We had five hugely inspiring
speakers at our 2015 Autumn Panel Discussion on 'What will the Digital Future
mean for Ireland?'. During and immediately after the event, social media
activity across the key accounts continued through the night and into early
morning. This was clearly in fitting tribute to our five very learned speakers
drawn from innovative and diverse sectors and all fascinating to hear.
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| L to R: PJ Rudden UCD EGA President, Prof. David Fitzpatrick Dean of Engineering, Anne O'Leary CEO Vodafone Ireland, Ronan Harris, Vice President Google EMEA, Dr. Helen McBreen, Investment Director Atlantic Bridge, Prof. Orla Feely UCD Vice President & Dr. Brian Motherway, CEO SEAI |
Truly we did have a star line-up
with SEAI CEO Dr Brian Motorway as Keynote Speaker, Vodafone CEO Anne O'Leary,
Google Vice President Europe Middle East Asia Ronan Harris, IBM Research
Director Dr Eleni Pratsini and Investment Director Atlantic Bridge Capital Dr
Helen McBreen.
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| PJ Rudden, Anne O'Leary & Ronan Harris |
We were also very grateful to
be joined by UCD Vice President of Research Innovation and Impact Prof Orla
Feely and UCD Principal of the College of
Engineering and Architecture and Dean of Engineering Prof David FitzPatrick.
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| L to R: Brian Motherway, Prof. Orla Feely, Ronan Harris, Dr. Eleni Pratsini, Dr. Helen McBreen, Prof. David Fitzpatrick, Anne O'Leary & PJ Rudden |
Brian Motherway opened with the sustainability of the Digital
Future and questioned are our social models ready for this rapid change that it
will bring? Huge change is coming. He mentioned the new digital tools which
will match supply to demand as is currently increasingly happening in the taxi
world with the likes of Uber! Different cultures will react in their own way to
this increased connectivity he said.
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| Dr. Brian Motherway |
'There will be 80 billion
devices in the world by 2020 in our homes, pockets, businesses - not only
iPhones but iKettles and iToothbrushes. We will move from the 'power of
capital' to the 'power of knowledge' with all the intellectual property
implications that will bring'.
'On sustainability, we import
€6.7 billion each year on the import of fossil fuels which is some 89% of our
energy costs. What is the biggest environmental challenge on the planet -
climate change - is going to become the biggest social challenge we have ever
faced. Ireland has one of the largest carbon emissions of greenhouse gases per
capita in the world.
 Anne O'Leary & Dr. Brian Motherway |
Digital technologies can
create greatly increased efficiency as in smart energy grids. Consumer choice
is increasing in the new digital economy. Fridges in homes can switch on or off
to cut costs while maintaining required temperature control. There is a switch
to LED street lighting connected to the Internet of Things which can also
monitor and control street car parking.
We are therefore in the shift
from the 'Age of Carbon' to the 'Age of Silicon'. Goggle Nest technology can
control the temperature in your home while monitoring your comings and goings.
There therefore needs to be regulation in this area to protect privacy.
On policy the Irish Government
has a National Digital Strategy which focuses on the need for further
infrastructure throughout the country.
'What does the Digital Future
mean for Ireland? Well that's up to all of us!'
Anne O'Leary said firstly that Ireland's digital future presents
both challenges and opportunities. Secondly it will create a more inclusive
Ireland irrespective of age, background and location. We therefore need to
invest in high speed broadband for each household. Our challenges and
opportunities are best exhibited through Work, Learning and Health.
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| Anne O'Leary, Ronan Harris & Prof. Orla Feely |
On work, these are Irish
companies investing in automation of work and to have a flexible education and
to be competitive in the global marketplace. 'We in Vodafone have reduced our
cost base by increased home working. Advances in technology mean that the pace
of change is unlike anything we have seen before. We find that home working is
cheaper than traditional outsourcing and our home workers are 25% more
productive than work from the office as long as they have a 5Mbyte connection.
We promote this flexibility. As long as the work is done I don't mind if the
work is done from the office, the car, the home or the local coffee shop'.
‘On Learning, the classroom
will be transformed by Internet enabled devices replacing textbooks but they
can't replace teachers as the primary source of learning. Learning analytics
will allow teachers to monitor teacher outcomes. Access to numerous resources
on the Internet for teachers will allow teachers the opportunity to increase
their skills.
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| Anne O'Leary |
We must not however allow the
digital classroom to become impersonal. Education is as much about social and
cultural interaction is as important as it is about course content. We also
should not seek to suppress body language and peer to peer learning which
remain integral to the educational process. It must not demote the role of the teacher
in the classroom. As Bill Gates said, technology is just a tool but in terms of
getting the kids to work together and motivating them the teacher is the most
important.'
