The Irish Tech News Podcast

We catch up with Bradley Leimer. Fintech thought leader, cofounder of Unconventional Ventures, long time contributor to Irish Tech News and now co-author with Theodora Lao of the new book 'Beyond Good'. The book explores how you can learn how technological disruption has scaled the business for good movement to a new achievable reality and discover how you can do well by doing good with your business too. About the book When we think of global corporations and business in general, do we feel pride in how we do things? Are we doing enough, given the undeniable reality of global climate change and the inequality faced by millions of people every day? Beyond Good is a call to arms for business leaders to recognize how they can do well by doing good. Links to the book: https://www.koganpage.com/product/beyond-good-9781789667295 Bradley Leimer writes and speaks about banking and technology, and advises start-ups and major corporates. He is former Head of Innovation and FinTech at Santander US and was named a Top 20 Social Influencer in Fintech by Financial Brand, as well as a Top 100 Fintech Leader by City A.M. He lives in California. Twitter: https://twitter.com/leimer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leimer/ Email: bradley@unconventionalventures.com Website: https://www.unconventionalventures.com Irish Tech News: https://irishtechnews.ie/?s=leimer

In today's podcast Melanie Boylan spoke with Rory Fitzpatrick is the CEO of the National Space Centre in Elfordstown, Republic of Ireland.  They covered a lot of ground in their chat which included the above question, also how Brexit has impacted the industry and environmental sustainability and the space sector.  Listen in below to learn more: Rory Fitzpatrick Rory returned to Ireland in 1996 and moved from publishing into communications as media began its fast-paced merge with internet content. Recognising this new demand, in 1997 Rory launched IT Week, one of the first technical exhibitions in Ireland, and in 1999 established Mediasat Ltd to supply satellite based broadband in Ireland, and later Solas Ltd to supply terrestrial broadband. In 2010 Rory organised a consortium of investors to create National Space Centre Ltd, which took over the running of Elfordstown Earthstation from Eircom. National Space Centre The National Space Centre (NSC) is Europe’s most westerly teleport and Ireland’s only commercial ground station. Opened as Elfordstown Earthstation in 1984 at a cost of IR£8M (€25M today), the facility celebrated ten years of operation as the NSC in 2020. The company provides commercial broadcast services, ground control support for satellites and spacecraft, academic research partnerships and space industry consulting. The NSC’s co-located Space Campus is home to more than a dozen Irish space startups and EU-headquartered space enterprises. The refurbished site has grown from five initial antennas to 33 antennas on-site in 2021. These range from a variety of dishes as small as 3.7M to the site’s flagship 32M dish, known as The Big Dish. Following a nationwide schools competition in 2011, the dish was officially named CORY: Computer Operated Radio Yoke.

Melanie Boylan had the pleasure to speak with Henri Malosse in today's podcast.  With his extensive background in European politics and diplomacy and his enduring passion of his home Corsica he has been supporting the European dream since childhood.  Listen in today to learn more: Henri Malosse is a Senior Consultant in European projects, Visiting professor of the Universities, Honorary Chairman of the Think tank “The Vocal Europe” and a Member of the Board of the Jean Monnet Association 1: European Economic and Social Committee : Member from 01-11-1995 to 30-09-2020 of the European Economic and Social Committee of the European Union ( 6 mandates ) 30th President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) (April 2013 - October 2015) President of the European Economic and Social Committee's Employers' Group (2006-2013), SOC Section (Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship) (2004-2006), ECO Section (Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social Cohesion) (2002-2004), member of the EESC Bureau and Co-President of the EU-Bulgaria, EU-Slovakia  Joint Committee Rapporteur on more than 50 opinions 2- Consultant with European projects: Conception  (1987) and launch of the European Network of Euro ( EEN) Information Centres as Consultant for the European Commission (1989-2006 ) Conception and launch of the JEV financial instrument for the SME partnership in Europe Design of "know how transfer" programmes for Eastern Europe in the fields of support for the private sector (SMEs) and civil society (Poland) (1992-1995) Conception and Actor of the Europartenariats events ( B to B meetings) ( 1993-2000) Senior Consultant for the EU-LEAD project in Ukraine, in partenariat with GIZ and the EU delegation in Kiev (2019)

