The post I wrote a couple of weeks back - Is Ireland Really and Innovation Island? – received more interest than usual and in particular generated a very interesting discussion in the comments that is worth checking out. The conversation around the need for an online network for innovators and entrepreneurs continued offline with Michael and Johneric. I’ve volunteered to articulate what I see as the essence of that conversation to see if there is potential in developing something practical out of it.
No Shortage of Irish Innovators
All are agreed on this at least, even if some think that IDA, EI and multi-nationals need to do more to support and foster budding entrepreneurs. The Internet is now facilitating a whole new breed of lazy entrepreneurs. However there are many innovators that for very practical reasons will probably never bring their great ideas much further than a few scribbles on scraps of paper.
Many are in full-time employment, jobs they enjoy, yet which don’t fully satisfy their appetite to innovate. With families to support and mortgages to pay, many others simply hand in their notice and face the prospect of months or years without a stable income. It is true that the most successful entrepreneurs are often natural risk takers, but it is also true that many of the most successful innovators are part-timers.
There are people out there with ideas and expertise in a wide range of areas but wouldn’t know the first place to start. There are also start-ups with business plans but with gaps in expertise that they simply cannot afford to fill with paid consultants. There are retired people with a lifetime of business acumen, eager to find projects that they can get stuck into.
A Network for Innovators
Wouldn’t it be great if there were a forum that could bring all these entrepreneurs and budding innovators together in a manner that was mutually beneficial. Start-ups with specific skills gaps could tap into the expertise of people who were willing to put in significant amounts of their spare time to help bring ideas to market. Innovators could find out how to progress their ideas and identify suitable entrepreneurs to help make them a reality.
An online network, similar in part to the Innovation in Ireland group that the IDA have established on LinkedIn, would be a very practical first step. All participants would have their resumés already in place on their profiles. Members would be able to share ideas with others and seek advice on the various aspects of the innovation process. Individuals could showcase their expertise by providing articles and advice with others. Public and private conversations will help to bring people together in a supportive environment.
There is nothing like face to face contact, and the network could be taken to venues around the country throughout the year. Networking events would see innovators pitch their ideas and outline the kinds of support they are looking for. Not unlike a Dragon’s Den or the First Tuesday Club of years gone by, entrepreneurs could pitch their business plans, not seeking capital investment, but human investment in terms of time and effort from subject matter experts. In return, partnerships would develop where start-ups would grant small amounts of equity in potential future successes in lieu of time and effort put in by their new partners.
Protecting intellectual capital and providing suitable legal frameworks would be an important consideration in establishing and managing such a network. Innovators will rightly be wary of sharing their ideas for fear of others stealing them. Would we, for example, get people to sign NDA’s or other legally binding agreements in advance of being allowed to participate in the network? Are there models in place in other spheres that could be applied here?
Would YOU Join an Innovation Network?
The bottom line here is whether there is appetite out there for people to join in such a network. Are you an entrepreneur that needs specific skills, cannot find them but would be happy to share a small amount of equity in lieu of this expertise from a part-timer? Are you bursting with innovative ideas but lacking the framework to bring them beyond your garage or living room and would love the opportunity to hook up with others who are not risk averse?
Would you participate in such a network? Critically, if you are one of the types of people listed above and would NOT participate, tell us why not so we can see if it is viable or not before we go any further.
Have your say by voting here or leave a comment below, anonymously if you like. If you’d like to get involved in bringing this forward let me know in the comments below or here.
The Dublin Web Summit which took place on Friday last in Ballsbridge was one of the better conferences I’ve attended in the past few years. A fast-paced programme resulted in an amount of information and opinion imparted by an excellent line up of Irish and international speakers.
Facebook's Rick Kelley talking about social connections at Dublin Web Summit
Someone commented early in the day that you could not possibly say anything meaningful in a one hundred and forty character tweet. I beg to differ and here is a snapshot of some of the insightful / questioning tweets from throughout the day. There was probably a dozen or so people tweeting from the event and with many others interacting online, in the end there was close on 1,000 tweets from people using the #dws hash tag.
I’ve selected the tweets that got the most re-tweets, or that I particularly liked. For context on some of the names referred to check out the speaker list. I was tweeting on the day using my alter-ego at @fbd_ie.
