Silicon Valley Global - Irish Technology Leadership Group

Transcription

www.itlg.org | www.svgpartners.com
$6.99 | €5.49 | Summer 2013
Silicon Valley Global
Suggest in this order from the top:
Digicel Awards as text and a logo (Bullet
point) – See caption I sent earlier
O f f i c i a l P u b l i c at i o n O f T h e I r i s h T e c h n o l o g y L e a d e r s h i p G r o u p
Insets with photo:
1.
Craig – Certificate of Heritage
Born 2.toLimerick – City of Culture 2014
3.
Una Fox – See caption I sent earlier
4.
Fingal -
Lead
The top
50
Most
Technology giants decend on Cork
Ireland for ITLG Global Technology
Leader’s January Summit
Influential
Women in
Technology
Disney’s VP of Technology, Una
Fox to lead newly formed ITLG
Women in Leadership Group
Announcing
the ITLG - Digicel
Silicon Valley
Mobile Awards
Leading the Green Way
Andreessen
Horowitz
John O’Farrell Partner & ITLG
Advisory Board Member leads high tech
investment in Silicon Valley & beyond.
• Strategy
• Innovation
• Outsourced R&D
• Global Expansion
• Investment
SILICON VALLEY GLOBAL PARTNERS
SVG Partners is a management consulting and investment firm that
partners with public and private companies and governments on
strategy, innovation, outsourced R&D, and global expansion.
Contact us to find out how we can take your company
to the next level of business performance.
Silicon Valley, USA: [email protected]
Dublin, Ireland: [email protected]
189 W. Santa Clara Street
San Jose, CA 95113, USA
Phone +1 408.380.7200
www.svgpartners.com
Grow your business
What does your business need to
access new market opportunities?
BT can provide everything you need to achieve success. Intelligent networks on which to build and
optimise your infrastructure; communications that unify everyone; data centre services that are
available where and when you need them; and contact centres that enhance customer relationships.
Talk to us. We’ll connect you to a better future.
Call us in Dublin on +353+1+4325452
Or email [email protected]
Welcome
Women in
Leadership
69 | Sudden Impact
Women gaining ground but more to do.
72 | Get Connected
Connecting women in technology.
75 | Top 50
Inspiring stories from women who have
made it to the top of the tech industry.
116 | Home Alone
Yahoo Chief, Marissa Mayer
bans teleworking.
Contents
Gender friendly nations.
7 | Welcome
36 | Mcor Technologies
10 | Cork Summit
4 | All in a Game
By John Hartnett.
Behind the scenes at the Cork
Global Technology summit.
15 | Big Red Cloud
Accounts software in the cloud.
17 | News
ITLG news, events and headlines.
21 | Women in Leadership
Una Fox to lead new ITLG ‘Women in
Leadership’ group.
22 | Visa options
Leading a 3D Print Revolution.
120 | Reach for the Stars
Using astronomy to create interest in science.
125 | IT@ Cork
Creator of Boards.ie
Tom Murphy goes gaming.
European tech cluster making a global impact.
42 | Pitch Perfect
Promoting Cork as a top ICT destination.
20 start-ups selected to pitch
for investment in Silicon Valley.
48 | Salinas Valley
Where fresh food and technology intersect.
50 | Leading the Way
Cutting edge communications from BT.
52 | Going Global
127 | Cork Chamber
128 | Electronic Avenue
CEAI: Representing the ICT sector in Munster.
128 | Culture Vulture
Limerick,Ireland’s first national city of culture.
135 | Royal Renaissance
Limerick’s new center for film and digital media.
138 | Limerick Institute
of Technology
Visa Free travel to the US.
Top countries for innovation.
24 | Teenage Techies
56 | InverCloud
Helping students onto the enterprise ladder.
58 | Two days in the Valley
A world leader in data conversion.
60 | Nanotechnology
Shannon; the gateway to the US.
A new generation of tech stars is emerging.
28 | Start-Me-Up
Delivering SaaS applications to a global market.
A KPMG guide to starting your
own technology business.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny visits Silicon Valley.
32 | Room for Growth
Big things happen when you think small.
Expanding inward investment in Ireland.
34 | Andreessen Horowitz
Powering tech start-ups in
Silicon Valley and beyond.
118 | Glass Ceiling
140 | Analog Devices
143 | Flying High
147 | Time Out
62 | The Green Way
Great golf vacations.
64 | Digital Leaders
Northern Ireland captures the attention
of Silicon Valley.
Accelerating greentech development.
The ITLG-Digicel Mobile Awards.
151 | Captive Audience
Silicon Valley Global | 3
ITLG
Itlg Core Management team
Published in conjunction with Devlin Media
and The Irish Technology Leadership Group
SVG Accelerator
189 W. Santa Clara Street, San Jose, CA 95113
Tel: +1 408.380.7200 Fax) +1 408.380.7205
Consulting Editor
Cian Hughes
Contributing Editors
John Hartnett
John Stanton
Editorial Panel
Helen Hartnett
Dublin office
29 Charlemont Lane, Clontarf, Dublin 3
Tel: (01) 805 3944
California Office
SVG Accelerator 189 W. Santa Clara Street,
San Jose, CA 95113
Tel +1 408 380 7200
Fax +1 408 380 7205
Massacheuttes Office
76 Ellsworth Road,
Hyannis ma, 02601
Tel 15 08 7762 897
Managing Director
John Hogan
Managing Editor
Tommy Quinn
Craig Barrett
John Hartnett
Former Chairman &
CEO, Intel Corporation
Chairman, ITLG
Founder & President,
ITLG
John Stanton
Cian Hughes
Executive Director, ITLG
Head of Operations,
ITLG
Helen Hartnett
Rory McInerney
VP Finance,
SVG Partners
Intel Corporation
Richard Moran,
Ph.D.
Kiernan Hannon
UBM Canon
Accretive Solutions
Senior Contributor
Lynne Nolan
Features Editor
Trish Phelan
Production Manager
Joanne Punch
John Gilmore
Una Fox
Nest Labs, Inc.
Disney
Chris Buddin
James Carroll
Goldman Sachs
Go Daddy
Sales Team
Kevin Hogan
Maria Whelan
Tony Doyle
Design
Minx Design
Print
Royle Printing Company
745 S. Bird Street - Sun Prairie, WI 53590
Contributors
John Kennedy
Content Kings
Shane Cassells
Silicon Republic
Games Features
Chris Griffin
Contributing Photographer
Chris Ryan
Barry Cronin
4 | Silicon Valley Global
Barry O’Sullivan
Cisco, Inc.
ITLG
Itlg Advisory Board
Conor Allen
PJ Hough
Sean O’Donoghue
Cowen Group
Microsoft
Madison Square Garden
Chris Boody
Peter Milner
John O’Farrell
Intel
Optivia
Biotechnology
Andreessen Horowitz
Liam Casey
George Moore
John O’Grady
PCH International
Ravensdale Capital
Former Eastman
Kodak Company
Ed Colligan
Rory Mullen
Frank O’Mara
Former CEO,
Palm Inc.
IDA
Allied Wireless
Communications Corp.
John Denniston
Gerald Murphy
John Ryan
Kleiner Perkins Caufield &
Byers
Enterprise Ireland
Co-founder,
Macrovision Corp.
Rory Dooley
Martina Newell
McGloughlin
Anita Sands
Logitech
UBS
University of California,
Davis
Brian Fitzgerald
Tom McEnery
Robert Simon
Former VP Intuit
61st Mayor of San Jose, CA
Bank of Canada
George Foster
William McKiernan
Gerry Staunton
Stanford University
Founder Cybersource Corp.
Ireland Consul
General
Gary Hanley
Niall O’Connor
H. Brian Thompson
Invest NI
Apple
Global Telecom &
Technology (GTT)
Chris Horn
Tim O’Connor
Helen Wilmot
Sophia, Gridstore
& Cloudsmith, Inc.
Former Secretary General
to President of Ireland
Stanford Medical
ITLG
Welcome
W
elcome to the summer edition
of ‘Silicon Valley Global’,
the premium publication for
members of the Irish Technology Leadership
Group, the world’s largest and most dynamic
global network of Irish and Irish American
business leaders and executives. The current
issue is being published to coincide with
the 6th Annual Global Technology Leaders
Summit which takes place in Silicon Valley on
May 14th and 15th.
This event follows the successful leadership
Summit which was held in Cork in January as
part of the Gathering. Extensive coverage of
the Cork Summit was provided by the ITLG’s
dedicated YouTube channel and AerTV and
it also featured extensively in national and
international radio and print media.
We were delighted with the attendance
which included high level representation from
the ITLG and major corporations including
Facebook, Disney and Intel, to name but a few.
There was also a strong presence of both Irish
and overseas Government representatives and
we were particularly pleased to welcome the
trade delegation from Russia.
The Cork event featured an excellent
series of seminars, debates and presentations
involving a variety of prominent participants
including Barry O’Sullivan, Vice-President
of Cisco, Richard Moran, CEO of Accretive
Solutions, Sean O’Sullivan, SOSVentures and
ITLG Chairman Craig Barrett.
The ‘fast-pitch sessions’ which provided a
carefully selected group of business start-ups
and entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch for
investment to a panel of experienced capital
investors was a key feature of the Summit.
Twenty of the participants were selected for
a place in the finals which takes place at the
Technology Leaders Summit in Silicon Valley
this month.
A further noteworthy event was the
recently established ITLG “Women in
Leadership Group” which comprises a key
component of our growing network of
technology leaders. The principal objective
of the Group which was formed during the
recent visit of Taoiseach Enda Kenny to
Silicon Valley is to promote the participation
of women in the technology sector with a
particular focus on assisting women advance
to senior leadership positions. This objective
will be advanced by offering mentoring and
leadership training and other vital support
to technology start-ups led by women. The
group will be led by Una Fox, Vice President
of Technology at Disney who will be ably
assisted by a top level advisory team.
The launch of this new chapter represents
a major milestone in ITLG’s commitment
to advancing the participation of women in
the technology sector and the current issue
features extensive coverage on the subject
together with a comprehensive ‘Top 50’
round-up of the most influential women
working in technology today.
The current issue also features an
interview with Taoiseach Enda Kenny who
discusses his recent visit to Silicon Valley
and I would like to pay tribute to him for
the commitment shown by his Government
towards the technology industry and the
priority which he clearly attaches to forging
close links with Silicon Valley. The Taoiseach’s
visit to Silicon Valley followed a prior visit
by Minister for Enterprise Richard Bruton
and it is encouraging to see a greater level
of engagement from Irish Government
representatives with the technology industry
on the West coast.
While Ireland receives significant
inward investment from the US the greatest
challenge lies in creating our own global
multinationals to rival the success stories which
are emblematic of Silicon Valley. Reforming
the education sector so that it prioritizes math,
engineering, science and entrepreneurship is
vital in that regard but we also need to equip
graduates with the sales and marketing skills
to engage effectively with potential investors
and customers internationally. While Ireland
possesses a wealth of technical skills we often
fall short when it comes to formulating and
delivering an effective sales pitch.
Finally I would like to update you on
other significant developments generating
tangible benefits for the Irish diaspora
network. Membership of the ITLG is now
more than 5,000 strong and continuing
to grow rapidly. Our Silicon Valley based
Innovation Center now has over 40 resident
companies while our venture fund has
invested in 15 high-potential technology
companies which we believe have the
potential to make significant progress on the
global stage.
Mcor Technologies, which is engaged
in 3D printing is one example of a company
which has made immense strides and
recently signed a substantial contract with
the US stationery giant Staples. On page
36 we feature an extensive interview with
co-founder of Mcor Technologies, Conor
MacCormack.
In the coming pages, I would like to take
the opportunity to provide you with further
details on the ITLG’s ongoing initiatives
and the journey taken by the organisation to
date. Please enjoy and once again we greatly
appreciate your continued support.
John Hartnett,
President & Founder, ITLG
ITLG
Investment,
Technology &
Leadership
Foreword by Cian Hughes.
W
e are delighted to publish our
Summer 2013 edition of Silicon
Valley Global Magazine to
coincide with the 6th Annual ITLG Global
Technology Leaders Summit - Silicon Valley.
The focus of this year’s ITLG Summit
is investment, technology & leadership with
an emphasis on taking scaling disruptive
technology companies to Global Markets. The
Summit’s Going Global Workshop addresses
the key topics affecting companies looking to
scale outside the US. Key priorities include
choosing the optimum location, hiring a top
international team, tax & legal structures and
choosing the best outsource partners. IP, patent
& customer data management also need careful
consideration. Leveraging local knowledge
& domain expertise coupled with engaging
experienced service providers will significantly
expedite the transition to fully functional and
productive international operations.
Women in Leadership roles have a
phenomenal impact on shaping the Hi Tech
industry. However the Fortune 1000 includes
only 42 Women CEOs. The goal of the ITLG
Women In Leadership Group founded &
led by Disney’s Una Fox, is to highlight great
women technology leaders and entrepreneurs
and their achievements and to provide support
and mentorship for women to choose leadership
roles and to excel in these roles. We are
delighted to feature the ITLG 50 Top Global
Female Technology Leaders in this edition.
For this year’s ITLG Silicon Valley Awards
we have selected 25 great Silicon Valley
technology companies from Sand Hill Road’s
top venture firms and 20 Irish technology
finalists from the ITLG pitch sections at Cork
Institute of Technology, Ireland last January.
The prestigious ITLG Silicon Valley Awards
will be presented at the Awards Dinner on
May 15 to those companies demonstrating the
best global opportunity.
We continue to highlight the critical need
for a focus on math, science, computer studies
and foreign languages from the early stages
of primary education and the importance
of sales and marketing for global markets at
second and third level. Through our Kauffman
programs we are offering entrepreneurship
training to entrepreneurs striving to scale
their start-up companies. We are pleased
to continue our support for the CoderDojo
movement which makes computer
programming and in some cases foreign
languages available to children aged from
7 to 17. The annual global “DojoCon2013”
at Slane Castle, Ireland this April was a
tremendous success for CoderDojo and we
wish them every continued success.
I would like to take this opportunity to
express our gratitude to the Department of
Foreign Affairs for the tremendous support
they have given ITLG since our foundation.
We look forward to the second half of
2013 where we will focus on investment &
engagement with mobile, entertainment &
digital media technology companies and will
begin preparation for our Global Technology
Leaders Summit in Ireland in January 2014.
Cian Hughes
Founding Partner Silicon Valley Global Partners
Head of Operations ITLG
Cian Hughes, Head of Operations, ITLG
THE ITLG
AT A GLANCE
Members:
» 5,000
Events:
» 18 Major Events
» 10 Cities
» 6,600 participants
Companies:
» 850 Companies
» 76 Finalists
» 15 Winners
Invested:
» $5,000,000
Cork Technology Summit
Bringing
Leaders
Together
The fifth annual Global
Technology Leaders Summit
took place on January 22nd
and 23rd at Cork’s City Hall.
Silicon Valley Global looks at
the key event and its impact
on technology in Ireland.
Craig Barrett, ITLG
Chairman
I
f any doubt remains about the
continued vibrancy of the tech
sector, the fifth annual Global
Technology Leaders Summit went a
long way to dispelling it. Hosted at
Cork’s City Hall under The Gathering, the
event brought executives, entrepreneurs and
venture capital investors together for twodays of high-level networking, discussion
and insight, showing just some of the
exciting developments in the industry.
Following a mission to Silicon Valley in
2012 and meetings at the Irish Technology
Leadership Group (ITLG) headquarters in
San Jose, Cork City Council, Cork Chamber,
University College Cork (UCC) and Cork
Institute of Technology (CIT) joined forces
to bring this internationally renowned
business event to Cork.
Lord Mayor John Buttimer warmly
welcomed the gathering of leaders in the rebel
county. “Cork has strong business links with
Silicon Valley and we are delighted to deepen
our relationship with US industry leaders
while showcasing all that Cork has to offer in
terms of a centre of excellence for innovation
and commercialization of new research as
well as a great place to invest as a gateway to
Europe. We are delighted to welcome the Irish
Technology Leadership Group to Cork for the
Silicon Valley comes to Ireland event,” he said.
Showcasing Innovation
Attendees included high-level representatives
from the ITLG, Enterprise Ireland, Science
Foundation Ireland and other bodies
key to driving the innovation economy.
The event also featured an impressive
level of international participation, with
representatives from Disney, Facebook, Intel
and Local Government leaders from Silicon
Valley as well as a trade delegation from
Russia among the overseas visitors.
Perhaps the most important contribution
made by the Global Technology Leaders
Summit was the platform it offered to
showcase innovation both in Cork and
elsewhere. Aside from the dedicated ITLG
YouTube channel, the event was streamed
live by AerTV, with coverage also in national,
local and international print media.
With support from Enterprise Ireland,
Teleplan, Aurora Telecom, PCH and Magnet
Networks, a series of panels and speeches
covered the challenges and opportunities
facing the sector. These included a session
on education and skills chaired by Barry
O’Sullivan, Senior Vice President of Cisco,
with Seán Cottrell (Executive Director of
the Irish Primary Principals’ Network), Dr.
Brendan J. Murphy (President, CIT), Dr.
Michael Murphy (President, UCC), Una Fox
(VP of Integrated Retail and Disney Stores
Tech, Disney), Coder Dojo co-founder James
Whelton and Bill Liao (European Venture
Partner for SOSVentures). The discussion
ranged from the need for individuals to hone
skills and apply them to technology, to the
opportunity for Government to attract the
finest tech talent in the world.
Another highlight at the event was a
presentation from Richard Moran, CEO of
Accretive Solutions. Taking ‘Confessions from
Global Investors, What Matters’ as his theme,
Moran offered attendees invaluable insight
into the decision-making process of investors.
A five-year veteran of the event and frequent
sceptic on past investor panels, he stressed the
idea of investment as a non-linear, “messy”
process – something that happens all the
time in varied circumstances – rather than
a straightforward journey from PowerPoint
presentation to the heart of Silicon Valley.
He also cautioned strongly against “rambling”
pitches, noting that investment “is about
telling a story, but that story needs to be
short and direct.” Finally, Moran urged
would-be entrepreneurs to get over failure.
“Entrepreneurship is all about failure.
Investors love people who have failed before,
because they’ve learned so much,” he revealed.
Strong Optimism
The event was rounded off with a keynote
address from Dr Craig Barrett, Chairman of
ITLG. Citing three insightful ‘fortune cookie’
messages, Barrett noted that talent will
always be valued, the necessity to compete for
success, and the advantage of small actions
over grand plans. In all, it was an extremely
optimistic climax to an upbeat conference.
The mood was particularly buoyant
among the companies selected to participate
in the popular ‘fast pitch’ event, designed
to let entrepreneurs, business start-ups and
innovative businesses pitch for support from
a panel of experienced capital investors. The
twenty finalist companies selected to compete
for investment at the Global Technology
Leaders Summit on May 14th and 15th
include many exciting new innovations and
creative applications of existing technology.
With an electric atmosphere typified by the
pitching companies and driven home by
experts from both Ireland and abroad, the
spirit of optimism was infectious – and is
likely to drive many participants to redouble
their efforts in the year ahead.
Cian Hughes, Founding Partner & Head
of Operations, ITLG
John Stanton, Barry O’Sullivan, Vice President Cisco Systems
and Craig Barrett, ITLG Chairman
Bill Liao, SOSVentures and James
Whelton, co-founder of CoderDojo
John Hartnett, President, ITLG
ITLG Sponsors
would like to thank our
Annual & Event Sponsors,
Supporters &
Media Partners
DAYBREAK
Information Technologies
Company Profile
“Old Dog
– New
Tricks”
Accounts Software
in the Cloud
O
f all the software packages on
the market, Accounts software is
probably the most suitable to be
hosted in the Cloud. The key benefits of the
Cloud are security and accessibility, these
two benefits are exactly what a small business
needs for their accounting software.
With 35,000 users of our award winning
big red book accounts software, we know
that small business owners need access to
figures such as debtors, creditors, and their
bank in order to monitor and run their
business successfully. By having a Cloud based
Accounting application such as big red cloud, a
business owner can keep up to date and on top
of key financial information from practically
any device, at anytime from anywhere. In
addition with big red cloud the business owner
can give access “free” to their accountant, this
means the owner has peace of mind knowing
their accountant is keeping an eye on the
figures on a more regular basis and discussions
on financial information for the business are
“real-time”. This ensures a business owner can
plan, manage and drive his/her business more
efficiently and effectively.
At a very affordable €25 plus vat per
month, no business could place their financial
data in a more secure environment than on
big red cloud. Hosted on the highly secure
and robust Microsoft Azure Platform,
millions of euros have been invested by
Microsoft to ensure that all data stored in
their data centres is secure, backed up and
available 24/7.
With big red cloud, business owners
have the added benefit of knowing that
they will always be on the latest version and
are virus free. With requirements like the
new SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area)
coming into place in February 2014 users will
automatically receive any updates as part of
their monthly subscription. In addition we
are constantly adding new functionality like
BI (Business Intelligence) reporting tools. We
released a BI tool called the Book Enquiry in
February which users get free of charge. This
is an invaluable tool for business owners and
their accountants to analyse a company’s data
in order to make key financial decisions for
the business moving forward.
Whether you are starting a new business
or run a successful business but have an
existing accounts package confined to the
office, it is time to change. In addition to
the above points, a cloud based accounting
system such as big red cloud gives flexibility
both from an access point of view and from a
place of work perspective. You no longer need
to be tied to the office to access key financial
information and neither do your staff have
to be office based. This results in cost savings.
On-premise software can carry expensive on
going annual maintenance, with the ability
to import from other accounting packages,
the transition is made very easy and will
ultimately save the business money.
With the innovations available on
cloud accounting software you can produce
a quicker and more efficient result with
less input. By using the accurate up to date
business information that you now have at
your fingertips, you can boost productivity,
expand into new markets, make services more
accessible, hire more sales staff or just make
more profit.
As a recent winner of the Chambers
of Ireland “best accounting software for
small businesses” big red cloud with its full
functionality and feature rich content has to
be a serious consideration if you plan to move
your accounts to the cloud.
Big red cloud have three payment
options, monthly, annually or three yearly,
with the latter you get a free 7” Tablet. There
is a 30 day free trial, this is a full working
copy of big red cloud and is available on
www.bigredcloud.com
Ten Reasons why an
SME should move to
the Cloud
1. Easy to use
2. Safe and Secure
3. You only pay for what you use
4. Flexibility in the way you work
5. Free Access for your Accountant
6. Support included
7. Competitively priced
8. Familiar look and feel
9. Economies of scale
10.Always on the latest version
News
News
ITLG news , events and
headlines from the IT world
New Frontiers
Enterprise Ireland has called for aspiring
entrepreneurs with an innovative business idea to
apply for a place on its New Frontiers programme
which offers funding of up to €15,000.
Last year the New Frontiers National
Entrepreneurship Development programme
provided support to more than 120 new business
ventures and a further €12.65 million is now being
invested for the next three years of the programme.
The programme which is delivered at local level
by the institutes of Technology providing aspiring
entrepreneurs with a range of supports including
funding of €15,000, office space, mentoring
and workshops to assist fast track their business
development.
High Tech Technology
Addressing an audience at the annual
summit of the Irish Technology Leadership
Group (ITLG) in Cork Seán Cottrell,
director of the Irish Primary Principals’
Network (IPPN) said that technology
should be used to improve teaching
methods in primary school classrooms.
The best way to establish Ireland as a
hi-tech vanguard, according to Cottrell,
is to invest in digital pedagogy. “The
Government should set targets for
the delivery of an IT-based curriculum
where the teaching of each subject
is mainly delivered by means of
technology,” he said.
“It could start by committing to the
teaching of a single subject through
technology – science or maths, for
example - from junior infants through to
the Junior Certificate.”
Cottrell said we need to reassess how
science and maths are taught in primary
schools and place a renewed emphasis
on the real-life application of textbook
learning. He also called for a greater
commitment to educating students
in foreign
languages.
“It may
also be time
to seriously
consider
introducing
foreign
languages in the
primary school
curriculum,
not least since
the absence
of a second or
third language
is among the
labor market
barriers often
cited by employers.”
Among the measures which IPPN are
calling for are multi-annual budgets
for technology in primary school
classrooms, an integrated technologysupported curriculum and adequate
professional development support for
teachers in delivering digital pedagogy.
“Our future will be in the knowledge
economy, enabled by technology. We
need to invest in areas that will have
a longer term dividend. That means
creating a new generation of ‘digital
natives’ in our classrooms and equipping
them with the fundamental skills to
analyze, listen, communicate, inquire,
problem solve and team work. Teachers,
too, must be properly resourced to deliver
an integrated technology-supported
curriculum,” Cottrell said.
News
Closely Linked
Uniquely Irish
The Certificate of Irish Heritage is a
unique and personalized document
that provides official recognition from
the Irish Government of your Irish
heritage. Anyone with Irish ancestry
born outside of Ireland is eligible to
apply. From Presidents to ordinary
folk whose lives are so very different
-one thing connects us all – our
unique Irish heritage. There have
been many celebrated recipients of
the Certificate including President
Barack Obama, former President Bill
Clinton, Daniel Day-Lewis and most
recently Tom Cruise. For such a tiny
Island Ireland packs quite a punch!
www.heritagecertificate.com
The ITLG has long championed the
need for direct flights between Dublin
and the West Coast. With such a high
concentration of companies in Dublin
which are headquartered in Silicon Valley,
there is an urgent need to facilitate closer
transport links between the two centres.
Speaking to Silicon Valley Global, the Irish
Transport Minister Leo Varadkar described
it as a priority issue of his Ministry and
acknowledged the significant benefits
which direct flight links would provide.
The ITLG has also met with a number
of major airlines to discuss the prospect
of establishing a Dublin to California
route and in December an ITLG
delegation discussed the issue with
Air Lingus management. Air Lingus
provided a Dublin to Los Angeles flight
until November 2008 but dropped
Let there be Light
Let there be light - and then there was Willie Duggan Lighting. Willie
Duggan Jnr is the director of W.TWO. Originally from a building
services engineering background, he earned his charter-ship in 2007
and went on to study a masters in Light and Lighting at the Bartlett,
University College London. While there he was highly commended for
his re-design of the Tower Bridge London by the Worshipful Society of
Light-mongers. He then honed his skills in London where he worked on
a number of prestigious UK and international lighting design projects.
Now back in Ireland Willie has undertaken a number of prestigious
design consultancy projects including the stunning Google offices
in Dublin and Dublin’s newest business hotel The Marker. Willie also
counts among his client base many celebrity clients including Ireland’s
own bard and singer, Christy Moore. “I went into Willie’s one day
looking for a bulb for my bicycle lamp, I came out two hours later with 3
lamps, 4 shades and 6 kitchen chairs. I don’t know what happened but
the lights are lovely, the shades are hypnotic and the kitchen chairs are
so comfortable that I have put on 3 stone. I’m still looking for a bulb for
my bicycle lamp.” www.williedugganlighting.com
the service as part of a cost cutting
programme. Most observers agree that
Air Lingus is giving the route serious
consideration. The airline has taken
soundings from US tech companies
around Ireland to assess the level of
interest in a regular service to San
Fransisco or San Jose in California.
“American businesses in Ireland are
very keen to see a direct connection
between Dublin and the west coast of
the US,” said ITLG Head of Operations,
Cian Hughes. “It was a setback to lose
the connection and I think that the
re-introduction of a similar route would
be helpful in terms of attracting further
IT investment and helping to sustain
existing investment. It would certainly
be advantageous to the American
multinationals based here.”
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News
Bridging the Digital Divide
ITLG President John Hartnett has welcomed plans by the
Irish government to ease entry restrictions people on
people with technology skills and said that it will provide
the country with a competitive advantage and help further
develop the IT sector which has been the principal engine of
job growth during the recession.
Multinational companies in Ireland routinely refer to the diffuculies
they face in filling positions which require coding and language
skills and Hartnett points out that it is always likely to be a
challenge to provide sufficient numbers of skilled IT graduates to
meet the requirements of a sector which has such a substantial
international presence in Ireland.
“We are restrained in that regard due to our relatively sparse
population. Certainly we should continue efforts to re balance
the education system to ensure that greater numbers of students
opt to study maths, engineering, science and programing and we
must further improve the indigenous skills base. In particular it is
important that the education and training systems respond to the
needs of employers and the wider economy.”
However he says the sheer scale of demand from multinationals
and the relative mobility of the workforce within the IT sector
means it is likely that tech companies in Ireland will continue
to recruit from abroad. He also points out that a significant
proportion of the skilled talent working in Silicon Valley’s hails from
outside of the US and that Government polices should seek to
assist companies in recruiting genuine talent in order to underpin
a sector which is critical to Ireland’s future.
Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton recently revealed plans to
increase the number of named positions companies can hire
from overseas from four to 24 and amend the visa application
procedures to make it easier to bring in staff from outside
the EU. By simplifying the permit process for non-EEA skilled
professionals, the government aims to ensure that 700 additional
permits will be provided to the technology sectors this year.
A number of industry sources questioned why the Goverment
wasn’t more ambitious in relation to the numbers to be facilitated
by the scheme but Hartnett believes that the figure simply
represent an initial 50% increase for this year with plans to expand
the scope of the scheme in the future.
“I think we have to welcome this measure, it’s a step in the right
direction and i am in favor of any initiative which adds to the talent
pool in Ireland. It helps to solidify the skills base and develop
a concentration of highly skilled workers which are essential to
driving innovation and creativity. There is a deficit of ICT skills
worldwide and fierce competition for available talent so relaxing
existing entry rules for high skilled individuals will benefit the
country enormously.”
Hartnetts remarks follow a recent report which suggests
that universities in Ireland are producing as little as 50% of the
computer science graduates required and that there is a shortfall
of some 5000 IT graduates a year relative
to requirements.
The proposition of a technology visa
specifically for people with technology
skills was also raised at the ITLG Smmit
in Cork in January by SOSVentures
entrepreneur Bill Liao. Many are familiar
with Bill’s eighteen month struggle to
secure a visa to work in Ireland, despite his work history as an
employer and intent to set up a business here.
Ireland is not the only country considering a relaxation of visa
requirements for individuals with tech skills and Hartnett points to
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s recent foray into politics with
the principal policy platform of easing visa restrictions on highly
skilled workers who wish to take up opportunities in the US.
The widely publicized ‘March for Innovation’ campaign which
calls for immigration reform has also been launched by a group
of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists together
with the Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg. The campaign
will feature a concerted social media and email campaign
spearheaded by the tech industry and aimed at persuading the
country’s congressmen and senators to pass a bill which eases
restrictions on skilled professionals from overseas who wish to
work in the US.
Britain has also signaled its willingness to pursue a similar policy
and on his recent trip to India the prime minister announced that
there was no limit to the number of students who can work in the
UK, once they have completed their studies. He also announced
the move from a three day to a one day visa service for students
and business travelers.
“It is a recognition of the importance of attracting the high
talent base required to succeed as a dynamic, innovative and
progressive modern economy, other countries are willing to relax
entry requirements and adopting a pro-active approach in relation
to recruiting the best talent and it makes sense for Ireland to do
likewise,” said Hartnett.
Women in Leadership
Women in Leadership
The ITLG has launched a “Women in Leadership Group”
as part of its growing network of technology leaders.
T
he objectives of the group will be to
create mentoring opportunities for
female graduates who are pursuing
technology careers, mentor matching for
female entrepreneurs and for women who
are seeking corporate leadership roles, and
to provide support, guidance, and insight for
female led technology start-ups.
The existing ITLG membership base is
made of up high performing female leaders
from a wide range of academic institutions
and industries, including technology, financial
services, telecommunications, life sciences,
media, entertainment, and publishing.
The group will be led by Una Fox, Vice
President of Technology at Disney. Other key
leaders stepping up to offer their support are
Anita Sands, Group Managing Director and
Head of Change Leadership, UBS Wealth
Management Americas, Martina NewellMcGloughlin, D. Sc. UCBREP, Susan
Davis, Chairman, Susan Davis International,
Margaret Molloy, CMO Velocidi, Máire
Walsh, VP of Next Steps Marketing, Rosaleen
Blair, Founder and CEO of Alexander Mann
Solutions, Gina Quin, Chief Executive,
Dublin Chamber of Commerce, Mairtini Ni
Dhomhnaill, SVP, Accretive Solutions, and
many others.
John Hartnett, founder and president of
the ITLG said “Female leaders are excelling
in technology and leadership roles today.
Strong mentors and role models are key
influencers of young entrepreneurs and this
group can make a significant impact by
assisting with that mentoring and guidance”
The ITLG has always been committed
to promoting the technology connection
between Ireland and Silicon Valley, and
in a similar vein, the ITLG Women in
Leadership Group will continue this effort,
and will also promote the connection of
more women in technology, and will help
advance more women in senior leadership
roles within technology.
“The group will allow us to connect, guide,
mentor, and provide support to women who
desire to make advancements in their careers
and within the technology sector through
networking, mentorship, and education” said
Una Fox, VP Technology at Disney.
Visa Free Travel
Visa Options
Visa Waiver and the B Visa for Business: Common Misconceptions. This is the
first of a series of three articles by US Business Immigration Attorney, Deirdre
O’Brien, addressing visa issues which concern business managers and executives,
specialists and professionals with plans to do business in the US.
I
n this article we’ll take a brief look at
visa free travel to the US for business
purposes (visa waiver for up to 90
days) and the B-1 visitor visa.
The ability to transact business
internationally with minimum restriction is
vitally important for global business and key
company personnel must have the flexibility to
travel to foreign countries to conduct business
affairs at short notice. Visa waiver (VW)
allows nationals of certain countries, including
Ireland and the United Kingdom, to travel to
the US visa-free, as visitors for business (B-1)
or pleasure (B-2) for up to 90 days. The B visa
is identical to visa waiver in terms of eligibility
criteria and permissible activity, but requires
attendance at a US embassy for interview
and facilitates stays beyond 90 days, as well as
extension and change to another visa category
in some instances. For a list of countries
included in the VW Program see http://travel.
state.gov/visa/temp/without/without_1990.
html#citizen
Anyone who has traveled to the
US in the last few years using VW will
know that it is necessary to complete the
Electronic System for Travel Authorization
(ESTA) online before traveling to the US;
authorization is granted for 2 years generally.
See https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/ Denial
of ESTA may occur where the applicant
has been arrested or has a criminal record,
has previously stayed in the US beyond an
authorized period or committed some other
immigration violation; a B visa is required to
visit the US in these cases.
Nationals of many countries, including
Ireland and the UK, are eligible for multiple
entry 10-year B visas, with each entry to the
US granted for up to six months. Although the
B-1 can be used for a diverse range of activities
not associated with business (sports-related
endeavors and domestic employees/nannies are
examples), our concern is with the B-1 business
visitor visa and VW for business (noted ’WB’
for ’Waiver Business’ in passports).
There are many legitimate uses of the
B-1 visa and VW, but knowledge of what’s
Visa Free Travel
permissible and preparation for embassy
interview or questioning at the point of entry
is essential. Every business visitor should have
documentary evidence of (i) purpose of travel
and (ii) ties to the home country every time
they seek to enter the US.
It is advisable not to risk
being denied entry on
visa waiver at all costs,
Allowable Business Activity because one strike and
for Visa Waiver (Business)
and B-1 Visa
you’re out; one refusal
When a company is in the early stages of
means a lifetime ban
expanding to the US, short trips may be
required for preliminary business meetings,
on ever using the visa
trade shows and so on. What is permissible?
The short answer is activities that fall short of
waiver program again.
working. But what defines work?
It is easier to list the activities that are
permitted than to define what constitutes work
in this context, because reported decisions are
conflicting and fact driven. It is established
that consulting with business associates;
attending a convention or conference;
attending short-term training; negotiating
contracts; attending meetings as a member of
a board of directors of a US corporation; and
engaging in litigation are permitted.
’Consulting’ in this context means
attending business meetings, not engaging
in work as a consultant though there are
some exceptions. Software programmers
employed outside the US may be granted
B-1 visas to analyze the scope of a US
project before working on it at home and
to provide after-sales service if covered by
contract. Investors seeking an investment
in the US which would qualify them for
Treaty Investor Classification (E-2) visa
may use VW or enter as B-1 visitors to
handle preliminary activities in opening
a US business, as long as they do not
actively participate in the management of
the business. (This important visa category
will be discussed in the next article in this
series.) Foreign independent contractors do
not qualify for B-1.
What is prohibited activity for B-1?
Clearly, employment in the traditional sense
of local labour for hire or participating in the
management of a US business is overstepping
the mark. What is not so clear, however, is
what other business activities cross the line,
as very similar cases have been decided very
differently. For example, a Hong Kong tailor
who entered the US to measure customers
was granted a B-1 visa, while a Canadian
engineer who traveled to the US to consult
with clients was denied. Suffice to say
each case will turn on its own facts, but if
services are being performed for which a US
worker would have to be hired or any of the
following questions is answered ‘no’, a denial
is very likely:
• are the business person’s activities directed
by a foreign employer?
• will profits from the business activity
accrue outside the US?
• are services rendered in the US incidental
to international trade or contracts (e.g.,
exchange of merchandise or after-sales
service)?
• are various US entries of a plainly
temporary nature?
• is the source of remuneration from
outside the US?
The bottom line is the visit must be for a
reasonably short and relatively definite period
of time and with a limited goal in mind.
Eligibility Factors for
Visa Waiver (Business)
and B-1 Visa
There is a presumption on the part of
immigration officials that every applicant for
a US visa intends to permanently remain in
the US – a presumption of ’immigrant intent’
which the applicant must rebut. It is advisable
not to risk being denied entry on VW at all
costs, because one strike and you’re out; one
refusal means a lifetime ban on ever using
VW again. Instead, you must apply for a B-1
visa at the local US embassy and persuade
the US Consul that your purpose of travel
is permissible. Why might one be refused
admission on VW? If 6 months or more,
cumulatively, is spent in the US out of 12,
denial is almost certain. Otherwise, repeated
trips and insufficient evidence of ties outside
the US will result in denial. The Department
of State is concerned about the so called
“revolving door problem”, where VW is used
to remain in the US for extended periods by
leaving and returning frequently. Scrutiny
is very intense and if your passport shows
frequent trips of more than a week or two
and swift return to the US after each trip, you
may be refused.
Although the various permutations of
VW and the B-1 visa may not be clearly
defined or perfectly matched to all legitimate
business purposes, they serve a critical role in
providing flexibility to the business traveler
in the early stages. At some point, it’s likely
to become necessary to consider work visa
options, like L-1 intra-company transfer
and E-1/E-2 for traders/investors. These
visa categories permit work and residence in
the US for applicants and their families and
spouses may obtain work authorization. In
some cases they pave the way to permanent
residence (’green card’). We’ll examine these
types of visas in detail in the next article in
the series.
O’Brien and Associates
O’Brien and Associates is an
energetic US business immigration
law firm providing dedicated
personal service to corporate clients,
executives, and professionals.
Established in New York City in the
late ’90’s, the firm opened an office
in Ireland in 2004 to better serve
an expanding Irish client base,
particularly in the technology sector.
Our client testimonials speak for
themselves. For further information
please visit our website, www.
obrienandassociates.com or contact
us to discuss your US visa options.
Teenage Tech Stars
Technology’s
Whizzkids
Will the web soon be taken over by a generation
of young tech-savvy millionaires?
Teenage Tech Stars
T
echnology as we know it has
never been more intuitive,
practical or informative than it
is today, even by the standard
of your average Luddite.
While most of us connect with the world
via smartphones before we even get out of
bed in the morning, the generation ahead of
us are still playing technological catch-up and
astonishingly, the generation nipping at our
heels are expanding and creating the technology
that we increasingly cannot do without.
In March 2013, London teenager Nick
D’Aloisio sold his app, Summly, to internet
giant Yahoo for an estimated £18m. At just
17, the teen created the app, which aggregates
news into bite-sized chunks, utilizing the
developing and coding expertise he acquired
thanks to a childhood that coincided with the
digital age. Growing up during the rise of the
web meant that exploring technology simply
became second nature.
That this teenager achieved such success
so young is indicative of the inextricable link
between young people today and technology’s
seamless integration into daily life. The
upsurge of the young tech entrepreneur looks
set to rise as a generation born and bred on
the net continues to shape its future.
A Generational Take-Over
It’s no surprise that the majority of the last
decade’s most successful tech entrepreneurs had
youth on their side. The creators of Facebook,
Wordpress, Mashable, Tumblr, Twitpic and
Mozilla Firefox were all 25 years old or younger
when they reached their unprecedented global
successes. However, the generation coming
behind seems intent on scaling the heights
much more quickly – today’s young tech-starts
are coming to prominence about a decade
earlier than their predecessors.
One such early learner is Cork’s Harry
Moran, who was the world’s youngest app
developer by the time he created his first app.
At just 13, Harry created PizzaBot, a game in
the vein of space-invaders that spurred Apple
to officially place the illustrious moniker on
the youngster. The app topped the iTunes
paid downloads chart, ahead of perennial
favorite Angry Birds, with such success that a
seasonal Christmas version was also created.
Moran learned his coding skills at the
“Ten years from
now, I think that
this generation will
have built their own
Facebooks, Twitters
and vasts amounts of
the games which they
play on mobile and
tablet.”
hugely popular CoderDojo, which has
gained considerable momentum around
Ireland. The classes teach coding expertise to
a barrage of tech-hungry youngsters and are
filling a gap that the education system hasn’t
yet fully grasped.
The free computer coding club was itself
founded by a teenager, James Whelton, in
2011 and has been effectively encouraging
young people to peel back the layers of the
internet, training them in the ways of app,
game and web development as well as coding
and programming ever since. Whelton set
up the first CoderDojo while still at school
after he “quickly saw the massive interest
in programming from people my own age,
younger and older.” Twenty year old Whelton
has also featured in Forbes’ prestigious ’30
under 30’ list of social entrepreneurs.
Chairman of the hugely popular online
game, Fight My Monster, Dylan Collins
believes that the trend of youngsters taking
control looks set to become the norm. “I’ve
seen kids at 10 and 11 who are now seriously
producing software,” he says. “I genuinely
think we’re seeing a generation emerging who
are going to be more disruptive than anything
else in the last 100 years.”
The initiative that young people seem
to be taking with regard to tech will likely
develop an inherent sense of self-sufficiency
that should see this generation in good stead
for the increasing expansion of Ireland’s
digital sector – in effect, a generation is
equipping itself with the skills required for
the ambitions they wish to attain.
The Success of the Start Up
The success of Limerick brothers John and
Patrick Collinson has been described by experts
as a statistical surpassing of all expectations,
having gained funding that’s above and beyond
the norm for Silicon Valley start-ups.
Their latest venture Stripe, a new online
payment form, raised US$18m in venture capital,
bringing its value to an estimated $100m.
The brothers initially founded a start-up
Whizzkids to Watch
Robert Nay
This American 14 year old
developed the iPhone app Bubble
Ball having only taught himself code
a few weeks beforehand. Based on
the laws of physics, the game has
been downloaded over 15 million
times, outranking Angry Birds more
than once.
Shane Curran
Shane Curran became one of
Ireland’s youngest CEOs last year
at the age of 12 when he launched
his software business Libramatic
for smartphone and web-based
library systems. A self-taught coder
since the age of six, Curran also
attended CoderDojo. The system is
being used in a number of schools
in Ireland and abroad and although
there are many interested buyers,
Curran has no plans to sell just yet.
Coalan Fleming
Europe’s youngest app developer,
Laois-born Coalan Fleming created
the game Rampage aged 11. The
game was his fourth creation and
was recently launched on the iOs and
Android app stores. Having taught
himself code from the age of nine,
the youngster now has a total of
seven games to his name, with three
available to download on Google Play.
Teenage Tech Stars
yearbook in 2005. Since then, MyYearbook’s
net worth has grown to $10m.
Pittsburgh’s Ryan Allis was only 11 years
old when his entrepreneurial instincts saw him
set up a computer services business charging
$5 an hour. Allis went on to co-found email
marketing software company iContact and
in 2012, he, along with his partners, sold the
business to Vocus for $169m, making him a 27
year old millionaire. Allis’ net worth currently
stands at a cool $40m.