In our podcast today, Melanie Boylan sat down with Dr Catherine Farrell about what Natural Capital Ireland and the INCASE project was all about.  It's keeping companies and NGO's accountable and raising awareness to meet and match the goals that Ireland and Europe. Dr. Farrell Biography: Dr. Catherine Farrell is a Research Fellow in the School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin. Currently she is working as the lead ecologist on the INCASE (Irish Natural Capital Accounting for Sustainable Environments) project. She started out as a restoration ecologist and practitioner in the late 1990s and since then has worked on a wide range of projects in Ireland to restore degraded peatlands, particularly the Bord na Móna (Irish Turf Board) industrial peat extraction sites and domestically cut bogs. Catherine has expanded her work internationally to develop best practices globally for ecological restoration and is looking forward to making further progress in restoring nature through the UN Decade on Restoration. A founding member of Natural Capital Ireland, she is also an active member of the Community Wetlands Forum in Ireland. Catherine is passionate about the wise use of nature. Follow Catherine on Twitter @seewilkie and @IncaseProject INCASE research project: The Irish Natural Capital for Sustainable Environments (INCASE) project is applying Natural Capital Accounting principles at river catchment scale in Ireland. Natural capital accounts will be developed based on the UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounts (SEEA) for four catchments to map natural capital stocks and flows of services. The project will highlight challenges, knowledge and data gaps, and recommend a framework to operationalise Natural Capital Accounting in Ireland. INCASE is an EPA-funded research project. It kicked off in March 2019 and will run until 2023. See our animated explainer video here: https://www.incaseproject.com/animated-video Natural Capital Ireland: For more on our work, visit www.naturalcapitalireland.comand www.incaseproject.comand follow us on Twitter @NatCap_Irl at LinkedIn and our YouTube channel.

Zero Covid is the hot topic at the moment but is it achievable? The Independent Scientific Advocacy Group (I.S.A.G.)thinks this is possible and last Monday they launched their WeCanBeZero Campaign. Ronan talks to one of their members Julien Mercille. Julien talks about NPHET and if they are too political, and three paths to Zero Covid that he mentioned in his article in last Sunday's Sunday Independent, Red Zones, and the border with Northern Ireland. Julien also talks about why controlling travel is key, an all Island strategy, leadership that matters, the growing support for Zero Covid, yoyo lockdowns, the two types of countries in the world, and travel bubbles. More on Julien: Julien Mercille is an associate professor at University College Dublin's School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Policy. He has contributed articles to the Irish national media including a great one he wrote for the Sunday Independent about Zero Covid. Julien studied at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He received his MA from the University of Kentucky and his PhD from the University of California

We catch up with Jamil Hasan for the latest insights into Bitcoin and crypto currencies in general. See more on his website here More about Jamil and his work I've been "in crypto" since June 2017. Before that, I managed multi-billion dollar financial departments and technology projects including the related to: building data intelligence departments and engines from scratch; designing middleware technology solutions, creating operational organizational efficiencies; and capturing global disparate data and making inferences to generate alpha. In crypto, few have my corporate background and experience. With my background, education, and experience I've written two solo books (three in total). I've advised startups. And I've had success generating profits for my clients. I've spent most of the last 2+ years building my own De-Fi (Decentralized Finance) focused crypto portfolio, engaging in all areas of portfolio management, including trading, investing, managing, etc. All of my investment decisions are based on my skill set, degree, experience, education, and three plus years of reading and writing articles, books, and whitepapers, and conducting in-depth global economic research. If a crypto matches my skills, and I envision it automating one of my skill sets, as well as understanding how I could use it in Corporate America to improve processes, I am an interested investor and future user of that particular technology. Since I am a technology builder (not an exit VC), I am forward-focused and pay keen attention to crypto news and sentiment, macroeconomic trends, global events, and all markets daily. I have done so for three and half years. My focus recently has been on the exponential growth of decentralized finance and its plethora of potential practical applications. I am very interested in the evolution of the Fourth Industrial Revolution we are currently living in.

In an industry where the business model is largely detached from consumers’ financial well-being, what is our purpose and what are our principles? Can we govern ourselves to make good decisions? Can we truly prevent the abuse of power and maintain transparency? Can our industry act as a true global fiduciary, or must there always be a conflict of interest? As we look forward to the next decade and the next 100 years, how can we become better ancestors to the next generation and the generations after that? In this new episode of One Vision, Theo and Bradley chat with Tony Fish on data, money, and purpose.

