The Irish Tech News Podcast

Informative and enjoyable interview with Sangeeta Waldron who was just written the book ' Corporate Social Responsibility is not Public Relations' More about Sangeeta Sangeeta Waldron is a multi-award winning PR professional. She has been a contributing editor for different news platforms specializing in sustainability and corporate social responsibility, where some of her stories have been published by the United Nations. Sangeeta runs her own London based communications agency, Serendipity PR & Media and guest lectures at Coventry University. Sangeeta started out her career writing speeches for a previous UK Prime Minister and Ministers, and has worked at the top level with global brands, which includes - The Economist Group; The Times Education Supplement; Mayor of London; Cass Business School; and charities such as the Gaia Foundation, National Federation of Women’s Institutes and Breast Cancer Campaign. In August 2019, Sangeeta published her first business book, The PR Knowledge Book with Business Expert Press. She is a regular international speaker and moderator. Follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/SangeetaWaldron And see more on her website her http://serendipitypr.co.uk

Ronan talks to John Delves Managing Director of Magnet Networks. John talks about his past, how it helped transform him to where he is today, his time with Digi Cell, broadband, collaborative tools in the pandemic. John also talks about the new products that Magnet has introduced to help their customers work from home, why connectivity is Magnets core product, why ongoing support is very important to customers, and the future over the next 24 months. More about John: John has a wealth of experience in the telecoms industry having spent over 10 years n a number of senior roles in the Pacific and Caribbean region with Digicel. He was the CEO of Digicel Trinidad and Tobago overseeing the network’s launch of 4G and the build-out of its fiber-to-the-home network, .and  he was also the founding chair of the Digicel Foundation in Trinidad and Tobago.

Despite everything that has happened globally in 2020, fintech - as an ecosystem - was quite active. Some would even say, productive. What is happening with the mysterious East, especially with the Republic of India, a country with over 1.3 billion people? Tune in to a new episode of One Vision with Theo and Bradley, as they chat with Urvashi Prakash about local innovation, funding, big tech, and regulation. Oh - and happy Birthday Urvashi and Bradley!

Interview with Anna Stone, head of strategy, GoodDollar.org UBI or Universal Basic income, is a concept that has been around since the 1800s but which has gained more popularity in recent years. 2020 Democratic hopeful presidential candidate Andrew Yang made it a part of his political campaign, many Nordic states are actively discussing the idea and increasingly it is seen as part of a raft of solutions aiming at reducing and eliminating widespread income inequality. Having access to UBI meets most resistance with main two arguments. The first is that people will cease to work if they have a basic income. The second is that the UBI will be funded out of national tax, ie out of people’s wallets. Both arguments can be emotive and divisive. Of course, the UBI proposed so far has not been of the get rich variety and unlikely to temp the majority of people to cease employment. It is more likely to assist people needing financial support to care for loved ones or pursue passion projects with low financial return. Conversely, there has been a dearth of ideas on how to fund UBI painlessly, or at least without impacting people in their own pockets, a situation most likely to generate blowback from society. GoodDollar, from eToro, comes to the table with a plan to manage both arguments, essentially kicking them both into touch. For starters, it considers UBI should be available to anyone regardless of age, sex, race, employment status and creed – removing the potential them and us scenario. GoodDollar’s appearance is timely as during the lockdowns, UBIs have been essentially implemented in part in many parts of the world (through helicopter money to citizens) and some 20 counties are now actively evaluating this as a policy decision. In addition, GoodDollar has looked at implementing UBI outside of government and related tax systems. Listen to the full podcast to find out how GoodDollar solves these issues, is building a strong ecosystem and attracts investors interested in impact investing.  Jillian Godsil is an award winning journalist, broadcaster and author. Her latest book can be found at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08NS1LXG8

We continue our series of interviews with people at the cutting edge of ecological building. Interesting and insightful conversation with Niall about why using natural materials can be healthier, more economical and better for the planet too. More about Niall Crosson Niall is Group Technical Manager with Ecological Building Systems. He holds a degree as a Bachelor of Technology and a Masters Eng. Sc. He is also a Certified Passivhaus Consultant and board member of Irish Green Building Council. Niall has provided guidance on several national standard committees and provides input to several working groups with the UK Centre for Moisture in Buildings. His expertise is in the area of building physics, energy conservation, hygrothermal analysis, airtightness, natural insulation, and vapour diffusion open constructions. Over 18 years Niall has received advanced training from airtightness specialists pro clima and natural insulation manufacturers such as DIASEN (www.diasen.com) cork lime thermal plasters, GUTEX woodfibre insulation manufacturers (www.GUTEX.de) as well as several other companies. Niall has provided guidance to many award-winning new build and retrofit projects in Ireland and the UK. He has also co-authored and authored chapters for a number of low energy building publications including The Passivhaus Handbook and The Passivhaus Designers Manual. His own Passivhaus features in the latest issue of Understanding Passivhaus by Emma Walshaw. Here are some links referred to in the podcast: https://www.ecologicalbuildingsystems.com/ https://asbp.org.uk/ https://stbauk.org/ https://www.igbc.ie/ https://passivehouseplus.ie/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA34OBBhCcARIsAG32uvOIzK4T8KvD0FpNOHDnxZxB3x3ouOtya4B34cFyPOLebplJokvKoywaAl6iEALw_wcB https://ukcmb.org/ https://www.historicenvironment.scot/ https://www.spab.org.uk/about-us/spab-ireland Here is a link to some reports I mentioned: World Green Building Council – Embodied carbon call for action report https://www.worldgbc.org/embodied-carbon How building with wood and natural materials impacts human health Authored by Graham Lowe, Ph.D., the report summarizes the latest scientific research and converging trends on biophilic design. https://www.naturallywood.com/blog/can-building-with-wood-and-natural-materials-improve-our-health/?utm_source=naturally I forgot to mention, details regards my own house and the GUTEX Woodfibre natural insulation materials used to insulate are among the case studies in the following publication, now available on our website here…perhaps you could mention it at the end or in our intro somehow? https://www.ecologicalbuildingsystems.com/product/understanding-passivhaus-second-edition-emma-walshaw

In a COVID-19 world the one way to stop the spread of it is by air quality monitoring, One Irish company that is leading way in this is ZiggyTec which was as founded in 2018 by Peter Murphy and Kieran Murphy. Ronan talks to Peter Murphy the co-founder of ZiggyTec. Peter talks about his background, what Ziggytec does, data as a service, why Covid got them into doing air quality monitoring, sick buildings and how air quality monitoring can help schools open sooner. Peter also talks about the science behind air quality, mechanical ventilation, airborne transmission, air conditioning, air quality monitors regulation in France and Germany, and why he is excised by COVID-19 and air quality. More on Peter: Peter climbed up through the ranks of the ESB during his 29-year career there. Finishing up as the Commercial Director of ESB International. in 2018 he left the ESB to start Ziggytec with Kieran Murphy.

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.