Welcome to Season 2 of the Digital Irish Podcast. A seasoned entrepreneur, Pat Phelan has built and sold a number of companies in the telecoms and software space, including Trustev and Cubic Telecom. He is also recognized as one of Europe's most influential software innovators. He is also a serial investor in, and advisor to, a number of organisations.
On this episode of the Digital Irish Podcast, we delve into the world of Life Sciences and the impact Irish Businesses are having in the field. To help us understand this space, we speak with John Power. Serial Entrepreneur and former European Entrepreneur of the Year, John leads Aerogen, Irelands largest indigenous Med-tech company and the world leader in Acute Care aerosol drug delivery. Aerogen’s award-winning products have to date helped treat 14 million critically ill patients in more than 80 countries globally. John is recognized as both a technology and business innovator, credited with many commercialized international patents. His company was at the forefront of the Covid-19 pandemic response, developing the World’s First Aerosol Vaccine Delivery System used to vaccinate over 50 million subjects. He is an investor and Board member of several Irish and US based Med-tech companies and in his extensive career he has ‘run the gauntlet’ of corporate transactions from Boot-strap start-up, through In /Out Licensing to IPO and Leveraged MBO. A founder faculty member of the National University of Ireland Galway Bio-Innovate program, he has actively mentored many indigenous early stage Irish companies. A Chartered Engineer and FIEI, he holds an MBA from Oxford Brookes University, is an Adjunct Professor at NUIG where in 2016 in recognition of his contribution to the development of the Irish Medical Device sector John was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate. John is the current chair of Connacht Rugby.
On this episode of the Digital Irish Podcast, we host a panel of entrepreneurs and tech innovators who are working with AI to grow their business The first part of the conversation focuses on demystifying AI and its use, before shifting focus to the specific role of AI in business and the future of AI in Ireland. This conversation provides a comprehensive overview of AI and its potential impact on Irish Businesses. A fascinating conversation for anyone who is interested in learning more about this rapidly evolving technology. Our guests include: Rafael Pagés - Co-founder and CEO of Volograms (https://www.volograms.com/), a Trinity College Dublin spin out using AI to create volumetric 3D holograms for immersive communications. Rafa is an expert in immersive technologies with more than 10 years of experience, both as entrepreneur (with another startup founded in the field) and as a researcher (with a PhD in Computer Vision and 25+ published papers and patents). As Volograms co-founder, he was nominated for the Enterprise Ireland HPSU Founder of the Year Award in 2019. Alan Gormley - CEO of Shopbox (https://www.shopbox.ai/). Alan has over 26 years at the forefront of AI working with the largest companies across Europe. Frustrated by the huge barriers to entry for most companies, Alan founded Shopbox AI in 2020. His mission is to enable any retailer to benefit from deep AI, with no effort. Dr Amelia Kelly - CTO, Soapbox Labs (https://www.soapboxlabs.com/). Dr Kelly is an artificial intelligence engineer and manager, specialising in speech recognition and natural language understanding. Masters and PhD in Speech Tech from Trinity College Dublin. Fulbright Scholar. For the last 8 years she has helped build a cross-functional team of engineers and researchers and create the SoapBox Engine, a speech recognition and analysis system specifically for children's voices and use-cases. Noel Kenehan - Lead, AI/ML Center of Excellence, Google Cloud Partnerships This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne, alongside guest host Martha O'Byrne-O'Reilly Martha is Senior Vice President of Digital Technologies at Enterprise Ireland, she is based in San Francisco. In her role Martha works proactively with Irish enterprises to support them reach their full potential in the US market. Martha joined Enterprise Ireland in April '23 with over 10 years' experience working in tech both in the Bay Area and in Ireland. Her previous roles included Head of Messaging Partnerships at Meta and Global Sales Partnerships Lead at Twitter. In her own words: "It's a privilege to represent Ireland's thriving digital tech ecosystem and I'm looking forward to building successful, long-term business relationships between US customers and Irish enterprises"