On social media:
- Anton Savage says “social media overtakes porn… shame the national papers went for that angle” – @tweetminster:
- Cochrane says “social media isn’t just ‘we need Twitter’ or ‘we need Facebook’ that fails as a strategy” -@tweetminster:
- You remember 90% of what you read, hear and interact, hence the importance of social networking, Niels Thogersen – @ianmcleary
- @RishiSaha “you have to look at success in a different way, be comfortable with success being purely digital” – @tweetminster
- Listen to the conversation even if you’re not going to tweet yourself – @dermotcasey:
- Why social media? EU parliament is “a distant institution using it to show there are humans behind the Brussels machine” – fbd_ie
- British guys saying email remains most powerful campaign tool – everyone has it. Social media part of wider communications strategy. – NoreenBowden
On changing communications models:
- “Relate and engage. Don’t try and control” says @davidcochrane - @dermotcasey:
- “None of this works in theory but it works in practice” says @marklittlenews quoting Jimbo Wales – @dermotcasey
- Are traditional brand values being replaced by brand personalities? – @fbd_ie
- As brands become more personable, audiences become more forgiving to their mistakes – nick from profero – @dscanlon
- Brands are socialised on the Internet, not broadcast. – Nick Blunden. True. – @fbd_ie
- Nardelli “people say they’re scared of losing control of the message, but do they really believe they control it now?”- @tweetminster
On traditional media:
- Julian March, Sky News “we can go places the BBC can’t go… it’s partly to do with our attitude to risk” – @tweetminster
- Jimmy Leach, Indy – “Everyone saying journalists are the trusted brand. When did we start trusting journalists?” – @NoreenBowden
- Clark “The economic model for journalism may be declining but the need for journalism is not” – @tweetminster
- “Mobilisation againt Jean Sarkozy appt or Polanski, was massive on Twitter…after 4 days old media was forced to follow” @tweetminster – Semar_paris
- @marklittlenews talks about knowing more about Iran protests via twitter than journalists on the ground. His twitter tipping point – dermotcasey.
- Julian March, Sky “advertisers are interested in big numbers, not smaller audiences that are hugely engaged” – @tweetminster
- Ian Douglas (Telegraph): it’s a great time for journalism. Papers may go under, but media groups are OK – @stctweets
- Biggest twitter followers are people you either love or hate. Big personalities rule. – a dilemma for blogging journalists – Iain Dale – NoreenBowden
On politics:
- AudioBoo: Blogger @iaindale on new media & cross party consensus http://boo.fm/b73240 – @tweetminster:
- A list of 90+ local Irish politicians on Twitter http://bit.ly/2u3DEL @lexia @mickfealty (@paddycosgrave) – @dublinwebsummit
- Thorgersen “social networks can engage citizens for active democracy on a daily basis, not just campaigns” – @tweetminster
- Cochrane says politicians don’t want to engage here as they’ll have to answer questions. Contrast with UK <sounds true - @NoreenBowden
- Disciplines and responsibilities of government make it hard to use social media. Human is fine, but people need action.- @stctweets
- Estonia : they’re crowdsourcing laws. Wonder what that would do to NAMA
- @dermotcasey - “Obama example is tired [social media impact] the political success was face to face coffee mornings” - @Hammersley
- Hammersley again: if government REALLY used social media, it couldn’t function – too many mad people! – @stctweets
- More Hammersley: social media emerged from a North Californian mindset. The world isn’t all like that. – stctweets
- Hammersley: Social media tools are value neutral. Useful for dictators and extremists too. Don’t expect them to bring democracy. – stctweets
- Iain Dale skeptical of twitter as political tool -but for breaking news “a fantastic thing”. Huge media instutions brought to book – NoreenBowden
On Eamon Ryan:
- Eamon Ryan “..to save the planet from catastrophic climate change..have to use..Internet..as a comms mechanism” – @tweetminster
- Quantum leaps in efficiency using comms & networking technologies to prevent climate change is reason Min. for Comms is here! – @fbd_ie
- If we reduced Ryan’s remarks to 10 seconds, what would most people remember? “wibbly wobbly wonder” gets my vote – @dscanlon
- AudioBoo: Irish Minister Eamon Ryan on telcos & clim change http://is.gd/4I33Q – @Tweetminster
On Facebook:
- Rick Kelley of Facebook attributes the international growth of Facebook to their crowdsource translation model – @localization
- Average of 2 visits per day and 50% return daily Facebook – dermotcasey