The likes of Stripe, iContact and
MyYearbook.com were created out of a need
for something more efficient and streamlined
and more importantly, were created by natives
to the technology. Simple problem solving is at
the core, an approach very much in line with
Steve Jobs’ belief that everyone should learn
how to program in order to learn how to think.
Going Native
Nick D’Aloisio
Nick D’Aloisio, the 17 year old who
has sold an app to Yahoo for £20
million taught himself to code at the
age of 12. He later invented Summly,
an app that reduces lengthy news
stories to mobile-friendly snippets
and a prototype was sufficient to
attract a £200,000 investment from
Honk Kong billionaire Li Kashing.
A year later and his bank account
balance was in the black to the tune
of £20 billion.
Nick is now taking a sabbatical
from school with plans to return to
education at some unspecified time
in the future.
in 2007 which attracted Silicon Valley funding
and eventually saw an acquisition of €3.2m
from Canadian firm Live Current Media. The
deal instantly propelled the duo to millionaire
status at just 17 and 19 years of age.
Another set of siblings, Catherine and
Dave Cook, founded MyYearbook.com at
just 15 and 17 years old respectively – today,
their creation is America’s third most popular
social network. After securing investment
of $250,000 from their older brother, they
managed to launch their interactive school
The distinct advantage that today’s digital
natives have is that never before has it been
possible to simply delve into an industry with
no prior experience and be judged on merit
rather than age or qualification. No other
sector has really evolved to be quite as open or
accessible as IT.
These youths have grown up with technology
and are often self-taught due to a genuine
curiosity in the digital platforms their lives are
increasingly displayed and dependent upon – in
effect, this DIY movement is steadily growing
and being curated by its enthusiastic creators.
Dylan Collins describes the leverage
that this generation has over the rest as
second-mover advantage. “They can build on
frameworks that simply weren’t available ten
years ago at a cost which is a tiny fraction of
what it once was. They’re also not stuck with
legacy tech on desktop browsers; they can go
straight to tablet and mobile.”
Just how far these natives are going to
go and how young the kids at the helm will
be, remains to be seen. “Kids are already
disrupting the global entertainment industry
through their (user-driven) activity in Moshi
Monsters, Angry Birds and others,” explains
Collins. “I think it’s highly likely that the next
Notch (founder of online game Minecraft) is
going to be very young, somewhere between
12-15. Ten years from now, I think that
this generation will have built their own
Grand Ambition
Jordan Casey, a 13 year old
computer whiz kid from County
Waterford caught the eye
of Dragons and technology
entrepreneurs Barry O’Sullivan and
Sean O’Sullivan when he appeared
on Dragon’s Den seeking investment
for his Gaming company. Jordan
announced himself as a rising star in
the Gaming World when he became
one of Europe’s youngest IOS app
developers following the launch of
his game Alien Ball Vs Humans on
the app store. He taught himself to
code at the age of nine and his goal
is now to build up the company and
make it one of the largest gaming
companies in the world.
Facebooks, Twitters and vasts amounts of the
games which they play on mobile and tablet.”
With no experience of the world prior
to the internet, this assertive cohort has the
benefit of knowing no constraints – if they
can learn it, they can create it; they can push
boundaries and solve problems. The future of
digital is in very capable hands indeed.
Teenage Tech Stars
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Technology Start-Ups
Start-Up Success
Anna Scally, partner in KPMG provides an overview of the factors which should
be considered by young entrepreneurs intent on setting up a technology
business and presents the options available in terms of raising finance.
W
ith over 1000 jobs
announced since the
start of this year by
technology companies
operating in Ireland,
the Country’s status as a global technology
hub remains buoyant despite the economic
downturn. It remains an area of great
opportunity and potential for Irish business.
Unfortunately there is one hurdle on the
route to success that is still tripping up many
otherwise brilliantly creative, tech savvy
entrepreneurs. It’s what’s often considered
“the boring stuff ” that is managing their
financial and tax affairs efficiently.
There are lots of highly motivated people
intensely focusing on their product but not
paying nearly enough attention to sources of
finance and getting tax matters right at the
very start. Time given to financial planning
is never wasted and the sooner you bite the
bullet and really get to know your company’s
financial needs the better.
Right from the very beginning, and in order
to accelerate growth, having sufficient capital is
vital. Money can come from many sources and it
is important to understand the range of options
that are available to companies.
Sources of capital
Smart Working Capital management is critical
and can significantly increase the cash available
to companies. For example, might you be able
to get customers to pay in advance? If not, how
quickly are you following up with customers
to secure payment? Do you understand the
VAT cycle and have you taken steps to secure
payment before you have to pay the VAT over
to the Revenue?
Banks can also be a useful source of
capital and they are lending to ambitious
companies with strong growth prospects.
Enterprise Ireland also provides a range
of options to assist growing technology
businesses. From feasibility and competitivestart funding for very early stage companies
right through to larger scale equity
investments. There are also a number of
private individuals or “business angels” or
strategic investors that companies should seek
out who are often very willing to support
ambitious and growing businesses.
Seed and venture capital can also be
another excellent
source of funding
for dynamic
businesses. Ireland
has a vibrant seed
and venture capital
industry and
venture capitalists
are currently active
at all stages of
the development
curve from early
seed funding to
later IPO funding
rounds. In addition
to the domestic
venture capital
participants
a number of
international
firms are now very
active in the Irish
market, some of
whom have been
facilitated by the
Innovation Fund
Ireland.
Not all
capital is
equal
Securing capital is
important. Making sure it is the right type of
capital for your business is equally important. It
is tempting to gratefully grab hold of whatever
capital is available. But you really do need to
take the long term view. You need to be happy
with your sources of capital and the partners you
pick up as a result. You need to trust that they
understand your business and the environment
in which you operate. Ideally you need to be
able to maintain a good working relationship
with them through the inevitable ups and
downs that are part of building any business.
For growing and accelerating technology
companies you should also consider what
other benefits you might be able to secure
from your finance providers. Strategic
guidance and mentoring, industry experience
and opportunities to secure introductions
to new clients and partners are some of the
additional benefits certain finance providers
can bring to your business.
Anna Scally is a Partner in KPMG in Ireland [email protected]
It pays to get the
admin right
An essential aspect of running any successful
business is ensuring that you remain compliant.
Your accounting records and audited accounts,
where relevant, together with all of your tax
affairs must be managed correctly. I know
this is not the most enticing of prospects for
entrepreneurs focused on building innovative
and creative products and services. But, it is
important and you don’t want to fall foul of
certain accounting and tax regulations. Equally
as important as not getting into trouble,
is making sure you are not missing out on
opportunities to secure some really useful tax
incentives and reliefs specifically designed for
growing technology businesses.
Helpful taxation
Not all taxation is about taking away. Sometimes
tax gives you something back. For example,
where companies are fortunate to be in a profit
making position, they may be able to earn profits
of up to €320,000 in any one year without
having to pay any corporation tax. This Start-Up
relief is available for the first 3 years of business.
R&D Credits
In addition the research and development (R&D)
tax credit can be a really valuable incentive for
growing technology companies. It provides
companies with a credit of €25 for every €100
spent on qualifying R&D. The relief is available
for R&D activities carried out in a wide range
of areas including software development,
engineering, computer science and mathematical
modelling. So being aware of and accessing this
tax credit can be of huge benefit to ambitious
technology companies.
Where the company is tax-paying, the credit
is used to reduce their corporate tax liability.
And where it is loss making, but employs
staff and pays payroll taxes, then the company
can receive a cash refund from the Revenue
authorities. It is now also possible for companies
to pass the tax credit onto key employees
who have been actively involved in the R&D
process. This can enable companies to provide
a really attractive remuneration package for key
individuals involved in R&D activities.
they may be entitled to claim a refund of
income tax paid in the previous 6 years.
The EIIScheme
It’s not all plain sailing with tax and the rules
can be complicated and do tend to change
quite often so whether its accessing tax based
incentives or just making sure that your tax
affairs are in order, be it your corporate tax, your
payroll taxes and your VAT, it really is important
that you pay sufficient attention to them.
I’ve tried in this short article to outline the
key finance and taxation issues you need to
consider. Much more detail is available in our
guide “Start-Up Success: A Guide to Growing
Your Technology Business” which is available
online at www.kpmg.ie. It deals with the
fundamentals for success including - raising
finance, accessing incentives, remunerating key
talent, meeting your tax compliance obligations
and doing business overseas.
Paying attention to the “dull stuff ” early
enough, often enough and in enough detail
can make building a successful business a
whole lot easier and allow you to really reap
the rewards your creativity and innovation
deserves. Good luck!
Linking both tax and access to capital, the
Employment and Investment Incentive
scheme (EII) can prove a very attractive way
to access funding. Businesses can raise up to
€10,000,000 through EII with a maximum
amount of €2,500,000 capable of being raised
in any 12 month period. Investors secure tax
relief on their investment and there is no
clawback of that relief where they remain
invested for 3 years or more. Total tax relief of
up to 41% is available to individual investors,
30% of which is available when the shares are
issued and the balance of 11% is awarded after
the 3 year period expires.
Seed capital relief
Seed capital tax relief can also be a very
attractive for an entrepreneur setting up
a business. Where an employee leaves
employment and invests in their new company,
Keeping yourself
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Inward Investment
A Beacon For FDI
Ireland is a global beacon for FDI and the team at AIB Foreign
Direct Investment believe there is scope for further growth.
I
reland continues to be a global
beacon when it comes to foreign
direct investment (FDI). Last year
alone, IDA Ireland (Industrial
Development Agency), Ireland’s
inward investment promotion agency, created
a total of 12,722 new jobs.
Most of the leading companies in the
world are located in Ireland, including:
• 8 of the top 10 ICT companies
• 9 of the top 10 Pharmaceutical companies
• 17 of the top 25 Medical Device companies
• More than 50% of the world’s leading
financial services companies
It’s hard to over-emphasize the
importance of multinational companies to the
health of Ireland Inc. They now account for
over 75% of total Irish exports. Raw statistics
don’t always tell the truth, but consider the
fact that when Irish exports rose by 5% in
2011, it accounted for a 1.4% rise in GDP.
And in 2012, a further growth of 3% in
exports was reported - despite the UK and
Eurozone entering recession.
The importance of FDI
in Ireland
Another measuring stick of the importance
of Irish exports – spearheaded by our
multinationals – is that they represent a
massive 105% of GDP (Gross Domestic
Product). The graph above illustrates just how
solidly our exports have performed.
Why invest in Ireland?
In 2011, Forbes ‘Best Countries for Business’
report named Ireland as the best country in
Europe in which to do business.
There are a number of reasons for this,
including the availability of a talented and
well-educated English-speaking workforce
well-educated English-speaking workforce
other just 12.5% is a major attraction. Add in
Exports as % of GDP
UK
Germany
France
Greece
Italy
Ireland
Portugal
Spain
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
Source: Thompson Datastream
which has a reputation for attributes such as
flexibility, creativity, and innovation.
We also enjoy an excellent track record.
The number of businesses who have already
chosen Ireland to do business speaks for
itself, and many of these companies can now
be counted among our strongest advocates
back in their home markets.
Another plus factor for setting up in
Ireland is the fact that government policy over
a number of decades has been to establish
an economic environment which encourages
growth, facilitates foreign investment and allows
business and entrepreneurship to flourish.
Delivering for business
The most obvious proof of this pro-business
regime is our corporate tax level, which at
just 12.5% is a major attraction. Add in
other incentives such as our R&D tax credit
and intellectual property regime and it’s not
surprising to see why we’re such a favored
FDI destination.
We’ve also made huge strides in recent
years in terms of our competitiveness. This spans
everything from energy, private rents, office rents,
services and construction to labor costs.
Opportunities for the next
decade and beyond.
Have we now reached a peak – or is there further
scope for growth? According to Diarmuid
O’Neill, Head of AIB Corporate Banking
Ireland, it’s very definitely a case of the latter.
“I expect that the traditional FDI sectors
such as pharma, manufacturing and financial
services will continue to play a very important
part in Ireland’s FDI growth. Side by side
Inward Investment
with this, however, other areas, such as Digital
& Global Services, Clean Tech, High Tech
Manufacturing and Research, Development and
Innovation will also make a significant impact.”
O’Neill also references the comment by
President Clinton at last year’s Invest in Ireland
Forum: “You’d have to be nuts not to take
advantage of the unique investment opportunity
presented by one of the most business-friendly
countries in the world, with the youngest,
best-educated workforce in Europe and an
unemployment pool of 14 percent.”
andl documentation and any technical and
Portugal
Spain
Ireland
UK
Eurozone
The importance of SEPA
The evolution of the Single Euro Payments Area
(SEPA) presents yet another great opportunity
for US businesses investing in Ireland to
consolidate their pan-European collections and
payables into one location, using AIB.
According to Mick Murray, Head of AIB’s
FDI unit, “Gone are the days of having to open
and maintain bank accounts in many banks,
in many countries across Europe, or having
to store complicated and varying standards of
bank account data for suppliers. In fact, all bank
accounts in Europe are now identified by two
pieces of data - a SWIFT Code (BIC) and
International Bank Account Number (IBAN),
which can be validated at source.”
Over the last 30 years, AIB has built up
valuable experience dealing with the Cash
Management requirements of US Multinationals (especially post SOX). Murray points to
the Bank’s intimate knowledge of how important
costs, efficiency, visibility and security controls are
to the disbursement process. “We also know how
important it is to lever off the investment already
made by corporations in their ERP (Enterprise
Resource Planning) systems by ‘connecting’ to the
bank in as automatic a fashion as possible.”
Italy
France
Greece
-15
-12
-9
-6
-3
3
6
9
12
15
110
Source: EU Commission, November 2012
The support of a
Relationship
Management Team
Diarmuid O’ Neill,
Head of Corporate Banking Ireland.
Setting up operations overseas can be a
complicated process, but Murray points
to the assistance AIB offers – including
a Relationship Management Team (with
a single point of contact) to provide
hands-on support for all key aspects of
the process, including helping with the
legal documentation and any technical
operational matters that arise.
The AIB Foreign Direct Investment
Team provides financial services to more
inward investment companies in Ireland
than any other financial institution. It boasts
over 30 years specialist sector knowledge
across industries such as Life Sciences, Med
Tech, Pharma, ICT, Digital Media, Business
Services, Clean Tech and Consumer Products.
Unit Labour Costs 2009-2013 (% Change)
Mick Murray,
Head of AIB Foreign Direct Investment
For more information on SEPA and setting up in
Ireland, please contact either Diarmuid O’Neill
at diarmuid.e.o’[email protected] or Mick Murray at
[email protected]
Terms and conditions apply. Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. is
regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
Venture Capital
Venturing
forward
As one of the most powerful venture
capital firms in Silicon Valley,
Andreessen Horowitz is now working
with Google to encourage a new
generation of start-up entrepreneurs
to build applications for Google’s
new breakthrough Glass platform.
Venture Capital
B
ased in Menlo Park, Andreessen
Horowitz co-founders Ben
Horowitz and Marc Andreessen,
raised $2.7 billion within three
years of starting the venture
capital firm in 2009.
Andreessen Horowitz holds stock in
some of the highest-valued, privately held
social media companies, including Facebook,
Groupon, Twitter, Airbnb, App.net, Jawbone,
Skype and Zynga.
“Marc and I share a simple belief that
became the basis for our new venture capital
firm: In general, founding CEOs perform better
than professional CEOs over the long-term,
and a venture capital firm that enables founding
CEOs to succeed would help build the best
companies and yield superior investment
returns,” Horowitz recalls.
In 2011 alone, Andreessen Horowitz
hosted more than 600 portfolio presentations to
corporate customers and partners at their office
in Menlo Park. These presentations resulted in
more than 3,000 introductions between portfolio
companies and prospective Fortune 500/Global
2000 senior executives.
“We’ve built relationships with over 4,000
engineers, designers and product managers, and
we’ve made more than 1,300 introductions to our
portfolio companies, resulting in 130 hires within
the portfolio,” Horowitz enthuses.
Through these practices, the firm has been
able to help founders develop critical CEO skills
and wield networks as broad and powerful as the
best professional CEOs. “And that is why we
have become a popular firm among founders,”
Horowitz says.
The Glass Collective
Andreessen Horowitz recently announced its
participation in a new project called the Glass
Collective. Along with Google Ventures and
Kleiner Perkins, the firm is working with Google
to encourage a new generation of start-up
entrepreneurs to build applications for Google’s
new breakthrough Glass platform.
Glass is a new wearable computing product
and platform being developed by Google. The
thesis of Glass is profoundly transformational —
to integrate connectivity and information directly
into your field of vision and into your normal
daily life, Andreessen says.
“Instead of having a phone in your pocket
or a tablet in your briefcase, why not have the
Internet in your field of vision when you want
it — and why not feed the Internet with live
video and audio that matches what you see
and hear at any time.”
According to Andreessen, the exciting
part about the Glass Collective is that “just
like with the Internet and smartphones, a huge
amount of that work will be done by third-party
developers, who are going to have in Glass
a brand new platform and springboard for
creativity to play with.”
“And so with the Glass Collective, we are
open for business ([email protected]) to
seed fund start-ups to build the first generation
of amazing Glass applications,” he adds.
Andreessen knows both sides of the start-up
game. As graduates in the 1990s, he and his
partners went hat in hand to venture capitalists
in Silicon Valley to fund their new project, the
breakthrough web browser Netscape Navigator.
Within 18 months, the enterprise had gone
public and Andreessen had become a symbol of
the internet generation.
Irishman John O’Farrell became a venture
capitalist in 2010, when he joined Andreessen
Horowitz, and he has built up a strong following as
a prolific blogger, offering advice to entrepreneurs.
A partner at Andreessen Horowitz along
with Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, Jeff
Jordan, Peter Levine, Scott Weiss and Chris
Dixon, Dublin-born O’Farrell says that “over the
last 15 years, I’ve been fortunate to play a key role
at three high-growth start-ups that have grown
to substantial scale and had a significant impact
on the world in different ways.”
Pioneering Broadband
From 1997 to 2001, O’Farrell founded and
ran the international business for @Home
Network, “a company co-founded by Kleiner
Perkins’s John Doerr and the largest US cable
companies that pioneered the broadband
Internet we take for granted today. “My
international division grew to $70 million in
revenue, 280,000 broadband customers and
500 employees in 10 countries,” he says.
O’Farrell joined his now co-partners
Andreessen and Horowitz at Loudcloud, the
original cloud computing company, right after a
spectacularly difficult IPO in 2001.
In his blog, Horowitz has written about
the exciting times they went through together:
Downsizing and restructuring in a brutal
recession; managing to sell all of their revenue,
all of their liabilities, and 140 employees to
EDS; restarting as Opsware, a data center
software company with a massive software
license from EDS; acquiring four companies,
partnering with Cisco, NTT, NEC and HP,
and building an exceptional product and
sales organization to create a $100M+/year
enterprise. Finally, they negotiated a sale to HP
in 2007 for $1.6 billion, in a great outcome for
the shareholders, customers and employees who
stuck with them.
“Over six-and–a half years, I got the chance
to participate in all of these extraordinary
events first-hand, and to lead all of our major
partnerships and M&A transactions personally.
After Opsware and prior to Andreessen
Horowitz, I spent about two years at another large
high-growth start-up that’s applying the latest
communications and information technology to
transform the world’s electricity grid,” he says.
At Silver Spring Networks, O’Farrell
and his team led the initiative to take the
company global, from developing the initial
cross-company strategy to a detailed multiyear operational plan and initial projects in
Latin America, Europe and Asia.
In another impressive development for the
firm, Andreessen Horowitz recently named
long-time Silicon Valley executive Ken Coleman
– a mentor to co-founder Ben Horowitz – as a
special adviser. In 1986, Coleman, who was then
the head of administration at Silicon Graphics,
hired a 20-year-old Horowitz as a summer intern,
giving him his first job in the computer industry.
Coleman went on to become the chief
operating officer of Silicon Graphics and he
is currently chairman of the business analytics
company Saama Technologies and is also on the
boards of City National Bank, United Online
and Accelrys. Coleman is Andreessen Horowitz’s
third special adviser, joining former Washington,
D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty and former Secretary
of the Treasury and President Emeritus of
Harvard University Lawrence Summers.
The firm’s reputation with founders
has enabled its team to invest in great
entrepreneurs building the great new
technology companies, and the demand from
entrepreneurs has come in all stages and sizes,
as great founders everywhere want to be the
best CEO that they can be and work with
Andreessen Horowitz to help them do that.
Mcor Technologies
3D Print Revolution
Co-founder and CEO of Mcor Technologies, Dr. Conor MacCormack
tells Silicon Valley Global magazine how his company has become a
global player in the 3D print market.
I
n 2005, Dr. Conor and Fintan
MacCormack took a leap of faith to
set up Mcor Technologies. Leaving
their roles in mechanical and
electrical engineering respectively,
the brothers set about developing a business
solution to democratize innovation by
creating a set of accessible tools based on
Selective Deposition Lamination (SDL)
technology. The aim was to create an
environment whereby anyone could easily, and
cost-effectively, turn their ideas into low cost,
full color, eco-friendly 3D objects.
Eight years on and the company has
not only realized its initial vision, it has
grown to become one of the world’s leading
providers of 3D printers – a recent deal with
stationery giant Staples reaffirms Mcor’s
global standing. “In the beginning we looked
closely at the industry and found that there
was a requirement for an entry level player that
offered a service where customers didn’t have to
worry so much about running costs anymore,”
explains Conor MacCormack, co-founder and
CEO. “Up to that point, 3D printing was the
preserve of the very few – while the price of
machines was coming down, the operating
costs were heading significantly northwards
to a point where a litre of material going into
the technology of our competitors was more
expensive than gold! This prevented designers,
for example, from running four or five different
designs and discarding the options that they
didn’t want to pursue. Effectively, such high
running costs were a limiting and debilitating
factor for the whole industry. Our solution
changed that.”
In 2008, Mcor Technologies, now with a
product ready for market, received almost two
million hits on its website in just 10 days – it
was clear that there was an appetite out there
for a more user-friendly, cost-effective solution.
However, the company, just like many other
businesses, felt the brunt of the economic
downturn almost immediately when orders
started to be shelved. “Thankfully, we have a
global product,” says MacCormack. “Originally
our aim was to sell in Ireland and the UK,
which would have given us a greater level of
control over the organic growth of the business.
However, when the recession hit we were just
about to go into production with a number of
orders that were subsequently canceled due to
budget constraints; we realized very quickly
then that we had to expand our sales network.
While that is good in one sense, in another
it was very difficult – we regularly received
enquiries from China, America and Australia
but we didn’t have the infrastructure or a
dealer to work on our behalf in any of those
jurisdictions at that stage.”
Worldwide Operation
Providing an almost world-wide service
is an integral part of operations today for
MacCormack and the team – indeed, since
the deal with Staples was announced in
November last year, Mcor Technologies has
been rarely out of the global spotlight. Staples,
using Mcor’s IRIS (a 3D printer with the
highest color capability in the industry), now
offers consumers, product designers, architects,
healthcare professionals, educators, students
and others access to low-cost, brilliantly
colored, photo-realistic 3D printed products
at its retail network. “Until our deal with
Staples, 3D printers had been selling their
services almost exclusively to skilled designers,
large architect firms and major players in
the engineering sector – our offering with
Staples sent huge shockwaves throughout
Mcor Technologies
the industry. In fact, we distributed two press
releases in that same week about our new
machine and 700 media outlets picked it up.
More specifically, 86 stories were written
about it and we had 14,000 unique hits on
our website per day in that period, which
translated into 1,500 sales.
While Mcor has almost single-handedly
been responsible for a revolution in 3D
printing, its aim now is to become recognized
the world over as the most affordable
and most accessible 3D printing solution.
“Our goal now is to focus our efforts on
creating a dealer network all over the world,”
notes MacCormack. “Once we have the
infrastructure in place with viable distribution
capability, we can then concentrate on
ramping up. Right now our sales are up
600% – we have to ensure, therefore, that the
company is positioned correctly to meet an
ever growing demand. For us, it’s all about
growth and expanding into new markets.”
Assistance with growth
MacCormack recognizes the role that the
Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG)
has had in helping the firm to achieve its
objectives. A finalist in the ITLG’s Company
of the Year awards in April 2011, the company
has secured over $2m investment from the
Irish Technology Capital Fund, the angel
investment fund headed by ITLG President
and technology entrepreneur John Hartnett.
Furthermore, John Ryan, Irish CEO and
founder of copy protection behemoth
Macrovision joined the company as chairman
having been introduced to the company
through the ITLG. “The Irish Technology
Leadership Group has an immense desire to
help Irish companies,” MacCormack says.
“Being a part of such a group helps us to
create a presence and gain exposure in Silicon
Valley, which is a massive boon for a company
like ours – it opened the doors we needed and
from there it was up to us to sell our business
and our products. It’s extremely difficult
to cold call, but the ITLG facilitated the
introductions that we needed.”
“We also managed to secure the services
of John Ryan as chairman, who has been a
fantastic addition to the company. Up until
John came on board, a lot of our time spent
talking to investors wasn’t hitting home –
generally, a technical pitch on our product
was not what they were looking for. John,
being the tremendous business man that he
is, helped us hone our proposition. Also, his
track record in this field is unparalleled – to
have somebody who has so much experience
in developing new products and filing patents
gives us a position of significant competitive
advantage.”
Mcor Technologies, which has recently
transformed itself from purely R&D based to
a full production and manufacturing entity,
is one of the many success stories to develop
in Ireland in recent years. With state support,
the company has grown exponentially
from its beginnings almost 10 years ago in
MacCormack’s living room. “In my opinion,
we definitely made the right decision to base
ourselves in Ireland,” he recalls. “Of course,
there are challenges now when it comes to
financing new businesses in Ireland but with
investment and with a good, solid product,
the supports available are tremendous. Add
to that the highly-skilled programmers that
we have here (although these are very hard
to come by), and the environment is certainly
conducive to creating a successful business.”
“However, it’s more than just the financial
assistance and the workforce that we continue
to be impressed with, the soft supports go a
long way too – when we met our first dealer
in Germany for example, Enterprise Ireland
brought along a translator to help in our
negotiations. For me, things like that are very
important because as a start-up, you need all
the help you can get to convince dealerships
to lean in your direction. All of this has helped
us to get to where we are today.”
Investments
Investment in Ireland
John Mention, Arthur Cox outlines some of the “Non Tax”
Drivers which encourage inward investment in Ireland.
I
reland’s success in attracting US
investment has traditionally been
associated with the low headline rate
of Irish corporation tax, generous
R&D incentives and the general open
business environment, which is similar in
approach to the US business environment.
A number of new “Non Tax” drivers have
emerged which are attracting US investment
into Ireland – mainly around sector specific
benefits that have developed in a number
of areas including medical device/medtech,
Internet, managing intellectual property and
corporate migrations. In this article we will
highlight some examples of sectors where
there are significant business/regulatory/legal
advantages for US corporations to establish
operations in Ireland (under-pinned by the
prevailing low corporate tax environment).
Data Privacy (Internet)
US Internet businesses establishing European
operations have to navigate the European
Data Privacy (Data Protection) laws that can
apply when data about living individuals is
processed. There are significant differences in
the practical implementation/enforcement of
these European Data Protection laws across
the 27 countries of the European Union.
The prevailing Data Protection regulatory
and operating environment is a key factor for
“internationalizing” social media/internet/
cloud/medical data corporations to consider
when determining a location for an operation
outside the USA. If the wrong jurisdiction
is chosen then it can greatly add to the cost,
bureaucracy, the time and effort required to
establish and maintain the operation and may
ultimately paralyze the business model.
The Irish data protection environment
is widely seen as being a balanced regulatory
environment where the rights of individuals
(whose data is being processed) are protected
while at the same time balancing them against
Investments
the legitimate business interests of “born on
the Internet” companies engaged in global
data processing. In Ireland, the emphasis has
tended to be on the practical implementation
of the EU Data Protection Rules, while issues
of bureaucracy (e.g. filing notifications with the
regulator) are kept to a minimum. As Ireland is
the European headquarters for many Internet
companies, the Irish data protection regulator
has extensive experience of working with and
understanding the social/media and Internet
industries. The regulator is regarded as being
both firm and pragmatic and willing to work
with corporations to ensure compliance with
European data protection laws and to find
compliant solutions that protect the interests of
individuals without constraining corporations to
the point where they cannot operate.
The breadth of experience that the
regulator has accumulated in the fast
developing social media/internet space
(including having completed full data privacy
audits on Facebook) means that there is no
“learning curve” for the Irish regulator when
dealing with repeat issues relevant to Internet
companies setting up a first international
operation (whether it is dealing with cookies,
data breaches, privacy policies etc). While
the regulator has taken firm action against
corporations that have openly breached Irish/
EU data protection laws, he has not sought
to generate a revenue stream for his office by
repeatedly imposing large fines or seeking
to jail executives of subsidiaries for data
protection breaches (which has been the case
in a number of other European Countries).
The regulator does not currently have the
power to impose fines and his office tends
to exercise its statutory enforcement powers
(e.g. issuing enforcement notices or bringing
prosecutions) only where an attempt at
amicable resolution has been unsuccessful.
The Irish courts have tended also to regard
data privacy and data security primarily as
compliance issues and not as a vehicle for the
enrichment of plaintiffs. There is no “class
action” option available to plaintiffs in Ireland
and so civil litigation for damages based on
data protection compliance is rare.
In summary, the Irish regulator demonstrates
a pragmatic approach to ensuring that
corporations are compliant with applicable data
protection laws and at the same time he has
developed a significant knowledge base of dealing
with social media/internet operations which
helps take the “guess work” out of setting up in
Ireland, particularly for social media/internet
corporations. Such a regulatory environment
brings certainty to Internet companies
establishing a first operation in Europe.
Medical Devices/MedTech
Emerging medical device corporations are
increasingly looking to Europe as the key
location to obtain a “first” regulatory approval
for new medical devices. The potential cost
savings for such corporations of securing the
CE mark regulatory approval to allow the
marketing of such products in the European
Union is a key driver (as against the typical
cost and time it takes to obtain equivalent
FDA approval in the US). For many
corporations, the key to securing a trade sale
exit is to obtain the appropriate regulatory
approval in a cost and time effective manner in
at least one major market and, given the cost
and time savings of achieving such approval in
Europe as opposed to the US, many medical
device corporations are choosing the EU route
first (and basing themselves in Ireland).
However, the potentially more interesting
driver has been the approach taken by a
number of entrepreneurs to establish an Irish
“TopCo” as the ultimate parent of the Group.
This materially increases the attractiveness
of the Group for a trade sale to potential
buyers (particularly US multi-national
corporations) by allowing the potential buyers
to purchase “Non US” assets (i.e. stock in an
Irish corporation) and thereby usefully deploy
some of the surplus cash which is currently
maintained by US multi-nationals in foreign
subsidiaries. The advantage of doing so is that
the US multi-national may acquire the Irish
“TopCo” through a foreign subsidiary, using
that foreign subsidiary’s cash reserves and
avoiding the need to repatriate that cash to the
US, triggering US taxes.
It is estimated that corporate America
has approximately US$2 Trillion in non US
subsidiaries which, under current laws, will incur
US taxes if paid back to the US parent and
thus, finding ways to utilize this cash without
repatriation to the US is an important issue
for US multi-nationals. The establishment of
a group structure of an emerging corporation
with an Irish “TopCo” makes such an emerging
company an even more attractive target for
potential US multi-national buyers.
It is worth noting that most of the largest
US life sciences (and Internet) multi-national
corporations have existing Irish operations and/
or structures that can be used as the acquiring
vehicle for the purchase of an Irish “TopCo”. The
potential historical disadvantage of using a nonUS “TopCo” when it comes to raising venture
capital has, to a large extent, been navigated and
we have used structures to allow US venture
capital firms to invest in the Irish group via a
Delaware company. Therefore, with appropriate
structuring, it is possible to allow a US venture
capital firm to invest in the Irish group in a
manner that will be familiar to it and no less tax
efficient than existing investment structures.
With appropriate planning, the Irish Group
can also avail of specific intellectual property
tax planning that can further increase the
Internal Rate of Return for Venture Capital
Investors by 12+% of the incremental increase
in the value of intellectual property from the
base cost at the “startup” phase to the value
of the intellectual property at the date of the
exit. This not only enhances the return to the
venture capital investor on exit but also has the
added attractiveness to a multi-national buyer of
having the intellectual property already housed
in a tax efficient vehicle, minimizing corporate
taxes on exploitation of such intellectual
property and eliminating an issue of exit taxes
on moving the intellectual property at a later
(and more valuable) stage in its life.
Conclusion
In addition to the reasons given above,
Ireland continues to attract investment by
US companies because of the availability of
a skilled, educated and talented workforce,
membership of the EU /eurozone as well
as easy access to the large EU market,
convenience of its time-zone not to mention
its temperate climate making it a lower cost
jurisdiction for the location of data centers.
The tax regime has also played a role as it
gives the benefits of low effective corporate
tax rates, coupled with an on-shore, regulated
jurisdiction with a comprehensive tax treaty
network in a transparent and open tax
administration. The emergence of the new nontax drivers only contributes further to Ireland’s
continued attractiveness to US investors.
Gaming
Gone
Gaming
Gaming
A true gamer at heart,
Tom Murphy was a chess
champion at the age of 6.
He created Ireland’s most
successful social media
site in 2001 and when he
sold Boards.ie in 2008
it had grown to over
relatively young market and this fuels the
excitement of being able to influence it.”
Both Karl and Tom agree that Gone
Gaming isn’t your typical mobile company.
You need a well built, desirable product but
they are quick to stress that their ethos goes
a little further than that. “Discoverability is a
big challenge. There are great companies and
brilliant games that go undiscovered for a
host of reasons. We realize that our marketing
strategy is as important as the game itself
and we’ll try and give the game as much of a
chance as possible.”
Karl goes on to say that it’s not only
2 million unique Irish
users per month.
T
he creation of Gone Gaming
brought Tom together with
Karl Hutson, a graduate of
game design, with significant
expertise in data analytics and
experience with some gaming giants such as
Paddy Power and Devil Fish Poker.
Within months Gone Gaming has gone
from concept to a company that has launched,
The Jump: Escape the City, one of the most
successful Irish debut mobile games, worked
with Grammy award winning artists and
collaborated with design talent that boast
Disney, Dreamworks and 20th Century Fox
on their portfolio.
“I’ve played games all my life. I could play
chess before I learnt to write and even the
creation of Boards.ie sprung from its humble
beginnings as a community of gamers. The
move into games development seemed a natural
progression for me”. Indeed Murphy has had
software experience through his venture Spin
Solutions and was always close to the gaming
community through Boards.ie and the reach it
created. The explosion of mobile gaming was
always going to draw Tom’s attention.
Mobile gaming, Murphy says, is where
the focus is at the moment. “At this time
mobile gaming is where the games industry
is successful. Having access to millions of
potential customers almost instantly brings
huge opportunities. The potential I saw
with social media I see with mobile gaming.
Despite its undeniable success, it’s still a
about making a successful and fun game.
The technology goes beyond the customer
download. “We collect and analyze data that
is retrieved from devices after each gaming
session and use that data to deliver a better
and more tuned experience for our customers.
We believe that being able to shape the game
around the data makes Gone Gaming unique
in the marketplace and better positioned to
provide titles that the customer will not only
enjoy but will help create”.
It is this connection to the customer
that Karl and Tom have put to the forefront
of what defines Gone Gaming. Karl puts it
best when he says, “the explosion of mobile
platforms has transformed the way we live, no
more so than the mobile commerce of having
your very own shop in your pocket.”
Games development is still a business and
like all businesses you need to have a sound
business model and a clear understanding
of how to achieve it. For Gone Gaming one
of the earliest calls for support was made to
Enterprise Ireland. Successful applications for
Enterprise Ireland’s Feasibility Study funding
and later their Competitive Start Fund
provided seed capital that would help provide
the essential support necessary to get the first
game off the ground. Murphy adds, “They
were very positive towards us as a games
company, even more so than had we been a
regular software house. There is a great culture
of like-minded games companies all of which
help and collaborate with each other, all made
possible through Enterprise Ireland. We
believe that Ireland is one of the best places to
develop games. The support we received from
government agencies was a real plus and there
is no doubt that universities are starting to
produce the right people with the right skills.
We outsourced some of the development
process based on budgetary constraint but we
can see the day where we are employing home
grown talent across all the required skillsets”.
Indeed, some of the outsourcing included
Grammy award winning composer DJ Poet,
famed for work with The Black Eyed Peas
and others. Karl notes, “Music is a big part
of The Jump. We were keen to have it part of
the design process right from the start and his
music compliments the gameplay perfectly.”
Karl and Tom are clearly focused and
seem to have come a long way in the past
nine months. Now that they have had such
a success with their first game they are keen
to secure investment that will help them
grow the business and grow their presence
in the market. “We want to grow to a twelve
person company by the end of 2014 allowing
us to focus on multiple projects and give us
the capacity to react quickly to a fast paced
market. We want to forge alliances that can
help position us as one of the main players in
the mobile space.”
Tom’s comments are ambitious but his
recent successes are testament to someone
who not only has drive and ability but a
sense of what is possible and a mechanism to
achieve it.
Innovation Finals
Fast Pitch Battle
The Global Technology
Leaders Summit in Cork saw
fifty companies from around
Ireland pitch to leading Silicon
Valley Venture Capitalists for
the chance to be one of the 20
companies selected to travel
to Silicon Valley to secure
funding.
T
he companies gave six-minute
presentations to a panel of seasoned
investors including Barry O’Sullivan,
Cisco Systems, Sean O’Sullivan,
SOSVentures and Richard Moran,
CEO and Vice Chairman at Accretive Solutions
who said that “several of the pitches had a glimmer of
greatness”.
Mr Moran said Irish firms were comparable to their
Silicon-Valley-based counterparts in terms of passion,
with one essential difference that could hold back
the Irish entrepreneurs. “The ‘to infinity and beyond’
mentality is less ingrained in the Irish,” said Mr Moran.
He said that when it came to looking for venture
capital, this character trait could hold the Irish back, as
VCs want a slice of the biggest possible pie.
The president and founder of ITLG, John Hartnett,
said selecting companies in which to invest is like
horseracing, where the horse is the project and the
jockey is the team behind it. “It’s like a horserace. The
jockey is just as important as the horse. That’s not to
say that we are gambling when we invest,” said Mr
Hartnett.
Already, the ITLG fund managed by Mr Hartnett
has invested $5m (€3.75m) directly, while companies
that have gone through ITLG have won more than
$50m in investment.
The Fast Pitch Finalists
Twenty brave entrepreneurs
pitched their bold ideas for
investment to a veritable dragon’s
den of experienced investors.
Sean Cronin, 3Pro EnergyWatch
3Pro EnergyWatch has developed
a green IT software solution
that automates the shutdown
and hibernation of a company’s
computer systems, resulting in
significant cost savings and a lower
carbon footprint.
Sinéad Doherty, AnaBio
Technologies
Anabio Technologies provides
encapsulation expertise,
IP generation, commercial
manufacture and licensing for food,
pharma, animal and human health
nutrition markets.
Stephen McKeown, Analytics
Engines
Analytics Engines specializes in high
performance data analytics and
accelerated computing.
Gerard Forde, Bizimply
Bizimply is a cloud solution that
allows managers consolidate all
of their day to day operations
management in one place and lets
owners see all of their businesses
activity on one dashboard.
Charlie Sherlock, Cypro Software
Cypro Software develops
technology to protect industrial
control systems from cyber and
operational attacks.
Paul Healy, Fantom
An online sticker album solution,
Fantom lets brands engage and
reward their fans.
Stephen G. McGinley,
FarmFeeder
Farmfeeder offers automatic
agricultural and equine feeding with
telephone control.
Joseph Corcoran, Fortress
Payments
The Bray-based firm sought to
impress an international panel.
Paul McCarthy, Full Health
Medical
Full Health Medical condenses
advanced medical test results into
digestible, patient-friendly reports.
Howard Kingston, Future Ad Labs
Future Ad Labs is currently
developing PlayCaptcha, a
revolutionary new form of online
advertising.
Tim McCarthy, iGeotec
iGeotec has developed a highly
versatile geospatial platform
integrating mobile devices, remote
sensing, photogrammetry, RDBMS,
multimedia, spatial analysis and
visualization.
Philip Comerford, iMob Media
iMobMedia is at the forefront of
location based marketing, targeted
advertising, and churn and loyalty
solutions for mobile network
operators.
Charles Garvey, Metabolomic
Diagnostics
Working in partnership with UCC,
Metabolomic Diagnostics is seeking
to provide predictive diagnosis of
Preeclampsia in early pregnancy.
Innovation Finals
Tom Robinson, MOF Technologies
MOF Technologies develops highquality Metal Organic Frameworks
(MOFs), porous nano-materials for
lower carbon manufacturing and use.
Mark Burke, OptiWi-fi
OptiWi-fi delivers next generation
Wi-Fi monitoring and self-optimizing
solutions to Wi-Fi service providers,
mobile carriers and Wi-Fi equipment
manufacturers.
David O’Leary, Ripple
Technologies
Ripple Technologies has developed
a SaaS platform that provides
Actionable Live Intelligence©
through proprietary insights and
analytics. The company offers
customizable social plug-ins to build
social engagement across web,
mobile and social touch points.
Stan Kuznetsov, TEQNOCO NET
TEQNOCO is a USSD aggregator,
developer, and service provider
of direct mobile marketing and
mobile self-service solutions that
enable businesses to connect with
customers globally irrespective of
country, network or handset in order
to boost sales or to provide mobile
self-care capabilities on every phone.
Pat Phelan, Trustev
Trustev offers real time, online
identity verification using unique
social fingerprinting for secure
transactions.
Derek Counihan, VoucherLink
VoucherLink allows users to send gift
vouchers from local businesses to
friends and family.
Stephen Slattery, Zeto
Zeto was founded in 2011 to
design multi-vendor commercial
refrigeration management systems
for the global refrigeration industry.
iMobMedia
D
elivering your proposition, at the Right
Time to the Right Person in the Right
location with the Right Offer.
iMobMedia uses Geo-Location
technology to enable Mobile Network
Operators, Agencies, Brands and Retailers to
connect with customers at the right time with
the right offer in right place via SMS, MMS
and Push notifications into branded apps.
iMobMedia have delivered 4 TIMES increase
in Redemption rates compared to the standard
contact solutions, currently being deployed.
Our Solutions:
Customer Retention Management (Churn):
Enables mobile operators to run customer
retention management campaigns whereby
customers with a high propensity to churn,
or just reaching contract end, to receive offers
when they are in the vicinity of, for example, a
Mobile Operators store or retail outlet.
Customer Lifecycle Management
(Loyalty):
The solution offers a new look on customer
loyalty and will be central to the mobile
operators customer lifecycle management in
relation to acquisition, loyalty and up selling.
Direct Marketing (DM):
Allows a mobile operator to leverage, user
profile and preference to generate new revenue
streams through brands, agencies and retailers.
Location Based Marketing & Advertising:
Allows a mobile operator to leverage user
real-time location, through privacy profile and
preferences to generate new revenue streams
selling to Brands, Agencies and Retailers.
Consultancy:
Underpinned by our unique End-to-End
fully managed design, deployment and
commercialization service.
The IMobMedia Team:
• Executive Chairman, Brendan Conway
who has 30 years experience in the
automotive, navigation, GPS Fleet
Management and Mobile Telco
distribution, sales and marketing industry.
• Philip Comerford, CEO who has 20
years experience in the telecoms industry.
Philip was Head of Innovation at
Telefonica o2, and Ericsson Germany
and Italy.
• Richard Wheatley, CCO. A trained
chartered accountant with Deloitte.
Previously Commercial Controller at
Vodafone Ireland and 20:20 Mobile.
The company’s key focus now is
commercialization. iMobMedia already have
one global Telco client and intend to add two
further MNO’s in 2013 with their existing
product solutions.
Email: [email protected] Twitter: @IMM_net
www.linkedin.com/company/imobmedi
Innovation Finals
Beyond Software
A
nalytics Engines provides
the capability to boost server
performance and move data analytics
from rear view and retrospective to real time
and predictive. We enable faster analytics on
customer data sets with hardware acceleration
at higher data volumes and lower cost. A
single accelerator can out perform up to 24
high-end processor cores.
