life. As society becomes more reliant upon technology and digital systems, driven by the pandemic and the advent of remote working, Andrzej Kawalec Head of Security at Vodafone Business, believes ransomware is set to become the next global pandemic. Much like the COVID-19 pandemic, ransomware is a global problem, and we even see different variants of ransom across the world. The nature of modern cybercrime means that these attacks are now targeted, with cybercriminals undertaking research to understand exactly how much money to demand as ransom. In the future, Andrzej believes we will see misinformation used as a ransom. With an individual or organisation’s brand more important than ever, cybercriminals will look to hijack social media profiles in exchange for a ransom payment. This is the future of extortion. Ronan talks to Andrzej about this and why the focus should be to minimise the impact of an attack and ensure that those businesses that are hit are able to survive without too much damage. More about Andrzej Kawalec: Andrzej Kawalec is the Head of Security Portfolio at Vodafone Business. Andrzej manages Vodafone Business’ global portfolio of security offerings. He is widely recognised for his expertise in cyber security and digital change. A former CTO himself, he has a vast amount of experience working at the board-level across public and private sectors, helping to define and promote cyber security strategy. He believes that Security is the enabling layer for innovation. From autonomous driving to digital healthcare, the technologies and societies of the future will not reach their full potential without secure digital foundations. Prior to joining Vodafone, Andrzej was Global CTO for security and Director of Security Research at HP, as well as head of Strategy and CTO at Optiv the world’s largest security Systems integrator. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Increased digital dependency means that ransomware is the next global pandemic, and this time there is no vaccine that can act as a silver bullet to prevent it. The last twelve months have witnessed an explosion of ransomware incidents across the world. These incidents have also started to have real life consequences, with the attacks on both the Colonial Pipeline and Ireland’s Health Service Executive highlighting that ransomware can impact the public’s everyday life. As society becomes more reliant upon technology and digital systems, driven by the pandemic and the advent of remote working, Andrzej Kawalec Head of Security at Vodafone Business, believes ransomware is set to become the next global pandemic. Much like the COVID-19 pandemic, ransomware is a global problem, and we even see different variants of ransom across the world. The nature of modern cybercrime means that these attacks are now targeted, with cybercriminals undertaking research to understand exactly how much money to demand as ransom. In the future, Andrzej believes we will see misinformation used as a ransom. With an individual or organisation’s brand more important than ever, cybercriminals will look to hijack social media profiles in exchange for a ransom payment. This is the future of extortion. Ronan talks to Andrzej about this and why the focus should be to minimise the impact of an attack and ensure that those businesses that are hit are able to survive without too much damage. More about Andrzej Kawalec: Andrzej Kawalec is the Head of Security Portfolio at Vodafone Business. Andrzej manages Vodafone Business’ global portfolio of security offerings. He is widely recognised for his expertise in cyber security and digital change. A former CTO himself, he has a vast amount of experience working at the board-level across public and private sectors, helping to define and promote cyber security strategy. He believes that Security is the enabling layer for innovation. From autonomous driving to digital healthcare, the technologies and societies of the future will not reach their full potential without secure digital foundations. Prior to joining Vodafone, Andrzej was Global CTO for security and Director of Security Research at HP, as well as head of Strategy and CTO at Optiv the world’s largest security Systems integrator. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
First Highland-specific survey will cover over 25,000 square kilometres to help red squirrels People living in the Scottish Highlands are being asked to take part in a major citizen science study this autumn, as part of a pioneering red squirrel reintroduction project being carried out by the charity Trees for Life. The new research is part of a successful rewilding initiative, through which Trees for Life has established 10 new red squirrel populations in the Highlands so far. Over the past six years, the charity has reintroduced a total of almost 200 squirrels at sites across the north, including Spinningdale, Golspie, Shieldaig, Kinlochewe and Plockton. Citizen science project to help red squirrels With Scotland the UK’s last remaining stronghold of the endangered native species, these reintroductions have helped to significantly bolster the north’s red squirrel population. Trees for Life now wants to find out how far these relocated reds have spread out from their initial release sites, and about the total size and range of the Highland region’s entire population. The charity is calling on the public to report current and historic squirrel sightings via the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels website at scottishsquirrels.org.uk. Each reported sighting will be fed into a large dataset, supplementing in-person survey work that Trees for Life will carry out later this year. Becky Priestley, Red Squirrel Project Manager at Trees for Life, said: “Citizen science is a fantastic way to gather information about wildlife populations, especially across a large area like the Highlands. By reporting sightings, local people can provide invaluable information that will help us to ensure a better future for red squirrels. “By filling the gaps in knowledge about where this endangered species is found, we can create an up-to-date distribution map to use as a baseline for future monitoring and to identify where future releases could make a positive difference.” While similar studies have been carried out in other parts of the UK and Ireland, this will be the first Highland-specific survey, covering a total land area of more than 25,000 square kilometres. Trees for Life has divided the region into five square kilometre quadrants, or plots, and hopes to gather sightings records from as many areas as possible, while also drawing on data from other wildlife professionals who work in woodlands. Becky said: “Any plots that don’t return records will need to be physically surveyed to check for evidence of red squirrel presence, by searching for feeding signs. But in areas with low numbers of squirrels, this can be like looking for a needle in a haystack! “Public sightings reports give us good, hard evidence of squirrel presence – so we are calling on people to get behind this survey and help us to gather as much information as we can.” Red squirrels live in woodlands where there is a good variety of tree species for them to feed on, including Scots pine, larch, hazel, oak and beech. Autumn is the best time of year to spot a squirrel, as they are busy collecting food to store for the winter. The new study will also feed into the Big Scottish Squirrel Survey, an annual survey that gathers data on the status of reds and also the non-native grey squirrels across Scotland. Since being introduced to the UK in the 1870s, the grey squirrel has spread throughout most of the country, decimating red squirrels through competition for food and disease. Trees for Life has been working to rewild the Scottish Highlands since the early 1990s, which includes returning lost native wildlife to the landscape. The charity has been carefully relocating reds from Inverness-shire and Moray to suitable woodlands in the north west where they can spread, safe from the threat of grey squirrels. For tips on how to spot a red squirrel, you can watch a Trees for Life video here: See more breaking stories here More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Te...
First Highland-specific survey will cover over 25,000 square kilometres to help red squirrels People living in the Scottish Highlands are being asked to take part in a major citizen science study this autumn, as part of a pioneering red squirrel reintroduction project being carried out by the charity Trees for Life. The new research is part of a successful rewilding initiative, through which Trees for Life has established 10 new red squirrel populations in the Highlands so far. Over the past six years, the charity has reintroduced a total of almost 200 squirrels at sites across the north, including Spinningdale, Golspie, Shieldaig, Kinlochewe and Plockton. Citizen science project to help red squirrels With Scotland the UK’s last remaining stronghold of the endangered native species, these reintroductions have helped to significantly bolster the north’s red squirrel population. Trees for Life now wants to find out how far these relocated reds have spread out from their initial release sites, and about the total size and range of the Highland region’s entire population. The charity is calling on the public to report current and historic squirrel sightings via the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels website at scottishsquirrels.org.uk. Each reported sighting will be fed into a large dataset, supplementing in-person survey work that Trees for Life will carry out later this year. Becky Priestley, Red Squirrel Project Manager at Trees for Life, said: “Citizen science is a fantastic way to gather information about wildlife populations, especially across a large area like the Highlands. By reporting sightings, local people can provide invaluable information that will help us to ensure a better future for red squirrels. “By filling the gaps in knowledge about where this endangered species is found, we can create an up-to-date distribution map to use as a baseline for future monitoring and to identify where future releases could make a positive difference.” While similar studies have been carried out in other parts of the UK and Ireland, this will be the first Highland-specific survey, covering a total land area of more than 25,000 square kilometres. Trees for Life has divided the region into five square kilometre quadrants, or plots, and hopes to gather sightings records from as many areas as possible, while also drawing on data from other wildlife professionals who work in woodlands. Becky said: “Any plots that don’t return records will need to be physically surveyed to check for evidence of red squirrel presence, by searching for feeding signs. But in areas with low numbers of squirrels, this can be like looking for a needle in a haystack! “Public sightings reports give us good, hard evidence of squirrel presence – so we are calling on people to get behind this survey and help us to gather as much information as we can.” Red squirrels live in woodlands where there is a good variety of tree species for them to feed on, including Scots pine, larch, hazel, oak and beech. Autumn is the best time of year to spot a squirrel, as they are busy collecting food to store for the winter. The new study will also feed into the Big Scottish Squirrel Survey, an annual survey that gathers data on the status of reds and also the non-native grey squirrels across Scotland. Since being introduced to the UK in the 1870s, the grey squirrel has spread throughout most of the country, decimating red squirrels through competition for food and disease. Trees for Life has been working to rewild the Scottish Highlands since the early 1990s, which includes returning lost native wildlife to the landscape. The charity has been carefully relocating reds from Inverness-shire and Moray to suitable woodlands in the north west where they can spread, safe from the threat of grey squirrels. For tips on how to spot a red squirrel, you can watch a Trees for Life video here: See more breaking stories here More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Te...
Trade Republic, the largest savings platform in Europe, is launching its services in the Republic of Ireland. Residents of Ireland can now use the Trade Republic app or website to jump-start their wealth creation journeys with secure, easy and commission-free access to capital markets. Trade Republic’s core product, ETFs and stock savings plans, will help the Irish to save up for retirement and with lower risk. In Ireland, the average household currently saves 20 percent of their income, most of which sits idly in bank accounts. On top of that, residents of Ireland are still facing high brokerage fees or are getting offered difficult to understand investment products. Trade Republic has set out to change that. Since 2015, the company has built a financial offering from scratch with an easy-to-use product everybody can afford, so everyone can start putting their money to work. Trade Republic does not charge its customers any order commission, there is just one euro of external fees to cover clearing and settlement, regardless of the size of the order. Savings plans for stocks and ETFs are offered completely free of charge. Irish customers have access to a total of over 8,000 Irish, European, Asian and US stocks and 1,100 ETFs, real-time data, price alerts, a wide range of different order types and extended trading hours, from 7:30am to 11:00pm. Savings plans, with which users can automate investing in the stock markets, are available for over 3,600 stocks and ETFs. “Inflation in the eurozone has risen sharply – this should be a wake-up call for all Europeans,” says Christian Hecker, Co-Founder of Trade Republic. “All Europeans need to have access to capital markets to start fueling long-term investing, participate in economic growth and ultimately save-up for retirement. We built Trade Republic to enable them to do exactly that, and have now opened our doors to a total of seventeen markets, so Europeans everywhere can finally take their personal finances into their own hands.” “With inflation being at almost nine percent in Ireland, there really is no alternative to investing,” says Hugo Suidgeest, Country Manager of Trade Republic in Ireland. “Everyone who leaves their money just sitting in their bank account will lose purchasing power year over year, and the state pension – even if you work until 70 years of age – will probably not be enough to keep up your lifestyle.” The Trade Republic account can be opened in the app as well as on the desktop in just a few minutes and is possible for adult users who are both fiscally and physically resident in Ireland with a smartphone (with iOS or Android operating system), a European telephone number and a SEPA bank account. To change the financial system, Trade Republic has built a financial offering from scratch since 2015, with an easy-to-use product everybody can afford. With more than €1.3bn in venture capital investments by Sequoia, Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund or most recently Ontario Teachers’, Trade Republic will continue to strongly invest into further growth, to expand its offering and launch new products to empower all Europeans to create wealth. Trade Republic is combining the security needs of a highly regulated environment such as the financial industry with the flexibility and customer centricity of a high-tech platform. Besides Ireland, Trade Republic is today also expanding its services to Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia. The company is now present in a total of 17 European countries, reaching 340 million people. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech N...
Trade Republic, the largest savings platform in Europe, is launching its services in the Republic of Ireland. Residents of Ireland can now use the Trade Republic app or website to jump-start their wealth creation journeys with secure, easy and commission-free access to capital markets. Trade Republic’s core product, ETFs and stock savings plans, will help the Irish to save up for retirement and with lower risk. In Ireland, the average household currently saves 20 percent of their income, most of which sits idly in bank accounts. On top of that, residents of Ireland are still facing high brokerage fees or are getting offered difficult to understand investment products. Trade Republic has set out to change that. Since 2015, the company has built a financial offering from scratch with an easy-to-use product everybody can afford, so everyone can start putting their money to work. Trade Republic does not charge its customers any order commission, there is just one euro of external fees to cover clearing and settlement, regardless of the size of the order. Savings plans for stocks and ETFs are offered completely free of charge. Irish customers have access to a total of over 8,000 Irish, European, Asian and US stocks and 1,100 ETFs, real-time data, price alerts, a wide range of different order types and extended trading hours, from 7:30am to 11:00pm. Savings plans, with which users can automate investing in the stock markets, are available for over 3,600 stocks and ETFs. “Inflation in the eurozone has risen sharply – this should be a wake-up call for all Europeans,” says Christian Hecker, Co-Founder of Trade Republic. “All Europeans need to have access to capital markets to start fueling long-term investing, participate in economic growth and ultimately save-up for retirement. We built Trade Republic to enable them to do exactly that, and have now opened our doors to a total of seventeen markets, so Europeans everywhere can finally take their personal finances into their own hands.” “With inflation being at almost nine percent in Ireland, there really is no alternative to investing,” says Hugo Suidgeest, Country Manager of Trade Republic in Ireland. “Everyone who leaves their money just sitting in their bank account will lose purchasing power year over year, and the state pension – even if you work until 70 years of age – will probably not be enough to keep up your lifestyle.” The Trade Republic account can be opened in the app as well as on the desktop in just a few minutes and is possible for adult users who are both fiscally and physically resident in Ireland with a smartphone (with iOS or Android operating system), a European telephone number and a SEPA bank account. To change the financial system, Trade Republic has built a financial offering from scratch since 2015, with an easy-to-use product everybody can afford. With more than €1.3bn in venture capital investments by Sequoia, Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund or most recently Ontario Teachers’, Trade Republic will continue to strongly invest into further growth, to expand its offering and launch new products to empower all Europeans to create wealth. Trade Republic is combining the security needs of a highly regulated environment such as the financial industry with the flexibility and customer centricity of a high-tech platform. Besides Ireland, Trade Republic is today also expanding its services to Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia. The company is now present in a total of 17 European countries, reaching 340 million people. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech N...
Minister Harris launched the International Sustainable Finance Centre of Excellence, to deliver the skills necessary for the financial services community to finance a net-zero future. The Centre will be an international hub from which the Irish-located finance community will develop its response to sustainability demands. Launched on the opening day of Climate Finance Week Ireland, the International Sustainable Finance Centre of Excellence is a key output of the Sustainable Finance Roadmap, which has been developed by Sustainable Finance Ireland in partnership with Skillnet Ireland, and in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Department of Finance and international partners. International Sustainable Finance Centre of Excellence launched The Centre will lead on research, talent development and leadership activities to support the design and implementation of innovative financial mechanisms to facilitate the transition to a net zero economy in Ireland and internationally. The Centre will play a critical role in delivering the Sustainable Finance Roadmap and ‘Ireland for Finance Strategy 2025’ which aims to position Ireland as a global centre of sustainable finance by 2025. Speaking at the launch, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris said: “Sustainable finance is critical for Ireland’s future growth in financial services ensuring the industry has the skills needed to meet our climate objectives. This centre of excellence will help the planet, but it is essential to the future proofing of the economy. This centre will work with customers, colleagues and communities to support their transition to a resilient, net zero economy by 2050. The collaboration that has developed the centre is key. Those partnerships will support the sector’s future talent development needs and inspire new people to enter this relatively new area of work.” Commenting on the launch, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohue said, “The reorientation of the financial system towards sustainability is only beginning but has a clear trajectory with real opportunities for countries, companies and communities that show leadership. The moment is right for leading financial centres to take a quantum leap to transition in this direction; in doing so, serve the needs of the real economy and support efforts at limiting climate change and biodiversity loss. The launch of the International Sustainable Finance Centre of Excellence is a touchstone of the progress being made here in Ireland on this agenda and the implementation of the actions outlined in the 2021 Sustainable Finance Roadmap. Serving as a vital forum for public-private stakeholders to work together on this important agenda, not least supporting innovative product development, I welcome today’s launch.” UNDP Administrator, Achim Steiner said: “The world now desperately needs an economic governance architecture which is deliberately designed to support governments, development agencies, civil society and the private sector to make decisions that prioritize investment in the Sustainable Development Goals. The International Sustainable Finance Centre of Excellence will help in addressing the challenge of the current finance model not working for both the people and the planet. In advance of the upcoming climate talks – COP27, its establishment is to be welcomed.” Paul Healy, Chief Executive, Skillnet Ireland, said: “The establishment of the International Sustainable Finance Centre of Excellence will help position Ireland as a world leader in sustainable finance by developing the talent, knowledge and expertise needed by businesses. It is a key part of the Government’s Ireland for Finance Strategy 2025. Skillnet Ireland is committed to delivering initiatives that support industries to adopt sustainable practices and this launch is also a key step in achieving Ireland’s climate goals. We look forward to further research and intern...
Minister Harris launched the International Sustainable Finance Centre of Excellence, to deliver the skills necessary for the financial services community to finance a net-zero future. The Centre will be an international hub from which the Irish-located finance community will develop its response to sustainability demands. Launched on the opening day of Climate Finance Week Ireland, the International Sustainable Finance Centre of Excellence is a key output of the Sustainable Finance Roadmap, which has been developed by Sustainable Finance Ireland in partnership with Skillnet Ireland, and in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Department of Finance and international partners. International Sustainable Finance Centre of Excellence launched The Centre will lead on research, talent development and leadership activities to support the design and implementation of innovative financial mechanisms to facilitate the transition to a net zero economy in Ireland and internationally. The Centre will play a critical role in delivering the Sustainable Finance Roadmap and ‘Ireland for Finance Strategy 2025’ which aims to position Ireland as a global centre of sustainable finance by 2025. Speaking at the launch, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris said: “Sustainable finance is critical for Ireland’s future growth in financial services ensuring the industry has the skills needed to meet our climate objectives. This centre of excellence will help the planet, but it is essential to the future proofing of the economy. This centre will work with customers, colleagues and communities to support their transition to a resilient, net zero economy by 2050. The collaboration that has developed the centre is key. Those partnerships will support the sector’s future talent development needs and inspire new people to enter this relatively new area of work.” Commenting on the launch, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohue said, “The reorientation of the financial system towards sustainability is only beginning but has a clear trajectory with real opportunities for countries, companies and communities that show leadership. The moment is right for leading financial centres to take a quantum leap to transition in this direction; in doing so, serve the needs of the real economy and support efforts at limiting climate change and biodiversity loss. The launch of the International Sustainable Finance Centre of Excellence is a touchstone of the progress being made here in Ireland on this agenda and the implementation of the actions outlined in the 2021 Sustainable Finance Roadmap. Serving as a vital forum for public-private stakeholders to work together on this important agenda, not least supporting innovative product development, I welcome today’s launch.” UNDP Administrator, Achim Steiner said: “The world now desperately needs an economic governance architecture which is deliberately designed to support governments, development agencies, civil society and the private sector to make decisions that prioritize investment in the Sustainable Development Goals. The International Sustainable Finance Centre of Excellence will help in addressing the challenge of the current finance model not working for both the people and the planet. In advance of the upcoming climate talks – COP27, its establishment is to be welcomed.” Paul Healy, Chief Executive, Skillnet Ireland, said: “The establishment of the International Sustainable Finance Centre of Excellence will help position Ireland as a world leader in sustainable finance by developing the talent, knowledge and expertise needed by businesses. It is a key part of the Government’s Ireland for Finance Strategy 2025. Skillnet Ireland is committed to delivering initiatives that support industries to adopt sustainable practices and this launch is also a key step in achieving Ireland’s climate goals. We look forward to further research and intern...
Photograph shows (from left) Flinders University researchers Mr Peng Su, Mr Chanaka Mudugamuwa and Dr Zhongfan Jia testing the biopolymer coating for potential use in fast-food and other wrappers. Photo courtesy Flinders University. Fast-food rubbish solution in sustainable seaweed-based wrapper Flinders University materials researchers and pioneering German biomaterials developer one f?ve are using seaweed extracts to develop next-generation biopolymer coating materials that could solve packaging waste dilemmas for the fast-food industry. The new non-pollutive biomaterials are designed to replace conventional fossil-based plastic coatings used in grease-resistant fast-food packaging. Grease-resistant paper is typically coated with plastic and other environmentally harmful chemicals, such as polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), but the new prototype coating meets the functional requirements of conventional grease-resistant packaging materials while also presenting an environmentally circular solution. The result represents a landmark achievement in creating next-generation sustainable and ecologically responsible biopolymer. “We are able to reduce harmful plastic pollution with this product, and we are also using feedstock that is environmentally regenerative,” says Claire Gusko, one f?ve Co-Founder. “Seaweed cultivation helps to naturally rehabilitate marine environments, reduce greenhouse gases, and mitigate coastal erosion. It’s important for us to use sustainable inputs upstream to ensure our products are environmentally safe, from cradle to grave.” This development – which took extracts from certain seaweeds, added modifications and formed degradable bioplastic films – has been led by Dr Zhongfan Jia, a lead researcher from the Flinders Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology and research colleague Mr Peng Su in association with the Flinders Centre for Marine Bioproducts Development. “The seaweed extracts have a similar structure to the natural fibres from which paper is made,” says Dr Jia. “Our novel specialist treatments boost the grease-resistance feature of the seaweed via simple modifications while not affecting biodegradability nor recyclability of the coated paper.” Biomass for the new coating formulation is made from natural polymers extracted from seaweeds that are native to the South Australian coastline – which provided a key reason why the Flinders University researchers studied it for more broad scientific application. These extracts are transformed through a proprietary processing methodology to produce functional biopolymer sheets that can be cut or coated onto various surfaces, depending on the application. Flinders University and one f?ve are now working towards transferring laboratory-scale processing to produce industrially-relevant volumes of the natural polymer coating. This initiative aims to have a transformative impact on the global packaging and plastics industry by significantly reducing reliance on highly pollutive conventional plastic. About one f?ve (pronounced: one point five): This biomaterials discovery, development and scale-up company was founded in Hamburg in late 2020 by former infarm executives Martin Weber and Claire Gusko. They provide customised, cleaner, and circular packaging solutions in record time; designed to drop into existing consumer packaging value chains to create a measurable, positive impact on the environment. With a mission to accelerate the transformation of the global packaging supply chain, one f?ve’s team of 30 interdisciplinary team members has raised over 10 million Euros in funding to date. Their initial focus is fibre-based packaging solutions for leading FMCG brand owners and packaging converters. one f?ve is a member of industry-leading packaging alliances 4evergreen and Verpackung mit Zukunft. About the Flinders Centre for Marine Bioproducts Development: Launched in 2007, this centre conducts world-leading research and applies the latest biop...
Photograph shows (from left) Flinders University researchers Mr Peng Su, Mr Chanaka Mudugamuwa and Dr Zhongfan Jia testing the biopolymer coating for potential use in fast-food and other wrappers. Photo courtesy Flinders University. Fast-food rubbish solution in sustainable seaweed-based wrapper Flinders University materials researchers and pioneering German biomaterials developer one f?ve are using seaweed extracts to develop next-generation biopolymer coating materials that could solve packaging waste dilemmas for the fast-food industry. The new non-pollutive biomaterials are designed to replace conventional fossil-based plastic coatings used in grease-resistant fast-food packaging. Grease-resistant paper is typically coated with plastic and other environmentally harmful chemicals, such as polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), but the new prototype coating meets the functional requirements of conventional grease-resistant packaging materials while also presenting an environmentally circular solution. The result represents a landmark achievement in creating next-generation sustainable and ecologically responsible biopolymer. “We are able to reduce harmful plastic pollution with this product, and we are also using feedstock that is environmentally regenerative,” says Claire Gusko, one f?ve Co-Founder. “Seaweed cultivation helps to naturally rehabilitate marine environments, reduce greenhouse gases, and mitigate coastal erosion. It’s important for us to use sustainable inputs upstream to ensure our products are environmentally safe, from cradle to grave.” This development – which took extracts from certain seaweeds, added modifications and formed degradable bioplastic films – has been led by Dr Zhongfan Jia, a lead researcher from the Flinders Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology and research colleague Mr Peng Su in association with the Flinders Centre for Marine Bioproducts Development. “The seaweed extracts have a similar structure to the natural fibres from which paper is made,” says Dr Jia. “Our novel specialist treatments boost the grease-resistance feature of the seaweed via simple modifications while not affecting biodegradability nor recyclability of the coated paper.” Biomass for the new coating formulation is made from natural polymers extracted from seaweeds that are native to the South Australian coastline – which provided a key reason why the Flinders University researchers studied it for more broad scientific application. These extracts are transformed through a proprietary processing methodology to produce functional biopolymer sheets that can be cut or coated onto various surfaces, depending on the application. Flinders University and one f?ve are now working towards transferring laboratory-scale processing to produce industrially-relevant volumes of the natural polymer coating. This initiative aims to have a transformative impact on the global packaging and plastics industry by significantly reducing reliance on highly pollutive conventional plastic. About one f?ve (pronounced: one point five): This biomaterials discovery, development and scale-up company was founded in Hamburg in late 2020 by former infarm executives Martin Weber and Claire Gusko. They provide customised, cleaner, and circular packaging solutions in record time; designed to drop into existing consumer packaging value chains to create a measurable, positive impact on the environment. With a mission to accelerate the transformation of the global packaging supply chain, one f?ve’s team of 30 interdisciplinary team members has raised over 10 million Euros in funding to date. Their initial focus is fibre-based packaging solutions for leading FMCG brand owners and packaging converters. one f?ve is a member of industry-leading packaging alliances 4evergreen and Verpackung mit Zukunft. About the Flinders Centre for Marine Bioproducts Development: Launched in 2007, this centre conducts world-leading research and applies the latest biop...
