The Irish Tech News Podcast

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.

Interesting conversation with Nicole Cox, who has been working to help promote awareness and support for Irish bees as part of her work at Siemens Ireland. Nicole also shared more information about how to find out more about bees and what can be done to help them. Here are the links for DC for Bees and the National BioDiversity Data Centre which have been particularly helpful. https://www.hostinireland.com/dc-s-for-bees https://pollinators.ie/resources/ To clarify two points – It is the red-tailed bumblebee which I am particularly fond of (I said red-bottomed by accident). Also rather than 10% of solitary bees, the number likely to use bee hotels/nest boxes is actually approximated to be 10 of the 77 native solitary bee species. As for Nature on our Doorsteps, copies were still available for sale at the Tallaght Library as of September and I’ve personally found it to be highly informative. https://www.echo.ie/show/article/nature-on-our-doorsteps-book-launch Nicole Cox is a volunteer beekeeper and DC (Data Centre) for Bees Ambassador on behalf of Siemens Ltd., Dublin. A smart meter data management consultant with Siemens Advanta since 2014, she has joined the Siemens Ltd. Sustainability group after moving to Dublin in June 2020. Sustainability is one of the key pillars of the overall Zero Harm Culture at Siemens Ltd. which seeks to grow initiatives such as personal wellbeing, health and safety, thinking green, and giving back to the community. As a partner with Host in Ireland, the overall goal of DC for Bees and Siemens’ Sustainability group is to raise awareness of the importance of Irish pollinators and encourage changes to support the local ecosystem on a corporate and individual level. More about DCs for Bees Why Are We Doing This? As well as helping fight one of the greatest threats not only to bees but to the entire planet there are numerous benefits to coming together as an industry for this initiative: Snowball effect: Act as an exemplar for other industries to follow suit and make a real difference ​Community with a common purpose: Bring an industry together in a way that has never been done before Awareness: Reach a far wider audience than the Native Woodland Trust or the National Biodiversity Data Centre could do alone ​​Meaningful Action: Help businesses to create and supplement a meaningful CSR programme Go global: This programme can act as a blueprint for our members' businesses to make an even bigger impact within their global offices Do the right thing right: People in the industry want to make a difference but it's not always clear how to go about it in a way that doesn't create unintended consequences. By working with the Native Woodland Trust and the National Biodiversity Data Centre we can do our very best to ensure the actions we take are the right ones and as impactful as possible.”

Latest interesting interview by Melanie Boylan with Katie Doyle, founder of Mentor Her. Mentor Her is all about women connecting with women. We believe that when we support each other, and elevate each other's profile, we can lift ourselves up in the world. ​Whether you're looking to join our Mentor Her programme, our Membership programme's limited availability from Oct-Dec 2020, or you're seeking to collaborate with us on our corporate programme- these are the women who you should work with. The women involved in our programme are ambitious, helpful, kind and motivated. The companies that are dedicated to our corporate mission are self-aware, committed to improving their internal representation and dedicated to mentoring Her. ​Mentor Her is a Covid-19 business, that originated when Katie Doyle (CEO, Founder) realized that she wanted to do two things: have a Mentee, and also be mentored. And so the business was born! https://www.mentorher.ie/ 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.

Ronan last spoke to Kamil Kus the founder of CK Design two years ago and he is back talking about an exciting new product that is built for the COVID-19 world we are living in. Kamil has launched irishdirectory.ie a new online platform that allows you to boost your website ranking, post jobs, post promotions and start blogging. Kamil talks about how Irishdirectory.ie started, what it does, how it will help businesses in the present COVID-19 world sell online and what future updates will bring.

We catch up with Spiros Margaris for the latest insights into AI, fintech and much more. See more about him on his website here https://www.margarisventures.com/spirosmargaris Venture capitalist, futurist, keynote speaker and senior advisor (some of the advisory mandates: wefox Group, SparkLabs Global, mediastalker, Yield Growth, and F10 Accelerator), is the founder of Margaris Ventures, and is the first international influencer to achieve ‘The Triple Crown’ ranking. He was ranked the international № 1 FinTech, Blockchain, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) influencer by Onalytica. He regularly appears in the top three positions of established global industry influencer rankings. He is a keynote speaker at international FinTech, and InsurTech conferences. He also gave a TEDxAcademy Talk. He published an AI white paper, “Machine learning in financial services: Changing the rules of the game,” for the enterprise software vendor SAP. First non-IBM Keynote Speaker at the biggest IBM event in Europe (10/2019) “2019 IBM Systems Technical University”. MBA Toronto University & EMBA Universität St. Gallen (HSG), Switzerland. ​ Sotheby’s ‘Styles In Art’ Course, London. Investment committee member of one of the leading multi-family office fund advisory firms in Switzerland and Europe. Its 10-year return placed the firm within the top 5 percent among its peers. Been chosen as an Author for @TheFINTECHBook (Wiley will be the global publisher of The FINTECH Book available from January 2016) to write about the Future of FinTech. Placed 2nd in the equities division of Financial Trader magazine’s trading competition. Co-founder of an innovative financial technology company based in New York that develops software to bring measurable accountability to investment advice at financial institutions through an objective, proprietary tracking and rating system. Founder of one of the first innovative expert websites based in New York. Unlike traditional search engines and search sites, it provided an efficient mechanism, with a valuable human element, for users to find answers to their questions.