The Irish Tech News Podcast

Waterland launched a year ago in Ireland. It’s an independent private equity investment group that was set up 21 years ago in Holland. They have also recently launched a €2.5bn pan-European fund with no set geographical allocations. Ireland is one of its key targets over the coming months.  They’ve recently appointed Laura Dillion to lead the Irish operation and she hopes to support many businesses here in Ireland.  Ronan talks to Laura Dillon, Head of Ireland at Waterland Private Equity about this and more. Laura talks about her background, what Waterland does, what sectors Waterland invest in, the criteria they look for before they invest, the tech areas they are interested in, how she has coped with Covid, remote working. Laura also talks about the digital transformation taking place the Irish entrepreneurial spirit compared to to other countries, and her passion for sailing. More about Laura Dillon: Laura Dillon is a Principal at Waterland in Dublin, Ireland and is leading the Waterland Irish Team. Prior to joining Waterland, Laura was a Principal at Riverside Europe Partners in London, UK. Prior to this, Laura co-founded and was CEO at DSI Distribution Solutions Ireland Ltd, a leading healthcare distribution company in the Irish market. Laura started her career as a Strategy Consultant with McKinsey & Company and she has also worked for Intelligent Finance (internet bank of HBOS Plc) as their Strategy Manager, for WorldRemit as their Chief of Staff and a Senior Associate at Apax Partners. Laura holds an MBA degree from Harvard Business School, USA and a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from University College Dublin, Ireland. In 1992 Laura won silver at the Optimist world championships, the largest sailing class in the world. Four years later she took bronze at the youth world championships and became the only female sailor to win the Irish Helmsman's Championships in its 60-year history. Laura has also used what she has learnt in sailing in the business world.

While banking should be a borderless experience, in reality, it is far from it. Immigrant communities for example, face a list of challenges from language barriers to lack of credit history and high wire fees. In 2018 alone, US immigrants spent over US$1 trillion, with international students contributing $42 billion to that sum. The market is ripe for change. In this episode of #OneVision, Theo and Bradley chat with Ken Lian, Co-founder & CEO of Cheese Financial, the first banking solution designed for immigrants in the U.S. that does not require a social security number or credit history. Cheese also features a social component, with cash back that empowers consumers to support Asian owned businesses and restaurants. In the age of deep social divide, we were inspired by Ken’s passion and drive to make a positive impact. And we hope you will too.

On 30 June, Philip Colbert will unveil LOBSTEROPOLIS CITY, his first fully digital exhibition, opening within the ‘metaverse’ of Decentraland – seeing the artist’s lobster universe evolve into its latest iteration. Curated by globally renowned art auctioneer and dealer Simon de Pury at the Lobster Land Museum, the exhibition includes a series of NFT works available exclusively with NFT platform Super Rare. These include Colbert’s iconic past works Cryptofixtion and Lobster Fountain, alongside new unseen NFT works. This marks the most ambitious and largest-scale single artist venture to be seen in Decentraland to date. To visit LOBSTEROPOLIS CITY, head here and create your avatar: https://play.decentraland.org/?position=-103%2C147  Tune to to hear all about Philip's obsession with lobsters - "I became an artist when I became a lobster." Your host is Jillian Godsil, award winning journalist, broadcaster and author. Her latest book is available at https://persons-of-interest.io/

It was a great pleasure to chat to Cillian Murphy recently about his latest news and updates on his analog missions.  We touched on a few areas that he's been working on and what his plans are for the future.  We'll be thinking of him as he awaits news from ESA! Cillian Murphy Cillian is an astrophysicist who grew up travelling the world. Today he holds a Masters' degree in Space Science and Technology, speaks 4  languages and has experience working in both the biofuels and space industries. He has worked with the European Space Agency and aspires to  become an astronaut.

Equinix recently announced the findings of its annual global study. Findings of the study included: 62% of businesses in Ireland have rearchitected their IT infrastructure to meet new remote and hybrid working demands, with tech budgets increasing to accelerate digital transformation. 75% of digital leaders in Ireland believe there will be long-term changes to where and how people work within their organisation. 49% of companies in Ireland still intend to expand into new regions, countries or metros, despite the disruption experienced as a result of COVID-19. Ronan talks to Maurice Mortell, Managing Director Ireland and Emerging Markets Equinix, about this and more. Maurice talks about the findings of its annual global study, how Ireland compared to other countries, hot desks, remote working, cloud computing and broadband. Maurice also talks about sustainability, climate neutral data centre pact, legacy infrastructure, and green bonds. More about Maurice: Maurice overseas the Equinix business in Ireland, playing a key role in the Equinix Ireland strategy and expansion and Executive Council Member, Host in Ireland. Maurice also sits on the Equinix executive management team for EMEA. Prior to this, Maurice was appointed as the Country Manager for Ireland with Telecity Group in August 2011 and was also selected as the VP of Emerging Markets in January 2014. Prior to his role within Telecity, Maurice was the CEO of Irish data centre operator, Data Electronics for over 10 years. As CEO, Maurice set the vision and strategy for the company, driving consistent business growth during his leadership tenure. With over 20 years’ experience in the data centre sector, Maurice has been a key figure in the rise of the data-centre industry in Ireland and is highly regarded as a thought leader on Ireland’s potential to be a global digital hub.