In the podcast today Melanie Boylan speaks to Martina Fitzgerald of Scale Ireland about the work they do to support business owners. Tech StartUps and ScaleUps all need support and essential sign posting to get started. Scaling Ireland to support small businesses, insights with Martina Fitzgerald Martina Fitzgerald is the CEO of Scale Ireland, the independent not-for-profit organisation which represents and advocates on behalf of Ireland’s tech start-up and scale-up companies. Martina has two decades senior communications experience, including as RTÉ’s political correspondent. She is the author of the best-selling and critically acclaimed book, ‘Madam Politician: The women at the table of Irish political power’. Scale Ireland is the independent not-for-profit representative organisation for Irish tech start-ups and scaling companies. Our purpose is to make Ireland a leading location for innovation and entrepreneurship. There are currently more than 2,100 tech start-ups and scaling companies in Ireland employing over 55,000 people. The link to scale Ireland is here www.scaleireland.org. About Melanie Boylan Melanie has been a Freelance Journalist on the Irish Tech News senior team for 5.5 years. Her background knowledge and interest in a diverse field has allowed for some great chats with some amazing podcast guests. Melanie also is a Social Media Trainer, Social Media Manager, Co-Founder of The Monday Morning Marketing Podcast, Mentor and Brand Ambassador for AgoraPulse UK and Ireland. She is also a Moderator on Clubhouse for Small Steps and Giant Leaps and Space for All Nations at @melanieboylan If you would like to learn more, please visit her LinkedIn profile:/ See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
In the podcast today Melanie Boylan speaks to Martina Fitzgerald of Scale Ireland about the work they do to support business owners. Tech StartUps and ScaleUps all need support and essential sign posting to get started. Scaling Ireland to support small businesses, insights with Martina Fitzgerald Martina Fitzgerald is the CEO of Scale Ireland, the independent not-for-profit organisation which represents and advocates on behalf of Ireland’s tech start-up and scale-up companies. Martina has two decades senior communications experience, including as RTÉ’s political correspondent. She is the author of the best-selling and critically acclaimed book, ‘Madam Politician: The women at the table of Irish political power’. Scale Ireland is the independent not-for-profit representative organisation for Irish tech start-ups and scaling companies. Our purpose is to make Ireland a leading location for innovation and entrepreneurship. There are currently more than 2,100 tech start-ups and scaling companies in Ireland employing over 55,000 people. The link to scale Ireland is here www.scaleireland.org. About Melanie Boylan Melanie has been a Freelance Journalist on the Irish Tech News senior team for 5.5 years. Her background knowledge and interest in a diverse field has allowed for some great chats with some amazing podcast guests. Melanie also is a Social Media Trainer, Social Media Manager, Co-Founder of The Monday Morning Marketing Podcast, Mentor and Brand Ambassador for AgoraPulse UK and Ireland. She is also a Moderator on Clubhouse for Small Steps and Giant Leaps and Space for All Nations at @melanieboylan If you would like to learn more, please visit her LinkedIn profile:/ See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
We look at this forward looking book, aiming to help you future proof your businesses. See more about Future Ready: The Four Pathways to Capturing Digital Value here. Future Ready: The Four Pathways to Capturing Digital Value, reviewed Many would argue that the future has come crashing into our boardrooms. Two years of pandemic lockdowns, then followed by a deeply problematic war breaking out, both of which, in their own ways massively affecting global supply chains, and reframing alliances and people you can and do not want to work with. Equally as well as who we do business with, how we do it has also come prominently into focus too. If you weren’t already thinking about how to potentially reposition your business now is the time, if either you haven’t, or you have perhaps already gone out of business. The authors of this book, Woerner, Weill and Sebastian have applied themselves well to this task, and aimed to methodically offer you strategies and a road map to look at, embrace, and plan for the future. Their chosen method is to identify four pathways for engaging with the digital world, and trying to offer value in this environment. The insights are based on extensive previous research and have been synthesised to try and offer helpful tips and ideas for the reader to learn from and incorporate into their own business plans. This book aims to help with a business transformation rather than merely discussing why and how you should be dealing with digital transformation. We are, hopefully, perhaps, beyond those days and that topic for discussion. This book could be a useful addition for many leaders looking to work out how to future proof their operations and remain ahead of the curve. More about the book To be a top performer in the digital economy—to become truly future ready—you need a playbook. Now you have one. It seems like almost every company you can think of—including your own—has embarked on a “digital transformation” journey. The problem is, many companies start down the road without a good sense of where they are going or a clear idea of how they will create and capture digital value. Not surprisingly, this leads to problems: failure to realize the value from digital in their bottom lines, wasted resources and effort, added complexity and dysfunction. This compact, no-nonsense book provides a solution. In their years of working with senior executives around the world, MIT research scientists Stephanie Woerner, Peter Weill, and Ina Sebastian noticed that these leaders knew they had to transform their businesses, but lacked a coherent framework and a common language—a playbook—to guide and motivate their employees and keep everyone focused on a common goal. Future Ready is that playbook. Based on years of rigorous research with data from more than a thousand companies—BBVA, CEMEX, DBS, Fidelity, Maersk, and many others—the book provides a powerful, field-tested “four pathways” framework that offers insights into the important dimensions at which a firm must excel in order to be competitive, as well as the organizational disruptions that every firm must manage as part of the transformation journey. The book includes instructive examples, sharp analyses, assessments to help companies benchmark themselves against top performers, and many illuminating visuals to help crystallize the data and ideas. Woerner, Weill, and Sebastian show that the goal isn’t digital transformation but rather a profound business transformation. Future Ready is your essential guide for becoming a top performer in the digital economy. More about Harvard Business Books Ideas that inspire, and create impact Eighty percent of corporate L&D professionals believe there’s a need for greater innovation in leadership development programs to keep pace with today’s business demands. We couldn’t agree more. Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning is the trusted source of the most important and inspiring ideas influencing businesses today. Drawin...
We look at this forward looking book, aiming to help you future proof your businesses. See more about Future Ready: The Four Pathways to Capturing Digital Value here. Future Ready: The Four Pathways to Capturing Digital Value, reviewed Many would argue that the future has come crashing into our boardrooms. Two years of pandemic lockdowns, then followed by a deeply problematic war breaking out, both of which, in their own ways massively affecting global supply chains, and reframing alliances and people you can and do not want to work with. Equally as well as who we do business with, how we do it has also come prominently into focus too. If you weren’t already thinking about how to potentially reposition your business now is the time, if either you haven’t, or you have perhaps already gone out of business. The authors of this book, Woerner, Weill and Sebastian have applied themselves well to this task, and aimed to methodically offer you strategies and a road map to look at, embrace, and plan for the future. Their chosen method is to identify four pathways for engaging with the digital world, and trying to offer value in this environment. The insights are based on extensive previous research and have been synthesised to try and offer helpful tips and ideas for the reader to learn from and incorporate into their own business plans. This book aims to help with a business transformation rather than merely discussing why and how you should be dealing with digital transformation. We are, hopefully, perhaps, beyond those days and that topic for discussion. This book could be a useful addition for many leaders looking to work out how to future proof their operations and remain ahead of the curve. More about the book To be a top performer in the digital economy—to become truly future ready—you need a playbook. Now you have one. It seems like almost every company you can think of—including your own—has embarked on a “digital transformation” journey. The problem is, many companies start down the road without a good sense of where they are going or a clear idea of how they will create and capture digital value. Not surprisingly, this leads to problems: failure to realize the value from digital in their bottom lines, wasted resources and effort, added complexity and dysfunction. This compact, no-nonsense book provides a solution. In their years of working with senior executives around the world, MIT research scientists Stephanie Woerner, Peter Weill, and Ina Sebastian noticed that these leaders knew they had to transform their businesses, but lacked a coherent framework and a common language—a playbook—to guide and motivate their employees and keep everyone focused on a common goal. Future Ready is that playbook. Based on years of rigorous research with data from more than a thousand companies—BBVA, CEMEX, DBS, Fidelity, Maersk, and many others—the book provides a powerful, field-tested “four pathways” framework that offers insights into the important dimensions at which a firm must excel in order to be competitive, as well as the organizational disruptions that every firm must manage as part of the transformation journey. The book includes instructive examples, sharp analyses, assessments to help companies benchmark themselves against top performers, and many illuminating visuals to help crystallize the data and ideas. Woerner, Weill, and Sebastian show that the goal isn’t digital transformation but rather a profound business transformation. Future Ready is your essential guide for becoming a top performer in the digital economy. More about Harvard Business Books Ideas that inspire, and create impact Eighty percent of corporate L&D professionals believe there’s a need for greater innovation in leadership development programs to keep pace with today’s business demands. We couldn’t agree more. Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning is the trusted source of the most important and inspiring ideas influencing businesses today. Drawin...
Swappie, Europe’s leading online destination for buying and selling refurbished iPhones, has published its first Environmental Impact Report which sets out ambitious targets to minimize its own greenhouse gas emissions and maximize customers’ carbon savings over the next two years. Carbon footprint of Swappie refurbished smartphone 78% less than a new one Every year, the electronics industry releases millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In fact, the sector is responsible for 3% of emissions globally. However, Swappie’s Environmental Impact Report reveals that the carbon footprint of a Swappie refurbished smartphone is 78% less than that of a new one. Making a new smartphone requires valuable rare earth elements, a large portion of which are extracted through mining with significant negative impacts on the environment and socially. By eliminating the carbon-intensive activities related to material sourcing, supply chain, and production emissions that are inextricably part of a new smartphone’s life cycle, Swappie has created a circular business model with a positive impact. In 2021, the carbon handprint – which measures the positive climate impacts of a product – of an average Swappie refurbished smartphone resulted in 61.5 kg of CO2e emissions, equivalent to the carbon emissions captured by one tree seedling in 10 years. When consumers choose a refurbished iPhone, they extend the life of an existing smartphone while also reducing their own carbon footprint. Swappie to help customers save more than 100,000 tons of CO2e emissions by 2024 When Swappie was founded in 2016, only 5% of smartphones were purchased used. Since then, Swappie has expanded its community to more than a million people across Europe. By choosing refurbished instead of new, Swappie customers have saved more than 23,500 tons of CO2e emissions in 2021. This is the same amount of carbon emissions captured by growing 389,401 trees in 10 years. Swappie is now committing to helping customers around the world exceed 100,000 tons of saved CO2e emissions by 2024. Swappie commits to 100% renewable electricity by 2024 The Environmental Impact Report also outlines several ambitious goals for Swappie as a business. Since its launch in 2016, Swappie has experienced rapid growth, with two refurbishment centers in Finland and Estonia, a presence in 15 markets including Ireland, and a team of over a thousand talents. This has naturally expanded Swappie’s own greenhouse gas emissions. 2022 saw Swappie obtain both ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications but to continue to lead by example a digital platform was established to track its own negative environmental impacts. In 2021, Swappie’s greenhouse gas emissions totalled 10,445 tons of CO2e emissions, the source of which are heat, electricity, and air conditioning along with employee commuting and business travel. Swappie’s key commitments to reduce its own environmental impact Reduce energy consumption emissions and transition to 100% renewable electricity sources for all Swappie premises by 2024 Integrate innovative e-waste management and recycling systems at Swappie operations: Reuse 100% of functional smartphone parts, collect and recycle 100% of non-functional smartphone parts and other generated e-waste by 2024 Continue to work with the Right to Repair campaign which advocates for a universal right to repair and Eurefas, the European Refurbishment Association Speaking about the publication of the Environmental Impact Report, CEO and co-founder of Swappie, Sami Marttinen says ‘The past few months have offered us daily reminders of the sheer scale of the climate crisis facing our planet with extreme heat and drought wreaking havoc across the globe. These challenges have a myriad of causes but there is no doubt they are exacerbated by human behaviour. ‘It is hard not to be dispirited by the view of our collective climate future but now is not the time to be defeatist and give up. In fact, the opposite is...
Swappie, Europe’s leading online destination for buying and selling refurbished iPhones, has published its first Environmental Impact Report which sets out ambitious targets to minimize its own greenhouse gas emissions and maximize customers’ carbon savings over the next two years. Carbon footprint of Swappie refurbished smartphone 78% less than a new one Every year, the electronics industry releases millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In fact, the sector is responsible for 3% of emissions globally. However, Swappie’s Environmental Impact Report reveals that the carbon footprint of a Swappie refurbished smartphone is 78% less than that of a new one. Making a new smartphone requires valuable rare earth elements, a large portion of which are extracted through mining with significant negative impacts on the environment and socially. By eliminating the carbon-intensive activities related to material sourcing, supply chain, and production emissions that are inextricably part of a new smartphone’s life cycle, Swappie has created a circular business model with a positive impact. In 2021, the carbon handprint – which measures the positive climate impacts of a product – of an average Swappie refurbished smartphone resulted in 61.5 kg of CO2e emissions, equivalent to the carbon emissions captured by one tree seedling in 10 years. When consumers choose a refurbished iPhone, they extend the life of an existing smartphone while also reducing their own carbon footprint. Swappie to help customers save more than 100,000 tons of CO2e emissions by 2024 When Swappie was founded in 2016, only 5% of smartphones were purchased used. Since then, Swappie has expanded its community to more than a million people across Europe. By choosing refurbished instead of new, Swappie customers have saved more than 23,500 tons of CO2e emissions in 2021. This is the same amount of carbon emissions captured by growing 389,401 trees in 10 years. Swappie is now committing to helping customers around the world exceed 100,000 tons of saved CO2e emissions by 2024. Swappie commits to 100% renewable electricity by 2024 The Environmental Impact Report also outlines several ambitious goals for Swappie as a business. Since its launch in 2016, Swappie has experienced rapid growth, with two refurbishment centers in Finland and Estonia, a presence in 15 markets including Ireland, and a team of over a thousand talents. This has naturally expanded Swappie’s own greenhouse gas emissions. 2022 saw Swappie obtain both ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications but to continue to lead by example a digital platform was established to track its own negative environmental impacts. In 2021, Swappie’s greenhouse gas emissions totalled 10,445 tons of CO2e emissions, the source of which are heat, electricity, and air conditioning along with employee commuting and business travel. Swappie’s key commitments to reduce its own environmental impact Reduce energy consumption emissions and transition to 100% renewable electricity sources for all Swappie premises by 2024 Integrate innovative e-waste management and recycling systems at Swappie operations: Reuse 100% of functional smartphone parts, collect and recycle 100% of non-functional smartphone parts and other generated e-waste by 2024 Continue to work with the Right to Repair campaign which advocates for a universal right to repair and Eurefas, the European Refurbishment Association Speaking about the publication of the Environmental Impact Report, CEO and co-founder of Swappie, Sami Marttinen says ‘The past few months have offered us daily reminders of the sheer scale of the climate crisis facing our planet with extreme heat and drought wreaking havoc across the globe. These challenges have a myriad of causes but there is no doubt they are exacerbated by human behaviour. ‘It is hard not to be dispirited by the view of our collective climate future but now is not the time to be defeatist and give up. In fact, the opposite is...
Huawei announced that it is enabling data integration from HUAWEI Health to Strava, meaning anyone with a Huawei wearable device can now export their data to a Strava account and take advantage of the app’s many activity tracking and community benefits. Huawei Wearables Integrated with Strava From today, accurate personal multi-sport performance data captured via HUAWEI Health, as well as detailed route activity, can now be seamlessly transitioned into a user’s Strava account. This also means Strava users can now take advantage of many of the common attributes of Huawei wearable devices, including long battery life, accurate performance tracking data courtesy of its leading TruSeen™ technology, and multi-system dual-band GNSS technology. The functionality is available across Europe, including Ireland, and is compatible with all Huawei wearables, including latest flagships the HUAWEI WATCH GT3 Pro, HUAWEI GT Runner and HUAWEI WATCH D. Adam Liu, Country Director at Huawei Ireland said: ‘’HUAWEI Health continues to be our chosen platform for our wearable users to comprehensively track their health and fitness activity. However, we recognise the popularity of Strava, in particular its community and sharing capabilities. We are excited to offer our customers choice and flexibility, and to introduce Strava users to the many benefits of Huawei’s wearable technology. We’re delighted to be taking another positive step forward, building a strong health and fitness community worldwide.’’ How to sync HUAWEI Health with Strava: Log into the HUAWEI Health app Click on “Me” Scroll down and select “Privacy Management” Select “Data sharing and authorisation” Click on “Strava” Press “Connect with Strava” You’ll then be directed to the Strava website where you’ll need to enter your Strava account details and login to your account Allow the HUAWEI Health app to connect to your Strava account by clicking “Authorize” For more information and to view the full range of Huawei’s wearables please visit/ About HUAWEI Health The HUAWEI Health App records your activity in over 100 different sports, from beginner to advanced levels. Whether you want to kick-start your fitness life, keep track of your health, or conveniently manage your smart wearable devices, HUAWEI Health App has what you’re looking for. It is your go-to, integrated health and fitness companion. Keep your data private, or share it, for tracking purposes only, it’s up to you. The latest in health and fitness technology, made simple, secure and easy to use. HUAWEI Health+ is also available via subscription for those looking for an even more comprehensive platform. About Huawei Consumer BG Huawei’s products and services are available in more than 170 countries and are used by a third of the world’s population. Fourteen R&D centres have been set up in countries around the world, including Germany, Sweden, India and China. Huawei Consumer BG is one of Huawei’s three business units and covers smartphones, PC and tablets, wearables and cloud services, etc. Huawei’s global network is built on over 30 years of expertise in the telecom industry and is dedicated to delivering the latest technological advances to consumers around the world. For more information please visit:/ Follow us on: Facebook –/ Twitter – Instagram – YouTube – LinkedIn:/ See more gadget reviews here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Ti...
Huawei announced that it is enabling data integration from HUAWEI Health to Strava, meaning anyone with a Huawei wearable device can now export their data to a Strava account and take advantage of the app’s many activity tracking and community benefits. Huawei Wearables Integrated with Strava From today, accurate personal multi-sport performance data captured via HUAWEI Health, as well as detailed route activity, can now be seamlessly transitioned into a user’s Strava account. This also means Strava users can now take advantage of many of the common attributes of Huawei wearable devices, including long battery life, accurate performance tracking data courtesy of its leading TruSeen™ technology, and multi-system dual-band GNSS technology. The functionality is available across Europe, including Ireland, and is compatible with all Huawei wearables, including latest flagships the HUAWEI WATCH GT3 Pro, HUAWEI GT Runner and HUAWEI WATCH D. Adam Liu, Country Director at Huawei Ireland said: ‘’HUAWEI Health continues to be our chosen platform for our wearable users to comprehensively track their health and fitness activity. However, we recognise the popularity of Strava, in particular its community and sharing capabilities. We are excited to offer our customers choice and flexibility, and to introduce Strava users to the many benefits of Huawei’s wearable technology. We’re delighted to be taking another positive step forward, building a strong health and fitness community worldwide.’’ How to sync HUAWEI Health with Strava: Log into the HUAWEI Health app Click on “Me” Scroll down and select “Privacy Management” Select “Data sharing and authorisation” Click on “Strava” Press “Connect with Strava” You’ll then be directed to the Strava website where you’ll need to enter your Strava account details and login to your account Allow the HUAWEI Health app to connect to your Strava account by clicking “Authorize” For more information and to view the full range of Huawei’s wearables please visit/ About HUAWEI Health The HUAWEI Health App records your activity in over 100 different sports, from beginner to advanced levels. Whether you want to kick-start your fitness life, keep track of your health, or conveniently manage your smart wearable devices, HUAWEI Health App has what you’re looking for. It is your go-to, integrated health and fitness companion. Keep your data private, or share it, for tracking purposes only, it’s up to you. The latest in health and fitness technology, made simple, secure and easy to use. HUAWEI Health+ is also available via subscription for those looking for an even more comprehensive platform. About Huawei Consumer BG Huawei’s products and services are available in more than 170 countries and are used by a third of the world’s population. Fourteen R&D centres have been set up in countries around the world, including Germany, Sweden, India and China. Huawei Consumer BG is one of Huawei’s three business units and covers smartphones, PC and tablets, wearables and cloud services, etc. Huawei’s global network is built on over 30 years of expertise in the telecom industry and is dedicated to delivering the latest technological advances to consumers around the world. For more information please visit:/ Follow us on: Facebook –/ Twitter – Instagram – YouTube – LinkedIn:/ See more gadget reviews here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Ti...
Expleo, the global engineering, technology and consulting service provider, has developed a complete cyber-resilience testing platform for the automotive sector. The “ExpleoSmeeta Briefcase” combines cybersecurity testing framework (ExpleoSmeeta) with a comprehensive suite of hardware components to conduct security assessments, cyber forensics, and pen test in the automotive sector. A modern car runs on 100 million lines of code and typically can include multiple wireless connections such as Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and cellular (4G/5G). As vehicles become more connected and more reliant on software, the cyber risk grows exponentially and could pose a threat to vehicle safety As part of an innovation project, Expleo has created a physical cyber resilience testing platform-in-a-box which combines the ExpleoSmeeta Operating System (OS), based on a Linux open-source distribution, and a hardware toolkit with Expleo proprietary scripts and tools. This allows Expleo engineers to conduct in-depth cybersecurity tests on vehicles anywhere at any time, supporting OEMs/Tier1s to check and verify their own solutions, integrate cybersecurity by design into product development, and anticipate future risks. Threat vectors include: Radio Frequencies such as RFID which is used to access and start vehicles via electronic key fobs or GPS which can be spoofed to hide stolen vehicles. Wireless Connections including cellular (4G/5G), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Telematics are the method of connecting vehicles to the wider Internet of Things and are a prime target for malicious firmware updates that can compromise driver data. Vehicle Sensors such as those used for assisted parking or to support autonomous driver systems which can be spoofed or jammed to put driver safety at risk. Controller Access Network (CAN) Bus is the message-based protocol that allows the various electronic components of a vehicle to communicate, such as door locks, speedometer and even brakes which if compromised can pose a significant risk to driver safety. Helmi Rais, Group Cybersecurity Practice Leader, commented: “Cars are becoming more sophisticated thanks to digital technologies, enabling electrification, autonomous driving systems, advanced in-vehicle infotainment, connected vehicles and shared mobility. But with the new opportunities offered by digital come new risks in the form of heightened cyber risk. The automotive industry must be able to respond to an ever-changing set of threats. “That’s why we developed ExpleoSmeeta to help combine the knowledge of the cyber community with Expleo’s automotive and digital expertise so that OEM and Tier1 automakers can test, secure and protect their products, making them more resilient, sustainable and most importantly, safer for consumers.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Expleo, the global engineering, technology and consulting service provider, has developed a complete cyber-resilience testing platform for the automotive sector. The “ExpleoSmeeta Briefcase” combines cybersecurity testing framework (ExpleoSmeeta) with a comprehensive suite of hardware components to conduct security assessments, cyber forensics, and pen test in the automotive sector. A modern car runs on 100 million lines of code and typically can include multiple wireless connections such as Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and cellular (4G/5G). As vehicles become more connected and more reliant on software, the cyber risk grows exponentially and could pose a threat to vehicle safety As part of an innovation project, Expleo has created a physical cyber resilience testing platform-in-a-box which combines the ExpleoSmeeta Operating System (OS), based on a Linux open-source distribution, and a hardware toolkit with Expleo proprietary scripts and tools. This allows Expleo engineers to conduct in-depth cybersecurity tests on vehicles anywhere at any time, supporting OEMs/Tier1s to check and verify their own solutions, integrate cybersecurity by design into product development, and anticipate future risks. Threat vectors include: Radio Frequencies such as RFID which is used to access and start vehicles via electronic key fobs or GPS which can be spoofed to hide stolen vehicles. Wireless Connections including cellular (4G/5G), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Telematics are the method of connecting vehicles to the wider Internet of Things and are a prime target for malicious firmware updates that can compromise driver data. Vehicle Sensors such as those used for assisted parking or to support autonomous driver systems which can be spoofed or jammed to put driver safety at risk. Controller Access Network (CAN) Bus is the message-based protocol that allows the various electronic components of a vehicle to communicate, such as door locks, speedometer and even brakes which if compromised can pose a significant risk to driver safety. Helmi Rais, Group Cybersecurity Practice Leader, commented: “Cars are becoming more sophisticated thanks to digital technologies, enabling electrification, autonomous driving systems, advanced in-vehicle infotainment, connected vehicles and shared mobility. But with the new opportunities offered by digital come new risks in the form of heightened cyber risk. The automotive industry must be able to respond to an ever-changing set of threats. “That’s why we developed ExpleoSmeeta to help combine the knowledge of the cyber community with Expleo’s automotive and digital expertise so that OEM and Tier1 automakers can test, secure and protect their products, making them more resilient, sustainable and most importantly, safer for consumers.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Technology is constantly evolving, with new and exciting innovations released every day. Today, we are rounding up three bits of good news from the tech world in 2022. Change and evolution within the technology occur at such a rapid pace that it can be impossible to keep up unless you are in the know. With new products, updates, and innovations announced almost daily, the forward motion of the global tech industry is almost unrivalled. In recent years, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged even greater progress in technology as the world learned to adapt to a new way of life. Bringing changes to how we live and work, technological advances are something that impacts us all. So, here are three bits of good news from the tech world in 2022. 3. Artificial Intelligence (AI) – helping society to function more efficiently If you haven’t heard about the trend of Artificial Intelligence (AI), then you must have been living under a rock. And, no, we aren’t talking about robots that are planning to take over the human race. Instead, AI is actually much closer to what many describe as ‘Machine Learning’. Recent advances in this technology have enabled our devices to use speech and image recognition, bringing security features such as ‘face unlock’. Other useful facets of AI include navigation apps, ride-sharing apps, and much more. AI has become so advanced that it can even analyse connections and insights that help predict demand for services such as hospitals. The AI market is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years, with huge government and business investments in the technology. Currently, the AI market is expected to grow to a whopping $190 billion industry by 2025, creating new industries and jobs. With such a rise in this technology and the numerous positive impacts it will have on the way we live and work, we can’t deny that AI is one of the best bits of good news from the tech world in 2022. 2. COVID-19 Variant Tracking – flattening the curve The whole world was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which took hold throughout late 2019 and 2020. With many of us facing lockdowns, fear, and family losses, it felt like there was a barrage of bad news everywhere. Tell Me The Good News is a fantastic good news website you can use to escape the onslaught of negative media coverage and hopefully help you adopt a more positive mindset and outlook. While the pandemic brought much pain and tragedy, the improvements in medical technology and medical tracking would never have advanced so quickly if it hadn’t happened. One of our favourite bits of good news from the tech world in 2022 concerns the COVID-19 Variant Tracking system. Due to the major impact that Coronavirus had on the global population, SARS-CoV-2 is now the most sequenced organism on Earth. What this means for technological advancement is that scientists are now more able to quickly spot new variants of the virus as they spread, meaning they can catch and treat them much quicker. Thus, lessening the rapid rate of infection that we saw at the height of the pandemic. 1. Advances in renewable energy – the focus on sustainable energy production Topping our list of good news from the tech world in 2022 regards the recent advances in renewable energy. One of the breakthrough technological advances of this year saw the production of a long-lasting iron-based grid battery. This inexpensive energy source is showing promising results that it could help even out renewable energy supplies and expand the use of sustainable power. In April, the use of renewable energy in California broke records, as these sources of energy provided enough power to make supply a whopping 94.5% of demand across the state. Up until now, most renewable energy has been dependent on weather conditions, whether that be solar or wind power. Now, these new advances in renewable energy and the breakthrough invention of a long-lasting grid battery that is cheap to operate could change the gam...
Technology is constantly evolving, with new and exciting innovations released every day. Today, we are rounding up three bits of good news from the tech world in 2022. Change and evolution within the technology occur at such a rapid pace that it can be impossible to keep up unless you are in the know. With new products, updates, and innovations announced almost daily, the forward motion of the global tech industry is almost unrivalled. In recent years, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged even greater progress in technology as the world learned to adapt to a new way of life. Bringing changes to how we live and work, technological advances are something that impacts us all. So, here are three bits of good news from the tech world in 2022. 3. Artificial Intelligence (AI) – helping society to function more efficiently If you haven’t heard about the trend of Artificial Intelligence (AI), then you must have been living under a rock. And, no, we aren’t talking about robots that are planning to take over the human race. Instead, AI is actually much closer to what many describe as ‘Machine Learning’. Recent advances in this technology have enabled our devices to use speech and image recognition, bringing security features such as ‘face unlock’. Other useful facets of AI include navigation apps, ride-sharing apps, and much more. AI has become so advanced that it can even analyse connections and insights that help predict demand for services such as hospitals. The AI market is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years, with huge government and business investments in the technology. Currently, the AI market is expected to grow to a whopping $190 billion industry by 2025, creating new industries and jobs. With such a rise in this technology and the numerous positive impacts it will have on the way we live and work, we can’t deny that AI is one of the best bits of good news from the tech world in 2022. 2. COVID-19 Variant Tracking – flattening the curve The whole world was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which took hold throughout late 2019 and 2020. With many of us facing lockdowns, fear, and family losses, it felt like there was a barrage of bad news everywhere. Tell Me The Good News is a fantastic good news website you can use to escape the onslaught of negative media coverage and hopefully help you adopt a more positive mindset and outlook. While the pandemic brought much pain and tragedy, the improvements in medical technology and medical tracking would never have advanced so quickly if it hadn’t happened. One of our favourite bits of good news from the tech world in 2022 concerns the COVID-19 Variant Tracking system. Due to the major impact that Coronavirus had on the global population, SARS-CoV-2 is now the most sequenced organism on Earth. What this means for technological advancement is that scientists are now more able to quickly spot new variants of the virus as they spread, meaning they can catch and treat them much quicker. Thus, lessening the rapid rate of infection that we saw at the height of the pandemic. 1. Advances in renewable energy – the focus on sustainable energy production Topping our list of good news from the tech world in 2022 regards the recent advances in renewable energy. One of the breakthrough technological advances of this year saw the production of a long-lasting iron-based grid battery. This inexpensive energy source is showing promising results that it could help even out renewable energy supplies and expand the use of sustainable power. In April, the use of renewable energy in California broke records, as these sources of energy provided enough power to make supply a whopping 94.5% of demand across the state. Up until now, most renewable energy has been dependent on weather conditions, whether that be solar or wind power. Now, these new advances in renewable energy and the breakthrough invention of a long-lasting grid battery that is cheap to operate could change the gam...