We have partnered with; 1 of the top 3
enterprise software companies, 1 of the top
6 medical imaging companies, and 3 of the
top 20 aerospace and security companies, to
deliver acceleration solutions. Contact us to
find out how we can help you do the same.
(Analytics Engines is an ITLG top 20 fast
pitch company)
Belfast, N. Ireland. [email protected]
analyticsengines.com T: +44.28.9066.9022
Innovation Finals
Introducing TEQNOCO
T
eqnoco Net Ltd. is a
telecommunications company based
in the west of Ireland and has been
in business for almost three years. It provides
companies with a telecommunications
channel to connect with their customers on
any mobile phone anywhere in the world.
Some of their major blue-chip clients include
E-Transactions and Badoo, with Teqnoco
involved in markets all over the globe.
Every business has problems to solve,
whether it’s revenue, or customer service.
Teqnoco provides a single cloud-based
platform, branded as Messaging365, that
enables the creation of simple text based but
very effective mobile applications allowing
worldwide interaction with customers or
employees on any GSM phone free of charge
to the end-user.
“We provide a platform for the business
that contains a technology supported by
almost all mobile phones worldwide. We
offer a web-based interface or API to
develop services using that technology whilst
providing accessibility to majority mobile
networks worldwide,” explains founder Stan
Kuznetsov. “The potential for use is huge,
for example, in banking, mobile commerce,
customer surveys, voting and mobile alerts for
account activity or one time passwords.”
Stan, who holds degrees in economics
and business administration and has over 20
years experience in business management,
moved to Ireland in 2002 from Belarus, with
ambitions to start his own company. After
working in various sectors he started his
first venture MiTAG in 2008, a predecessor
of TEQNOCO. In 2010 he completed an
enterprise course through the Innovation in
Business Centre in Castlebar, County Mayo,
where his business is now based. His expertise
is backed up by two of his other colleagues,
who have extensive experience as senior IT
engineers in the Telecom industry. They are
responsible for core telecom and the Platform
development side. The company has also lined
up Channel Partners in the UK, Singapore
and Ivory Coast who act as a sales channel
within those markets.
In recent months Stan has launched a
new venture, Dial4Help.net, a personal alarm
service using your mobile to instantly alert
family, friends and neighbors to get their help
when in danger or needing assistance. Instant
help is summoned by pressing the speed dial
on your phone so help can be summoned
quickly by voice and text alerts for a faster
response.
It has a wider impact when used in
communities, “by using our mobile phone
technology we can assist whole communities
to feel safer especially those who live on their
own or in remote areas. At the push of a
button, we can send a pre-set text and voice
message to your
support network,
whether friends
or family, asking
for immediate
assistance. If you
have had a fall
and need help
you can use speed
dial to send a
message for help
to your neighbor.
Instead of waiting
at least 20-30 minutes for emergency services
to arrive, your friends and neighbors could
be at the scene to assist you within minutes.
Given the recent closures of local Police
stations I realized there was a real need to
give people peace of mind and to feel safe and
secure in their own home. It’s very affordable,
easy to use and gives you and your family
members’ peace of mind.”
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny gave his
approval to Dial4Help’s innovative Personal
Alarm Service and said “It is a great service
and I would recommend it to anyone as a must
have utility, as I can see the benefits in it”.
Stan plans to add additional features to
the product, such as video surveillance from
a web-cam on your PC or laptop along with
geo-location of your mobile phone. Plans are
already afoot to expand the telecoms business
internationally, with a new HQ projected to be
opened in Silicon Valley in the near future. This
office will offer an extended range of services.
More @ www.teqnoco.com, www.dial4help.net and
www.messaging365.com
Innovation Finals
Expansion
Since 2010 we’ve grown our business to over
100 corporate and public sector clients in
Ireland and the UK.
3Pro EnergyWatch Ltd will be at the ITLG
Global Technology Leaders Summit seeking
new investment to grow their Business in the
North American market. We are looking forward
to meeting potential distribution partners, agents
and investors as we extend The Green Button
Campaign to the global audience.
Benefits to Business
Organisations
Savings at your fingertips
I
n today’s dynamic business environment,
IT is a core element in almost every
organization. But the costs and overall
environmental impact of running the
required IT infrastructure are growing, and
electricity prices are forecast to increase in
the short, medium and long-term.
While keeping a sharp focus on cost
reduction, organizations are increasingly
aware of their social responsibility to limit
their carbon footprint. EnergyWatchIT has
been developed to cater for this growing
Global corporate and public sector audience.
3Pro Energy Watch Ltd is an award
winning Green Technology company which
delivers power savings, Green IT Policy
Compliance and Management Systems to
various businesses and public sector customers.
Our solution delivers real, timely cost-savings;
allowing organizations to achieve significant
reductions in IT related energy costs.
Our Energy savings solutions cater from
large Corporate PC fleets to single users. We
have products and pricing to suit all sizes, so
everyone can save.
Solution/Product
Our easy to use, interactive software offers a unique
Green Button end user interface (virtual key).
• We supply campaign materials to promote
Eco awareness within organizations.
• We offer Membership products (Single
user – Solo product) and a white label
solution to large Corporate and Charity
organizations.
• We also operate a low cost, cloud hosted
Schools programme.
Management Team
Management is provided by an experienced
and diversely skilled team of professionals,
coming from Sales & Marketing,Technical and
Entrepreneurial backgrounds. Our promoters
have a range of cross sector achievements to
bring to this exciting project. They’ve built
software products, launched campaigns,
sold hi-tech equipment and operated retail,
distribution and service businesses in the
digital and non-digital domains.
The directors, Sean Cronin, Jim Mulcahy,
Ian O’Driscoll and Niall O’Mahony, are
actively engaged on a daily basis with the
operations of the business.
Frees up your cash:
• No more wasted IT energy.
• A low cost way to cut energy bills.
• Cut energy bills by €31-65 per PC
per year, maybe more (depends on
circumstances).
• Payback within a few weeks with a
large ROI.
Encourages collaboration:
• Staff take part in Energy & CO2
reduction with real time feedback.
• Greener thinking will create extra
savings elsewhere.
Boost your Eco Image:
• Boosts the organisation’s social
responsibility reputation.
• Financial reports can show IT carbon
savings - your auditors will love this!
Stop hackers:
• Reduces risk of hacking &
virus exposure.
Very little IT admin work:
• Eco Policies are quick to set
and forget.
• Reports can be automated.
For more information contact
us at: www.energywatchit.com
[email protected]
Innovation Finals
Simply Put
B
izimply is an All-In-One Operations
Management System for restaurants
and retail stores, founded by Gerard
Forde and Norman Hewson, both veterans of
the restaurant industry.
Forde had the idea after years of watching
frustrated managers use Excel to run their
business and getting bombarded every night
with emails.
“We set up Bizimply because we believe
that restaurant and retail managers should
always be out on the shop floor driving
sales, but unfortunately they are all too often
stuck in the back office under a mountain of
paperwork”
ABOUT THE TEAM
Gerard Forde
Gerard was one of the founding directors of
the cafe chain Nude before leaving in 2006
to take up the role of business performance
manager at Aramark.
Norman Hewson
Norman is a 30 year veteran of the restaurant
business, owning restaurants including Tosca
and Nude.
Key Features of Bizimply!
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Shift and Issues Tracking
KPI Reporting
HR Management
Daily Cash Sheets
Labor Scheduling
HACCP management
Store communications
Document Management
Why now?
Improved broadband, adoption of smart phones
and tablets and changing consumer expectations.
As one of our beta customers lamented “how
come I can see my friend’s cat on my Facebook
app, but there is no way to easily see what’s
happening in my own business”.
Who are our target
customers?
Bizimply is applicable for all retail type
businesses. Our sweet spot are businesses
with two to twenty units. The key purchasing
triggers for our customers are frustration with
the current unstructured way they manage
their business and a desire for better control.
What value are we bringing
to the customer?
• Bizimply allows owners know what’s
happening inside their business shift by
shift. “When running Nude we found it
difficult to keep track of what was happening
in all our businesses all of the time,” said
Forde. “We used to get 60 or 70 reports a
week and then have to consolidate them
all together. Bizimply allows you to track
all the information in a business, whether
you have one outlet or 30 stores. A business
puts all their stores on a platform and all the
reporting is done centrally. We are kind of
like a customer relationship management
(CRM) system used in sales but for
operations.”
• Consolidate all their day-to-day
management reporting in one place.
• It’s mobile, so they can manage their business
on-the-go. Your business in your pocket!
• Reduce admin cost, cutting and pasting
reports together.
• Get the metrics that they need to run your
business. Track trends and grow your profits
• Improve communication in their business.
• Drive efficiency in their business.
• Cut management admin costs, one of our
beta clients was getting two reports a night
from each of their stores every night. One
spread sheet with key metrics and one word
document detailing any shift issues. With
five stores reporting nightly this translated
into seventy reports a week.
The business model
Bizimply is a subscription bases cloud service.
We have a tiered pricing model charging
users between €79.95 and €99.95 per month
per location, depending on the number of
outlets that a business has.
Competitors
Phone calls, text messages, emails, stand
alone software, sticky notes, lost diaries and
excel spread sheets.
Growth to date
Bizimply was launched in February and the
company has already signed up some of the
largest retail Irish chains. Over the course of
the year, the company also plans to expand
outside Ireland and has already been in
discussions with a large US distributor about
bringing the product into the US.
Long Term Goal
We plan to revolutionize the way retail
stores report in the same way that Sales force
(CRM) changed forever the way that sales
teams report and are managed. Our goal is
20,000 paying users within 5 years.
www.bizimply.com
Salinas Valley
Valley of
Innovation
Immediately south of Silicon Valley, California’s Salinas Valley has a
long history of innovation in the world’s oldest industries: food and
wine. Now the region’s innovative spirit is moving beyond the farm,
the ranch, and the vineyard, leading the Salinas Valley north to Silicon
Valley where fresh and tech intersect.
Salinas Valley
T
he Salinas Valley has a history
of post-harvest innovation.
This picturesque “salad bowl of
the nation” just south of Silicon
Valley lives and breathes fresh,
from it’s strawberry and artichoke fields, to
its endless rows of romaine and grapevines.
Salinas is powered by a countywide $4 billion
agricultural industry, an industry that is rooted
in the region’s rich natural resources but
thrives on technology.
What has made this region’s agricultural
industry so successful is the incredible
technological prowess that takes fresh Salinas
produce around the world. Technology and
innovation have been the watchwords for
Salinas Valley agriculture for more than a
century – from the top icing rail cars first
took fresh produce across state lines in the
mid-19th century, to the permeable films and
the changing product mix that has now made
California the global leader in fresh.
All told the Salinas story is a story of
entrepreneurial spirit. In real terms, the
Salinas Valley grower-shippers and processing
interests are controlling a significant majority
of fresh commodity items and touching a
like percentage of value-added agricultural
processes through a small number of
companies. Salinas’ agriculture sector is a key
innovator of technology, from fresh produce
processing to new harvesting technology. This
is truly the “fresh nerve center” of the world.
Family corporations grown through hard
work, and from small plots of private land, are
now changing the way America eats salads and
helping more of America bring fresh produce
to the table. SuperFoods like kale, radicchio
and berries are fast becoming a staple of what
we consider to be a healthy diet, and vegetables
are moving to the center of the plate. This
region has re-invented itself over and over
again, through post-harvest leadership from
seed to table.
Salinas builds value where best of family
farming meets post-harvest efficiencies and
openness to the use of new technologies. From
cooling, to packaging, harvest technologies and
advanced farming techniques, Salinas grows the
ability to create value from the earth. Proximity
to the world’s leading innovation epicenter the Silicon Valley - is changing the way local
grower-shippers think and do business.
The newly seeded collaboration structure,
built through a collaboration between ITLG’s
Silicon Valley Gateway Partners and the City
of Salinas, promises an accelerated ag-tech
explosion. This region’s great climate, rich and
unique soils, coastal resources, and unmatched
culture of technology and innovation serve as
the foundation for the Steinbeck Innovation
Cluster in the heart of Monterey County.
Simply put, Salinas’ regional identity is
expanding to include the Silicon Valley to
the north, inviting mutual benefit through
knowledge sharing and investment.
The term “fresh,” over the years, has evolved
from those top icing rail cars in the early
1900’s which turned Salinas from a regional
into national player, to the introduction of
Tectrol technology that virtually every pallet
of strawberries is shipped with thanks to the
former Bruce Church company’s acquisition of
Whirlpool technology. Fresh is now breather
films introduced into the marketplace from
companies such as Dupont and Landec, which
are now evolving to include investigating
the use of nanotechnology in films that
incorporate living organisms to kill pathogens
such as e-coli. Fresh is an expectation every
consumer in America takes to the grocery store
daily, and the inspiration behind agriculture’s
long relationship with tech.
Food-plus-tech will take the agricultural
industry into new sectors of the economy. New
tech not only builds consumption of fresh
edibles, but is also coming to mean innovations
in sustainable viticulture, enhanced efficiency
in waste management and water usage, and
streamlined data collection for food safety.
New memoranda of collaboration between
the Steinbeck Innovation Foundation (the
nonprofit founded to build the Steinbeck
Innovation Cluster) and institutions from
UCSC to ASU, Hartnell, Cal State Monterey,
Cal State San Jose, and growing discussions
with major Irish universities, that are setting
the stage for global research in precision
agriculture, viticulture and aquaculture.
For decades lettuces and other
commodities represented the Green Gold
rush of the Salinas Valley. Today the fields and
vineyards of the Valley are the seeds for a new
Green Gold rush that provides the structure
and investment opportunities to continue to
put health and flavor on the world’s table, while
also seeding the great innovations that will
solve the world’s challenges. The opportunities
of the coming decades will be limitless, as the
Salinas Valley and Silicon Valley come together.
BT
Bringing it
all together
BT continues to lead the way in
developing and delivering cutting edge
communications technology.
S
hay Walsh, managing director of Business at BT Ireland,
is leading the company’s charge to meet the increasingly
demanding requirements of the Irish business community.
As more and more firms, particularly those operating in
the digital and ICT sectors seek out new markets, Walsh
and his team are providing innovative solutions to help make operating
functions more streamlined and straightforward to allow their
customers to focus on growing their businesses.
BT’s development of its Cloud Contact Centre is a case in point –
the solution helps companies with a call centre requirement to manage
their costs and staffing requirements more efficiently than before. “The
days of having 200 or more people in a building handling customer calls
are diminishing considerably because modern day contact centres are
operated from the cloud,” Walsh explains.
BT
“BT’s Cloud Contact Centre allows a company
to operate a call centre where its agents need
not necessarily be onsite – they can work
from anywhere where they have access to
a broadband connection. It’s particularly
effective in providing flexibility and reduced
costs – a gaming company, for example, may
find it difficult to forecast peak requirements
for call centre staff around the launch of a
new game. Here, our Cloud Contact Centre
offering allows management to place staff on
standby and facilitates access to their system by
extra agents should the call volume be higher
than expected.”
International Advantage
For the wider business community, BT’s
international network offers a distinct
advantage – with the ability to tap into the
knowledge and creative developments of
a 100,000-strong world-wide workforce,
the company itself is more than capable of
keeping up with the fast pace of change and
innovation. “Because we are a global company,
we have access to global products,” Walsh
says. “BT is already investing significantly in
fibre technology in the Republic of Ireland,
Northern Ireland and Great Britain and we
certainly see the benefit of doing the same
in other territories we operate in to deliver
the appropriate bandwidth that is required
for rapid growth. Effectively, customers are
looking for innovative solutions – more and
more they want the capability to deliver their
services through the cloud. With that in
mind, our focus has been to remove the need
for them to house and build their own data
centres or large IT hubs. This allows them
to reduce their reliance on a proprietary IT
function. By integrating systems from BT, our
clients are happy to maintain an IT strategy
in-house while at the same time allowing
their servers to function in our data centres
in Dublin and Belfast where we can deliver
services back to them at a much lower cost.”
Central to BT’s capacity to deliver its
services is, of course, a reliable fibre-based
network. Indeed, the success of BTConnect,
the infrastructure that supports products like
the Cloud Contact Centre or IQ Evaluator – a
service that allows IT managers to control
their own bandwidth requirements on a range
of services including voice, data and internet –
depends on it. Therefore, the improvements in
Ireland’s national communications network in
recent years have been a welcome development.
“Today, bandwidth in Ireland is not a restricting
factor for corporate business as it was before,
and for consumers, there has certainly been
a steep change in broadband availability
throughout the country,” Walsh believes.
The marked improvements in broadband
availability have helped BT to showcase its
range of products and services to a wider
base of potential customers. Furthermore,
and perhaps more importantly, advancements
made in this area have allowed for a more
balanced spread of opportunities for
large multinational set-up outside of the
main hubs of Dublin and Cork. “BT has
“Customers are looking
for innovative solutions
– more and more they
want the capability to
deliver their services
through the cloud. With
that in mind, our focus
has been to remove the
need for them to house
and build their own
data centres or large
IT hubs.”
the unique capability of servicing local
geographic network coverage as well as
having an extensive global reach. This
allows us to accommodate a large amount
of multinational organisations that have
European headquarters based in Ireland,” he
explains. “We can serve European and other
overseas networks from here which enables
those companies, or indeed any company
considering foreign direct investment, to set
up in Ireland and spread themselves into
Europe and further afield.”
Dedication to R&D
BT’s commitment to innovation and R&D to
provide creative off-the-shelf communication
solutions is no more evident than at the
company’s global innovation and development
centre, Adastral Park, located near Ipswich in
the UK. However, as well as focusing on the
development of products with mass market
appeal, BT actively encourages its clients
to approach them with bespoke issues that
they can solve together – an activity known
in-house as ‘Hot Housing’. “BT consistently
ranks second or third in the world in levels
of R&D investment among communication
companies,” Walsh says. “We regularly have
customer visits to Adastral Park – seven or
eight per day – where our clients can discuss
issues that they don’t know how to solve.
Together, we ‘Hot House’ the problem – we
match the technical staff of both companies
in an effort to come up with a viable solution
during intense sessions of fact finding and
testing. In the past, very often we found that
our customers didn’t expect a communications
company to offer a facility like this; they were
more inclined to turn to large consultancy
firms to come up with the answers to issues
that they were experiencing. However, in most
cases, a technical solution was required, which
is what we have the capability to deliver.”
BT’s shift from being more than just a
telecoms provider has been gaining significant
momentum in recent years. It’s commitment
to R&D, the Irish business market and to
fostering innovation is perhaps most evident in
its role as organiser of the BT Young Scientist
& Technology Exhibition, which will mark
its 50th Birthday this January. One of the
longest running competitions of its kind in
the world, the exhibition has thrived over
five decades, fourteen of which BT has been
responsible for. In that time the company
has positioned itself to meet and exceed
the requirements of business, recognising
all along the increasing importance of its
network in underpinning more advanced
products and services. In doing so, BT
continues to assist the business community
in Ireland to compete and thrive in an
increasingly competitive global marketplace.
International Investment
Tough
Competition
Countries leading the way in attracting overseas investment.
I
reland has an enviable record in
attracting Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI), particularly in the technology
space. However, a number of
countries are challenging for
international investment with far-reaching
IT policies, incentives and education reforms.
Looking at the pro-active policies adopted
by nations as diverse as Israel, Germany
and China, it’s clear that Irish policymakers
cannot rest on their laurels if they want to
remain competitive.
Israel
One the face of it, Israel suffers from a major
disadvantage of a high corporate tax rate. In
a bid to reduce its fiscal deficit last year, the
Government canceled a scheduled phasedown of its top corporate income tax rate,
instead raising it to 25 per cent. However,
a preferential corporate rate applies to
export-oriented businesses under the Law for
Encouragement of Investment, ranging from
15 per cent.
Moreover, in almost every other respect,
Israel is a model of a high-tech, advanced
economy. The country is ranked 38th
worldwide on the World Bank’s Ease of
Doing Business Index, and third in the
region. Israel joined the OECD in 2010, and
is ranked first in the world in expenditure on
Research and Development as a percentage of
its GDP. The IMD, an international thinktank, ranked Israel in 19th place in its most
recent World Competitiveness Rankings,
one place ahead of Ireland, and the country’s
highly efficient central bank and skilled
workforce has been singled out for praise.
The practice of focusing on technology
and offering tax breaks to export-orientated
companies has yielded results. Intel and
Microsoft built their first overseas research
and development facilities in Israel, which has
also attracted research and development from
IBM, Google, Apple, HP, Cisco Systems and
Motorola. An indigenous clean tech industry
has also emerged, ranging from international
solar energy firms to pioneers in electric
vehicle (EV) technology.
Inflows of FDI to Israel have remained
steady despite the economic crisis. According
to monitoring by the Bank of Israel, direct
investment via local banks rose from
“The IMD, an
international thinktank, ranked Israel
in 19th place in its
most recent World
Competitiveness
Rankings, one place
ahead of Ireland, and
the country’s highly
efficient central bank
and skilled workforce
has been singled out
for praise.”
US$3.069bn in 2010 to $6.36bn in 2011.
2013 has seen rapid investment already,
with inflows of $448m and $630m reported
in January and February, boosted by an
investment from software giant NCR.
Germany
Arguably the most resilient economy in
the Eurozone, Germany proudly touts
its continued growth and attractiveness
as a key global location for foreign direct
investment. Germany Trade & Invest’s most
recent Economic Overview of Germany for
2011/2012 highlighted a stable and reliable
business environment that “contributed to
economic growth and prosperity, confirming
Germany’s position as a central destination
for foreign investors,” according to the
managing director of Investor Consulting at
the agency, Dr. Robert Hermann.
According to the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development,
investors have made Germany one of the
leading countries in FDI, which accounted
for €509bn in 2010. The Federal Republic
Ireland’s Call
Ireland has a strong record in attracting
US multinationals to its shores and it
has a formidable presence of major
technology companies, which are
located primarily in Dublin and Cork.
9 out of 10 world-leading
technology and internet companies;
8 out of 10 leading online game
companies and platforms and 15 of
the top 20 world-leading Life Science
companies have a presence in Ireland.
Since the start of the crisis five years
ago, employment in US multinationals
in Ireland has grown by almost 15% to
over 120,000 people in 700 companies.
US investment has increased 25%
during the same period, bringing
total investment in Ireland to over
$188 billion.
The economic output of US
multinationals in Ireland is estimated
to be $57.5 billion, which amounts to
over a quarter of Ireland’s GDP.
Ireland’s competitiveness is
gradually improving which should
further improve its attractiveness
as a location for FDI. Last year
Ireland climbed up four places in
the competitiveness rankings 20th
in the IMD World Competitiveness
Yearbook. However, the country was
comfortably and consistently in the
top ten less than 10 years ago, so
much work remains to be done.
Nor is the economic relation is a
one - way street. Ireland’s foreign direct
investment stock in the United States
amounts to over $25 billion while Irish
affiliates remain the 10th largest foreign
employer of US workers, employing
over 120,000 people.
contains more than 55,000 foreign
companies, employing approximately 3
million people. ICT and software were the
greatest draws of investment, attracting 18
per cent of FDI inflows into the country
between 2007 and 2011.
Key reasons cited for the influx of
investment include Germany’s huge resources
of developed infrastructure, including
strategically planned and well laid out
transportation systems. It has also invested
substantially in its education system, with a
high priority given to technical education,
while the majority of the workforce also
speaks English. Moreover, in a bid to attract
investment from overseas, the German
Government has made it a mandatory rule
not to discriminate between local investors
and foreign investors. Thus, foreign investors
can all avail of all the benefits granted to local
investors. A location in the heart of Europe,
near key Eastern European and Russian
markets but without the complications of
corruption or illiberal regulations, adds
to Germany’s attractiveness – as does the
country’s vast domestic market.
Hong Kong
Since it reverted to Chinese sovereignty in
1997, Hong Kong has only increased its
efforts to attract investment from abroad
as a gateway to the rising economies of
Asia. The impact of FDI on the economy
has been profound – in 2011, inflows of
foreign investment accounted for 34 per
cent of GDP compared to just 8.5 per cent
in 2003, according to the World Bank. The
United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (Unctad), while placing the
special administrative region at the top of its
FDI Attraction Index, estimated total inflows
to be US$83bn in the same year.
Interestingly, Unctad describes Hong
Kong as a “fixed feature” at the top of the
list due to its attractive “hinterland”, but
also cited its habitually attractive investment
environment. The associate director-general
of Investment Promotion at Invest Hong
Kong, Victoria Tang, welcomed the results.
She cited Hong Kong’s predictable business
environment, rule of law, stable tax regime,
free flow of information and capital, and a
workforce with international and mainland
“According to the
United Nations
Conference on Trade
and Development,
investors have made
Germany one of the
leading countries in
FDI, which accounted
for €509bn in 2010.”
perspectives as key factors driving investment.
This is likely to be enhanced by a
competition law introduced in late 2012.
Mirroring Australian and EU laws, the new
legislation forbids anti-competitive practices,
including price-fixing cartels and agreements
between competitors to limit production, and
bid-rigging in tenders. It also established a
new competition commission to investigate
alleged infringements and a tribunal to rule
over such cases. The new law is expected to
open up sectors in Hong Kong that have
traditionally been dominated by a handful of
players, attracting yet more foreign investment.
Invest Hong Kong is quick to cite other
benefits to the special administrative region,
including a simple, predictable and low tax
system: Hong Kong caps taxes on profits,
salaries and property at 15 per cent, while
levying no sales tax or VAT, withholding tax,
capital gains tax, tax on dividends or estate
taxes. Moreover, efficient travel, logistics and
telecommunications infrastructure makes
international business straightforward, with
a strong pool of local talent and businessfriendly immigration policies. There are also
various Government programmes designed to
help overseas and local SMEs set up in Hong
Kong, including incubator programmes,
loan guarantees and funds for marketing or
equipment. The Innovation and Technology
Fund in particular supports companies
to upgrade their technology and inject
innovative ideas into their business.
Silicon Samba
Latin America’s high-tech sector is
beginning to flourish and technology
entrepreneurs from the region are
increasingly forging alliances with Silicon
Valley and acquiring the knowledge
and expertise to pursue ambitious
technology enterprises at home.
Brazil is emerging as a force in
technology while countries such a
Chile and Argentina are also making
progress. Large swathes of the region
are currently enjoying high levels of
economic growth and the rapidly
expanding technology industry is
contributing substantially to creating
that new wealth.
Austerity in Europe has fed through
to a decline in R&D investment in
sharp contrast to countries such as
Chile and Brazil which are investing
heavily in technology and attracting
growing numbers of prominent
companies to establish bases in their
respective countries.
The Brazilian government has
embarked upon a $2.2bn initiative to
invest in 75,000 science and technology
scholarships by the end of next year.
The initiative will send students abroad
as part of the government’s “Science
without Borders” campaign, which
provides scholarships to Brazilian
students, mainly in the areas of
science, technology, engineering and
mathematics.
Brazil has also introduced a
range of incentives to attract global
multinationals including tax incentives
to companies focusing on technological
innovation. There has been a dramatic
rise in the number of technology parks
since 2006 and headline investments
in the country’s new hubs have
included a $12bn investment courtesy
of Foxconn Technology Group – the
maker of the iPhone. Headquartered in
Taiwan, Foxconn is the world’s largest
manufacturer of electronic components,
including printed circuit boards. The
company established a new $12bn
factory in
Jundiaí, a
city in the
state of São
Paulo.
Jundiaí– a city
of about 2.5
million and the
state capital of
Minas Gerais
– is proving a
viable option for
start-ups. The city has
attracted an impressive
list of companies including
SambaTech, Deskmetrics and
the Google owned outfit,
Akwan. In addition, DFJ Fir
Capital’s headquarters is also
located in the city.
Argentina has a track record
of innovation and achievement
in the fields of medicine,
nuclear physics, biotechnology,
nanotechnology and even space
science. Argentine Bernardo
Houssay, a joint recipient of the Nobel
Prize for medicine in 1947 was the
first Latin American Nobel laureate
to receive the prize and went on to
establish Argentina’s National Research
Council.
A well-educated and tech savvy
workforce have attracted a significant
presence of global technology
companies to Argentina including
Motorola, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard,
IBM, Sony and Google.
Córdoba – the second-largest city
in Argentina and located near the
geographical center of the nation – has
an especially fast-growing software
industry and high-tech organizations with
presence in the city include: Nimbuzz,
Intel, EA, DreamWorks, Zynga, IBM,
Hewlett-Packard and LinkedIn.
Even Colombia, a Latin American
country with a traditionally murky
reputation is beginning to attract notice
as a potential prospect on the high
tech front. An increasing number of UK
high-tech companies are establishing a
presence in the country and Bogota has
a solid base of technology companies
including BT, Aveva, Smartwater and
Experian, which provides solutions for
managing credit risk in the financial sector.
Chile also offers signs of promise. One
organization leading the drive to establish
Chile as a new Silicon Valley is ’Start-Up
Chile’ (SUP) which offers a range of grants
to start-ups considered to have potential.
The high-tech boom is having hugely
positive effects throughout Latin
America and evidence suggests that it
is contributing significantly to economic
growth in the region. The hope is that it
will continue and prove instrumental in
eradicating poverty which has historically
afflicted such a large proportion of the
population of Latin America.
InverCloud
Jumpstart
Your Journey
to the Cloud
Co-founder of InverCloud, Colum
Horgan, explains how SaaS
applications can now be delivered to
a global market with his company’s
innovative creation.
InverCloud
S
ix years ago, Colum Horgan and
Pat Lucey decided that, having
worked for almost 20 years
in a combination of start-ups
and Fortune 100 companies, it
was time to go it alone. Both men left their
senior roles with Motorola, and brought with
them some of the top technical talent to
set up AspiraCon, a best in class enterprise
software and services firm. Serving clients
through a combination of innovative product
developments and delivery of professional
services, the company has established itself as
a leading provider of Enterprise services.
In 2010, the pair had their Eureka
moment, as Horgan explains. “We developed
a software product for a client that was very
successful and transformed how they did
business. When that client was acquired, its
parent organization wanted to deploy it across
their sites in the US – but only if it was a
SaaS (Software as a Service) product. We had
not developed it to be SaaS and so we went
through the painful process of transforming
it to run in the cloud. This required a lot of
reworking, which took up valuable time and
resources. We looked for a platform that we
could buy which would sort out all the ’cloud
plumbing’ and let us focus on our product
but no such platform existed. Once we had
completed the project we realized that we had
built up the expertise to develop a solution
– we researched the market and determined
there was a place for a tool that does the nuts
and bolts work behind SaaS applications,
so we so we decided to design and build it
ourselves.” InverCloud was born.
Focus on Customers
Today, InverCloud offers both established
businesses and start-ups alike the opportunity
not only to add their own software
developments to the cloud, but also to
concentrate and focus their efforts on user
and customer experience. “Five years ago, if a
software vendor was trying to develop a SaaS
offering, they were forced to create everything
from scratch – a year or more could be
devoted to developing the backend framework
alone,” Horgan recalls. “However, InverCloud
helps overcome all of that and enables
companies to effectively plug in and play their
software solutions. It allows us to take existing
software and transform it into a SaaS product
relatively quickly, while companies building a
completely new product can use InverCloud
to have half of their platforms prebuilt.”
In facilitating the transformation of
existing software into cloud-based technology,
InverCloud tackles three critical areas where
traditionally, development companies have
experienced difficulties in developing SaaS
applications – cloud identity, analytics and
monetization. “The basic challenge for SaaS
providers is to securely manage users in
separate organizations in the cloud and to
ensure that these customers generate a regular
income stream. To win as a SaaS provider
however, they also need detailed analytics to
learn how customers are using their software.
While there are solutions available that cover
individual components like monetization, by
integrating all three areas in one framework,
the SaaS vendor gains a deep insight into each
click their customers make,” he says.
Success for InverCloud has come quickly
– unsurprisingly, a product that provides
a jumpstart to the cloud, and one which
opens up global opportunities for software
development companies, has proven to be
an instant hit. Indeed, the company, which,
along with its parent AspiraCon, has 25
employees in its base in Cork, plans to open
its US office on the west coast this summer.
“Since we started out in 2007, we have been
extremely fortunate,” Horgan admits. “From
day one, we have had significant assistance
from Enterprise Ireland – I think that when
they looked at our offering and took our skills,
expertise and backgrounds into consideration,
they saw a company that had the ingredients
to succeed internationally. After all, with our
experience in small and large organizations,
we were in a very unique position to see and
learn from the mistakes of others. At this
stage we have brought a number of products
to market and had some failures too, all of
which has given us an excellent insight into
what it takes to succeed.”
New Focus
Up until now, the revenue model behind
InverCloud focused on developers of existing
software and high potential start-ups.
However, for Horgan and Lucey, where the
product can really excel is with large scale
Colum Horgan
partnerships, which is high on the company’s
agenda this year. “We have already witnessed
strong growth with InverCloud but now
we are considering many more routes to
market. More specifically, we have been
in talks with telecom, utility and hosting
companies who already have an established
network of billing clients,” Horgan explains.
“All of these companies are constantly trying
to improve their offering to customers and
we believe that InverCloud can help in that
regard. When one considers the squeeze
on margins in telecommunications or the
highly competitive nature of providing
utility services, the ability to add high value
SaaS offerings to major players in a range
of industries is a very enticing proposition.
Companies already buy their broadband,
electricity or telecommunication infrastructure
from trusted suppliers – we see InverCloud
enabling those companies to extend their
offering so that, for instance, their clients can
access the latest HR, health and safety, or
bookkeeping systems through the cloud.”
InverCloud’s ability to enable an
enterprise application store for a wide range
of software solutions will not only benefit
large services companies, but also the software
development firms themselves, including
start-ups who can now access a readymade
market. In doing so, not only has the
company provided an outlet for innovative
software solutions, it has created a platform
from which all parties involved can benefit.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny
Taoiseach talks Tech
The Taoiseach presided at the ITLG Women In Leadership Group
Launch in San Jose during his trip to Silicon Valley
What was the principal objective of your
visit to California and what was the key
message you brought to business leaders
and entrepreneurs you met in Silicon Valley?
The main message I wanted to convey to
business leaders in California is how this
Government is working to make Ireland the
best small country in the world for business.
We are making the big changes required to
improve Ireland’s attractiveness for investment
and jobs. Prices and costs have fallen back to
2003 levels and our competitiveness vis-à-vis
many of our key competitors has improved by
over 20% since 2007.
As a result Ireland’s economy is now
entering its third consecutive year of growth
and has rebuilt its international reputation.
Ireland is also fast becoming the
digital capital of Europe with a large and
growing hub of multinational EMEA HQs
alongside a vibrant community of digital
start-ups. The mix of foreign and indigenous
digital companies is creating new exciting
opportunities for innovation and new
enterprise opportunities.
I also emphasized Ireland’s strengths
as a location for foreign direct investment
including our competitive tax regime, our
young, well-educated and flexible talent pool
and our track record in attracting investment
from many of the world’s leading corporations.
What strategy has your Government
in place to ensure that Ireland remains
an attractive prospect for foreign
multinationals?
This Government has developed an ‘Action Plan
for Jobs’ that is the driver of new reforms across
the economy to keep Ireland competitive for all
companies, including foreign multinationals.
I am glad to say that Ireland continues
to perform very strongly in attracting
foreign direct investment. The IBM Global
Locations Trends report ranks Ireland the
top destination country for FDI while the
IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook rates
Ireland the most attractive country to foreign
investors for investment incentives, first in the
world for the availability of skilled labor as
well as first for flexibility and the adaptability
of people to challenges.
Ireland also offers a simple, transparent
and competitive tax regime. Maintaining
the rate at its present level allows companies
to plan for the future with confidence. The
Government also strongly supports research
and innovation through a 25% R&D credit.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny
In addition, we recently announced a
landmark investment by Government of
€200 million in scientific research which
will be coupled with over €100 million in
investment from industry partners, making
it the largest ever combined state/industry
co-funding announcement of its kind in the
research field in Ireland.
What degree of priority does your
Government attach to cultivating relations
with California and Silicon Valley?
My Government very much values the strong
economic relationship between the West
Coast of the United States and Ireland and the
further strengthening and development of this
relationship is a key priority.
Silicon Valley is one of the most
successful clusters of innovation and
enterprise in the world and further
developing links with Ireland’s enterprise
offering can benefit both regions immensely.
Work to develop these links is reflected in
the very significant range of programmes and
initiatives led by our Consulate in San Francisco
and the Enterprise Agencies on the ground in
Silicon Valley. For example, Enterprise Ireland
provides a range of supports to assist Irish
companies establish US operations and grow
exports including making available incubator
spaces office in Silicon Valley.
In recent years we have also increasingly
focused on developing our relationship with
our Diaspora including a very influential and
engaged Irish network in Silicon Valley.
During my visit I met with a number
of members of our Diaspora including
representatives of the Irish Technology
Leadership Group (ITLG) who play a very
significant role in promoting Ireland as a location
for investment by US technology companies and
in mentoring and supporting the growth of Irish
based start-up technology companies.
Also, as Ireland currently holds the
Presidency of the European Council we are also
working hard to open negotiations between
the EU and the US on a new free trade
agreement which would open up new enterprise
opportunities for companies in both regions.
What are the key supports which
government provides to encourage
innovation and technology start-ups?
The Irish Government has in place a wide
range of initiatives and financial supports to
drive new start-ups and entrepreneurship as
well as support scaling businesses.
These include the High Potential Startup programme which is aimed at start-ups
with the potential to develop an innovative
product or service for sale on international
markets. In 2012 HPSUs received investment
from Enterprise Ireland of over €22 million
and this level of investment is set to continue
in 2013.
In addition, the Competitive Start Fund
provides funding of up to €50,000 to very early
stage start-ups in return for a 10% ordinary
equity stake and there is also a €75 million
Development Capital Scheme aimed at
mid-sized, high-growth, Irish businesses with
significant prospects for growth and job-creation.
An International start up fund of €10
million is also available to assist international
entrepreneurs looking to locate in Ireland
and we recently announced a new Seed and
Venture Capital Scheme which will see a
further €175m committed to the domestic
venture capital sector between 2013 and 2018.
In addition, Innovation Fund Ireland
was established to increase the availability
of risk capital for early stage and highgrowth companies and attract top-tier
venture capital fund managers to Ireland.
To date investments of over €150m have
been announced under the Fund in leading
lifescience and technology venture firms.
Ireland also has an impressive array of
technology focused enterprise incubator spaces
for new start-ups. Two such examples include
DogPatch Labs whose only presence outside
of the US is in Dublin and Telefonica’s Wayra
accelerator programme which has 13 academies
spread across Europe and Latin America.
Are there any initiatives underway which
can facilitate start-ups who wish to sell
new products and services to the Public
Sector in Ireland?
In terms of facilitating start-ups to sell
products and services to the public sector,
the Government introduced a Procuring
Innovation initiative in 2012 to encourage
procuring authorities to adopt a more open
approach to procuring goods and services by
seeking solutions in the market-place that
might meet their needs, rather than prescribing
a specific product or service to be supplied.
The Government’s Action plan for Jobs
also commits to a further series of initiatives
making public procurement more accessible
to Irish SMEs, such as amending pre–
qualification criteria and pre–qualification
panels for SMEs.
Do you agree with entrepreneurs such
as ITLG President John Hartnett who
argue that entrepreneurship should be
taught in schools and that programming
should also begin to be taught at a
younger age?
Incorporating entrepreneurship skills from
an early age within the education system is
an important element in continuing to drive
economic growth based on innovation and the
development and export of high quality goods
and services.
There are a range of initiatives and reforms
underway within the Irish educational system
to promote entrepreneurship including the
Sean Lemass Award for Student Enterprise,
the Transition Year Mini-company “Get
up and Go” Competition and the County/
City Enterprise Board “Student Enterprise”
Competition. A new Framework for the Junior
Cycle launched in October 2012 identifies
‘Creativity and Innovation’ as a key principle.
Would you agree that CoderDojo
can play an important role in helping
children to become more computer
literate and have you been impressed by
the advance/progress of CoderDojo?
CoderDojo is an excellent example of how
creativity and innovation can provide solutions
to the skill needs of industry within the ICT
sector. I am delighted that CoderDojo has
grown to such national and international
prominence in a short time and proud of the
fact that the idea started from a young Irish
person. This youth movement founded in Cork
will influence the next frontier of innovation
across the world.
As well as providing sponsorship at the
outset of CoderDojo, Enterprise Ireland is also
giving practical support to the organization of
the international mentor meet up conference
on Coder Dojo scheduled for April. The
international success of this initiative further
highlights the need to promote the teaching of
computer programming as an integral element
of the school curricula in Ireland.
CCAN
Great products
from tiny pieces
Alan Hynes, Executive Director, CCAN.
B
ig things can happen when you
think small.
Energy efficient electronics.
More effective cancer
treatments. Faster broadband.
Even consumer products you may use
every day such as the latest waterproof
smartphones, scratch-resistant car paint,
antibacterial plasters, stain repellent suits,
suncream and cosmetics, lighter but stronger
sports equipment and the list goes on.
Nanotechnology is now providing improved
product performance and new product
features across all major markets.
This is made possible by companies’
abilities to very accurately measure and
manipulate the materials within their
products, right down to their smallest
building blocks, atoms and molecules.
The techniques, tools and expertise
necessary are provided by these companies’
development partners and it is through
successful collaboration that the product
successes are born.
Now what can Ireland offer? What
approaches can we take to enable companies
gain the most from this most advanced materials
engineering. And how can your company benefit?
What’s all this “nano” stuff?
Nanotechnology involves the ability to control,
measure or manipulate materials at the scale of
individual molecules – that’s less than 100nm.
That’s it! The big things happen because such
control allows companies to very accurately
tailor their product performance to exactly
meet the needs of the market. You can get
more detail on the science here www.nano.gov.
However, on its own nanotechnology
doesn’t do a whole lot. In reality the business
opportunities for companies only arise when
Alan Hynes, CCAN Director
“I would recommend
any company
involved in materials
development
interact with CCAN
to accelerate their
development activities”
John O’Donoghue, CTO, EnBIO
this technical capability is combined with
others to solve customer problems. Inevitably
nanotech is only a part of the end solution and
multiple disciplines are required to develop any
new or improved nano-enabled product.
Essential collaboration –
Ireland’s opportunity
The successful delivery of new nano-enabled
processes and products requires multidisciplinary and flexible project teams,
involving multiple organisations with a
continuous focus on the requirements of the
industrial end-users. Meeting that requirement
for multiple skills and disciplines is the
challenge facing innovative companies across
the world. It is also Ireland’s opportunity.
The Irish government, through Science
Foundation Ireland and others, has invested
heavily in the infrastructure and personnel
necessary for advanced materials research
and nanotechnology in Ireland. Centers
like Tyndall and CRANN, are certainly to
the fore of this activity, but other centers
around the country offer equally important
and complimentary expertise in particular
application areas. No single institute has all
the necessary expertise.
Companies have many questions; What
expertise is available? Where is it? How do
I access it? Even if I know all that, how do
I easily combine expertise from multiple
centers and companies in order to quickly
commercialize the outputs?
Just imagine the benefits to companies,
researchers and the country, if there was an
easy way to pull together expertise from across
the entire national resource pool to address
industry-defined problems.
CCAN – joining the dots
To address these challenges CCAN
(pronounced “see-can”) was launched in 2010
as part of the Irish government’s Technology
Centres initiative. Measured by the growth
and success of its member companies’ R&D
activities, CCAN’s mission is to make it easier
for companies to access the best expertise
from across the entire Irish nanotech and
CCAN
materials research eco-system.
After locating the right expertise CCAN
then works on behalf of companies to assemble
that expertise into multi-disciplinary project
teams. Meanwhile CCAN’s international
networks are used to provide member
companies with the best available international
expertise and value chain partners. CCAN may
also fund these development projects directly.
“CCAN gave us easy access to the right
researchers in a timely manner, with the
result that we are already carrying out trials
on technology solutions to be implemented
in future products.” Kieran Curran, CEO,
GenCell Biosystems.
The approach uses international best
practices in technology innovation. Projects
are flexible and adaptable, expertise is
available on an as-needed basis and projects
are managed through a stage-gate review
process. IP is not an issue as all CCAN
members have already signed the CCAN
collaboration agreement. Commercial
licenses with companies for access to CCAN
technology are currently under negotiation.
