The Irish Tech News Podcast

As insurers move beyond AI experimentation towards enterprise-wide transformation, industry leaders are increasingly focused on one question: how do you scale AI to deliver measurable operational impact?  This was one of the challenges explored at the recent InsTech.ie Transformation Summit 2026 and to find out more about this I caught up with Gary Leyden, CEO of InsTech.ie.Gary talks to me about  about his background, AI adoption, insurance transformation, and the trends shaping the future of the sector. More about InsTech.ie:InsTech.ie was formally established as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee in November 2021. Since then they’ve been helping their members and insurtechs to connect, collaborate and build capability. In 2024 InsTech.ie was selected  to receive funding under the Smart Regions Enterprise Innovation Scheme to help support the growth and development of our insurtech cluster. This funding will help us to maximise enterprise collaboration and stimulate the growth and development of the insurtech cluster in Ireland. 

In this episode of One Vision Podcast, Theo chats with Huyen Tran from US Bank and founder/investor at Elys Ventures. Huyen shares her path from computer engineering and early real-estate investing to two decades in banking product leadership and P&L ownership. She discusses why banks can appear slow due to resilience, regulation, legacy systems, and trust requirements, and how AI will accelerate prototyping, testing, data analysis, and iterative product development while meeting customer expectations for personalization and security amid rising fraud. A must-listen episode on startup, innovation, relationship building, and ecosystem thinking. 🔥"What value are you creating for everyone involved? ...Just don't forget about the people."🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.Keywords: AI, Fintech, FinancialServices, VC, Startups, Banking Industry Timestamps:00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro00:53 Path to Banking05:17 Are Banks Really Slow?08:09 AI Changing Bank Product10:39 Customer Expectations and Trust13:27 Inside Elys Ventures14:18 Moats in the AI Era18:37 Founder Questions and Cycles20:27 Advice for New Founders23:41 Closing More about our guest 🌐Huyen Tran on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/huyen-tran-09a580aa/ More about our host and One Vision Podcast 🌐Theodora Lau on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theodoralau/ 🌐Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence (book): https://www.bankingonaibook.com/ 🌐Unconventional Ventures (company): https://www.unconventionalventures.com/ 🌐Listen to all One Vision Podcast episodes by visiting: https://shows.acast.com/one-vision **

The Local Enterprise Awards for 2026 taok place recently in the Mansion House in Dublin. The awards are a celebration of the very best small businesses from across the country and serve to highlight the work that Local Enterprise Offices are doing with up-and-coming enterprises in every local authority area in the country.The 31 finalists have each been chosen by their Local Enterprise Office to represent them and their area at the awards, which are in their 26th year. The finalists feature a diverse mix of sectors and founders all competing for a share of the €80,000 prize fund and the chance to be named National Enterprise of the Year. There are also regional awards, and categories for Best Start-Up, Best Export Business, the Innovation Award, Digital Award, Green Award and the Female Entrepreneur award.I caught up with three of the finalists, and the third finalist I spoke to was Dean Kelly  one of the co-founders of Photo Experience and the Offaly finalist won the Digital Award at the National Enterprise Awards. Dean talks to me about his background, what Photo Experience does, Covid, AI, National Enterprise Awards, LEO and more.More about Photo Experience:Photo Experience designs and installs technology-driven photography systems for theme parks, water parks, zoos, museums, and other visitor attractions. The technology combines hardware, software and operational know-how to capture guest experiences in real time and provide instant images. The business currently employees four full time members of staff. Photo Experience is designed to address both guest experience but also the commercial aspect, allowing experience photography to be easily accessed, bought and sold.

The Local Enterprise Awards for 2026 taok place recently in the Mansion House in Dublin. The awards are a celebration of the very best small businesses from across the country and serve to highlight the work that Local Enterprise Offices are doing with up-and-coming enterprises in every local authority area in the country.The 31 finalists have each been chosen by their Local Enterprise Office to represent them and their area at the awards, which are in their 26th year. The finalists feature a diverse mix of sectors and founders all competing for a share of the €80,000 prize fund and the chance to be named National Enterprise of the Year. There are also regional awards, and categories for Best Start-Up, Best Export Business, the Innovation Award, Digital Award, Green Award and the Female Entrepreneur award.I caught up with three of the finalists, and the second finalist I spoke to was Stephen O’Sullivan the founder of I left you a note and the Tipperary finalist. Stephen talks to me about his background, what I left you a note does, digital concierge, AI, National Enterprise Awards, LEO and more More about  I left you a note:I left you a note was founded by Stephen O’Sullivan, a former Deputy Chief Actuary at Met Life, Stephen wanted to address the problem modern hotels are having in the fact that customers ‘no longer complain to the front desk’ but rather are quick to write a bad review online. Stephen estimates that a bad review can cost hotels up to €15,000 in lost bookings per month. I Left You A Note aims to address that gap in communication to an online B2B SaaS platform which allows guests to connect with the front desk of hotels instantly through scanning QR codes located across the hotel. The portal opens instantly on any phone and allows guests to submit feedback, raise service requests, interact with an AI concierge, and access hotel facilities and room service with one click. When an issue is raised, AI triages it, creates a service ticket and routes it automatically to the correct department.