A new Guide to Data Centre Sustainability, has been launched. An online resource for data centre owners and operators seeking to reduce the environmental impact of their facilities. According to a report by the International Energy Agency, data centres account for about 1% of global electricity demand. The report notes that the industry was able to limit the impact of capacity growth on total energy consumption prior to 2020 by improving operating efficiency. However, in 2020, global internet traffic surged by more than 40%, and Market Intelligence projects a 13% compound annual growth rate in data centre construction over the next five years. Guide to Data Centre Sustainability to Reduce Carbon Emissions, Water Use That trend, combined with increased focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption, has led some operators to seek new solutions that increase equipment utilisation and drive out remaining inefficiencies, phase out water-intensive cooling technologies, and decrease their dependence on carbon-based energy sources. “We’re seeing a sense of urgency by operators across the industry to reduce the impact of their operations on the environment, and this new resource is designed to help them do just that,” said TJ Faze, head of ESG strategy & engagement at Vertiv. “The focus on operational efficiency has enabled significant improvements, but now new strategies and more intelligent systems are required to drive down emissions and water use as the industry continues to grow. As a provider of infrastructure solutions to enterprises, colocation and cloud providers, Vertiv is well-positioned to share best practices and new developments across these sectors.” The industry movement has been led by large hyperscale operators who have set goals to become carbon neutral or carbon negative by the end of this decade. These operators are taking the lead in advancing technologies that support these goals and developing a roadmap for the rest of the industry. Many colocation providers are also moving to carbon-neutral and water-efficient operations to capitalise on market demand for data centre services that support their enterprise customers’ environmental goals. Enterprises must also address the impact of their on-premises data centres to support those goals. “In Europe alone, over 25 European cloud and data centre operators and 17 other industry associations have signed an agreement to make their facilities carbon neutral via 100% renewable energy sources by 2030,” said Karsten Winther, EMEA president at Vertiv. “This will only be achievable if organisations implement new strategies and innovative systems that reduce the consumption of resources. Our newly launched Guide, paired with our depth of experience in providing infrastructure solutions, allows us to share best practices and new innovations from across the industry to educate these operators and help to reduce the environmental footprint of their facilities, not only in Europe, but across the globe.” The Vertiv Guide to Data Centre Sustainability provides guidance for operators on: The business case for reducing environmental impact How data centre infrastructure and complementary technologies are evolving to support higher utilisation and increased use of renewable energy Resources, frameworks and metrics for implementing and measuring sustainability initiatives Best practices for designing and operating low-impact data centres The Vertiv Guide to Data Centre Sustainability is available on Vertiv.com About Vertiv Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) brings together hardware, software, analytics and ongoing services to enable its customers’ vital applications to run continuously, perform optimally and grow with their business needs. Vertiv solves the most important challenges facing today’s data centres, communication networks and commercial and industrial facilities with a portfolio of power, cooling and IT infrastructure solutions and services that extends from the cloud ...
A new Guide to Data Centre Sustainability, has been launched. An online resource for data centre owners and operators seeking to reduce the environmental impact of their facilities. According to a report by the International Energy Agency, data centres account for about 1% of global electricity demand. The report notes that the industry was able to limit the impact of capacity growth on total energy consumption prior to 2020 by improving operating efficiency. However, in 2020, global internet traffic surged by more than 40%, and Market Intelligence projects a 13% compound annual growth rate in data centre construction over the next five years. Guide to Data Centre Sustainability to Reduce Carbon Emissions, Water Use That trend, combined with increased focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption, has led some operators to seek new solutions that increase equipment utilisation and drive out remaining inefficiencies, phase out water-intensive cooling technologies, and decrease their dependence on carbon-based energy sources. “We’re seeing a sense of urgency by operators across the industry to reduce the impact of their operations on the environment, and this new resource is designed to help them do just that,” said TJ Faze, head of ESG strategy & engagement at Vertiv. “The focus on operational efficiency has enabled significant improvements, but now new strategies and more intelligent systems are required to drive down emissions and water use as the industry continues to grow. As a provider of infrastructure solutions to enterprises, colocation and cloud providers, Vertiv is well-positioned to share best practices and new developments across these sectors.” The industry movement has been led by large hyperscale operators who have set goals to become carbon neutral or carbon negative by the end of this decade. These operators are taking the lead in advancing technologies that support these goals and developing a roadmap for the rest of the industry. Many colocation providers are also moving to carbon-neutral and water-efficient operations to capitalise on market demand for data centre services that support their enterprise customers’ environmental goals. Enterprises must also address the impact of their on-premises data centres to support those goals. “In Europe alone, over 25 European cloud and data centre operators and 17 other industry associations have signed an agreement to make their facilities carbon neutral via 100% renewable energy sources by 2030,” said Karsten Winther, EMEA president at Vertiv. “This will only be achievable if organisations implement new strategies and innovative systems that reduce the consumption of resources. Our newly launched Guide, paired with our depth of experience in providing infrastructure solutions, allows us to share best practices and new innovations from across the industry to educate these operators and help to reduce the environmental footprint of their facilities, not only in Europe, but across the globe.” The Vertiv Guide to Data Centre Sustainability provides guidance for operators on: The business case for reducing environmental impact How data centre infrastructure and complementary technologies are evolving to support higher utilisation and increased use of renewable energy Resources, frameworks and metrics for implementing and measuring sustainability initiatives Best practices for designing and operating low-impact data centres The Vertiv Guide to Data Centre Sustainability is available on Vertiv.com About Vertiv Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) brings together hardware, software, analytics and ongoing services to enable its customers’ vital applications to run continuously, perform optimally and grow with their business needs. Vertiv solves the most important challenges facing today’s data centres, communication networks and commercial and industrial facilities with a portfolio of power, cooling and IT infrastructure solutions and services that extends from the cloud ...
Today, Fidelity Investments Ireland has announced further expansion of its national footprint commencing a recruitment drive for 300 new full-time positions for its world-class team in Ireland. Work to fill these roles is underway and the company is looking to have all positions filled within 2 years. When complete this recruitment will see the company’s Irish footprint grow to 1,800, including a graduate pipeline as a key part to that overall growth. The recruitment will seek to find 200 new associates in Galway and 100 in Dublin with flexible working arrangements available. The roles offer a competitive compensation package. The roles will primarily align to Fidelity Investment’s technology team which underpins the global operations of the company. There will also be a number of business operations roles in Dublin. The technology roles will focus on the following disciplines: Software engineering — Cloud — Application and data architecture — Cyber Security — Agile roles including scrum masters and squad leaders (product roles). A sign of the company’s resilience and continued commitment to Ireland, the increased footprint is due to the growth and high demand in several business areas including Enterprise Technology; Asset Management; Workplace Investing with specific focus on Enterprise Stock Plan Services; Fidelity Brokerage; Fidelity Labs; and The Fidelity Centre for Applied Technology. For over 25 years, Fidelity Investments Ireland has provided innovative technology solutions to the wider global firm serving the individual needs of over 32 million customers. The organisation in Ireland has grown steadily from a workforce of 400 in 2013 to almost 1,500 today. Lorna Martyn, Ireland Regional Chair and SVP, Technology, Fidelity Investments Ireland: ‘We are excited to be growing our operations in Ireland again. In recent years we have had exceptional success in recruiting high quality candidates and look forward to welcoming our new associates over the coming months. We have shown huge resilience over recent years and, as a company, we are firmly committed to supporting our customers. These new highly skilled positions will enhance our ability to meet our customers’ changing needs into the future.’ Commenting on the announcement, Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe said: “Since first establishing a presence in Ireland over a quarter of a century ago, Fidelity Investments has become a key part of the Irish financial services sector. The company’s commitment to Ireland is reflected in today’s announcement and we look forward to seeing Fidelity enjoy continued success in both Dublin and Galway. The Ireland For Finance Strategy underlines the Government’s approach to encouraging overseas investment and supporting jobs by focusing on growth in green, sustainable and digital financial services.” Martin Shanahan, the CEO of IDA Ireland, said: “The addition of 300 new jobs for Galway and Dublin is a clear commitment by Fidelity to their operations in Ireland. The expansion reflects positively on the strength of the fintech ecosystem here which enables companies like Fidelity to create products to serve their global customer base from Ireland. The investment also endorses IDA’s long-term strategy of partnering with existing clients based in Dublin to expand into second sites in regional locations, to tap into the talent base available across the country.” Fidelity Investments’ financial strengths come from its unmatched scale and combination of market-leading businesses that serve different markets with solutions – asset management, brokerage, and administrative solutions serving personal, workplace, intermediary, and institutional markets. For more information on the positions or to apply to join the Fidelity team, visit/.
Today, Fidelity Investments Ireland has announced further expansion of its national footprint commencing a recruitment drive for 300 new full-time positions for its world-class team in Ireland. Work to fill these roles is underway and the company is looking to have all positions filled within 2 years. When complete this recruitment will see the company’s Irish footprint grow to 1,800, including a graduate pipeline as a key part to that overall growth. The recruitment will seek to find 200 new associates in Galway and 100 in Dublin with flexible working arrangements available. The roles offer a competitive compensation package. The roles will primarily align to Fidelity Investment’s technology team which underpins the global operations of the company. There will also be a number of business operations roles in Dublin. The technology roles will focus on the following disciplines: Software engineering — Cloud — Application and data architecture — Cyber Security — Agile roles including scrum masters and squad leaders (product roles). A sign of the company’s resilience and continued commitment to Ireland, the increased footprint is due to the growth and high demand in several business areas including Enterprise Technology; Asset Management; Workplace Investing with specific focus on Enterprise Stock Plan Services; Fidelity Brokerage; Fidelity Labs; and The Fidelity Centre for Applied Technology. For over 25 years, Fidelity Investments Ireland has provided innovative technology solutions to the wider global firm serving the individual needs of over 32 million customers. The organisation in Ireland has grown steadily from a workforce of 400 in 2013 to almost 1,500 today. Lorna Martyn, Ireland Regional Chair and SVP, Technology, Fidelity Investments Ireland: ‘We are excited to be growing our operations in Ireland again. In recent years we have had exceptional success in recruiting high quality candidates and look forward to welcoming our new associates over the coming months. We have shown huge resilience over recent years and, as a company, we are firmly committed to supporting our customers. These new highly skilled positions will enhance our ability to meet our customers’ changing needs into the future.’ Commenting on the announcement, Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe said: “Since first establishing a presence in Ireland over a quarter of a century ago, Fidelity Investments has become a key part of the Irish financial services sector. The company’s commitment to Ireland is reflected in today’s announcement and we look forward to seeing Fidelity enjoy continued success in both Dublin and Galway. The Ireland For Finance Strategy underlines the Government’s approach to encouraging overseas investment and supporting jobs by focusing on growth in green, sustainable and digital financial services.” Martin Shanahan, the CEO of IDA Ireland, said: “The addition of 300 new jobs for Galway and Dublin is a clear commitment by Fidelity to their operations in Ireland. The expansion reflects positively on the strength of the fintech ecosystem here which enables companies like Fidelity to create products to serve their global customer base from Ireland. The investment also endorses IDA’s long-term strategy of partnering with existing clients based in Dublin to expand into second sites in regional locations, to tap into the talent base available across the country.” Fidelity Investments’ financial strengths come from its unmatched scale and combination of market-leading businesses that serve different markets with solutions – asset management, brokerage, and administrative solutions serving personal, workplace, intermediary, and institutional markets. For more information on the positions or to apply to join the Fidelity team, visit/.
This week, Eoin and Pete riff on crypto exchange FTX’s partnership with Visa enabling users to spend crypto anywhere Visa is accepted, Google Cloud enabling customers to pay in crypto in partnership with Coinbase, the state of ‘community fintech’ through the lens of Chetwood Financial’s deal with Mumsnet and their 8 million-strong community, NovaCredit’s big $10mn investment from HSBC as a rallying cry for public fintech utilities, the latest on Meta’s metaverse world, and how it’s backs-against-the-wall time for Goldman Sachs’ Marcus and Bank North. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges. STORIES COVERED: Visa partners with FTX in a bet that shoppers still want to spend cryptocurrencies in a bear market (CNBC, 7-Oct-22) Google Partners With Coinbase to Accept Crypto Payments for Cloud Services (Coindesk, 11-Oct-22) Chetwood Financial partners with Mumsnet for family-focused financial service (Finextra, 30-Sep-22) The Fintech 250: The most promising fintech companies of 2022 (CB Insights, 4-Oct-22) HSBC Invests $10mn in Nova Credit (AltFi, 20-Sep-22) Under Pressure, Goldman CEO Ditches Dream of Consumer Domination (Bloomberg, 10-Oct-22) Meta announces legs (TechCrunch, 11-Oct-22 | Dave Cunningham on Twitter) LHV UK to buy SME lending business of Bank North (Finextra, 11-Oct-22) BOOKS MENTIONED: Importance of Being Interested, Robin Ince Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman: Adventures of a Curious Character, Richard Feynman The Network State: How To Start a New Country, Balaji Srinivasan Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order, Ray Dalio Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, Paul Graham LINKS: Leave a review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Check out our MoneyNeverSleeps website and get in touch via info@moneyneversleeps.ie Follow us on Twitter: MoneyNeverSleeps | Eoin Fitzgerald | Pete Townsend More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
This week, Eoin and Pete riff on crypto exchange FTX’s partnership with Visa enabling users to spend crypto anywhere Visa is accepted, Google Cloud enabling customers to pay in crypto in partnership with Coinbase, the state of ‘community fintech’ through the lens of Chetwood Financial’s deal with Mumsnet and their 8 million-strong community, NovaCredit’s big $10mn investment from HSBC as a rallying cry for public fintech utilities, the latest on Meta’s metaverse world, and how it’s backs-against-the-wall time for Goldman Sachs’ Marcus and Bank North. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges. STORIES COVERED: Visa partners with FTX in a bet that shoppers still want to spend cryptocurrencies in a bear market (CNBC, 7-Oct-22) Google Partners With Coinbase to Accept Crypto Payments for Cloud Services (Coindesk, 11-Oct-22) Chetwood Financial partners with Mumsnet for family-focused financial service (Finextra, 30-Sep-22) The Fintech 250: The most promising fintech companies of 2022 (CB Insights, 4-Oct-22) HSBC Invests $10mn in Nova Credit (AltFi, 20-Sep-22) Under Pressure, Goldman CEO Ditches Dream of Consumer Domination (Bloomberg, 10-Oct-22) Meta announces legs (TechCrunch, 11-Oct-22 | Dave Cunningham on Twitter) LHV UK to buy SME lending business of Bank North (Finextra, 11-Oct-22) BOOKS MENTIONED: Importance of Being Interested, Robin Ince Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman: Adventures of a Curious Character, Richard Feynman The Network State: How To Start a New Country, Balaji Srinivasan Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order, Ray Dalio Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, Paul Graham LINKS: Leave a review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Check out our MoneyNeverSleeps website and get in touch via info@moneyneversleeps.ie Follow us on Twitter: MoneyNeverSleeps | Eoin Fitzgerald | Pete Townsend More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The technological advancement of Irish-made autonomous farm machinery is being enhanced by researchers at Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software and Abbey Machinery, under a new research partnership agreement. Lero researcher, professor Joseph Walsh, based at the Munster Technological University’s Kerry campus, is leading the partnership with Toomevara, County Tipperary headquartered Abbey Machinery. Prof. Walsh points out that with global food production required to increase by close to 70% to feed a growing population, the agricultural industry has to become more innovative by using technology to add value to our food supply chains. “The farmers leading the way in adopting the new technologies will ultimately accelerate the movement that transforms the global agri-food system into one which will efficiently feed nine billion people by 2050,” he added. Prof. Walsh said the partnership with Abbey would leverage MUT’s industry-leading innovative AgriTech research in IoT, AI and Manufacturing to develop the next generation of intelligent, connected tankers and feeders. “These machines will be designed to allow remote operation and monitoring by employing state-of-the-art technologies and techniques in sensor networks, communications, and data analytics,” he added. Abbey Machinery MD Clodagh Kavanagh said that as an export-orientated company with 60% of sales coming from overseas, the goal of Abbey Machinery is to research and develop the next generation of smart, connected, and automated generation of tankers and feeders. “These machines will be designed to allow remote operation and monitoring by employing state-of-the-art technologies and techniques in the fields of telematics, sensor networks and communications, and data analytics to meet the needs of our customers in Ireland, Britain, France, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Australia, New Zealand and Iceland,” she added. Ms Kavanagh said the research has two strands: Next-generation smart electronic architecture for agriculture machinery and software systems for telematics monitoring and remote operation. Prof. Walsh said the necessary deliverables for Abbey Machinery will be a prototype of the full-stack software platform that monitors the telematics, automates service reminders, and remote operations that have the potential to lead to the development of new products and services for Abbey Machinery. MTU ?President Professor Maggie Cusack said: “MTU and Abbey Machinery have an established educational and research partnership spanning a number of years. This project marks the extension of this partnership, and we look forward to the positive impact this R&D project will have both nationally and internationally.” More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The technological advancement of Irish-made autonomous farm machinery is being enhanced by researchers at Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software and Abbey Machinery, under a new research partnership agreement. Lero researcher, professor Joseph Walsh, based at the Munster Technological University’s Kerry campus, is leading the partnership with Toomevara, County Tipperary headquartered Abbey Machinery. Prof. Walsh points out that with global food production required to increase by close to 70% to feed a growing population, the agricultural industry has to become more innovative by using technology to add value to our food supply chains. “The farmers leading the way in adopting the new technologies will ultimately accelerate the movement that transforms the global agri-food system into one which will efficiently feed nine billion people by 2050,” he added. Prof. Walsh said the partnership with Abbey would leverage MUT’s industry-leading innovative AgriTech research in IoT, AI and Manufacturing to develop the next generation of intelligent, connected tankers and feeders. “These machines will be designed to allow remote operation and monitoring by employing state-of-the-art technologies and techniques in sensor networks, communications, and data analytics,” he added. Abbey Machinery MD Clodagh Kavanagh said that as an export-orientated company with 60% of sales coming from overseas, the goal of Abbey Machinery is to research and develop the next generation of smart, connected, and automated generation of tankers and feeders. “These machines will be designed to allow remote operation and monitoring by employing state-of-the-art technologies and techniques in the fields of telematics, sensor networks and communications, and data analytics to meet the needs of our customers in Ireland, Britain, France, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Australia, New Zealand and Iceland,” she added. Ms Kavanagh said the research has two strands: Next-generation smart electronic architecture for agriculture machinery and software systems for telematics monitoring and remote operation. Prof. Walsh said the necessary deliverables for Abbey Machinery will be a prototype of the full-stack software platform that monitors the telematics, automates service reminders, and remote operations that have the potential to lead to the development of new products and services for Abbey Machinery. MTU ?President Professor Maggie Cusack said: “MTU and Abbey Machinery have an established educational and research partnership spanning a number of years. This project marks the extension of this partnership, and we look forward to the positive impact this R&D project will have both nationally and internationally.” More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
We look at the latest release from Google in their Pixel series. They have released the Pixel 7 and the Pixel 7 Pro, for this review we look at the Pixel 7 Pro. See more about the products in their store here. Pixel 7 Pro reviewed It’s that time again, the new iteration of the Google Pixel phone is upon us. This seems to come around quick enough too. This does suggest that the strategy is one to keep improving, building up and innovating around what they have created to date. It does now feel like we have come a long way since the earlier numbers of the Pixels. One good thing to report about the Pixel 7 Pro compared to it’s 6 Pro predecessor is that it is neither significantly bigger or smaller than it. For us we are going to call this a good thing as there didn’t seem to be any need for upward endless phone size creep. Using the Pixel 6 Pro initially proved to be a bit of a challenge for a couple of reasons. Firstly it’s size, especially relative to the Pixel 4 & 5, meant that the 6 was endlessly sliding back out of our pockets. It was also super slippery, very much a gloss rather than a matt kinda feel to it. Super sleek perhaps, but darn tricky when you kept finding it slipping out of your hands. The 7 Pro doesn’t remedy this issue, or rather it suggests that the creators have decided to continue down this path. The good thing therefore, is that if you have gone done the user experience learning journey with the 6 Pro, you at least know what to expect with the 7. Basically this means that you need to think about how you want to use the phone, and what strategies you may have already been employing to keep it safe(r). Even better too, the 7 Pro actually comes with a case this time. This always seemed like a missing but smart idea. If you are going to invest the serious amount of money that is required to get a Pro series phone, then why not just include a case too. That said the particular one we got for it is a slightly brutally ugly light grey piece of casing. However it does do the job, so we can appreciate you might say we are asking to have our cake and eat it too, but then again longevity of your phone should be a decent factor too. Out of the box the phone boots up well, it takes, as you might expect, excellent photos. with some features. On previous iterations of the Pixel 3rd parties have asked us what phone we were using due to the sharpness and detail of images we took, and it seems like this excellence is only going to continue with the 7 Pro. Overall our testers found it to work well and they enjoyed using it. The degree of slipperiness should be mitigated by the tailored case for it, and the audio to text functionality on the app is super useful, as well as the many other elements of cutting edge google tech that have been included in the phone too. It continues to be an interesting journey for the Pixel series, and it does feel like it has come of age and they are staking their own definitive place in the upper echelons of the smart phone market. More about the phone here The triple rear camera system includes a dedicated 5x telephoto lens and 30x Super Res Zoom for crisp, clear photos from far away. The upgraded ultrawide lens with auto-focus powers Macro Focus for amazing shots of the tiniest details. Pixel 7 Pro starts at €899. And it’s available in Snow, Obsidian and Hazel. Both phones are made with recycled materials. Pixel can handle water and dust with IP68 protection. The display is scratch resistant, with Corning® Gorilla® Glass Victus. Pixel’s Adaptive Battery can last over 24 hours. It learns your favourite apps, so it doesn’t waste power on ones that you rarely use. Turn on Extreme Battery Saver, and the battery can last up to 72 hours. With the compatible 30 W USB-C® Charger (sold separately), your Pixel charges super fast – up to 50% charge in around 30 minutes. Pixel is more helpful than ever. At a Glance shows you useful info at the right time, like your baggage claim info at the airport or ...
We look at the latest release from Google in their Pixel series. They have released the Pixel 7 and the Pixel 7 Pro, for this review we look at the Pixel 7 Pro. See more about the products in their store here. Pixel 7 Pro reviewed It’s that time again, the new iteration of the Google Pixel phone is upon us. This seems to come around quick enough too. This does suggest that the strategy is one to keep improving, building up and innovating around what they have created to date. It does now feel like we have come a long way since the earlier numbers of the Pixels. One good thing to report about the Pixel 7 Pro compared to it’s 6 Pro predecessor is that it is neither significantly bigger or smaller than it. For us we are going to call this a good thing as there didn’t seem to be any need for upward endless phone size creep. Using the Pixel 6 Pro initially proved to be a bit of a challenge for a couple of reasons. Firstly it’s size, especially relative to the Pixel 4 & 5, meant that the 6 was endlessly sliding back out of our pockets. It was also super slippery, very much a gloss rather than a matt kinda feel to it. Super sleek perhaps, but darn tricky when you kept finding it slipping out of your hands. The 7 Pro doesn’t remedy this issue, or rather it suggests that the creators have decided to continue down this path. The good thing therefore, is that if you have gone done the user experience learning journey with the 6 Pro, you at least know what to expect with the 7. Basically this means that you need to think about how you want to use the phone, and what strategies you may have already been employing to keep it safe(r). Even better too, the 7 Pro actually comes with a case this time. This always seemed like a missing but smart idea. If you are going to invest the serious amount of money that is required to get a Pro series phone, then why not just include a case too. That said the particular one we got for it is a slightly brutally ugly light grey piece of casing. However it does do the job, so we can appreciate you might say we are asking to have our cake and eat it too, but then again longevity of your phone should be a decent factor too. Out of the box the phone boots up well, it takes, as you might expect, excellent photos. with some features. On previous iterations of the Pixel 3rd parties have asked us what phone we were using due to the sharpness and detail of images we took, and it seems like this excellence is only going to continue with the 7 Pro. Overall our testers found it to work well and they enjoyed using it. The degree of slipperiness should be mitigated by the tailored case for it, and the audio to text functionality on the app is super useful, as well as the many other elements of cutting edge google tech that have been included in the phone too. It continues to be an interesting journey for the Pixel series, and it does feel like it has come of age and they are staking their own definitive place in the upper echelons of the smart phone market. More about the phone here The triple rear camera system includes a dedicated 5x telephoto lens and 30x Super Res Zoom for crisp, clear photos from far away. The upgraded ultrawide lens with auto-focus powers Macro Focus for amazing shots of the tiniest details. Pixel 7 Pro starts at €899. And it’s available in Snow, Obsidian and Hazel. Both phones are made with recycled materials. Pixel can handle water and dust with IP68 protection. The display is scratch resistant, with Corning® Gorilla® Glass Victus. Pixel’s Adaptive Battery can last over 24 hours. It learns your favourite apps, so it doesn’t waste power on ones that you rarely use. Turn on Extreme Battery Saver, and the battery can last up to 72 hours. With the compatible 30 W USB-C® Charger (sold separately), your Pixel charges super fast – up to 50% charge in around 30 minutes. Pixel is more helpful than ever. At a Glance shows you useful info at the right time, like your baggage claim info at the airport or ...
The Form Foundation, along with Société and Dublin City Council, are bringing the NEOPETS exhibition, by New York artist Bunny Rogers, to the streets of Dublin for eight weeks only. This special exhibition is part of a new, collaborative effort, led by The Form Foundation, to bring a selection of the most talked-about pieces of contemporary art to Ireland – introducing internationally recognised painting, sculpture and installation art to local audiences and making it accessible to everyone. The Bunny Rogers NEOPETS exhibition takes place on Dublin’s Kildare Street, Dublin 2 for 4 weeks only ( 5th of October – 6th of November). About Bunny Rogers The artist, Bunny Rogers takes inspiration from online gaming and digital identities from her youth, to create brilliant, bold sculptures for this show-stopping NEOPETS exhibition. Rogers’ towering bronze sculptures bear resemblance to ornate European gargoyles, but are brilliantly modernised in Rogers’ whimsical and bold artistic style. Speaking about the installation, Caroline Conroy, The Lord Mayor of Dublin; said: “These playful NEOPETS sculptures by Bunny Rogers are not to be missed. I’m delighted to see them take up residence in Dublin as a playful animation. It is sure to be a great addition to our city’s conversation-starting public art scene.” A major reference for Rogers is the world of online gaming and the malleable identities endemic to role-playing and fantasy communities. This interest was not born out of purely conceptual or aesthetic considerations, but instead developed seamlessly from Rogers’ own fascination and involvement with these platforms in her youth. Her first forays into art can be traced to her experiments on the website Neopets.com: an immersive online universe popular in the early 2000s in which children created and tended to virtual pets. For Rogers, spending time on the internet as a child was equated with a freedom from isolation and her work thereby evinces an enchantment with online expressions of community. “My Neopets were real to me,” Rogers explains, “I wished that I could visit Neopia and didn’t understand why I couldn’t.” The all-consuming structure of neopets.com—with its branded games that allowed players to win neopoints, the virtual currency needed to navigate the land of Neopia and provide for their NeoPets—fascinated Rogers with its conflation of consumption, fantasy, and care. Rogers describes the process of logging into Neopets after school as “coming alive again.” The connection she felt with the game and its players alleviated the feelings of isolation and loneliness experienced away from the keyboard. “The participation in an online world made me aware of a bigger community,” Rogers says, “and (it) gave me hope that what I was doing wouldn’t always go unnoticed.” Rogers has made a number of sculptural works inspired by the Neopets, which have become one of the most emblematic references in her artistic practice. Although previous works in this series were more modestly scaled, Rogers has recently begun to conceive of these works on a grand scale for public space. She created a towering Neopet sculpture for the 2021 edition of Art Basel Parcours. Enlarged to over three meters, these virtual creatures who left such an indelible mark on Rogers’ consciousness now assume an outsized physical form to meet us away from the keyboard. Three of these Neopets (Techno Statue, Shoyru Statue and Chia Statue) will be on display as part of this exhibition. Rogers’ Neopets all have different moods and characteristics. Her conceptual engagement with bridging private, inner-worlds with moments of collectivity. By situating one of Rogers’ Neopet sculptures in the public, common space visitors tap into an intimate space of memory, fantasy, and identity. The Neopets conceptually emphasise community, collaboration, cooperation, and the power of inventiveness and innovation. Such qualities not only drive successful organisations and teams, but also are ...