“We believe CCAN
has developed an
organisation honed to
deliver and respond
to the needs of your
member companies”,
Norman Mc Millan,
CTO, Drop Technologies
Independence is key
CCAN is industry-led and in order to offer
the best service to companies seeking expertise,
it acts independently of any individual research
organization. Michael Loftus, Chair of the
CCAN Industry Steering Board, explains “Any
organization presenting a national expertise
pool must act, and be seen to act, without
bias towards any individual research provider.
and has more than doubled to currently stand
at 15 companies, nine of which are Irish
SMEs. CCAN has been strongly supported
by its co-hosts, Tyndall and CRANN, despite
operating a model where projects can be
funded in any Irish research organization,
either universities or Institutes of Technology.
This approach is working.
Supporting foreign
direct investment
Such independence is critically important
for CCAN in ensuring that, regardless of
the location, the most appropriate expertise
is sourced for each project. For the model to
work, the companies need to know that the
center is always acting in their best interest
and the research partners have to trust that the
companies are not being unfairly focused on
any particular university or research center.”
Presenting a
national expertise
In 2012 CCAN launched the NanoIreland
database on the CCAN website. This interactive
resource allows companies and researchers,
either locally or internationally, to locate
expertise within Ireland via keyword searching.
The database lists over 100 researchers and
equipment across all major Irish research
institutes and is the first such listing that spans
multiple funding providers. Visit www.ccan.ie/
nanoireland to seek out relevant expertise.
CCAN’s funded projects focus on
developing technology solutions for the ICT
and Life Science industries. However pharma
and energy companies have also benefited
from CCAN’s national approach.
Success drives growth
IDA client companies in Ireland are
increasingly developing local strategies to
add value to their Irish operations through
increased R&D activity. CCAN supports our
members in building alliances to accelerate
those strategies. In addition CCAN works
closely with IDA Ireland in supporting
potential inward investment by R&D active
companies seeking to expand into Europe.
Such companies typically have products
in development that require the advanced
materials and nanotech expertise available
in Ireland and they appreciate the national
perspective offered by CCAN. We anticipate
announcements by nano-enabled companies
establishing operations in Ireland later in 2013.
Small is good
Ireland is a small country. However the next
time we “think small” perhaps we should
focus on the benefits; highly connected
networks (look at ITLG!), flexible systems
and infrastructure, no cultural boundaries or
international rivals, one language and easier
face-to-face interactions.
Just as with nanotechnology, sometimes
being small allows new approaches and more
effective solutions to be realised and just
maybe, a unifying mission – to be much greater
than the sum of our small parts.
Learn more about how Ireland’s nanotech
and advanced materials expertise can help your
company at www.ccan.ie.
CCAN has offices in Tyndall National Institute in Cork
and CRANN at TCD in Dublin.
E-mail [email protected].
CCAN is supported by
The CCAN approach has been widely
welcomed by companies across Ireland. The
center began with seven founding companies
Enterprise Ireland and IDA
Ireland under the Technology
Centres initiative.
Cleantech
The Green Way
Cleantech cluster shows huge benefits of collaboration. Aideen
O’Hora, Executive Director of Irish cleantech cluster The Green Way,
says local and global collaboration is the driving force for accelerating
cleantech development, innovation and investment
T
hink big, begin small – and
collaborate. That’s the approach
of Aideen O’Hora, the new
Executive Director of The Green
Way, a leading cleantech cluster
located in Dublin, Ireland.
Why this approach? “We face unprecedented
energy and environmental challenges, such as
security of supply of both energy and water
and mitigating environmental impact while
improving competitiveness,” says Aideen. “Clean
technology is a key solution required to address
these challenges. Deployment can happen
incrementally if many small projects join together
and thus contribute to the big picture. The key to
this is collaboration.”
She points out that where there are
challenges there are also opportunities – for
both cleantech companies and astute investors.
“Solutions for such urgent challenges will be of
immense value. That’s why capital is pouring into
clean technologies such as solar power. Cleantech
offers a huge investment opportunity.”
Aideen has been to the forefront of smartenergy city and regional development in Ireland.
She worked with Ireland’s national energy agency,
the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland
(SEAI) and led the development of Ireland’s
national sustainable energy / smart-energy
community (SEC) program. This involves a
structured approach to energy management,
underpinned by clear targets and an evidencebased approach to projects. This results-oriented
approach allowed Ireland’s first SEC, located in
the town of Dundalk, to quantify delivered energy
savings of approximately 22 GWh or 8,000
tonnes of avoided CO2 emissions yearly. The city
of Dublin has now adopted this approach and
SEAI recently selected it as an SEC.
“Since 2006 I have developed Dundalk and
the wider regional eco-system as an innovative
living laboratory – connecting people, place,
policy and projects,” says Aideen. “The livinglab infrastructure has provided a test-bed for
emerging technologies and services, allowing
cleantech companies to test new technologies in
a controlled environment. This success will be the
foundation for The Green Way success.”
Cleantech collaboration
The development of the green economy is at
the heart of the Irish Government’s industrial
policy. As Ireland becomes a global center of
green enterprises, the cleantech sector is seen
as spearheading the future competitiveness of
the nation.
The Green Way, launched in November 2010
by European Union Commissioner for Research,
Innovation and Science Máire GeogheganQuinn, is a collaborative cleantech initiative
that uses the triple-helix approach: it connects
academic research and innovation with industrial
capability, underpinned by public-sector support.
The vision of The Green Way is to stimulate
economic development through the provision of
a collaborative framework allowing companies,
government and researchers to work together in
the development, promotion and deployment of
clean technology.
By connecting like-minded organizations,
The Green Way will help member companies
to improve productivity, will drive innovation
(in the broad cleantech sectors of energy,
water, waste, food and transportation) and
will generate new business opportunities, both
nationally and globally.
Anchored in the Dublin region, it was
conceived by key stakeholders in both the
private and public sectors. Its founding
members were Dublin City Council, Fingal
County Council, Dublin Airport Authority,
Dublin City University, Dublin Institute of
Technology and North Dublin Chamber
of Commerce. The Dublin region is likely
to be the main hub of cleantech growth in
Ireland, but The Green Way will collaborate
with cleantech clusters located in other Irish
regions to support a connected approach to job
creation and regional economic development.
The collective knowledge of members,
ranging from small-to-medium enterprises to
large multinationals, gives The Green Way its
identity and strength. Ireland has an excellent
cleantech base, with multinationals such as
Siemens, Intel and IBM and home-grown
companies such as Glen Dimplex, Cylon, Open
Hydro and M2C, a start-up company that has
developed an advanced, adaptable and smarter
electric car charging unit and IBM’s Smarter
Cities Technology Centre is located in Dublin.
A living lab for cleantech
The Green Way is working with many such
companies to develop Dublin as a living lab to
test, trial and deploy clean-technology solutions.
The first step, says Aideen is “to provide an
evidence base for infrastructural investment.”
Public bodies in the region with the power to
invest are developing clear sustainability strategies,
mapping environmental and energy baselines
and identifying opportunities to improve
infrastructure. Supporting high-value cleantech
companies will stimulate job creation throughout
the whole supply chain. According to recent
studies by Ernst & Young, this support will create
up to 80,000 cleantech jobs by 2020 and in turn
lead to a boost in Irish GDP of between 2% and
4.6% by 2020.
Cleantech
The Green Way has completed some
successful test-bedding projects, such as a pilot
project to test the newly developed Quantum
technology for the Irish company Glen Dimplex,
the world’s largest storage-heater manufacturer.
Quantum is a home heat-storage system that
uses the latest in smart technologies and is
ground-breaking for both the heating and
electricity industries, while reducing the use
of imported fossil fuels. Using a collaborative
approach, Glen Dimplex has installed this
technology in 140 homes in Dublin. Facilitated
by Dublin City and Fingal County councils,
the project is supported by SEAI and Electric
Ireland, while the Dublin Institute of Technology
is carrying out monitoring and verification.
This exemplar project allows Glen Dimplex
to demonstrate its technology, which results
in approximately 15% energy savings to the
homeowner, or 30% in cost savings. There is
already strong demand for the heaters, from
Canada to Japan.
The Green Way is also facilitating 10
companies to test-bed their technologies and
services (both commercial and pre-commercial
stages), spanning smart transport, energy
efficiency and waste management. Each activity
has its own objective. For example, that of
the smart-transport projects is to facilitate
ownership and electric-vehicle trials in order
to allow clean-transportation companies
to collaborate, commercialize and develop
synergies across their product and service
offerings. This helps the companies to evolve,
understand customer needs and plan for
consumer expectations. These test-bed activities
are being supported by Enterprise Ireland.
Connecting with
international markets
“Ireland has a number of advantages,” says
Aideen. “It’s a knowledge economy. We’ve
proven success in clustering in the financial
services, ICT and pharmaceutical sectors and
Ireland is well placed to capitalize on the growth
of the cleantech sector, both domestically and
internationally. It’s currently ranked ninth in the
Global Cleantech Innovation Index 2012, based
on commercialized cleantech innovation. Among
10 international companies from North America,
Europe and Asia that won global Cleantech
Cluster Association Awards in 2011, there were
two Irish companies, Imperative Energy for
leading US cluster located in San Jose that
seeks to provide Silicon Valley cleantech
companies with access to global markets. A
similar agreement is due to be signed shortly
with Action New England, the Association
of Cleantech Incubators of New England
(ACTION). As Aideen points out, “Partnership
with The Green Way provides an excellent
base for US innovators wishing to access the
European market.”
Global collaboration
and ‘coopetition’
the Best in Biofuels category and Open Hydro
for the Best in Renewable Energy category.
This success continued in 2012 with Cylon
winning the Best in Lighting/Energy Efficiency
category. So why not build on all these factors to
deliver the smart, green economy, as set out in
government policy?”
Part of The Green Way’s work is to help
companies identify market needs and facilitate
connectivity with international markets. “As
a member of the Global Cleantech Cluster
Association (GCCA),” says Aideen, “we’ve
established strong connections with other
cleantech clusters throughout the world, allowing
us to exchange knowledge, find partners for local
companies and develop academic and municipallevel linkages. We’re working to develop
international partnerships that will provide
market opportunities for our members.”
The European Union, of which Ireland
is a member, is placing smart, sustainable and
inclusive growth at the heart of its flagship
initiatives to promote excellence in science, drive
competitiveness in industry and build a better
society. Financial instruments, such as Horizon
2020, will allow the EU’s Innovation Union to
bring more good ideas to market, supporting
the development and deployment of future
and emerging technologies. Through Horizon
2020, the European Commission will make
approximately €80 billion available to invest in
clean-technology research. This financial support
will span smart transport, smart cities and smartgrid initiatives, encouraging technology that
makes efficient use of resources and produces
clean and efficient energy.
The Green Way recently signed an
agreement on collaboration with the
Environmental Business Cluster (EBC), a
The Green Way is a young project that can
already report excellent progress. Aideen
says its Chairman and Board of Director
(both founding members) show “fantastic
commitment to stimulating economic
development through supporting the cleantech
sector” and she is excited about the possibilities.
Chairman of the Board, Ronan King, says “The
Green Way is an innovative ecosystem that
connects technology producers with users and
researchers. It empowers people with ideas to
develop their vision and it motivates users and
consumers to test new products and services,
leading to large-scale deployment of technology.
The added benefits are job creation and
environmental improvement.”
The low-carbon economy is now
mainstream, Aideen points out. “Cleantech
and sustainability are no longer a niche. They’re
growing faster than most market sectors even in
these difficult economic times. And corporate
strategic and venture investment in cleantech
companies is rapidly increasing.”
She summarizes the role of the cleantech
cluster as bringing together research, public
bodies, corporate partners and investment capital
and organizing trade missions to make the
local global; and to develop cleantech to its full
potential, she believes, global collaboration and
‘coopetition’ among clusters are essential.
“It’s all about partnership and collaboration
– local, national and international,” Aideen
emphasizes. “And Ireland is good at collaboration.
We’re a gateway in EU research and deployment.
We’re open for business.
“The cleantech potential is huge. Society,
companies of all sizes, entrepreneurs and
investors can reap great benefits from this next
wave of technological innovation – so let’s get
together and collaborate!”
Mobile Awards
ITLG announce the
top scaling mobile
companies for the ITLGDigicel Silicon Valley
Mobile Awards and the
line-up features some
of the biggest names in
the industry as well as a
number of fast moving
startups.
Mobile Awards
Silicon Valley Mobile 25
Boku Inc.
Boku has been helping companies to acquire new
paying users from its foundation in 2008. Backed
by more than $75m of venture capital, Boku has
built an unsurpassed network of mobile carriers
in 70 countries worldwide. These connections
provide access to more than 3.5bn subscribers.
Boku’s mission is to help merchants to
convert these mobile phone users into profitable
customers. Boku focuses exclusively on carrier
billing. The company’s payments platform
processes mobile payment transactions on multiple
client devices through specialized UIs: Desktop
web, mobile web, in-app and any other Internetconnected device such as gaming consoles and
smart TVs. The platform includes support for both
one-off and subscription payments.
Boku are keen to partner with Digicel
to offer carrier-billing to their customers. By
working with Boku, Digicel enables their
customers to pay for a wide range of products
using their mobile phone and benefits from a
share of the revenue on each transaction.
Mobile Awards
3) Pending framework to link mobile
payment transactions to open online and
Facebook marketing tools; and
4) A cloud based end to end platform designed
for online distribution partner integration.
egnyte, Inc
ItsOn
egnyte provides enterprise file sharing
solutions. Launched in 2008, the company
serves over 30,000 customers ranging from
SMB to enterprises located around the
globe. egnyte’s solution allows businesses to
deliver anytime/anywhere file access, easy
file sharing and mobility while enforcing
the highest degree of security and control.
egnyte also is the only solution to provide
a hybrid deployment option combining
the power of the cloud with the benefits of
on-premises file access in the LAN. egnyte
integrates with a range of storage platforms
so businesses can integrate cloud into their
existing storage infrastructure.
Backed by over 80 patents and pending
patent applications, ItsOn created the Smart
Services revolution over four years ago.
Comprised of pioneers in the wireless, cloud
and security industries that have a track
record of delivering SaaS client-cloud services
to over 70 million consumers and invented
the core technology behind LTE and WiFi
802.11N, the ItsOn team is well positioned
to deliver the next wave of mobile wireless
services innovation.
ItsOn is the first company to apply the
flexibility of the cloud to core operator services,
making it as easy to buy and manage your
mobile access as it is to buy a song on iTunes
or download an app from the Play Store.
Everything can be done from your device
without ever having to go to a store or talk to
someone on the phone.
The ItsOn cloud, in conjunction with an
intelligent client enables users to self-discover
services as they need them, allowing them to
modify their plans, share plans with multiple
devices, add mobile hot spot or roaming
upgrades, create curfews and countless other
tasks in seconds from their device.
flint Mobile
flint Mobile Inc. is the mobile payments
company that makes it easy for on-the-go
businesses to accept credit card payments
through a simple mobile app without card
reader hardware and to maximize customer
engagement through open online tools without
reliance on a proprietary digital wallet.
flint’s mission is to empower tens of
millions of small “non-countertop” businesses
and individual entrepreneurs who operate
outside of typical storefront environments and
have fundamentally different needs.
The company’s differentiation stems
from four primary factors:
1) Patented technology to use standard
mobile devices to securely scan just the
main number off the card instead of
using a physical card reader or capturing
a full image of the card;
2) End-to-end payment service provider
platform to enable easy online merchant
on-boarding in minutes; and
Funambol
Funambol is the leading provider of
white-label personal cloud solutions for
mobile operators and other service providers.
Funambol solutions have been deployed
worldwide for millions of people to secure,
sync and share rich media (pictures, videos,
music) files and PIM data (contacts and
calendar) via the cloud.
Its core product OneMediaHub is the
leading white-label personal cloud solution
and the company claims that it is superior to
other personal cloud solutions such as Apple
iCloud and Dropbox because
A) As a white-label solution, it enables
mobile providers to go to market with
their own branded personal cloud
solution that captures subscriber data and
content in their own cloud, generating
revenue and increasing customer loyalty.
B) It supports most types of devices (e.g.
not just iOS or Android) and content
(i.e. more than just files).
C) It is highly flexible, enabling customers to
go to market with a differentiated service.
D) It offers deployment flexibility, i.e. it can
be hosted for customers by Funambol or
a third party to enable customers to go to
market quickly with minimum capex, or it
can be deployed on customer premises.
Lookout
Lookout started with founders John Hering,
Kevin Mahaffey and James Burgess, right out of
school and passionate about mobile devices and
security. The trio’s early research led them to an
approach to mobile security that was completely
different from the start – big data harnessed to
protect against every size of mobile threats.
Today Lookout is a rapidly growing
company based in San Francisco, California.
Lookout is funded by leading investors
including Khosla Ventures, Trilogy Equity
Partners, Accel Partners, Index Ventures and
Mobile Awards
Andreessen Horowitz.
Lookout provides mobile security solutions
to carriers around the world including Sprint,
AT&T, TMobile, Orange, Deutsche Telekom,
Telstra and many others.
Lookout provides smartphone security in
four general product categories:
• Security & Privacy: Keep your phone or
tablet safe and secure. Lookout provides
the most trusted protection for your most
personal device.
• Backup: Your phone has your most valuable
personal information. Back up your
information without lifting a finger.
• Missing Device: Find your phone almost
as quickly as you lost it. Lookout can help
you find your lost or stolen phone, restore
or wipe your data.
• Management: Use the web to manage
your phone and backed-up data and find
your phone. Lookout gives you complete
control over the air anytime, anywhere.
ITLG announce the top
scaling mobile companies
for the ITLG-Digicel Silicon
Valley Mobile Awards and
the line-up features some
of the biggest names in the
industry as well as a number
of fast moving startups.
on the call and who is missing, quickly adding
missing participants, muting background
noise, recording the call and being able to
easily share content with participants.
pinger Inc.
Greg Woock and Joe Sipher in December 2005
developed software and services for mobile phones.
pinger is one of the 10 most used applications in
the USA for the last 2 years running.
The Textfree platform processes over 2 billion
messages monthly and places pinger as the 7th
largest North American mobile carrier by number
of unique subscribers and message volume.
pinger is a way for anyone with a smart
phone or wi-fi connected device to talk or text
for free. pinger does this by giving their users a
real phone number and the pinger service is ad
supported and free for users. Over 100 million
users have downloaded pinger’s applications.
Youdazzle
LoopUp
LoopUp is an everyday remote meetings
product that cuts through the chaos on
conference calls and lets users naturally
discover richer collaboration as and when
they need it. LoopUp was founded as Ring2
in London in 2003. Since then, thousands
of clients across Europe, the US and AsiaPacific markets have adopted the LoopUp
product, which extends to where business
professionals actually work: on smartphones
(BlackBerry, iPhone, Android), the Web and
in apps like Outlook, making it easy to have a
better meeting experience.
LoopUp offers reservation-less audio
and web conferencing service that solves the
common problems and frustrations around
conferencing by providing real-time visibility,
security and control on conference calls.
These pain points are familiar to
frequent conference callers but have not been
effectively addressed by existing solutions
e.g. knowing when the call has started, easily
joining without access codes, display of who is
Meet.fm and the concept of “online meeting
channels” were created by Youdazzle to offer
a simpler and richer way to meet online.
Youdazzle was founded in mid 2011 and
Meet.fm was launched in late 2012.
Meet.fm is a next generation web meeting
service designed for the mobile enterprise.
Youdazzle is advancing the multi-billion web
meeting market by supplementing 17 year
old, high-friction screen sharing technology
that doesn’t work well in the mobile world
with light-weight, mobile-powered live cloud
sharing technology that does.
Youdazzle is a small, elite team based in
Silicon Valley, California, comprised of worldclass engineers from Stanford and other leading
universities, highly successful entrepreneurs and
seasoned technology executives.
Meet.fm lets users share online content,
cloud (SaaS) applications and websites live
from any computer or device, no downloads,
plug-ins or friction. Meet.fm enables businesses
and organizations to sell, service and collaborate
online with ease and flexibility and offers the
most advanced real-time sharing tools available.
Text+
Text+ is pioneering the field of cloud
communications with its flagship service
that lets anyone text, talk and share for free.
Text+ offers unparalleled choice, savings and
reliability to consumers globally for a better
communications experience.
Text+’ main product is the Text+ mobile
application. The app is available on iOS,
Android, Windows Phone and Symbian
devices and provides users a local mobile
phone number for unlimited texting and
calling. Text+ allows for calling/texting over
Wi-Fi as well as 3G/4G. The application is
used heavily on non-telephone devices (e.g.
iPod Touch, iPad, tablets and out-of-carrierservice smartphones) as well as smartphones.
What makes Text+ different from other
OTT apps is that in addition to offering
in-app calling and messaging, it interconnects
with the PSTN and enables customers to
send/receive SMS messages and voice calls to
any phone number – not just other app users.
As a result, Text+ drives significant SMS and
Mobile Awards
voice traffic for mobile operators instead of
displacing operator revenue like most OTT
apps (e.g. WhatsApp/Viber).
settlement solutions based in Ireland, bringing
valuable revenue management and product
merchandising capabilities to the company.
guavus
velti
velti’s mGage empowers brands to use
mobile to transform their business. Whether
its ad delivery and measurement, crosschannel messaging campaigns, or mobile
site development, velti’s secure and scalable
platform allows marketers to execute highly
personalized, enterprise mobile marketing
campaigns. With the growth in mobile
and the fragmented device space, creating a
cohesive, rich experience across thousands
of handsets, multiple operating systems and
browsers can be challenging and complicated.
mGage Create is a mobile web
development platform that allows brands and
agencies to create, deploy, host and measure
mobile sites that can be dynamically rendered
on over 7,200 devices in the market!
Founded in February 2006, guavus has been
built from the ground up to unlock the value
of operational, sensor & network generated
data and reduce the economic & technology
risk associated with deploying a traditional
business intelligence solution. By dramatically
reducing the time and complexity to access
actionable insights that are business and
contextually aware, guavus enables people to
be data enlightened so they can make more
intelligent and timely decisions in a dynamic,
data-driven world.
The company’s all-in-one Reflex™
platform, which is integrated with a suite of
analytics applications, enable intelligent and
timely decision-making that allow businesses
to generate new revenue, reduce operating
expenditures, monetize new services and
improve customer experience.
guavus big data solutions have
been deployed at some of the largest
communication service provides in the
world, including 2 of the top 3 US mobile
operators, 3 of the top 5 IP/MPLS backbone
carriers and some of the largest digital media
distribution networks.
xobni
xobni (“inbox” spelled backwards) is a San
Francisco-based start-up created in 2006. It makes
your inbox and address book smarter by making it
easy to search and discover all your contacts - even
those who aren’t in your address book.
xobni, Smartr Inbox and Smartr Contacts
automatically find all the people with whom
you’ve ever exchanged emails, calls, or SMS
messages. They instantly provide a full view of
each contact, complete with their photo, job
title, company details and email history – as
well as updates from Facebook and Twitter.
xobni is available for Outlook while
Smartr Inbox is available for Gmail and Smartr
Contacts is available for Android and iPhone.
AEPONA
AEPONA was founded to capitalize on the
nascent market for Telecoms Value Added
Services, launching the world’s first Application
Gateway platform based on the emerging Parlay
standards in 2002. Since then, AEPONA has
been at the forefront of application enablement,
pioneering the convergence of mobile/fixed
networks, web services, enterprise applications
and cloud computing.
In June 2007, AEPONA acquired the
Swedish Application Server vendor Appium
and in 2009 it completed the acquisition of
Valista, a leading provider of payments and
inmobi
inmobi are leading the charge of architecting
mobile-first customer engagement platforms
that transform the economics of engaging a
global consumer. The company is innovating
in ways that empower its customers to reach
anyone in today’s connected world. inmobi
offer a suite of solutions built on superior
architecture based on the core principles of
simplicity and scale.
Expect Labs
Expect Labs has been widely recognized
as a leader in the fast-emerging field of
Anticipatory Computing and has received
numerous accolades. Expect Labs’ iPad app
MindMeld was selected as “Best in Show” at
the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show and
was featured by Popular Science as one of
the “Hottest Gadgets” of 2013. Expect Labs
was recognized by Gartner as one of their
“Cool Vendors of 2013” and selected as a
finalist for the 2013
CODiE Award
for best mobile
device application.
Expect Labs was
also selected
as a finalist
at the 2012
TechCrunch
Disrupt startup
competition,
the 2013 CES
Mobile App
Showdown
and the
2013
SXSW
Innovative
The Green Way, a collaborative cluster, located
in Dublin, Ireland, connecting companies,
government and researchers to work together in the
development, promotion and deployment of clean
technology solutions.
Funded by
Member of
Be part of the collaboration. Contact The Green Way
[email protected] or www.thegreenway.ie
Women in Technology
Leaders
among Men?
How significant an
impact have women
really made in the global
tech industry?
Women in Technology
T
he topic of women in any
industry is rarely discussed
without the issues of gender
imbalance or stereotyping
cropping up. Such issues and
the need to redress them are never more
present than in the ongoing global dialogue
concerning women in the technology
sector. However, in an industry traditionally
dominated by men, women are assuredly
making more than just a dent in the armor.
With women like Sheryl Sandberg and
Marissa Mayer taking the reins as CXOs
and VPs of some of the world’s most high
profile Fortune 500 companies, the impact
of women in IT has the capability to become
significantly indelible. However, with women
still only making up 10-30 per cent of the
technology sector’s workforce, greater strides
have yet to be made.
Women in the World
At the recent Women in the World
conference chaired by Chelsea Clinton and
featuring a panel of female tech executives,
the overriding message was to encourage the
next generation to study computer science
so that they may step up and take the helm
at Silicon Valley. This palpable ethos of
mentorship and collaboration is abundant
among women across the sector.
The main hurdle exposed at the conference
was the inevitable stigma concerning women
and technology. Children of both genders
are growing up believing that the traditional
“We live in a culture
and society that tells
us math, science, and
computers are not for
them. This is the most
important domestic
issue of our time. The
train is leaving, and we
have to make sure our
girls are not left behind.”
Hilary Clinton
segregation of subjects into categories of ‘his
and hers’ is something real or immovable.
Panel member Reshma Saujani and
founder of Girls Who Code, said at the
conference, “We live in a culture and society
that tells us math, science, and computers
are not for them. This is the most important
domestic issue of our time. The train is
leaving, and we have to make sure our girls
are not left behind.”
Hilary Clinton, who gave a keynote
speech at the event, espoused the virtues
of Sheryl Sandberg’s ‘lean in’ mantra,
announcing that “if America is going to lead,
we need to learn from the women in the
world who have blazed new paths.”
One such woman demonstrating this
need to teach and share is American Jessica
Erickson, founder of Berlin Geekettes, a group
of Berlin-based female tech entrepreneurs.
The group hosts hackathons, collaborative
projects and most importantly, provides role
models and support systems for women in
the industry. A mentorship programme is
also a critical component of its functions,
which couples young women starting out
in the industry with their more experienced
peers, and fosters an exchange of experience
and much welcomed advice. Furthermore,
special attention is paid to attracting the next
generation of tech woman leaders.
The She++ Approach
The relatively new She++ movement is also
looking ahead to the future of women in the
industry. Beginning as a Stanford University
“Women in Technology” conference in 2012,
it grew to be an initiative that was quickly
adopted and appreciated by female veterans
and newcomers throughout the tech world.
Having transformed into a technological
community for women, a She++ documentary
was also recently released focusing on the
lesser known women of Silicon Valley, the
sharp drop in women taking up computer
science, and the unbridled potential of future
generations – if they’d only consider an
Women in Technology
empowering career down the tech path.
She++ co-founder Ellora Israni believes
“a major reason we have so few female
engineers is the lack of concrete role models
– that is, the lack of individuals whom we
can point to and say, ‘Look, if you pursue
technology, you could be her someday.’
She++ is a unique opportunity to learn from
the stories of those surrounding us. So much
of the publicity surrounding technology is,
understandably, technical, but the stories of
women in technology are as inspirational as
their accomplishments.”
career when they are allowed to affect a
social issue.” Within the cleantech sector
there is thought to be considerable scope for
meaningful female engagement, despite it still
being primarily male-dominated.
As a blend of technology, engineering,
social sciences and humanities, the research
has observed that cleantech may attract more
women due to the emphasis on the higher
purpose of creating sustainable environments
now and for future generations.
Female Perspective
Despite these effective initiatives taken by
the women at the industry’s forefront, the
question still remains: Is the industry femalefriendly? From an Irish perspective the answer
seems to be a steadily progressive ‘yes’.
Intel’s first Irish female VP, Ann Kelleher,
joined the company in 1996 as a process
engineer and now oversees seven Intel plants
in Ireland, the US, China and Israel, which
employ over 13,000 people.
Having been one of only five girls in her
college class of 55 students and having become
the first ever woman to receive a Ph.D. from
the National Microelectronics Research Centre
(NMRC), Kelleher, perhaps better than most,
understands the minority stake women can have.
“The key is realizing that the roadblocks
may not be real and helping women to realize
that opportunities are available for everyone,”
she said in an interview with Silicon Republic.
Una Fox, Disney’s vice-president for
Technology has been pioneering a number of
The growing need for a more gender balanced
industry also springs from the obvious benefits
of dual perspectives. A female perspective is
as crucial as any when it comes to building
products with female design in mind. Not
every product made by men is targeted at the
male market and having this feminine edge can
have a direct impact on success.
The Anita Borg Institute for Women and
Technology recently published a report which
revealed that having a diversity of gender
and ethnicity in the workplace promotes
innovation and apparently goes a long way
towards strengthening decision making.
One area where it’s thought that women
may soon make a particularly significant
impact is in the rapidly growing green/clean
technology sector. Indeed, the US National
Science Foundation concluded in a study that
“women are more likely to stay in a technology
Taking Leadership
enterprise IT strategies that are keeping the likes
of Disney in the race to identity and pioneer
major technology trends. Fox is no stranger
to leadership, with a background of positions
with Yahoo, KPMG and BearingPoint to her
credit. She was also recently appointed by the
ITLG to lead its recently established ‘Women in
Leadership’ group.
Microsoft’s Claire Lee is also forging
pathways for those coming behind. She was
a member of the team behind the BizSpark
programme which saw the formation of
over 45,000 startups across 110 countries,
and currently leads industry partnerships for
Microsoft’s Emerging Business Team.
Intel’s new Women in Technology
initiative is also laying the groundwork for
recognizing and encouraging young women’s
potential and interest in the industry. As a
scholarship programme it seeks to encourage
a whole new generation of ambitious women
to rise to the challenge of a career in science
and technology by choosing the subjects at
third level. “Women are under-represented in
the technology workplace and this programme
creates an important opportunity for us to
encourage more young females to pursue
careers in science and technology,” says Intel
Ireland’s General Manager Eamonn Sinnott.
With role models and initiatives like these,
it’s clearly more a question of time rather than
ability when it comes to women choosing
tech. Time and the concerted efforts of today’s
women leaders will allow tech to become an
option as viable as any other in the minds of the
next generation of young career-driven women.
Connecting Women
Inspiring women
Connecting Women in Technology (CWIT) is an initiative empowering women
by developing a community and educating the next generation about the career
opportunities in the sector, as Lynne Nolan discovers.
S
et up in November 2009,
Connecting Women in
Technology (CWIT) is a joint
initiative between Accenture,
Dell, Ericsson, Ernst & Young,
Facebook, Google, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft
and Vodafone.
The initiative sets out to retain, inspire
and empower women by developing a
community and network to help grow
women’s contribution in IT.
“We do this via two main channels,
firstly by promoting networking across our
companies via our bi-annual networking
events, and secondly by focusing on how we
can educate the next generation about the
opportunities and possibilities of a career in
the technology sector,” explains Marie Treacy,
partner, Ernst & Young.
In November of 2009, senior women from
the member organizations came together as a
group because the current economic climate
had thrown up a number of challenges that
Ireland had not previously faced.
Amongst those challenges is ensuring
that organizations like the founding members
– multinationals based in Ireland – have the
right environment to grow and attract the
right quality of people into the technology
industry to support competitiveness.
CWIT Objectives
Having worked in the technology sector
for more than 20 years, Treacy says the
aims of CWIT; of retaining, inspiring and
empowering women in the sector, resonated
hugely with her.
“Our objectives as a committee have been
to support women in each of our companies
to develop a community and network to
support them in their roles, while also
attracting more female talent to technology,
and increasing the profile of our senior
women in the marketplace,” she explains.
The future of leading technology
Connecting Women
companies in Ireland is dependent on their
ability to grow and develop. The ability to
maintain a strong pipeline of skilled graduates
is key to this long-term success, she says.
“We all have a role to play in this, through
supporting initiatives promoting our roles in
technology in schools and colleges; supporting
a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation
with a view to increasing the number of women
pursuing careers in the Technology industry.”
When Treacy joined Ernst & Young
more than 20 years ago, there were very few
women in the profession and even less in the
technology sector.
“Google, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn
were not in existence; there were no smartphones
and clouds were in the sky!” she says.
“If I searched for a female role model at
the early stage of my career, there were few,
if any, and that’s the essence of the issue.
The lack of women in senior positions in
the technology space can mean that the role
models don’t exist today for those climbing
the career ladder,” she adds.
Women have come a long way
in technology, taking top positions at
global organizations, she says, and this is
encouraging to other women to adopt a
career in the field.
“We should acknowledge women like
Marissa Mayer, Sheryl Sandberg, Virginia
Rometty, Neelie Kroes and Louise Phelan,
but road blocks remain. We must encourage
women from a young age to consider
Science and Technology as an attainable and
attractive career choice,” Treacy comments.
“I very much welcome the commitment
that I have seen in organizations to diversity
and creating an inclusive work environment
in order to unlock everyone’s potential. A
particular focus has to be gender equality.
There is no quick fix however. It will take a
combined effort from government, business
and individuals and the focus has to be on
talent pipeline and not just the board room
alone,” she adds.
The presence of powerful women in tech
fields could signal the demise of the industry’s
historically exclusionary culture and encourage
more women to become leaders in technology
and influence entrepreneurial ideas.
Treacy hosted Connecting Women in
Technology’s breakfast briefing in Dublin in
October last year, which gathered more than
Paula Neary
200 women working in the technology sector
to network, bring out the entrepreneur within
and get inspired to move into more senior
positions in their companies.
Harnessing Talent
Designed to harness female entrepreneur
and intrapreneurship, by bringing together
Ireland’s technology female leaders, the event
featured guest speakers including Triona
Campbell from beActive International, Fijitsu
Ireland’s Regina Moran, and Frank O’Keeffe
from Ernst & Young.
“Attitudes towards women in technology
are changing rapidly and female participation
continues to increase in this sector. The recent
establishment by Enterprise Ireland of a
€250K Competitive Feasibility Fund is to be
welcomed and will help women investigate
the viability of new growth. However, more
needs to be done to boost the number of
innovative, export-oriented business being set
up by female entrepreneurs.”
Olivia Leonard, Developer Operations
Manager at Facebook comments that “CWIT
is one of many initiatives Facebook is part of,
which focuses on attracting more women to
the technology sector.”
“At Facebook, we get involved in both
networking events and educational activities, to
raise the profiles of the challenging, interesting
jobs the tech industry offers,” Leonard says.
“We want to encourage women early in their
education and careers to take into consideration
the vast opportunities the technology arena can
bring and to demystify some of the myths about
the tech world,” she adds.
Attracting women into the technology
industry also has a significant impact on the
country’s economy.
Paula Neary, a Managing Director for
Health & Public Service at Accenture Ireland,
which runs an internal programme Accent on
Women (AoW) focused on the retention and
advancement of women in the firm, believes
“it is an economic imperative that we attract
women into the technology industry – otherwise
Ireland’s competitiveness and our development as
a knowledge economy will suffer.”
“Part of our future health and growth
is dependent on attracting the right kind of
investment into Ireland”, she says.
According to Neary, the future of such
high technology companies in Ireland is
dependent on their ability to grow and
develop and in order to do this we need
a qualified pipeline of highly skilled and
qualified graduates.
Women are a critical part of that
development and “we have a role to play
through supporting and driving initiatives
that support a culture of innovation among
students with a view to increasing the number
of women entering the technology industry.”
“Connecting Women in Technology
really helps to champion this in Ireland
and focuses not only on attracting women
into technology, but also on retention and
empowering women to succeed,” Neary adds.
Top 50 Women in Technology
Top
50
Women in Technology
The following women
have made an indelible
mark in the technology
sector and include
those women who
lead some of the
world’s top companies
as well as technology
entrepreneurs and
investors and others
who have made their
mark through initiatives
aimed at encouraging
other women to adopt a
career in the field
Una Fox, Walt Disney
Recently appointed to head the ITLG
‘Women in Leadership’ group, Una Fox
is a VP in the Walt Disney Company
Corporate Technology group. Una
joined Disney in 2008 and has a specific
focus on online marketing technologies,
Brand Management and Customer
Business Intelligence.
Prior to joining Disney, Ms Fox was
a Director of Partner Services at Yahoo,
Inc. In that position, her responsibilities
included revenue management for many
of Yahoo’s strategic publishing and PC
OEM partners.
Before Yahoo, Una held several
leadership roles at BearingPoint. She
was instrumental in incubating a global
consulting team focused on Enterprise Search and was one of the first major system
integrators to work with Google Enterprise. She also managed the global Siebel
alliance team for BearingPoint and prior to joining the Strategic Alliances organization
spent several years as a Senior Manager in KPMG Consulting’s global Customer
Management practice, where she led multiple large global CRM and Business
Intelligence technology initiatives for several of KPMG’s Fortune 100 clients.
Una began her career in technology at Cisco Systems in Europe. She holds a
Bachelors Degree in French Literature from University College Cork, Ireland.
Ursula M. Burns,
chairman & Chief
executive, Xerox
When Ursula Burns assumed the role
of Xerox’s CEO in 2010 she not only
joined the ranks of American’s top
female executives, she became the first
African American to head up a major
corporation. Not bad for a girl who
together with her siblings was raised
by their single mother in the rough
environment of New York City’s Lower
East side in the 1960s.
Her mother, however, set high
standards for her children and
prized, above all, the value of a
good education. She encouraged
Ursula’s passion for mathematics and
supported her daughter’s decision to
pursue engineering in University.
Burns earned a bachelors
degree in mechanical engineering
from Polytechnic Institute of New
York followed by a Masters degree
from Columbia University. When
she joined Xerox as a mechanical
engineering summer intern in 1990, the
company was the global leader in the
photocopying market. As Xerox began
to carve out a leadership position in
digital document technologies Burns
was promoted to roles in product
development and planning.
In 1991 she was appointed
special assistant to Xerox’s then CEO,
Paul Allair and from1992 through
to 2000 which was a critical period
in the company’s history, Burns led
several business teams including the
company’s color business and office
network printing business.
In 2000, Burns assumed the
position of senior vice president of
Corporate Strategic Services, with
responsibility for manufacturing and
supply chain operations. Along with
the then-CEO Anne Mulcahy, she was
heavily involved in the restructuring
of Xerox and its transition to a market
leader in color technology and
document services.
Burns was named president of
Xerox in 2007 and in the same year
was elected to the Board of Directors.
Two years later she became chief
executive officer and soon afterwards
the company concluded the largest
acquisition in its history when it
purchased Affiliated Computer
Services for $6.4 billion. This launched
the company as a key player in the
$500 billion business services market
and extended the scope of its activities
into business process and information
technology outsourcing.
Appointed Chairman in May 2010,
Burns leads a company which employs
14,000 people and operates in more
than 160 countries. She is also on the
board of directors of the American
Express Corporation and Exxon Mobil
Corporation
Outside the corporate arena,
Burns is also concerned that the
failure to produce more graduates in
science, technology, engineering and
mathematics (STEM) will impact on
America’s ranking in an increasingly
global marketplace. She is a founding
board director of Change the
Equation, which focuses on improving
the U.S.’s education system in science,
technology, engineering and math
(STEM). In March 2010, U.S. President
Barack Obama appointed Burns vice
chair of the President’s Export Council.
Padmasree Warrior,
Chief Technology &
Strategy Officer, Cisco
Cisco Chief Technology & Strategy
Officer Padmasree Warrior is
charged with aligning technology
development and corporate strategy
to enable Cisco to anticipate, shape
and lead major market transitions.
Warrior helps drive technology
and operational innovation
across the company and oversees
strategic partnerships; mergers and
acquisitions; the integration of new
business models; the incubation of
new technologies; and the cultivation
of world-class technical talent.
In her previous role, Warrior
served as chief technology officer
(CTO) and also co-led Cisco’s
worldwide engineering organization.
As senior vice president,
Engineering, she was responsible for
core switching, collaboration, cloud
computing and data.
Ruchi Sanghvi, VP of
Operations at Dropbox
Prior to joining Dropbox, Ruchi Sanghvi,
VP of Operations at the company was
the CEO of Cove, a company which she
co=founded with her husband, a former
director of engineering at Facebook
where she also worked as one of the
company’s first female engineers.
Born in January 1982 in Pune,
Maharashtra where her father was a
Businessman Ruchi Sanghvi went to
Karen Quintos, Senior
Vice President & Chief
Marketing Officer, Dell,
Karen Quintos, Senior Vice President
and Chief Marketing Officer for Dell,
leads marketing for Dell’s commercial
business globally. In addition she
is responsible for brand strategy,
global communications, social media,
corporate responsibility, customer
insights, marketing talent development
and agency management.
Karen is also the executive sponsor
of the largest networking group at Dell,
Women in Search of Excellence.
Before becoming CMO for Dell
in September 2010, Quintos was
vice-president of Dell’s global public
business. Previously, she was vicepresident of marketing for Dell’s North
American commercial business and also
St. Joseph’s High School, Pashan and
Fergusson College in Pune, Maharashtra
before going on to study electrical
engineering at Carnegie Mellon University,
where she was one of only five female
students in the 150-student program.
After graduating Ruchi Sanghvi
arrived for her first job interview at
Facebook’s headquarters, at noon in the
fall of 2005 to find the graffiti-covered
offices in downtown Palo Alto deserted.
She waited for two hours before
someone finally arrived to interview her
and was told later that the engineers
had been up all night coding and slept
in. Unphased by the rather unorthodox
working methods and impressed by the
environment, and the product which
she had used extensively as a student at
Carnegie Mellon University, she became
Facebook’s first female engineer and
one of the first 10 engineers hired by
the company.
While at Facebook she launched
News Feed, which completely altered the
Facebook experience by putting friends’
online activities front and center on the
site; she was also centrally involved in
Platform, an update that allowed thirdparty developers and entrepreneurs to
build apps on Facebook; and Connect,
which made it possible for people to link
their Facebook identities and friends to
almost any site on the web.
The products she developed were
critical to the continuing development
of the site and she also rewrote the
rules of the web, diminishing the
user’s anonymity on the Internet and
heralding a new era where peoples’ real
names were attached to all their online
activities. She believes this connection
between offline and online identities is
technologies next major innovation and,
one which will reshape everything from
e-commerce to health care.
In 2010 she left Facebook with
her husband to set up Cove and two
years later it was bought by the cloudsharing service Dropbox. At the age of
30 Ms Sanghvi became vice-president
of operations at the company. She
lives at Palo Alto, California with her
husband Aditya.
held various executive roles
in Dell’s services, contact
centre and supply chain
management teams.
She holds a master’s
degree in marketing and
international business from
New York University and a
bachelor of science in supply
chain management from The
Pennsylvania State University.
Karen is a 2012 winner of
Working Mother magazine’s
Mother of the Year award
for her commitment to
balancing work and family,
and Forbes magazine
named her one of the
world’s most influential
CMOs. She lives in Austin,
Texas with her husband and
three children.
Bright spark
As innovation emerges at major startup clusters across the globe,
the underrepresentation of women in the tech sector results in
potential not being realised, warns Claire Lee, head of partnerships
for Microsoft Startups.
C
laire Lee describes the process
by which she came to form
part of the corporate strategy
team that created the BizSpark
program in November 2008,
which now has over 50,000 startups in 110
countries and 1,500 partners, as “a happy
coincidence: right time, right place.”
“I’ve always been vocal and opinionated!
Obviously the leadership team liked this and
invited me to play an active role in shaping
the program strategy, and figure out ways for
us to partner with others,” she says.