Anthony Sar, Co-founder and CEO of Finoverse and the driving force behind Hong Kong Fintech Week, joins Theo on One Vision to share the story behind one of Asia's most iconic innovation gatherings. From a bar conversation about hitting 5,000 attendees (when they had 300) to welcoming 45,000 people from 120+ economies at their 10th anniversary, Anthony reflects on what it takes to build something that genuinely keeps people in the room.At the center of the conversation is Samantha, built in-house by Finoverse. She acts as your personal AI networking agent. She interviews you, learns what you're looking for, and makes introductions at scale. After a successful pilot at last year’s FinTech Week as well as the recent Genesis Festival, Samantha will return to Hong Kong FinTech Week 2026 this November.  This year’s conference is aptly themed Fintech Nexus: Bridging the World, Building the Future. It is a rallying call to drive connectivity and collaboration across global and Chinese Mainland markets, at a time when the world feels more fragmented than ever.One World, One Planet. This episode invites us to come together to foster collaboration for a more inclusive financial services ecosystem for everyone. 🔥 Hot Take: "AI can't have coffee with you. It can't go for a hike. It can't watch a comedy with you." 🔥 Hot Take: “There's so much happening in mainland China and Asia that the rest of the world simply doesn't see." 🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.Keywords: AI, Fintech, FinancialServices, Startups, Hong KongTimestamps00:00 Welcome and Introductions02:59 A decade of Finoverse and Hong Kong Fintech Week 07:39 Introducing Samantha: The AI Host10:13 The Future of Events and Networking19:07 How AI Makes Human Connection More Valuable, Not Less27:55 Hong Kong Fintech Week 2026: Fintech Nexus: Bridging the World, Building the Future33:01 Closing Thoughts: One World, One PlanetMore about our guest 🌐Anthony Sar on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonysar/ 🌐FinTech Week Hong Kong: https://www.fintechweek.hk/ More about our host and One Vision Podcast 🌐Theodora Lau on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theodoralau/ 🌐Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence (book): https://www.bankingonaibook.com/ 🌐Unconventional Ventures (company): https://www.unconventionalventures.com/ 🌐Listen to all One Vision Podcast episodes by visiting: https://shows.acast.com/one-vision 

The Local Enterprise Awards for 2026 taok place recently in the Mansion House in Dublin. The awards are a celebration of the very best small businesses from across the country and serve to highlight the work that Local Enterprise Offices are doing with up-and-coming enterprises in every local authority area in the country.The 31 finalists have each been chosen by their Local Enterprise Office to represent them and their area at the awards, which are in their 26th year. The finalists feature a diverse mix of sectors and founders all competing for a share of the €80,000 prize fund and the chance to be named National Enterprise of the Year. There are also regional awards, and categories for Best Start-Up, Best Export Business, the Innovation Award, Digital Award, Green Award and the Female Entrepreneur award.I caught up with three of the finalists, and the first finalist I spoke to was John Cleary, the founder of Eventmaster and the Limerick finalist.John talks to me about his background, what Eventmaster does, the Local enterprise awards and more.More about Eventmaster:John Cleary, Founder of Eventmaster set up the company in 2010 while working as Race Director of the Great Limerick Run. John could not find a ticket participation system in Ireland capable of managing large-scale sporting events – so he set out to design one. Eventmaster operates a one-system approach for ticketing, fundraising, real time data and scalable digital infrastructure for events. Since 2010, Eventmaster technology has supported over 3,000 events including the Dublin Marathon, Very Pink Run, Cork City Marathon and many more charity-based events. Eventmaster is now looking to target markets internationally through exporting the technology used.