The Ludgate Hub, AgTechUCD and Munster Technological University’s (MTU) AgriTech cluster are hosting a Farm of the Future Ideation Day on Wednesday, 26 October, at Carbery’s newly renovated visitor centre at Farm Zero C, outside Bandon, Co. Cork. The purpose of the day-long event is to bring together people working in the agri-food sector to identify challenges currently facing the agriculture sector and to identify potential solutions which could form the basis of new businesses. Identified challenges will be discussed, and methodologies applied, with the support of a trained facilitator, to create robust solutions to address the challenges. The identified solutions will then be pitched to a team of judges and a prize will be awarded to an overall winner. Niamh Collins, Director, AgTechUCD, said, “We look forward to welcoming participants to our Farm of the Future ideation day event at the end of the month. This event is open to those working in the agri-food sector, the farming community, second and third-level students, academics and anyone who has an interest in innovation, sustainability and problem solving, especially in the agriculture sector. We hope that some of the solutions which emerge during the day to solve the identified challenges will evolve into businesses in the future.” Fiona Ryan, Start-Up and Entrepreneurship Manager, The Ludgate Hub, said, “You don’t need to have identified a challenge to attend this event, we will match you with other participants on the day to form a team to address a challenge. The day will involve some team-building activities before the team works through various steps to mature/re-evaluate your team challenge with the support of facilitators.” Kieran O’Donoghue, Educational Outreach Manager, AgriTech Ireland, said, “During the day each team will address issues such as which challenge is your idea solving and why does this problem exist. They will analyse existing solutions to help rephrase the problem before identifying a new potential solution and building a compelling pitch to present to the judges.” Farm Zero C (Shinagh Farm, outside Bandon, Co. Cork), which last year won the SFI Future Innovator Prize of €2 million in funding, is a collaboration between Carbery, BiOrbic, Bioeconomy SFI Research Centre, UCD and others to create a climate-neutral, economically-viable dairy farm. The project is taking a holistic approach, combining a range of technologies and practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the productivity and resilience of the farm. The Farm of the Future Ideation Day is taking place on 26 October and registration is now open via The Farm of the Future Ideation Day is supported by AIB, Carbery Group and Drinagh Co-op. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
By the end of 2024, all mobile phones, tablets and cameras sold in the EU will have to be equipped with a USB Type-C charging port. From spring 2026, the obligation will extend to laptops. The new law, adopted by plenary on Tuesday with 602 votes in favour, 13 against and 8 abstentions, is part of a broader EU effort to reduce e-waste and to empower consumers to make more sustainable choices. Under the new rules, consumers will no longer need a different charger every time they purchase a new device, as they will be able to use one single charger for a whole range of small and medium-sized portable electronic devices. Regardless of their manufacturer, all new mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones and headsets, handheld videogame consoles and portable speakers, e-readers, keyboards, mice, portable navigation systems, earbuds and laptops that are rechargeable via a wired cable, operating with a power delivery of up to 100 Watts, will have to be equipped with a USB Type-C port. All devices that support fast charging will now have the same charging speed, allowing users to charge their devices at the same speed with any compatible charger. Encouraging technological innovation As wireless charging becomes more prevalent, the European Commission will have to harmonise interoperability requirements by the end of 2024, to avoid having a negative impact on consumers and the environment. This will also get rid of the so-called technological “lock-in” effect, whereby a consumer becomes dependent on a single manufacturer. Better information and choice for consumers Dedicated labels will inform consumers about the charging characteristics of new devices, making it easier for them to see whether their existing chargers are compatible. Buyers will also be able to make an informed choice about whether or not to purchase a new charging device with a new product. These new obligations will lead to more re-use of chargers and will help consumers save up to 250 million euro a year on unnecessary charger purchases. Disposed of and unused chargers account for about 11 000 tonnes of e-waste annually in the EU. Parliament’s rapporteur Alex Agius Saliba (S&D, MT) said: “The common charger will finally become a reality in Europe. We have waited more than ten years for these rules, but we can finally leave the current plethora of chargers in the past. “This future-proof law allows for the development of innovative charging solutions in the future, and it will benefit everyone – from frustrated consumers to our vulnerable environment. These are difficult times for politics, but we have shown that the EU has not run out of ideas or solutions to improve the lives of millions in Europe and inspire other parts of the world to follow suit” A podcast interview with Alex Agius Saliba will be published soon on Irish Tech News. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
ServiceNow, the leading digital workflow company making the world work better for everyone, has announced it has signed an agreement to acquire observability and log management innovator, Era Software. Combined with ServiceNow’s acquisition of Lightstep in 2021, Era Software will help provide customers with a unified observability solution at scale. Customers will be able to gather actionable insights that deliver value across the business, all within a single solution purpose-built for the era of digital business. Observability is foundational to digital transformation as it provides developers with the necessary insights to understand the performance of strategic applications at scale and translate that data into business value. Yet within large enterprises, observability often remains siloed and costly, creating a fragmented and complex experience for DevOps and SRE teams. Era Software’s innovative technology and customer-centric approach to log management complements and augments existing features within Lightstep, and accelerates ServiceNow’s path toward unified telemetry (logs, metrics, traces). “Digital transformation succeeds or fails based on unified observability,” says Ben Sigelman, general manager of ServiceNow’s Lightstep business unit and co-founder of Lightstep. “Together, ServiceNow and Era Software are set up to deliver a unified and seamless observability experience within one solution, designed to scale.” As a founding member of the OpenTelemetry project, Lightstep leads the industry in a vision toward unified telemetry. Together, Era Software and Lightstep will further extend critical, unified observability workflows, removing the confusing context switches that hinder DevOps and SRE productivity at most enterprises today. Unified telemetry allows teams to innovate fast with precision and control, helping modern organizations deliver better outcomes across all their technology investments, capitalizing on the promise of digital transformation. “At Era Software, we created solutions to simplify the complex challenges of managing large volumes of observability data, with a particular focus on log management,” said Todd Persen, CEO and co?founder at Era Software. “We have always believed that observability should span across the enterprise. We are excited to join ServiceNow, as we further build a customer-centric model of observability that can help transform the way people work.” Since its inception, the Era Software team has engineered new approaches to log data management that resolves scale, performance, and cost issues associated with running distributed applications on modern cloud-native architectures. Seattle?based Era Software was co?founded in 2019 by CEO Todd Persen and CTO Robert Winslow. Persen was previously a co-founder and CTO at InfluxData, where he helped engineer the InfluxDB time-series database. With IDC forecasting the growth of the observability market to reach $9.08 billion by 2025, this announcement underscores ServiceNow’s organic growth strategy with a focus on talent and technologies that strengthen the Now Platform with new and enhanced features for customers. It follows other recent ServiceNow acquisitions, including Hitch Works, DotWalk, Mapwize, and Gekkobrain. ServiceNow expects to complete the acquisition of Era Software in Q4 2022. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. See more stories here.
New research from Digital Realty in partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise reveals that nearly half (45%) of Irish organisations plan to migrate to a hybrid IT environment to leverage both on-premises systems and off-premises cloud/hosted resources. Findings reveal, however, a significant variance between enterprises headquartered in Ireland versus those in other countries (36% v 67%), showing Irish enterprises have been slower to adopt hybrid IT versus their international peers. The survey of 150 senior IT and business decision-makers, commissioned by Amárach Research, explored the opportunities and challenges that are driving enterprises from a cross-section of industries when it comes to digital and IT transformation. When asked what the biggest challenges their organisation faces, data management emerged as the most prevalent, with the key issues being identified as: Data security: 64 per cent of organisations identified data security as the main issue they would like to be addressed. Making better use of data: When managing data, nearly one in three (28%) of respondents said they grapple with the management of the ever-growing amounts of data within their organisation and over a third (36%) of organisations reported they would like to understand how to make better use of their data. Data regulation: Just under a quarter of the Irish enterprises surveyed (20%) want to more effectively manage evolving and diverse data regulation. Workload placement: Unlike the global shift away from storing data in owner-operated server rooms, many Irish enterprises continue to own and operate server rooms. Research shows, however, a significant (63%) reduction in the reliance of on-premises facilities over the next two years. “Irish businesses have rarely faced a more prolific time of immense challenges and constant change. From remote working to ongoing security concerns, and from supply chain issues to a proliferation of data; one thing remains true – security, including backup and recovery, is top of mind for Ireland’s leading enterprises, be that IT security, data security or physical security. Add one more major consideration to this list in the form of connectivity – the demands associated with always-on data and self-service – the challenge for Irish enterprises is to modernise their IT offering in order to deliver for their business and staff, as well as for customers and clients,” said Séamus Dunne, Managing Director Digital Realty Ireland. With more than a half of respondents (54%) forecasting the total number of IT and business applications deployed by their organisation to grow anywhere from 11% – 50% in the next 12 months, and almost 40 percent (39%) of respondents stating that optimising connectivity at branch locations or employees working from home was a key network consideration; there has never been a more important time for Irish businesses to have the right IT infrastructure and ecosystem in place to scale and meet the changing demands of the current business environment. Lack of Skills Emphasises Importance of the Partner Ecosystem Alarmingly, just as the demands on IT infrastructure increases, another major revelation from the report showed that few organisations surveyed have the necessary resources or skills to meet future IT demands including security expertise (53%), compliance and governance (38%), and application transformation and redevelopment skills to support cloud migrations (28%). It comes as no surprise then that the research also showed that a third (31%) of Irish enterprises currently use systems integrators or managed hosting providers to manage their infrastructure. The ecosystem doesn’t end there, with almost all the companies surveyed saying they rely on multiple software and hardware vendors, consultants, and cloud services providers to navigate their IT transformation journeys, with a fifth (21%) of companies stating they plan to use a data centre or colocation provider to support the depl...
National College of Ireland (NCI) is a not-for-profit, independent, higher education institute based in the IFSC. Growing from a workers’ college in the 1950s to 6,500 students today, the College provides full-time and part-time programmes from undergraduate to doctoral level, in business, computing, education and psychology. NCI is home to the Early Learning Initiative (ELI), which works in partnership with local communities to support educational journeys and achievements. NCI has grown significantly, in recent years, and has been seeking a suitable premises for campus expansion. Today the College can confirm that NCI has purchased West Wing, Block R, Spencer Dock which will allow the College to continue and enhance its mission to ‘change lives through education’, and to expand its Early Learning Initiative services to the local community. The new building is less than a 5-minute walk from the current campus at Mayor Square, where the College has served for 20 years as an intersection between education, business, and community, and will add 5,600 square metres to NCI’s holding in the North East Inner City (NEIC). Classes could commence in the new building as early as January, with the new campus fully operational by September 2023. Gina Quin, President of NCI, commented: “I am delighted to announce our campus expansion, which has long been in the planning and is a long-term investment. The timing is perfect: the acquisition of this new building will allow us to grow in line with the six key priorities of our five-year strategic plan, which we will launch this semester. “This is a fantastic opportunity to deliver for our students, who will benefit from enhanced facilities; our staff, providing better working environments for all our activities; our teaching, through better classrooms and study spaces; our research, through expansion of our library footprint; and more access paths into education at an enhanced college campus. It will also allow NCI to focus on its unique positioning as a distinctive education provider in Higher Education. “We cannot wait to make this new space our own, extending the warmth and welcome of the NCI into Spencer Dock, in a move that will have a positive impact on the whole of the NEIC community.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Virgin Media has announced that it is joining forces with global esports organisation, WYLDE, to develop and nurture Ireland’s rapidly growing esports industry. This new partnership positions Virgin Media at the forefront of gaming in Ireland, working with Usain Bolt’s WYLDE esports organisation, to grow Ireland’s roster of world-class esports athletes. The popularity of esports is rapidly expanding, with 53% of Irish adults gaming regularly, and rising to 75% of adults aged 18 to 34 years, according to research commissioned by Virgin Media. The research goes on to show that strategy and sports titles are the most popular esports amongst Irish gamers with 22% watching live esports tournaments online. The Virgin Media announcement coincides with the opening by WYLDE of Ireland’s first state-of-the-art esports Academy powered by Virgin Media in Cork. The Academy will host a wide range of national and international events in the coming months including FIFA training sessions and a Rainbow Six Siege Bootcamp. Based in Republic of Work in Cork, the new academy will support the on-going development in player performance and best practice coaching in Ireland. WYLDE players compete in some of the most popular esports titles in the world including Rainbow Six: Siege, Valorant, Rocket League and FIFA. The group is rapidly making its mark on both the domestic and international competitive stage. In 2021, WYLDE FIFA players reached the inaugural FAI eLeague of Ireland championship final, and WYLDE player Tyrone Ryan went on to represent Ireland at the FIFA eNations Series in 2021. On the international stage, the WYLDE Rainbow Six Siege team won the EU Gamers Without Borders Championship (June 2022) securing a $250,000 donation to UNICEF, and went on to the global semi-final of the $2 million Gamers 8 tournament, beating Team Liquid and former World Champions Space Station Gaming along the way. WYLDE continues to dominate international titles, with WYLDE’s R6 Team winning the Ubisoft GSA Grand Final Trophy in Germany. Paul Higgins, Vice President of Commercial, Virgin Media welcomed the announcement saying: “We are thrilled to announce this new partnership with WYLDE, Ireland’s leading esports organisation. Without superfast and reliable broadband, gamers cannot perform at their best. We know so many of our customers love gaming.Research carried out by Virgin Media shows the remarkable growth of gaming and esports in Ireland. “Our most recent research goes on to show just how prolific gaming is amongst the Irish public with a growing number of gamers looking to play online, highlighting the importance of a fast and reliable internet connection. “The WYLDE esports Academy powered by Virgin Media’s superfast 1Gb speeds is the first of its kind in Ireland and is an exciting opportunity to help nurture and support gaming talent in Ireland.” The world’s fastest man, and co-owner of WYLDE, Usain Bolt, said: “I am so excited to be part of the fastest growing sport in the world, esports, through WYLDE. The WYLDE x Virgin Media partnership is a great fit, as our players and gamers all over Ireland will benefit from superfast, reliable broadband, providing a competitive edge and supporting their development as players.” Speaking at the announcement, WYLDE CEO Steve Daly said: “To be world champions, our players need world class infrastructure in Ireland. With Virgin Media as our broadband partners, WYLDE players, casters, content creators, gamers and our supporters will have a real competitive edge. We are delighted to be working with Virgin Media to enable Ireland’s gaming community and esports athletes to fulfil their potential.” To coincide with this major announcement, Virgin Media will also be launching a brand-new nationwide campaign, where two of Ireland’s top FIFA champions will be showcased as elite athletes who, like other athletes, rely on their kit to perform at the highest level. As part of the campaign, Tyrone Ryan and Ciarán Walsh ...
In this week’s episode of the Futurists, top-ranked Female Futurist (Forbes), science fiction author and TV presenter Elina Hiltunen joins us to talk her unique brand of futurism from Finland. Elina takes us through some of her more concerning forecasts on potential climate collapse, and the role that futurists have to play in setting policy responses, galvanizing public opinion, and helping us navigate the unknowns of the future. Finnishing the Future, Futurist insights with Elina Hiltunen Dr. Elina Hiltunen – Futurist, Author, D.Sc (business), M.Sc (chemistry) Elina Hiltunen has been as one of the 50 top female futurists in the world in the Fortune. She has extensive experience of key note speeches both in English and in Finnish. She is also an author of 11 books (numbers 12 and 13 on the progress.) for example about future of technology and strategic foresight. She is also a well known columnist in Finland and participates a Finnish TV- science show. Elina Hiltunen is a Finnish futurist, keynote speaker, author of 11 books. Elina has been listed in Forbes as one of the 50 leading female futurists in the world. Her background is D.Sc. (business) and M.Sc. (chemistry). Elina is currently an entrepreneur, but she has experience in working in organizations like Nokia, Finpro (Finnish trade promotion organization) and Finland Futures Research Centre as a futurist. Elina has a vast experience in keynote speeches about futures thinking, megatrends, future technology, consumer trends and weak signals- of which she has written also books. TheFuturists.com Podcast where hosts Brett King and Robert TerceK interview the worlds foremost super-forecasters, thought leaders, technologists, entrepreneurs and futurists building the world of tomorrow. More about the show Subscribe and listen to TheFuturists.com Podcast where hosts Brett King and Robert TerceK interview the worlds foremost super-forecasters, thought leaders, technologists, entrepreneurs and futurists building the world of tomorrow. Together we will explore how our world will radically change as AI, bioscience, energy, food and agriculture, computing, the metaverse, the space industry, crypto, resource management, supply chain and climate will reshape our world over the next 100 years. Join us on The Futurists and we will see you in the future! See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The vision of an Open Metaverse includes six main characteristics. Consumer and enterprise brands should experiment with the potential of the future immersive internet. This blue ocean will shape the future of many industries. A discussion with Dr Mark Van Rijmenan from Sydney about his new book: Step into the Metaverse: How the Immersive Internet Will Unlock a Trillion-Dollar Social Economy Dr Mark Van Rijmenan. Step into the Metaverse with Mark Van Rijmenan Dr Mark Van Rijmenam is The Digital Speaker. He is a future tech strategist who thinks about how technology changes organisations, society and the metaverse. Dr Markvan Rijmenam is an international keynote speaker, 4x author and entrepreneur. He is the founder of Datafloq and the author of the book published by Wiley on the metaverse: Step into the Metaverse: How the Immersive Internet Will Unlock a Trillion-Dollar Social Economy detailing what the metaverse is and how organizations and consumers can benefit from the immersive internet. He is the publisher of the ‘f(x) = e^x‘ newsletter, read by thousands of executives, on the future of work and the organization of tomorrow. The Digital Speaker has spoken in 25 countries across the globe and collectively inspired over 100.000managers, directors and C-level executives. Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica. A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter. Join her on the social platforms See more podcasts on the Irish Tech News podcast here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Northern Irish startups will gather for the first time for a major monthly technology ecosystem event “First Fridays” at Belfast’s Ormeau Baths on Friday 7th October. The event is run in partnership with startup and innovation hub Dogpatch Labs and aims to connect and promote startups. As well as talks from successful entrepreneurs, the event will connect founders in Northern Ireland with 1,000+ mentors from global tech companies Hubspot, Salesforce, Google, and Microsoft. First Fridays for Startups, which initially was held in Dublin for four years, expanded this year to host events in Galway, Kerry, Cork and Skibbereen in the Republic. This October it further expands by hosting its first-ever event in Belfast for entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland, making it an all-island event for the first time. Claire Dowds, General Manager of Ormeau Baths ‘’This month First Fridays for Startups comes to Northern Ireland and we couldn’t be more excited. This important connection continues our efforts to collaborate with Dogpatch Labs to give founders the best environment and the best chance of succeeding north and south of the border. We strongly encourage founders from the North to take advantage of the world-class mentoring in the First Fridays Mentoring programme and participate in the whole event’. Supported by Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, Hubspot and Logitech, First Fridays for Startups delivers a range of supports for founders, including panels and talks from some of Ireland’s most successful entrepreneurs. Central to the event is its mentoring program which sees entrepreneurs get one-on-one mentoring sessions with employees and leaders from some of the world’s top technology companies. In another first, the event will expand to a second day to bring together founders, startup hubs, politicians, and investors to discuss the current environment for startups as well as opportunities for increased collaboration across the entire island of Ireland. Dogpatch Labs will host a workshop on Ecosystem Building for local ecosystem leaders, delivered by Dogpatch’s Director of Ecosystem Development, Jake Phillips. Belfast native Ian Browne, MD of NDRC, the National Startup Accelerator programme led by Dogpatch Labs ‘Today from a Dogpatch perspective, we’re making a commitment to ensure there’s a broader effort to help and support founders in Northern Ireland. Entrepreneurship is a tough and challenging game; the right ecosystem supports can be the difference between success and failure. Geographically small ecosystems like Ireland should connect up the pieces to be part of a larger effort to help founders succeed.’ First Fridays Belfast Session The Keynote Interview on the day will be with Dr Chris Armstrong, the co-founder and CEO of Overwatch Research, a Belfast-based software company that assists companies with pre-clinical medical research that was acquired by cloud software company Benchling this year. A panel session,chaired by Belfast Ecosystem advocate Jon Bradford, one of Europe’s best known Ecosystem Builders and Managing Partner at Dynamo Ventures will explore the challenges and opportunities for Northern Ireland’s Ecosystem. This panel will include Head of Regional Engagement at Royal Academy of Engineering Gillian Gregg, co-founder and CEO of INCISIV and professor of experimental psychology Cathy Craig, Partner at Techstart Ventures Jamie Andrews, and Investment Specialist at Technation Gary Davidson. Those interested in attending can sign up for each session at www.firstfridays.ie. See more stories here.
We look at the Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro, see more on their website here. Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro reviewed This watch scores well on design, it looks good, fits snugly, and boots up well. Our testers enjoyed the look and feel of it straight out of the box. They were blissfully unaware of the pricing until we told them, so it would seem like this is something where you get what you pay for. With the benefit of iterations you can improve and tweak previous iterations of products, and this version of the device does seem to have taken onboard niggles and irks from previous generations. This makes sense, you already have a fan base, and then for new users, they get to jump in at the current level without the annoyances that previous versions have evoked. We asked to review the white leather strapped version, which Huawei said was aimed at female users. We’re not completely sure if everyone would agree with such colour to gender destinations, but, around the table of our young, female testers, it was mostly appreciated and received positive feedback. Battery life also accompanied the positive impressions around the design, and it is always better when your device is not constantly dying after a brief amount of usage. The health tracking aspects, which is, or perhaps should be, the reason you are using a device like this, also perform well too. It would have perhaps been good to have some dedicated explainer videos on the Huawei channel on YouTube to help new users walk through the optimal ways to use this device. As far as we can see there are not yet online. This seems like a missed opportunity, both to help new owners of the product, and also those considering getting the device. We will keep playing around with this device, but so far it seems like a decent piece of kit and would make a great xmas or birthday present too. More about the watch The HUAWEI WATCH GT 3 Pro makes it easy to support a healthy lifestyle, with ECG analysis 1 and TruSeen 5.0+ data monitoring technology which allow for accurate heart health measurement, as well as blood oxygen monitoring. The HUAWEI WATCH GT series is inspired by the automotive industry and is named after the high- performance yet luxurious station wagon, the ‘Grand Tourer’ or ‘Gran Turismo’. The GT was one of the first high-performance, high reliability and high horsepower sports cars, and became synonymous with glamour, adventure, and endurance. The HUAWEI WATCH GT series has harnessed that association, with a smartwatch which holds the same ground-breaking, long-lasting qualities as its namesake. The next generation arrives in two stunning new models: HUAWEI WATCH GT 3 Pro Titanium Edition, and HUAWEI WATCH GT 3 Pro Ceramic Edition – each one as striking as the other, but with their own distinctive design which makes a bold statement on the wrist. HUAWEI WATCH GT 3 Pro Titanium Edition: artistry in every inch The design of the HUAWEI WATCH GT 3 Pro Titanium Edition combines the 19 th -century concept of futurism with cutting-edge modernity, adding up-to-the-minute design twists on the previous generation in the series. It’s equipped with a 1.43-inch AMOLED high-definition colour display. The larger face and 466 x 466 high-definition resolution offer even more clarity than previous versions, so that all data can be read in an instant. HUAWEI WATCH GT 3 Pro Titanium Edition has a tactile 3D rotating crown in the style of a traditional watch allowing the user to zoom in and out, slide through different interfaces, or adjust settings, all through clicking and rotating the crown. Sport is a social activity, and HUAWEI WATCH GT 3 Pro allows users to share their workouts with their friends, and invite them to join in. Wherever your workout takes you, the watch can keep up, with offline and Route Back Navigation to help you find your way. For information on how to download your exclusive HUAWEI watch face, please visit The Huawei Watch GT3 Pro will be available in Ireland from Harvey Norman, DID, ...
Dell Technologies has today unveiled a revamped Alienware Aurora R15 with next-gen tech, the first-ever Tenkeyless (TKL) keyboard, and a new QD-OLED gaming monitor. Alienware Aurora The new Alienware Aurora R15 desktop sees a significant performance boost, thanks to the latest 13th Gen Intel® Core™ processors, NVIDIA® GeForce RTX® 40 Series GPUs and an armada of system refinements. To achieve higher thermal efficiency and help ensure peak performance, Dell has equipped 240mm liquid cooling, five 120mm fan and a hexagonal side-venting to generate additional airflow. A 12-phase, processor, voltage regulation helps enable long-lasting peak performance, while a voltage regulator heatsinks on the motherboard help ensure maximum cooling. The device also sports a 80 Plus Platinum-rated power supply, an increased memory speed to DDR5 4800MHz (or MT/s) and defined memory architecture that enables the highest speed UDIMM for faster performance. With these advancements, Dell is delivering 58% more power to the processor, obtaining double digit performance improvements, and simultaneously running the CPU up to 5? Celsius cooler. The Aurora R15 now also includes up to a 1350W power supply (up from 1000W in the previous generation), designed to support NVIDIA’s flagship GeForce RTX® 4090 graphics card. addition to offering NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series and 30 Series GPUs, Aurora R15 will also be configurable with AMD Radeon™ RX 6000 Series graphics. Alienware’s first-ever Tenkeyless Gaming Keyboard Alienware’s new space-saving Tenkeyless Gaming Keyboard (AW420K) helps users win back valuable desktop real estate while staying at the top of their game. Whether curating a minimal desk setup or looking for more room to manoeuvre your mouse, this smaller form factor design drops the number pad to maximise space and free up more area for fast-action swipes. Promoting a clean and organised gaming environment, the AW420K makes cable management simple and versatile. Another benefit to this compact keyboard is that it’s more travel friendly than its full-size siblings. When packing up, users can remove the USB paracord cable for easier storage. Outfitted with a robust suite of technology, the AW420K delivers a typing experience that is responsive, consistent, and long-lasting. Industry-leading CHERRY MX Red switches provide incredible reliability and durability with their gold-based cross-point contact system. The thick gold layer makes the electrical contact enclosure self-cleaning and gives the key switch permanent protection against corrosion, guaranteeing more than 100 million actuations without loss of quality. New QD-OLED monitor After unveiling the world’s first QD-OLED gaming monitor earlier this year – subsequently named Tom’s Guide Product of the Year and GamesRadar+ Best Ultrawide Monitor – Dell is continuing to expand its QD-OLED offerings with the introduction of a new Alienware 34 Curved QD-OLED Gaming Monitor (AW3423DWF). For those seeking increased realism, the Alienware 34” Curved QD-OLED Gaming Monitor delivers stunning picture quality and ultra-smooth frame rates that transform the entire gaming experience. Just like the previously launched AW3423DW model, this new monitor offers the same impressive picture qualities of Quantum Dot-OLED technology including consistent colour uniformity, wide colour coverage, deep black tones and incredible brightness. With WQHD (3440 x 1440) resolution and blazing-fast 0.1ms GtG response time, gamers can stay ahead of the competition without stuttering, input lag or motion blur while playing fast-paced games. It also supports the latest generation of consoles with VRR up to 120Hz. Available in dark side of the moon colour and now with a slimmer design to facilitate easier wall mounting. It ships standard with a 3-year limited hardware warranty. Pricing and availability All three new devices will be available later this autumn with pricing to be revealed closer to availability. More about Irish Te...
Auxilion, a leading provider of digitally transformative IT services and solutions, has announced the results of a survey which reveals that failed digital transformation projects have cost businesses in Ireland an average of €323,143 over the last year. Conducted by Censuswide, the survey of c-suite executives from enterprises across Ireland found that 72% of respondents cited poor IT governance as the reason for the failure of digital transformation projects. For over a third (35%) of these, this occurred in the last 12 months. Along with the failure of digital transformation projects, more than half (59%) of Irish organisations have had to abandon a project due to poor governance. Perhaps unsurprising, some 80% of those surveyed believe outsourcing their IT to a partner could improve their governance. In terms of the most important business priorities for Irish executives, these were found to be ensuring IT governance and securing business operations (37% respectively). Expanding into other markets (36%), supporting digital transformation (30%) and enabling employee engagement (28%) finished off the top five. Despite being among the top business priorities for respondents, a fifth (20%) said enabling digital transformation was one of the biggest pressure points for their organisation in terms of IT. The survey also revealed findings in relation to cloud adoption and management, with the most popular infrastructure among those surveyed revealed as private cloud (47%), followed by hybrid cloud (23%) and public cloud (22%). However, for those using a hybrid cloud to deploy IT infrastructure, some 30% would describe their hybrid cloud strategy as not fit for purpose. When it comes to the potential challenges to cloud adoption and management, the biggest challenges cited were lacking the knowledge and skills within the internal team (36%), struggling with data compliance requirements around the cloud (31%) and not having visibility of all devices accessing the cloud (29%). As well as cloud – which 71% of respondents say will be in place in their organisation by the end of 2022 – other technologies are rising in popularity. By the end of the year, 69% will roll out machine learning, 65% will introduce the Internet of Things, and 63% will have Artificial Intelligence in place. Furthermore, Edge Computing will be adopted by 63% and over half (52%) will have brought in 5G. Eleanor Dempsey, Consultancy & Competency Director at Auxilion, said: “Our survey suggests that Irish organisations are struggling to successfully deliver digital transformation programs, and it’s likely costing hundreds of millions of euros across the board. Companies are clearly underestimating the complexities of driving change, automating processes and replacing technology. “It’s worth noting that the skills required to drive digital transformation are scarce, and not readily available internally. To transform meaningfully, businesses not only need to deploy new applications and technologies, as well as business behaviours and processes, but then embed these changes across the entire team. After all, transformation projects are driven by people – and they must have the right IT governance in place to work in a collaborative and impactful way to both manage and benefit from change. “In fact, getting the governance part of the puzzle right is crucial to embracing digital thinking and capitalising on transformation. But if this is done effectively, organsiations can benefit from heightened productivity among employees, enhanced service delivery for customers, and increased growth for the business.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie...