'On Healthcare, the digital
economy will bring remote treatment to patients at home and thus avoid
overcrowding in hospitals. We have a lot of problems in the Irish health system
while the Digital Future will help us navigate this perfect storm. It will
bring world class healthcare to peripheral areas through ehealth systems. Connectivity
will allow for remote monitoring and diagnosis so that hospitals become a last
resort rather than the first port of call'.
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| Anne O'Leary |
Like the role of the teacher
in the classroom we also need to provide basic medical care where technology
cannot provide so we need an integrated healthcare approach combining the best
medical and technology skills.'
A major challenge to Ireland's
Digital Future is inclusivity. 'In my view it must be a shared future as innovation
can often widen the gap between urban and rural rather than narrow it. There is
the potential to have a two speed Ireland across urban and rural which we must
avoid. Rapid innovation has the potential to leave people behind. In my mind
Ireland cannot afford to have a digital divide to further increase the
divisions already created by the economic turmoil of the past number of years'.
'There is one Ireland which is
the poster boy of economic rebound and another Ireland which still bears the
scars of economic crisis and poor access to credit. There is therefore the
danger of two Irelands unless there is access to universal high speed broadband
to all homes and businesses. Connectivity is the key to consistent economic
recovery across Ireland. Vodafone and ESB are partnering to provide 'fibre to
the home' which is 4 times faster than what is currently available.'
Ronan Harris who now runs the Irish Google operation talked of the
primitive digital world when he was a UCD student in the early 90s.
'Convergence only happened in the UCD bar and search engines only had two feet venturing
into the UCD library' he said.
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| Ronan Harris |
Now Google technology particles
can be injected into your blood cells which can monitor your health and
wellbeing transmitted to a 'wearable' and then transmitted to the cloud.
‘In UCD I learned Moore's Law
and other laws that define the digital transformation. We are only at the dawn
of this transformation and innovation, only starting to get a glimpse of what
the day ahead looks like and the next 20 years will bring huge changes. These
changes will be driven by computer technology, connectivity and storage'.
We are looking at technologies
that would not have been possible 5 years ago. Google can use large 'Lunar Balloons' 19km into stratosphere to provide
access to Internet at low cost in remote rural areas not previously capable of
being served e.g. Africa, Asia and South America.
There is 100% penetration of
mobile phones in Ghana as a result thus creating new industries and a new
generation of competitive entrepreneurs.
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| Ronan Harris |
What is the opportunity for
us? Innovation and Digital Transformation will drive our future through Big
Data. Innovation in the world of data happens very rapidly. We need to learn to
fail as well as succeed. Companies with digital technology will compete better
in the future.
What can Ireland do? We have
to build the digital ecosystem to consolidate our European beachhead in
Ireland. We also need to have world leading research in our third level
colleges and a strong workforce with start-up interface.
We need to learn how to use
data to give better insight into business. The businesses that will succeed are
the ones who will interrogate data better than anybody else.
Dr Eleni Pratsini leads the IBM
Research Lab in Dublin working on Smart Cities. One third of food is wasted
across the world while others starve. Europe wastes 20% of energy due to
inefficiencies. The US wastes 58% of their energy produced. Water wastage
varies from 5% in Northern Europe to over 30% in Ireland and 60% in some US
States. The number of cars will double from 2010 to 2020.
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| Prof. David Fitzpatrick, Dr Eleni Pratsini Director IBM Research Ireland, PJ Rudden & Prof. Orla Feely |
70% of people will live in
cities by 2020. By 2020 an extra billion citizens will be middle class. By 2025
the top 600 cities will account for 25% of global population and 60% of global
GDP.
Can the Digital Future help
the challenges in these cities? What is a 'smart city'? There is one common
denominator across all smart cities and that is that they embrace ICT to
enhance its deliverability and sustainability.
Smart cities need to collect
data from sensor technology to predictive statistics to prescriptive statistics
and then suggest corrective actions to be taken. It is a closed loop controlled
by the Internet of Things.
Can you imagine life without a
smart phone? We have 35% penetration of mobile devices in Ireland currently
expected to increase to 50% by 2020. 90% of data was collected in the past 2
years and some 90% of collected data is never used or analysed!
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| Dr Eleni Pratsini |
'In the past the citizen
adapted to the city but in the future the city will adapt to the citizen.
Citizens now have a lot of choices. We have to have demand management to
satisfy the supply-demand needs. Regulations can play a role in managing
expectations of the citizens.