Heading up a group that empowers
entrepreneurs and young companies to
leverage a range of Microsoft platform
technologies to be successful, she feels
“incredibly lucky to have had amazing mentors
and sponsors that drop me in the deep end and
give me remits that play to my strengths.”
BizSpark was a huge investment for
Microsoft to make in startups, she says.
“Just ask one of the 50,000 companies.
We hear stories every day from all over
the globe of how BizSpark as a program
but – more importantly – as a community,
is allowing folks to do better. More likely
to survive, and thrive. That’s all we ask,”
comments Claire Lee, head of partnerships
for Microsoft Startups.
Growing up in Wicklow, Ireland Lee
attended the Dominican Covent before
studying for a degree in business at Dublin’s
Portobello Institute. Looking back, she recalls
not being particularly academic and regrets
partying so much and not studying harder.
“Where women are
involved, companies
are shown to be more
profitable. It’s not a
“diversity” agenda at all.
It’s simple economics.”
A Passion for
Entrepreneurship
A fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, part of
the UK Prime Minister’s Women’s Enterprise
Taskforce 2007-2010, recognized as an ‘Icon
of Technology’ at the House of Commons
and featured on the Irish Times Silicon Valley
Top 50 in 2012, Claire is passionate about
entrepreneurship and represents Microsoft on
the topics of early-stage financing, innovation,
young enterprise and international trade.
Her path into tech was not a deliberate
one, she admits. She started her career as
a graduate with IBM Ireland, initially on
a contract position and despite being a
relatively junior position, the move allowed
Lee to undertake business training and learn
the ropes. “Soon enough I was working in
a really exciting area with new technology
(midrange systems) and supporting the sales
team at the frontline selling these systems to
banks and insurance companies, and to the
manufacturing sector.”
From IBM hardware sales, she transitioned
into IBM Global Services where she worked
with SAP and Year 2000 compliance projects.
“It was a really high growth division, I learnt
a great deal and worked with some amazing
people and every day I was learning more
about sales and deal-making. IBM was a great
training ground, for a graduate.”
In 1997 after making the decision to
leave Dublin, Lee tried and failed to secure
a transfer to South Africa (immediately
following the end of Apartheid), deciding
as an alternative to move to the UK having
secured a tempting role as Product Manager at
Ingram Micro, where she worked initially with
Apple on the marketing partnerships, before
moving to manage the Compaq relationship.
Joining Marconi as Account Director
in 2000, Lee worked with Compaq initially
to set up the global partnership to sell
Intelligent Network services to Telco
companies, before being asked to manage
the strategic account with Siemens, where
Marconi had a relationship to resell SDH to
major Telco clients.
Lee has moved through the ranks
in Microsoft, starting out as a Partner
Marketing Manager in the UK subsidiary,
before working as Local Software Economy
Lead at Microsoft International, then being
appointed as Business Development &
Strategy Analyst with Microsoft Corporation
and moving to Silicon Valley.
Predominantly centred on the
intersection of technology and economic
growth, BizSpark is an international network
of entrepreneurial startups and partners.
Lee’s team partners closely with accelerators,
co-working spaces and entrepreneurship
groups, with Government and Academia, coinvesting in programs for the next generation
of tech entrepreneurs.
Prior to her move to Silicon Valley
(Startups HQ) in February 2011, Lee was
based in the UK, leading efforts to partner with
organizations in Europe, the Middle East and
Africa. After eight years with the company, Lee
describes herself as a “partner beast”.
Lee enjoys her current role, as she
loves finding ways to collaborate with
organizations that are also passionate about
supporting startups. Her role at Microsoft
centres primarily around three key aspects,
she explains; firstly, identifying and engaging
leading organizations globally that support
entrepreneurs – such as accelerators, and
finding ways to work together.
Creating Partnerships
“Then we carve out a partnership that allows
our field teams leverage partnerships locally,
from Silicon Valley, across the US and in key
cities internationally. We usually put together
a cookbook or ‘playbook’,” she says.
Partnerships comprise leading incubators,
accelerators, Government agencies,
universities and more. Examples include
TechStars, Startup Weekend, Startup
America and Founder Institute. Lee has also
served as a judge for startup events including
DEMO and Web Summit, and as a mentor
with groups such as Seedcamp.
“We also attract organizations to
become Network Partners, allowing them
offer [software and services] benefits
from Microsoft to their startups, via the
BizSpark program. We work very closely
with colleagues in the business groups
(e.g. Windows, Windows Phone and Bing
Fund). Then, we do a lot of events and
communications. For instance, I spend a
good deal of my time as an ambassador for
Microsoft at leading industry events, and
showcasing the startups that we are assisting
in various ways, helping them gain an
advantage,” she adds.
Watching a team of startup founders
doing well is one the highlights of her role, Lee
says. “Many startups go through one of our
accelerator partners, join BizSpark and engage
with of our guys [in DPE] at Microsoft. Every
day we hear stories about founders building
solutions that may leverage our services; we
know it is a struggle. Many of them just say
‘thanks for mentoring’. It’s good to have even a
very small part to play in their success. Multiply
that by 100 countries and say 20 partnerships,
and you can see why it’s rewarding.”
BizSpark is now a ‘benchmark’ for some
corporates and many have tried to emulate
the offering, she says. “That speaks volumes
for its importance in the industry, I think”.
Working with the US State Dept. and
helping deliver the first ever DEMO Africa;
and meeting Hilary Clinton in Washington
DC, were Lee’s highlights last year.
Microsoft continues to make big
investments in programs and efforts to
support Startups in 2013; and “we’re working
on some really exciting things to be unveiled
soon,” she says.
Simultaneously, Lee is also embarking on
her own special project – as she gave birth to
her new baby son, “perhaps a future software
entrepreneur,” Benjamin William Lee at
Stanford Hospital on April 3. “I love the
work we do, and I’m looking forward to going
back in a few months. In the meantime, I’ll
be focused on family and of course keeping
up with all the industry news while Ben
sleeps!” she says.
“We are seeing some incredible
innovation both out of Silicon Valley and
in every major startup cluster around the
globe – and indeed in some parts of the
world that you’d not normally associate
with ideas and innovation! It’s a really
exciting time,” she reveals.
Startups have a much lower cost of market
entry and can build out a prototype in record
time, for very little upfront cost, she says. “Just
look at Startup Weekend to see examples
of what can be created in 54 hours and how
many people are taking ideas further now that
mobile and cloud services are so pervasive.
Entrepreneurs have access to so much advice
via community networks now, both online
and offline, so they can iterate on an idea, they
can pivot (i.e. change and improve their idea
several times), they can get grants, find cofounders, join one of thousands of accelerators,
and crowdsource funding.”
“The whole model has shifted in
the five years or so I’m in this space at
Microsoft. Both for technology platforms,
with consumer and business “solutions”,
with financing, and with distribution and
customer acquisition. It’s a great time to start
a business,” she enthuses.
Women in Leadership
Women make great leaders, every day of
the week, she believes, and “sometimes our
leadership is unnoticed or degraded as menial.
It’s a huge pity our work in the home and
our ability to manage so much overall in life,
is not recognized in the manner it should
be. It’s also about balance. If women are not
represented, there is something missing.
Often this can be dangerous. Where women
are involved, companies are shown to be more
profitable. It’s not a ‘diversity’ agenda at all.
It’s simple economics.”
Lee has been fortunate to work for IBM
and Microsoft, which have both strived for
diversity and inclusion.
attempting to change things. But then,
we always had activists. Women are still
underrepresented and that in itself causes
an imbalance – potential is just not being
realized. I’d love to think that by the time
my now three-year-old daughter Natasha
graduates, she may choose a career in tech
and see a very equal and fair platform for
her to thrive. Unfortunately I do not see that
occurring. Too many things would need to
shift quite radically for that to be possible,”
Lee comments.
From the culture of discrimination in the
workplace, issues of [un]equal pay, women
having to assume and juggle far too much
at work and at home – risking burnout and
then opting out of the rat race due to stress
– these factors together are all barriers to
success, she believes.
“I also detect mainstream and widespread,
deep-rooted societal attitudes to “women
in positions of power”. Basically a good
proportion of people still believe that
pursuing a career and choosing to commit
oneself to a rewarding vocation in industry,
is an “unnatural act” and against the grain of
how we are wired, and what role we really
should be fulfilling. This last one – I just don’t
buy it. But then I am part of the generation
that assumed it was OK to choose this (work
and family) path – and of course, we are
surprised when we meet this wave of dissent
and criticism.”
“We are seeing some
incredible innovation
both out of Silicon
Valley and in every
major startup cluster
around the globe – and
indeed in some parts of
the world that you’d not
normally associate with
ideas and innovation! It’s
But there is hope.
a really exciting time.”
Ultimately, having policies for ‘affirmative
action’ is useful but you really need action and
the right attitudes embedded in the company
DNA. Unless your culture supports this agenda
for equality, for balance and inclusion then
you may not see any positive outcomes. People
in leadership need to ‘walk the walk’. Policies
are nothing without implementation in the
workplace every day, everywhere,” she says.
Women remain underrepresented in
the tech sector and she admits that nothing
has really changed since her time at IBM
between 1994 and 1997, and her time now in
the Bay Area.
“I wish I could say differently. Certainly
our perspective has changed and now we
have role models that are speaking out and
If advising young women who are attracted
to careers in the technology sector, she advises
them that “whatever path you follow, stay true
to your passion and skills. Do something you
love. If you love it, chances are you are good at
it too. If you are drawn to the tech industry, or
to a specific function and field, do not be scared
off by statistics or by stories of ‘laddish culture’.
That is everywhere, regardless of sector.”
“The truth is that every industry is male
dominated. I don’t know one that is immune
from the same issues. So, tech has its fair
share of cringeworthy moments. So what?
It’s also a really exciting industry and full of
infinite possibilities for everyone, regardless of
background or gender.”
“Get in there, and build something.
Change something,” she adds.
Jess Erickson,
Berlin Geekettes
Sheryl Sandberg,
COO, Facebook
Sheryl Sandberg has been the Chief
Operating Officer of Facebook, Inc.
since March 24, 2008 where she is
responsible for helping the company
scale its operations and expand its
presence globally.
She served as a Vice President of
Global Online Sales & Operations at
Google Inc., from November 2001 to
March 2008 and was responsible for
online sales of Google’s advertising
and publishing products. Prior to
Google, Ms. Sandberg served as the
Chief of Staff for the United States
Treasury Department and as an
Economist with The World Bank.
She has been named as one of
the “50 Most Powerful Women in
Business” by Fortune and one of the
“50 Women to Watch” by The Wall
Street Journal. Ms. Sandberg holds
an A.B. in Economics from Harvard
University and was awarded the John
H. Williams Prize as the top graduating
student in Economics. She was a Baker
and Ford Scholar at Harvard Business
School, where she earned an MBA with
highest distinction.
Facebook’s chief operating
officer is hoping to create a national
movement to help women advance
in the workforce and her book “Lean
In” sold 140,000 copies its first week of
publication and has gone back to press
numerous times for additional printing.
Jessica Erickson is the Founder
of Berlin Geekettes, a non-profit
uniting, mentoring and promoting
women in technology. She is also
the Berlin Producer for General
Assembly, a campus that helps
individuals create opportunities
through community and education
in technology, entrepreneurship
and design through a wide variety
of online and offline learning
opportunities. Jessica holds a MSc
in Media and Communications from
the London School of Economics.
Mary Meeker, Kleiner
Perkins Caufield & Byers
Mary Meeker is a general partner
at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
and joined the firm in January 2011.
She focuses on investments in highgrowth Internet companies.
From 1991 to 2010 Mary
worked at Morgan Stanley and
served as managing director and
research analyst. Since beginning
her career as a securities analyst
in 1986, Mary has focused on
discovering and understanding
emerging technology trends,
building relationships with visionary
entrepreneurs and supporting
category-defining companies during
their critical phases of market
adoption and growth.
A prolific writer, Mary is the coauthor of industry-defining books.
She became known as “Queen of
the Net” after being conferred the
title by Barron’s Magazine in 1998.
Meeker and Chris DePuy at Morgan
Stanley, published “The Internet
Report,” a landmark report which
became known as “the bible” for
investors in the dot com boom.
Susan O’Day, Walt
Disney
Susan O’Day is the Senior Vice
President and Chief Information
Officer for The Walt Disney
Company. Susan leads Disney
Technology Solutions and
Services, delivering technology
capabilities that enable business
segment strategies while
achieving enterprise efficiency
and promoting cross-company
collaborative innovation.
Susan joined Disney in 2008
from the global biopharmaceutical
company Bristol-Myers Squibb,
where she served as Chief
Information Officer and Vice
President of Global Shared
Services. In that role, she oversaw
the company’s information
management, global technology
strategy, which included enterprise
programs that significantly
improved and streamlined
operations and processes.
Susan holds a Master’s degree
in Business Administration from
The College of William and Mary
and a Bachelor of Science degree
in Mathematics from St. Lawrence
University. She is also a proud
graduate and serves as President
of the Board of Trustees for Miss
Hall’s School in Pittsfield, MA.
Susan lives in Los Angeles, CA and
enjoys an active outdoor lifestyle.
Jacinta Tobin,
Cloudmark
A native of County Clare on the
west coast of Ireland Jacinta Tobin,
President, Chief Marketing Officer
for Cloudmark Inc, holds a bachelor’s
in international marketing and
languages from Dublin City University.
Based in San Francisco,
Cloudmark is a leading provider of
security solutions that protects over
one billion user from spam, viruses
and phishing. Jacinta also founded
Quantum Internet, an application
hosting provider and has acted as an
advisor to several start-up companies
focused on security and anti-spam.
Jacinta is responsible for
developing the strategic framework
for Cloudmark and leading its global
strategies. The Clare native is also on
the board of the Messaging AntiAbuse Working Group.
Prior to joining Cloudmark Inc,
Jacinta was Senior Executive at the Mysis
Group, where she grew distribution
channels and sales across 64 countries.
She then moved to the Gap Gemini
Group, spearheading international sales
globally. She also developed a global
distribution deal with IBM.
From 2004-2011, Jacinta was
Senior Vice President, Worldwide
Sales and Business Development,
growing revenues by over 10 times.
Susan Wojcicki, Google
Ping Fu, 3D Systems
Susan Wojcicki, senior vice
president of product management
and engineering at Google,
graduated with honours from
Harvard University. She holds a
Master’s in Economics from the
University of California at Santa
Cruz, and an M.B.A. from UCLA.
Wojcicki, was 16th on Forbes
Magazine’s list of the world’s 100
most power women in 2011.
She joined Google in 1999 and in
the early days, she was responsible
for a wide range of marketing
activities, including the creation of
the corporate identity.
Before joining Google, she
worked at Intel, Bain &Company
and R.B. Webber & Company. She
was also a Product Manager and
Developer for the educational
software company MagicQuest.
Wojcicki played an instrumental
role in the acquisitions of AdSense,
YouTube and Doubleclick. She
is responsible for Google’s most
profitable products, including
the company’s main advertising
platforms AdWords and AdSense.
Her particular focus is Google’s
mobile advertising efforts.
Wojcicki is married to Google
executive Dennis Troper and they
have four children.
In 1966 when Ping Fu was eight years
old she was taken by the Red Guards
from her parents in Shanghai and
thrown with her younger sister in a
government-run dormitory in Nanjing,
China, where she lived for nearly a
decade in appalling conditions.
Later Fu tried to rebuild her life
as a student at Suzhou University but
her senior thesis research on female
infanticide in China’s countryside
resulted in her being sentenced to
exile. Fu knew only three words of
English when she arrived in the US but
she got odd jobs to pay to go through
college and earned a computer
science degree which set her on the
path to becoming a leading innovator
in the early dot-com era.
In 1997, she launched tech firm
Geomagic with her husband, creating
3D software to customize product
manufacturing, from personalized
shoes and prosthetic limbs to NASA
spaceship repairs. By 2005, it had
$30 million in revenues, and she was
named Inc. magazine’s Entrepreneur of
the Year.
Today Fu sits on President
Obama’s National Advisory Council on
Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and
she has sold Geomagic to 3D printing
leader 3D Systems, where she will be
Chief Strategy Officer.
Meg Whitman, CEO,
Hewlett-Packard
Dr Kiran
Mazumdar-Shaw,
Biocon Limited
Dr Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson
& Managing Director of Biocon
Limited, is a biotech innovator who
was recently voted the most influential
business personality outside Europe
and the USA. In 2004, she became
India’s richest self-made woman.
Her business Biocon is one of India’s
leading drug companies and employs
over 6,000 at its campus in Bangalore.
Dr Shaw holds a graduate honours
degree in Zoology from Bangalore
University and an honorary Doctorate
of Science, from Ballarat University.
She started Biocon in 1978 and led
its evolution from an industrial enzymes
manufacturing company to a fully
integrated bio-pharmaceutical company
with strategic research initiatives.
In 2009, Biocon and global pharma
giant, Mylan partnered to develop
multiple generic biologics including
generic insulins, which alone has an
addressable market of over $10 billion.
Today, Biocon is recognised as India’s
pioneering biotech enterprise.
In 2009, she setup a low-cost
cancer hospital and her goal of making
healthcare more accessible for all
Indians has driven her to search for
a more affordable model of drug
development.
Meg Whitman who made a $1.7 billion
fortune as CEO of eBay when she
transformed the company from a startup with some 30 employees into one
of the giants of the global IT sector
faces an entirely different challenge in
restoring the fortunes of troubled IT
multinational Hewlett-Packard.
Whitman served as CEO of eBay
for ten years following stints at Bain
& Company, the business-consulting
firm, (where she worked with future
Massachusetts governor and 2012
Republican Presidential candidate Mitt
Romney) as well as other high profile
positions at firms such as Disney, Goldman
Saachs, Stride Rite, FTD and Hasbro.
Under her direction, ebay progressed
from sales of $86 million in her first year
to $7.7 billion a decade later, when
she stood down as CEO. Not all of her
decisions were without controversy,
notably her purchase of Skype for $2.5
billion in 2005. HP later took a 1.4billion
write down on the purchase.
Whitman, who has a bachelor’s
degree in economics from Princeton
University and an MBA from Harvard
Business School sets her sights on
politics following her departure from
eBay and she spent $119 million of her
own money in a failed bid to become
the Governor of California.
Following her political defeat she
was approached to take over at the
helm of Hewlett-Packard, a company
which helped lay the foundations for
the creation of Silicon Valley and which
was once one of its most innovative
and trailblazing companies.
However HP has lost its way in
recent years. The company has been left
bruised by a series of bitter boardroom
battles and has been caught off guard by
the emergence of two game changing
technologies; smart phones and tablet
computers. Meanwhile, its vast cash
reserves have dwindled due to a number
of acquisitions which have failed to live
up to expectations, particularly the ill
advised 8billion euro takeover of the
British software company Autonomy.
HP still manages to generate $10
billion dollars in revenue each month
but the company has 325,000 employee
and vast overheads and is facing into
an era in which demand for personal
computers and printers is dwindling.
Whitman’s remedy will see
concerted and comprehensive cost
cutting and a renewed focus on
research and development in order
to restore the culture of innovation at
the company. Whitman has spoken
of a five year time frame which is an
eternity in the tech world but because
of the number of acquisitions made
by HP in recent years it will take time
to consolidate the disparate parts and
“knit them together”.
According to Whitman, the decline
in HP’s revenues has continued to
moderate and she anticipates a return
to growth – if not by the end of this
year, “certainly in 2014”.
Fortune ranked Ms. Whitman as
one of the 25 “most powerful people
in business” in 2004 and 2005, Time
named her one of the world’s 100 most
influential people in 2004, and Worth
ranked her number one on its 2002 list
of best Chief Executive Officers while
Business Week has included her on its
list of the 25 most powerful business
managers annually since 2000.
Transformative thinking
Dr. Joanne Martin, IBM Vice President of IT Risk and Chief
Information Security Officer, has played a central role in several of
the company’s breakthrough technologies since joining IBM in 1984.
P
art of an elite group of
technologists who have
earned one of IBM’s highest
technical distinctions, IBM
Distinguished Engineer, Joanne
Martin was on the team that created IBM’s
first supercomputer and led the development
of the commerce engine for ibm.com.
In her current role, Martin has
responsibility for the vision, strategy and
execution of security initiatives that protect
IBM’s IT assets, from intellectual property and
proprietary business information to client data.
“With my team, I manage programs to
identify, develop, implement, and maintain
the processes required to reduce IT risks,
respond to incidents and formalize necessary
standards and controls,” she says.
“The new era of computing has
introduced mobility, big data, social and cloud
environments to our business. Our team ensures
that these tools are used securely and effectively.”
International Hall of Fame
Inducted into the Women in Technology
International (WITI) Hall of Fame last year,
Martin says IBM CEO Ginni Rometty is her
leading role model.
“I have had the opportunity to interact
with Ginni in different roles over the past 10
to 15 years and I really appreciate the way she
inspires confidence,” says Martin.
The technologist has been praised by
colleagues for her accomplishments. Mark
Dean, IBM Fellow and CTO for the company’s
Mideast and Africa region, described her
induction as “a well-deserved recognition of
continued leadership, both to the technical team
inside IBM and the greater industry.”
Martin says that over the past 30 years,
there has been a noticeable increase in the
representation of women in technology but adds
that while this is encouraging “we can go further.”
She believes encouraging young women
to pursue an education steeped in the STEM
disciplines - science, technology, engineering
and math – has to start early.
“We must also stress the importance
of collaboration, which many women are
naturally adept at, because it is so essential
to technology projects today. Technology
companies have a vested interest in getting
involved here,” Martin says.
IBM runs an initiative called IBM Mentor
Place, which involves thousands of employees
around the world providing students with
academic assistance and career counselling.
According to Martin, initiatives such as this
one are helping to remove barriers that have
prohibited women from fulfilling their potential.
The IBM executive grew up in
Baltimore, and Columbia, N.C. She attended
undergraduate school at Appalachian State
University in Boone, N.C., and graduate
school at the Johns Hopkins University
in Baltimore, Md., receiving a PhD in
Mathematics (Algebraic Topology), before
carrying out postgraduate work at the Los
Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
She began research in high performance
computing and did the first systematic
characterization of the Los Alamos scientific
workload, which led to interactions with
researchers at IBM’s T.J. Watson Research
Center and eventually a position at the company
in 1984. She has worked at IBM since then.
Martin was founder and editor-in-chief
of the MIT Press Journal of Supercomputer
Applications, and was on the steering
committee that created the successful ACM/
IEEE conference series on High Performance
Computing and Communications, chairing the
conference in 1990 and chairing the technical
program for 1998. She has served as an advisor
to the Department of Energy, National Science
Foundation, and National Research Council.
As a vice president of technology between
2010 and 2012, she held responsibility for
guiding IBM technical strategy, developing
the global technical community, supporting
corporate activities on product quality, and
leading efforts to address productivity and
innovation in IBM’s product development
processes. Prior to that, she was President of
IBM’s Academy of Technology for two years.
Asked about the opportunities in her
current role, she says it allows her to use the
skills and experience she has built over the
years at IBM.
“A number of times in my career I have
made significant changes and needed to learn
a new technical domain. In fact, that is one
of my favourite things about IBM, the fact
that I have been able to move to different
positions. I enjoy the learning phase, and the
demand to produce results while learning has
always pushed me to grow,” she says.
Career Highlights
Martin reflected fondly on the highlights of
her career and the talented people she has
met along the way.
“These have been roles that required
leadership, transformative thinking, technical
capabilities, and communication strengths,”
she says. “They were challenging and
demanding and allowed me to work with
strong teams to accomplish our goals.”
“Over the past 30
years, there has been a
noticeable increase in
the representation of
women in technology;
this is encouraging but
we can go further.”
Firing up
innovation
Caroline Dowling, president of Flextronics’ Integrated Network
Solutions business group discusses the importance of innovation
at the Fortune Global 500 electronics manufacturing services and
end-to-end supply chain solutions provider.
A
s president of Flextronics’
Integrated Network Solutions
business group, Caroline
Dowling leads an international
team focused on design,
manufacturing and services providing endto-end solutions worldwide for the telecom,
networking, server and storage markets.
“I am responsible for a $10 billion,
high-tech P&L and portfolio of Integrated
Network Solutions; this comprises four
business units, Server & Storage, Telecom,
Networking and Enterprise, and provides
design, manufacture, global distribution
and services to Fortune 500 companies
worldwide,” she explains.
“We’re a $25 billion company with over
200,000 employees in 30 countries on 4
contents. We have over 100 facilities and
speak 24 languages – and more if needed.
We are publically traded on the NASDAQ.
Basically, we provide solutions to our
customers’ most difficult challenges, whether
they are a $1 million customer, or a multibillion dollar customer. We can help them
create and build their products – from mobile
phones, to network switches, to base stations
to tablets and beyond – better, faster and
more competitive,” Dowling adds.
Responsible for fulfilling corporate
growth strategies through Flextronics’ NOVO
organization, involving the cultivation
of strategic partnerships for business
growth purposes, oversight of mergers and
acquisitions and the expansion of the overall
services businesses for the Company, Dowling
supply chains that enhance a customer’s speed
“New product launches to innovation as well as speed to market,
while reducing costs and giving them a
can happen faster and competitive advantage.”
Dowling is also responsible for the
Marketing and Corporate Communications
more cost-effectively
function for the business. This team serves as
the brand and reputation management arm
— whether you’re
for Flextronics, including its presence in over
20 sectors.
someone whose
Dowling grew up in Ireland and has
tinkering in your garage been “very fortunate as my job has taken me
around the world multiple times, with great
yielded an incredible learning along the way.”
technological
Early Years
advancement, or if
Having completed an administration course
at Coláiste Treasa, she entered the electronics
sector in 1988, being hired by Alps Electric
you’re a blue chip
Ireland, describing it as “a great company to
work with,” providing an excellent foundation in
company on the
business ethics, training and work-life balance.
The company’s motto was ‘work hard,
verge of your next big
play hard,’ she recalls, and “When you’re 20
years old this is great, and it still is today.”
breakthrough.”
says she runs a “highly sophisticated, unique
business development team.”
“I call them sophisticated and unique
without reservation, but in truth; they
are a high performing team that partner
with customers or potential customers to
provide end-to-end design, manufacturing,
distribution and services solutions for their
Dowling left her position as director for
OEMs at Alps Electronics in 1996, joining
Dovatron/The Dii Group as head of EU
Sales & Business Development. Within
two years it was acquired by Flextronics,
where she has held various management
roles of increasing responsibility, including
vice president of Europe, director of
European business and original equipment
manufacturer (OEM) manager.
“We’re a $25 billion,
company with over
200,000 employees
in 30 countries on 4
contents. We have over
100 facilities and speak
24 languages – and
more if needed.”
Flextronics publishes a bi-annual report
on its CSER efforts and has been recognized
globally by the press and numerous NGOs,
who have given the company top honours
and awards.
The company is also “The unrivalled
leader in LEAN manufacturing and design
for manufacturability,” she claims.
“We have several Product Innovation
Centers that are strategically placed around
the globe that allow customers to innovate at
unprecedented speed.”
New product launches can happen faster
and more cost-effectively — “Whether
you’re someone whose tinkering in your
garage yielded an incredible technological
advancement, or if you’re a blue chip company
on the verge of your next big breakthrough.”
Research and Innovation
In 2008, Dowling was afforded the
opportunity to take a sabbatical from
Flextronics and attend Harvard Business
School, where she completed its Advanced
Management Program (AMP175), which
she likes to call a “MBA on speed,” adding
that, “This was probably the best educational
experience in my career, outside of the onthe-job learning.”
Looking at the latest industry trends,
Dowling believes the pace of innovation is
moving faster than ever before. “Consider the
speed of adoption of over 120 years for Radio,
then TV, then computing, the worldwide
web, and now of course the ‘internet of things
or connected everywhere,’ a billion devices
connected across the globe and growing.”
“The new world is about big data and
the cloud – the device is the means to an
end, but the data is incredibly important and
prompts many debates on what is open versus
private. This will continue to drive hardware
commoditization and the need for us to
innovate in new ways to deliver products to
market, faster, better and at a lower cost,” she
comments.
Flextronics is focusing on vectors for
growth for our future in hardware and
services, she reveals.
“Take bookstores for example; 15 years
ago if you wanted a book, you went to a
bookstore where there were stacks and stacks
of them. Five years ago, if you wanted a book,
your bookstore became a packing warehouse
(on demand) and your computer was the
interface. Today, your bookstore is a series
of black boxes/servers. Note that the time
between disruptive technologies is down to a
half-life,” she comments.
“While patents in the US, for example,
may protect you for 20 years, the truth is, it
takes far less time for iterative disruption and
that time will continue to shrink as technology
continues to improve,” Dowling says.
She recognises a major trend in ‘reshoring’ or right-shoring to serve customers
with end products faster, adding that large
OEM clients are now considering total cost
of ownership including SLA management
and return or reverse logistics, coupled
with rising costs in China and some labour
shortages there. “We are seeing a trend in
large customers now moving or considering
the option of moving to a regional
manufacturing and distribution model.”
Flextronics stands apart from other
companies in the market as “We have very
specialized certifications that allow us to do
things like complex medical products – from
heart catheters to imaging equipment – or
automotive. Customers trust us to protect
their most treasured IP and their reputations
– we are the industry leader in corporate
social and environmental responsibility.”
Flextronics has “Thousands of engineers that
can help you with your R &D. While all of
that is impressive, where we really stand out
is in our ability to deliver end-to-end supply
chain solutions like no one else.”“Flextronics
is the market leader in almost every business
in which it operates and the company takes
customer service very seriously,” Dowling says.
Looking to the future, Flextronics will
“Innovate, innovate, innovate,” in manufacturing
practices, services and end- to-end solutions.
According to Dowling, “The Company’s
investment and development in the best
technology and the brightest talent are key to
the company’s continued success.”
“Top-line organic growth and niche
technology acquisitions are always important
and will continue to be going forward; we are
a global solutions company and will continue
to develop our worldwide services. We are
the strongest, i.e. number one in every market
today with the exception of China where
we are no. 2 to a Taiwanese manufacturer,”
Dowling comments.
Asked about the highlights of her career
to date, Dowling responds that “Every day
is a highlight. We are the people that bring
concepts to reality. It starts as an idea, then it
becomes something on a piece of paper and
we take that, bring it to life and turn it into
a marketable product. That’s very rewarding
— being able to take someone’s vision and
bring it to life!”
Lisa Williams,
Placeblogger.com,
Lisa Williams, CEO and founder of
Placeblogger.com, graduated from
Emerson College in 1992. She currently
lives in Watertown, Massachusetts, with
her husband and two children. Lisa
was the 2009 winner of the New Media
Women Entrepreneur of the Year award.
Placeblogger.com is the world’s
largest searchable index of local
weblogs. The site was also the winner
of the Knight 21st Century News
Challenge, which hands out $5 million
Niniane Wang, Minted
Niniane Wang, Chief Technology
Officer for Minted, is based in San
Francisco, California. She holds a MS in
Lorraine Twohill, Google
Lorraine Twohill, Vice President of Global
Marketing at Google is a native of
Carlow, and holds a joint honours degree
in international marketing and languages
from Dublin City University. She has
been cited in the Power 100 list by U.K.
magazine ‘Marketing’ for the past 3 years
in a row and she was named Adweek’s
Grand Brand Genius for her efforts in
shaping Google’s marketing efforts.
dollars yearly to pioneers with projects
that define the future of journalism.
According to Williams, the object of
Placeblogger.com is to find and index
as many placeblogs as possible, so they
can connect and learn from each other.
Prior to creating Placeblogger, Williams
started H2Otown.info in 2005, a nationally
recognized citizen journalism community
site covering and talking about Watertown,
Massachusetts. H2OTown allows others in
the area to blog on the lived experiences
in that geographic area.
Lisa also worked with the Boston
Globe and a large number of start-up’s
and regional media companies on
blogging and online community projects.
Williams is a judge for the
Online Journalism Awards, the New
Media Women Entrepreneurs grant
competition, and a mentor for the
International Womens’ Media Fund
start-up program. Williams believes
online news are created by people who
know a lot about journalism but nothing
about technology. Lisa is a media
professional who took the initiative to
learn how to code so she wouldn’t be
totally dependent on other people to
realize her ideas.
computer science from the University
of Washington, and a BS in computer
science from Caltech. Minted is a global
community of independent graphic
designers and an online store that prints
and sells the best of their design.
Wang joined in 2010 and is
responsible for leading the technology
division. She manages the strategy
and execution of technology within the
company.
Minted’s designs have radically
transformed what customers can expect
in holiday cards, wedding invitation,
birth announcements and personal
stationary. Wang is also a co-inventor of
33 patents and has delivered products
that ship to millions of customers.
Prior to joining Minted, Wang had a
proven track record leading engineering
teams at Google and Microsoft. Niniane
was a member of the founding team
on Google Desktop which reached 38
million monthly users. She led Gmail
monetization, founded Google Lively,
was previously an engineering manager
on Microsoft Flight Simulator and
served on Google’s hiring committee for
five years. She also received a Founder’s
Award, the highest award within
Google. She has also written numerous
publications.
According to the founder of
Minted.com, Mariam Naficy, Niniane’s
remarkable combination of technical
acumen, drive, leadership ability, and
recruiting experience makes her a great
fit to lead engineering at Minted.
After a firm grounding in marketing
at Burns Philip, Lorraine left to work for
Bord Failte as General Manager Italy
and then General Manager Northern
Europe. Before Lorraine joined Google,
she was head of marketing for Opodo,
the European travel portal created by
nine of Europe’s leading airlines. Lorraine
led the launch of the company across
Europe, bringing it to a top 3 position in
all launch markets within 2 years.
Lorraine joined the helm of one of the
most omnipresent brands in the world in
2003 and is now based at its headquarters
in Mountain View, California. With Lorraine’s
20 years of experience in marketing, she is
responsible for Google’s marketing efforts
globally. She built and led all of Google’s
regional marketing teams and activities in
Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“Our approach is to know the user,
know the magic, and connect the two,”
says the internet giant’s Irish vicepresident of global marketing.
The Aviator
After steering start-ups and multibillion dollar tech
businesses to success, Val Rahmani tells Lynne Nolan
about her time at the helm of Damballa and the
wealth of opportunities which cloud has opened up.
A
fter 28 years at IBM, Val
Rahmani left her role as
General Manager of its
internet security systems
in 2009, conveying again
her courage to face risks when she joined
advanced threat protection experts Damballa
as CEO.
Since her departure from Damballa in
December last year, spurred by her desire
to get involved in earlier stage businesses,
Rahmani is still flying high and currently
working with three start-ups at fairly early
stages, she reveals.
“They’re all in technology, and all looking
to change the way people do things. They’re
based on new concepts; involving machine
learning, big data, augmented reality. I think
the main trend is how fast businesses are
launching, succeeding and scaling today. There
is no longer a need for offices of equipment,”
comments the seasoned entrepreneur.
Early Start-Ups
The companies are all using the cloud, and
producing a SaaS platform that is easy for their
customers to use, she explains. “The investment
they need is comparatively small, as they can
start by using systems like Amazon, rather
than buying their own hardware.”
The good news is that they can move
quickly, she says, however the downside is their
competitors can also move very fast, and each
week brings a new company, “so you need to have
very strong ideas and very smart execution.”
Reflecting on her decision to leave IBM,
Rahmani confides that she “made the move
in two steps really. As part of my role in
IBM, I led the acquisition of an Internet
Security Company, Internet Security Systems
(ISS). When the founder and CEO of that
company decided to move on, I took over
running the business. It was wonderful, and I
realized that I really wanted to run a business
myself, and that I was capable.”
When approached by a headhunter the
same year to helm Damballa, the company
was the perfect fit, as although it was still in
internet security, a space she knew, it was an
earlier stage business.
“It’s interesting. Although some things
are of course different in a small company,
other things are the same, it’s still about
creating a great product, working with
customers, and helping every member of the
team be the best they can (and having fun
along the way). I love the speed and energy of
a small business!” she enthuses.
While at the helm of Damballa, “it was
very exciting to bring a product to market, and
see customers’ positive reactions to it. In fact,
that has been a highlight of many of my roles.
The other key one is developing an awesome
team, and showing them that they can achieve
things way beyond their previous thinking.
And, of course, ringing the bell for big
customer wins will always be a joy,” she says.
Damballa boasts patent-pending
technology enabling it to determine whether
a customer’s network is communicating with
a criminal, even if that criminal is previously
unknown, and even if the breach is very well
hidden, using a set of advanced algorithmic
techniques to do this.
“I really enjoyed having the best
technology in the market, and seeing it succeed
where other systems had failed,” she says.
“Damballa is in great hands - I had raised
a new round of funding, and put together a
truly great executive team. I still have equity
in the company, and am sure it will be very
successful. I keep in touch, and love seeing
them continuing to win in the market. And
I’m really enjoying working with several
different companies, helping them get started
and then get successful,” she comments.
Currently a Board member of Teradici,
which designs advanced image processing
algorithms, enables the physical separation of
the computer and the user, and ultimately will
change the way enterprises compute, Rahmani
is also a mentor to the Flashpoint accelerator
program and the Advanced Technology
Development Center in Atlanta (ATDC).
She is also on the board of the Georgia
Partnership for Excellence in Education, a
member of the Executive Advisory Board of
Atlanta Telecom Professionals (ATP) and a
member of the Industry Advisory Board of the
Georgia Tech Information Security Center.
Growing up in the UK, Rahmani
attended the Lycée Français de Londres, a
French school in London, as it was close to
where her parents worked, investing long
hours getting a small printing company up
and running, so they could see their two
children every day.
“I enjoyed Science and Math, and
specifically loved the fact that you didn’t have
to learn facts or do lots of reading as you did
in other subjects. I was lucky that my Physics
teacher, a wonderful lady, suggested that I
should try to get a place at Oxford; I had
never thought an ordinary person (no one in
our family had ever been to college) could do
that. So I applied. But, to her huge dismay, I
chose Chemistry over Physics,” she reveals.
After graduating from Oxford University
with a Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry
in 1981, she assumed the next step would be
working at a big pharmaceutical company,
“but when I met the team at IBM I thought
that sounded like a great place to be,” joining
as a systems engineer in South London.
“In school, I had been working on
quantum pharmacology, modeling electronic
structures of drug molecules, and I assumed
IBM would give me a job in research.
Instead, I was assigned a small territory in
south London with retail and manufacturing
clients,” she recalls.
Of the roles she was to take on during her
18-year tenure with IBM, starting the global
wireless business for IBM in 2000 as its
General Manager of Wireless Solutions was
a career highlight, as wireless technology was
just beginning to emerge in Europe.
Mobile Technology
Rahmani suggested to her bosses that
the company became involved in mobile
technology and was allocated a budget to
work on the project at night and at weekends.
After proving to her bosses how profitable
the idea could be, she was asked to run the
business globally, likening the experience
now to leading a start-up within IBM.
The company developed software allowing
companies to offer data access on mobile
devices, with one of the first applications for
maintenance engineers taking off quickly.
A year later, Rahmani was asked to lead
IBM’s entire Unix business, later becoming
vice president for corporate strategy. After
suggesting to her bosses that IBM’s services
should be based on software, she was given a
new job overseeing a business that included
computer security services.
Making the decision to purchase some
companies rather than develop certain
services, one of her first acquisitions was
Internet Security Systems. When its CEO
moved on, IBM asked her to run the division,
and although she loved the work she realised
she would rather run it as a standalone
company, leading to her decision to leave the
company in 2009 to pursue such a challenge,
which presented itself in the opportunity to
head up Damballa.
Throughout her career, Rahmani has been
“pitching to women, hoping to encourage
them to get into Tech. In fact, we’re just about
to have a STEM day here in Georgia, and
many of us will be presenting to and meeting
young women, and showing them how
exciting and diverse a career in tech can be. I’m
on the Board of the Partnership for Excellence
in Education here in Georgia, and getting
more women into Tech is a key focus for us.”
Having women at the helm at major
firms including IBM and HP has signalled
that it possible for women to be represented
in senior management positions at leading
companies, she says.
“I think women can achieve any position,
but they have to want to. A real worry to me
is that so few women want to take Science
and Math at college. If they’re not there at
that stage, they have less chance of getting
to the top. In start-ups, women CEOs are
so few in number in Tech. There are just not
enough women wanting to do this. I think it’s
improving, but nowhere near enough,” she says.
To encourage more women to consider
careers in the technology sector, “we have
to stop Tech being presented as difficult,
academic and geeky; then I think more young
men and women will be interested.”
A member of the British Aerobatic
Association, which competes in European
and world championships, Rahmani started
flying planes about 19 years ago. She met her
husband Nick Onn, when he invited her to
fly in a two-seater plane with him.
Asked whether women bring different
styles of leadership to companies, Rahmani
responds “sometimes. I do think women are
more likely to shape and guide a team rather
than manage it through brute force. But, of
course, there are all types of leaders, male and
female. The best adapt their style to the type
of business and find a way of optimizing each
aspect of the business.”
Rebecca Jacoby, Cisco
Systems
Pooja Sankar, Piazza,
Pooja Sankar, founder and CEO of
Piazza, is a native of Bihar, India.
She holds a master’s in Computer
Science from the University of
Maryland and an MBA from the
Stanford School of Business.
Her objective is to make Piazza a
presence in every college student’s
life and to revolutionize education
using social technologies. Before
Pooja launched the free online
service in 2009, she worked as
a software developer at Oracle,
Kosmix and Facebook.
According to Sankar, she started
Piazza Technology Inc. so every
student could have the opportunity to
learn from classmates.
Piazza is an online service that
enables students to connect with
instructors or peers to help solve
difficult problems. Piazza is currently
used by half a million people at over
1,000 schools worldwide.
With $7.5 million in funding from
Bessemer Ventures, Sequoia Capital
and SV Angel, Sankar seeks to play a
significant role in the transformation
of education.
She considers Silicon Valley
to be an amazingly supportive
environment for entrepreneurs as it
has a tremendous wealth of talent
and provides an opportunity to learn
from the best.
Sankar lives in Silicon Valley and
is married with one child.
Rebecca Jacoby has been Chief
Information Officer (CIO) and Senior
Vice President of the IT and Cloud &
Systems Management Technology
Group at Cisco since 2006. The 11year Cisco veteran was previously
vice president of customer service
and operational systems. She helped
modify several processes to improve
efficiency and give employees and
customer’s better service.
She holds a bachelor’s degree
in economics from the University of
the Pacific and a master’s degree
in business administration from
Santa Clara University. In 1996 she
was awarded the YWCA Tribute to
Women and Industry award.
Before Rebecca joined Cisco,
she held a variety of leadership roles
in IT, planning, manufacturing and
operations with other companies in
Silicon Valley, such as Ungermann Bas,
Xidex and Amdahl Corporation. She
also served as Director of Apptio, Inc.
Rebecca has demonstrated
continued success by making
the dominant networking vendor
a strategic business partner,
producing significant business
value for Cisco in the form of
customer satisfaction, strong
financial performance, market share
and productivity. She currently
leads the strategy for how Cisco
should offer cloud technology to its
customers and runs Cisco’s Internal
IT department.
Her commitment to operational
excellence, ground-breaking
approach to business problems,
and aptitude for partnering crossfunctionality have reshaped and
elevated the role of IT at Cisco.
According to Rebecca, money is
the language of business. “You have
to talk about a cloud service in terms
of its total cost and how the money
flows and change over time.”
Marianna Tessel, Vmare
Marianna Tessel runs a large
engineering group at Vmware
where she oversees a team of more
than 200 people who work on the
technology needs of VMware’s
2,000+ partners.
Before joining Vmware in 2008,
she served as Vice President of
Engineering at several large to
medium-sized technology companies
leading the development teams
driving Enterprise Software innovation.
From 1995-2001 she led
organizations responsible for
developing mobile OS and later
on voice applications at General
Magic, leading to state of the art
voice services with millions of users,
such as OnStar. Marianna moved
to Ariba in 2001 to transform their
product platform that would enable
on-demand SaaS delivery of their
infrastructure and common services.
Marianna is a recognized leader
in the industry and much in demand
as a keynote speaker and lecturer.
She holds several technology
patents and previously served as the
Captain for Computer Center R&D
in the Israeli Army.