The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has today launched a fully revised and updated Catalogue of National Health and Social Care Data Collections in Ireland. National data collections collect health and social care information and are crucial in providing a national overview of an identified health or social care-related issue or service in Ireland. HIQA’s catalogue presents an overview of the large volume of data currently being gathered by national health and social care data collections in Ireland in one accessible location. The catalogue includes 128 national data collections which collect health or social care information in Ireland, including 24 newly identified collections since the previous version in 2017. This includes a number of new national data collections that were established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic such as CoVAX – the National COVID-19 Immunisation System, and the COVID-19 Data Research Hub. Barbara Foley, HIQA’s Health Information Manager Quality, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of high-quality data and information in order to drive improvements in public health. Access to and use of good quality information leads to safe, reliable health and social care. It is therefore essential that health information is accessible, promoted and used if we are to achieve a high-standard of healthcare in Ireland. “The publication of this updated version of the catalogue acts as a key resource in providing information on the current health data available. It highlights the changes seen in the healthcare landscape over the past five years, with a number of new collections established since the previous version to collect and trend information around COVID-19. We hope it will used by a range of stakeholders, including healthcare professionals, people using services, researchers, policy-makers, service-users and members of the general public.” Advances in the health information landscape are taking place at both a national and European level which will impact on collections of health information. Work is currently underway for the creation of an EU-wide data sharing platform known as the European Health Data Space, while the Department of Health is developing a Health Information Bill. HIQA believes these advances present an opportunity to shape and improve the health and social care information system. Barbara Foley continued: “The delivery of Ireland’s health and social care services must be underpinned by a robust approach to data collection, analysis and management. With the growing number of data collections, people should be assured that their information is being collected, used and shared in a secure way, and that the data collected is of good quality. As outlined in HIQA’s recently published paper on Key considerations to inform policy for the collection, use and sharing of health and social care information in Ireland, there needs to be national coordination of these existing data sources in line with international best practice.” The catalogue can be found as both a downloadable report and as an interactive online version on www.hiqa.ie here.
We will be reviewing one of the Unlimited 7 products soon, see other product reviews here. ? Three product range: Choose the vacuum cleaner that suits your needs ? AllFloor Dynamic Power Brush with LED lights: Perfect for carpets and hard floors, the powerful LED lights help you see hidden dirt for spotless cleaning results. ? Effortless handling: easy cleaning thanks to convenient functions such as Flex Tube and Quick Stand. ? A wide range of accessories: these include attachments for cleaning mattresses, pet baskets and computer keyboards. ? Free 10-year motor guarantee: long-lasting performance with Bosch motor technology. Bosch launches the Unlimited 7 cordless vacuum cleaner range Bosch is set to clean up with the Unlimited 7 cordless vacuum cleaner range. Perfect for households big and small, the super-flexible range is powered by a 3.0 Power For All battery, promising up to 40 minutes’ runtime on just one battery charge. The Unlimited 7 range is made up of three models that differ slightly to suit your needs. The premium Unlimited 7 ProHome comes with 2 battery packs, effectively giving users a runtime of up to 80 minutes, the Unlimited 7 ProAnimal is ideal for removing pet hair more efficiently, and the Unlimited 7 ProHome in graphite grey, for a sleek look and feel. Prices start from €349.99 with a full list of retailers available on the Bosch website www.bosch-home.ie With ergonomic features for high convenience and flexibility, users of the Unlimited 7 cordless vacuum cleaner range can choose between three power modes. Eco mode is the most efficient and allows for maximum runtime. Auto mode offers automatic power adjustment, whereby the nozzle adjusts its performance depending on the floor type (carpet or hard floor). And Turbo mode ensures ultimate performance for optimal cleaning results. In tests, for example, dust pickup in Turbo mode on hard floors is measured at more than 99.9 percent. The Power For All battery is part of one of the largest cross-brand battery systems, and is compatible with many 18V power tools and gardening devices from Bosch as well as other brands including Gardena, Gloria, Wagner and Rapid. This means that if the battery runs out while vacuuming, users can replace it with a battery from a compatible tool or device. Cleaning convenience With its multiple accessories, the Unlimited 7 range is designed to clean almost anywhere, from under the sofa to the four corners of the ceiling. It is also ideal for cleaning the inside of any car. With the Nozzle Foot Release, users can easily detach the nozzle from the tube and replace it with other attachments – including the 2-in-1 furniture brush and upholstery nozzle, as well as the crevice nozzle and long flexible crevice nozzle for effective cleaning in hard-to-reach places. The Unlimited 7 ProAnimal model takes convenience one step further and is perfect for pet owners, with a ProAnimal Brush designed to remove pet hair easily, along with additional accessories for cleaning mattresses, pet baskets and computer keyboards. Convenience is the key to the Unlimited 7. The Quick Stand function, for example, means that the nozzle and tube stand by themselves while the handheld vacuum is detached and used. Also of note is the Flex Tube, which enables users to clean under low furniture without bending down. Plus, owners no longer need to put the Unlimited 7 back in its docking station or lie it on the floor when they want to take a break. Thanks to the Easy Parking Clip, they can secure it to the edge of their furniture, such as a table or shelf, or the back of a chair. Eco mode with non-electrical accessory For the full list of retailers, please visit: Bosch launches the Unlimited 7 cordless vacuum cleaner range More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Ancho...
This week, Eoin and Pete riff on crypto asset service provider regulation through the lens of Revolut, the trifecta of crypto market failures in Voyager, Celsius and Terra, how Walmart’s metaverse play with Roblox feels like the right platform vs. Decentraland or Sandbox, credit as a service player Noble coming out of stealth mode, and Goldman Sachs’ next move into retail fintech with mobile network operator T-Mobile. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges. STORIES COVERED: Revolut wins FCA approval for crypto service (Finextra, 27-Sep-22) Bankrupt crypto lender Voyager to sell assets to Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX for $1.4 billion (CNBC, 27-Sep-22) Alex Mashinsky resigns as head of Celsius Network (FT, 27-Sep-22) South Korea seeks to freeze $62 million of bitcoin linked to crypto founder Do Kwon as manhunt continues (CNBC, 28-Sep-22) Walmart Dives Into Metaverse With Launches in Roblox (CoinDesk, 26-Sep-22) Noble emerges from stealth to help companies extend lines of credit to their customers (TechCrunch, 21-Sep-22) Goldman Sachs Strikes Credit Card Deal With T-Mobile After Apple and GM (20-Sep-22, Bloomberg) Where Does T-Mobile Fit in Goldman’s Consumer Strategy? (Jason Mikula, Fintech Business Weekly, 25-Sep-22) LINKS: Leave a review on Apple Podcasts | Podchaser Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | Overcast Check out our MoneyNeverSleeps website Follow MoneyNeverSleeps on Twitter Follow Eoin Fitzgerald on Twitter Follow Pete Townsend on Twitter Get in touch at info@moneyneversleeps.ie
There was a strong turnout of cyclists taking part in the Version 1-organised 40/80km cycle for Cork ARC Cancer Support House. Photo CaptionPictured at the 40/80km cycle for Cork ARC Cancer Support House are (L-to-R): Declan Twomey, John Brennan, Pat Ryan, Aidan O’Brien, Áine O’Reilly, Alan Crowley, Richie Draper, Karen O’Sullivan, Niamh Burns, Sean Bennett, Padraig Larkin, Paul KeatingThe event, which was held on Sunday 25th September, was run over two routes, a 40 km “Ambush” circuit and the 80 km “Full Assault” aimed at more experienced cyclists. It has so far raised over €4,000 for Cork ARC and Version 1 is encouraging more donations – aiming to achieve around €5,000, which Version 1 will match to take the total up to around £10,000. Alan Crowley, Head of Delivery at Version 1, said: “We had a fantastic turnout for the 40/80km cycle, an event which is proving more and more popular each year. Cork ARC Cancer Support House are an incredibly important support for local families facing cancer and we at Version 1 are proud to be able to offer our support to the charity. Cycle aid for Cork ARC Cancer Support House “I would urge anyone who hasn’t yet donated to visit the iDonate.ie website and give to this very worthy charity. Congratulations and thanks to all the cyclists who took part on the day. We look forward to returning to Éire ÓG next year.” Cork ARC is a safe haven for people with cancer and their families, where they can find information, practical help and emotional support. It offers specialist professional support ranging from counselling to pilates classes to information on social welfare. Karen O’Sullivan, Marketing and Development Manager at Cork ARC, said: “We provide our services free of charge and rely almost entirely on support from the community and local businesses. Events like the ‘Version 1 Cycle’ allow us to grow and continue these services so we are very grateful to them for choosing to support us. We are looking forward to making this bigger and better each year.” One of the participants, Pat Ryan from Over the Hill Cycling Club, said: “Well done to Version 1 for organising the cycle today in aid of ARC House – a great cause and delighted to support it. Thanks to all of the marshalls and helpers at the food stops. Looking forward to the event again next year.” To donate go to: idonate.ie/event/version1cycle See more breaking stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The Best Writing on Mathematics 2021 by Mircea Pitici. Published by Princeton University Press September 2022 | Paperback | £20. See more about the book here. The Best Writing on Mathematics 2021 , reviewed While we have a deep love for maths, we would also be the first to say that some aspects of this book cover a wide range of topics that we are not expert in. That said this book does seem to do a pretty good job of aiming to reach out to the wider, more general reader. The book is not weighed down by an excess of complex equations or mathematical statements. Some of the articles are even only a few pages long and have no symbols or equations at all. Overall this book works well, though the editor did begin with a sightly mysterious statement that seemed unresolved throughout the rest of the book, as they mentioned that this might be the last such compilation. Why so? We are left unenlightened on that one. The range of topics works well, and this could be a possible bedtime reader, one short story per night perhaps, so to speak. The article about how, overall, the mean shape of rocks under the earth tends towards cubes certainly got us thinking the next time we were digging in the garden. If a collection of mathematical essays can leave you pondering about ideas days later then it has surely worked. There were also pieces on covid related trends, and also the mathematics of incarceration, namely how some important insights have occurred when suitably smart mathematicians have been forced to work with only their own internal resources and intelligence. We enjoyed this compilation and we hope that it won’t be the last! See more about the book here This annual anthology brings together the year’s finest mathematics writing from around the world—and you don’t need to be a mathematician to enjoy the pieces collected here. These essays—from leading names and fresh new voices—delve into the history, philosophy, teaching, and everyday aspects of math, offering surprising insights into its nature, meaning, and practice, and taking readers behind the scenes of today’s hottest mathematical debates. Here, Viktor Blåsjö gives a brief history of “lockdown mathematics”; Yelda Nasifoglu decodes the politics of a seventeenth-century play in which the characters are geometric shapes; and Andrew Lewis-Pye explains the basic algorithmic rules and computational procedures behind cryptocurrencies. In other essays, Terence Tao candidly recalls the adventures and misadventures of growing up to become a leading mathematician; Natalie Wolchover shows how old math gives new clues about whether time really flows; and David Hand discusses the problem of “dark data”—information that is missing or ignored. And there is much, much more. Mircea Pitici teaches mathematics at Syracuse University and has edited The Best Writing on Mathematics since 2010. Twitter @MPitici See more reviews here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Polish IT and tech companies partnering with NGOs to support Ukrainian refugees Tech To The Rescue is an initiative that delivers much-needed technological aid to NGOs supporting those fleeing the conflict In response to the war in Ukraine, dozens of Polish IT and technology organisations are partnering with NGOs to support refugees. Members of Software Development Association Poland (SoDA), an association representing the IT service business sector in Poland, have signed up to Tech To The Rescue, to offer their services to help refugees. Tech To The Rescue, Polish companies support Ukrainian refugees Tech To The Rescue is an initiative that connects technology and IT companies with non-profit organisations (NGOs) to provide tech for good causes, enabling the creation of innovative solutions for the world’s most pressing issues. The war in Ukraine is one of Europe’s most significant current challenges, so a range of are offering their support at a time of great turmoil for their neighbours. Marta Kpa, Executive Director at SoDA said: “The war in Ukraine and the stories of people fleeing the crisis have been particularly impactful in Poland. As a neighbouring country, Polish organisations want to do what they can to help refugees, so we’re incredibly proud of the crucial work being done by our members, the NGO partners and everyone involved with Tech To The Rescue. “IT and technology have a powerful role to play during times of crisis. ‘Tech for good’ is a term that is often used to describe the ways that technology can bring about change, and this is a tangible, real-world example of what happens when the IT and tech community comes together to support real people experiencing a crisis.” Tech To The Rescue is the brainchild of Tomasz Karwatka, CEO of Divante, an eCommerce solutions company and member of SoDA. So far, more than 700 IT and technology companies have rallied to support 150 NGOs aiding Ukrainian refugees, of which four are members of SoDA: Netguru, Divante, 10Clouds and SoftServe. 10Clouds is a founding member of Tech To The Rescue, working collaboratively with Humanosh. The team has also recently completed a project with Maria Grzegorzewska University. Divante is currently working on a web development project for non-profit organisation Renaissance, while SoftServe, another founding partner of Tech To The Rescue, has finalised a project providing insights into how Ukrainian refugees can transition to online learning in order to continue their education beyond the war. Jacek Siadkowski, CEO at Tech To The Rescue, said: “There’s a significant crossover of Polish IT and tech companies that are both members of SoDA and founding members of Tech To The Rescue. It shows just how passionate the tech sector is in supporting people in crisis, particularly during the war in Ukraine, and the qualities that SoDA members possess. There’s a sense of coming together to make the world a better place, which is what both of our organisations are all about. “We’re delighted to be bringing together NGOs and Poland’s most innovative companies to facilitate life-changing tech for Ukrainian people. It’s a challenging period for many, and we hope that the work being done by SoDA members and other tech companies will go a long way to make life that little bit better during tough times.” Multiple projects have been established by other Polish tech and IT companies that support refugees with finding a safe place to live, protecting their mental health and find assistance with issues relating to settling in a new country. During a recent project, Polish IT for Ukraine, SoDA worked with many companies that are also involved with Tech To The Rescue. UASOS is a platform that connects refugees seeking accommodation with individuals, institutions, NGOs and accommodation providers that can offer safe housing. Yesterday Today Tomorrow (YTT) is a free app offering psychological support to Ukrainian children, developed by AI Quotient for YTT. The a...
Two hours workers earning less than the minimum wage can become a new pipeline for affordable labor for small businesses, if arranged by a digital inclusion innovation. Labor credit, where loans are used to pay workers directly at the end of each term, for the duration 2–4 months, can become a low interest special purpose facility, useful for SMEs that need workers in certain seasons for certain roles. Spending map, where pegs for fixed amounts are published to spend on food and transport, every month could become a new way to drive customers to SMEs, as well as ensuring that small business workers can see options for more affordable ways to live. Irish SMEs and Digital Inclusion Innovation Libraries, public and academic, have lots of business related books, containing vital knowledge on how to do business better. There is hardly time for many small business owners or managers to read, but there can be a digital inclusion solution, where shelves containing business books are divided to certain library members or users, where they have to flip the books and note things of interest, then to submit, so that it can be adjusted and sent as short messages to owners to learn how to do business better. One of the ways that many big businesses often survive is listing on the stock market, but many small and medium businesses—in many places—don’t have this pipeline, taking away a possible means of growth. Though models like SPAC have helped some companies list, it is possible to have a digital inclusion solution that becomes SMEs Index on the stock market, so that certain medium stage businesses can list, possible within Ireland, and in several other countries around the world where SMEs can do better. There are medium stage businesses where they distribute or have a couple of branches or a large number of workers, they can align on an index, and be able to raise equity, to grow to make stuff, expand to new markets, while using their links to small businesses to boost more. This guest post by David Stephen explores new directions that Irish SMEs could power for the industry and for the rest of the world. SMEs: Global Digital Inclusion Innovation from Ireland There are several resources for small businesses, yet the failure rate remains high. Innovations for SMEs are not always right for many of them. For some, what they need is a simple text message on possible business direction. For others, it is how they can have access to a new marketplace. There are often tools, but the business environment remains competitive and unpredictable. There can be two pizza restaurants in the same vicinity, with similar standards, pricing and products but one gets the crowd and the other doesn’t. There are observations that certain small business owners or managers don’t make. There are also instructions they miss out on because they don’t have access to business and management consultants. There are tips for them, but some are vague and general, not particularly applicable. There are several means that big businesses use in growing and excelling, but it is difficult for small businesses. To thrive, there are provisions they can use to cut costs, while maximizing possibilities for growth. There are some possible new directions, for SMEs explored, below. SMEs Labor Economics Model: 2 hours work, in 3 shifts within 12 hours, paying less than the minimum wage could become a new way to ensure that small businesses get all the workers they need in a way that is affordable enough not to strain the business. Labor costs are some of the challenges that small businesses have and options are limited, either not to hire, or to overwork those hired, or cut down on business possibilities because of fewer hands. There are several roles in several small businesses that do not necessarily require high skills. These roles are a key opportunity to provide workers on demand, in a new labor economics model that revolves several workers while allowing responsibilities to ...
We review the Nokia T10, see more on their website here. Nokia T10 tablet reviewed It will always show the age of the reviewer if they refer to when they last had a Nokia, back in those early, pre-smart, text and calls days. As the hoary old mythology will relate, your Nokia’s phone charge lasted for days on end, even a week perhaps, and it didn’t matter a whole lot if you dropped it. No broken screens, matt-like finishes, and durability that ensured your Nokia phone lasted you a long long time. Naturally we all know, more or less, what then played out as they were overtaken by other companies and phones which delivered the online experience in a better, larger, more visible screen time way. At the same time there is still a residual sense of many people being positively disposed towards Nokia and what it might be able to offer and deliver this time around. This time around, and with this particular mode, the T10 tablet, the device does a lot of things very well. Before we get to that however its arrival did prompt a series of questions around the question of when is a device a tablet, and when is it a phone. Maybe there is a specific size at which one is X and one is Y, however while this is branded as a tablet it is certainly at the smaller end of the scale. Which, as, we see product size creep on many of the new wave of smart phones. does mean that the Nokia T10 is not much bigger than some of those phones. As you would expect from Nokia, this device is well designed, boots up quickly, and is, this time around, heavily embedded in the Android apps ecosystem. It looks like they are focussed on delivering solid, quality hardware, and not getting drawn into try to offer it’s own apps or ecosystem onto you. This probably makes sense and there is a lot to like about the product. One thing perhaps is that, in a similar way to the newer Google Pixels, it is definitely on the slippery side when you hold it. This is perhaps a current penchant for a more ‘gloss-like’ feel, rather than a more tactile matt feel. There are reasons why this might be preferred but it can mean that you are always concerned that the device will simply slip out of your hands. The device is very reasonably priced though, at under 200 euros, so it could be a really good choice for younger users, including students and school goers. It would also work well for travel use-case scenarios too, and, at the appealing price that it is, it could well be the right horses for courses choice as an additional device in your armoury. It is great to watch the gradual re-emergence and reinvention of the Nokia product range and this device seems like a well considered and smart (bad pun) addition to their profile in this space. More about the product The Nokia T10 is the portable, family-friendly tablet that makes streaming, working or video calling a joy, thanks to an 8” HD display and dual stereo speakers. Rigorous durability testing and 3 years of monthly security updates1 ensure it goes the distance. And thanks to Android 12 – with 2 years of OS updates1, as standard – your device will feel brand-new for longer. AF Front camera:2 MP,FF Rear flash LEDConnectivity Bluetooth:5.0 Headphone jack:3.5 mm Location:GPS+GLONASS+GALILEO, AGPS (4G variants only) USB connection:USB Type-C (2.0) OTG WiFi:802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5.0 GHz dual-band) Battery & charging Battery:Non Removable¹ Battery life:All-day battery life Charging:10W charging Memory & storage Cloud storage:Google drive Internal storage:32 GB MicroSD card support up to:512 GB RAM:3 GB Platform CPU:Unisoc T606 Features:Netflix HD certified, Widevine L1 support Operating System Features:Google Kids Space, Google Entertainment Space Operating System:Android™ 12 OS upgrades:2 Audio Features:OZO Playback Microphones:1 Speakers:2 Networks Max network speed:4G (4G variants only) Network bands (GSM):850, 900, 1800, 1900 Network bands (LTE):(International) 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 38, 40, 41 (120MHz); (LATAM) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8...
World Values Day seeks to increase the awareness and practice of values around the world, and highlight their crucial role in the wellbeing of individuals, families, organisations and society as a whole. World Values Day 2022 Thursday 20th October World Values Day provides an opportunity to think about our most deeply held values and to explore and act on them with others. This year’s theme is “Values for Community”. For thousands of organisations and individuals World Values Day is an opportunity to take stock of their values and answer questions such as: – Are we really living our values every day? – What actions can we take, what behaviours can we change, what different choices could we make, to put our values fully into action in our work and daily lives? – How can values help bring us together and help us overcome the many alarming conflicts and divisions in our world?
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Since it was launched in 2016, World Values Day has reached around 45 million people on average each year in over 100 countries around the world. Universities, schools, hospitals, care homes, NGOs, local governments, and all kinds of commercial businesses take part each year, putting their values into action in a myriad of ways. Last year these included names such as PwC, Volvo, Dassault, the NHS, Ginebra San Miguel, the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust, and Rotary International. This year one of the main attractions will again be the Valuesthon, our rolling all-day programme of all kinds of online events starting at dawn in New Zealand, crossing time zones in Australasia, Asia, India, Africa, Europe and South America, finishing on the West Coast of the USA and Canada. We will again be collaborating closely with the Values 20 engagement group in presenting a values-based communique to the G20 meeting of world leaders, which this year is being held in Bali. The Values 20 Summit and Values Festival will kick off on World Values Day and will form part of the World Values Day programme. Our website has a number of helpful tools and resources, including Values Guides for individuals and groups, templates for social media use, and Values Challenge workshops for organisations. All available free from www.worldvaluesday.com Get involved: We welcome enquiries from all media professionals. Contact our Digital Team: – Chris Bettles chris@worldvaluesday.net +44 (0)7415 132 714 Social media channels (or search #worldvaluesday): – Twitter – LinkedIn Group/ – Instagram/ – YouTube See more breaking stories here.
Black History Month 2022 – First-in-Ireland diversity career development events hosted by the African Professional Network of Ireland To celebrate Black History Month this October, the African Professional Network of Ireland (APNI) in partnership with LinkedIn is hosting one of the largest events ever for Ireland’s Black community- The APNI Career Day. This groundbreaking hybrid event (in-person and virtual) will take place at LinkedIn’s modern HQ in Wilton Place, Dublin 2 and is free to attend. Speakers at the afternoon event on 13 October will provide candid advice on how job seekers can start, build, or transition their careers and set the right objectives. Ireland diversity career development events, October 2022 Students, recent graduates and early stage professionals are invited on 13 October to discover the breadth of jobs available across the country. The event will give job seekers an inside look at the finance, technology, healthcare and consulting positions currently open across a number of employers. There will also be a variety of panel sessions, keynote addresses and fireside chats. Anyone can register for free by visiting/ FREE WORKSHOPS PRE-EVENT In the lead up to this exciting event two free virtual workshops will be held in advance designed to support all job seekers, whether they are looking for a new job or hoping to transition to a different career altogether. The first workshop, hosted virtually by event partner LinkedIn will focus on how to “Rock Your LinkedIn Profile” will be on 15 September. This exclusive session is tailored to help build a powerful professional brand on the platform that speaks for you and helps you get the roles you want. The second workshop will also be hosted virtually and will be led by Yahoo on 29 September. The theme will be a focused CV prep workshop with the aim of guiding you toward building a CV that is not limited to one sector or industry but opens up many opportunities. Both workshops are free and will set up all attendees at the career day with exactly what they need to capitalise on the career day events and feel confident that they can excel in their chosen fields. BUILDING ON A SUCCESSFUL START TO 2022 Ayo Olabimtan, chairperson of APNI spoke about the initiative: “APNI wants to support the pipeline of future leaders in Ireland across all sectors. We believe a strong pipeline for that talent lies within the Afro-Irish and other diverse communities in Ireland. Our goal is to provide a platform and space to network with potential employers, employers that are intentional about having a more diverse and inclusive workforce, but also provide the community the opportunity to ask career related questions they may not get a chance in other settings. We’re committed to empowering our community and driving diversity in corporate Ireland. The career day events across September and October will be a significant milestone for D&I recruitment in Ireland and the Inaugural Annual Career Day event on the 13th of October will provide networking, personal development and job opportunities to all attendees.“ The corporate partners and sponsors of the Career Day event and pre-workshops are LinkedIn, Yahoo, Workday, Fidelity, Optum, Let’s Get Checked,Apple, Google, J.P. Morgan, Apple, Google and Accenture. AGENDA FOR CAREER DAY The Agenda for the event on 13 October kicks off at 15.00 running till 21.00 with a networking session followed by fireside chats, and invaluable opportunities to connect with recruiters, discover more about employers who are committed to Diversity and Inclusion in a meaningful way. From finance to health tech and funds some of the best employers in the country are on hand to discuss careers in person. ABOUT APNI APNI is guided by three principles: connect, empower and collaborate. APNI is a volunteer run group of over 2,000 active members from the Afro-Irish and African diaspora across Ireland. APNI has collaborated with a number of corporate and civic society...
The DCU Invent Fusion Programme launches to provide budding Tech Entrepreneurs with Research Expertise and Funding. In a world driven by technology, all aspiring tech entrepreneurs with amazing ideas are being called to come forward and apply to the new Fusion Programme. If you have toyed with an idea but have not had the research or funding support, then join DCU on Thursday 20th October at 6 pm in The Academy, Pearse Street, Dublin 2. Fusion aims to match entrepreneurs with breakthrough ideas with the best technologists and the right funding. Fusion works with people who have early-stage technology concepts, offering them the state-of-the-art research and development resources they need, to bring their products to market. For the selected projects, grant funding will be provided (typically up to €500k) to build the technology, over an 18- month period. Successful applicants will be brought into the University and matched to a talented team of researchers with the appropriate expertise. Salary support, ongoing training and mentoring will all be provided throughout the project, before finally spinning out a new company led by the entrepreneur. Paddy O’Boyle, Director of Business Development at DCU Invent commented, “DCU’s Fusion Programme enables the University to increase the pool of ideas by finding great innovations from outside the academic environment and we would encourage entrepreneurs to have the courage to apply and see their ideas come to fruition.” On the launch evening, you will hear from successful entrepreneurs who have participated in the programme and are now running their successful start-ups. Register now: Date: Thursday 20th October 2022 Location: The Academy, 42 Pearse Street, Dublin 2, D02 YX88 Time: 6pm – 9pm More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics is investing €350k in new collaborations with the Institutes of Technology and the new Technological Universities. Projects were selected on the basis of scientific excellence and gender balance, among other criteria, and cover a range of areas including energy-efficient scheduling for industry, lifestyle predictors for dementia and safe AI for medical devices. The Insight SFI Centre is Ireland’s national data research body and one of the largest AI and data analytics research institutes in Europe. Seven new projects are to be awarded, involving an additional 20 new researchers. The new research cohort is 50:50 male/female. Researchers are drawn from Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin), Munster Technological University (MTU), Atlantic Technological University (ATU) and Dundalk Institute of Technology (DKIT). For a detailed list of the projects visit/ The new project collaborations were identified following an open call for proposals, which were independently evaluated by a gender-balanced team of senior experts drawn from different HEIs and disciplines. Speaking about the new network, CEO of the Insight SFI Centre Prof Noel O’Connor said: ‘This is an exciting new development for Insight. We have the opportunity to form research synergies with the agile and dynamic Technological University network. The rigorous selection process ensures that each project passes a high bar for scientific excellence and draws from the widest possible talent pool, with gender balance a priority. Ireland is ambitious – we are growing a world-class research corps that will drive projects to transform society, health, technology and industry for the better. This is how we do it.’ The seven projects also fold in new international collaborations with Arizona State University, USA, University of Ulster, NI, University of Léon, Spain, University of Valencia, Spain, University of Milan, Italy, University of Hildesheim, Germany, Brussels Management School, Belgium and Inalco Plidam, Paris. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
By: Jeremy Myerson Now that the dust is beginning to settle on patterns of work after the global pandemic, there is a growing consensus that hybrid working is the way forward. This combines some office attendance with days working at home or in other spaces such as a local satellite or coworking venue. But what makes hybrid working successful and what are the pitfalls facing employers as they try and institute a new hybrid working policy? How to create a successful hybrid work strategy, Jeremy Myerson There are three cornerstones of a successful hybrid strategy: people, place and technology. The secret to hybrid working lies in getting the balance right between investment in each of these categories in order to provide a high-quality working experience. Technology – enabling inclusion and home working Rapid deployment of technology created the conditions for the hybrid model. But while digital tools are the great enablers, there is also growing recognition that technology can itself be a barrier to flexible new ways of working. For every workplace study that highlights the productivity benefits of a seamless digital experience and the use of data to create a feedback loop for continuous improvement, another will share horror stories of frustration and time wasted due to poor equipment, faulty systems, and failure to upgrade physical settings and user protocols. Technology for hybrid is not about tech for its own sake but about the impact on employee performance and wellbeing. After an initial honeymoon period in the pandemic, unprecedented access to digital tools in the home led to employee overwork and burnout. Now, as companies bring people back to the office as part of a hybrid model in which the home still features, there is a need for careful balance in terms of the quality of digital tools that companies provide, how they are used by employees and how they are deployed across a more distributed and diverse landscape of work. Place – making the office a destination Technology might enable working outside the workplace, but the office still continues to play an important role in worker’s lives. Companies should repurpose their office space to avoid the ‘hybrid hell’ of an ocean of empty desks that nobody wants or uses. But how far they switch to social and collaborative space depends on what the company does – it is all a question of balance. Hybrid means more choice in how and where people work. So, the office ‘place’ must become a destination that people choose to go to. Mandating people back to the office has not been effective. A better strategy is to create a superior workplace experience through great design and helpful amenities that acts as a magnet. There is growing evidence that people want space for privacy, focus and video calls in the new hybrid office as well as for face to-face collaboration and socialising. Even pre-pandemic, workers often complained being unable to concentrate in open-plan offices. Two years of working in splendid isolation at home has only emphasised the potential distractions caused by other people. What is not in doubt is the drive by companies to relocate in high-quality, greener buildings that support health and wellbeing. In addition, research from Japan suggests that productivity might improve when using a diverse range of workplaces rather than a more binary home/office setup.This supports an argument for a more polycentric approach to workplace strategy, with multiple places to work on offer at all times. People – listening to feedback and creating wellbeing It’s one thing to transform your office and update your technology, but if you’re not listening to what your employees say they need, then you aren’t providing a good hybrid experience. Companies should work with their employees in a transparent and open way to collect the data needed to inform the hybrid decision-making process. This is not an exact science, it is based on trial and error, and constant feedback is importan...