Leo Clancy is Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Ireland, the Irish government agency that helps innovative Irish businesses go global Enterprise Ireland’s mission is to accelerate the development of world-class Irish companies to achieve leading positions in global markets. Its network of 39 international offices encourage international companies to source Irish innovation, and support Irish companies to scale internationally. Before being appointed as CEO of Enterprise Ireland, Leo was part of the Executive team at IDA Ireland, responsible for a number of areas including Technology and Business Services markets, IT and Marketing. In that role, Leo worked extensively with global technology and services companies invested in Ireland. Prior to his public sector career, Leo spent 17 years in the telecommunications industry, including in a number of management, technical and engineering roles. He was part of the senior leadership team at e|net, a high-growth Irish wholesale broadband provider. He spent the early part of his career at Ericsson, working as an engineer and manager in Ireland and across Europe, the Middle East and Africa within global services on deployment of telecommunications networks. Leo is a graduate of Electronic and Electrical Engineering from Dublin Institute of Technology. He grew up on a farm in County Tipperary and retains a strong fundamental understanding of the agricultural and food sector. This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne
Alan Gleeson is the CEO and Co-Founder of Contento, (www.contento.io) a content management system (CMS) for B2B SaaS and technology websites. Alan started his career in financial services, joining Barclays on their graduate programme. After Barclays he moved to Freeserve, then one of the poster boys for the 'dot com' boom. He subsequently joined Palo Alto Software, a leading Software as a Service (SaaS) company where he acted as the Managing Director for the European subsidiary. In recent years Alan has worked as a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for several B2B SaaS companies, in a mix of full time and consultancy engagements . Alan is based in London, is on the board of Digital Irish, and coaches at Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club. He also has an MBA from University of Oxford, and an MSc from University College Cork, Ireland. This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne
wio.io Conall Laverty, is the Founder & CEO of Wia, an Irish startup that provides sustainability companies with cloud infrastructure to utilise the Internet of Things. He is a key figure in the global Internet of Things ecosystem and was listed on Forbes 30 Under 30 for Europe. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he co-founded OSV, one of the fastest growing hardware movements to develop open source ventilators with over 7,000 engineers, designers and medical professionals. From County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, Conall was previously CTO of Big Motive, a creative technology company based in London and Belfast. There he architected and developed products for BBC, Net-a-Porter and Channel 4. He was also Technical Director of Woogie, an innovation consultancy who has worked with Cambridge Silicon Radio, Deezer and startups throughout Ireland. He attained a First Class Honours Masters from Queen’s University Belfast in Computer Games Development. Speaker engagements include Mobile World Congress, Dublin Tech Summit, RIOT, Web Summit, TechConnect, ICONs Festival, Google, Facebook. Publications include Bloomberg, Forbes, TechCrunch, Yahoo Finance, Irish Times, Fora, Silicon Republic, Sunday Business Post, Business World Awards and Accolades Nominated for Irish Red Cross Humanitarian Awards 2020 JCI Outstanding Young People Awards for 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 2019 Blackbox Connect 23 2018 Sunday Business Post 30 Under 30 2018 Digital DNA Young Person of the Year 2017 IIA Startup of the Year 2017 NDRC Launchpad Winner 2016 This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne
After building a viewership of 4 million across two online magazines, Greta Dunne designed Marker Content and launched it last year. Marker Content is an online library of evergreen articles that you can download and edit for use on your own website or social media platforms. Now reaching 75,000 contributors, she's aiming to build the biggest content marketplace in the world; written by writers, not robots Through all of this work, Greta has faced personal adversity - which offered her unique perspective and learnings she is now applying to her life as a founder and business leader This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne
A born and raised New Yorker, Chris Walla moved to Ireland in 2017 to join the founding team of Dogpatch Labs, a startup incubator and innovation lab in Dublin. Over five years, Chris helped build Dogpatch Labs into Ireland’s top incubator and one of Crunchbase’s ‘Top 10 Incubators Around the World You Need to Know’, leading their business development unit. Chris works at the intersection of startups and corporates. He has worked hands-on with 100+ startups as well as 10+ corporate partners on innovation activity. He has secured innovation partnerships with some of the world’s largest companies globally, including Unilever, Fidelity Investments, IBM, Huawei, and more. Chris has a track record of winning landmark contracts spanning the domains of startups, corporates, and government, notably a €17M contract to run Ireland’s national startup accelerator This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne
Diarmaid is the founder of Tonnta (tonnta.io), a pioneering platform that simplifies inbox management for solopreneurs. Diarmaid's early career saw him work at Hewlett Packard Enterprise and the University of Galway ISS department before venturing to New York in 2017 to join On The Stage, a company specializing in technological solutions for the creative arts market. Since starting Tonnta, Diarmaid has worked tirelessly to build both the platform and its community, with a global solopreneur market firmly in his sights. He has participated in Enterprise Ireland's New Frontiers program and the NDRC Pre-Accelerator, with the goal of developing Tonnta into a sustainable and thriving business. As well as bootstrapping Tonnta, Diarmaid is a Product Management Consultant (diarmaid.info) and founder of Empathy Jam Galway, a project he conceived during his time in New York in collaboration with Empathy Jam NYC. This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne
In this episode, we speak to Edwina Fitzmaurice - EY Global Chief Customer Success Officer - about the potential opportunity for the Metaverse and the need to build a foundation with Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in mind Edwina is responsible for customer success and products for Client Technology globally. She leads a network of customer success technology hubs across EMEIA, Asia-Pacific, and the Americas. She works with EY’s largest accounts on their technology strategies and implementing innovative solutions to help transform their business. Edwina is on the board of Women in Innovation and is the chair of the Governance Committee. She is a mentor with TechStars in Los Angeles and is an active member of the G100 and World50 business community of C-suite executives. Edwina also works with major EY accounts to help them navigate the transformative age where technology, geopolitical, environmental and demographic change is disrupting their business. This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne
Barry Haughey is the Founder of HoloGen, a digital artist and educator with over 20 years working in the Irish education and youth work sectors. Throughout his career he has worked with a diverse range of harder to reach young people, striving to incorporate digital learning and future skills into his programmes. More recently he has founded HoloGen, an immersive technology consultancy for business, educational and youth organisations to establish and harness immersive technology for learning and working. HoloGen is currently working with a number of educational institutions from the UK, EU and North America. If you’re interested in dropping into one of HoloGen’s Friday meetups, email hello@hologen.org for onboarding details. https://www.hologen.org/ This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne
In this episode, we speak with Stuart Dempsey, founder and CEO of GamerFest, Ireland's biggest gaming and esports festival. During a 20 year career in marketing Stuart has worked in a variety of sectors before establishing his live events company in 2017, targeting the gaming space in particular. Since then his company has gone from strength to strength, delivering its most recent GamerFest event in Dublin, working with a range of multinational brands and partners and welcoming 5,000 visitors to the event. https://gamerfest.ie/ This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne
Gemma Allen is the vice president of B2C technology at IDA Ireland. In her current role with IDA Ireland, she is responsible for building relations with Executive decision makers, business leaders, political stakeholders and key industry players to secure foreign direct investment into Ireland. Allen is based in New York City and has over 17 years’ experience working with the world’s largest technology companies in the U.S. and Europe. She is a contributor for Nasdaq.com and writes as a thought leader on topics related to Women in Tech, workplace culture and the future of work. She is a board member of the NYC Foreign Trade Commission and a member of various industry bodies and forums such as Women in Tech Industry (WITI), Chief, and Innovation Women She is the founder of ‘Neart Na Mna’, a support forum for women to drive awareness and support for postnatal depression in the workplace. She lives in Brooklyn NY with her Husband Leo and two children, Esme and Edie. This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne
Bobby Healy is CEO and Founder of Manna Drone Delivery. Healy started off his tech career building games for Nintendo at the age of 16. After Nintendo, Healy founded the airline technology company Eland Technologies, which was then sold 12 years later. Healy then went on to build the largest mobility marketplace for airlines in the world, CarTrawler. Now, Healy is building Manna, the largest drone delivery operation in Europe, with over €30 million in funding from leading investors such as Molten Ventures, ffvc, Team Europe, Partners of DST Global and Dynamo Ventures. Healy continues to be an avid computer programmer and is a frequent speaker on the international circuit on subjects related to technology. https://www.manna.aero/ This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne
Sandra Healy is CEO and founder of inclusio. Sandra's career spanned 20 years in the global telecoms industry and five years at Dublin City University where she established the DCU Centre of Excellence for Diversity and Inclusion. She is an Organisational Psychologist who over the last 15 years, has championed and driven diversity and inclusion practice across industry and is considered a leading expert in this space. In 2014, she provided critical expertise and sectoral knowledge establishing the EU Diversity Charter Ireland. Sandra is a member of the Expert Advisory Group for Ireland’s Citizens Assembly on Gender Equality and a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Council for An Garda Síochána (Ireland's Police Force). Sandra won Entrepreneur of the Year at the Diversity in Tech Awards in 2021. inclusio.io This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne
James Brogan is CEO and Co-founder of PepTalk. Former founder and MD of marketing agency, Legacy Communications. Ex Dublin footballer and All-Ireland winner. PepTalk is the first team experience (TX) platform designed specifically for the hybrid work environment. They help organizations understand what the cultural environment is really like within their teams and then create actionable solutions to address the issues. The platform is underpinned by behavioral psychology designed by global experts. Peptalk is currently working with PayPal, Verizon and Northern Trust. www.peptalk.com This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne
Begum is a researcher at Insight Centre for Data Analytics and a lecturer at School of Computer Science and IT, University College Cork. She is also the Ireland Ambassador of Women in AI. She is an advocate for increasing diversity and inclusion in the AI space, and passionate about designing AI solutions that are trustworthy. This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne
Sean Davis is the New York based Enterprise Ireland Regional Director for the Americas, taking up the post in August 2016, leading a team based in 9 offices across North & South America. This followed a 5 year posting as the Enterprise Ireland Regional Director MENA based in Dubai, 2012 to 2016. From 2006 to 2012 he managed the Enterprise Ireland Cleantech, Industrial & Life Sciences team, based in New York. From 2002 to 2006 he was the Market Development Manager for the US and Canada with the US subsidiary of the publicly traded Singaporean company Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd, managing market teams in New York, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, and, sales agents in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. He was an owner and GM of an import company in New York City from 1999 to 2001, and, owner of a Brooklyn NY based bar/restaurant from 2001 to 2013. He spent 10 years in Ireland with the Irish retail chain Superquinn in a variety of management roles before relocating to the US in 1996. He holds a diploma in Management (DIT), Marketing (DIT) and has a degree in Business Studies from the University of Glamorgan. This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne
Paul joined Zai in October 2016, having been a customer of the company for several years before. Prior to joining Zai, he founded "Accelerate Success", to provide mentorship and capital to select high-growth ambitious software companies. He also founded Cadency, a SaaS workflow and finance automation business, in 2011, and grew revenue to circa US$60 million over 4 years prior to selling the business in 2015. In 2008 he founded Concuity, to provide SaaS-based healthcare services to large scale healthcare providers and, having grown revenue to US$10 million in just over 2 years, sold the business to a public company in 2010. In 1999 as Chief Financial Officer, he took Trintech public via an IPO on NASDAQ and was also a director of the company from 1998 to 2010 and President from 2005 to 2010. He’s a very keen sports fan and golfer, is intellectually curious and totally committed to nurturing young entrepreneurial talent. https://www.currencyfair.com/ https://www.hellozai.com/ This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne
Niall Horgan is CEO and Co-Founder of direct-to-consumer athleisure clothing brand Gym+Coffee. Founded, headquartered and operated from Dublin, in the last 5 years Gym+Coffee has scaled to over 200 team members, a best in class ecommerce experience, 12 physical retail clubhouses across Ireland and the UK, and has built a passionate community of over 500,000 around the brand. Niall has spent over 12 years in various sales and marketing roles including time at Twitter, Slack, Sky and Irish Mainport Holdings. During this time he was responsible for setting up International sales operations, building and scaling sales teams across the EMEA region, all while working with brands and agencies on their digital marketing strategies. In 2016 he was named one of the Sunday Independent's Top 30 Under 30 in Ireland. Niall was one of Ireland's EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalists in 2021, he is one of the 6 Irish Endeavour Entrepreneurs and was chair of Digital Business Ireland in 2020/21. www.gympluscoffee.com This episode is hosted by Dave Byrne