Cher Wang,
HTC
Cher Wang, Cofounder and Chair
of smartphone
maker HTC, holds a
Master of Arts from
the University of
California, Berkeley
and is considered
one of the most
influential women
in technology. Born
in Taipei, she is an
entrepreneur and
avid philanthropist
who holds
leadership roles in
numerous organizations. In 2012, Forbes ranked her 56 on
their list of the “World’s 100 Most Powerful Women”, she
was also on the Forbes World’s Billionaires list in 2010, 2011
and 2012. Her estimated net worth is 2.4 billion dollars.
Wang’s late father was also one of the richest
individuals in Taiwan and was the chairman of the board of
plastics mega-manufacturer Formosa Plastics Corporation.
She is married to Chen Wen-Chi, president and CEO of VIA
Technologies where she also serves as chairperson. The
couple have two children and Wang is also chairperson of
VIA Technologies.
HTC was created in the late 1990’s, a portable computer
manufacturing firm which evolved into smartphone
devices. A pioneers in its field with ideas and approaches
that are adapted to suit the current marketplace, in 2011
HTC replaced Nokia to become the second-largest
global smart phone maker. However, since then a series
of miscalculations have emerged which have resulted in a
substantial decline in market share and profits.
In 2012, HTC settled a lawsuit with Apple, announcing
a broad 10-year licencing agreement. HTC shares
tumbled 80% from their peak in 2011, largely due to fierce
competition from Samsung and Apple. A selection of HTC
phones were banned from being imported into the USA
in 2011 after they failed in a patent dispute with Apple.
According to Cher Wang, the recent downfall of HTC is
largely due to a lack of innovation.
Mainland China is going to be a key market for HTC
Corporation in a bid to change its fortunes in 2013 and also
keep its brand position in European and North American
markets. The company officially entered the Chinese
mobile phone market in 2010 and China is exceeding the
USA to become the world’s biggest smartphone market.
Carol Realini, Obopay
Carol Realini founded Obopay in 2005 after traveling
in Africa and nothing that while mobile phones were
everywhere, many people didn’t have access to even the
most basic banking services. Recognizing the opportunity
in both industrialized and developing nations, Carol
designed Obopay’s business model to promote social and
economic development throughout the world, by providing
mobile savings, money transfer, and payments to people
everywhere.
Today, Obopay — through partnerships with financial
institutions such as Citi and MasterCard and mobile carriers
— is using mobile phones to deliver financial services that
empower people’s life and work. In 2007, Obopay was
awarded the Wireless Fierce 15 Award, bestowed on the
“most innovative private companies set to take the industry
to another level.”
Prior to launching Obopay, Carol was chairman and CEO
of Chordiant Software, developer of one-to-one marketing
and customer interaction software. During her tenure, Carol
played a key leadership role in the origination, development
and successful IPO of the company.
Before her success at Chordiant, Carol was CEO and
president of J. Frank Consulting. As CEO/President, Carol
Realini guided the Company through significant growth,
eventually orchestrating the firm’s sale.
As Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Legato
Systems, Carol launched the company’s first series
of products and established key strategic business
relationships. Carol also served as Director of Product
Marketing at Ingres Corporation, where she was
responsible for product strategy, planning and marketing.
Genevieve Bell,
Intel
Dr. Genevieve Bell is
an Australian-born
anthropologist and
researcher. As director
of User Interaction and
Experience in Intel Labs,
she leads a research
team of social scientists,
interaction designers,
human factors engineers,
and computer scientists.
In her role at Intel
since June 2010, Dr Bell has been chartered to start an
organization in Intel Labs, focused on re-imagining our
experiences with and through computing. The new lab
pulls together social science, human factors engineering,
user experience, interaction design, computer science and
hardware/software engineering.
Dr. Bell is an accomplished industry pundit on the
intersection of culture and technology and a regular public
speaker and panelist at technology conferences worldwide.
In 2011 she co-wrote “Divining the Digital Future: Mess
and Mythology in Ubiquitous Computing” with Prof. Paul
Dourish of UC Irvine. In 2010, Dr. Bell was named one of
Fast Company’s inaugural “100 Most Creative People in
Business.” She also is the recipient of several patents for
consumer electronics innovations.
Moving to the United States for her undergraduate
studies, she graduated from Bryn Mawr with a bachelor’s
degree in anthropology. She then attended Stanford
University, earning her master’s degree and a doctorate in
cultural anthropology. She joined Intel in 1998.
Andrea Zurek, XG Ventures
Andrea Zurek, Founding Partner of XG Ventures, holds
a BA in English and MBA in Marketing from Santa Clara
University. She has featured as one of the top 25 tech
angels by Businessweek magazine and was also listed in
the “top 40 under 40” in the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
She has previously worked in Google managing the West
Coast sales region.
XG Ventures, based in Palo Alto, is focused primarily on
the consumer internet; they provide mentorship, investment
and advice to talented start-ups. XG Ventures have already
invested in 40 companies, amounting to approximately one
consumer web or mobile-focused start-up a month.
Mitchell Baker, Mozilla Foundation
Mitchell Baker was born and raised in Berkeley, California
and received a BA in Asian Studies from UC Berkeley and
her JD from the Boalt Hall School of Law. Mitchell has been
the general manager of the Mozilla project since 1999.
She served as CEO of Mozilla until January 2008, when the
organization’s rapid growth encouraged her to split her
responsibilities and add a CEO.
As the leader of the Mozilla Project, Mitchell Baker
is responsible for organizing and motivating a massive,
worldwide, collective of employees and volunteers who are
breathing new life into the Internet with the Mozilla Firefox
Web browser and other Mozilla products.
Mitchell is deeply committed to an open, innovative
Web and the infinite possibilities it presents and is focussed
on developing product offerings that promote the mission
of empowering individuals.
Time Magazine included her in its list of the most
influential people in the world and she has been a guest
on “The Charlie Rose Show” and “CNN Global Office”.
She was the winner of the Anita Borg Institute’s 2009
Women of Vision Award and in 2010 she was the recipient
of the Aenne Burda Award for Creative Leadership. In
2012, Mitchell was inducted into the founding group of the
Internet Society’s Hall of Fame.
Surveying talent
As Senior Vice President, Product and Engineering at SurveyMonkey, Selina
Tobaccowala discusses how her team has rebuilt the technical infrastructure
on which over 12 million customers create, distribute and analyze 60 million
surveys a month.
D
uring her junior year of
college, Selina Tobaccowala
and her friend Al Lieb came
up with an idea for a business
that got them pretty excited.
The idea transformed into Evite.com,
an online invitation service that lets users
organize an offline event online, and which
currently sends over three million invitations
per month. The business was officially
incorporated in the spring of 1997. “I spent
my senior year at Stanford working on
creating the company,” she says.
As Vice President of Engineering
for Evite.com, she led the company’s
development and operations and played a key
role in setting the strategic direction with the
board of directors.
“After two years of intense work with
Al, we received funding and Evite was on its
way. Co founding Evite was a tremendous
opportunity and experience for me. We went
on to sell Evite to Ticketmaster in 2001,
and my career as an entrepreneur was born,”
Tobaccowala comments.
“Founding a company and watching it
grow is a highlight, not only in my career, but
in life,” she says.
She graduated from Stanford University
in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in
Computer Science.
Selina joined SurveyMonkey in October
2009. Previously, Tobaccowala was Senior
Vice President of Product and Technology
at Ticketmaster’s Europe division, where
she managed the 200-person Product,
Technology and Operations team.
Prior to that, Tobaccowala was Vice
President of Online Product and Technology
at Entertainment Publications, where
SurveyMonkey from a simple survey tool to a
decision-making platform.
“My team and I have rebuilt the technical
infrastructure on which over 12 million
customers create, distribute and analyze 60
million surveys a month,” she says.
International Experience
“If you look at the
numbers, there hasn’t
been much change in
terms of women going
into computer science.
Actually, the percentage
of women graduating
with a computer
science degree has
decreased in the past
15 years.”
she led the company’s online sales and
technology initiatives.
As Senior Vice President, Product and
Engineering at SurveyMonkey, Tobaccowala
leads the teams responsible for evolving
The team has spent a lot of time working on
international expansion, as “when I started,
SurveyMonkey was only in English and could
only accept U.S. dollars. Now, we have sites in
14 different languages, accept 29 currencies
and offer customers the ability to create
surveys in over 55 different languages. It was
a huge undertaking.”
Her role encompasses the day-to-day
management of the product, engineering,
direct and paid marketing teams, she explains.
“We continue to focus on building an
even better consumer experience and have
launched a fantastic new beta for our analyze
section, and are testing a brand new UI for
designing your survey. We are also continually
adding features to allow our international
users to use our product more effectively.”
“Today, I’m most excited about my team.
I love working with them, building fantastic
products that truly impact people’s lives.
Every day, I get to help people make better,
smarter decisions. That’s exciting,” she adds.
What Tobaccowala likes most about
SurveyMonkey is that its mission is to help
people make better decisions.
“We created the online survey category,
and in doing so, created a brand new market.
Then, our customers invented hundreds of
different ways to use the service. A small
percentage of our customers are actually
running a traditional survey.”
People use SurveyMonkey for event
planning, quizzes and tests, HR feedback –
any place where you need to gather structured
data, she explains.
“The fact that our customers feel
comfortable enough to create all these different
ways to use the product is a testament to the
simplicity and friendliness of the tool. That’s
what sets us apart,” she comments.
Competition for Talent
Hiring people has been the main challenge
in her role, as “competition for talent is tough
in Silicon Valley. And, we’re not looking for
just anybody. We’re looking for people that are
a good fit for the team at-large. This means
finding someone that has both start-up and big
company experience so they understand how to
scale a business. It’s pretty hard to find.”
At SurveyMonkey, almost half of its
executive team is female. However, this is not
the norm, she says.
“If you look at the numbers, there hasn’t
been much change in terms of women
going into computer science. Actually, the
percentage of women graduating with a
computer science degree has decreased in the
past 15 years.”
A change she has witnessed is women
technology leaders encouraging more women
to join the field and programs helping women
get into tech. One example is Hackbright
Academy, where they take very talented, smart
women and put them in a 10-week intensive
computer science program.
“We’ve hired a few of their recent
graduates, and we’ve sent an employee to take
the course. They’re fantastic,” she says.
The challenge that the technology sector
faces in encouraging and employing more
women is, at its core, a pipeline challenge,
she believes.
“With fewer and fewer women getting
a degree in engineering and computer
science, we have fewer women entering the
ecosystem and even fewer in leadership
positions,” she comments.
Tobaccowala believes we have to start
encouraging girls early and at a young age to
get interested in engineering.
“We need to develop their spacial
skills and problem-solving abilities. I was
programming at the
age of eight or nine
because my father
encouraged it. It made
a difference in my
life,” she reveals.
Women in
Leadership
Asked whether women
bring different styles
of leadership, she says
every person brings
a different style of
leadership to the table.
“I do think there
are some skills that
come more naturally
to women. One
big advantage that
women bring to the
table is much better
communication skills,
and the ability to
have a social read on
people. As a manager,
that becomes really
important in terms of
“When I started,
SurveyMonkey was
only in English and
could only accept US
dollars. Now, we have
sites in 14 different
languages, accept 29
currencies and offer
customers the ability to
create surveys in over
55 different languages.”
understanding people, what motivates them,
and also being able to communicate effectively
across an organization.”
On her role models, she describes her
father as “a close friend and mentor to me.
I talk to him every day. He started as a
punch-card programmer at EDS and made
technology a part of our household. We had a
computer at home before we had a television.”
“My father has always helped me focus
on the big picture. When I was still in college
working on Evite, I remember talking to my
Dad about all the companies recruiting on
campus. I asked him if I was crazy to pursue
this start-up idea and not take a job at one of
the companies.
“My Dad listened and asked, ‘Are you
excited about what you’re doing? Do you
have any reason not to take a risk right now?”
When I said no, he encouraged me to put my
‘whole heart into the start-up and work on it
completely and fully.’”
“I hope someday to be able to give my
children such sound advice,” she adds.
Fostering
Innovation
Microsoft Ireland’s consumer channels group director
Orla Sheridan tells Lynne Nolan why recruiting top
talent from all groups in the community and striving
for gender balance will serve customers better.
A
fter graduating, with a
Batchelor of Science in
Management from Trinity
College Dublin and a
Postgraduate Diploma in
Marketing from University College Galway,
Orla Sheridan felt technology was going to
have a huge impact in the future.”
“I felt very underskilled in this area and
pursued a career to ensure I would be in the
thick of it, not necessarily from an IT, but
from a business impact perspective, she recalls.
Her instincts were to pay off, with Sheridan
joining Digital Equipment Technology as part
of her Postgraduate Diploma, before moving to
work for the storage company called Iomega,
which involved moving to Germany and
Switzerland for a few years.
After returning to Ireland, Sheridan
joined Gateway Computers to lead its
European Retail Marketing Division as Senior
Marketing Manager EMEA, before moving to
Dixons Stores Group, where she held the role
of Technology Group Commercial Manager,
prior to moving to Microsoft 10 years ago and
establishing the Entertainment and Devices
Division in Ireland.
Launching Xbox
Sheridan, whose mantra is be Happy, Be
Disciplined, Believe, is now Consumer
Channels Group Director at Microsoft and
has helmed major launches with the company.
“I set up the Retail Division in Ireland,
with a major focus on Xbox, then Xbox 360. I
headed up our then Communications Sector,
launching Windows Phone and bringing
Cloud Partnerships to Telcos in Ireland, and
two years ago established the Consumer
Channels Group, which incorporates our
Retail, Operator Channels (renamed) and
OEM divisions, launching Windows 8,
Windows Phone 8, Office 365 and of course
Surface,” she comments.
Reflecting on the highlights of her time at
Microsoft, Sheridan says “the Xbox 360 Launch
was a fantastic time; we were a very small team
and this is when we moved Xbox to the No.1
Gaming Platform in Ireland, where it has stayed,”
adding that it is also “the times when things are
not going so well that you really learn.”
Her current role is “about ensuring we
have an excellent team to support our partners
to get our products and services to end-users,
primarily Consumers and Small Businesses.”
According to Sheridan, Microsoft has
an “an amazing ecosystem right now that
is constantly evolving Windows, Windows
Phone, Xbox, Surface with all the services
that bring these products to life and makes
consumers’ lives easier and a lot more fun.
Office, Xbox Live, Xbox Music, Games,
SkyDrive and Skype, to name but a few.”
“Like everyone involved in this sector,
which moves at super speed,” the main
challenge she faces in her position is
“balancing the urgent and important, and
trying to figure out where we need to be and
how to build for that right now.”
“Looking at the boards
of the top 10 largest Irish
companies, only 5% of
members are women.”
‘Change The Ratio’
Having stressed publicly that gender balance
in the technology sector is a business issue,
Sheridan was an excellent choice of speaker at
the Web Summit’s Change the Ratio event,
a campaign to encourage more women in
technology, in Dublin last year.
She points out that she gets involved in
such initiatives in order to ensure that these
issues gets highlighted. “Representation in
the sector and across business in general
is nowhere near where it should be.
Representation of women on boards in Ireland
is 7.5% while in Europe it is 9.6% and looking
at boards of the top 10 largest Irish companies,
only 5% of members are women,” she says.
“Employing top talent from all groups
in our community and working for gender
balance will quite simply help us serve our
customers better. It is very clear that this isn’t
a women’s or HR issue, this is a business issue
and while it is notable in the ICT sector, it is
an issue across a lot of sectors,” she comments.
The World Economic Forum maintains
that countries which divide resources equally
between men and women fare better than
those who do not, Gender balance in high
value ICT jobs in both management and on
boards has been proven to improve business
performance, she adds.
Microsoft Ireland is trying to break down
the myth that men are better at Maths and
Science than women through a series of
initiatives targeting second and third level
students, which Sheridan has championed.
“Starting with the future, we challenge
the tradition and stereotype, industry must
play a role and partner with Government and
education. We run a series of programs to
educate people about the opportunities that a
career in technology presents, engaging with
girls from 12 to 13 years of age onwards to
ensure they make the subject choices that will
give them the broadest choice of courses at
third level,” she explains.
To explain the potential of the tech sector
to young girls of this age, Sheridan says the
main draws are “the speed, the fun, the products,
the Impact this sector has and the diversity of
roles in core tech and non-core tech.”
Running an event called Inspiring
Careers, Microsoft brings young people to the
company to show all the possibilities that a
major player like Microsoft presents, both in
Core Tech and Non-Core Tech roles.
“This year, in partnership with Discover
Science and Engineering, we have a bus
on the road to the schools, delivering the
message about the opportunities in this sector.
We got an email from a young girl who
attended Inspiring Careers last year, in which
she explained that until then she had never
considered a career in technology, but now
she cannot stop thinking about it. We can and
should influence everyone we touch one by one
and en masse,” Sheridan comments.
Another Microsoft program, DigiYouthz,
goes to secondary schools, encouraging
students to play with our technology and
become curious about the industry, while
globally the company runs the Microsoft
Imagine Cup, technology competition that
fosters innovation among third level students.
“Last year, the Irish Team won this global
competition, there is no doubt we have the
talent,” she says.
Partners in Learning
The Microsoft Partners in Learning program,
which is again run globally, connects
educators in Ireland with peers around
the world to develop best practices using
technology in the classroom.
Sheridan stresses the ability to “do something
here and now; we are all aware of both the high
levels of youth unemployment and the large
number of vacancies in the tech sector.”
“There are opportunities to work with
the academic institutions who are currently
delivering the funded conversion courses to
focus on young women, as well as young men,
who have the right aptitude and attitude for a
career in technology,” Sheridan comments.
Earlier this year, Microsoft ran Career
Reboot on Saturday mornings, at which the
company hosted partner companies who have
thousands of vacancies, the HEA and the
institutions delivering the conversion courses
to meet with members of the public who
were interested in retraining. The first wave of
graduates had a choice of jobs, she says.
Although there has been a lot of
discussion about women in leadership roles
being better at the softer skills, Sheridan says
she doesn’t like to overplay this.
“The bottom line is: Women need to be
as good as men to get equality. That doesn’t
mean they have to be the same but the output
in terms of results needs to be. From my
observations, I do tend to see women listen
more and take other people’s viewpoints on
board to craft a direction. Personally, I adopt
this approach,” she comments.
Breaking Down Barriers
To break down the barriers prohibiting women
from fulfilling their potential and assuming
an equitable share of management positions
in leading tech companies, confidence and
determination are crucial, she believes.
“Confidence; the old story that men go
for a job where they have 20% of the skillset
needed and women won’t go unless they have
100% is overused but true. We need to help
women through all stages of their careers.”
“The second [requirement] is women’s
own determination, they need to push just
like their male colleagues and especially
persevere when at the stage of their lives
where they have kids, again we need to
support through all stages of their career.
Nearing the end of her pregnancy, before
going on maternity leave she recalls being
offered a promotion and taking good advice
from a female colleague not to accept the
promotion, as returning from maternity leave
would be difficult enough.
“Her advice was to come back to a role I was
good at and knew well, restock when I figured
out the world of a working Mom, and then
advance. That advice stood me well,” she says.
Sheridan’s role model is her mum, who
was a teacher with four children, but a huge
motivator for everyone she meets in terms of
personal development, health and belief in
your goals and dreams.”
Ilaria Rosso, Electro Power Systems
Ilaria Rosso, co-founder of Electro Power Systems and
Vice President of IP Policy and Public Funding Programs
received the first ever EU Prize for Women Innovators in
recognition of her work in the field of fuel cell technology
and sustainable, green power provision.
Rosso was honored as one of the top three women
innovators during the opening ceremony of the Innovation
Convention 2011, chaired by Maire Geoghegan-Quinn,
European Commissioner for Research Innovation and
Science. Rosso was selected from among hundreds of
candidates by an independent international jury consisting
of both academic and business professionals.
Ilaria Rosso holds a PhD in chemistry and is an expert
in both fuel processing techniques and fuel cells. Rosso
helped start Electro Power Systems SpA (EPS) in 2005 to
transform fuel cell technology into a viable commercial
solution for green power provision.
EPS, selected by the World Economic Forum as a
Technology Pioneer 2012, has done much more than
simply create new power solutions. It has developed the
World’s only self-recharging, logistics-free backup power
system that minimizes the mismatch in energy production
and consumption by efficiently storing energy from the
grid or when renewables are plentiful, and instantaneously
releasing energy whenever renewables are weak or absent.
Tracy Chou, Pinterest,
Tracy Chou is currently a backend software engineer at
Pinterest, the social networking site with a visually-pleasing
“virtual pinboard” interface. Tracy spends her time
discussing technical decisions, how to design solutions, and
the pros and cons of different options.
In 2009, Tracy received her Bachelor’s of Science in
Electrical Engineering and also a Master’s of Computer
Science from Stanford University in 2010. While working
towards her degree, she took a few computer science
courses and discovered her passion.
Being in Silicon Valley, she had the opportunity to work with
a few tech start-ups, as well as to intern with Google in 2007 and
Facebook in 2008. After earning her Master’s, she leapt right into
the start-up world—and eventually made her way to Pinterest.
Before Pinterest, Tracy was one of the first software
engineers at Quora (2010-2011), a question-and-answer website
created, edited and organized by its community of users, where
she worked on improving hardware upgrades, among other
things. For three months, as part of an internship, Tracy was also
a rocket scientist with Rocket Fuel Inc.
Victoria Ransom, Wildfire Interactive
Victoria Ransom, the Co-founder and CEO of Wildfire
Interactive, grew up in a farm in New Zealand. She holds
an MBA from Harvard Business School and was named one
of the ’25 Women to Watch in Tech’ for 2010 and 2011. She
has also won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year
for New Zealand.
Prior to Business School, Ransom co-founded a global
adventure and travel company, Access Travel, Ltd., that
currently operates in 16 countries. She also spent two years as
an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley in New York.
Wildfire, a division of Google, is one of the world’s
largest social media marketing software providers and
thousands of businesses use their turnkey marketing
solutions. In 2012, President Obama invited Ransom to
Washington to represent Silicon Valley at the signing of the
Jobs act in the White House Rose Garden.
Wildfire specializes in helping brands reach customers
over social networks. Victoria oversees the strategic
development and general management of the company and
she believes that the combination of Wildfire and Google
can lead to a better platform for managing all digital media
marketing. The company remains focused on helping brands
run and measure their social engagement and add campaigns
across the entire web and across all social services to deliver
rich and satisfying experiences for their consumers.
Innovating
inside the Box
As Box gears up to hire one top-notch software engineer every
fortnight, its director of web application engineering Kimber
Lockhart discusses why she is stressing the importance of
computer science to students.
K
imber Lockhart entered
Stanford University as “an
undecided major, excited
about entrepreneurship, but
not sure of the right path to
take there.”
During her first year, almost by accident she
started an introductory class on computer science.
“I discovered it was an incredibly creative
field, with almost unlimited entrepreneurial
potential,” comments Kimber Lockhart, Director
of Web Application Engineering at Box.
After making the decision to try her hand
as an entrepreneur in 2007, Lockhart cofounded Increo Solutions, serving as its CEO.
Aiming to revolutionize the way people work
with documents online, Increo took venture
funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson in 2008,
two months before she graduated from college.
“We actually moved out of the dorms and
into the office on the same day. I remember the
day of graduation, my parents helped me carry
these gigantic whiteboards into a tiny office. The
next morning, we started our first day of fulltime work on the new endeavour,” she recalls.
In 2009, Increo was acquired by Box,
with Lockhart becoming a key member of
the Box engineering team, working furiously
to integrate Increo’s preview technology with
Box’s core product.
“We completed the integration in
a record-fast three months, and started
delivering a better experience to Box’s users in
early 2010,” she comments.
The visionary behind Box’s product
and platform strategy, which is focused
on incorporating the best of traditional
content management with the most effective
elements of social business software, Box’s
CEO and co-founder Aaron Levie is also a
young entrepreneur.
Originally created as Levie’s college
business project with the goal of helping
people easily access their information from
any location, the company was launched from
Levie’s dorm room in 2005 with the help of
CFO Dylan Smith.
“Box is all about enabling companies to
collaborate on content in the cloud,” she explains,
with the company combining “IT-friendly
security with a top-notch end user experience.”
Helping more than 10 million people to
access and share their content from anywhere
since its inception, Box has clinched a string
of accolades. Recently named as a Leader in
Gartner MarketScope for Enterprise File
Synchronization and Sharing 2013, Box also
appeared on Business Insider’s 10 Best US
Tech Companies to Work for in 2012.
Starting out at Box, Lockhart was a
Software Engineer by title. However, she
worked on a number of different initiatives,
including a redesign of sharing and
collaboration on the files page, running user
experience tests, and measuring and reporting
on the value of its free user base.
As Box’s Director of Web Application
Engineering since May last year, Lockhart
runs the web application engineering
team, consisting of 50 people, the largest
engineering team at Box. The team holds
responsibility for “the experience when a
user logs into Box through a web browser,
including much of the core code for files and
folders that gets used no matter how you
access Box.”
Teambuilding
“My role is all about teambuilding. With a
goal to hire one top-notch software engineer
every two weeks, interviewing and optimizing
how we interview takes a tremendous amount
of my energy,” Lockhart comments.
“Once we have them here, I’m in charge
of building a well-structured and effective
organization those engineers are proud to be
a part of,” she adds.
The main changes Lockhart has brought
to the company have been “building a team
of 50 excellent engineers and creating a place
where they like to come to work every day.”
“I’ve also been deeply involved in the Box
user experience, running user tests, redesigning
key workflows and overseeing a rewrite of the
entire box user interface,” she adds.
During Lockhart’s three and a half years at
Box, the company has grown from 40 employees
to 700. “With that kind of organizational scale,
everything changes,” she says.
“Processes that worked when you sat
within ten feet of the rest of the engineering
department break down when people are
out of earshot. The challenge of my role is
to figure out systems to run a productive,
forward-facing organization that people enjoy
being a part of,” she comments.
Lockhart’s team have recently completed
new projects including Box Embed, a new
HTML5-based framework making it easy to
embed the entire Box experience anywhere
people work, such as on their websites,
forums or blogs; Contact Discovery, enabling
users to discover contacts within their
corporate networks who are also using Box.
Women in Technology
Since the idea to enter the tech field first
crossed her mind, Lockhart has been involved
in efforts to increase the representation of
women in the sector, and “aside from all
the practical reasons to increase diversity in
technology, it just didn’t feel right that I was
one of only a few women in class.
Lockhart was featured in she++: The
Documentary, a short film released in April,
which “showcases industry leaders talking
about the issue of underrepresented women
in tech, and encourages young women to
consider technology.
According to the documentary’s website,
there was a 79 percent drop in the number of
first-year undergraduate women considering
computer science between 2000 and 2009,
even as products such as Facebook, Twitter,
and Angry Birds started making technology
‘cool’ again.
Written and directed by recent Stanford
University graduates Ayna Agarwal and
Ellora, the documentary collects research
and inspirational pieces of Silicon Valley’s
unsung heroes to “galvanize us to explore our
potential as ‘femgineers’.”
Technology leadership is an extremely
exciting career path, and it’s such a shame
more young people don’t consider it as a
career option, she says. “Few other industries
have such broad applications and are
changing the world at such a fast pace.”
Choosing Technology
Knowing that the earlier students are
exposed to computer science, the more
likely they will consider it as a career path,
Lockhart is working with a number of
other Box employees on a call for colleges
to recommend incoming students that
have some computer science classwork, and
publicizing existing online resources for
students whose high schools do not yet have
the ability to offer computer science classes.
According to Lockhart, “promotion
decisions in technical fields are often more wellconsidered and fair than other industries. Google,
for example, handles promotion decisions
through an unbiased promotion committee.”
At Box, any individual can request they
be considered to move into a different role,
regardless of what their manager thinks, she
explains. “Processes like this aim to reduce the
effect of any one person’s bias, in favor of more
careful consideration by a group. In general,
this results in decisions that are fairer.”
“What good is fair, though, if women
aren’t actually getting involved in technology
in the first place? What good is equal
consideration for promotion if women don’t
put in a request to be considered?”
She reveals that most of her current
entrepreneurial endeavours are ‘intrapreneurial’
initiatives she started within Box.
“I’m currently working on an initiative
to get new Boxers (what Box calls its
employees) up to speed with the company,
culture, and code base as quickly as possible.
And, of course, we’re always working on new,
industry-leading additions to Box’s offerings,
which we’ll tell the world about over time.”
Katie Jacob
Stanton
Katie Jacob Stanton,
head of international
strategy at Twitter, is
a native of Peekskill,
New York. She
currently resides in
Los Altos, California
and is married with
three children. She
holds a Master of
Arts from Columbia
University and a
degree in political
science from
Rhodes College.
Aged 42, she is ranked 56 on Forbes’s list of the World’s
most powerful women and is one of the youngest, most
influential women in the technology sector.
Prior to joining Twitter, she was the White House’s first
director of citizen participation. She worked for two years at
the White house and the State Department, advising them
on how to use technologies like twitter and developing an
online presence that help citizens get more involved with
White House activities. She was responsible for leading
the State Department’s mobile donation campaign for
Haiti, which raised 32 million dollars for victims of the
catastrophic earthquake.
In 2003, Stanton was the Product Manager of Google
Finance. She launched Open Social, a tool dedicated to
advancing the social web through community innovation and
open source. She also led product development of Google
Moderator, a tool for generating user-submitted questions
for presentations, events, and debates. Prior to that, she was
a producer for Yahoo Finance, which is now one of the most
popular products in Yahoo!’s online portfolio.
Twitter is a global real-time communications platform
with over 500 million users around the globe. Since joining
the company in 2010, she has dramatically increased the
international presence of twitter, reporting that 70 per cent
of tweets come from outside of the United States and over
60 per cent of users are using twitter on their smart phones.
Many world leaders, celebrities and other key figures have
also joined the service. She set up the first offices for Twitter
in the United Kingdom, Japan and also Germany and is
playing an instrumental role in assisting the company set up
partnerships in Asia, Europe, as well as Latin America.
According to Stanton, Twitter will continue to work hard
at reaching every person on the planet, no matter their
geographical location or language.
Neelie Kroes,
Digital Agenda,
European
Commission
The vice-president of the
European Commission
Neelie Kroes, who is
responsible for the Digital
Agenda, has set down
ambitious Digital Agenda
targets aimed at ensuring
all EU citizens get superfast broadband by 2020. The
purpose of the Digital Agenda is to harness the internet
and other digital technologies to drive sustainable
economic growth.
Kroes wants to see €7bn earmarked for EU investments
in broadband to help reach the Digital Agenda targets,
which in turn is meant to draw in private funds of many
times that amount.
A key feature of her work is ensure that every citizen in
Europe gains access to a fast broadband connection in support
of the EU’s Digital Agenda. This aims to promote digital
inclusiveness and enhance the economic competitiveness of
the continent through increasing digital literacy.
At a recent event as part of an eSkills initiative, Kroes
said, “my dream is getting everyone in Europe digital. And
by the way, it is not only a dream – it is a promise. It’s about
digital inclusion in its widest sense – finding our young
people jobs and helping future generations learn.”
Reshma Saujani,
Girls Who Code
Reshma Saujani, founder
of Girls Who Code, is a
native of Illinois. She holds
a degree in Politics from
the University of Illinois and
she received her Doctorate
from Yale Law School in
2002. In 2010, Reshma
became the first South Asian woman to run for Congress.
She was also named one of City Halls “40 under 40” for
being an important member of New York City politics.
Launched in 2012, Girls who Code is a non-profit
organization working to close the gender gap in the technology
and engineering sectors. The mission of Girls Who Code is to
equip young women with the skills and resources to pursue
academic and career opportunities in the computing sector.
Nanea Reeves, Machinima
Nanea Reeves is currently the Chief
Operating Officer at Machinima, the
dominant video entertainment network
for serious gamers around the world.
The number one entertainment channel
on YouTube, Machinima serves over 1.5
billion video views a month, and reaches
over 150 million gamers monthly.
Prior to joining Machinima, Nanea
was the Chief Product & Strategy Officer
for Gaikai, SVP and COO of the Global
Online Group at Electronic Arts and SVP
of Deployment & Consumer Solutions
Caterina Fake, Tech
Entrepreneur
Fake is a serial entrepreneur
best known for co-founding the
websites Flickr - one of the largest
photo hosting and sharing sites in
the world now used by millions and Hunch which was acquired by
eBay in late 2011 for a reported at
$80 million.
Fake is also an active angel
investor, who has helped fund
companies like Etsy (where she is
the Chairman and a board member),
Daily Booth and Cloudera. She is
on the board of Creative Commons
and on the board of advisors for the
Berkeley School of Information.
at JAMDAT Mobile. A strong advocate
for digital distribution, Nanea is proud
to be a member of the Gaikai Advisory
Board and oversees the execution
of the partnership between the two
companies.
Nanea is actively involved in her
husband Victor’s non-profit organization
KarmaBlast.org that is dedicated to
supporting small acts of charity around
the world. Nanea is also very committed
to helping disadvantaged women in
Los Angeles through Step-Up Network
for Women and through her Board of
Directors position for Friendly House.
Virginia Rometty, IBM
Safra A. Catz, Oracle
Virginia Rometty has been the Chief
Executive Officer and President of
International Business Machines
Corporation since January 1, 2012.
A 30-year veteran at the century-old
tech giant, she is implementing a
five-year strategy to use new markets
like cloud computing and business
analytics software to drive $20 billion
of revenue growth by 2015.
Rometty started at IBM in 1981 as
a systems engineer and climbed to
head of global sales, where she oversaw
results in 170 markets around the world.
Rometty was named among Fortune
Magazine’s most influential women in
business in 2004.
Safra A. Catz has served as president
of database giant Oracle Corporation
since January 2004. In 2009 she
was ranked by Fortune as the 12th
most powerful woman in business.
Prior to joining Oracle, Ms. Catz was
employed by Donaldson, Lufkin &
Jenrette, a global investment bank
which has since merged with Credit
Suisse First Boston. At Donaldson,
Lufkin & Jenrette, Ms. Catz served
as a Managing Director and she has
also been an Independent NonExecutive Director of HSBC Holdings
plc. since May 1, 2008 and a Member
of Executive Council at TechNet since
March 14, 2013.
Fab foot forward
In the past 25 years, Intel’s Fab 24 Factory Manager Ann-Marie
Holmes has become one of only two female factory managers at the
Ireland campus; an important mark in showing that it is possible for
anyone, male or female, to achieve their career aspirations.
I
ntel’s Fab 24 Factory Manager, AnnMarie Holmes finds that the rate of
technical change in the industry is
ever increasing, having moved from
micron dimensions to transistors as
small as 14nm in such a short space of time.
“This rate of change, which is governed
by Moore’s Law, in turn requires a rapid rate
of change and development in technical skills,
speed of delivery, how you manage people, our
ability to pick up new practices, and to learn and
improve – all of these things are of paramount
importance in enabling us to keep up with this
rapid rate of change,” Holmes comments.
On the mark she has made in the industry,
she says that “on a personal level, in the last 25
years I have become one of only two female
factory managers at the Ireland campus and
I think this has been an important mark in
showing that it is possible for anyone, male or
female, to achieve their career aspirations.”
The Right Balance
With her background in engineering,
“naturally I defaulted into a technical area and
have worked as an engineer for many years
now in various different job roles.”
“Intel is an interesting and innovative
place where you can find a balance between
that technical interest and also being able to
manage people. Ultimately, I enjoy what I do
and am absolutely in the career that I wanted,”
she enthuses.
After beginning her Intel career as a Process
Engineer, Holmes progressed to a role as Group
Leader, “managing about 10 engineers in
different functional areas of our fab operations.
This was a role that really helped me to learn
how to get results through people.”
In her next role as the 90nm transfer
manager for Fab 24, she gained an
appreciation of influencing skills “as I was
responsible for the coordination of a number
of different groups around this particular
project. Working across so many different
departments really gave me an understanding
and an admiration of each of their specific
areas of expertise. “
“It really is about
how to successfully
lead, as opposed to
manage, the whole
organisation of more
than 2,000 people.”
She then worked as a Department Manager,
a role in which she was managing people
managers and learning how to motivate them in
order for them to in turn motivate others.
In 2011 she was promoted to her current
role as Intel’s Fab 24 Factory Manager. In
her current position, Holmes manages senior
managers and has to ensure that she supports
and enables them to meet their own department
needs. “It really is about how to successfully lead,
as opposed to manage, the whole organization of
more than 2,000 people.”
As Fab 24 Factory Manager, Holmes
holds responsibility for all aspects of advanced
manufacturing taking place in the fab on
the existing 65nm technology node whilst
preparing her team for the transfer of a
leading edge process technology in the future.
This includes responsibility for safety,
people and all operational indicators associated
with Fab 24 which is a $4 billion facility.
“It is my job to ensure that we deliver Best
in Class indicators on all of our key areas and
that we provide a safe and enjoyable working
environment for our people,” she says.
The originator of the women in
technology pipeline, which was designed
to create opportunities for female technical
employees to participate in leadership
and management development, Holmes
demonstrated her technical leadership
and innovation by spearheading the most
successful process start-up in Intel’s history
worldwide in 2004.
Passion for Technology
Her passion for technology has led her to be
considered in Intel Worldwide as a leading
expert in wafer fabrication and she regularly
travels to other Intel sites to lead and facilitate
task force meetings.
There’s not just one recipe for being
successful, she believes. Rather, it is about
making it work for you, and there are many
different ways to do this.
“I have realized for myself that how I
balance and manage my career is a 50/50
partnership with my husband and on having
a strong support structure that helps me to do
what I do on a day to day basis,” she comments.
Each of Holmes’ career milestones have
been a highlight and have helped her progress
to where she is today, she believes, “but I think
that the thing that really makes me tick is
when I see a group of people, working as a
team, achieving something that they never
even thought was possible and knowing that
I have helped to enable that. I really feel good
about these wins.”
Other highlights have included “when we
introduced to Ireland 90nm technology and
later 65nm at world class standard.”
Intel has a strong integration and
technical career development program, with
mentoring offered for its female employees,
and “over the course of the year, we host
networking events with senior female
leaders and external speakers. This is a great
opportunity for informal networking,”
Holmes explains.
“Our mentoring process and also our tech
pipeline are very important methods to allow
you to share experiences with others and for
them to share with you how they manage to
do what they do. In many ways mentors, by
sharing their experiences, can help you find
your path, to continue in your industry and to
be successful,” she adds.
Holmes would like to see more females
in senior roles, which is why the company has
implemented such programs.
“Intel actively aims to hire to market
as regard female employees and we have
a focused diversity strategy to ensure that
we align our female hiring to match the
available number of technical females in the
market environment. Within the available
pool for hiring, we strive for a strong female
representation especially for our technical
departments,” she comments.
Asked if she feels women are fairly
represented in senior management positions
at leading companies in the technology sector,
Holmes says from “what I have experienced
in terms of Intel Ireland, we strive to hire to
market availability and then to retain these
females and support them in their career
development.”
‘Gender Not an Issue’
“Certainly in terms of Intel, there is nothing
holding anyone, male or female, back from
achieving what they aspire to – if you put the
effort in at Intel, gender won’t be an issue,”
she comments.
“As females, we might take on different
roles at different points in our lives, but the
opportunities available are not in any way
limited because of this. Certainly there is
nothing that I have seen in my personal
experience at Intel to show that there is
anything holding back any female more than
a male. Fundamentally, I think that this is
largely the same across the technology sector
in Ireland,” she adds.
Ann Kelleher, an Intel Vice President of
the Technology and Manufacturing Group
and the Co-General Manager of our Fab
Manufacturing network globally is Holmes’
role model and “someone who does a fantastic
job and someone who I really admire. Ann
does a fantastic job in a tough role and the
fact that she is the first female General
Manager of the entire global manufacturing
network is a testament to her.”
“Ann is also the first Irish female to be
named as an Intel Vice President and she
really is a glowing example of what is possible
if you really want it,” she adds.
Intel Ireland and Fab 24 have achieved
many awards at a global level from Intel in
the past number of years in recognition of
technology introduction and operational
excellence. Most recently, Intel Ireland
was selected by Chambers Ireland as their
Manufacturer of the Year for 2012.
“We have a continuous policy of sending
our employees to other Intel sites to learn new
technologies. This practice ensures that we
consistently have a cohort of people skilled to
the highest level and enables Irish engineers and
technicians to master new complex technologies
and implement them flawlessly,” she reveals.
Driving results
Struggling with the idea of self-promotion is one of the
main barriers for women in technology, Facebook’s
Director of Online Operations EMEA and Head of
Facebook Ireland Sonia Flynn tells Lynne Nolan.
I
n her dual role as Facebook’s Director
of Online Operations EMEA and
Head of Facebook Dublin, Sonia
Flynn has truly paved the way for
women coming from non-technical
backgrounds to consider applying for careers
in the tech sector.
“You don’t need to be a computer scientist
to work in a technology company. If you think
about the tech sector more broadly there are a
ton of roles that require people from multiple
disciplines at a company like Facebook. If you
have a passion for product and people, the tech
sector can provide a wide variety of opportunities
and a hugely satisfying career,” she says.
Among the people she finds inspiring
herself are Mo Mowlam, and particularly
the manner in which her plain speaking and
perseverance as Secretary of State for Northern
Ireland contributed to the signing of the Good
Friday Agreement in 1998. She also admires
Caroline Casey, CEO of Kanchi, for her work
in pushing hard to change the global social
landscape for people with disabilities.
Leadership Style
Describing her own leadership style as
“one that seeks to inspire and lead rather
than manage; being approachable and fully
invested in the people I work with,” Flynn is
based at Facebook’s international headquarters
in Dublin, where she leads international user
operations, working as part of the team tasked
with supporting people using Facebook
in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin
America, combined with her responsibilities
as Head of Facebook Ireland.
The User Operations team develops scaled
solutions to user issues and protects users by
decreasing negative behavior on the site, she
explains.
“I really enjoy the sheer diversity of
things I get to do and the spectrum of teams
I work with, as we have multiple functions
onsite from sales, developer support to user
operations,” Flynn says.
The main challenges of the role, Flynn says,
are “being ruthless with how I manage my time,
as there are often areas or projects I’d like to dig
into more deeply and balancing that with the
need to keep pushing forward.”
Facebook recently announced its plans
to further grow the Dublin team with an
additional 100 roles this year, expanding its
workforce across multiple disciplines such as
user operations, safety and advertising.
“Ireland is a great hub of international
tech talent which is one reason why Facebook
has its international HQ in Dublin. These
jobs, which reflect growth in markets across
Europe but also the Middle East and Africa,
mean we will not only be recruiting from the
local economy but supporting local businesses
by increasing our footprint,” Flynn comments.
Rather than starting out with a clear
idea of the kind of career she wanted, it has
evolved over time, she says.
“I left secondary school in 1992 and in
terms of careers advice at school, the options
presented back then seemed kind of limited.
The conversation was more about the subjects
you scored well at and whether you could get a
third level course on the back of those grades
and really not at all focused on what you liked
to do or what kind of career you could build. In
my case, as I was good at languages, I opted to
study Applied Languages.”
Approaching the end of her course, Flynn
felt unsure about her next move, opting to
study a Masters in German Literature at
Queen’s University Belfast.
Early Career
“I reached a crossroads at the end of that
year, as to whether to follow on with a PhD
or not. So I did what a lot of people tend to
do, I took a job to save money and travel the
world. My first real job in an office was as a
credit controller on the Microsoft account at
a company called Modus Media, a supplychain manufacturing firm,” she recalls.
After about six months, Flynn was
approached to consider taking on the role
as a program coordinator, which proved
“really useful, providing an insight into how
business works, everything from procurement,
warehousing logistics, shipping, client
relationships, to the dynamic of working with
multiple teams. I loved it and pretty much
decided that I would go traveling but come
back and enter the business world.”
On her return, Modus Media offered Flynn
an opportunity as Customer Care Manager in
Dublin, where she worked for a few more years
on the call center side of the business, putting
her language skills to use as a manager. In the
meantime, increasing numbers of her friends
were talking about the online industry and how
Google were setting up operations in Ireland.
After sending in an application, Flynn
received “the usual courtesy email saying
‘thanks, but no thanks,’ so I decided to
take a role in Eastern Europe with an Irish
company, Taxback, to work internationally.”