34 climate tech companies from across the UK have been accepted into the third iteration of Tech Nation’s Net Zero programme – Europe’s first programme dedicated to supporting the UK’s most promising climate tech companies. The UK is leading the way for climate tech investment in Europe, with 249 climate tech rounds raising $2.6bn in total in 2021 – a 63% increase on the $1.6bn raised in 2020. Climate tech companies join Net Zero programme 2022 looks set to be a record year for climate tech investment. With $2.1bn raised so far, compared to $2.6bn for the whole of 2021, the UK climate tech sector’s growth is showing no signs of being affected by the economic downturn. The companies joining Net Zero 3.0 are revolutionising the UK’s approach to combating climate change across industries – including agriculture, transport, energy and construction. Algae engineering is an emerging theme this year, with 3 of this year’s companies utilising the plant to create biofuel, bioplastics and carbon sequestration. Exactly half (17) of the Net Zero 3.0 companies are working in the energy sector, helping to tackle the UK’s current energy and cost of living crisis. Half (17) of the Net Zero 3.0 cohort are headquartered outside of London, with companies innovating across regions and countries, including Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Tech Nation, the UK’s leading growth platform for tech scaleups, today announces the 34 climate tech companies who have been accepted into Net Zero 3.0 – the third iteration of the Net Zero growth programme. See more breaking stories here. Net Zero 3.0 is the first government-backed programme designed to support the most promising climate tech companies to accelerate the UK’s path to net zero. This year’s successful companies were assessed by over 50 judges across key industries, including climate specialists, investors and senior representatives from companies such as Google for Startups, Sage and BNP Paribas. Companies were judged based on their scalability and potential to help the UK reach its high-priority net zero goal. The chosen companies are actively decarbonising key sectors, from energy and transport to construction and agriculture. This year’s Net Zero cohort demonstrates that tackling climate change is a priority across all parts of the UK, as 51% of the cohort are headquartered outside of London, with companies based in Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, the North and the East of England. The UK leads the way in Europe for its number of climate tech companies and investment New data from Tech Nation and Net Zero Insights has revealed there are over 4,400 climate tech startups and scaleups in the UK; 60% more than the number in France (2,793) and 43% more than in Germany (3,100). The UK is also leading the way for climate tech investment in Europe, with 249 climate tech rounds raising $2.6bn in total in 2021 – a 63% increase on the $1.6bn raised in 2020. This year looks set to be a record year for climate tech investment, with $2.1bn raised in 2022 so far, compared to $2.6bn for the whole of 2021. The UK climate tech sector’s growth is showing no signs of being affected by the economic downturn. With its first two iterations of the Net Zero programme, Tech Nation has previously supported the growth of 62 of the UK’s leading climate tech companies. Together with the Net Zero 3.0 cohort, these companies have collectively raised over £500mn in VC investment. The majority of Net Zero 3.0 companies are working in the energy sector As the UK finds itself in the midst of an energy crisis, exactly half (17) of the companies joining Net Zero 3.0 are working to make UK energy consumption both cleaner and more affordable for customers. Joining this year’s Net Zero 3.0 cohort, Filia brings solar power to urban homes by integrating solar technology into the fabric of blackout/security blinds and garage doors, while Electric Miles has developed algorithms that profile, aggregate and shift energy demand fro...
Despite strong economic growth, employees across Ireland are feeling the pinch as the cost of living crisis continues to drive prices higher. That’s according to people management platform HRLocker, which surveyed 960 full-time employees across Ireland. Assessing the impact of the cost of living crisis on employees, the survey found that over half of all Irish employees (55%) have been moderately or significantly affected, with one in four (24%) respondents revealing they had taken on a side hustle to earn more money. Meanwhile, further 27% of employees have started actively looking for new roles in the hope of securing a bigger salary package. Those most likely to have a side hustle work in technology (30%), media and design (22%) and fitness (11%) and are under 30 and are male. The research also shows the significant impact this financial pressure is having on workers. With one 36% of respondents claiming it was their number one cause of stress, followed by work (26%) and family commitments (13%). Overall, 70% of Irish professionals are experiencing moderate to high levels of stress. This stress is directly impacting employee performance. One in 10 (11%) of employees report that financial stress is affecting their ability to do their job. While 46% and 39% report feelings of fatigue and anxiety. “Irish businesses are between a rock and a hard place,” says Adam Coleman, CEO at HRLocker. “Margins are being squeezed by rising inflation, but they need to ensure the wellbeing of their employees, keeping them motivated and engaged. This is a tricky act that requires careful consideration. At a time when businesses are, understandably, seeking to drive greater efficiencies, they cannot forget about their people.” See more stories here.
There was a strong turnout of cyclists taking part in the Version 1 organised 40/80km cycle for Cork ARC Cancer Support House. The event, which was held on Sunday 25th September, was run over two routes, a 40 km “Ambush” circuit and the 80 km “Full Assault” aimed at more experienced cyclists. It has so far raised over €4,000 for Cork ARC and Version 1 is encouraging more donations – aiming to achieve around €5,000, which Version 1 will match to take the total up to around €10,000. Alan Crowley, Head of Delivery at Version 1, said: “We had a fantastic turnout for the 40/80km cycle, an event which is proving more and more popular each year. Cork ARC Cancer Support House are an incredibly important support for local families facing cancer and we at Version 1 are proud to be able to offer our support to the charity. “I would urge anyone who hasn’t yet donated to visit the iDonate.ie website and give to this very worthy charity. Congratulations and thanks to all the cyclists who took part on the day. We look forward to returning to Éire ÓG next year.” Cork ARC is a safe haven for people with cancer and their families, where they can find information, practical help and emotional support. It offers specialist professional support ranging from counselling to pilates classes to information on social welfare. Karen O’Sullivan, Marketing and Development Manager at Cork ARC, said: “We provide our services free of charge and rely almost entirely on support from the community and local businesses. Events like the ‘Version 1 Cycle’ allow us to grow and continue these services so we are very grateful to them for choosing to support us. We are looking forward to making this bigger and better each year.” One of the participants, Pat Ryan from Over the Hill Cycling Club, said: “Well done to Version 1 for organising the cycle today in aid of ARC House – a great cause and delighted to support it. Thanks to all of the marshalls and helpers at the food stops. Looking forward to the event again next year.” To donate go to: idonate.ie/event/version1cycle See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
A new and innovative cluster of PhD students to be formed in Portsmouth, dedicated to finding solutions to the global crisis for plastic packaging pollution Five PhD students, each funded for four years, will soon start exploring the complex problem of marine pollution from plastic packaging. This innovative research programme at the University of Portsmouth is being supported by UK based material technologies company Aquapak. It aims to deliver actions that can be taken to solve a growing problem. Turning the tide on plastic packaging pollution It is estimated that five million tonnes of plastic is used in the UK each year, nearly half of which is packaging that ends up in the environment. Plastic waste is accumulating and breaking down in our oceans at an alarming rate, with potentially catastrophic results for both marine and human health. Professor Steve Fletcher, Director of Revolution Plastics and the Global Plastics Policy Centre, at the University of Portsmouth said: “Relatively little is known about how and what speed plastic packaging degenerates in the environment and how industry practice could help to end the damaging impact of plastics. In order to develop meaningful solutions, it is vital to better understand the products causing the pollution, how they pollute and how their damage can be reduced. Research is key to shaping that understanding and the transformational change that will follow. Having a dedicated team of scientists is really going to help accelerate our search for solutions.” Dr John Williams, Chief Technology Officer, Aquapak said: “Aquapak is delighted to be partnering with the University of Portsmouth in such an important area studying marine pollution associated with plastic packaging. In developing our Hydropol materials platform we have always been driven by providing a complete solution for the packaging developers and manufacturers from multifunctionality to safe disposal at end of use.” “However, we have always been mindful that inevitably plastic materials escape into the environment and often end up in the oceans, and although this has come to the forefront in recent times, actually there is very little understanding of exactly how these materials behave in the variety of marine environments. Aquapak’s sponsorship of this ground-breaking interdisciplinary approach with the global experts at the University of Portsmouth will significantly increase the knowledge in this area, and aid the drive towards better design, better materials and a cleaner environment.” The PhD group, which will deliver a total of 20 years worth of research, will build on the University of Portsmouth’s extensive expertise and global reputation in plastics. The students will form an interdisciplinary cluster, supervised by senior scientists at the top of their fields, working across a range of faculties and disciplines. Through collaboration, and by avoiding ‘silos’, the team of academics will be able to share knowledge and research to develop solutions for meeting the challenge of plastic packaging. The PHD’s will work on the following projects: Engineering enzymes and processes for recycling single-use plastics – Led by Professor Andy Pickford, Centre for Enzyme Engineering. There will be two PhD’s attached to this project. Development of sustainable biodegradable packaging for food or other types of packaging applications – led by Professor Hom Dhakal, School of mechanical and design engineering, and Professor Alex Ford, Institute of Marine Sciences. Assessing the formation of microplastic pollution by pure and composite plastic packaging products – led by Dr Fay Couceiro, School of civil engineering and surveying The role of ‘design for circularity’ in the transition to a circular plastics economy – led by Professor Steve Fletcher, Global Plastics Policy Centre Professor Fletcher says: “This opportunity is likely to create critical impact that spans the whole supply chain of plastic. The interdisciplinary natu...
AI legislation is a hot topic and one that has got plenty of companies wary and excited at the same time. Asia is proving to be a hotbed for AI research and development, with many countries vying to take the lead in AI. Currently, there is no overarching AI legislation in Asia. However, several Asian countries have introduced various measures to regulate AI development and applications. In China, the government has released a number of initiatives and policies to support the development of AI. In July 2017, the Chinese Cabinet released the “New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan,” which outlines the country’s plans to become a world leader in AI by 2030. The plan includes measures to support AI research, development, and commercialization. In South Korea, the government has also released several initiatives targeting AI development. In March 2017, the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT released the “Basic Plan for Artificial Intelligence”. The Korean government realizes that AI is the future, and it must take steps now to regulate AI so that it can be one of the leaders in the field. As such, it has revealed new policies and initiatives that are going to support AI research and development while ensuring that AI is used in the commercial space as well. In Japan, the government has been supportive of AI development but has not yet introduced specific legislation or regulations. In 2016, the Japanese Cabinet Office released the “Strategy for Artificial Intelligence”. The strategy outlines the government’s plans to support AI research and development. The end result is reviewing the development of AI and ensuring that Japan is one of the front runners when it comes to AI legislation in the industry. In Singapore, the government has taken numerous steps toward aiding the research and development of AI. In 2017, the Singaporean government launched the “Smart Nation and Digital Government Group”, which is responsible for developing a national strategy for AI. The government has also established a $150 million fund to support AI research and development. In India, the government has adopted the approach toward the research and development of AI. In 2017, the Indian government launched the “Digital India” initiative, which includes a number of initiatives to promote digital literacy and infrastructure development. The interest and seriousness of the government can be ascertained from the fact that they have already established a $1 billion fund that will be reserved for researching AI and developing new technologies. Asian countries are taking various approaches to regulating AI development and applications. Some countries, such as China and South Korea, have introduced specific legislation and regulations. Other nations, like Japan and Singapore, have been supportive of AI development but have not yet introduced specific legislation or regulations. India is taking a mixed approach, with a focus on promoting digital literacy and infrastructure development, as well as supporting AI research and development. AI Regulation In China In China, the law on artificial intelligence (AI) is still in its infancy. However, the Chinese government has been working on developing a comprehensive legal framework to govern the use of AI and other emerging technologies. So far, there are no specific laws or regulations specifically addressing AI. However, there are several existing laws and regulations that may apply to AI-related activities, depending on the specific application. For example, the Cybersecurity Law of the People’s Republic of China (the “Cybersecurity Law”) provides a general regulatory framework for the use of information and communications technologies, including AI. The law requires companies to take measures to ensure the security of their systems and data, and imposes certain obligations on companies to report incidents and take remedial measures. In addition, the Advertising Law of the People’s Republic of Chin...
There’s no doubt that the way we work has changed. And it will continue to do so. Flexible work arrangements have never been discussed more than they are right now. Some companies are mandating a return to the office, while others are embracing a remote experience. Some opt for a hybrid approach, allowing employees to split their time between working in the office or remote. In each approach, there is a concern about balancing flexibility with the need for face-to-face interaction. According to Dell Technologies’ recent Breakthrough study unveiled at the Dell Technologies Forum in Dublin this week, 49% of knowledge workers in Ireland would like their leaders to provide greater clarity regarding an ongoing commitment to flexible working. Moreover, workers want to know the practicalities of this arrangement in their daily routines. Irish businesses should take advantage of this opportunity to listen to the desire of employee for ongoing flexibility and restructure work that in ways that offer secure, productive, connected experiences from anywhere. But restructuring work is not an easy task. In my recent conversations with customers and partners, I hear these questions: Where should I get started? What are the key priorities to succeed with a hybrid model? Is this appropriate for my business? If you are asking yourself these questions, this is a good sign. It means you are not reverting to the traditional ways of working. And if you’re not asking these questions, know that your employees are likely expecting you to be thinking about these things. Here are three steps that our team at Dell Technologies Ireland recommend to succeed in the hybrid workplace: 1. Equip employees with ways to collaborate virtually I always considered work as an outcome rather than a fixed activity, and the pandemic years have reinforced this view. It is evident in the survey results: 49% of Irish respondents believe they will be more productive working and collaborating remotely. Technology plays a critical role in optimizing these different working models. The foundation of any successful approach involves a human-centric IT strategy. That means it’s important to forge partnerships among HR, Facilities, and IT. Input and collaboration from these organisations sets a vision and specific outcomes for different locations. The way we do this at Dell is by defining the personas that drive these experiences. Our strategy focuses on the work our team members need to do, instead of where they are geographically. For at-home configurations, we make sure team members have the gear and software they need to do their jobs. And we make sure the office is ready when it’s needed, which is usually attached to a specific purpose: an event, a meeting, or a presentation. We do this on an individual level so every workstyle, need, and characteristic is covered. Regardless of the location, the PC remains core to the workflow for many knowledge workers. So, on the device side, you need to consider intelligent systems to provide a better experience. Think about noise cancellation, privacy features to conceal sensitive data, or automatically detecting human presence to prevent someone from looking over your team member’s shoulder. And spanning from the PC, your entire ecosystem is important – audio, displays, peripherals. It all boils down to improving productivity and safeguarding your resources. 2. Provide clarity, guidance, and support Nearly 60% of survey respondents in Ireland say their work-life balance has not improved. Protecting personal boundaries is important to knowledge workers. The right technology is essential, but top-down corporate processes can also help guide team members to avoid burnout and achieve balance – even from far away. About 20% of Irish respondents worry they will be overlooked in a remote working world. New hires who join companies in a virtual environment are particularly sensitive to this, while many in younger employees crave in-person c...
The broadband market in Ireland is now flooded with providers all offering a myriad of deals. We know it’s hard to find the perfect deal that suits your needs but we’re here to help. We’ve teamed up with Switcher.ie, the free and impartial price comparison and switching service, to find the best broadband deals available every month. Check back regularly to stay informed of the latest deals and offers and visit the Switcher.ie website to order one of these great packages. Best Broadband Deals Priced at just €34.99 per month for 24 months, eir’s Unlimited Broadband and Talk plan is available exclusively via Switcher.ie. You’ll get unlimited broadband and off-peak calls. Plus, sign up before 30/09/2022 and get €35 credit off your eir bill. Looking for broadband-only? Vodafone Simply Broadband is one of the cheapest offers on the market right now. For just €35 per month for the first year, you’ll get unlimited broadband with speeds of up to 100Mb. If you sign up before 30/09/2022, you’ll receive a credit equal to the value of one-month intro promo pricing on your second bill. Meaning, one month free! Virgin Media’s 250Mb Freedom Broadband Student Exclusive is perfect if you’re studying. As the name suggests, it’s available exclusively to students, where for €35 per month for 12 months, you’ll get speeds of up to 250Mb with all the freedom of a 30 day contract. Ideal if you don’t want to commit to a lengthy contract. (If you’ve come across this article after some of these deals may have expired, check out our main Broadband Deals category page to find the latest offers) More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Estonian climate tech startup Single.Earth won two international recognitions as it opened the sales of its nature-backed currency. “We are on a mission to save nature on our planet. For a startup, this is often seen as too massive a challenge, but acknowledgment from different organizations ensures we are on the right track,” said Merit Valdsalu, co-founder and Chief Executive of Single.Earth. Single.Earth launches nature-backed currency MERIT Individuals and businesses can now buy MERIT as a nature-positive contribution to achieving sustainability goals or as a virtual asset that helps build the world’s first nature-backed digital currency and, thus, integrate nature protection into our daily lives. The Global ESGFinTech100 lists the most innovative tech companies every financial institution needs to know when they consider and develop their ESG assessment and performance improvement strategies. Single.Earth is one of the 100 companies chosen by a panel of industry experts and analysts based on a study carried out by data and research firm FinTech Global on over 500 ESG tech companies. World Summit Awards (WSA) said Single.Earth was nominated as the best national digital solution for Estonia for its annual award for digital innovation with an impact on society. With the nomination in the category Environment and Green Energy, Single.Earth is shortlisted for the WSA finals later in the year. The international recognition comes at a time when Single.Earth launches the sales of MERIT, the world’s first nature-backed currency, which protects Amazon primary rainforests in Brazil and mature forests in Europe while also receiving a virtual asset representing the value of ecosystem services. “We are on a mission to fight climate change and biodiversity loss to ensure our planet remains habitable for humans for generations to come,” said Valdsalu. MERIT is a utility token that represents the value of nature and, more specifically, its ecosystem services. Each token represents 100 kg of CO2 captured in a biodiverse forest. Single.Earth has focused on sorting out the shortcomings of today’s carbon credits, tackling the questions about biodiversity loss and why net-zero policies are still translating to mass extinction, although possibly on a somewhat less overheated planet. The token can replace the classical carbon instruments and the voluntary market by looking at the world more holistically and factoring in the species and habitats besides carbon. “The big vision behind the MERIT tokens is to become a global currency of a sustainable Net Zero economy,” said Valdsalu. First ever giveaway winners announced! Congrats! Next winners 5.10. Enter:? Give us feedback to team@single.earth? Share on socials: anyone can save nature with #MERITtokens? OR do something cool on socials that attracts our attention!#Giveaway Single.Earth (@SingleEarth1) September 28, 2022 About Single.Earth Single.Earth was founded by Merit Valdsalu and Andrus Aaslaid in 2019 with a mission to protect nature. The company’s investors include EQT Ventures, Icebreaker.VC, and Pipedrive founders Ragnar Sass and Martin Henk. The Tallinn-headquartered company employs over 70 people around the world. Visit us on Single.Earth, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Unsplash, and LinkedIn Humans depend on a healthy planet Since 1950, more than 662 million hectares of forest have been lost, and carbon concentration in the atmosphere has almost doubled. Human activities are causing environmental changes, leading to a lack of resources, rising temperatures, dying lifeforms, and eventually, a complete ecosystem collapse. Science confirms that we’ve already crossed the safe operating limits for a livable Earth and heading towards an irreversible crisis. Climate change and biodiversity loss are humankind’s most significant challenges today. You can save nature with MERIT tokens MERIT is an innovative virtual currency that represents and protects (!) the work nature does to make the plane...
CWSI, one of Europe’s most experienced mobile and cloud security specialists, has announcesdit will reduce over-permission risks for businesses in Ireland and the UK with the launch of Microsoft Entra Permissions Management. CWSI is one of the first Microsoft partners to provide the solution, which it’s introducing in response to increased multi-cloud adoption among its customers. Microsoft Entra acts as a unified permissions management tool for businesses, enabling them to automate privilege management across multiple cloud platforms in a consistent and thorough manner. It enables privilege management in both cloud infrastructure and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platforms and is designed to support across Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). The technology proactively monitors and remediates permission risks for any identity across multi-cloud environments in real-time, while mitigating over-privilege issues and ensuring compliance. It enables organisations to control their infrastructure, protect, verify, and govern data, and detect exposures in their security postures. It permits the benchmarking of the Cloud platform against proven industry standards such as CIS and NIST permitting real time monitoring of the risk surface by the CISO and security teams. The automation and tools provided ensure that companies are able to get the maximum capability across multiple vendors platforms through the normalization that Entra Permissons Management provides to the administrative user. Where gaps in training/certification and production/workload pressure brings the risk of error Entra Permissions Management reduces or removes these. CWSI’s highly skilled and accredited Microsoft experts will provide ongoing managed support to customers following the deployment of the Entra Permissions Management solution. It can guide them through the stages, identifying the priorities, and deliver a hardened operational platform with minimal permission risk. CWSI is a five-time Microsoft Gold Partner and was recently named Microsoft Ireland’s Partner of the Year 2022 for Security. CWSI launched its dedicated Microsoft Security and Endpoint Management practice in 2019 and since then, has invested more than €2.5 million in its ongoing development. Last year, it became the first Irish Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP), to become a member of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA). MISA is an ecosystem of independent software vendors and managed security service providers that have integrated their solutions with Microsoft security products to better defend against a world of increasing threats. Ronan Murphy, CEO, CWSI: “We’re excited to deepen our partnership with Microsoft following the introduction of this innovative cloud solution to our Microsoft portfolio. It comes at a crucial time when the number of machine identities are growing rapidly, which is increasing the risk of breaches and over-privilege in organisations. High turnover rates and past employees retaining privileged access to data is also a major concern for businesses and this solution gives organisations better control over its permissions, ultimately reducing cyber risks. “Identity is the foundation of security and with the rapid acceleration of digital transformation, technology and the cloud now touch business operations on a daily basis. There are millions of interactions happening every second. Security challenges have become broader, and they require a broader solution – Microsoft Entra Permissions Management is enabling organisations to confidently reduce their risk in real-time.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast ema...
Norspace Hire, suppliers of temporary accommodation and welfare facilities in Ireland, is boosting its customer service and reducing costs following the implementation of job management software from BigChange. Used to schedule and report on its delivery and service teams, the complete solution ensures managers are no longer working in a vacuum and have real-time visibility of the mobile operation. Since implementing BigChange earlier this year, Norspace has seen a reduction in the number of credit notes issued, an increase in additional on-site charges and an improvement in customer feedback. “I truly believe that most problems in business are caused by a lack of communication or communication of the wrong information,” commented Matthew Smyth, Managing Director of Norspace Hire, “and BigChange helps to eliminate this. “Using BigChange mobile devices our drivers capture real-time information which is communicated instantly to our back office who can share it with customers to either confirm the job was completed as scheduled or to explain why the job wasn’t completed,” he continued. “This information is time and date stamped, recorded to an exact location and backed up by photographs. It takes a couple of seconds on site to capture the information and is instantly available for back-office staff to view and share with customers or management.” Prior to the implementation of BigChange job management software, Norspace relied entirely on paper job cards, phone calls and texts. Issues, for example blocked access to customer sites or lost keys, could take days to be reported to the depot and communicated back to a customer, potentially resulting in credit notes for un-serviced units, lost charges for extended time on-site and unanswerable customer queries. “BigChange reduces the potential for complaints,” Smyth added. “We record, access and share information in seconds and with just a couple of clicks. This has all but eradicated negative customer experiences and gives us room to manoeuvre as situations change.” Norspace Hire, headquartered in Lisburn with depots across Northern Ireland and the Republic, is a family run business with over 35 years’ experience of providing temporary accommodation and welfare facilities for the construction, infrastructure, health, education, and events and hospitality sectors. Norspace operates a fleet of trucks ranging from small service vehicles to articulated lorries and loader cranes. Offering a range of products and services, from portable toilets to full scale onsite temporary accommodation, Norspace projects range from 1 day to many years. Since implementing the BigChange job management platform, which incorporates customer relationship management (CRM), job scheduling, live tracking, field resource management, job finance and business intelligence, in one simple to use and easy to integrate platform, Norspace has seen a marked improvement in customer feedback and staff satisfaction. Intelligent and responsive scheduling allows Norspace to immediately react to unforeseen circumstances. Customisable job cards and reports have significantly improved efficiencies onsite and in the back office which gives Norspace the right platform to maintain high service levels and customer satisfaction. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
A recent study by Atlantic Technological University into emissions ascribed to tourism in Ireland has found the industry has attributed over 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2eq) excluding international transport and over 11 MtCO2eq when international transport is incorporated. The Environmental Protection Agency records national greenhouse gas emissions at 59.8 MtCO2eq for 2019 and dropping slightly to 57.7 MtCO2eq for 2020. The study released to mark International Tourism Day, used pre-pandemic figures to get a true reflection of the impact of tourism on the environment. In 2019 the total emissions attributed to tourism in the Republic of Ireland reached 11.62 MtCO2eq. This is a conservative estimate as the figure focuses on inbound, domestic and northern Irish visitors that stayed at least one night in the Republic of Ireland. The figure excludes emissions from outbound tourists and cruise ship passengers due to the limited data. This is based on 22.6 million tourists who generated an estimated €9.5 billion to the Irish economy and supported approximately 260,000 jobs. The results of this research will benefit policymakers, planners, and stakeholders as it demonstrates a method to actively measure, monitor and manage tourism emissions by providing an evidence-based approach to develop appropriate tourism decarbonisation policies, plans and strategies for Ireland. The Sustainable Tourism Observatory at the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) has established the first baseline carbon footprint of tourism within the Republic of Ireland. The research has been conducted by postgraduate researcher Anita Conefrey who is funded by an ATU bursary award has been working on this important baseline study for two years. According to the Principal Researcher of the ATU project, Ms Conefrey states; “Establishing the level of emissions that Irish tourism produces was only a small part of this research. Our main focus is to support the tourism stakeholders to decarbonise efficiently and effectively”. The second phase of this research project is now underway and will develop an evidence-based decarbonisation toolkit for tourism stakeholders that is supported by senior tourism researchers from the Sustainable Tourism Observatory at ATU. Dr James Hanrahan, lead supervisor of the research project at ATU said; “The Irish tourism industry is an important economic driver for the country and has great potential to transition towards decarbonisation with the added benefit of having some of our top overseas markets as close neighbours”. ATU is committed to ensuring that all relevant tourism stakeholders are in a position to manage the carbon footprint of tourism efficiently and effectively. The benefit of conducting this research with the community is to understand the levels of skills and training required to secure the future long-term sustainability of tourism in Ireland. Dr John Carty supervisor states “it is evident that Irish tourism stakeholders are trying to decarbonise, some establishments have already made drastic changes. But we need to bring everyone along on this journey”. The tourism industry is a vital part of the Irish economy, particularly in rural areas, and it needs to transition towards a climate-neutral industry by 2050, which will require the collaboration of tourism policymakers, planners, stakeholders, academics, and tourists. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follo...