- How engaged are users. Average of 25 minutes per day on Facebook – dermotcasey
- Facebook larger in Europe than in the US. 96M in Europe – dermotcasey
- Rick’s mom joined Facebook in 2009. Powerful message. 1.1m Irish people were on FB last month. 65% of online users.- fbd_ie
On Google:
- 50% of people don’t know first few links in Google are paid ads. 50% of people think top link (an ad) is best company – @dermotcasey
- Anthony Quigley Digital Marketing Institute talking SEO. No one in Ireland using Yahoo or Bing. Focus on Google – @dermotcasey
- http://twitpic.com/nj4f3 – Google’s roadmap for survival of the fastest (Ronan Harris) – @tweetminster
- Ronan Harris, Google sales manager: Adoption cycle for new media: technology-content-users-advertising – stctweets
- Ronan Harris, Dir online sales NEu, Google “we’re seeing 2 revolutions, in tech and advertising” – tweetminster
- Google heatmap shows where people look – ads at RHS of screen mostly ignored. Can be niche business – dermotcasey
- Google forcing people to be very specific in what they search. Get the keywords right “digital marketing course” or “online marketing” – dermotcasey
- Mapping for Google switched on in May – changes the results for seaches important to remember this happening all the time – dermotcasey
On Twitter:
- March “90% of Twitter activity is retweets…our job on all new media is to filter that out” – @tweetminster
- Chances of being retweeted rise dramatically (3x) if a link included. – @stctweets
- Twitter Ethics… Simple… Am I being polite. – @darraghdoyle – markisgo
- Have twitter landing page linked from the Web Link on Twitter – great idea from @krishnade – dermotcasey
- Twitter: “just becuase you can, doesn’t mean you should” (use for your business). What a sensible woman Krishna De is. – localization
- Understand what you want before using twitter – dermotcasey
- Have noticed at conferences in last 2 weeks it is no longer rude to Twitter or take pics while talking on stage. – NiallHarbison
Best of the Rest:
- Harris “3m people in the uk purchased something online on Xmas day 2008″ – @tweetminster
- Jim Miley: Myhome.ie were partly responsible for driving change towards Web in Ireland -@dscanlon
- Mobile & smartphones current turning point – @dermotcasey
- We are in disruptive stage. Big opportunities for new small players to break through. Good question from @dermotcasey – @fbd_ie
- Rishi Saha “only 3.1% of YouTube vids get more than 1000 views” – @tweetminster:
- Evian internet-only advertising: 58 million views. Brand preference +9%. Bit scary. Very successful. http://tiny.cc/O7Tq4 – @stctweets
- Which button would you press: “Donate” or “Donate now”? Obama switched to the latter and saw the difference – @stctweets
- 5 users find 85% of problems on your website – Paddy Cosgrave. Lots of practical, easy to use info in this talk. – @NoreenBowden
- All panelists: websites should cut the crap. Keep it simple! Give clients what they want and need. – @stctweets
I really enjoyed pulling these insights together so I hope you’ve enjoyed themhere too. If I’ve got any of the attributions incorrect please let me know.
The agency responsible for foreign direct investment onto this island, IDA Ireland, has recently launched a new marketing campaign in North America. This campaign is pitching Ireland as an innovation island. The New York Times discussed the campaign in detail so head over there for more information if you are interested. My question here is whether Ireland can stand up to the mark on the claims that it is an island full of innovators.
What is innovation? It is a process that involves lateral or creative thinking to come up with new solutions to problems. It occurs most in response to a real need. Successful innovations have been those that people find really useful in addressing a particular situation or issue.
Can Ireland, with a population less than half of that of New York City, really be good at innovation on a global scale?
Ireland already does have some notable innovations that it can be proud of.
Ryanair is an example of process innovation that turned a miniscule struggling Irish airline into one of the largest airlines in the world in just over a decade. Sure, we looked at what was best elsewhere (SouthWest Airlines) but made it our own and added our own dynamics to it.
Guinness emerged in the 1770’s from a small ale brewery in Dublin that needed to compete against the big London breweries that were exporting a new form of drink, popular with Covent Garden’s market porters, into Ireland. Arthur Guinness took this new “porter” and brewed a version of it that within the first 100 years saw the biggest brewery in the world based in Dublin. And no, we weren’t drinking it all ourselves.