“When I returned to Ireland, I applied
for a role via a recruiter that purely by chance
turned out to be at Google! This time,
without knowing the company, the job spec
really appealed and although the recruiter
said that she’d spoken with more than 750
people over a two-year period, I got through
the process – albeit after a lot of interviews!”
The rigorous application process paid
off and during her time at Google, Flynn
progressed through the ranks, starting out
as Online Sales and Operations Manager
in 2005 before taking on the role of Senior
Online Sales and Operations Manager, Head
of Office at Google, Wroclaw, and Director of
User Operations EMEA.
“Google really was a complete change
of work environment to anything I’d ever
experienced during a period of hyper growth,”
she recalls, offering her the opportunity to see
what it was like to live in different countries
such as India and Poland, where Google
launched an office in Wroclaw. After a few
years on the road, she made the decision to
come back home to Ireland, opting to move to
the consumer side of the business.
Moving to Facebook
“Having that experience no doubt positioned
me well to make the transition to Facebook.
I joined in November 2009 to head up their
international user support efforts and made
the decision because I found the product and
business model to be hugely compelling,” Flynn
comments. In 2011, she was appointed to the
role of Head of Office for Facebook in Ireland.
Starting a new site from scratch in
Wroclaw Poland at Google and seeing
things taking shape at the end of each week
was an incredible experience, she says. “Any
time I’ve travelled and found myself knee
deep in a challenging situation or unfamiliar
place and succeeded, that has made me
more confident as a leader. Being appointed
Head of Facebook Ireland with associated
responsibility was both humbling and a
definite highlight,” she says.
Having worked with some incredibly
talented people, who push her forward, Flynn
believes she has a lot to be grateful for in
terms of how her career has progressed to date,
although she might not have always had a plan
mapped out, “I’m pretty happy with how things
have turned out. In terms of how working in
the tech sector compares to other industries, the
pace of decision-making and change is rapid and
the culture of leadership is interesting in that I
know my success comes from what I do for my
team and not the other way round.”
On the barriers proscribing women from
fulfilling their potential, Flynn responds that
“there are certain behaviors I’ve seen in peers and
demonstrate myself that can hold you back. For
example, I have this inner voice that says I bet
you someone will tap me on the shoulder and say
that they’ve figured out I’m not the right person
for the job. I tend to go over and over mistakes in
presentations/discussions and be very self-critical,
whereas I should probably dwell less on those and
I would advise others to let it go!”
Flynn is confident, however, that the tech
industry provides a wealth of opportunities
for men and women, providing they believe
in themselves.
In terms of breaking down barriers, “our
industry is so new that it provides significant
opportunity for anyone, male or female, to
establish themselves. I do find that women,
myself included, struggle with the idea of selfpromotion maybe relying on the idea that if I
do a good enough job, reward will happen as
a result without letting anyone know what I’m
doing,” she says.
Part of the reason Flynn is happy
working at a tech company is the fact that
the environment supports and is focused
on diversity. Although Facebook Dublin is
“pretty evenly represented in terms of gender,”
the company is far from complacent.
“We have a Facebook Women’s group,
coaching circles and engage through forums such
as Connecting Women in Technology to engage
with other companies such as Microsoft, Google,
Dell, HP, E&Y among others and learn from
other leaders.”
Awareness is key, she says, which is why
events like Change the Ratio at last year’s Dublin
Web Summit matter, in that they specifically aim
to inspire through sharing personal career stories
and to encourage others, particularly women, to
join the tech sector.
“Often, it can be one or two points that
resonate for someone. At the summit, I described
how I have this inner voice that says I bet you
someone will tap me on the shoulder and say
that they’ve figured out I’m not the right person
for the job. I tend to go over and over mistakes
and be self-critical, whereas I should probably
dwell less and let it go! I got a lot of feedback
from attendees that they too wish they could dial
down their inner voice and be more willing to let
mistakes go sooner,” she confides.
Gender representation on the technical side
Written
in the stars
After serving as Chief Information Officer at NASA until
April this year, Linda Cureton tells Lynne Nolan about
her tenure as part of a mission that touches the hearts
and souls of every human on this planet.
A
fter retiring April this year
after almost 34 years of
federal service and having
served as Chief Information
Officer at NASA for three
and a half years, Linda Cureton is now at the
helm as CEO of her own “sizzling start-up,”
Muse Technologies.
Linda Cureton reflects on the tenure,
enthusing that “It was my vision to make the
NASA IT program the very best in government.”
“As an aside, internally, our goal was to be the
best in the universe – after all, we were NASA.
I believe that this IT organization has indeed
been able to make this claim. The IT program
is known as forward-leaning and innovative.
Moreover, the program is known is one that gets
hard things done,” Cureton comments.
“I enjoyed being part of a mission that
touches the hearts and souls of every human
on this planet. While it was great watching
the last mighty Space Shuttle launch, it was
even better feeling the ground shake, feeling
the heat, hearing the sonic boom, and feeling
the power that lifted brave souls to low Earth
orbit,” she says.
IT transformation
On her move to helm her own company Muse
Technologies, she says that “after just a short
period of time, I have to say I absolutely love it. It’s
scary, risky, and exciting. Muse specialized in IT
transformation – this is what I have been doing
for decades. I am eager to continue to provide this
much-needed service to other organizations.”
Cureton studied a BS in Mathematics
(Cum Laude) with a minor in Latin at Howard
University in Washington, D.C., before attending
graduate school at Johns Hopkins University,
where she received an M.S. in Applied
Mathematics, in addition to a post-Masters
Advanced Certificate in Applied Mathematics.
Although Cureton was always interested
in Mathematics, that was not always the case
with technology.
While she was at school, Cureton worked
as a student assistant cartographer making
maps. At that time, people used pen and ink
to create nautical charts, while computers were
just starting to be experimental. As a lefthander, her hand kept smearing the ink on the
charts, so she was punished by being banished
to working on the computers, she recalls.
In undergraduate, she happily took her
required coursework along with her favourite
classes in Math, Latin, and Classics, and
almost had enough credits to have a double
major – a B.S. in Mathematics and a B.A. in
Classics. “All I needed was one year of ancient
Greek. However, it seemed to be too much
trouble to this young co-ed. To my dismay, a
“Never, ever, ever
apologize for being
a strong, smart, sexy,
technology diva.”
“While it was great
watching the last
mighty Space Shuttle
launch, it was even
better feeling the
ground shake, feeling
the heat, hearing the
sonic boom, and feeling
the power that lifted
brave souls to low
Earth orbit.”
guidance counsellor caught this and decided
that I must have computer classes since I was
a Mathematics major. Reluctantly, I complied
– only maliciously so.”
“I waited until the last minute until all
the classes were full. After failing to get in a
computer class I returned to the counsellor
who just happened to know of one class that
had only one student. It was IBM Assembler
Language. To us old programmers, this
language is what real programmers use. As it
turned out, I liked it and took another course
in FORTRAN,” she adds.
Cureton first started working for NASA
after attending a university jobs fair, at which
NASA happened to be recruiting. NASA was
looking for outstanding scholars, who were
Mathematicians and knowledgeable in IBM
Assembler and FORTRAN to program on
what was then considered a supercomputer.
She stayed for two years working as an
Aerospace Technology Mathematician.
As NASA CIO, Cureton was responsible
for being an active member of the NASA
Administrator’s executive leadership team,
providing him and others advice about all
IT matters in NASA, as well as holding
responsibility for providing centralized IT
services, for example desktop, network, web
hosting, and agency-wide application support.
IT has been transformed at NASA, she
believes, having moved from an extremely
decentralized IT service orientation to one
enterprise approach that is able to provide
consistent and efficient services to the
entire agency.
“This was and continues to be an
extremely daunting change management task.
Decentralized services are often optimized to
specific program needs. Centralized services
are optimized to a base requirement that
leverages economy of scale and managed
configurations,” she admits, on being asked
about the main challenges of the role.
An acquisition and sourcing strategy in
NASA’s Information Technology Infrastructure
Integration Program (I3P) implemented used
key contracts, the IT Infrastructure Library
(ITIL) standards and an integrated in-sourced
call centre delivered critical solutions.
Managing Change
“Challenges existed in managing change – to
include customer expectations; transitioning
service providers; and defining an actionable
architecture in a heterogeneous environment. In
essence, NASA’s diverse environment does not
lend itself to a one-size-fits all solution,” she says.
As the NASA CIO, providing IT solutions
to the best engineers and scientists on the planet
is humbling, she says. “Often, these thoughtleaders, who are very technically knowledgeable,
don’t necessarily appreciate the discipline of IT.
Being a humble servant to these technical giants
requires resilience, talent, and patience.”
While the numbers often say yes, in
regards to women being fairly represented
in senior management positions at leading
companies in the technology sector, “I must
say that it doesn’t always feel that way,” she
says, referring to Rebecca Shambaugh’s book
It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor,
which “challenges us to examine our beliefs
checking them to determine if they are
limiting us in any way. She goes on to say that
‘…in order to reach your potential, it’s essential
to acknowledge the beliefs that you hold about
yourself, as well as your beliefs about other
people and the world around you.’”
Shambaugh reminds readers to examine
these self-beliefs periodically, she says. And
so in answering this question, Cureton says
she had to examine herself and “wonder if it
feels this way because it is – or if it feels this
way because of my own limiting reaction
to intentional or unintentional workplace
biases. For myself, I must say it’s a little of
both. The numbers suggest women are still
underrepresented as CEOs of top companies.”
Leadership Style
‘Girl Power’
Cureton believes women bring a different
style of leadership to companies, and “I think
that women are the best leaders to have in
times of difficult change. The so-called female
traits of empathy, intuition, and collaboration
are game-changing leadership characteristics
in an environment where people are afraid
to change, facts are scarce, and the collective
wisdom of a critical mass is needed.”
She believes her own strong points are
the traits of empathy, intuition, and ability
to collaborate. “Ironically, in my rookie
leadership years, I felt the need to shut down
these attributes and use the more masculine
and so-called successful style. I felt a strong
pull to conform and be ‘one of the boys’. But,
now, I’m comfortable in my own style.”
On the barriers that persist in terms
of prohibiting women from fulfilling their
potential and assuming an equitable share
of management positions in leading tech
companies, she says “certain attributes are
rewarded that may not be typically associated
with women. Assertiveness and ‘pride of
ownership’ are often associated with successful
scientists. Women are typically more
accommodating, inclusive, and collaborative.
To say “I” did something rather than “we” is
often a rewarded behavior.”
“I think we also have a “pipeline” problem.
We absolutely must attract more young girls
into the science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics disciplines. As a young girl,
I wanted to be an astronaut. But, I didn’t
see any astronauts that looked like me. My
favorite show growing up was I Dream of
Jeannie. The girl was the sexy, servile genie
and the boys were all heroic astronauts. We
need to help young girls with this. Women in
technology need to get out help these young
goddesses,” she adds.
With more needed to be done to attract
women to the tech sector, “I would first
charge women in technology to get out
and be visible to young girls interested
in the technology field. Second, teachers
need to be trained to avoid discouraging
women (and minorities) from studying
technology. And finally, I think that women
need to be kinder to each other, providing
encouragement and mentoring to help
others reach professional success.”
Cureton tries to do all these things, she says,
and she is “always eager to talk about girl power
to these young goddesses. I have a home-based
business teaching piano mostly to children.
Every chance I get, I make the music-math
connection and reinforce that math is as ‘easy’
as music. Finally, though it’s getting difficult, I
mentor as many women as I can. Fortunately,
social media makes this goal more practical and
attainable.”
Asked whether she feels she had to work
harder to achieve her success in the past than
what might have been expected from male
equivalents, she responds: “I have to say yes. I
don’t recall who said this, but there’s a quote that
goes something like – ‘you’re not paranoid if
everyone really is against you’. To acknowledge
that there are workplace or societal biases means
that you must work harder. You have to work
harder just to have equity.”
“Having said that, I feel blessed to have
been required to overcome these adversities. It
made me a better woman,” she adds.
Cureton’s grandmother, Corona, is her role
model. “We called her Mama. Mama could
crochet, knit, sew, and do needlepoint She
taught me, a lefty, how to crochet left-handed
yet knit right-handed, and how to use a pair of
right-handed pinking shears. She could also do
ceramics. She could hang dry-wall, plaster walls,
do masonry, do plumbing, repair shoes, perform
basic masonry work, and fix a car. I’m pretty sure
she could even perform minor surgery.”
“She was the President of the Officer’s
Wives Club while my grandfather served our
nation as an Army dentist. She was unwelcome
and a minority. But her charm and leadership
carried the day and she served her country in
this role with class and capability,” she adds.
Organizations need to get over their fear
of technology and learn how to leverage it for
transformation, Cureton asserts. “We can’t just
follow the hype or the flavor or the month, we
must understand our organizational culture and
how to mitigate barriers that hinder success.”
Most organizations hate technology because
it has failed them in many ways, she believes,
as we see large software development efforts
ruin many executive careers; the demons of data
gobble up critical information just when you
need it the most; and the purveyors of bit and
byte containers change things so fast, people
hardly get a chance to learn.
Nevertheless, business leaders must lock arms
with their technology executives and overcome
the barriers to integrate powerful capabilities that
can move them light years ahead,” she says.
The Leadership Muse
The highlight of Cureton’s career was writing
her first book, The Leadership Muse, adding
that “It has certainly not made Oprah’s or New
York Times Bestseller lists, but it was a labour
of love and expression that changed me. The
book is a reflection of the ordinary things in
life that can inspire you to do the extraordinary.
It changed my life and I value the experience of
creating it.”
Having retired from the government and
from NASA, Cureton has gone from CIO
to CEO and started her own company Muse
Technologies, Inc. and looking to the future,
she will be “focusing on IT transformation and
doing all the things that I absolutely love. I also
want to write another book on leadership.”
Never, ever, ever apologize for being a strong,
smart, sexy, technology diva, she advises women
pursuing careers as CIOs. “Use your knowledge of
technology and couple it with your super powers
of empathy, intuition, compassion, and ability to
collaborate to change the world. Oh, and use your
powers only for good.”
Linda Cureton Book – leadership Muse
Marissa Mayer, Yahoo
Anna Kelleher, Intel
The former site manager of Intel’s Fab 11X
chip manufacturing plant in Rio Rancho,
New Mexico, Ann Kelleher, was the first
ever Irishwoman to be appointed as a
Vice President of Intel, a major honour for
her and a significant endorsement of the
contribution of Irish talent to Intel.
Kelleher, who currently holds the site
manager position at one of Intel’s most
Caroline Donahue, Intuit
Caroline Donahue is senior vice president
and chief marketing and sales officer at
Intuit. Her responsibilities include bringing
the company’s financial management
solutions for small businesses and
consumers to market across a variety of
channels, ranging from telesales, retail
stores, resellers and alliances to mobile
communication companies.
Last year Marissa Mayer, a former Google
executive was appointed CEO of Yahoo
and charged with the herculean task
of reversing the downward spiral in the
company. She was the company’s third
CEO in 12 months and its fifth in five years.
At Google Marissa Mayer was
Vice President of Local, Maps, and
Location Services and oversaw product
management, engineering, design
and strategy for the company’s suite
of local and geographical products,
including Google Maps, Google Earth,
Zagat, Street View, and local search, for
desktop and mobile.
Marissa serves on the board of
directors of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. She is
also on the board of various non-profits,
including the San Francisco Museum of
Modern Art and the New York City Ballet.
advanced fab facilities, was named Vice
President, Technology and Manufacturing
Group in 2011. Kelleher joined Intel
Corporation in 1996 as a process engineer
at Intel’s Leixlip facility going on to
manage technology transfers and ramps in
a variety of positions spanning 200mm and
300mm technologies. She then went on to
become the factory manager of the Fab
24 facility in Leixlip before moving to Intel’s
Fab 12 operation in Chandler, Arizona
where she held the role of plant manager.
Kelleher hails from Macroom in Co.
Cork and received a bachelor’s degree
in 1987 and a master’s degree in1989 in
electrical engineering from University
College Cork, Ireland.
In 1993 Kelleher became the first ever
female to receive a Ph.D. from the National
Microelectronics Research Centre (NMRC)
which is now a part of the Tyndall National
Institute at University College Cork, Ireland.
She also leads Intuit’s marketing
efforts in social media, mobile and the
Web, as well as overseeing the company’s
corporate communications organization.
Last year, Intuit was named as one of
Fortune Magazine’s ‘Best 100 Companies to
Work For’ for the 11th consecutive year. Its
flagship products – QuickBooks, TurboTax
and Quicken aim to revolutionize the way
people manage their personal finances, run
small businesses and pay employees.
Ellora Israni
Ayna Agarwal,
She++
Students of Stanford, Ellora Israni and
Ayna Agarwal founded she++ – an
organization devoted to increasing the
number of women studying computer
science. The group recently released a
documentary which brought the group
international recognition.
Last year they hosted she++,
Stanford’s first conference for
women in technology, with 11 female
speakers from companies including
Dropbox, Google and Pinterest. Since
then, she++ has developed into a
nationwide community that has been
featured in Forbes, TechCrunch and
The Huffington Post.
Louise Phelan, Paypal
Theresia Gouw Ranzetta
Louise Phelan, Vice President of Global Operations EMEA for
PayPal, manages day-to-day global operations for Europe,
the Middle East and Africa. Owned by eBay, Paypal is the
faster and safest way to transact payments online. The service
enables individuals and businesses to send and receive
payments online without sharing financial information.
Louise is on the board of the American Chamber of
Commerce of Ireland and the Dublin Chamber of Commerce
and in December 2012 was appointed as a non-executive
director of Ryanair. She is a former student at the Dublin Institute
of Technology and holds qualifications in Law and Economics.
She is also the first woman to receive the Sir Michael
Smurfit Business Achievement Award. Phelan received the
award in recognition of the role she has played as a business
leader during one of the most challenging economic
downturns in Irish history.
Prior to joining PayPal, Louise held a wide variety of
Management and Leadership roles with GE Money and GE
Global Consumer Finance. The Laois native joined PayPal
in 2006 as Customer Solutions and Risk Director for the EU
before being promoted to her current position in 2011.
Theresia Gouw Ranzetta is a partner at Silicon Valley
heavyweight Accel Partners, a global venture and growth equity
firm funding companies from inception through the growth
stage and which has earned a reputation as one of technology’s
top financiers. Theresia focuses primarily on internet and
software investments with specific interest in social commerce,
vertical media, security and consumer internet/mobile apps.
Theresia was responsible for several Accel’s investments
which have had successful acquisition or IPO exits including
adECN (MSFT), CRS Retail Systems (EPIC), Interlace Systems
(ORCL), Kosmix (WMT), PeopleSupport (PSPT), Xoopit (YHOO)
and Zimbra (YHOO) and was part of the Walmart.com (WMT)
investment team. She currently serves on the Board of Directors
of several private companies.
Prior to joining Accel Partners, she was founding Vice
President of Business Development & Sales at Release
Software, a venture-backed company that developed
products to enable digital rights management and payment
technologies for the software industry. Earlier, she worked as
a management consultant at Bain & Company and a product
manager at Silicon Graphics.
Teleworking
No More
Homework
The decision by CEO of Yahoo Marissa Mayer to ban
teleworking has caused controversy.
T
he decision by head of the internet
firm Marissa Mayer to ban staff
from working from home reputedly
because she was tired of arriving at work each
morning to find the car park of the Yahoo
offices in California virtually empty has
ignited a whirlwind of controversy.
A memo subsequently leaked to the
US media outlined the reasoning for the
decision of the CEO, famous for returning
to work last year just two weeks after giving
birth to her first child. “Some of the best
decisions and insights come from hallway and
cafeteria discussions, meeting new people and
impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality
are often sacrificed when we work from home.
We need to be one Yahoo and that starts with
physically being together,” the memo read.
The news prompted a fierce cyber
backlash and numerous blogs, posts and
tweets were dispatched denouncing the
Yahoo chief and accusing her of an attack
on women trying to raise children while
continuing to advance their career.
The Chief Executive of Virgin Richard
Branson weighed into the debate and said
people should be given the freedom of choosing
where they want to work and described
the move to ban teleworking at Yahoo as a
“backward step in an age where remote working
is easier and more efficient that ever”.
Others were more supportive of her stance
and the head of British Vogue Alexandra
Shulman said that her immediate reaction to
anyone requesting to work from home was
‘no’. However, there is little doubt that there
has been a growing trend towards teleworking.
According to a recent survey by the Institute
of Leadership and Management, some 94%
of organisations offer teleworking and 50% of
people will work from home on occasions.
BT has had a comprehensive teleworking
policy in place since the 1980s and today has
some 65,000 flexible workers, 10,000 of whom
are never required to venture into the office. This
group, according to BT, are on average 20% more
productive than staff who are based in the office.
A study carried out by Stanford University
recently reveals a similar pattern of higher
productivity among those who work from
home. The study of workers at a Chinese travel
agency found that fewer breaks and less sick
days were taken by staff working from home
and they answered more calls and reported
a higher level of job satisfaction. When the
Teleworking
agency subsequently offered workers the
choice of working from home, they found that
productivity levels increased by over 20%.
However, working from home
undoubtedly requires a degree of discipline
which is why many companies will frequently
only allow trusted and established members
of staff the option of teleworking.
Studies also show that promotion prospects
are higher for office based workers and many
managers have a preference for close interaction
with staff and want to be able to directly observe
and monitor their performance.
Boris Johnson, the Mayor London also
revealed his suspicion of the practice during
preparations for the London Olympics when
he warned the substantial consignment of
workers who had been given permission to
work from home against “staying at home,
skipping work and opening the fridge to hack
off that piece of cheese.”
With such disparate views on the subject
the debate on the merits or otherwise of
working from home is likely to rumble on.
Bottom of Form
The United Nations Broadband
Commission for Digital Development—a
panel headed by Mexican tycoon Carlos
Slim that helps countries make Internet
policy— has set a target of of ensuring
that women around the world have equal
access to the Web by 2020.
That’s ambitious according to research
on the subject from Intel which reveals
that 23 percent—or 200 million—
fewer women than men in developing
countries are online. In sub-Saharan
Africa nearly half as many women as men
have Internet access, and in South Asia,
a third fewer go online.
Interestingly Latin America has virtually
equal access between the genders.
Women in developing countries spend
more time at home than men, making
them less likely to be in public places
where they can use computers in Internet
cafes. Women are generally poorer
than men and have less control over
household wealth and when they have
spare cash, they’re more likely to use it
to pay for necessities. Women also have
lower literacy rates, so they may not be
able to read or type.
According to the Intel report, 80
percent of women in poor countries
who have access to the Internet say they
use it to further their education. Thirty
percent use it to earn more money, and
45 percent use it for job searches.
Management
Women in
Leadership
What countries perform well when it comes to
women in leadership positions?
T
he recent resignation of two of Britain’s
leading female chief executives, Dame
Marjorie Scardino at Pearson, owner
of Penguin Books and the Financial Times and
Cynthia Carroll at the global mining giant Anglo
American leaves only three women in charge of
FTSE 100 companies.
However, according to Fortune Magazine
Britain is the best place to be a female boss
aside from the US which has long been to the
forefront in appointing women to leadership
roles. The American business bible points out
that seven of the most powerful women in
global business work in Britain which is more
than in the larger economies of Germany,
China or France.
They include Ornella Barra, Chief executive
of pharmaceuticals and wholesale at Alliance
Boots, Alison Cooper, chief executive of Imperial
Tobacco, Angela Ahrendts of Burbery, Isabelle
Ealet, c-head of the securities division at
Goldman Sachs, Ana Botin who runs Santander
bank in the UK, Carolyn McCall, boss of Easyjet
and Michelle Gas who runs Starbuck in Europe
and the Middle East from her office on London.
Further evidence that women are
breaking through the glass ceiling in the UK
comes from research from the Professional
Board forum which reveals that for the first
time women are almost as likely as men to be
appointed non-executive director of a large
UK company. In the last year, 48% of nonexecutive appointments to FTSE 100 boards
have been women, the highest proportion
since figures were first recorded in 1999.
However, while there may an increase in
female non-executive directors, progress has
been notably slower in relation to executive
directorships and only around 7% of executive
directors at FTSE companies are women. This
compares poorly with the US where the number
of female corporate officers at Fortune 500
companies is around 15% or more than twice the
number in the UK.
The poor representation of women in
senior management has lead to calls from
some European politicians to introduce
quotas for female executives on boards. EU
Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding has
presented proposals aimed at requiring that
European companies hire a female candidate
over an equally qualified male candidate or
face penalties - unless women already fill at
least 40% of seats on the board.
EU figures show that women currently only
occupy around 15% of positions on the board of
large companies throughout Europe. Rules which
are due to be put in place in Britain this year will
require companies quoted on the London stock
exchange to carry out gender audits and make
public information on the representation of men
and women in the company.
Quotas have been introduced in countries
such as Norway and while it has brought the
number of non-executive directors up to 40%, it
has not achieved the breakthrough expected in
relation to representation at the top level.
Ireland has fared poorly in terms of
its track record of hiring women to senior
management positions. The proportion of
women on boards in Ireland has increased
only marginally from just under 7% in 2003 to
about 9% last year. This amounts to an average
annual increase of just 0.12% per year – a rate
of progress which would require well over
a century to achieve 40% representation of
women on non-executive boards.
Ireland also lags well behind the rest when
it comes to the number of women in senior
positions, according to research from Grant
Thornton’s international Business Report. Twenty
four per cent of management positions are held
by women around the world but in Ireland the
figure is 21%. Representation by women on
boardrooms globally stands at around 19% but
again in Ireland the figure falls to 17%.
Gender equality on the boards of Irelands
state owned companies is better with 35% of the
boards made up of women.
The National Women’s Council of Ireland
has called for quotas to be introduced arguing
that change won’t happen naturally. A high
percentage of women in Ireland leave the
workforce and don’t remain beyond middle
management and executive level which points
to an environment which is not conducive to
working mothers.
Research shows that a gender pay gap and
issues over childcare are factors in women leaving
the workplace. In Ireland the pay gap is at 4% for
the lowest 10% of earners but it rises to 24.6%
when it comes to the top 10% of earners. Figures
from the Organization for Cooperation and
Development show that employment rates for
women with three children are as low as 45.2%.
All in all a pretty dismal picture in
relation to Ireland’s progress in advancing
gender equality in the workplace.
PlanNet21 is a specialist services and solution provider
that helps clients plan, build, support and manage their
IT infrastructures. We are driven by our passion for
excellence and integrity to ensure that our clients can
achieve higher levels of performance for their missioncritical systems and technologies.
PlanNet21 understands today’s advanced technologies
including Unified Communications, Security, Data Centre,
Virtualisation, Wireless Mobility and Networks. When
properly planned, procured and deployed these business
solutions reduce costs, increase profitability and
ultimately improve an organizations ability to effectively
serve their customers.
Founded in 1998, PlanNet21 had grown from a start
up to a world-class organization providing our Irish,
European, US and Asian Pacific customers (many of
whom sit in Fortune 100) with solutions from many
leading manufacturers such as Cisco, NetApp, WMWare,
Polycom. By engaging PlanNet21 to manage their
planning, procurement and deployment processes,
our customers benefit from our certified technology
professionals, Geographic reach, Quality Standard
Practices and unparalleled support services.
Our quality process, backed by the full commitment of
PlanNet21 Executives and employees, demonstrate our
dedication to continuous improvement that ultimately
drives superior services and higher customer satisfaction.
Headquartered in Citywest, Dublin, PlanNet21 has
locations strategically located in Ireland, UK, USA and
soon Asia.
Denise Tormey
President & Co-Founder, PlanNet21 Communications
Denise Tormey, eldest of 7 from Co Galway, graduated with an honours degree in Business Studies and IT from the University of Limerick, Ireland, spent 5 years in Digital Equipment Corporation
(DEC) where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant and specialized in several finance roles
including Treasury Management, Financial Accounting and Management Accounting before crossing over into ERP systems and business analysis.
The exciting new horizons in Information Technology appealed to her entrepreneurial spirit (no
doubt gleaned from her dad) and so she opted to start PlanNet21 Communications. In the 15
years since its inception she has been pivotal to all aspects of the company’s strategic growth
and development.
Contact
Email:
[email protected]
PlanNet21 rapidly established itself as Ireland’s Premier ICT Solutions and Integration partner and
subsequently expanded operations into Europe and Asia. PlanNet21’s Global client base includes
many of the Fortune 100 companies.
Tel: +3531 4611900
Cell: 1 650 714 8851 (US)
Web: www.plannet21.com
Denise now spends most of her days in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area focusing on building bridges between US companies and their overseas operations by offering agile and intelligent technology solutions to businesses expanding into EMEA and emerging markets.
Passionate about getting the job done but with a proven track record of delivering the highest
standards to her clients.
Denise loves all sports and played Volleyball, Soccer, Mountain Climbing frequently for charity
(Kilimanjaro, Annapurna Himalayas, Machu Picchu, McGillycuddy Reeks) and white water rafting.
Denise is married with 3 children.
Focus on Cork
Smart Stem
The exciting telescope project championed by PlanNet21’s Denise
Tormey and CIT-Blackrock Observatory connects Cork and San
Francisco in a unique and innovative way
Imagine…
Imagine a project that uses the inspirational
medium of astronomy to stimulate interest
in science and technology in a way that has
never been done before. Imagine bringing live
astronomy into the classroom, where students
get to control real telescopes in real-time and
take pictures that they want to take. Imagine
giving students the chance to write their own
software code to connect with the telescopes.
Imagine them discussing their pictures with
students in classrooms across the globe
and opening up discussions not only about
cultural, technological and societal issues, but
about the burgeoning space-science industry
that use satellites to look down on our fragile
planet just as they are gazing skywards using
telescopes. Stimulate the imagination and you
stimulate creativity.
The Context
The weather in Ireland cannot rival California’s
clear blue skies but the country has a strong
astronomical heritage. For example, the oldest
known astronomically-aligned structure in
the world at Newgrange was built 6500 years
ago and the world’s largest telescope was
constructed in Birr in 1845, holding its preeminent position until the Hooker telescope
Focus on Cork
Cork City Manager Mr Tim
Lucey, Dr Niall Smith, CIT
Head of Research, Mayor
Edwin Lee, Mr Denis Collins,
Chairman of the Board, it@
cork at Blackrock Castle
Denise Tormey, President & Co-Founder
PlanNet21 Inc.
was built in California in 1917. Ireland’s
most influential scientist, William Rowan
Hamilton, spent his entire working life at
Dunsink Observatory. Hamilton is world
famous for his mathematical discoveries that
are key to the operation of spacecraft even to
this day.
Against this backdrop it is not so surprising
to find an observatory in a 16th century castle
in Cork. CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory
is home to a team with a vision to build an
array of small telescopes in California to inspire
students and their parents and friends to engage
in science, technology, engineering and maths
(STEM). The concept is known as a SMART
telescope array because it is designed to respond
to the rapidly changing needs of young and old,
parent and teacher alike. As students mature,
so do their interactions with the SMART
array, then as technology changes, the array
can be reconfigured to continue to act as a
stimulating cutting-edge technology test-bed.
More specifically, a SMART telescope array
is a network of telescopes which can either
be controlled live via the internet by people,
or which can operate independently using
software and sensors that let the telescopes
“think for themselves and know their state of
health”.
SMART telescopes represent the leading
edge in technology and can act as powerful
test-beds for technology and educational
development, encouraging enquiry-based
Denise championed
the vision of using
astronomy to build
a future educational
system
learning and teamwork for users. A SMART
telescope array represents the next generation
in SMART STEM education.
One of the strengths of the SMART array
concept is that it comes out of an environment
at CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory (CIT
BCO) that understands the need to involve
all the key stakeholders in society in STEM
education. CIT BCO itself is made possible
by a unique partnership between Cork
Institute of Technology, Cork City Council
and external stakeholders including the public
and enterprise. This “triple-helix” approach
echoes back to the triple-helix carvings that
are characteristic of Newgrange.
The vision is to engage young and old in
the amazing journey that is science, a journey
that has almost immeasurably improved our
lives in less than two centuries. The widespread
low engagement and pursuit of STEM careers
among young people has serious implications
for companies who rely on a supply of highlyeducated graduates in technology. It can be
traced in large part from a negative experience
of STEM at school, where young people
often find STEM subjects difficult or boring,
science classes fail to inspire them and they are
not given enough opportunities to “explore”.
SMART STEM is all about putting that
exploration front-and-centre to make sure that
everyone involved feels a part of the process.
The advantages of developing a SMART
STEM approach using telescopes lies in
the well-known inspirational effects that
astronomy has, especially on getting young
students interested in science.
The need to inspire kids when they are
young was explicitly supported recently by
President Barack Obama in his 2013 State of
the Union Address: “Every dollar we invest
in high-quality early education can save more
than seven dollars later on”.
Studies show that students who are exposed
to inspirational science by the age of 12 are
TWICE as likely to consider degrees in college
in STEM. That’s an enormous difference - but
starting young is not enough. As the renowned
astrophysicist, broadcaster and science
communicator Carl Sagan wrote: “Every kid
starts out as a natural-born scientist – and then
we beat it out of them. A few trickle through
the system with their wonder and enthusiasm
for science intact – but only a few.”
So to keep people engaged in STEM it is
important to appeal to students throughout
the entire time that they spend in school and
indeed beyond their school years. The telescope
array is designed to do exactly that.
Focus on Cork
San Francisco’s Mayor Lee reaches
for the stars with Cork students at
Blackrock Castle on St Patrick’s Day at the
announcement of the SMART STEM array
Making it happen
Considerable progress on phase one of this
ambitions project has already been made.
The first telescope in the array will be sited
at Ormondale Elementary School in Portola
Valley in summer 2013 thanks to the support
of its Principal, Jennifer Warren and the staff
and Board. In Ireland its primary sponsor
is Zenith Technologies, a company closely
associated with Cork Institute of Technology.
The collaboration with Ormondale
Elementary could not have happened without
the foresight, belief and hard work of Denise
Tormey, an Irish entrepreneur who recently
moved out to California with her family
to continue the expansion of her company
PlanNet21. Denise’s children go to school
in San Francisco where there is a huge focus
on maths, science and technology. Through
networking at the ITLG Global Technology
Leaders Summit held at City Hall, Cork
in January 2013, Denise understood and
championed the vision for using astronomy to
build a future educational system to provide the
intellectual feedstock for high-tech companies
such as the tech clusters at Silicon Valley and
it@cork, European Tech Cluster. Denise saw
the technology potential but also the ability to
connect children on both sides of the Atlantic
in a unique and exciting way. By fostering
relationships at an early age and exposing
children in Ireland to technology, a whole area
of opportunity opens up and the model can be
rolled out nationally and internationally.
Cork and San Francisco are sister-cities
and on Saint Patrick’s Day 2013, San Francisco
Mayor Edwin Lee, officially announced the
SMART STEM programme at Blackrock
Castle when he visited Cork with a large
delegation comprising supervisors, industry
and municipal leaders.
At the announcement, Mayor Lee said
“This is an incredible project; it is one that
reflects the best of our intentions for the Cork
sister city, for our vision and for our youth,
for the role of science and technology not just
in how we live today but for the future; the
objective here is not only to use the spirit of
innovation that we both as cities have but to
use it to invite the incredible imagination of
our youth and of our societies to join together
on a journey that has no end in it except to
improve life for everybody on this planet. This
is what I believe is the essence of the purpose
of this array of telescopes that are being put
together and is why we participate, and why
I wanted to come here as the Mayor of San
Francisco to participate in this gathering is to
make this incredible announcement that has a
foundation and a purpose of exciting our youth
to use science and allow for discovery”
The education based initiative illustrates
global cooperation at many levels through
the sister city relationship between Cork
and San Francisco. As Mayor Lee noted, it
is a partnership that also promotes societal
and cultural understanding and stimulates
development between schools, business leaders
and industry sponsors in California and Ireland.
Indeed Denis Collins, Chairman of the Board,
it@cork and Mayor Lee stressed the importance
Focus on Cork
“Every dollar we
invest in high-quality
early education can
save more than seven
dollars later on”.
President Barack Obama
of collaboration to further grow the Silicon Valley
Cluster and it@cork European Tech Cluster
Alliance.
From autumn 2013 there will be
SMART STEM pilot programmes with
students from
three areas:
Ormondale
Elementary,
San Francisco
District Schools
and Cork schools
including through
the it@cork
adopt-a-school
programme. This
connectivity
will see industry
and education
join together for
social growth and
achievements.
The Cork
and Californian
students met for the first time at Earth Day
April 22 over a NASA Digital Learning
Network through the ’Beautiful Earth’
programme and the European Space Agency
(ESA) EarthRider study. Strong development
and delivery of space science education events
channelling STEM expertise over 5 years at
CIT BCO (including an orbit live link to
the International Space Station) will ensure
dissemination of inter-agency work with
NASA and ESA. Access to the telescopes will
be supported with appropriate educational and
curriculum materials designed for both the
Irish and US/California educational systems.
What Next?
Next stage development on the software user
interface will link classrooms to the telescopes
in a way that makes the experience as interactive
and rewarding as possible. The “wow” factor
will inspire teamwork, inquiry, discovery
and innovation. The size of the array will be
increased, adding more telescopes so that more
schools can participate more frequently, adding
in extra layers of interactivity which additional
telescopes provide.
Stage three involves securing a second
site where the installation of 8-10 telescopes
Focus on Cork
Jennifer Warren, Ed.D. Ormondale
Principal Wayne Rickert, 3rd Grade
Teacher Several Ormondale Stundents
Taoiseach, Enda Kenny and championed by
the Irish MEP, Sean Kelly. The theme of the
conference was Global Challenges – Global
Cooperation. One of the outcomes of the
conference was to recognise “the key role
astronomy has in global capacity building”.
Using this medium of astronomy, SMART
STEM stimulates debate on educational,
environmental, societal and economic issues
that are of local and global concern to share the
benefits of space with humankind.
To hear more about how you can help, donate or
support the development of the SMART STEM
concept contact Clair McSweeney, Centre Manager,
CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory, Blackrock,
Cork, Ireland. T: +353 (0) 21 432 6124 www.bco.ie
Jennifer Warren, Ed.D. Ormondale Principal Denise Tormey, President & Co-Founder PlanNet21 Inc.
Skype: blackrockcastle / Twitter: @blackrockcastle /
FaceBook: Blackrock Castle Observatory
positions the SMART telescope network
under a single roll-off roof. This is the most
cost-effective way to house a network of
telescopes. It provides the easiest maintenance
regime and has the added advantage of being
visually impressive.
Endorsement of the importance of
astronomy is not hard to find at the highest
political levels. The role of astronomy in
inspiring young people was endorsed recently
by the largest conference organised as part
of Ireland’s Presidency of the EU which
was held in Brussels 4th-8th March 2013.
The conference was addressed by the Irish
Focus on Cork
it@cork, European Tech Cluster
making a Global Impact
i
t@cork, European Tech Cluster is a
leading not-for-profit independent
business organisation, representing the
interests of the IT industry in Ireland. It is a
unique blend of indigenous and international
IT professionals, executives, multinationals,
government leaders, public sector, academia,
entrepreneurs, investors, legal and financial
professional services community joining
together to drive thought leadership,
collaboration and global strategic alliances.
It currently represents over 300 member
companies with over 30,000 employees.
it@cork, European Tech Cluster, is a global
cluster and an award winning recognized key
European hub. It is a unique collaborative
model integrating industry, government, public
sector and academia and represents €300b
globally with €1B+ in Ireland.
Denis Collins, Chairman of the Board,
it@cork, European Tech Cluster and San
Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee are collaborating
to further grow a Silicon Valley and it@cork
Euro Tech Cluster Alliance which will see
Silicon Valley USA and Europe joining
together for industry, education, social growth
and achievements.
Proven impact streams include the
2013 Global/European Tech Summit and
initiatives such as Innovation That Matters,
Tech Tuesday, Adopt A School, Adopt
A Startup, Smarter Senses, Fit4Work,
Skillsnet, Global Leaders Awards, Heads of
IT, Digital/Social Global Communication
Teaming Model.
The groundbreaking Adopt-a-School
programme was launched by Minister Sean
Sherlock in Cork City Hall in May 2012 and
is designed to create a dynamic relationship
between the IT sector and the education
sector, with a particular focus on encouraging
students of all ages to use IT in creative ways.
Minister Sherlock described Adopt-a-School
as an “exemplary programme” and said that
it will excite young students and engage
them in IT-based innovation”. In excess
of 30 industry-school relationships have
Michael Loftus, CIT Head of Faculty of Engineering and Science, Scoil Mhuire student Fiona
Deasy, Denis Collins, Chairman of the Board it@Cork, European Tech Cluster, Sean Sherlock,
Minister for Research and Innovation
been established to date. The programme is
attracting significant attention across regions
in Ireland and beyond, and has the potential
to become an international exemplar of best
practice in the area of industry-education
relationship development supporting such
initiatives as the SMART STEM robotic
telescope array project.
“Our global cluster,” said Collins “is
focused on leading and building linkages
for mutual economic benefits, academic
improvements, and social enhancements.
Our organisation represents many companies
based in San Francisco. It’s my pleasure to
work with Mayor Lee and I look forward to
growing our relationship. Our cluster of 300
companies is fully committed to making a
tangible difference”.
Mayor Lee said “I am delighted to work
with Denis Collins and a pedigree global
organisation like the European Tech Cluster;
I look forward to strengthening ties between
our regions for mutual benefit”
Denis Collins, Chairman of the Board, it@
Cork, European Tech Cluster
Focus on Cork
Building Blocks for Success
T
he ITLG’s Global Technology
Leaders Summit in January was
Ireland’s first business ‘Gathering’
and for host city Cork it was a resounding
success. Chief Executive of Cork Chamber
of Commerce Conor Healy was instrumental
in bringing the event to Cork and he is more
convinced than ever that Cork is the ideal
place to live, work and play in Ireland. In the
wake of recent success we asked Conor how
the Technology Leaders Summit positively
impacted on the city.
“From a local perspective it was a very
successful partnership between the city and
county councils, with CIT and UCC and with
the many businesses that were involved. The
level of communication and co-operation
was outstanding. Our aim was to raise the
profile of Cork as a high performing location
for ICT investment and entrepreneurship.
We aimed to highlight a greater awareness of
the many successful operations in Cork and
of developing new technology companies.”
Conor continues, “What we need to do now
is to ensure that we follow up on the success
of the event which is why we are taking a
delegation from Cork to Silicon Valley in May
to attend the annual summit in San Jose”.
Traveling with Healy will be
representatives from the city and county
councils, from the mayor and city manager’s
office and from UCC and CIT. “We are
hoping to build on the relationship and links
already established and continue to represent
Cork as the ideal place to invest and do
business,” he explains. “The relationship was
firmly cemented when Mayor Ed Lee from
our twin city of San Francisco visited with a
delegation of business leaders. They spent a
week in Cork understanding what is on offer
here. Going forward we hope to build on
these links and ultimately we hope for new
investment in the region”.
Healy recognises the importance of direct
transatlantic links between the west coast and
Cork and to this end he is actively lobbying
airlines and government to show them that
there is a market for this service. He also
stresses that it is important for the Irish
government to continue with initiatives that
promote American investment in Ireland.
This has already been very successful in
attracting blue chip companies such as Apple
and VM Ware into the region.
The business market in Cork is strong
and there is significant availability of
well educated and trained workers with
an excellent quality of living in beautiful
surroundings. Healy describes it as a
“compelling work life balance”. Certainly
Conor Healy is a man on a mission and with
his verve for life and unlimited enthusiasm
for his city, he makes a compelling argument
for settling and investing in Cork.
www.corkchamber.ie
Focus on Cork
Electronics in Cork
The Cork Electronics Industry Association (CEIA) is a memberdriven, non-profit, industry lead association which represents the
interests of ICT companies in the Munster region of Ireland.
T
he organisation has been in
existence for 29 years and many
of the regions outstanding
companies are fully-fledged
members including Alps
Electric, Altera, Apple, Bard, EMC,
Flextronics, Lincor Solutions, Logitech, M/ACom Tec., Moog, S3 Group, Sanmina, Horner
APG Ireland, Smith Detection and Wisetek
Solutions. Statutory members include, IDA,
Enterprise Ireland, UCC, CIT & FAS
(National Training Agency).
