The Irish Tech News Podcast

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.

We recently reviewed the book Bringing Back the Beaver, published by Chelsea Green, written by Derek Gow, an excellent read about the trials and travails to reintroduce beavers to the UK. We were therefore delighted to have him on the podcast to explain more about his experiences. More about Derek, and see more on his website here. Derek Gow is the Managing Director of a specialist wildlife consultancy - The Derek Gow Consultancy Ltd - which is principally focused on water vole mitigation and restoration projects. Derek was a consultant for the captive breeding and development chapters of the Water Vole Conservation Handbook - second and third editions, 2006/11 published by Wildlife Conservation and Research Unit of Oxford University (Wild-CRU) and was a co-author of the Water Vole Mitigation Guidelines published by the Mammal Society in 2016. Derek is the lead training provider of bi-annual courses for water vole mitigation/conservation for the IEEM. Derek is a member of the European Beaver Working group.  He has travelled to view beaver project sites in Holland, Bavaria, Russia, Croatia, Lithuania, Denmark, Poland, Norway, France, Romania and Oregon. Since 1996 he has organized the import and quarantine of over 60 Eurasian beavers into the UK for zoological collections, private landowners and the SBT Knapdale trial.

In this podcast Melanie Boylan spoke with Antonion Grasso, Founder & CEO of Digital Business Innovation Srl.  Antonio is regarded as one of the top Digital Transformation influencers on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, digital transformation, the Internet of Things, and blockchain.  He is an advisor, and  enterprise and public sector consultant and mentor to numerous startups.  He is currently collaborating with Siemens, Intel, The European  Commission, Atos, Cisco, Ericsson, IBM, Talend, Huawei, Automation  Anywhere, Oracle, Splunk, HPE, ASG tech, Ant Financial, Almawave, SAS  Institute, Adobe and many others as Content Advisor, B2B Influencer,  Author and Software Innovator. He is a Global Juror for the United Nations' SDGs - Global Entreps Award,  Antonio is an Accredited and Qualified Global Mentor for Startups and Scaleups by the World Business Angels Investment Forum.  His ethical vision regarding digital transformation has seen him active on numerous social channels, all dedicated to spreading knowledge, most  notably to developing countries. Antonio aims to help spread the concept of digital transformation. He actively engages on social media to bring  the latest content on new, emerging technologies and their uses to secure a better future.  Antonio Grasso has over 37 years of experience handling numerous projects in information technology for both enterprise and public sectors. He believes that digital transformation  is a digital evolution process that involves many aspects, and technology is only a component of the puzzle. The biggest hurdle is a  cultural change, and a strategic approach to face this epochal change is paramount. His business, Digital Business Innovation Srl is a digital business transformation consulting firm. Striving in the three pillars: #Strategy #Technology #Influence# About Disintermediation, briefly simplified: It is the attitude of people to trust other people against trusting organizations, institutions or classic media.

In today's podcast Melanie Boylan spoke with Raghu Kilambi, CEO of PowerTap and Technology Entrepreneur and Investor.  Raghu discussed what steps were needed to transform the huge Carbon Footprint that current trucks are creating using diesel.  Hear about the plans of PowerTap to increase awareness and build a network that will make it easier to make this endeavour possible. Raghu Kilambi is an experienced investor and entrepreneur with over 25 years of global business experience in public and private investments, building businesses and creating shareholder value. He has raised over $1 billion of equity and debt capital for private and public companies and been involved in many M&A acquisitions and exits. Raghu’s experience includes operational management, financial  reporting, corporate governance corporate finance, public offerings, strategic acquisitions and investments, international business  development, merchant banking and corporate restructuring in sectors  including technology, telecom and mobile. Most recently, Raghu was Vice Chairman & CFO of California-based ConversionPoint (e-Commerce software/services) which was sold in 2  M&A exits in late 2019 and early 2020 after filing a Nasdaq IPO prospectus for an Oppenheimer-led IPO in 2019. In addition, Raghu was previously the Co-Founder, CFO and Chief Strategy Officer of a leading VC-backed first generation application hosting  company that grew from startup to $140 million in annual revenues and a peak Nasdaq market capitalization of over US $2 billion. Raghu has also been an investor in companies that were acquired by Yahoo,  eBay and CGI. He graduated with Great Distinction with a Bachelor of  Commerce and a Graduate Diploma in Public Accounting from McGill University, and qualified as a Canadian Chartered Accountant (inactive) PowerTap is leading the charge to build out cost-effective hydrogen fueling infrastructure through its environmentally friendly intellectual  property, product design for the modularized and lowest tier production cost of hydrogen and launch plan. PowerTap technology-based hydrogen fueling stations are located in private enterprises and public stations (near LAX airport) in California, Texas, Massachusetts, and Maryland.  Additional information about PowerTap may be found at its website at http://www.powertapfuels.com.

Jillian Godsil interviews Raj Kapoor, founder of the India Blockchain Alliance.  He gives a great overview of where India is placed with regard to adopting new techologies.  Despite initial resistence, Raj believes India is at an inflection point for two key reasons. “Blockchain adoption is becoming mainstream in a way that was not apparent even two years ago. In 2021 we are seeing a lot of projects taking off; the proof of concept stage is over. I am personally working with between 30 and 40 corporates and helping them identify ways in which blockchain can revolutionise their business.” Raj points out the first big game changer was the think tank set up by the Indian government in January 2020. A white paper resulted entitled the National Blockchain Roadmap strategy. “This was a major advancement. There is a second paper due but COVID has slowed that, however what is important is that the think tank said the government needs to adopt blockchain.” As a result, Raj can point to some 90 projects initiated across the different states. “What we have to bear in mind, though is that India is a vast country with 28 states and union territories – all of which tend to operate as sovereign entities. “Each of the blocks are working on different blockchain projects, many of them looking at land registry issues. E-voting is also interesting with the Indian Election Commission recently proposing to put voting on the blockchain.” Complementing India’s move towards blockchain adoption is the entrants of many international companies looking to base blockchain projects in India. “And then there is the educational side. This is a key focus of mine and through my STEM and related projects, we are building centres of excellence around blockchain in the main universities.” To find out more about the India Blockchain Alliance, visit indiablockchainalliance.org, to contac Raj visit his linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/indblock/ Jillian Godsil is an award winning journalist, broadcaster and author. Her latest book can be found here https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08NS1LXG8