Riverdance revolutionised how the world reacted to traditional Irish music. By innovatively taking pre-recorded music and raising a traditional village pub performance to the level of rock concert, Riverdance has transformed a dance genre from being at death’s door to a worldwide phenomenon. Spin-offs aside, such as Lord of the Dance, Riverdance itself has grossed in excess of $1 billion since 1994.
Havok is an Irish software company that started as a campus company in Trinity College computer science department. (One of the founders taught a course I took as a post-grad.) The Havok founders identified a need to improve the quality of graphics rendering in computer games and came up with a revolutionary application that renders the graphics in run-time, thus speeding up and improving the quality of the rendering. Havok software is being used in PC, Xbox 360, Playstation and many other games formats. Havok-powered games generated sales revenue totaling over $1.5 billion in North America alone during 2008.
The IFSC, or the International Financial Services Centre, based in Dublin’s previously depressed docklands was set up under government legislation in 1987 to address Ireland’s real need to lift itself out of the economic troubles of the 1980’s. A low corporate tax rate of 10% was introduced to attract international financial firms into the IFSC. Half of the world’s top banks and insurance companies soon located operation in Ireland, bringing employment, urban regeneration and billions in additional tax revenues.
The model employed in the IFSC has been expanded with much success in other sectors. Nine of the top ten pharmaceutical companies in the world have located R&D and manufacturing plants here. For years Ireland has been the biggest exporter worldwide of computer software, mostly as a result of Microsoft locating its European headquarters here. We now host worldwide technology giants such as Intel, Dell, Google, eBay, Facebook, HP, SAP, Siemens, EMC, Cisco and Paypal. The clustering of such industries on this small island has resulted in the development in Ireland of a skilled workforce that is disproportionately clever.
Investment in R&D, the official word for innovation, is important to us in Ireland and in 2008 1.66% of GDP (€2.8 billion) was spent on it. Our target is to grow this to 3% of GDP. IDA Ireland has shifted its focus over the past number of years to R&D type activities rather than pure manufacturing. Last year 40% of IDA investments were in companies doing R&D here, a figure that has doubled over the past five years.
There are a few things that Ireland lacks, but innovation and ambition is not one of them. I’ve written here previously that we need to do more. We already have the smarts but they need to be fostered and supported so that we can continue to punch above our weight on the global stage.
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The official report from the Global Irish Economic Forum held in Farmleigh a few weeks back was published this week. Having been at the event but not given access to most of the sessions I was interested to see what recommendations emerged from those closed sessions.
Much of what emerged from the weekend focused on selling Ireland more effectively abroad, leveraging the 70 million who make up the Irish diaspora to open new doors to indigenous businesses and finding ways to monetise our culture which was perceived by the group as a key strength. The proposals within the government’s smart economy documents, in particular the Knowledge Society Strategy report that I talked about here in July, were broadly endorsed.
Concern was expressed by participants that Ireland is not actually regarded as a centre of innovation in critical markets such as Silicon Valley or in Asia generally. It was recommended that networks such as the Irish Technology Leadership Group should be leveraged to project the story of successful technology companies working in Ireland to industry leaders in these key markets.
There was much talk about Ireland becoming a leader in green technology innovation, but not all agreed that this is the way forward for Ireland. It was suggested that we should instead prioritise more tightly focused sectors which hold the potential to differentiate us from our competitors.
The importance of broadband and communications infrastructure was underlined with a proposal that Eircom should be re-nationalised given its underperformance in this area. There was a call to ensure the necessary levels of investment in the “final mile” of communications in order to provide world class speed throughout Ireland. The Government defended progress in the development of infrastructure highlighting the €220m that is currently being spent on broadband rollout.
Ironically, innovations in the area of high-speed and energy efficient communications networks were proposed as a major opportunity for Ireland. Participants discussed the Optical Burst Switching technology being pioneered in Ireland which uses light waves to transmit data at high speed. This could potentially place Ireland at the heart of advances in telecoms and data and cloud computing centres, such as the one opened recently by Microsoft.
When it comes to funding, there was criticism of Ireland’s bureaucratic processes. The government participants did acknowledge that there is a need for a more responsive system but justified a level of bureaucracy in order to support public accountability. This probably won’t go far enough for those innovative Irish enterprises at the coal face of seeking support for growing into international markets.
There was a call to ensure that our education system delivers a skills base that is aligned to identified innovation opportunities. Educational change is required at all levels. At first and second levels there is a need to foster more creativity as well as growing the numbers taking maths and science.