Enlightening and fun interview with a great Irish science communicator, Dr Fergus McAuliffe Dr Fergus McAuliffe is Communications and Public Engagement manager at iCRAG, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Applied Geosciences. Fergus has a wide range of experience in science communication, through winning FameLab International in 2013, delivering workshops and conference talks on science communication around Europe, and is currently a presenter on “10 Things to Know About” on RTE1 television. Link to choral piece mentioned in interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liCuV4U3y-Q More about iCRAG iCRAG is the SFI Research Centre for Applied Geosciences. We are a team of researchers creating solutions for a sustainable society. We develop innovative science and technologies to better understand the Earth’s past, present, and future and how people are connected to it. We drive research in areas that are critical to society and the economy, including: Sustainable discovery of energy resources and raw materials required for decarbonisation. Securing and protecting groundwater and marine resources. Protecting society from Earth’s hazards such as flooding and landslides. iCRAG, the world leading SFI Research Centre in applied geosciences hosted by UCD, comprises 150 researchers across eight universities and institutions. iCRAG is supported by Science Foundation Ireland, the European Regional Development Fund, Geological Survey Ireland and industry partners. https://www.icrag-centre.org

Jillian Godsil interviews Alex Bruce, CEO of Aldephi Distillery.  Adelphi Distillery Ltd has a new distillery based in Ardnamurchan, one of the farthest, most north-westerly corners of Scotland. Established six years ago the distillery practices sustainability in harmony with local farmers. Barley, water and wood chip (for its boiler) are sourced locally and the resultant mash fed back to the local cattle. Enjoying as it does a robust ocean climate, the Scotch whisky is flavoured by the Atlantic sea producing a unique maritime twang to the single malt. To top it all, Ardnamurchan Whisky is on the blockchain, providing provenance from the tip of Scotland to a tumbler of the amber liquid poured anywhere in the world. CEO Alex Bruce was responsible for bringing blockchain to Adelphi, copying a food supply chain project involving pigs which really impressed him. Alex has been with the organisation for almost 17 years, the last six of which were as CEO. According to him he probably has the best job in the world. Adelphi Distillery has a finite production cap, dealing as it does with sustainable inputs from local farmers. The beauty of adding blockchain as a layer of transparency and provenance was very appealing for Alex. “I went, yeah, this makes sense for us. We only have limited capacity and we want to ensure our customers enjoy our authentic malt.” Alex rolled out a pilot project in 2017 with a Belfast based software company called Arcnet. They funnelled all the data surrounding the production onto the blockchain. “We listed all aspects of production onto our open ledger; fermentation, mashing, distillation etc and then we included dates, times and even personnel involved in each step of the process. There is a QR code on the back of each bottle which provides access to that data.” Alex’s aim is for it to act as an internal ledger as well as a public one. From the early pilots, last year they launched the first Ardnamurchan Single Malt on the blockchain. Given as this happened during lockdown, tasting happened over zoom, sometimes beginning at 8am in the morning to cater for different time zones around the world. “All 16,000 bottles have been allocated and they all sold out within a day of arriving in each country. It’s been amazing. “Having the blockchain provenance is very important. We are not some anonymous warehouse but a boutique, premium distillery. Even the placename of our distillery smacks of character – Ardnamurchan means headland of the great seas. We have a unique product and blockchain helps us confirm this.” After the successful launch in 2020, Alex is planning on launching all systems data onto the blockchain. “For example, if during the production an operator adds 5 kilograms of yeast into the fermentation process, that is documented and stored on the blockchain. Before it would be saved on paper, now it’s on chain, which means when Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs audit our distillery we can be fully transparent. Same for our customers when they view the QR codes. “We are even planning to include the suppliers of the wooden casks, the yeast supplies from Belgium, the provider of our corks and capsules – everything is recorded, everything is automated and eventually everything becomes much more simple for us.” It is like our manta – Taste the Story – only now customers can view it too. Jillian Godsil is an award winning journalist, broadcaster and author. Her latest book can be found at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08NS1LXG8

Ronan talks to Aled Miles the CEO of San Francisco based Sauce Labs. Aled hosted the keynote event at the Welsh Emerging Tech Fest and also sourced the other guests. Aled talks about the era of living services a report by Accenture, digitisation and technology in the pandemic, his unscripted podcasts, the power of edge computing and the merging Tech Fest. More on Aled: Aled is the President, CEO and board member of Sauce Labs. In September 2020 he was appointed as the Welsh Government Envoy to the United States. Before he joined Sauce Labs he was CEO and member of the board of TeleSign Corporation, and he had been a Senior Vice President at the global security firm, Symantec. He is a graduate of St Mary’s University and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.