We have examples of close
collaboration with cities in the case of the current Dublin City Council - IBM
relationship especially in the transport and traffic area.
We have also working with UCD
on collaboration consumption or the ‘sharing economy’ on electric cars, parking
etc. e.g. GoCar. Cars can be idle 90% of the time so can we not use it more
efficiently and more collaboratively?
The Digital Future has both
challenges and opportunities. We need to consider privacy law. 'Data is the new
Oil' so we need to gain a closer understanding as to how the Digital Future
will develop to enable us to exploit it fully.
Dr Helen McBreen of Atlantic Bridge Capital looked at Ireland
entrepreneurial spirit. She puts an investors lens on People, Technologies and
Markets.
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| Dr. Helen McBreen |
80% of the world's digital
investment deals happen in Silicon Valley as the principal world investment hub
in California USA. That led to the formation of Atlantic Bridge Capital to
'bridge' Silicon Valley to Europe headquartered in Dublin. 'We have $450
million under management across offices in Dublin, Silicon Valley, London,
Beijing and Hong Kong’ she said.
'This business runs 24/7. It
has a track record of investing locally but scaling globally from university
spin outs to seed rounds to further expansion incl. companies like IONA and
Parthus as successful examples.
We grow into markets in US and
China and seek to invest in brilliant people in the disruptive technologies that
they invent and scale them into global markets.
Entrepreneurs will have a deep
curiosity and will search and search to get to the root of the problems. These
are particularly in global challenges like Healthcare, Climate Change,
Education, Energy and Computing.
We challenge the traditional
way of doing business. Yet in this business there are more often failures than
there are successes. That's why there is a star quality to the profession of
entrepreneurs who eventually succeed.
These people look for
sustainable growth. They produce products that people want to purchase over and
over again. The dynamics of the venture capital asset class are a little
strange. We look for decent valuations, disruptive technologies so we seek
entrepreneurs who can build businesses of scale in a short timeframe.
The technologies that we seek
are disruptive becoming cheaper and faster e.g. drones and robots.
We have strong innovation hubs
in London, Stockholm, Berlin and other European companies. There is also the
fantastic performance of the UCD company spin out Logentries sold today!
This is an extraordinary time
for early space investment. Ireland is becoming very strong with incubators and
accumulators. We need to encourage angel investing and look again at the tax
regime though the changes in yesterday's Budget.'
We will share the planet with
9 other billion people in 2050. It will be a planet that will be climate
constrained but one where technologies will help to solve problems in
Healthcare, Education and Energy.
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| Dr. Helen McBreen, Dr Eleni Pratsini & Ronan Harris |
There followed a Question and
Answer session with very interesting questions from Dr Brian Sweeney ex
President EGA and Engineers Ireland ex Chairman Siemens, Dr Liam Connellan UCD Distinguished Graduate
and ex President EGA and Engineers Ireland ex Chairman RDS, NRA and Voelia,
Vincent O'Doherty UCD Distinguished Graduate and ex Chairman Superquinn, Des
Green ex EGA President and ex Chairman Indaver, Mark Grennan CEO BT Networks,
Liam Breslin ex Telecom and Tony Alright Consultant.
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| Prof. Orla Feely |
UCD Vice President Prof Orla
Feely thanked the speakers stating that UCD are mobilising in all of the
important areas mentioned like Big Data and Internet of Things and also in
Agrifood, Energy and Environment and Health sectors all of whom interact with
the ICT team to provide creative solutions to global problems. These in turn
interact with UCD's strengths in Humanities and Social Sciences and with our
Industrial Partners.
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| PJ Rudden, Anne O'Leary, Ronan Harris & Prof. Orla Feely |
UCD she said was also very
proud of NovaUCD spin out company Logentries just sold to a US firm for $68
million by the founders who were UCD electronics graduates. 'NovaUCD' she
reminded us 'grew out of the UCD EGA enterprise set up in this building'. She
also thanked UCD EGA for organising such a fine panel of speakers on a very
relevant topic.
A short wine and food
reception followed the event. Many
thanks to Fionnuala McGowan for all of the detailed arrangements for this
wonderfully well attended and appreciated event.
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| L to R: Michael Higgins Secretary Irish Academy of Engineering, Terry Nolan former Shell CEO, PJ Rudden & Tony Alright, Consultant |
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| UCD Vice President Prof. Orla Feely & UCD Director of Research Triona McCormack |
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| Fionnuala McGowan UCD and EGA Board, PJ Rudden, Roisin Bradford Irish Water & Robyn Kelly, Murphy Group & EGA Board |
END