Continued investment in 3rd and 4th level education is required to ensure the availability of highly skilled and specialised graduates. It was also proposed that existing high-skilled talent (such as unemployed architects and engineers) be up skilled in new technologies and processes.
One of the few specific and measurable recommendations was that at least 3% of GDP should be invested annually in R&D. This investment should be targeted at emerging technologies where Ireland can take a lead by establishing a small number of centres of excellence.
Ireland should establish an International Content Services Centre, modelled on the IFSC, but supporting world leading digital content enterprises. Such a centre would streamline the storage, localisation, delivery and distribution of digital content. A belief was expressed that Ireland is already well placed to exploit unmet global needs in this area.
Finally, participants consistently stressed the importance of executing ideas raised at the forum. Minister Martin dampened expectations at the launch of this report by emphasising that the proposals outlined in the report are “not formally endorsed by Government, but instead reflect the opinions and suggestions advocated by those who participated at Farmleigh.” Event host, David McWilliams promised to deliver five business plans within the space of a few weeks. It will be interesting to see which proposals do actually get carried forward.
Those who work in the Internet industry in Ireland take what they do very seriously. But once or twice a year they let their hair down. Last night at the Damien Mulley-run Irish Web Awards was one such night, and undoubtedly the most fun event of the year. It was a celebration of what is new and innovative in a spirit of positivity and optimism that is needed in every other sector today.
We were shortlisted in the best e-commerce website category which, for an insurance company, was quite an achievement – there were 45 entries in this category, shortlisted to 10 by a panel of 84 judges from throughout the industry. Personally, I was chuffed at that.
I’m delighted for the guys over at Curious Wines who won the category. Their website epitomises, in its simplicity from a user perspective, how to sell online. The site was designed by Sabrina Dent who helped to collect the award:
Just two plugs (for anyone who wasn’t there last night) for those looking for support in getting those great ideas off the ground or bringing them to the next level:
- Joe Drumgoole of the National Digital Research Centre made everyone aware of the Entrepreneurial Internship Programme, offering €25k over 3-months to help bring new web or mobile initiatives from idea to application.
- Colm Lyon of the Internet Growth Alliance reminded people about the 6-month Internet Growth Acceleration Programme (iGAP) being run in conjunction with Enterprise Ireland.
If you need support in developing your Internet business then get involved in one of these two programmes. Application deadlines are fast approaching.
Web 2.0 is all about giving people on the web a voice. It is a shift away from broadcast communications to user-generated content. This is why it has been so popular as a movement or trend or whatever you care to call it. Web 2.0 took a leap forward this week with the launch of Google’s new Sidewiki feature.
Google pitches the Sidewiki as a tool that allows us to “help and learn from others as you browse the web”. In essence it is an add-on to your web browser that allows you to leave comments on any webpage of anyone’s website regardless of whether they allow comments or not.
Think about that. Anyone can leave a comment anywhere on the web without restrictions. On the one hand this could result in anarchy with spammers leaving spam and SEO hacks leaving keyword-laden links everywhere. On the other hand it could be a really powerful tool for citizens and consumers to have their voice heard.
Think of it as the next generation of TripAdvisor, except that you can get all the reviews for a product or service without having to go to another website.
The Sidewiki comes with the latest version of the Google Toolbar. The Google Toolbar is a handy feature that you can add to your browser. I used the bookmarks feature on it which means that I can access my bookmarks/favourites from any computer.
Google's Sidewiki as it appears on your browser toolbar
Clicking the Sidewiki icon on the toolbar opens a panel on the left hand side of the webpage you are browsing where you can read the comments left by others, rate them or add your own comments. You can make comments on the entire page, or highlight areas on the page to make specific comments on.
The Sidewiki integrates with other applications such as Blogger or Twitter so that you can let everyone in your social network know you’ve made comments.
How Sidewiki appears on any webpage
What I don’t like is that there is no alerts facility. I’d like to know when someone leaves a comment on my website or as a response to a comment I’ve left on another site. Not everyone is happy with this as it will become difficult for webmasters to manage comments since they won’t have visibility when new comments are left. Google is the master of alerts so I suspect that we’ll see that feature soon.
Also, as you navigate away from a page the Sidewiki panel disappears. This is a little frustrating. I’d like to browse and have this open the whole time. The social web is now of more interest to me than the old one and not shutting the panel each time I go to a new website would be an improvement.