David Savage is Associate Vice President, UK & Ireland for Geotab,  the world’s largest commercial telematics company. In this role, David leads the operational, commercial and organisational activities of the region. He has accountability for the delivery of Geotab’s overall strategy and realisation of the company’s ambitious growth targets in support of its wider European growth focus. With more than 15 years experience within operations and transport management, David has a proven ability in helping businesses to scale sustainably. Prior to joining Geotab, he held the role of UK General Manager at FreeNow (formerly MyTaxi and Hailo), Europe’s leading e-hailing app. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrdavidsavage Jamil Hasan is a Generation X Author and experienced data intelligence technology builder with two decades of experience leading data-based teams at Fortune 100 companies, including AIG, Prudential Financial, and Ingersoll Rand. Jamil believes that skill and experience, not just age, is the most important factor required to build and lead corporate organizations. His unique story, as someone on the ground floor of the 2008 financial crisis and his role to help repay the $180 billion AIG bailout, enabled him to come face-to-face with many of the societal ills facing Generation X today and their causes. As the result of his experience, Jamil has developed a path forward for his fellow Gen Xers to restore his generation’s financial standing in society today and to rebuild the American Dream for Generation X.

Pradeep Goel is the Chief Executive Officer of Solve.Care, a global healthcare company that redefines care coordination, improves access to care, empowers consumers with information, reduces benefit administration costs, and helps reduce fraud and waste in healthcare around the world. Pradeep has more than 25 years of healthcare experience, developing groundbreaking software for the insurance industry, and co-founding four healthcare IT businesses where he has served in a number of management roles. Jamil Hasan is a Generation X Author and experienced data intelligence technology builder with two decades of experience leading data-based teams at Fortune 100 companies, including AIG, Prudential Financial, and Ingersoll Rand. Jamil believes that skill and experience, not just age, is the most important factor required to build and lead corporate organizations. His unique story, as someone on the ground floor of the 2008 financial crisis and his role to help repay the $180 billion AIG bailout, enabled him to come face-to-face with many of the societal ills facing Generation X today and their causes. As the result of his experience, Jamil has developed a path forward for his fellow Gen Xers to restore his generation’s financial standing in society today and to rebuild the American Dream for Generation X.

Techstars is a a globally-renowned seed accelerator that helps to catalyse founders, early-stage companies and support organisations to create a more dynamic and vibrant startup community. Part of what Techstars do is community building but how is this implemented? Part two of Ronan's chat with Clark Dever, Senior Product Manager at Techstars. Clark talks about mentor madness, mentor whiplash, breakout startups, Covid and VC’s, the world is remote first. Clark also talks about what he has noticed about the Irish startup scene, having a global perspective, making relationships with VC’s, unicorns’s, post exit founder syndrome, why community is so important, product market fit. More about Clark Dever: He is a data driven, process-oriented, and customer-focused senior IT and operations management executive with 15+ years of technical experience and unique understanding of business management building high performance teams utilising process orientation for repeatable success. As a strategic systems thinker and resourceful problem solver, He possess an innate ability to drive process design / implementation, full stack Web development, and personnel management and development.

Years from now, when we look back at this pandemic, what data will have been the most critical? While we normally talk about data in the context of financial services, and the importance of data and technologies like artificial intelligence to assist our ability to deliver a more inclusive future, the data we will remember from this moment of time is health data related to COVID-19 and the lives impacted by each number this data represents.  In this episode of our #OneVision podcast, Theodora and Bradley talk to Susan Joseph, CEO and Co-Founder of HealthTrends.AI. With an experienced background across financial services and the law, with efforts focused around financial data, identity, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technologies, Susan helps us navigate through the past year from the story of the data behind this virus. You’ll learn why open source and public data were the real heroes in battling this disease, and what we should all look at as the lessons and opportunities for future health of humanity.

Fascinating conversation as we catch up with Dr Eoin McCarthy, who is a Scientific Consultant in the KPMG R&D Incentives Practice. Prior to joining KPMG, Eoin spent six years working as a Research Fellow in the Advanced Microscopy Laboratory, part of the AMBER centre, Trinity College Dublin. He now leverages his technical expertise to advise companies on how to maximise their opportunities around R&D incentives. Eoin has 10 years’ experience in the R&D lab, published close to 30 academic papers and articles, holds a PhD in Chemistry, and a BA mod in ‘Physics and Chemistry of Advanced Materials’ from Trinity College Dublin. Eoin McCarthy PhD | Scientific Consultant | Tax | R&D Incentives Practice | KPMG Ireland Email: eoin.mccarthy@kpmg.ie | Web: www.kpmg.ie/tax More about  KPMG Ireland's Tax & Legal Services Our dedicated teams provide tax services and legal advice to businesses and individuals operating in Ireland and internationally. Tax Services KPMG's tax practice provides comprehensive tax advice to clients established on the island of Ireland (North and South). We offer business tax and personal tax services to a wide range of clients, from multinational organisations and SMEs, to private individuals and family businesses. Whether you need advisory or compliance services, our tax advisers will work with you, offering cost-effective support and minimising your tax risk for what’s next. Legal Services Our legal services practice is comprised of lawyers and company secretarial professionals who provide legal advice and counsel to a wide variety of clients, both domestic and international. Our team can assist you in complying with local and international regulations, and managing and mitigating the risks of corporate non-compliance.