Digital Media Island

I have a had a debate with a colleague of late around the ideas of nationalism as applied to both consumer and enterprise markets. I am a believer in Irish companies, I think Ireland, with the right policies for investment and growth could continue to punch even further above it’s weight in international trade. The question we were debating is should we buy Irish no matter what?

I think that this doesn’t really do Irish firms any favours at all. Especially in Digital Media where we are competing in global markets, if there isn’t a solid business case for using an Irish company then I don’t think we should. Being able to physically meet and the lack of language difficulties is a solid business reason but has to be balanced by quality and costs.

I believe that especially in the current climate everyone will start to do cost benefit analysis on their service providers and if costs are higher from using Irish companies then this will make them less competitive. Will our global economy mean the end of rip-off Ireland as we look for a better deal? Should we buy Irish anyway to try and support Irish firms or should those firms rationalise and look at the international market and adjust rates and quality to compete?

I say go for the best deal no matter what, but if it’s a close run thing then buy Irish. What do you think?

Here’s some of the ingredients for the event on Thursday the 6th. You can catch the other details and register to attend here. It’s free as usual with some refreshments thrown in.

6:45-7:15 – Opening presentations from

• Dr. Jimmy Devins, Minister of State for Science and Innovation
• Paul Rellis, Managing Director of Microsoft Ireland
• Cliff Reeves, General Manager of Microsoft’s Global Strategic and Emerging Business Group.

7:15-7:45 – Panel Discussion:- ‘How can we foster start-ups and innovation in Ireland today’. Panel members include:

• Cliff Reeves (above),
• Brian Caulfield, Irish Venture Capitalist;
• Pat Phelan, MAXroam, entrepreneur and winner of the IIA Net Visionary Award 2008
• Anton Mannering, CEO of Irish Startup Udoogoo, Organiser of Digital Island Meetups, Network Facilitator All Island Digital Media Network at Digital Media Forum
• Pat Brazel, CEO of Irish startup Zignals;
• Conor O’Riordan, CEO of Irish startup Tradefacilitate

7:45 Presentations from Mobile startups

• Locle
• Justroutes

From when their done we’ll have the usual networking featuring OpenDemo. WE should have some interesting companies opening up their laptops to demo at the event stay tuned for announcement of who’ll be there later on.

Here are some sample questions for the panel discussion but arm yourself with your own for the night.

• What are key drivers of innovation in other market places – how can we replicate that in Ireland?
• What are the biggest blockers to innovation? How can we overcome them?
• What assistance is available to help bring technical solutions to market in Ireland? From government bodies / corporations?
• Please comment on the drop in computer science graduates – will this negatively impact our efforts to become a centre of tech innovation?
• What do you see as the big opportunities in the IT sector in the next 5 years? Future areas of investment?
• Web 2.0 has seen a lot of start-ups with an ad-based business model – what are the drawbacks to this model – any recommendations from the panel about alternative business models?
• How can small businesses attract investment?
• Any tips for expanding your business into international markets – what support is there from government bodies / corporations?

Hi guys just to update you that the Digital Media Breakfast tomorrow morning will be on in Cafe Urbano in the IFSC starting around 7:30ish but don’t stress out if you’re not bang on time. (There’s a map on the original post if you’re not sure where it is. Please stick your name down if you’re going to pop along.)

Agenda will be some informal networking then a (VERY short) talk about the All Island Digital Media Network and what it’s aims are followed by some discussion on that. Then I’ll be looking for some feedback on what you guys think formats for breakfast events should be in the future.

We’ll get the coffees and the croissants you just get yourself there.

The Digital Media Forum have been asked to submit proposals to government to outline potential new engines for the Knowledge Economy. Together with Calico Media, we have written an article outlining a Vision for an International Content Services Centre - effectively, the Digital Media equivalent of the IFSC.

You can view the article at www.calico.ie

We are looking for your comments on the article so that we can build upon and add to the ideas suggested within and submit as part of a larger proposal. 

You can post your comments on the blog at www.calico.ie (just under the article) or if you prefer, send your thoughts privately to us at: neil@digitalmediaforum.net

Please let us know if you want your comments attributed to your company in our submission. 

Thanks.

So we’re heading to the REAL capital for a meetup at the end of August. The Corkonians are well known for their innovation and there are lots of cool startups down there. Should be a bit of fun.

What:
Digital Island Meetups are completely free thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, and open to anyone who wants to attend. There may even be cash behind the bar on the night! Come along and meet new people, and make new contacts and have some fun too.

When & Where:
28th August from 7:30PM • Cork International Airport Hotel • Cork
Dress code, for people who care about such things, is whatever you like.

The OpenDemo will return for those who want feedback on cool stuff they’re doing right now only 8 spaces but if a lot of people are interested we might expand it. Go register to demo now slots are allocated on a first come first served basis.

Sponsors:
Sponsors get to support a great event but also will get promotion with links and logos via posts on Digital Media Island and via announcements at the event itself although we’re flexible and willing to work with people to run the best events possible.

We’re looking for sponsors right now so please drop me a line at anton [at] digitalmediaforum [dot] net for details.

Who’s coming?

RSVP:
This event is absolutely free as always so please register below so you can let us know you are coming and we can ensure we know who you are.  Thanks, and we’ll see you there

The All-Island Digital Media Network project and it’s facilitator has one main goal and that is to help individuals and companies within the network make connections that will help their business. The project is funded by IntertradeIreland and facilitated by the Digital Media Forum.

The network will be offline initially and information will be gathered into a database of companies and individuals operating in the space to enable us to make real connections and run events based on real needs or opportunities.