Google will collate all the comments you post on your own Google profile page. However, all the comments for a particular website are not collated together. Indeed it would be very useful to have all the comments for say “hotels in Ireland” collated in a single location. I’m sure some clever developers out there will harness the potential of this new tool.
For all those business owners that have buried their heads when it came to the social web – ignoring the conversation that are taking place online about their brands – this will be a wake up call. If Sidewiki takes off then the social web is going to land on their doorstep. This is like having customers in your shop shouting at the top of their voices about what’s good and bad with your service. And you can’t kick them out!
This is Google’s official video explanation of the Sidewiki:
The Irish government hosted a two day event this weekend at Farmleigh bringing together 180 successful business people, native-born or of Irish descent. The stated agenda was to come up with policy ideas that will help Ireland develop as a smart economy that can compete on a world stage.
In reality this event was more about seeing how we can get the 80 million people worldwide who call themselves Irish to do more to promote and sell Ireland. Israel and India were regularly cited as examples of countries that have excelled at this and that we should model ourselves on.
The cynic would argue that this was merely a jolly to reward those who are close to the current government or state agencies, such as the IDA and EI. The invitee list did to be fair include many who would be critical of our government. Some, such as the ever-vociferous Michael O’Leary, declined the invitation on the basis that it was a talking shop.
Reports from the closed sessions suggested that there were frank discussions and that several “sacred cows” were tackled. Unfortunately the public were not given access to most of the sessions so we’ll probably never know what was said. By the way, if I hear the phrase “Chatham house rules” from another state agency that invites or allows me to attend an event I swear I’ll lose it. First of all, bloggers aren’t journalists and secondly, why invite people to attend if you don’t allow them to report on it.
The press room where journalists spent more time than expected at the Global Irish Economic Forum
I attended the last part of the weekend hoping to pick up some nuggets from what was discussed. There were some big ideas, but to be honest I don’t think anyone would suggest there was a silver bullet and I’d be very worried if anyone were to suggest that any of these were the answer to our problems:
Global Irish Portal – this was advocated by a number of delegates, in particular John McColgan. He started off by saying that we should use the Internet to connect with Irish people wherever they are. Great. This then materialised into a new website or portal for all things Irish. Yikes.
As Michael Martin pointed out, we’ve had enough bad experiences with government portals. He should know as he was personally responsible for two of them. Where is that national e-health portal he spent €2 million on when he was Minister for Health in 2004. The one that he “launched” as a show-case to our EU partners, but that never actually went live to the public?
Minister Martin also launched the Irish Network Great Britain last November, aimed at creating a network for Irish people living and working in the UK. That website, still funded by his department, doesn’t seem to have enough visits to make into Google Adplanner but is ranked by Alexa as 23,072,959th in terms of popularity worldwide. (My piddly website is ranked 1,269,744th by comparison.)
I smiled as he said “not me personally” yesterday during the press conference when asked about whether he was involved in any of the failed government portals.
Let’s use the Internet to connect our diaspora and share with them the challenges we face on the ground as we try to lift ourselves out of the current mess. Let’s not let the Government build it, but lets make use of the myriad of web applications (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc) already available for connecting people. Peter Tanham set up one such website in a matter of minutes yesterday.
European Silicon Valley – in terms of infrastructure we lag behind our EU neighbours in both eReadiness and broadband penetration. When it comes to education policy we still teach our secondary school children how to use typewriters in our schools – I haven’t actually seen a typewriter in over 15 years – and yet we don’t have computers or Internet applications on the curriculum. I can only assume that Minister Martin’s denial at the press conference that the latter is the case reflects his incredulity that this could be the case.
This is only the tip of the iceberg. For a really insightful discussion on the real issues facing indigenous start-ups visit the discussion that has been taking place today on Pat Phelan’s blog. Listen to those guys who are talking there as they are all at the coal-face.
So we’re a long way off from being a SiliconValley but there are reasons to be hopeful. There are examples of successful Irish tech companies that have made it with and without state agency support. This is John Hartnett’s (President and CEO, G24 Innovations) response to my question at the press conference about whether an Irish Silicon Valley was realistic:
Global Citizenship – apparently the Israelis do this. They give every Jew a birthright for the land of Israel. It cements identity and invites the holder to experience the homeland at least once in their lives. As I reported yesterday in my live tweets from the event, Minister Martin dodged this issue when it was raised, not once, but twice by numerous delegates at the conference.