Members of the CEIA come from a range
of sectors including top ranked technology
areas of Communications, Automation,
Integrated Circuits and PCB manufacturing.
As well as manufacturing leading edge products
many of the CEIA member companies are
involved in other business activities such as
marketing and sales, technical support, software
development, R&D, supply chain management,
e-procurement, shared services, e-business and
IP management. This diversity in the makeup of the organisation’s membership offers
significant advantages to it members.
The CEIA comprises of two subgroups
(a) Innovation Sub-Group
(b) Skills & Education Sub-Group
The Innovation Sub-Group provides a forum
for CEIA members to network and share
industry best practice. Each member has a
wealth of knowledge and skills and through
networking and discussion members can review
and perfect their own corporate practices. The
Innovation Sub-Group caters to support the
promotion of the region to external investors
and work with other regional stakeholders to
promote ICT related opportunities.
The Skills & Education Sub-Group
develops education and lifelong learning
programmes to encourage greater uptake and
proficiency in Science & Engineering amongst
2nd and 3rd level students and graduates.
Skills & Education Group
Ireland and Cork in particular hosts some of
the best ICT companies in the world, with
many of its FDI companies changing their
focus to knowledge-driven activities and the
indigenous electronics industry continuing
to develop and grow significantly. There is
an ever increasing demand for highly skilled
ICT engineering graduates and to attract
students to take up science & engineering
courses at third level the S&E Sub-Group
manage and support many outreach
programmes, some of these programmes are:
Can Sat Competition
It is a national competition aimed at
secondary school students aged 16+ years. It is
based on the European Space Agency (ESA)
and partners European CanSat competition
(cansat.eu). A CanSat is a simulation of a real
satellite, integrated within the volume and
shape of a soft drink can. The challenge for
the students is to fit all the major subsystems
found in a satellite, such as power, sensors and
a communication system, into this minimal
volume. The CanSat is then launched to an
altitude of a few hundred meters by a rocket
or dropped from a platform or captive balloon
and its mission begins: to carry out a scientific
experiment (eg. measure temperature,
pressure, etc.), transmit the data to a ground
station and achieve a safe landing. CanSat
offers a unique opportunity for students
to have a first practical experience of a real
space project. They are responsible for all
aspects: designing the CanSat, selecting its
mission, integrating the components, testing,
preparing for launch and then analyzing and
presenting the data. The winning & runnerup teams will receive prizes sponsored by
CEIA member companies and go on to
represent Ireland at the European CanSat
competition in The Netherlands, with
expenses paid for 4 students + teacher.
High Tech Elec Transition
Year Work Experience
Programme
This programme is an effort to showcase
careers in the high-tech sector to 4th year
secondary school students. Tyndall National
Institute and CEIA play host to students
participating in a unique Work Experience
Programme. The students spend a week
between Tyndall Research Centre, UCC,
CIT and high-tech engineering CEIA
member companies. It provides students with
a comprehensive insight into all aspects of
research and engineering careers. Member
companies open their doors to students for an
on-site placement day as part of the programme.
The students carry out hands on demonstrations
of circuit design, energy engineering and fibre
optics systems, as well as touring high-tech
laboratories and fabrication facilities.
CEIA Annual Schools
Robotics Competition
A key initiative, which is geared for the more
junior students, is the Annual Schools Robotics
Competition. Now in its 10th year, it targets
2nd year students. Regular robotics classes
Focus on Cork
are held in the third level colleges in Cork
where students eagerly come to work on their
robots, learn programming skills from their
mentors and started to realize the importance of
teamwork to achieve success. The final is held in
February each year, and twenty schools, with up
to 80 students will compete against each other
for a perpetual trophy.
Exploring Electronics
Teacher Training Course
Last year 54 Postgraduate Diploma in
Education student teachers completed the six
week introductory course to electronics. The
training program is based on the ‘Exploring
Electronics’ Transition Year Module
developed with significant input & backing
from the CEIA and is aimed at de-mystifying
electronics in the Second Level Class room.
Innovation Group
A key focus of the Innovation Sub-Group is
to afford CEIA members the ability to build
links with each other; it does this by running
regular collaborative workshops and special
interest discussion groups. The topics for
these discussions are directly related to the
activities set out as development goals by the
association’s members.
The groups hold Business Briefings on
a monthly basis and a list of such events are
on the website (ceia.ie). In May 2013 the
group is hosting a conference entitled “The
Changing Role of Manufacturing in Ireland
and Beyond” which will be chaired by Michael
Devane, Chairman of SmartBay and features
an impressive range of speakers including Bob
Pictured at an Innovation Group - Collaborative workshop
held in Flextronics, were (from left;) Brendan Butler, EMC,
Secretary & Treasurer CEIA, Sean Gayer, Chairman CEIA,
with guest speaker Minster Sean Sherlock TD
Savage, Vice-President and Managing Director,
EMC Ireland; Caroline Dowling, President of
Integrated Network Solutions, Flextronics and
Tom Mangan, Vice-President Operations and
General Manager, Boston Scientific.
Cork has become a center of electronic
excellence in recent years, making the CEIA
more important than ever before as it affords
its members the chance to develop links
and strategies that will allow them to thrive
well into the future. The CEIA provides a
formal, organized and trusted platform for its
member companies in the IT, electronic and
engineering sectors within the Munster area.
It provides the opportunity to make new
business contacts, address common issues,
liaise with higher education institutions
on industry training and graduate profiles
required to ensure the sustained growth and
competitiveness of its members’ organizations.
Business Briefings, the Annual Conference
and various initiatives provide ongoing
learning and transfer of knowledge for both IT
professionals and engineers but also students
with an interest in working in ICT, Science
and Engineering. CEIA continues to grow
its membership and its collaboration with key
regional and national agencies.
25 Years of Innovation
www.horner-apg.com
Horner APG Centrepoint, Centre Park Road, Cork, Ireland
Tel: +353 21 4321-266 Fax: +353 21 4321-826 Email: [email protected]
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Focus on Limerick
Riverdance
Composer, Bill
Whelan, Former
European Parliament
President Pat Cox
and international
rugby star Paul
O’Connell pictured
in Limerick to discuss
plans for Limerick
City of Culture 2014
Limerick
- a city of Culture
The Designation of Limerick as Ireland’s first National City
of Culture in 2014 will be an important catalyst beginning a
renaissance of the image of Ireland’s third largest city.
W
ith a charter older
than London and a
history peppered with
settlements, sieges and
steely resolve, the aim of
this new initiative is to deliver a programme of
cultural events for one year in Limerick, which
will also have a longer-term positive impact
and most importantly, leave visitors looking at
the city with a fresh eye.
Former European Parliament President Pat
Cox, Riverdance composer Bill Whelan and
international rugby superstar Paul O’Connell
are all proud Limerick natives who will lead
the steering group for the city’s momentous
designation with planning already well underway.
Though accomplished in many areas,
the role will still be demanding for the three
Limerick Freemen. Overseeing the ambitious
plan to establish Limerick as an internationally
recognized location for culture means that much
hope and many eyes will be focused on the city.
Equally, naysayers will be poised to criticize.
Group chairman, Pat Cox and all involved
are determined to put on a real show.
“To me culture is a positive expression of
who we are as a people whether it is through
sport, art, food, traditions, music, dance,
language or any other medium–open, not
closed, fun more than formal, though that too
has its place,” he explained.
From venues to creative organizations,
from individual practitioners to local arts
groups, Limerick’s artistic community is eager
to step up. With a huge number of existing
events and festivals to build on, the designation
gives more artistic license than ever before.
Organizers are hoping to ‘lift the lid’ on the
rich and diverse culture capacity of Limerick
and exhibit to each other and to the wider
world the best the city has to offer leaving a
lasting and revitalized sense of pride in place.
While there are obvious financial challenges,
Limerick City of Culture 2014 will embrace a
broad range of activities so that all the citizens
Focus on Limerick
of Limerick can feel connected to and proud of
this special year, the first ever such designation
of an Irish city by an Irish Government.
Both Bill Whelan and Paul O’Connell
have approached the year with boundless
energy and commitment, ambitious for 2014,
for what is in it for Limerick and its renewal.
So too, the extent of positive engagement
and enthusiasm from the arts and sporting
communities in Limerick which is a source of
great encouragement.
Whatever about the publics drive to make
the event successful, local Government has
also embraced its role in the process. This
‘beginning of a Limerick renaissance’ will
coincide with another historic event—the
amalgamation of the two local authorities.
“This designation of City of Culture has
the power to act as a catalyst to bring Limerick
City together and to bring the city and county
together, so that the sum of their parts will be
greater than the whole. Culture, while not a
panacea to all problems, can deliver economic
and social objectives, improve Limerick’s
urban image, assist regeneration and promote
social inclusion,” points out Limerick City and
County Councils Manager, Conn Murray.
The awarding of the status will provide a
significant platform in Limerick’s objective of
securing European Capital of Culture status
in 2020.
Limerick Local Authorities will spend
€7.4m on arts and culture funding in 2013
with seed funding already injected into the
City of Culture project and more pumped
into marketing Limerick as an arts destination
this year. The 2014 Government spend on
City of Culture will be decided in the coming
months with private and national funding also
becoming available.
The programme of events and initiatives—
due to be announced later in 2013—is expected
to be high quality, encompass a diverse collection
of organizations and already there is a lot of
informal speculation on what 2014 will bring.
Limerick is already home to some superb
theatres and venues, RTE Lyric FM, The Irish
Chamber Orchestra and The Irish World
Music Academy which celebrates its 20th
anniversary next year.
Bill Whelan has hinted that Riverdance
may come to the city, whose mighty River
Shannon surely had a part in inspiring it. Paul
O’Connell’s involvement suggests a strong
The newly appointed
Limerick City of
Culture 2014 Artistic
Director, Karl Wallace
sporting flavor. Recently appointed Artistic
Director, Karl Wallace, will play a vital role in
shaping the programme detail which will build
on existing strengths like EVA International,
Ireland’s biennial of contemporary art while
creating some headline events.
Wallace is up for the
challenge
“Limerick has one of the best artistic and
cultural infrastructures in the countryalthough there is a massive amount of
‘backstage’ work to be done before the curtain
goes up on Limerick’s year as City of Culture,
the lead players are ready to put on the
performance of their lives and redefine what
the modern ‘Treaty City’ is all about, “he says.
In the words of Pat Cox it will “provide
a new direction for Limerick more than 800
years after its original charter to embody the
potential of a city of culture – encompassing
art, design, technology and sport in all their
myriad interacting and creative forms”.
The Irish Technology Leadership Group
founded by Limerick man John Hartnett
will hold its Global Technology Leaders
Conference in Limerick in January 2014.
www.limerickcityofculture.ie
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www.limerickcityofculture.ie
Focus on Limerick
The Limerick Royal
A Centre for Excellence in Film & Digital Media
L
imerick’s Centre for Excellence in Film
& Digital Media is an exciting new
project which will benefit Ireland’s
Midwest Region educationally, culturally,
socially, economically and technologically,
through the development and exhibition of new
digital media, arts and film.
The Centre will be an environment for the
development and enhancement of digital skills
which will form the basis for the establishment
of new digital media and manufacturing
companies. Even in challenging economic
circumstances, the employment opportunities in
innovative and creative industries are immense.
Limerick’s 3rd level colleges turn out 240 new
high-quality graduates each year in disciplines
such as Animation, Music Technology,
Computer Game Development, Digital Media
“Ireland is well placed to capitalize on the Creative
Age and become a truly sustainable society, wealth
is no longer about big factories but the ability to
create new ideas, not just around products but in
culture, entertainment and the arts.”
Capitalizing on Culture, Competing on Difference F. Bradley & J. Kennelly
Design and Multimedia Programming. The
Limerick Centre will provide a forum for
aspiring digital and audio-visual players to work
on their own projects and ideas.
Limerick’s Centre for Excellence in Film
and Digital Media will aim to emulate the best
achievements of the Galway Film Centre (27
active Film and TV Production companies in
Focus on Limerick
the Galway area) and Dublin’s Digital Hub
(over 2000 people employed in the audiovisual sector and 165 companies supported
since 2004).
Our first move is to convert the old
Athenaeum Building, known to generations
of Limerick people as the Royal, in Limerick’s
Georgian Quarter, into a city-centre cinema,
with training spaces and digital editing facilities.
The Royal will be a sustainable social enterprise
managed by a not for profit company and surplus
income will be used to support digital media,
technology arts, film skills and allied projects.
The later development of Phase 2 of the
Centre for Excellence in the adjoining OPW
Building will provide a much wider range
of facilities for training and business startups: studios for film, television, music, radio,
sound, fashion, training and rental. Phase 2
will also include office and short-term rental
‘Hive’ spaces. Phase 2 will house the National
Museum of Film, and the first MIT ‘Fab Lab’
in Ireland, for designers and inventors.
We will be ready to start Phase 1
construction in October 2013; the required
$7.54m (€5.8m) is being sought from
various sources such as National and Local
Government and private philanthropy.
For further information visit www.limerickroyal.ie
or Facebook.com/limerickroyal or contact Paul
Patton CEO City of Limerick Vocational Education
Committee: [email protected]
What it will do for the Digital Media Sector
Centre for Excellence in Film & Digital Media
A new social enterprise for Limerick City
Auditoria, digital lounge, editing studios,
training rooms, equipment rental,
offices & incubation spaces
HELP TO REOPEN THE
www.limerickroyal.ie
facebook.com/limerickroyal
@limerickroyal
Focus on Limerick
A Limerick Gem
T
he Hunt Museum is perhaps Ireland’s
most unique museum and a unique
experience for small conferences
and private functions. The world renowned
Hunt Collection is housed in the elegant
18th Century Palladian style Custom House
overlooking the majestic River Shannon. This
diverse collection of art and antiquities was
acquired by John and Gertrude Hunt over
their lifetimes and dates from Stone Age to
modern times. Enjoy the ambience of the
elegant Captains’ Room in the surroundings
of Irish Art, delftware and Chinese Porcelain.
The purpose built Exhibition gallery, riverside
café and the library also offer facilities for
conferences and fine dining.
The Hunt Museum, The Custom House, Rutland
Street, Limerick www.huntmuseum.com
Focus on Limerick
On the
Enterprise Ladder
Limerick Institute of Technology’s Enterprise Ladder
is a unique range of support programmes, facilities
and services for entrepreneurs at all levels.
I
n essence, LIT’s Enterprise Ladder is a
unique solution for start-up and early
stage companies who require a level of
supporting expertise to ensure their next and
subsequent steps are the right ones. From
a one-day boot-camp to year-long high
potential technology start-up programmes or
intensive growth management programmes
for senior executives, LIT’s Enterprise
Ladder has developed a suite of supports
to match the needs of entrepreneurs
throughout the region.
The Enterprise Ladder operates across
LIT’s Limerick and Tipperary campuses: the
Hartnett Enterprise Acceleration Centre at
LIT’s Moylish Campus; the National Franchise
Centre at its O’Connell Street Campus; the
Thurles Chamber Enterprise Centre and the
planned Clonmel Enterprise and Research
Centre; the Irish Fashion Incubator in Limerick
City Centre; and, in conjunction with Croom
Development Agency, the Croom Community
Enterprise Centre.
Among the initiatives developed under
the Enterprise Ladder programme over recent
years have been the development of Europe’s
only franchise education centre, the National
Franchise Centre; a partnership with the
business community on the establishment
of the Mid West Region Business Awards ;
the establishment of a unique link for LIT
enterprise clients into in the world’s most
dynamic technology hub, Silicon Valley,
California through an alliance with the Irish
Technology Leadership Group; the development
of the annual Irish Innovation Showcase; the
development of new enterprise centres in Croom,
Co. Limerick and Thurles, Co. Tipperary and
the establishment of the €1m Enterprise Ladder
Fund to support LIT enterprise clients to
develop their business and create jobs.
Through these initiatives and the provision
of facilities, supports and focused enterprise
programmes such as Enterprise Ireland’s
New Frontiers Programme for high potential
start-ups, LEAP - the Limerick Enterprise
Acceleration Platform Programme, TESS the Tipperary Enterprise Start-Up Support
Programme and FAST – the Franchise
Acceleration Start- Up Training Programme,
LIT’s Enterprise Ladder is making a major
contribution to the knowledge base and
innovation in the region and beyond and has
helped to create over 100 new companies and
over 400 jobs in the last five years.
These achievements will continue to
be built upon with the advancement of the
Irish Fashion Incubator and the Clonmel
Enterprise and Research Centres and the
roll out of additional programmes in 2013,
including CREATE – a new enterprise start
programme specifically designed for the
Croom Community Enterprise Centre and
Franchise Start – a tailored programme for
businesses looking to utilise the franchise
business format to expand their business.
ITLG Global Technology
Leaders Summit
January 2014, Limerick
Limerick, the national City of Culture 2014 is delighted to announce that it will host the annual Irish ITLG Summit in
January 2014. Limerick City and County is at the heart of a vibrant region with a population of 400,000 and is within a
20 minute drive of Shannon International Airport, with up to 5 daily direct flights from the US. Limerick, as Ireland’s third
largest city, is home to many of the leading US multinationals across ICT, medical devices, pharmaceuticals and financial
services serving international markets.
Limerick is gaining increasing recognition as an attractive and cost effective location in which to invest. A number of
enterprise incubation centres in Limerick are linked closely to the higher education institutions and support high-end
technology companies with an export focus.
Limerick, home to the Munster Rugby Team, has a great sporting tradition and was designated European City of Sport in 2011.
CONFERENCE TOPICS TO INCLUDE
•
•
•
Creative Technologies
Disruptive new technology
Investment opportunities
•
Enterprise showcase and awards
We look forward to seeing you!
Focus on Limerick
Processing demand
“The huge explosion in signal processing has created a vast
universe of opportunity for the world leader in data conversion
and signal conditioning technology” Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI),
Peter Real, VP of High Speed Products and Technology,
tells Silicon Valley Global.
W
e have built our
success over the
years by hiring
top graduates
from Ireland and
abroad. It is critical that this supply of
world-leading talent continues to be
nurtured by our schooling system and by
the Irish universities,” urges Peter Real,
Vice President High Speed Products and
Technology, Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI).
With plans to construct a 140,000ft²
R&D center at Raheen, Limerick, ADI
has built up a well-established record for
engineering innovation and discovery, as
evidenced by the 287 US patents granted to
ADI inventors based in Ireland, nearly 20% of
the total US patents held by the company and
the highest number for technology companies
based in Ireland.
“We have many programs underway
which will build on this volume of patents
granted to ADI inventors based in Ireland,”
Real reveals.
According to Real, “as an innovationfueled organization, ADI needs a constant
supply of highly educated engineers,” with
Ireland’s microelectronics industry currently
employing more than 8000 people in over
55 companies.
“This highlights the fact that the
industry is a significant employer and a major
contributor to the Irish economy. In recent
years, it has been very encouraging to see
the number of students taking engineering,
computing and science courses at third level
increase. We would like to see this trend
continue upwards.”
The impact of macro trends
Many of the macro trends happening in
the world today have a direct impact on the
Signal Processing industry and as ADI has a
broad portfolio of products and technology
in the various market spaces in which it
operates, ADI gets much exposure to these
trends, Real enthuses.
Focus on Limerick
In recent years, there has been a huge
explosion in signal processing which has
created a vast universe of opportunity for
companies like ADI, Real says.
“Recent times have shown a new trend
in the way that innovation and developments
happen in the industry. We find that
customers increasingly want direct access to
the insights of ADI engineers. Essentially,
the innovators within ADI need to connect
and work in tandem with our customers’
innovators. This requires a level of customer
engagement that is deeper than ever seen
before,” Real comments.
Some of the key industry trends and
developments include faster networks and
computing, big data and the cloud, Real
explains. “Data growth rates continue to
increase at exponential rates, driving demand for
faster and better connectivity in both Wireless
and Wired communications infrastructure.”
Other trends include the demand for
greener energy, new energy, energy saving
and Smarter grids; the development of
smarter industrial automation systems, the
technological revolution in healthcare, the
requirement for safer cars and the move
toward semi-autonomous cars, Real reveals.
“Overall, there is an obvious move
towards smarter, connected devices;
essentially the Internet of ‘things’ moving
to a situation where every device will be
connected and have an IP address.”
Target markets
ADI is well placed to capitalize on the macro
trends worldwide, with its target markets
including Industrial: this includes industrial
automation, instrumentation, defense/
aerospace, security/surveillance, building
automation and energy applications; and
Communications: ADI is the leading provider
to major base station manufacturers worldwide.
In the Automotive market, ADI
collaborates with manufacturers
worldwide for development of safety
systems; infotainment (entertainment,
communications and vehicle information
systems) and powertrain electronics; while
within Healthcare ADI is positioned as a
market leader in medical imaging and patient
monitoring. It also has a solid position in
medical instrumentation and in developing
Diversity of markets
People are well aware of the challenging
economic conditions today in virtually all
regions of the world, Real says and as a result,
customers are still somewhat cautious.
“A big positive for ADI is the fact that we
serve a diverse range of markets and thus we
are better insulated from the downturn than
many companies who focus on one particular
market segment or other,” he says.
“Some of the main challenges in the
industry which we see at present include a
trend towards customer consolidations and
fewer suppliers, a requirement to supply more
complete solutions/systems and an increased
level of partnering with the top innovators in
the world,” Real says.
“The rapid pace within the sector
overall also provides a challenge for ADI
to keep up with the constant stream of
ideas being generated from within the
organization and ultimately figuring out
which opportunities to turn into product
developments,” Real adds.
There is an obvious
move towards smarter,
connected devices;
New CEO at ADI
essentially the Internet
Irish-born Vince Roche was appointed as
ADI’s President and Chief Executive Officer
of ‘things’ moving
(CEO) and elected to the Board of Directors
on May 6, the third CEO since the company
to a situation where
was founded.
Roche, 53, joined ADI in 1988. Over
every device will be
his nearly 25-year career at ADI, he has
connected and have an served in key leadership positions including
worldwide sales, strategic marketing and
product management. Roche was appointed
IP address.
technology for emerging consumer and home
health applications.
Targeting the Consumer market, ADI
is focused on visual quality, sound and
motion sensing for the latest, most advanced
smartphones and wireless consumer devices,
digital cameras, high-end A/V and home
entertainment systems and portable products.
“We have a track record of integrating
functions across multiple generations of
end products and know how to ramp up
production volumes reliably to support
the most demanding consumer equipment
manufacturers,” Real comments.
President of ADI in 2012 and has served
as interim CEO since March 29 this year,
following the unexpected death of ADI
CEO Jerald G. Fishman.
“ADI is fortunate to have an executive of
Vince’s caliber assume the leadership of our
company,” said Ray Stata, ADI co-founder
and Chairman of the Board.
“Vince’s long tenure and his deep
understanding of our technology, customers
and markets will serve ADI well as we
continue to execute on the strategic plan
which Vince played a major role in shaping.
I’m confident that Vince will continue the
record of success in which all ADI employees
take great pride.”
I’m for walking through the gates to the United States.
By walking through the gates of Shannon Airport, you can fly to all
kinds of great places with 33 direct flights to America, with services
to Boston, Newark, New York and also Chicago and Philadelphia
during the summer. With the added convenience of US pre-clearance
before you travel, it’s easier than ever to do business from Shannon
with your customers.
I’m for Shannon
Sir Terry Wogan, Broadcaster
shannonairport.com
Focus on Limerick
Shannon
– Gateway to the USA
T
he word ’Shannon’ has been a byword for innovation the world-over
ever since it became the first aviation
gateway between Europe and the US in the
late 1940s. Indeed, such was the airport’s
importance as a gateway into Europe that
the town of Shannon, which itself did not
exist prior to the development of the airport,
is home now to the largest cluster of US
multi-national investment in Ireland today
– the Shannon Free zone, with over 100
international companies and 6,500 people
employed. The very culture of US investment
in Ireland was essentially ignited by the access
Shannon gave US business to Ireland and
indeed, to the wider European market from
the middle of the last century.
One only has to look at the Airport’s more
recent history to recognize its importance in
Irish-US relations; in 2009 it became the first
airport in the world outside of the Americas
to be granted Full US Preclearance rights.
This gives it an edge over every other airport
in Europe in terms of ease of access for
passengers on arrival into the US, where they
are effectively treated as domestic passengers
after pre-clearing in Shannon.
There are many other ’firsts’- including
the birthplace of duty free, the aircraft leasing
industry – and now Shannon is the first
independent Irish airport having separated
from the Dublin Airport Authority on 1st
January 2013.
A new Era
Shannon Airport is proudly gearing up for a
new era as a dynamic gateway for trade and
tourism between the US and the southwest of
Ireland. While the airport officially received
its independence on January 1 2013, the
announcement of this separation gave the
first key insight into the future that lies ahead
for Shannon as a medium term year plan
was outlined. The plan immediately focuses
on growing passenger numbers to 2.5million
within ten years and a key component of
this will be transatlantic traffic. Indeed, after
some difficult years when Shannon managed
to retain a strong transatlantic presence
despite clear global challenges, the airport
is already on the upward curve and with
services to five US airports scheduled for
the next year. Flights to New York ( JFK and
Newark) with three separate airlines (Aer
Lingus, United Airlines and Delta) as well
as Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia are all
confirmed. These USA routes include new
services to Chicago (United Airlines) and
Philadelphia (US Airways). Together with a
strengthening of Aer Lingus’ services to New
York and Boston, this will result in increased
capacity of 25% for the summer season on
transatlantic services at Shannon.
Managing Director Mary Considine said
that the US market remains a key focus for
Focus on Limerick
Shannon. “We are starting as we mean to
go on. We have got a considerable uplift in
transatlantic services already confirmed for
2013. Having five different destinations in
the US with outstanding onward connections
offers an excellent range of options for both
business and leisure travelers. Aside from
our own direct services, there’s pretty much
nowhere in the US that passengers through
Shannon cannot get to with one-stop
connectivity. That’s hugely important not just
to us from a passenger throughput point of
view but for the wider region. “
Considine continues, “We have always
talked about Shannon being an economic
driver for the Mid-West region but when it
comes to transatlantic traffic, our importance
stretches right down to Cork and even up
as far as the north-west, as there is no other
airport on this side of the island with services
to the US. We recognise the importance of
these services. In short, they underpin much
of the US investment in this region and
having stood firm in the downturn, we now
see a real opportunity for growth both in
services and investment in the Region.”
International Aviation
Services Centre (IASC)
Shannon has its eye on much more than
strengthening its services as the plan for the
new airport, which has been robustly tested
and validated by KPMG on behalf of the
Department of Transport, also anticipates
the creation of up to 3,000 jobs outside the
traditional airport business. This will be over
a three to five year period across a cluster
of diverse international, primarily aviationrelated businesses centered on the airport and
building on the existing cluster of 40 aviation
related companies working at Shannon. Some
1,000 of the planned 3,000 posts have already
been committed by two existing Shannon
based companies, one of which involves 800
plus jobs within three years.
A key piece for this jigsaw has already
fallen into place with the Government
unveiling a range of measures for the aviation
industry in Ireland that will support the
establishment of IASC. Among the measures
are initiatives to facilitate the construction
of hangers and ancillary facilities, as well as
exploring funding opportunities for financing
and leasing companies.
The separation of Shannon is part one
of a two-phase of the process that will
see the airport merged with the activities
of a restructured Shannon Development,
including the aforementioned Shannon Free
Zone. “This is the beginning of a new era for
Shannon Airport,” said the newly appointed
Shannon Airport Authority Chairman
Rose Hynes, “The immediate focus will be
the growth of passenger numbers but the
future for Shannon will also involve the
development of innovative new business
streams, with strong job creation potential.
The International Aviation Services
Centre (IASC) – the name given to this
initiative – expects to do for aviation what
the IFSC in Dublin did for financial
services; become a world class hub of
aviation related activity.
www.shannonairport.com
Innovators.
Problem Solvers.
Difference Makers.
ADI—shaping how you experience the digital world.
Reducing worldwide energy consumption. Enabling medical images
that improve patient outcomes. Making travel safer. Producing more
vibrant images and clearer sound on all your electronic devices. ADI
engineers have a long legacy of technology breakthroughs that help
solve many of the world’s toughest signal processing challenges.
Whether at home, in your car, at work, or at play, ADI innovations
are helping to shape the digital and analog experience everywhere.
Learn more at www.analog.com.
Company Profile
Superior Student
Accommodation
P
archment Square student
accommodation is located on the
Model Farm Road, Cork. It caters
for students pursuing studies in either
University College Cork or the Cork Institute
of Technology. The facility has direct access
to the Cork Institute of Technology and the
complex comprises of 13 individual blocks
housing 175 apartments, with an overall
occupancy of 586 bedrooms/bed spaces.
Each apartment can accommodate 3-5
people. Accommodation includes Kitchen/
Living room, bedrooms and bathrooms with
every modern convenience including fridge/
freezer, microwave, hob, oven, television in
living room, crockery and utensils etc.
Benefits to staying in
Parchment Square:
• Direct Access to the CIT
• Free On-Campus Parking
• Free Broadband in every
bedroom
• 24 Hour CCTV Security
System
• 24 Hour Professional
Staff
• Cable Television
• Catering for all budgets
• City centre bus route serving UCC, city
centre, bus and train stations
• On site self service laundry
• Onsite Maintenance
The Facility provides a home from home
pleasant environment for students.
www.parchmentsquarecork.com FB: Parchment
Square Student Accommodation Email
[email protected]
Golf
Great Golf Vacations
J
erry Quinlan is CEO of Celtic
Golf, a family golf business run by
the Quinlan Family. This American
family with deep Irish roots are passionate
about creating memorable golf vacations to
Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. Jerry
and Josephine Quinlan and co-founders Peg
and Jack Quinlan have been delighting golf
travelers for over twenty years. Here Jerry tells
us how it all began.
Jerry Quinlan grew up in an extended
Irish American family. He had a great love for
his grandma who hailed from Charlestown
in Co Mayo. She came to live with the family
and she was full of fascinating stories about
her Irish home.
Back then Jerry worked an afternoon to
evening shift, so he had grandma all to himself
from 10am each morning when he would
“To play golf in
Ireland is one of those
experiences that make
life sparkle…”
listen for hours to stories of Ireland. Jerry
wanted to experience the world for himself
so at the age of 18 he began working in Trans
World Airlines (TWA). After working for 6
months he got one of the great travel perks, a
free ticket to wherever he wanted to go. Jerry
chose Ireland and so began a lifelong love
affair with his ancestral home.
Jerry came to Ireland for the first time
at Christmas 1969. “It’s funny what you
remember” he explains, “I think I brought the
first pair of Levi dungarees to Ireland and
I remember hot water bottles every night –
always too hot to touch then cold as ice in
the morning.” He still smiles at memories of
people running from Sunday mass at 12.30 to
catch the last pint before holy hour in the pub.
The trip was hugely impressionable on Jerry
and while he returned home to the States it
was a huge wrench and he knew that Ireland
had gotten into his soul. Jerry decided to
knuckle down to work and he gained extensive
experience in international travel making
contacts that would stand to him in the future
in his yet undiscovered golf business.
As in so many cases fate played its part
and in 1990 Jerry’s dad sold his butcher shop
to help his sister set up a restaurant and move
Golf
house. Retirement opened avenues and Jerry’s
dad got the golf bug; soon he was playing
golf every day. When it came to a retirement
present Jerry’s mom organized a vacation to
Ireland for Jack, Jerry’s dad.
By this time Jerry was well established
in the travel arena and Tom Keenan from
Aer Lingus suggested that Jerry check out
the golf courses while in Ireland. The courses
were indeed spectacular and the links courses
in particular unique to this part of the world.
The family had a great trip and Jerry saw an
opportunity to combine his love of Ireland
with an exciting new business.
The next logical step was to test the water
with a custom designed golf vacation. This was
set for Avalon Golf Club on 13th September
1990. Jerry brought a group of 13 people over
and by coincidence they all sat in row 13 on
the crossing. A more superstitious person
might have worried but luck was on his side
and it was on this trip that Jerry met Mike
Buckley. Mike ran a family business, Kerry
Coaches and the friendly family setup, the
great ethos of Mike’s company and his fleet of
coaches were perfect for Jerry’s idea. Jerry and
Mike’s friendship and business relationship
started in 1990 and so began Celtic Golf.
Jerry and Mike went off to Belgium
to custom design the ultimate golf coach.
Travelers on Celtic Golf trips today remark on
the unbelievable comfort levels of these motor
coaches – a golfers dream with refrigerators for
cool drinks, tables for card playing, closet space,
club space and of course an onboard rest room
and full air-conditioning. Jerry’s clients call
them ’land yachts’ and it is typical of what Jerry
and the family have done – they basically think
of the ultimate in everything and deliver it.
With Jerry’s huge enthusiasm and his
dad’s newfound love of golf, Celtic Golf was
born. Despite having reached retirement
Jerry’s mom and dad came fully onboard
investing in the business with all of their
time and money and to this day Celtic Golf
is a fully fledged ’all hands on deck’ family
business. Mum, Peg Quinlan nee Harrington,
Jerry’s mother, is the Chief Financial Officer,
Jerry and his dad Jack work closely with
the courses (some people get all the tough
jobs!) Jerry’s wife Josephine does everything
from organizing the trips to marketing and
advertising and even brother in law Joe Dwyer
and niece Tracey Dwyer are key members of
this well oiled team.
Enthusiasm was never in short supply
with Jerry but funds often were. The family all
contributed and took on extra jobs to get the
business going. Once the package was pretty
much in place it was important to advertise
however it basically cost too much so Jerry
found a way; he signed up for the minimum
sized classified in Golf Digest – a ten word
advert costing $25 per word and to fund it
he painted houses at weekends after a full
working week. With what he got for painting
he bought that ten word classified in Golf
Digest and he kept painting houses until the
bookings came rolling in.
Years later golf journalist David Owen of
the same Golf Digest came on one of Jerry’s
trips. He loved it so much he commented “I
wish Jerry Quinlan could organise my life like
he has organized this itinerary.” Celtic Golf
was now well and truly on the map!
2014 will be the 25th anniversary of
Celtic Golf and Jerry can’t believe where the
time has gone – or how lucky he has been to
work at something that he loves. Nowadays
Celtic Golf is firmly on the corporate map
and a healthy and happy client base is
testament to its enormous success. Perhaps
the thing that really makes it work is that
Jerry takes a firm hands-on approach to
every aspect of every trip. He spends 5-6
months of the year on the ground in Ireland
finding new places to visit, new experiences,
new properties and courses - adding to the
many special touches that make a Celtic Golf
vacation so special.
When asked what is the secret to his
success he is typically modest and says “If
I knew that I’d bottle it!” “We take care of
everything” Jerry explains, “from the courses
people want to play, how often, where they
want to stay, what type of transportation and
accommodation that they wants to club hire,
chauffeur or helicopter transfers and guides
who have the gift of the gab and all the local
tales to tell”.
For anyone looking in from the outside
- or for anyone who has been on a Celtic
Golf trip the formula seems simple enough.
The pure passion and joy that this family
have for what they do is off the scale. Celtic
Golf stands out from the crowd because the
people that run it are so hands-on and they
so love what they do, it shows in every aspect
of the Celtic Golf experience. They have been
thrilling the American golfer for 25 years with
unforgettable vacations and corporate events.
This is a family owned, dedicated,
personal service that is second to none and
it’s topped off by everything you’d expect of a
great Irish welcome.
Contact: www.celticgolf.com / [email protected]
3 Pershing Avenue, Cape May Court House,
New Jersey 08210 USA. Tel: 800 535 6148
www.ballybuniongolfclub.ie
Special Doonbeg Golf Program
– 6 days, 5 nights, 5 courses
Breathtaking scenery, incredible golf and
superior deluxe accommodation. Take the trip
to Ireland that you have always wanted and
make memories that you will treasure forever.
Call Josephine or Jerry today
800 535 6148
[email protected]
www.CelticGolf.com
Golf
Doonbeg Golf Club (twice), Lahinch
Golf Club, Ballybunion-Old Course,
Tralee Golf Club
Special
Land Price
Per Golfer
$2,500
Hotel
Stay in a Two-Bedroom Courtyard View Suite at the
★★★★★ Lodge at Doonbeg in County Clare
Meals
Full Irish Breakfast Daily
One Dinner with pre-Dinner Cocktails
Ground Transportation
Roundtrip Airport Transfers, along with Chauffeured
service to Lahinch, Ballybunion, and Tralee.
All Hotel Taxes And Service Charges Included
3 Pershing Avenue, Cape May Court House, New Jersey 08210 USA
The above price is based on a minimum of 4 golfers utilizing
double or twin occupancy and is subject to availability. Travel
must be completed by October 31st 2013.
sweet spot & talent spot
Belfast is Europe’s leading destination
city for software development & technical
support investment.
You know Northern Ireland produces great golfers,
but did you know our workforce is behind some of
the world’s most sophisticated software systems?
Northern Ireland offers competitive operating costs,
an advanced business infrastructure, and generous
financial assistance and support.
Belfast beats cities like Dublin, Glasgow, London,
Amsterdam and Warsaw which speaks volumes
about the quality of our software specialists.
To learn more about what makes Northern Ireland the
smart choice, visit www.investni.com/invest or contact
[email protected]
T: 617 266 8839
www.investni.com/invest
Invest NI
Opportunity Knocks
Invest NI is capturing attention - the attention of Silicon Valley
Executives and pushing the message that Northern Ireland has
much to offer including the best in engineering talent
B
oston has grabbed the global
headlines over the past month
because of the terrible atrocity
of the marathon bombing
and the heartache this act of
cowardice caused to its people.
However, in the days and weeks that
followed, stories of bravery from survivors
dominated the news and it is that fighting
spirit which people associate with this fine city.
These characteristics also define all of
the people who work in the city and right in
the heart of Boston you will find the offices
of Invest Northern Ireland where the team
are displaying the same fighting spirit and
working exceptionally hard - and successfully
- to position Northern Ireland to the fore as
leaders in the ICT world.
It is a team spearheaded by executive
vice-president Gary Hanley, an expert in the
ICT industry in the US having held positions
of leadership in companies such as Sun
Microsystems, GTE (now Verizon) and EMC.
Attracting Investment
Principally supporting business in the
manufacturing and tradable services sector,
Invest NI aims to grow the Northern Irish
economy by helping new and existing business
to compete internationally and by attracting
new investment into Northern Ireland.
With 13 offices in Europe, the Middle
East, China, Japan and the US, it works
with many organizations at local, national
and international levels. Possibly one of the
most influential organizations which Invest
NI has created an alliance with is the Irish
Technology Leadership Group (ITLG).
According to Hanley the relationship
with the ITLG has proven to be a
springboard for the work of Invest NI in
securing investment for the area and creating
a series of networks that are pushing the
name of Northern Ireland to the fore and to
the influential minds in Silicon Valley.
“Well we have been involved with
the ITLG from the very start and the
relationship has been nothing but positive for
us,” reflected Hanley.
“I had just been in my position for six
months and I could see the financial success
other cities were enjoying so I thought it was
a great idea to become part of this network.
“ITLG President John Hartnett has been so
supportive and from the very first event he has
embraced our work and ensured that we have
Invest NI
benefited from visits by leading US executives
and venture capitalists to Northern Ireland.”
Indeed on the very day that we spoke
a deal had just gone through announcing
computing giant Intel as the buyer of Aepona,
one of Northern Ireland’s most successful
tech companies, in a deal worth up to £80m,
cementing it as one of the largest deals ever
seen in Ireland.
Co-founded by Dublin entrepreneur
Gilbert Little, Aepona recently leased the
second floor of the new £15m tower block
‘The Soloist at Lanyon Place’ on Belfast’s
waterfront. Dublin-based ACT Venture
Capital, US-based Polaris Venture Partners,
Sweden’s Innovations Kapital and France’s
Innovacom have also invested in the firm while
Invest NI is also a shareholder in the company.
Enterprise Minister for Northern
Ireland Arlene Foster has welcomed the
announcement, calling it an “endorsement” of
the skills of Northern Ireland’s workforce and
the strength of its technology sector.
Talented Workforce
Creating that vision of Northern Ireland as a
location that can offer the best in engineering
talent and a base for overseas investment has
not taken place overnight though.
It has taken painstaking work on behalf
of Hanley and his team to ensure that those
venture capitalists looking for the skill sets
required are directed towards Northern Ireland.
On the flip side though Hanley points
out that Northern Ireland has always been a
base where talent and entrepreneurial skills
flourished. According to Hanley that drive
and determination has carried through the
generations and today it is present in its
thriving ICT sector.
“Belfast has always been a city of innovation
and a place where you get things done. From
textiles to shipbuilding it had a worldwide
reputation of quality,” remarks Hanley.
“Today the modern manifestation of
this is in engineering and we have seen this
profession grow a strong reputation and
culture abroad. We are seen as a place that can
provide high quality engineers and software
development teams.
What that allows our team to do from
our various global offices is to present
Northern Ireland as a premier base for the
provision of technical support or a location
from which a new product can be developed.
The fact that there is a shortage of such
talent makes us a desirable place to do business
and the education structures in place in Belfast
and across Northern Ireland means we have a
steady stream of graduates coming on line.”
Hanley points out that the relationship
with the ITLG has ensured that visits are
being put in place where US executives, who
possibly have never visited Northern Ireland
before, are coming to examine the graduate
programmes and talent pools available which
in turn can supply the workforce needed for
top level projects.
Undoubtedly the peace process has
allowed progress to flourish and suddenly
global events such as the MTV awards are
coming to town and Belfast and the wider
area become places which are fashionable to
do business in.
Tech Clusters
Crucially the trend of creating clusters of
major companies locating in Northern Ireland
is something which Hanley and his team
have been very successful in accomplishing
in recent years. This pattern of seeing
investments by huge firms such as IBM, HP,
Oracle, GE Energy and Intel means there
is a confidence among the leaders of global
technology firms in Northern Ireland.
“There is no doubt that the clustering
of these major firms has been a major
accomplishment and now helps to serve as a
driving force to attract further investment,”
mused Hanley.
“It is naturally going to register on
people’s radar when they see major players
such as the New York Stock Exchange
locating an outpost in Belfast and creating
470 software services jobs or the Chicago
Mercantile Exchange coming to our shores.
These are the type of clients who now see
Northern Ireland as a premier place in which
to base their high level operations.”
When Hanley starts to name the list of top
companies now present in such a small area as
Northern Ireland it becomes clear how much
they are punching above their weight and how
successful the team in Invest Northern Ireland
and all supporting agencies have been.
Going forward the vice-president knows
that getting the strategy right to ensure this
growth continues is of critical importance but
with such a solid foundation in place and a
continuation of positive announcements for
Northern Ireland, the future for the country is
looking extremely bright.
G
Be connected. Be current.
Annual ITLG Membership
Join Us
• Become part of an exclusive executive network focused on
promoting the connection between Silicon Valley and Irishbased technology companies.
• Network and establish alliances with Silicon Valley and Irishbased companies, business leaders and government officials.
• Participate in focused seminar and events alongside industry
leaders and experts on issues specifically affecting your business.
• Receive exclusive invitations to industry specific activities and
networking events.
• Receive product discounts through special partner web stores.
www.itlg.org/join
Irish Technology Leadership Group
189 W. Santa Clara Street
San Jose, CA 95113
www.itlg.org
AIB Corporate Banking Ireland is proud
to support global investment in Ireland.
As one of the most attractive countries for global Foreign Direct Investment, Ireland is home to many of
the best-known and most successful companies from around the world.
And at AIB, we provide corporate banking services to more of these global companies than any other bank
in Ireland. Talk to us about how we can help you locate and grow your company’s presence in Ireland.
Contact Details:
Diarmuid O’Neill, Head of Corporate Banking Ireland
Tel: +353 1 641 4808 Email: diarmuid.e.o’[email protected]
Web: www.aibcorporate-fdi.com
Mick Murray, Head of Foreign Direct Investment
Tel: +353 1 641 4248 Email: [email protected]
AIB Corporate Banking Ireland
Making Business Happen
aibcorporate-fdi.com
Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c., trading as AIB Corporate Banking Ireland, is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
Registered Office: Bankcentre, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland. Registered in Ireland, No. 24173

Silicon Valley Global - Irish Technology Leadership Group

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