We will constantly be endeavoring to use better tools to enable the companies within the network to find and contact each other in a more natural way and will in future make some of the information searchable and return full control of the upkeep of the data to the members. We will be working closely with the people in the network to make sure that their needs are met and that it is of real benefit to them from a business perspective.

Our purpose is not to build competing technologies for online networking so we also encourage members to use other networking tools and technologies as it increases their opportunities for making that vital connection.

We’d love your help in making this work so please join in and fill out this form and we’ll get the ball rolling.

I also invite you to join our groups on LinkedIn and Facebook as well.

Invite for LinkedIn     http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/86323/0B221D702ED9

Group on Facebook   http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=28018191116

As you know Mike Butcher of TechCrunch UK & Ireland was in town lately for an event we co-organised with TechCrunch in Dublin. Well the event was excellent with around 130 people in attendance and it was great fun.

He first attended OpenCoffee Dublin in the Digital Depot hosted by Joe Drumgoole and Putplace the intelligent personal online backup solution whose offices are based in the Digital Depot. Mike got the chance to meet a good few people and companies and took some photos and video interviews which he then posted to TechCrunch UK & Ireland. Have a look here.

As you can see left Bernie Goldbach took the opportunity of snapping Mike at the event. (Creative Commons)

There were some brilliant people at the event and some great companies demoed. There has been some great feedback aimed at the demoing companies as well from the perspective of someone who wanted to find out about the products (scroll down a little it’s a post about a few things). Perhaps it’s time to make some recommendations to demoing companies to help maximise their experience and Elly’s suggestions are a great start.

We’ll be reviewing them all in a little more depth over the next while so stay tuned for that. It was great to see an eclectic crowd of bloggers, journalists and startups and even a few investors at the event.

4 Dame Lane was excellent as a venue so thanks to the staff and management there.

Many thanks again to sponsors dev.mobi, Digital Media Forum, Sun Startup Essentials and Tidal Wave Media who’s backing made the event possible. We look forward to working with you in the future.

(Originally posted to TechLudd blog.)

It looks like this

See you there for the Digital Media Forum Symposia on Privacy and the future of the internet starting at 10am and 12pm respectively

Hi there folks I am chairing a panel on the Future of the Internet at the DarkLight Film Festival on Friday.

The future of the internet is always an area of great debate and has spawned numerous surveys and debates and raised issues around privacy and a cost benefit analysis of the benefits versus the problems. What’s your view? We have a panel of people working on the edge of internet technology ready to answer questions and talk about the issues from  your perspective.

The panel will be chaired by myself Anton Mannering (Digital Media Forum), participants will include Bill McDaniel (DERI, Galway) Chris Howard (Head of 3D Internet, IBM) and Joe Dromgoole (PutPlace).

I’d love for this to be really participatory so please put your questions in the comments below or send them via twitter to @futureweb. Here’s a sample so far…

Q: "Can Google sustain #1 forever, and if not, who/why/when/how do they lose it?" - J Toeman, Head of Marketing for Bug labs San Francisco via twitter

Q: What’s the possibility of a Social Networking standard being set, eg they all access *one* data source for ID? - Davy MacDonald via twitter

Q: Given yday’s report that ppl give more to charity online, could u cover social entrepreneurship & ppl having a voice? - Darragh Doyle via twitter

We’d love your input…

Thursday 26th June - Startup Day?

10am - OpenCoffee Dublin

10am to 12pm in the Digital Depot on Thomas Street. The opencoffee meetups are alway a great relaxed way of meeting people interested in new technologies. Come along and meet with all sorts of interesting tech folk.

9:30am – 4:30pm - Silicon Ireland Events - Startup Event

In the City North Hotel, Gormanstown, Co. Meath. Details on the event are available here. The event hasn’t really got much publicity but they are offering a 2000 euro prize in a pitching competition for startups.

7pm – CrunchLudd – TechCrunch & TechLudd Mashup event

Hi there folks! In case you hadn’t heard TechCrunch the massive international tech blog and Techludd the Irish Startup networking event have come together to give you CrunchLudd tomorrow night the 26th of June at 4 Dame lane in Dublin.

Mike Butcher editor of TechCrunch UK & Ireland will be there looking to talk to Irish startups about what they’re doing and products they’re launching and will probably be happy to discuss the latest happenings in the tech world as well.

The event kicks off at 7pm-ish and there’ll be 7 or 8 top class startups demoing on the night as well. Feel free to register here

Friday 27th June – DarkLight

10 am - Letting it all hang out – Privacy in the Virtual World

Film Base, 10 - 11.30 am
For a new generation of ‘digital natives’ privacy is no longer a requirement. Web 2.0 has brought with it a transformation in how we view the need for privacy and engage with the public realm - but at what cost? The discussion will be prefaced by a keynote address from Daniel J. Solove, Associate Professor of law at the George Washington University Law School, and the author of The Digital Person: Technology and Privacy In The Information Age. Chaired by solicitor and digital rights expert Caroline Campbell, the panel also features journalist Jim Carroll, Hotline.ie director Cormac Callanan, Relevant Media owner Niall Larkin and Irish blogging guru Damien Mulley.

12pm - Web 3.0: Where Next For The Internet?

Film Base, 12 - 1.30 pm
This panel discussion will look at what is the next stage of development for the World Wide Web - and it’s parent, the internet. Cloud Computing, Rich Media applications, Mobile internet, 3D internet, Semantic web, The Grid, wirelessly-enabled appliances and sensors… All these concepts will be analysed, discussed and explained and given context for the creative community and general public alike. Chaired by Anton Mannering (Digital Media Forum), participants will include Bill McDaniel (DERI, Galway) Chris Howard (Head of 3D Internet, IBM) and Joe Dromgoole (PutPlace).