From 15 November 2010 to 17 November 2010 NUI Galway and University of Limerick play host to a team of Irish American entrepreneurs. They will be attending a conference aimed at helping Irish high tech businesses to network with potential customers in Silicon Valley and beyond.
High Tech Jobs Key to Future Success
The keynote speech on Tuesday 16 November 2010 will be delivered by former Intel CEO Craig Barrett. In an interview published in the Sunday Business Post Online Barrett issued a warning to the Irish government. “You can’t save your way out of recession,” he is quoted as saying. “You invest your way out of a recession.” Barrett believes Ireland’s future rests on home grown high tech jobs.
Barrett retired from Intel in 2009 after seeing the company through the highs and lows of the technology boom. He believes that a lack of natural resources in both Ireland and the USA means both nations need to rely on “smart minds and smart ideas” to generate wealth in the future. (Former Intel boss warns Ireland on budget cuts, Sunday Business Post Online, 7 November 2010, accessed 12 November 2010)
High Tech Business key to Innovation Strategy
The conference is organised by the Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG) and is the third of what has become an annual event. Entitled “Silicon Valley Comes to Ireland” the event brings a team of Silicon Valley technologists and venture capitalists to support high potential emerging technology companies from the island of Ireland.
In addition to Craig Barrett, Macrovision founder and entrepreneur JohnRyan will be in attendance and taking part in a panel discussion alongside Tom McDermott of Georgia Tech. NUI Galway and University of Limerick have a successful partnership agreement with the Georgia institute.
Ryan began life as a technician with the state owned TV and radio company RTE. But when Hollywood studios first began to worry about video piracy based on 1980’s VCR technology it was Ryan’s idea that helped them protect their intellectual property. His company, Macrovision went on to develop a whole series of Digital Rights Technology products to protect CDs, DVDs and to prevent internet file sharing.
Ryan is a NUI Galway alumnus who worked for Yorkshire Television as well as RTE before heading to Silicon Valley. He has 70 patents to his name. (How Irish technology built Hollywood, Irish Independent, 7 February 2008, Accessed online 12 November 2010)
Collaborative Innovation with High Tech Businesses
A showcase of projects highlighting “Education for Innovation” will accompany the conference and feature the work of the research arms of both universities as well as Georgia Tech Ireland. REMEDI is a world leader in regenerative medicine research whilst DERI, the Digital Engineering Research Institute runs a range of projects in collaboration with industrial partners such as Nortel. Both are NUI Galway affiliates with close ties to other Irish third level institutes.
LERO and MSSI are key University of Limerick research institutes. LERO is the Irish Software Engineering Research Centre much of whose research is carried out in collaboration with industry partners. MSSI, the Materials and Surface Science Institute focuses on the design of materials for health, transport, energy and clean technology.
As an envious Welshman put it in a blog in August 2010, “They say the simple ideas are sometimes the best ones and when it comes to simple ideas that make a real difference, the Irish are natural winners.” He was commenting on the way that the Irish government and indigenous business community network with the Irish diaspora overseas, especially in Silicon Valley. (Pure Genius, Dylan Jones-Evans, 31 August 2010, accessed 12 November 2010)
Frank Parker - Frank writes regularly on a diverse range of subjects which he researches thoroughly.
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