Chadwicks are showing technology can be upgraded without losing key institutional knowledge, while simultaneously upgrading onboarding in a tough market. A major milestone in its multi-year ERP modernisation program is taking place transforming its legacy Accustar platform into AccuPRO, a modern, cloud-hosted ERP system. AccuPRO has received a prestigious 2026 InterSystems READY Impact Award in the Supply Chain category.The initiative, supported by J2 Interactive, a technology consultancy specialising in enterprise modernisation To find out more about this and it’s potential impact across Ireland I spoke to Colm Scannell, Chadwicks’ IT director and Paul Cranston, J2 Director of Professional Services. Colm and Paul talk to me about their backgrounds, modernising Chadwick’s IT, legacy systems and more.More about Chadwicks AccuPRO:For more than 40 years, Accustar served as the backbone of Chadwicks' operations, embedding decades of proven business logic and invaluable institutional knowledge. However, its terminal-based "green screen" interface could no longer meet modern requirements for usability, scalability, cloud readiness, or device independence, and onboarding new employees was time-consuming and costly. Chadwicks faced a critical challenge shared by many long-established enterprises: how to modernise a mission-critical system without losing the intellectual capital built into it or disrupting day-to-day business. The solution was AccuPRO, a web-enabled, cloud-hosted ERP designed to support Chadwicks' continued leadership and growth in the builders' merchant sector, while dramatically boosting back office and branch team user experiences.

In this new episode of One Vision Podcast, Paolo Sironi joins Theodora Lau to unveil his new book, Quantum Sapiens, a philosophical literary thriller on artificial intelligence, quantum gravity, and the origins of human consciousness. A burning question: Why now?We talk about the "I love you" problem and what happens when we attribute meaning to words that machines give us. Paolo invites us to think about the journey ahead of us before we walk through Alice's mirror. What do we need to carry with us? What do we leave behind? An exhilarating conversation about the present and future of technology that you won't want to miss. No PhD required.📍The algorithm has no meaning. We need the entanglement and the magic of the human touch."🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.Keywords: AI, Fintech, Generative AI, Quantum, EmpathyTimestamps00:00 Welcome Back Paolo00:58 Unveiling Quantum Sapiens02:38 Why Fiction Not Whitepapers06:52 From Fintech to Consciousness18:48 Illusion of AI Meaning25:06 Poetry as AI AntidoteMore about our guest 🌐Paolo Sironi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thepsironi/ 📘Quantum Sapiens: https://mybook.to/Quantum-Sapiens More about our host and One Vision Podcast 🌐Theodora Lau on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theodoralau/ 🌐Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence (book): https://www.bankingonaibook.com/ 🌐Unconventional Ventures (company): https://www.unconventionalventures.com/ 🌐Listen to all One Vision Podcast episodes by visiting: https://shows.acast.com/one-vision

What happens, at a psychological level, when a person develops a close relationship with AI? Can AI love them back? And what does this attachment reveal about human desire, projection and responsibility?A groundbreaking study into the ethical and psychological implications of human-AI relationships, AI Intimacy and Psychoanalysis by Dr Agnieszka Piotrowska, academic, writer and filmmaker – addresses the hugely topical, but hardly new, question of our emotional bonds with machines.To find out more about this I caught up with Dr Agnieszka Piotrowska when she was recently in Dublin.Agnieszka talks about her background, her new book, Freud, AI models and more.About Agnieszka Piotrowska:Agnieszka Piotrowska, PhD, is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, trained psychologist, and psychoanalytic life coach. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and supervises doctoral students at Oxford Brookes University and the University of Staffordshire. Her documentary work includes Married to the Eiffel Tower ( 2008), a critically acclaimed and internationally broadcast film exploring unconventional human attachments, which established her international reputation as a filmmaker working at the intersection of psychology and human experience. She is the author of The Cinema of Agnieszka Holland: Anger and Ethics (Routledge, 2026), Psychoanalysis and Ethics in Documentary Film (Routledge, 2014 & 2023), and The Nasty Woman and the Neo-Femme Fatale in Contemporary Cinema (Routledge, 2019).

Back in 2017 when the Irish Tech News podcast was in its second year, one of my guests was Darya Yegorina  the founder of CleverBooks. In 2020 I caught up with Darya and did a written interview to see what happened since the podcast.Darya has recently launched a new venture Arventa, AI software designed in Ireland for Irish SMEs that helps to make business ops efficient and compliant, and to find out more about Arventa I caught with Darya .Darya talks about her background, Arventa, AI and more.More about Arventa:Arventa provides an all-in-one toolkit designed specifically for startups and freelancers. Our platform enhances productivity with tools for invoicing, proposals, CRM, time tracking, social media management, and compliance. Complementing, not replacing, accountants and accounting software, working seamlessly alongside them. Arventa's mission is to deliver an affordable solution tailored to meet the unique needs of micro businesses, helping them streamline their operations and achieve growth.