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) today announces the expansion of its WiSTEM2D programme in partnership with Munster Technological University (MTU). WiSTEM2D stands for Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Manufacturing and Design. The aim of the Johnson & Johnson WiSTEM2D undergraduate programme is to inspire and support more women to pursue a career in STEM after university and increase female representation in the STEM2D workforce. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) courses are growing in popularity. The CSO has reported that Ireland has a much higher level of STEM graduates when compared with other EU nations, 35% for Ireland compared to an EU average of 19%. However, there is still a disparity between the amount of CAO applications from males and females, with females recording fewer applications. According to the Higher Education Authority, 1 in 3 students on STEM courses in third level identify as female. The Johnson & Johnson WiSTEM2D programme fuels the development of the female STEM2D talent pipeline by awarding and sponsoring girls and women at critical points in their educational experience and their careers, in STEM disciplines. The programme was first introduced at University of Limerick in 2016. Since then, it has expanded to include University College Cork in 2018, and University of Galway in 2021, supporting more than 300 female students over the last 6 years. “We are excited to be expanding our WiSTEM2D programme to Munster Technological University this year. Johnson & Johnson has a proud history in Cork, and we are firm believers in working with our educational partners to create a talent pipeline for the future,” said Anna Rafferty, Johnson & Johnson WiSTEM2D University Lead and Director of Strategy, Johnson & Johnson Campus Ireland. “We recognise that we have a part to play in ensuring a fairer representation for women in STEM fields. This is why we have developed the WiSTEM2D programme, to build a diverse STEM community that reflects the great diverse aspects of society, by supporting and nurturing women studying in STEM”. Professor Maggie Cusack, President of Munster Technological University, said: “We are delighted to further our collaboration with Johnson & Johnson through the introduction of the WiSTEM²D programme. At Munster Technological University, we are committed to nurturing inclusivity, diversity, and equality, and we wholly support efforts to increase the number of female undergraduates in STEM²D. We currently have several campaigns underway to promote female participation in our science and engineering courses. These serve as a beacon of change and encouragement to women to become involved in STEM academically and professionally.” “Munster Technological University and Johnson & Johnson have a long-standing relationship through facilitating work placements, projects and scholarships, with many graduates going on to pursue rewarding careers at the company. We are delighted to launch this initiative, not just as a great opportunity for the recipients, but also to promote STEM²D to all female students considering a degree at Munster Technological University,” said Professor Cusack. Katie O’Brien participated in the WiSTEM2D programme whilst studying in University College Cork. Speaking about the impact it has made on her career, Katie said: “Support and guidance is at the core of the programme. My mentor was able to give me an insight into the industry, offer advice as I explored my career options in STEM, and was always available to answer any questions that I had. The WiSTEM2D programme has had a major impact on the early stages of my career, and I couldn’t recommend it enough to any women in STEM-related courses.” Applications for the Johnson & Johnson WiSTEM2D programmes are now open to female students of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Manufacturing and Design subjects entering their second, third or fourth year of studies 2022/2023 within Munster T...
It’s the final countdown as the closing date for entries to Google’s You’re the Business campaign is fast approaching. Google wants to hear from SMEs across Ireland by 7 October about how using digital skills and tools has helped to enhance or to grow their business with ten of those businesses winning a truly unique, money-can’t-buy prize. The prize package or Personal Plan includes a customised suite of digital supports from Google, expert sector and industry-specific mentoring across a range of technical areas that will help the ten SMEs – selected by a panel of established judges – to further develop their business. The selected businesses will also receive a €1,000 Google ads package each. Entry is simple but time is ticking! To be considered one of the ten lucky businesses to receive this one-of-a-kind digital prize package, SMEs can submit a video [via the You’re the Business site] no longer than two minutes in duration detailing what their business means to them, as well as an example of how they have used digital to enhance their business. This can be anything from setting up or optimising a web presence to expanding your operations internationally. Submissions must be uploaded here by the newly extended deadline of 7 October 2022. John Gallagher, Head of Accelerated Growth at Google, said: “Small Businesses are an invaluable part of Ireland’s economy employing over 1 million people across the country. We are privileged to work with many of these businesses every day and continue to be impressed by the passion and drive for growth they demonstrate. At Google we are also fortunate to see the creativity of these SMEs and how they are leveraging digital to enhance their businesses. “That’s why, as part of our You’re the Business initiative, we want to help ten SMEs to further enhance these digital skills by offering a unique opportunity to receive tailored mentoring from sector experts within Google. The selected businesses will also receive a customised support package that includes €1,000 worth of Google ad funding. “We are hoping that as many SMEs as possible from across Ireland will log on and tell us why they’re the business – we can’t wait to hear from you!” Launched this year, You’re the Business – a partnership between Google, Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices – focuses on supporting Irish SMEs to upskill digitally and enhance their online capabilities. You’re the Business provides Irish SMEs with access to a series of live and on-demand training sessions, geared towards supporting companies at all stages of their digitalisation journey, including those at early stages right through to those more digitally-sophisticated businesses. The training consists of three modules that will help businesses understand how they can use digital to get online, grow online and expand internationally. For further information on the various training modules as well as the opportunity to be awarded a customised support package, please visit: g.co/yourethebusiness See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Scottish rewilding, a network of Scottish landholdings committed to rewilding has grown to 50 partners in its first 18 months, far outpacing expectations and revealing a strong appetite for nature restoration across the country. Title image Woody scrub regenerating at Northwoods Rewilding Network partner, Tireregan. Copyright James Shooter/scotlandbigpicture.com The Northwoods Rewilding Network was launched in April 2021 by rewilding charity SCOTLAND: The Big Picture, with an initial goal of signing up 20 landholdings in the first two years. But the network expanded rapidly and has recently welcomed its 50th partner: Glassie Farm in Aberfeldy, Perthshire. Landholdings in the network range from farms and crofts to community woodlands and private estates, and the network’s partners are the owners, managers or trustees of the sites. When partners join the network, some are taking their first steps in rewilding, while others are building on longstanding commitments to nature restoration. Scottish rewilding network grows The size of partner sites ranges from 50 to 1,000 acres, and with the network’s 50th partner signed up, Northwoods now covers more than 13,000 acres. James Nairne, Northwoods Project Lead at SCOTLAND: The Big Picture, says there is widespread recognition that the ecological health of some of Scotland’s landscapes needs to be restored. “The thread that runs through the Northwoods Rewilding Network is a determination to be part of the solution to climate breakdown and biodiversity loss,” he says. “What’s taken us by surprise is the strength of the appetite. From Sutherland to the Solway Firth, and from the East Neuk of Fife to the Ross of Mull, this is a landowner-driven aspiration – they’ve come to us more than the other way round.” Each Northwoods partner makes rewilding commitments tailored to the site, which may include the expansion or enrichment of native woodlands, the restoration of carbon-storing wetlands or the creation of wildlife corridors to allow animals to roam freely across the landscape. “Rewilding is ultimately about restoring dynamic natural processes, and Northwoods was established to help remove the barriers to taking action,” says Nairne. “We support our land partners with ecological knowledge, practical advice and funding opportunities.” Gavin Drummond and Laura Hay are the owners of Harestone Moss, just north of Aberdeen, and joined the Northwoods Rewilding Network in May 2022. The 70-acre site was farmed conventionally for many decades, and rewilding commitments include reversing the effects of 1950s drainage by creating ponds and wetlands. This re-wetting will enable peatlands to resume carbon sequestration. “We have an opportunity to create something amazing – a site where visitors can appreciate the restored landscape and the return of wildlife, and where we can earn a living in a way that doesn’t harm the land,” says Hay. The biggest site in the network, and the one that has been rewilding for longest, is Tireragan on the Isle of Mull. Cared for by volunteers of the Tireragan Trust, the site is home to a remnant of nationally important Atlantic rainforest, and has been a rewilding pioneer since 1997 when intensive grazing was curtailed. Judy Gibson, a Tireragan trustee, says: “We are committed to enhancing the biodiversity of this special place but doing so in a way that maintains a human connection through recreation and education. Being part of Northwoods helps us drive our ambition forwards, to share our experiences and learn from others.” For more information, visit scotlandbigpicture.com/northwoods. Further information Northwoods Rewilding Network: scotlandbigpicture.com/northwoods Northwoods partners (with map view): scotlandbigpicture.com/nrn-partners See more rewilding stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe u...
Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced the launch of a new AWS InCommunities Fund to help local community groups, schools, and organisations in Fingal to kick-start new projects or expand existing ones for the benefit of the community. The new €150,000 fund will be managed and administered by non-profit organisation ChangeX, and is expected to support up to 30 community projects in the Fingal area. Applicants can apply for funding up to €10,000 to launch a new idea or to expand an existing local project that supports an area of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics education (STEAM), sustainability, or health and wellbeing. Applicants can also apply for funding to introduce one of 12 established community programmes with proven positive social or environmental impact in other global communities into Fingal. These include: Better Block Parklet, which helps communities turn parking spots into spaces for play or business expansion; Pocket Forests, which are small areas of densely planted native trees, shrubs and wildflowers in a school or community setting; and STEAM-ed, which supports a school’s STEAM capacity with a fun and engaging ready-to-teach STEAM-in-a-Box learning programme. Speaking at the launch of the AWS InCommunities Fund at Luttrellstown Community College, An Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said: “It’s excellent news that Amazon Web Services has launched a new AWS InCommunities Fund of €150,000 for Fingal. This will fund community groups, schools and organisations and help to build some exciting new projects in science, art, health and education. “I understand that the AWS InCommunities Fund will help up to 30 projects across the county. I was delighted to meet with teachers and students at Luttrellstown Community College recently to learn about some of the environmental and educational initiatives they have been able to set up already thanks to AWS InCommunities funding.” The AWS InCommunities Fund is open to people living in the Fingal County area with applications accepted until November 11th. Funding will be subject to a review process, where applications will be assessed and scored against funding criteria and the potential impact in the community. All successful applicants will complete a 30-day challenge to kick-start their idea and take their first steps towards making their project a reality. AWS is already working with local community groups and schools in Fingal, including Luttrellstown Community College, a school with over 950 students located in Clonsilla. Since 2019 AWS has worked with Luttrellstown Community College on environmental and educational initiatives, for example, the installation of a polytunnel to support students’ environmental education. AWS volunteers have also mentored students and provided them with the skills needed to successfully deliver projects that they have a passion for, and that will have a positive impact on their wider community. In addition, AWS and Luttrellstown Community College developed the annual Comhrá Cliste (Class Chats) competition, where students design, plan, project manage and deliver projects that will support their school or community. Siobhán Moran, Principal of Luttrellstown Community College said: “We are very grateful for the support AWS has provided over the last number of years, from inviting our students to attend AWS Girls’ Tech Day, to supporting our annual Comhrá Cliste competition, which inspires students to be innovative and entrepreneurial. We’re excited to see AWS launch this fund and look forward to seeing the positive impact it will have on our local community.” Mike Beary, Country Manager, AWS Ireland commented: “AWS has been investing in Ireland for over 15 years, and the launch of this new AWS InCommunities Fund for the Fingal area highlights our continued commitment to both the local community and the country. We remain focused on being a responsible and trusted part of the Fingal community, and we want to continue making a positi...
Guest post by Carmel McConnell MBE is a change maker and author of Change Activist: Make Big Things Happen Fast You’re an entrepreneur. You’re in tech. So far so good. You want to succeed, make everyone proud, perhaps create the neatest tech solution ever. Make a ton of profit and start living the life. And you also want to feel like you’re giving something back, making a difference. If any of that sounds true, I have a strategy for you. It’s really simple, a bit like walking. One foot on the ground, after profit, one foot, putting principles into action. Put your weight on one, then another and keep going in every pitch, every product, every meeting. Grow your business with “profits & principles” Carmel McConnell Have we got weight on profit as well as demonstrating our principles? Are we pushing hard for growth and offering our most profitable products to the hungriest parts of the market? Are we going for justice, for climate change, for feeding children in the hungriest parts of the country around us? Yes, I hear you say, we already do all that. We work hard, give as much as we can away. Great – but is it articulated in a strategy to build more trust than the competition? Your USP in a fast, transparent global marketplace directly correlates with trust. Do you build trust or destroy it? Can your customers rely on you when it comes to timescales, service, care? Do your team believe that when you say you’ll do something, you actually will? I believe that trust is really the only USP with currency today. Someone else, somewhere else is going to be all over your IP at some point, all over your functionality, your app genius. But no one can take away the relationships you build and sustain through trust. Profit and principle as a mindset will define your USP. Social activists are great role models for making change happen. In my view, the bringers of social change, the activists, have always been smarter and faster than suits, haven’t they? Think about what Nelson Mandela was able to do and the poor guy didn’t even have TikTok. The person who can negotiate a national living wage with a government wanting to know how to tax avoiders is going to be one hell of a girl – same in the marketplace. Prove you can deliver the system to solve our logistics problems and also give us a carbon reduction advisory – great. You’re in. Deliver a fast SD-Wan and guess what – for every single one installed in your office, we’ll put one into the nursery down the road and the charity up the street at 50% off. Actually, this strategy is paying dividends already for a one young tech firm that I am having big fun working with. Their MD, Alex Halsall is seeing his business grow as clients welcome his more compassionate pitch, saying “we offer a readymade charity strategy, recognising that many of our customers are small businesses, and don’t have much capacity. People trust us more knowing we actively help others on lower budgets access the same IT products” My own random career might help shed some light on what it is and why it works! My background is in tech, broadband specifically, and I ran a consultancy helping firms deliver tech value, with values. While out doing some research, I found out about children going to school too hungry to learn & I set up Magic Breakfast in the UK (www.magicbreakfast.com) which now feeds over 200,000 vulnerable children every day in 1,000 schools. Right now, apart from mentoring charity leaders scale up, avoid my (many) mistakes, I work with tech leaders, increasing revenue by finding the sweet spot – customer centric growth that allows for a rich outpouring of social value along the way. It’s a workout for the soul of the business, to focus on the best market opportunities, while tackling our most urgent social / racial /climate-based problems. As a proud Irishwoman, my hope is that the Irish tech sector will not only grow intellectual might on the global stage, but also lead from the heart, be role models for t...
The Irish Data Protection Commissioner has fined Instagram €450M for failing to protect children’s data. proving yet again that data breaches can happen anywhere, anytime to organisations we entrust with our personal data. Tilo Weigandt Co-Founder & COO of Vaultree thinks it shouldn’t be this easy for scammers to get their hands on our most sensitive information. Ronan talks to Tilo Weigandt talks about his personal mission, what Valultree does, data governance, data access, encryption technologies, the €450M Instagram fine, companies updating their security culture and transparency. More about Tilo: Tilo Weigandt is an entrepreneur whose mission to combat hacks and leaks. As Co-Founder & COO of Cork, Ireland based Vaultree, his goal is to fundamentally change the way we work with data: from vulnerable to fully encrypted. See more podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
New researched published today at the Dell Technologies Forum in Dublin has shown the vital role that employees play in driving digital transformation projects for business in Ireland. The survey of 200 business and IT leaders in Ireland reveals 74% of Irish respondents regard their people as their greatest asset in unlocking the potential of technology. After two years of accelerated digital transformation, half of IT leaders in Ireland say their organisation knows what it takes to digitally transform a workforce, but after such rapid change, many employees are now facing a challenge to keep up the pace. What’s more, eight in ten (80%) believe their organisations underestimate how to engage with their people properly when planning transformation programmes. The results undertaken by Vanson Bourne for Dell Technologies highlight how the recent period of rapid transformation is leaving businesses and their workforce in need of time to recharge, reflect and refine before embarking on new or iterating on projects. Despite the huge progress and efforts of the past few years, the research highlights how there is still a potential for transformation to stall as 59% of respondents believe it is their people’s resistance to change can lead to failure. While nearly half (49%) say they are still worried that they may be left behind due to a lack of senior vision/authority to now capitalise on the opportunity in front of them. Commenting on the results of the study, Jason Ward, Vice-President and Managing Director, Dell Technologies Ireland, said: “While businesses need breakthrough technologies to transform, harnessing the potential of that technology relies on an engaged and innovative workforce. The results of our Breakthrough study unveiled at today’s Dell Technologies Forum demonstrate this very fact. “We’ve all seen how employees working remotely and now in a hybrid format have been crucial in driving businesses’ momentum in the progress towards digital transformation. This momentum might be lost if organisations fail to recognise their people’s drive for change and to build on the progress made. “That’s why it is vital that businesses should take a three-pronged approach. First, provide employees with consistent and safe work experiences, not defined by where they work. Second, help boost productivity by augmenting human capabilities with technology tools that allow employees to focus on what they do best. Lastly, inspiring employees through an empathic culture and authentic leadership. By enabling a people-first approach, Irish businesses can add immeasurable value to their operations and empower innovators across their workforce.” 1. Connectivity Irish businesses performed tremendous feats to connect, collaborate and conduct business online during the pandemic, with the trend continuing as testified by half of the responders (49%) who believe they’ll be more productive when working and collaborating remotely. But they’re not finished. Despite working remotely these last two years, 60% of all respondents are not yet experiencing a better work-life balance. As a result, over half of business leaders (52%) believe their staff are wrestling with burnout and/or poor mental health that’s impacting their work. Over half (55%) of respondents say they need their organisations to provide the necessary tools and infrastructure to work anywhere (along with the autonomy to choose their preferred working pattern). In fact, they worry their people might be left behind because they don’t have the right technology to shift to a highly distributed model (where work and compute are not tied to a central place but occur everywhere). The technology alone isn’t sufficient. Businesses also need to make work equitable for people with different needs, interests, and responsibilities, including the 78% of respondents that would like their organisation to do any of the following: Clearly define their ongoing commitment to flexible work arrangements and...
Are you out of contract or looking for a better deal for your mobile phone? If so there are some great SIM Only deals available in Ireland right now with huge savings to be made over long contract plans. We’ve teamed up with Switcher.ie, the free and impartial price comparison and switching service, to find the best SIM Only deals available every month. Check back regularly to stay informed of the latest deals and offers and visit the Switcher.ie website to order one of these great packages. Best SIM Only Deals Powered by the Vodafone network, Clear Mobile’s SIM-only plan offers unlimited minutes, texts and data all for just €14.99 per month on a 30-day rolling bill-pay contract. With eir’s Connect SIM-only plan you can also get unlimited calls, texts and data for €14.99 per month in the first year, again on a 30-day rolling bill-pay contract. GoMo’s SIM-only Go More plan offers unlimited minutes, texts and data. This SIM-only deal costs just €14.99 per month on a 30-day rolling bill-pay contract. Need an alternative to bill pay? If you don’t want to commit to a monthly bill, 48 offers a flexible option. Their SIM Only prepay plan offers all calls, texts and data all for only €12.99 per month. (If you’ve come across this article after some of these deals may have expired, check out our main SIM Only category page to find the latest offers) More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Brain Science | Psychiatry—VR for Mental Health Diagnosis There is no test for mental health as well as for psychiatric disorders. Questionnaires and surveys are often used to assess conditions and intensity. Though helpful, they sometimes lead to misdiagnosis, overmedication, substance abuse, extreme behaviors and so on because surveys are not encompassing. This guest post below by David Stephen explores virtual reality [VR] as an option to test for mental health and illness, based directly on the two present elements in any condition: thought and memory. Can VR help with Mental Health Diagnosis? Thoughts are numerous, but often have different qualities at different instances. Thought status per experience largely decides what becomes of mental health. Displaying the order of thought, then directions of disorder would expose the mind, using those poles, for better designs to care. Neuroscience: Thought—Memory VR Display for Mental Health Tests Thoughts are not just elements for thinking. They are existential mechanisms the brain expresses for being. There is no separation between what things are to the brain and the form with which thinking is done. An individual cannot think about anything that does not exist as a form of thought to the brain. To think about the window is because the window is in the same form it is thought about. The window is a thought: worry, happiness, checking its state, cleaning, looking out through are all expressed as forms of thought, in decisions, what becomes known, how to understand, what to remember, expect, and so on. The how, what, when, which, where, who and so on of anything or anyone is because they exist as thoughts to the brain. Thought and its form is used for imaginations, dreams, predictions, inner voice, language, other people’s voice, subvocalization, and so on. Thought and memory are the construct of cells and molecules of the brain for experiential interactions. The brain places mental health based on how thought transports across. There are problems of mind where thoughts are too fast, too slow, too repetitive or intrusive, too prompting, too scattered and so on. There are some also, like in delusions and hallucinations—where thoughts don’t get to certain stores or locations, precluding them from limits in [social, cultural, economic and political standards] for interactions with the world. Thoughts can be prioritized or pre-prioritized, interchanges between both are numerous, but with prioritized, it is difficult to be neutral, because after thoughts [in stores] go across memory locations, they proceed to where feelings are, before reaction. Where do thoughts go to mean what is experienced? Do thoughts acquire properties as they go along? Some words hurt and linger, why? When there is sometimes no mood to work or study, there is a feel-like to scroll pictures or see videos, how does thought decide? Though there is the common allusion to reward or pleasure, but decisions are not necessarily for those. There are thoughts that can displace cravings, sleep, delight and so on. Whatever their molecular mechanisms, other things can overpower them, showing that they are all thought and memory constructs, under an overall placement prioritization. What rules do thoughts follow in the brain to give experiences? What is the universe of thought in the brain for complete existential consciousness—regardless of state? Neuroimaging does not show thought, albeit activity centers lighten up. What thoughts are, leaps a few spots, skipping steps and telling a slight story. Neurotechnology accesses a regimented segment of thought in the cortical areas for imagination and motor skills, but thoughts have an expanse beyond those. This presents an opening for VR with a conceptual model on the transport of thought in the brain, to show order and disorder to know where thoughts are when someone screams, smiles, is interested, uninterested, scared, biased, depressed, anxious and so on. It can also show ...
About the Global Off-Grid Solar Forum & EXPO Organized by GOGLA in collaboration with The World Bank Group’s Lighting Global Program, and co-hosted by the Ministry of Infrastructure of the Republic of Rwanda, the 7th edition of the Global Off-Grid Solar Forum and Expo will take place in Kigali, Rwanda from 18 to 20 October 2022. Global Off-Grid Solar Forum, Kigali, Rwanda, 18 to 20 October The Global Off-Grid Solar Forum and Expo is the premier meeting of the off-grid solar sector, providing a unique platform for knowledge exchange, networking and showcasing off-grid solar products and services. The event aims to accelerate the development of the global off-grid solar market contributing to achieving universal energy access by 2030. The previous edition was held in 2020 in Nairobi, and officially opened by H.E. The President of the Republic of Kenya Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta, attracted over 1,250 participants from 75 countries, 80 exhibitors and over 80 government officials. As part of our deepening collaboration with governments and development partners, this year we are expanding our focus to relevant neighbouring sectors and are thinking more broadly as to how off-grid solar can contribute to household needs beyond energy access. To find out more, visit www.offgridsolarforum.org About GOGLA GOGLA is the global association for the off-grid solar energy industry. We are proud to champion one of the world’s most innovative and impactful sectors. Hundreds of millions of people already benefit from affordable, high-quality, clean off-grid solar products and services. With the right support, our pioneering industry will be able to scale up rapidly to improve the lives of 1 billion people by 2030. s. What we do GOGLA promotes, safeguards and convenes the off-grid solar and efficient appliance industry. PROMOTE We communicate the value of the off-grid solar industry to those key to its success: governments, policymakers, investors, neighbouring industries and international institutions – inspiring support where it matters most. SAFEGUARD We help lay solid foundations for industry growth, from the pursuit of enabling policies, standards and regulations to accelerate electricity access, to building investor confidence in the sector. This means our members are less exposed to risk and operate in stronger markets for the long term. CONVENE We support collaboration and knowledge-sharing between our members, policymakers, investors, donors, facilitators, thought leaders and others to strengthen our network and build a relevant, informed, dynamic and confident industry. What do we do for key partners and stakeholders? We work with governments, development partners, investors, research institutions, media and other stakeholders as the ‘go to’ organisation to learn about and connect with this pioneering industry. With 200+ members across the globe, we exist to accelerate the growth of immediate, affordable, localised electricity. We provide: The latest market information Insights on trends, innovations and impacts in areas such as local economic development, health and access to education and information Information on best practices in business, technologies, policy and finance Forums for discussion, learning and development. To find out more, visit www.gogla.org See more breaking stories here. About Lighting Global Lighting Global is the World Bank Group’s initiative to rapidly increase access to off-grid solar energy for the 789 million people living without electricity world-wide. Managed by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), we work with governments, the private sector, development partners, and end-users, continually innovating to unlock key market barriers and enable access and affordability to those that would otherwise be left behind. Our support has expanded to technologies that go far beyond lighting, including systems to power the needs of households, businesses, schools, and health centers. We operate with fu...
TheFuturists.com Podcast where hosts Brett King and Robert TerceK interview the worlds foremost super-forecasters, thought leaders, technologists, entrepreneurs and futurists building the world of tomorrow. Together we will explore how our world will radically. In this week’s episode of the futurists, award winning British Science Fiction author Gareth L Powell joins the duo to talk far flung futures and creating epic space operas from scratch. Powell talks through his process as well as discussing the possible future of humanity, and where we might go next. Creating far flung futures and epic space operas from scratch, Gareth L Powell More about the show Subscribe and listen to TheFuturists.com Podcast where hosts Brett King and Robert TerceK interview the worlds foremost super-forecasters, thought leaders, technologists, entrepreneurs and futurists building the world of tomorrow. Together we will explore how our world will radically change as AI, bioscience, energy, food and agriculture, computing, the metaverse, the space industry, crypto, resource management, supply chain and climate will reshape our world over the next 100 years. Join us on The Futurists and we will see you in the future! See more podcasts here.
Northwell Health, the largest healthcare provider and private employer in New York State with 21 hospitals, has partnered with Ireland-based software CliniShift on the deployment of a ground-breaking scheduling software platform to optimise internal healthcare staffing and schedule management. The software has the potential to be adopted by healthcare systems globally, as it helps address workforce management and staff shortages, critical issues facing healthcare systems today. CliniShift worked closely with Northwell Health to build on its existing platform, to deliver a software that optimises staffing workflows and improve operational inefficiencies such as streamlining time-off requests while simultaneously finding shift coverage. This unique scheduling software gives small, medium and large health systems the opportunity to optimise their internal staffing resources in multiple unique ways. The CliniShift platform also has the ability to further streamline operations by integrating with approved third-party staffing agencies when the need arises. The CliniShift platform has proven to deliver 84%uptake of internal shift requests. 80% of shift requests were accepted by staff in under 30 minutes. The co-development opportunity between Northwell Health and CliniShift arose from a strategic agreement between Northwell Health and Enterprise Ireland, the Irish government’s trade and innovation agency. The strategic relationship facilitates Northwell Health to engage with Irish companies and provide access to clinicians and key decision-makers across its extensive healthcare network, to develop and commercialise new technologies, and collaborate in joint ventures. These strategic relationships are core to the mission of Northwell Health’s International Business Program to collaborate with global healthcare hubs and companies via strategic alliances with government trade agencies to co-create future healthcare solutions. Commenting on the partnership, Rich Mulry, President & CEO Northwell Holdings, noted, “Our collaboration with CliniShift exemplifies the synergy between Northwell, Enterprise Ireland and innovative solutions which improve our operational efficiencies, and share in the mutual benefit of a company’s growth in the US market.” “Northwell’s International Business Program was created to gain access to global solutions. Since creating the program, Northwell has realized value from collaborating with companies across procurement, pilots/research, and ventures,” says Michael Dowling, President and CEO of Northwell Health. “This approach and our experience with CliniShift continue to demonstrate the value large health systems bring in collaborating with international companies.” ““Enterprise Ireland’s strategic relationship with Northwell Health provides significant opportunities for innovative Irish companies to commercialise and co-develop new innovations and enter the US market. The partnership between CliniShift and Northwell Health is a great example of the excellent collaboration that exists between Ireland and the United States across the healthcare industry,” added Leo Clancy, CEO, Enterprise Ireland. See more stories here.