Okay, so it could be an administrative nightmare – giving a passport to 80 million people who in most cases have distant Irish ancestry. However, think of the revenue that could be raised. 80 million times €40 per passport makes €3.2 billion. That could sort out our public deficit for a wee while!
Monetise our Culture – Dermot Desmond (IIU, the IFSC and Celtic FC) argued that our culture is our strength and it cannot be replicated. He suggested that we should now figure out how to monetise that strength. Before you balk at the thought of this, we’ve been doing this for years. Whether it’s James Joyce, the Book of Kells, Riverdance, U2 or anywhere in Temple Bar; we’ve been flogging Irish arts and culture and making a packet out of it.
When it comes to foreign direct investment it also works for us. Insiders will have you believe that companies like Facebook decided to come to Ireland after key decision-makers came on holidays here. Furthermore, in many cases the skills that companies coming to Ireland are looking for are not here or not here in the volumes they required. We’re lucky however that, because of our culture, we are an attractive location for highly skilled workers from other countries.
Ethics – I spent a little time at the conference speaking with a gentleman called Tom Corcoran of the Carlyle Institute – a Cavan-man living in Washington. He talked about the ambiguity that exists in Irish business life when it comes to ethics. He mentioned Bernie Madoff as an example of how there is accountability in the US when it comes to white-collar crime and he questioned Ireland’s position on this.
Where do we stand on ethics in business and politics in Ireland? Is there a price to pay when people do wrong? If I were looking to invest in an economy, I certainly wouldn’t be happy to do so where those that step across the line are not held to account.
Confidence – Tom Corcoran also spoke to me about the need for confidence among Irish business people. We need to be confident that we can do better, that we can lift ourselves out of the current mess. Liam Casey (CEO of PCH International) also spoke about the value of confidence:
David McWilliams promises that there will be at least five business plans coming out of this weekend. The Taoiseach has undertaken to lead out the initiative and feed the outcomes into his Innovation Taskforce. Michael Martin invited those who were listening online yesterday to join in the conversation as the government will be “sifting through” the online discussions. Let’s see.
For those who are interested, here are my live tweets from the forum yesterday afternoon:
- Heading over to in Farmleigh. There was no point in going earlier as we weren’t allowed into the sessions.12:27 PM
- http://twitpic.com/iah7c – Press room at . RTE piped in to bring evetyone the news!1:29 PM Sep 19th from TwitPic
- Journalists and bloggers here at are only getting the crumbs off the table – literally and metaphorically. All hungry for meat.1:30 PM
- The session after lunch Harnessing the Diaspora is to be live streamed on RTE. 2.30pm. Although it didn’t work yesterday. 1:41 PM
- Live video: http://qik.ly/gvFt #qik2:04 PM Sep 19th from Qik
- David McWilliams asks what IS the Irish resource that we need to tap into. Our diaspora. 2:33 PM
- Straight talking with sacred cows addressed is how McWilliams describes the last 24 hours. 2:35 PM
- Ireland is not famous for its business acumen, so says Denis O’Brien 2:39 PM
- A 20 year plan sounds like a long finger approach Denis. Any shorterm tactical things we can address? 2:41 PM
- We’ve lost influence in Washington, especially with the death of Teddy kennedy. We need to do what the Israelis do in the US. 2:42 PM
- I hear lot of talk about modelling ourselves on Israel when it comes to generating FDI from the US. 2:43 PM
- Had a great chat with Tom Corcoran of the Carlyle Group. Blog post later on the issues of cost, confidence and ethics in Ireland. 2:44 PM
- Much of work that is being done linking Ireland’s brightest graduates with businesses in Silicon Valley is done without govt support. 2:47 PM
- Irish overseas citizenship? Micheal Martin dodges the question. C’mon. This is about straight talking, supposedly. 2:48 PM
- Diaspora were leveraged to achieve peace in Ireland. An example of success of tapping into them says Martin. 2:49 PM
- We need to professionalise more in pulling the diaspora together, to create a global Irish network – Martin 2:50 PM
- RT EvertB: Looks like @krishnade is rocking the house again at #bizcamp! (sounds like better discussion happening there than at #gief )2:51 PM
- Martin Naughton of Glen Dimplex & Notre Dame asks how it has taken so long for the Irish to come home.2:58 PM
