The Irish Tech News Podcast

We interview Sarah Frier about the growth of Instagram and then what happened when it was bought by Facebook. Sarah Frier reports on social media companies for Bloomberg News out of San Francisco. Her award-winning features and breaking stories have earned her a reputation as an expert on how Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter make business decisions that affect their future and our society. Frier is a frequent contributor to Bloomberg Businessweek and Bloomberg Television. She attended the University of North Carolina, where she earned a degree in journalism and edited the school paper before joining Bloomberg in 2011. Her first book, No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram, won the Financial Times/McKinsey & Co 2020 Business Book of the Year award, and has been listed as a top book of the year by The Economist, Fortune, NPR and others.

Interesting conversation with Minter Dial about how to be a great leader, and why he decided to write his next book about this concept. More about Minter on his website here https://www.minterdial.com/ and in his words -> I'm Minter Dial and I serve my clients by elevating the energy and connecting people and ideas. I relish being an engaging professional speaker on leadership, transformation and branding with a specialization in digital transformation since 2009. I'm known for being someone who walks the talk and delivers on or above expectations. I'm the author of three award-winning books, including my latest book Heartificial Empathy, Putting Heart into Business and Artificial Intelligence that won the Book Excellence Award 2019 and was shortlisted for the Business Book Awards 2019. My next book on leadership, You Lead, How Being Yourself Makes You A Better Leader, published by Kogan Page, comes out January 2021. I'm also the producer of the award-winning book and film The Last Ring Home and co-author of Futureproof that won the Business Book Award 2018.

Rose Barrett, Co-Founder and Community Manager with Grow Remote, a nonprofit with the mission of making remote work local. Growing up in a small pub in the West of Ireland meant that community has been in her veins from early on. Now being involved in a social enterprise that connects people and knowledge, Rose is helping to enable our communities to embrace the benefits of remote working.

Wayra X is an Open Innovation Digital Hub that Telefónica recently launched and they are actively looking for new startups to apply to be on it. Ronan talks to Luisa Rubio the Head of Wayra X about what Wayra X is, how it came about, how they managed to set it up during a pandemic, and the type of startups they are looking for. Luisa also talks about the two startups already accepted into Wayra X, the closing dates for applications and where you go to apply.

We chat with Michelle Meagher who is a competition lawyer, Senior Policy Fellow at the UCL Centre for Law, Economics and Society and author of the book Competition is Killing Us: How Big Business is Harming Our Society and Planet - and What to do About it.

Ronan talks to Darren Clarke Head of Customer Success at OpenSky. Darren talks about his background, what OpenSky does, how they are helping customers adapt to working in a pandemic. and the survey research OpenSky commissioned earlier this year. Darren also talks about automation, robotics and how the pandemic has changed how Irish organisations operate.

Fascinating and enjoyable interview with Astrophysicist Emma Chapman about why we are in exciting times for astrophysics and learning more about the universe and our origins. Emma Chapman is a Royal Society research fellow and fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, based at Imperial College London. She is among the world's leading researchers in search of the first stars to exist in our Universe, 13 billion years ago, and she is involved in both the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) in the Netherlands and the forthcoming Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in Australia, a telescope that will eventually consist of a million antennas pointing skywards in the desert. Emma has been the recipient of multiple commendations and prizes, the most recent of which was both the 2018 Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellowship and STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship, two of the most prestigious science fellowships in the UK. She won the Institute of Physics Jocelyn Bell Burnell Prize in 2014, and was runner-up for the UK L'Oreal Women in Science award in 2017. In 2018 she was also the recipient of the Royal Society Athena Medal. Emma is a respected public commentator on astrophysical matters, contributing to the Guardian, appearing on BBC radio and regularly speaking at public events. Among others, she has spoken at Cheltenham Science Festival, the European Open Science Forum and at New Scientist Live.

We interview John Friedman about sustainability, trends for 2021, and why we need to be aware of the Batman / Bruce Wayne paradox in our lives and what we do. With an international career spanning 3 decades, John Friedman is an award-winning communications professional and recognized sustainability expert who has helped some of the leading global companies to integrate their operational, financial, and cultural aspirations into sustainable and responsible business practices. He has been instrumental in helping three companies, Lafarge, Sodexo and WGL Holdings rise to the top of the sustainability rankings (DJSI/RobecoSAM and MSCI) for their respective sectors; building materials, food service/facilities management and energy. He has helped define long-range (including science-based) targets, developed and tracked annual goals in support of those targets as well as managed programs relating to environmental stewardship, social progress and sound governance practices A frequent speaker at conferences and business classes, Friedman helps organizations to integrate practices including environmental stewardship, social progress and sound governance into their corporate cultures and everyday actions, helping enhance business reputation and drive results. On digital media he is recognized as a thought leader; on Triple Pundit's List of the Top 30 Sustainability Bloggers on Twitter, #3 on GreenBiz list of most influential 'twitterati', #14 on Guardian Business' 30 most influential sustainability voices in America, was voted #4 of the "100 leading voices in CSR" by Global CEO Magazine readers, and has regularly been included among the top voices in CSR by Forbes' Brandfog. An Albany State (New York) communications graduate, Friedman earned a management certificate as part of the Lafarge/Duke Management Training program at the Fuqua School of Business in 2000.

Ravin Jesuthasan is a Managing Director and Global Practice Leader, with Willis Towers Watson. He is also a recognised futurist, global thought leader and author on the future of work and human capital. Ronan talks to Ravin about remote working, technology enabling us to handle working in a pandemic, the rise of automation during the rise of COVID-19, what he sees is the future of work and how various companies thinking beyond themselves.

Melanie Boylan interviews Anna Brailsford, CEO of Code First Girls and Board Member for the Institute of Coding, about diversity and women in leadership. Anna Brailsford is the CEO of Code First Girls, a social enterprise that is increasing the number of women in tech by training women in coding skills and helping companies to develop more inclusive recruitment policies. Code First Girls has provided free coding education to over 20,000 women and each year they teach more women to code than the entire UK university sector. Anna is also a Board Member for the Institute of Coding. Before joining CF:G Anna was the CEO and co-founder of Founders Factory incubated EdTech startup Frisbee. Prior to that, Anna was the Commercial Director of Lynda.com and LinkedIn. Code First Girls is an award-winning social enterprise on a mission to provide the skills, space and inspiration for women to become developers and future leaders in the tech space. Code First Girls achieves this by working with companies and women to effect change. Made up of 20,000+ women in its community, with over 50% from BAME backgrounds, 58+ nationalities represented, Code First Girls is a community led organisation that provides courses dedicated to developing the next generation of tech leaders, through immersive teaching and coaching opportunities. More about Melanie twitter.com/STOMPSMTraining Over the years I have worked with SME, FMCG and State Bodies I'm delighted to say I now support and train all sizes of business and my business has grown with my clients. I provide Adult Education and support for people in Business. With my many years of experience in promoting services and charities in Ireland and the UK; I have been very fortunate to establish a strong network of contacts and over the years have learnt how best to promote a business online and improve their social media scoring. Creating a professional image and maintaining it is the crux of a great marketing plan and is instrumental in today’s climate in making your business stand out, I can tailor my services to your requirements. Over the last few years I have started working in other areas I have a genuine passion in. I have been avid writer for a number years and started working as a Freelance Writer with Irish Tech News since 2016 and StartUp Mindset since October 2019.