We will shortly be reviewing this product, so here are the details ahead of the review. Huawei Consumer Business Group (BG) announced the latest in its acclaimed HUAWEI WATCH GT series: the HUAWEI WATCH GT 3 Pro. Available in titanium and ceramic editions, Huawei’s latest flagship smartwatch comes with a new interface design, premium materials, an ultra-clear large screen and a range of watch faces to choose from. HUAWEI WATCH GT 3 Pro The HUAWEI WATCH GT 3 Pro makes it easy to support a healthy lifestyle, with ECG analysis 1 and TruSeen 5.0+ data monitoring technology which allow for accurate heart health measurement, as well as blood oxygen monitoring. William Tian, President Western Europe, Huawei CBG said: ‘’Huawei has a long term commitment to the Health & Fitness category and today we take an exciting next step by launching four new fitness devices, as well as a significant upgrade to our popular HUAWEI Health App. With our heritage in R&D, coupled with our state-of-the-art Health Lab we aim to deliver a suite of go-to wearable devices for people looking to live a healthy life and look great at the same time.’’ It’s also taken its sporting capabilities to the next level, with an all-new professional workout mode- free dive mode in addition to over 100 others, for a truly bespoke workout experience. A smart running plan and Dual-Band Five-System GNSS positioning for more accurate geographic location data goes the extra mile for runners of all abilities. A rich sporting heritage The HUAWEI WATCH GT series is inspired by the automotive industry and is named after the high- performance yet luxurious station wagon, the ‘Grand Tourer’ or ‘Gran Turismo’. The GT was one of the first high-performance, high reliability and high horsepower sports cars, and became synonymous with glamour, adventure, and endurance. The HUAWEI WATCH GT series has harnessed that association, with a smartwatch which holds the same ground-breaking, long-lasting qualities as its namesake. The first device in the series made a huge impact when it was launched in 2018. With its two-week long battery life, scientific exercise guidance and professional health monitoring capabilities, it disrupted the market and became the must-have device for anyone serious about tracking their health. New iterations of the watch have seen innovative updated features, dedicated workout modes, and even more precise health monitoring. The design has been perfected over the years, for a smartwatch as luxurious to look at as it is to use. And now, the next generation arrives in two stunning new models: HUAWEI WATCH GT 3 Pro Titanium Edition, and HUAWEI WATCH GT 3 Pro Ceramic Edition – each one as striking as the other, but with their own distinctive design which makes a bold statement on the wrist. Sir Mo Farah, four-time Olympic Gold Medallist and HUAWEI wearables ambassador said: ‘’As a professional athlete, technology is essential to my training program. The new HUAWEI Watch GT3 Pro is the perfect device for me as it gives me all of the monitoring tools I need to accurately track my runs, but also gives me insight into my sleep, heart-rate and daily activity. It also looks as great on the outside as I know Huawei devices are on the inside so I’m looking forward to strapping it to my wrist as I train for my upcoming runs this year.’’ HUAWEI WATCH GT 3 Pro Titanium Edition: artistry in every inch The design of the HUAWEI WATCH GT 3 Pro Titanium Edition combines the 19 th -century concept of futurism with cutting-edge modernity, adding up-to-the-minute design twists on the previous generation in the series. It’s equipped with a 1.43-inch AMOLED high-definition colour display. The larger face and 466 x 466 high-definition resolution offer even more clarity than previous versions, so that all data can be read in an instant. The quality of the watch’s materials is clear from the first glance. The strong but lightweight titanium case is designed to withstand the test of time and h...
Starcircle, the Irish talent sourcing engine that helps companies scale by accessing pipelines of undiscovered talent, has announced that it will host a new annual global talent conference on 30th September at the Dean Hotel in Cork. Entitled Supernova, the one-day event will bring together talent leaders from some of the world’s largest and most innovative companies, including Amazon, Brex, Cisco, and Snap, to address recruitment challenges and set the agenda for the future of talent acquisition. In the face of a growing global talent shortage, topics will centre around the practicalities of sourcing and recruiting from the present talent market. Among the confirmed speakers are Monica Pool Knox, former CHRO at LivePerson; Matt Belitsky, Sales Operations leader at Brex; Tami Floden, Global Talent Acquisition Leader with DoorDash; and Anastasia Flores, Director of Recruiting Enablement at Snap. The guest speakers will join Starcircle CEO, James Galvin; Chief Commercial Officer, Colin Hickey; and Director of Human Resources, Brita O’Connor, to address the strategic and pragmatic ways organisations need to change to survive and thrive in today’s and tomorrow’s recruitment environment, beset by pains like talent shortages and skills gaps. “We’re extremely excited to bring such prestigious thought leaders to Cork,” said James Galvin, Starcircle CEO. He continues, “Tapping into undiscovered talent is Starcircle’s North Star and what we see as the future of recruitment. Not only is it essential for improving diversity, equity and inclusion, but it’s also a massive piece of the puzzle when it comes to talent and skills shortages. That’s why we built our advisory services and tech products around it.” “Our attendee list is a veritable who’s who of recruitment, talent, HR, and people heads, directors, chiefs, and presidents from across the globe,” said Galvin. In sharing our perspectives and approaches, we hope to raise awareness of the need for a more strategic, long-term approach to recruitment and innovate new, better practices that are fit for the new world of work.” Attendance at the Supernova event is by invitation only. For information about future events, contact events@starcircle.com See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Typetec, one of Ireland’s leading managed IT and cyber security solutions providers, today announces the results of its latest annual survey of SME owners in Ireland, which finds that one quarter (25%) of Irish SMEs have paid out ransoms to cybercriminals on multiple occasions. In total, one-third (33%) of SMEs in Ireland have paid ransoms, with 74% of these having done so on multiple occasions. In 2021, Typetec’s survey found that 52% of all SMEs had paid ransoms to cybercriminals. The 2022 survey of 200 small and medium-sized business owners – commissioned by Typetec and conducted by Censuswide, is the second successive year that the research has been carried out. This year’s survey reveals that the average cost of a ransom is now €22,773, in line with last year’s average of €22,712. The new research also found that two-thirds (67%) of SMEs that paid a ransom, still had their sensitive data leaked into the public domain. More than half (53%) said their sensitive business data was placed on the dark web. Of the SME owners that have already paid a ransom, 71% feel they are now more vulnerable to an attack. To help combat the financial risks of a cyberattack, the survey revealed that over half of Irish SMEs (52%) hold a cryptocurrency reserve in case needed. A further 69% hold cybercrime insurance. However, 71% of SME owners believe that the cyber insurance market is fuelling the ransomware crisis. Trevor Coyle, Chief Technology Officer, Typetec said: “Our new research highlights that a significant number of Irish SMEs are paying out ransoms to cybercriminals, often on a regular basis. Crypto reserves and cyber insurance are also part of the recovery tactics of most businesses surveyed. However, businesses can’t put a price on their data or reputations. When attacks happen and ransoms are paid, data is typically still being leaked into the public domain and onto the dark web regardless. “It’s crucial for businesses to have a coordinated cybersecurity strategy in place, with a particular emphasis on best practice basics such as continuous cybersecurity awareness training for employees. General housekeeping does not need heavy investment and will almost always be less costly than the financial and reputational repercussions of a successful attack. “While the majority of business owners believe that the cyber insurance market is fuelling the ransomware crisis, unfortunately many Irish SMEs are getting caught in the crossfire. Ultimately, they need to be more proactive about putting the right cybersecurity measures in place as the ostrich approach is not acceptable anymore.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Woodie’s, the market leader in DIY, home and garden, has announced that it is partnering with same-day delivery platform buymie. From October 10th, customers in South East Dublin can avail of buymie’s personal shopping services to order 20,000 DIY and home improvement products from their nearest Woodie’s store and receive their shopping to their doorstep in as little as two hours. The new service named “Woodie’s powered by buymie” emulates the successful and extended UK trial “Asda Express powered by buymie” in Leeds and Bristol where buymie has integrated into the leading retailer’s broad offering of delivery options. The customised Woodie’s app was designed by buymie in partnership with the Woodie’s team, which will see the retailer leverage the innovative routing and delivery capabilities of buymie, as well as its dedicated network of independent personal shoppers. It makes them the first retailer in Ireland to access buymie’s newest platform enterprise technology. The new Woodie’s powered by buymie app will be available in both app stores from mid October. In addition, existing buymie app shoppers will have the ability to shop Woodie’s extensive product catalogue via the buymie app. The pilot will initially see shopping services being provided exclusively in South East Dublin, with a view to expanding nationally soon after. Items will be picked and packed from the shelves by a dedicated team in Woodie’s and buymie personal shoppers will deliver the order at the selected time or in as little as two hours. buymie’s delivery services will cater for small to medium-sized products such as paint, tools, accessories and seasonal lines. Woodie’s is 100% Irish owned and the market leader for DIY, home and garden. They offer an extensive range of paint, DIY tools, gardening, homewares and seasonal products. The partnership is the ‘first of its kind’ for buymie as it expands its personal, same-day service into a new vertical while maintaining its commitment to facilitating efficient and sustainable personal shopping services to time-poor individuals and families. Suzanne Quinn, Woodie’s Chief Commercial Officer, said: “Our online business has seen rapid growth in recent years and this partnership allows us to further build and grow our omnichannel proposition, keeping ease and expertise at our core. This partnership with buymie is an important step for us as we continue to find new ways to help our customers shop the way that suits them”. Speaking about the partnership, Devan Hughes, CEO & Co-Founder of buymie said: “We have all run out of paint during a project and done the run to Woodie’s in our overalls! We are thrilled to launch this trial with a household brand like Woodie’s who is keen to expand the same-day delivery offering to Woodie’s and buymie customers. This trial demonstrates buymie’s wider ambition to bring the same-day, delivery model outside of the traditional grocery shopping space and to other areas in the wider retail sphere while continuing our commitment in delighting time-poor individuals”. Founded in 2016, buymie is a leading player in the rapidly evolving same day grocery delivery market. The business has expanded to a team of 70+ with a network of over 400 personal shoppers to meet the increasing demand for grocery home delivery, a trend which has accelerated dramatically during the Covid-19 pandemic. By using local personal shoppers picking from local stores, the buymie delivery service has been delighting time-poor customers in Ireland and the UK. Customers are able to note specific preferences on their orders and can opt-in for a call from their shopper in-store if items are out of stock. Unlike traditional eCommerce solutions, buymie can deliver on the same day and can fulfil orders in as little as 1-hour. buymie works closely with official Irish retail partners Dunnes Stores and Lidl. The new partnership with Woodies will see buymie branch outside the traditional grocery space and into alternative are...
Description of this podcast episode. A cross-industry must listen to understand deep transformation for leaders and their teams. Most transformation initiatives in business and at a personal level, fizzle away. Iris Welten sat in the hot seat at the C-suite and CEO level and shares with us her insights from her personal deep transformation and how she helps leaders at the top of businesses and their teams to deeply transform. We are talking at the Neural Patterns level, the infrastructure level. How to achieve Deep & Sustainable Transformation, Iris Maria Welten Iris Maria Welten/ is Chair and Board member of several companies as well as co-founder of the consulting firm Welten & Welten AG in Switzerland. She is a Responsible Leadership coach focused on transforming life patterns for a happier and more successful life. Further, she teaches at the University of Applied Sciences Bern Corporate Governance. Her profound experience includes international capital markets, leadership of 8 country representatives, broad industry experience (6 industries) and the management of 9 units. In addition, she is well connected economically as well as politically (communal, state and federal level). She worked in Munich, Miami, Hong Kong and New York for large stock exchange listed companies in leading Group Corporate functions as well as CEO. Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica. A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter. Join her on the social platforms See more Irish Tech News podcasts here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Eoin Fitzgerald and Pete Townsend riff on the aftermath of the Ethereum Merge, some pandas and goofy songs, an early-morning Bankless live stream of the Merge, and critically, a 99% more energy-efficient blockchain. We also look at the new Revolut BNPL product live in Ireland, two new funding deals that a16z did on this side of the pond in Sequence and Sardine, opportunities for Bored Yacht owners, and how it feels like 2002 all over again with builders still building. STORIES COVERED: Ethereum makes history with Merge to Proof-of-Stake (Crypto Briefing, 15-Sep-22) Revolut rolls out BNPL product in Ireland (Finextra, 20-Sep-22) Revolut confirms cyberattack exposed personal data of tens of thousands of users (TechCrunch, 20-Sep-22) Andreessen Horowitz leads London fintech Sequence’s $19m seed round (Sifted, 20-Sep-22) Sardine raises $51.5M led by a16z to sniff out fishy fintech transactions (TechCrunch, 20-Sep-22) Invest Like the Best: Trina Spear – Billion Dollar Scrubs (Podcast episode) A Bored Ape Ethereum NFT Owner is Launching a Real-World Yacht Club (Decrypt (via Lex Sokolin’s Fintech Blueprint), 15-Sep-22) Fintech startup Power flexes its credit card muscle following $316M equity, debt injection (TechCrunch, 14-Sep-22) LINKS: Leave a review on Apple Podcasts | Podchaser Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | Overcast Check out our MoneyNeverSleeps website Subscribe to our newsletter on Substack Follow MoneyNeverSleeps on Twitter Follow Eoin Fitzgerald on Twitter Follow Pete Townsend on Twitter Get in touch at info@moneyneversleeps.ie More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Guest post by Tom Moxon, Head of Resourcing Services, IT Alliance Technology systems across all industries are in a process of transformation, with cloud playing a major and disruptive role. Organisations are rethinking their investment in IT Infrastructure to prepare for the future. In turn, new approaches require IT professionals with highly specialised skills and experience, creating an obstacle for many companies. For example, financial institutions across the board are heavily investing in upgrading their customer facing platforms and IT infrastructure, with cloud strategy playing a significant role and Platform as a Service (PaaS) systems (such as Azure and AWS) providing a crucial, stable platform to support online customer engagement. In this scenario, banks are working their way through the challenges of making traditionally in-branch services purely digital. While some processes – like setting up a current account – can be done entirely through digital portals, others – such as processing mortgage applications – are still quite manual and require hard copy documentation. In order to drive their business strategy and enable successful transformation, such organisations must overcome these obstacles and facilitate automation. This will rely on a combination of the right technology and talent. Coping with the complex Sticking with the financial sector as an example, to take services to the next level, applications such as digital wallets, instant payments and SEPA transfers require complex, secure digital infrastructure. Similarly, Open Banking resources such as APIs (Application Programming Interface) and PSD2 (the revised Payment Service Directive) can make online banking more accessible and safe, but they involve transitions which must meet stringent security and privacy requirements. The digital transformation projects required to bring processes entirely online require comprehensive governance and skilled IT professionals who have experience in designing them. IT architecture must also be designed and future-proofed in a way that will allow organisations to scale successfully going forward. At the moment, there is a severe shortage of IT professionals with the necessary skills to support these projects. But that can’t stall innovation and transformation. Companies need to turn their focus elsewhere and beyond their four walls, working with consultants and contractors with the necessary experience and developed skills. This will allow them to create a distinct advantage and be effective in their digital – and business – objectives. This can also provide them more flexibility in terms of how long they engage with such specialists and control over their costs. Tackling the talent gap Looking to the future, any investment made today should also deliver long-term value for the organisation. That means the ability to scale and secure business by investing in people as well as technologies. In many financial institutions, in-house professionals are experienced in using legacy systems. They do not necessarily have the skills to support new digital transformation projects, but upskilling and retaining can address this gap. Consultants and contractors again can provide support here and during transition periods, when in-house IT departments get up to speed with new applications and processes. Even during times of uncertainty and recession, when headcounts are often frozen, many institutions can benefit from engaging expert IT professionals on a contract basis with experience in the relevant areas to support the delivery of business-critical projects and the integration of new applications with older systems. In the same vein, spending now on training internal teams can deliver longer-term value for challenging times when innovation is ever more important. While these projects can be complex and often costly, businesses need to take the leap and invest in the technologies and processes that will ultimately increase their e...
Huckletree, Ireland and the UK’s leading independent workspace brand, have announced their impressive lineup of influential minds set to lead the annual Earthrise Summit on 28th September. The event, in partnership with CMS, Silicon Valley Bank and Replenish Earth, will be run in a hybrid model both online and in-person, hails over 50 world-renowned visionaries from Dublin, London, Berlin, Copenhagen and New York. In 2021, Earthrise Summit was host to over 1,000 start-up founders and operators as well as investors and VC’s. The Summit’s mission is to bring together the most innovative, exciting, mission-led brands and funds to drive tangible impact for a better, more sustainable and equitable future. The theme of this year’s Earthrise Summit is Urban Futures. Currently 55% of the world’s population is now living in urban areas and the UN predicts this number will rise to 68% by 2050. The Earthrise Summit will put a specific focus on the ways in which we can use our urban centres and cities to support a more sustainable future. The keynote speaker will be the world-renowned Jan Gehl, a Danish architect and urban design consultant whose life work has centred around reorienting our cities for pedestrians and cyclists and his work has transformed the very fabric of urban spaces worldwide. Previous headliners included model and actress turned activist and social entrepreneur, Lily Cole, and Oscar winning filmmaker, athlete and photographer, Jimmy Chin. Jan is credited with bringing about some of the most successful urban planning transformations in history, and through educating the world of urban design on the intrinsically linked value between well-planned and used public spaces and liveable cities. He has worked across the globe with governments of all sizes and ambitions to remodel city centres where public realms were at best an afterthought and at worst actively shunned. “Sustainability is at the forefront of discourse, and that is where it needs to be – we are delighted at Huckletree to be able to bring some of the best minds available together and have these important conversations. These messages need a platform – and I am excited for Huckletree to be that stage for Earthrise Summit 2022,” commented Andrew Lynch, COO & co-founder of Huckletree. “This year’s Earthrise Summit is a call to the industry to rethink how we better build cities for tomorrow, from today, and to galvanise some of the most influential people in the urban planning industry, from developers to creatives. I am so thrilled that Huckletree is in a position to bring an event like Earthrise Summit to life and to bring it to so many people in our industry across the world. The data shows – we are at a crucial tipping point- and I believe we all have a role to play in ensuring our urban centres focus around both people and sustainability,” added Gaby Hersham, CEO & co-founder of Huckletree. “CMS is delighted to partner with Huckletree to bring the Earthrise Summit and its messages to the fore in 2022. Having sustainability at the heart of urban planning and development is the only way our cities will adapt to tackle the climate crisis head on. We believe the Earthrise Summit will bring together people with the vision required to enact the changes we all want to see,”Anthony Waller, Partner at CMS, commented. For more information, visit the Earthrise Summit website here. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also fi...
Pure Telecom, the Irish-owned high-speed broadband company, has announced the results of a survey, which found that adults in Ireland are turning to online resources en masse as they battle the impact of soaring prices on their personal finances. The research found that 66% of adults in Ireland are resorting to tools such as internet banking, budgeting apps and cashback apps to combat the rising cost of living. The online research, conducted by Censuswide on behalf of Pure Telecom, surveyed 1,002 people as part of a nationally representative study and found that 94% of adults in Ireland are being negatively impacted by the cost-of-living crisis. As a result, 50% of respondents report that they have cancelled streaming or TV subscriptions in the last 12 months to reduce their outgoings. The survey found that a quarter of adults in Ireland are now using cashback apps – which enable consumers to get discount codes and vouchers, or cash back, on select purchases – in an effort to offset the rising cost of living. A similar proportion (24%) are using apps and websites that help them to find the best local deals for items on their shopping list, while 16% are using personal finance apps that can monitor their spending. Four-in-10, meanwhile, credit internet banking for helping them to keep track of their spending during the cost-of-living crisis. Pure Telecom’s research found that the internet is also helping adults in Ireland to make more informed buying decisions. Some 61% of respondents said that they are spending more time researching prices online before making a final purchase. The survey also found that remote working is helping workers to combat rising prices. Of those who are working remotely or on a hybrid basis, 44% say working from home helps them to reduce their cost of living. From this cohort, 69% say it is reducing their spend on fuel, 53% report that they are saving money on food and 42% are saving on public transport. A quarter of those working remotely or on a hybrid basis believe that remote working is increasing their cost of living. Paul Connell, CEO, Pure Telecom, said: “With inflation and the ever-rising cost of living, we found that almost everyone is feeling the financial pinch and most are looking for ways to tighten the purse strings. Our survey found that adults in Ireland are getting creative and many are using multiple online resources to ensure they don’t pay a cent more than they need to. “It is natural that in this current climate, people are looking at their monthly outgoings and cutting back where they can, so it is interesting to see that half of all adults have cancelled at least one streaming or TV subscription in the past year. At Pure Telecom, we are always conscious of customer needs for great quality at an affordable price, which is why we are so proud of our extremely competitively priced Pure TV offering and broadband packages. We want to help people to reduce their cost of living without cutting back on the things they enjoy most.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Recession and automation are two of the most fear-inducing topics for business owners. In the long term, businesses are fearful that automation tools will take over their workplaces entirely at some point, displacing their workers. In the short term, owners are concerned about what the recession will do to their finances and businesses overall. Before we dive into strategies to help you address your fears so that your mental and financial health remains intact, let’s take a deeper look at automation and recession concerns. Manage Mental and Financial Health An Overview of Automation and Recession Concerns Although automation is a recent development, it’s been a rampant concern as more businesses find ways to apply it within their processes. As of 2018, “More than one-third of Irish adults fear their jobs will be replaced by artificial intelligence or robots, with 11 percent expecting it to happen in the next six to 10 years.” However, in reality, automation tools probably won’t ever replace human workers. When used correctly, automation enhances the work humans do rather than replacing it. These tools take over repetitive tasks like data collection and email outreach, freeing human workers for activities requiring a creative, human touch. In regards to recession concerns, they’re legit. For one, Britain’s year-long recession has had an impact on Irish businesses through their displaced exports. In addition, the Irish economy is slowing down due to less consumer spending and investing. Moreover, interest rates are climbing at banks, causing even more of a rift in business finances. Managing Mental and Financial Health Amidst Fears If you have fears about how automation will fit into your workplace or of the recession causing you to close your doors for good, don’t beat yourself up. Instead, use these strategies to maintain your mental and financial health as you navigate your fears. Create tangible and meaningful goals Not only have recession and automation fears contributed to increased anxiety among business owners, but so have business closures, slowdowns, and lockdowns caused by the pandemic. Many owners are worrying incessantly about the uncertainty of business ownership in the future. For any fears you have, whether they’re centered around automation or the recession, it’s best to create tangible and meaningful business goals. Doing so can give you and your business concrete steps to look forward to, even if there are murky waters directly ahead. When establishing your goals, ask yourself the following questions: What do you want your business to look like in five years? What are your financial goals? Do you have any new target audiences you want to reach? Where do you want your business to expand? Once you answer these questions, you can start establishing short and long-term goals. When making these goals, make tangible step-by-step plans for the best results. Manage your debt Maintaining your financial health through a recession isn’t possible without managing your debt effectively. Unfortunately, many business owners make the mistake of taking on more debt to stay on top of financial obligations, which only increases the chances of being swallowed up by a recession. To avoid this, audit your business debt regularly. Consider who you owe and how you’re making payments toward paying it off. Look at your monthly income as well to see if you can maintain your payment schedule. If you can’t audit regularly by yourself, it’s a good idea to talk to a financial specialist to get guidance on the best way to manage your debt and see your options for paying it down. Nurture your personal life Even though you should be evaluating your debt and establishing short and long-term goals within your business to decrease your stress, sometimes the best way to assuage your fears is to take a step back from your business. Never taking a break from work isn’t the answer for your business finances or, more importantly, your mental wellne...
Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform for businesses, has announced that life insurance and pensions company Irish Life has chosen Stripe as its strategic payments provider for its Smart Invest app. The partnership will make it easier for Smart Invest users to initiate one-off and top-up payments within the app. Irish Life launched Smart Invest in 2021 to make it easy for people to invest and track the performance of their investments. The app makes investing more accessible by allowing users to get started with as little as €100 in their accounts. Smart Invest also appeals to people who want to invest more responsibly by providing access to investment funds that support the planet. Stripe will facilitate investments through its payments platform and Stripe Billing while safely storing the payment details of Irish Life’s Smart Invest customers. Stripe Radar will detect and prevent fraud using machine-learning algorithms that train on data across billions of global transactions. Smart Invest will also use Stripe Connect to enable client fund segregation, which will simplify its core financial operations. Irish Life joins tens of thousands of Irish businesses that are using Stripe to help grow their revenue and operate more efficiently. Those companies range from tech unicorns like Flipdish and Wayflyer to heritage brands like Foxford and McNutt of Donegal. “Our partnership with Stripe helps give our customers a world-class payment experience with a wide variety of payment methods including card payments and digital wallet integration. This will help us to further enhance our market-leading customer experience for our Smart Invest app and to continue to grow our business,” said Shane Carroll, digital product lead at Irish Life. “We’re proud to be partnering with Irish Life on Smart Invest to help them enhance both their user experience and their operational efficiency. In the current macroeconomic climate, we are more focused than ever on helping Ireland’s leading businesses increase their revenue and innovate faster,” said Eileen O’Mara, global head of sales at Stripe. See more stories here.
Mental health is a key economic opportunity for any country that provides something new and scalable towards care, internally and for the rest of the world. It is an era where things affecting the mind are confronted, to adjust or prevent their weight from causing further distress. There are several breaks by sport stars, musical artists, school off days, burnout support at work, therapy options, harm reduction programs and so on. There are adoptions of solutions like mindfulness, meditation and so on. Brain Science: Economic Opportunity of Mental Health Though mainstream, mental health still seems confusing because several things are linked to its problems and several others are said to be beneficial. However, in any mental state, what is present? For the present elements what are their rules? For those rules how do they make decision for OK, not not OK? The brain is the question to mental health but is also an answer, if what it uses to express mental health have better understood mechanisms. Global mental health and addiction care is still an open field for a country, to advance and provide for, in a fresh way striking out from general approaches. Two poles, thought and memory, present in every solution or problem of mental health can have their rules displayed as the architecture of mind, to position care. The country would have to invest, incentivize its companies and institutions to structure these elements of mental health and addiction experiences in a different direction from everything obtainable everywhere else. This guest post by David Stephen explores thought and memory as the constructs of cells and molecules of the brain, with how their destinations make determinations for the state of mind. Showing thought and memory relays digitally, based on a conceptual brain science model would become a necessary tool for care, while bringing revenues, from tokens back to the economy, leading the world in a vital area. Neuroscience: Rules of the Transport of Thoughts and Memory Everyone has thoughts. There are properties of thoughts—where they go or how that makes them different. Some thoughts are faster, some are heavier, some bear promptings, others are repetitive or intrusive and so on. Thoughts are the versions of things that are known. Things that can be thought about are in the form of thought, so they are used directly in thinking. Nothing is held in mind that is not thought or its form, including imaginations, dreams, inner voice, predictions, perception, memories and so on. Thought is also what the memory stores, since all sensory inputs end up for query if they are known or not. Something can be seen and known or not known. Something can be heard and remembered or not. The sensory pathway ends up with knowing, so that relating with the external world is easier. Though the brain has cells, impulses, molecules, genes, hemispheres, lobes, matters, and so on, the principal quality of the brain are the constructs—thought and memory—that make various determinations. The functional basis of the memory extends beyond information categories, to limits and extents in the brain—or regulations. It is what is normal that the brain or a memory function maintains, or seeks to, as signals are sent from areas of the body and back. Memory Structure for Experiences There are internal senses [interoception] and external senses [exteroception] all with representations in the memory. There is similarity with how the memory treats them all. Just like there can be forgetfulness of an information, it is possible for the memory to forget to give the limits or extents of groups cells or tissues, leading to problems in an area of the body. There are disease categories with severity, symptoms, stages, length and no symptoms, they often affect functions given by the brain—or memory Since bodily functions—located across the body—have representations in memory, affect to one can cause problems for the other, since they are on different ends b...
Datapac, Ireland’s leading ICT services & solutions provider, isdelighted to announce that Wexford Festival Opera has been recognised in the 2022 Business to Arts Awards, winning the Judge’s Special Recognition Award. As one of several organisations which supports the Festival, including Danone, Ecclesiastical, Arachas Corporate Brokers Ltd and PwC, Datapac is proud to have contributed its technology and services as the Festival’s longstanding official IT Partner. Datapac has been a long-term valued supporter of Wexford Festival Opera and the National Opera House for over a decade. This strong relationship has witnessed many milestones for the cultural icon of the South-East, including essential support provided during the building of the current National Opera House, which opened its doors in 2008. Ongoing support from Datapac has ensured that the world-class venue, home of the internationally acclaimed Wexford Festival Opera, always has a best-of-breed IT ecosystem fit to live up to the Festival’s legacy. In 2021, Datapac extended its support to the Festival through partnering with their new outreach programme Synapses. The programme used the power of technology to rebuild connections between the Festival and communities of nursing home residents throughout Wexford. Many of the residents have been lifelong supporters of the Festival yet have been unable to experience its wonders in recent years because of the pandemic. With Datapac’s support – financially, technologically and in-kind – the Festival was able to produce a highlights documentary of the 2021 festival, which was screened in nursing homes throughout the summer, helping to bring a little bit of opera magic to some of Wexford’s valued communities. Dan Kickham, Chairman, Datapac, said: “As longstanding official IT Partner, Datapac is delighted to see the Festival’s outstanding achievements recognised in this year’s Business to Arts Awards. The Festival continues to be a cultural mainstay of Wexford, and indeed, of the South East, and the value brought to the artistic heritage of the region is immeasurable. Supporting and enriching the wider community has always been a core guiding ethos of the Festival, as witnessed this year in the wonderful Synapses outreach programme which Datapac supported.” Randall Shannon, Executive Director, Wexford Festival Opera, said: “We’re delighted to have won the Judge’s Special Recognition Award at this year’s Business to Arts Awards. Thanks to the support of our sponsors, we can continue to bring world-class experiences to Wexford year after year. This past year, with the valued support of Datapac, we were able to bring the opera to our community in new ways, making meaningful connections with all of our audiences.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.