- The first generation of Irish Americans that are not struggling to survive DO want to come home and support Ireland. 2:59 PM
- We are the recharging battery for the Irishness of those abroad who yearn to be recharged. 3:01 PM
- Tom Arnold of Concern says that there is a collateral of goodwill; from missionaries and NGOs more recently. Let’s tap that. 3:02 PM
- Dermot Desmond of IIU says there is a unity of purpose to try and achieve something for ireland. 3:04 PM
- Desmond says our strengths is our culture. No one else can ever replicate that. How can we monitise our culture he asks 3:05 PM
- Desmond says we should build the greatest cultural university in the world for the arts and underline with technology. 3:06 PM
- There is a product called “culture”. How do we flog that asks McWilliams. We’ve been flogging it for years to be fair; Riverdance, U23:08 PM
- Our culture does attract FDI. People do want to be part of it; Irish or not. CEO’s like to visit Ireland. Is it enough?? 3:10 PM
- Fighting Irish, Notre Dame is the most popular college football club brand. Brand is important. But we need a businessplan. 3:13 PM
- McWilliams is looking for 5 businessplans. He’ll have plenty from this crowd; will need to prioritise. 3:14 PM
- The Internet is the glue. 3:15 PM
- John McColgan says the Internet could be key in connecting with the diaspora – a portal that represents Ireland in all its facets 3:16 PM
- Talk to the diaspora and get them to talk back. Facebook , Twitter can be used. Create the best website in the world. JMC 3:17 PM
- Create and maintain a website that is absolutely cutting edge at bringing our diaspora together. (I’ll do that) :-)3:18 PM
- An umberella website where team ireland speaks with one voice. Something useful, with tangible benefits for Irish abroad. 3:19 PM
- A small creative team, funded by government but not run by government. It needs a business plan too. 3:20 PM
- Are there not too many irish websites already out there? Yep, but truely none that create a virtual Irish global network. Interesting 3:21 PM
- Martin has had bad experiences with portals. Ah yes I remember that health portal he launched in 2003 that disappeared quickly 3:22 PM
- Martin says we have Facebook,Google and Yahoo in Ireland. Yep, but they’re not in the room. #fail 3:23 PM
- round of applause for the call for a YES vote for Lisbon 3:24 PM
- Being an Irish American DOES matter when it comes to investing in Ireland. 3:25 PM
- Global Ireland – what is that really? Let’s develop the identity of being Global Irish. 3:26 PM
- Back to the website. It needs to be ALIVE. Dermot Desmond is going to start blogging. OMG 3:30 PM
- Malasyia has thousands of Irish graduates. Malasyians who love Ireland. An extension of our diaspora. 3:31 PM
- Third generation Americans and beyond “choose” to call themselves Irish. We need to support this culture selection. 3:34 PM
- More and more calls for giving birthrights and global Irish citizenship to diaspora. Cement identity and invite to experience Ireland 3:36 PM
- Michael Martin dodges this question again. Get the politician out of the room 3:37 PM
- There’s a call for one owner (within government) of this project; whatever it is that comes out of this weekend. 3:43 PM
- Martin fudging another question about whether the group will be invited back again 3:46 PM
- Martin is inviting people who are watching online to contribute to this discussion. They will sift through that discussion. 3:47 PM
- McWilliams says that this is very open discussion. Pity that the majority of the weekend was actually closed. 3:48 PM
- Where would Ireland be without sobering voices such as the likes of @davidmcw? 3:50 PM
- Martin says Taoiseach will lead the follow up on the outcome of and will feed into Innovation Taskforce. Action will happen!!!!3:53 PM
- Gateway Ireland portal seems to have taken hold as an idea. Good man John McColgan. 3:54 PM
- Live video: http://qik.ly/gvxx #qik4:09 PM Sep 19th from Qik
- Leaving the Global Irish Economic Forum now. Views later on the blog. 4:50 PM
I managed to blag a press pass (I’m not a journalist) to the Global Irish Economic Forum being held in Farmleigh. I’ll be live tweeting from around 1pm this afternoon.
I have earmarked a few people to get their views on how Ireland could realistically become Europe’s Silicon Valley (as An Taoiseach suggests is a goal) when we are still so far behind our EU neighbours on so many fronts. After seeing Mark Little struggle to get interviews, I’m not terribly hopeful, but I’ll do my best.
Best place to access my updates is probably http://twitter.com/brendanhughes although I will also be trying to stream live on http://qik.com/hughes
(the Qik streams will also be available via Twitter)
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