The Irish Tech News Podcast

We interview Gavan Wall, co-founder of The Change, a new, Northern Irish based VC fund aiming to inspire and catalyse innovation through strategic investments and mentoring. The Change is a leading Venture Catalyst supporting Leading entrepreneurs in the creation of world changing vision. We invest in people with ideas that have the potential to change the world. We're currently raising a £50M for our Tech & Science Fund. If you're a founder and your values match ours: Leadership, Legacy, Quality and Sacrifice and you have a £billion mindset then The Change VC is for you. If you're an Investor who wants to invest in an experienced Team seeking high growth opportunities with The Change Venture Fund then get in touch. Websitehttp://www.thechange.vc See more about Gavan on linkedin here https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavanwall/ and on twitter here https://twitter.com/gavanwall

After our written interview with Nell Kruger earlier this year we figured it made sense to capture her unique insights and voice in this podcast interview. Nell Kruger lived on Cape Clear from 1986 to 2018 and saw many interesting events and changes on the island. She worked as an artist, ceramicist and cofounder of the Cape Clear Storytelling Festival and resident on the island for four decades. See more in this interview also https://irishtechnews.ie/island-life-perspectives-nell-kruger-cape-clear/

Great interview with force of nature Mary McKenna, co-founder of @AwakenHub, Irish entrepreneur, pollinator, people collector, blogger, MC, connector, non exec, cheerleader, friend, investor, mentor, mentee See more on here blog here https://kickingassets.co.uk/about/ Mary is a technology entrepreneur & these days angel investor. She co-founded wildly successful online learning company Learning Pool in 2006 on the back of a long local government career and a spell as a Silicon Valley dotcommer. She exited the company in May 2014 in order to get back into startup land. She is interested in helping start & grow indigenous Irish & British tech companies and especially in working with young and female entrepreneurs. One of Said Business School's (University of Oxford) Resident Experts, an Entrepreneur in Residence at Catalyst Inc (formerly the Northern Ireland Science Park) and a trustee of CAST (the Centre for Acceleration of Social Technology). She loves the arts and have been a non executive director on the board of Derry’s Millennium Forum & Theatre for many years. I'm also a trustee of the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). On the London board of the Irish International Business Network and proud member of the Global Irish Network. In the 2014 New Year’s Honours she was awarded the MBE by HM the Queen for services to digital technology, innovation and learning - which you have to admit is pretty darned cool. Right now interested in talking to people about non exec positions in tech startups or scaleups and happy to speak at relevant events or write articles for publication on any of her specialist topics - how to build a kick ass network, how to scale your startup, how to build a digital business, how to build a company with a great culture She has sat at Buzz Aldrin's feet & listened to his stories, disco danced with Leonard Cohen at Coachella and joined Robert Plant in singing gospel songs with Wanda Jackson at Pappy & Harriet's in the Californian desert. Follow me on Twitter at @mmarymckenna

We interview Martin Eastwood, CEO of Wide Variety, we cover his entrepreneurial origins to online marketing and the importance of taking care of your mental health and why Tik Tok is the next coming thing in terms of social media platforms. See more on his website here https://www.widevariety.eu/aboutus

Interesting conversation Wally Blennerhassett, long time bee keeper and ambassador for Host in Ireland's DCs for bees initiative. See more about the program here https://www.hostinireland.com/dc-s-for-bees An industry initiative led by Host in Ireland to help save Ireland's declining bee population. DC's for Bees The people of this industry are looking to make a difference. This initiative gives them the opportunity to not only make an individual difference but the tools to educate, advocate, create awareness and take action. All-Ireland Pollinator Plan https://pollinators.ie/ One third of our bee species are threatened with extinction from Ireland. This is because we have drastically reduced the amount of food (flowers) and safe nesting sites in our landscapes. The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan is about all of us, from farmers to local authorities, to schools, gardeners and businesses, coming together to try to create an Ireland where pollinators can survive and thrive. The first Plan covers the period 2015-2020 and a new version will be developed to cover 2021-2025. Title image sourced from this fantastic resource https://www.instagram.com/usgsbiml/

Ronan talks to Helmut Spitzl GSA, Galileo Service Manager for Search and Rescue and Emergency Warning. Helmut talks about his background, what the Galileo system consists of, how Galileo enables global positioning, navigation, timing and search & rescue and some of the upcoming Galileo services.

We learn more about a series of exciting and positive initiatives to support female entrepreneurs with mentor and career jumper in chief Mary Carty. She is an award winning entrepreneur with a background in art, education and startups. She has have worked with leading international companies, cultural institutions, universities and non-profits. Her background has given me a unique insight into building companies, products and services. https://twitter.com/marycarty https://www.linkedin.com/in/marycarty/ http://www.wilsonkeys.com/

Interesting and positive interview with Simon Zadek, Head Secretariat of UN Secretary General’s Task Force on Digital Financing of the SDGs. We cover this new positive initiative, and it's impact on Zimbabwe, global forestation via the AntForest project and potentially many other areas of the world also. Dr. Simon Zadek is currently Head of Secretariat of the UN Secretary General’s Task Force on Digital Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals, based at the United Nations Development Program. He was until recently Senior Advisor on Finance in the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General, and Co-Director of the UN Environment’s Inquiry into Design Options for a Sustainable Financial System. He founded and was founding Chief Executive of the international think tank, AccountAbility, and before that Development Director of the New Economics Foundation, founding Chair of the Ethical Trading Initiative and on the founding Steering Committee of the Global Reporting Initiative.

We discuss the importance of philosophy and economics with the globally respected Rudy Aernoudt, Belgian professor, writer, politician, economist and philosopher. He has had a fascinating and varied career, including time as Professor Corporate Finance and European policy (MIT, OECD, European commission, European Council and European Social and Economic Committee); multiple Chief of Staff positions (Europe, Belgium, Flanders, Wallonia). He was secretary-general of economy and innovation in Belgium, director-general of OLPC (one laptop per child, spinoff MIT) and curator TEDx Brussels.

Ronan talks to Patrick Hamilton GSA head of administration. Patricks talks about his background, what GSA does, GSA and the strategic importance of EUSPACE as an EU asset for innovation, growth and sustainability, how they link up with ESA, and why they are autonomous. Patrick also talks about the various services that GSA offer, how technology has enabled us to use GSA’s satellite’s and their data, and how GSA is helping to foster innovation and entrepreneurship.