The Irish Tech News Podcast

In the past decade, we have seen significant progress in data democratization and the rise of consumer-centric financial services — thanks to disruption brought on by increased mobility. As we continue the journey, who will lead the next revolution? Who will be the key players and where will financial advice come from? In this episode of One Vision — FinTech Fuse! Theo chat with Efi Pylarinou on the future of money and finance. While many companies are focusing on low-hanging fruit improvements, there is still plenty of room for innovation in the infrastructure of financial services that can bring significant business value. Where will we go as a society, against the backdrop of geopolitical tensions and regulatory uncertainties? The future belongs to the crazy — who dare to try. 

The 2024 National Ploughing Championships starts today, and from its humble beginnings in 1931, it has expanded and grown year on year. The first National Ploughing Championships used a small field of 26 acres, and today’s National Ploughing Championships uses over 700 acres of land. The National Championships is now no longer just for ploughing or machinery enthusiasts, the modern event now features something for just about every member of the community. These include a Tented Trade Village, a Food Fair, Craft Village, Livestock, Forestry, Education, Lifestyle, Motor Show, Financial Services, Bio Energy and Agri Service. Along with this, there are many entertainment and special events taking place and lots of exhibitors too. One of the exhibitors is Engineers Ireland, and I recently spoke to Engineers Ireland Director General, Damien Owens about their stand and what we can expect to see. Damien spoke about his background, some of the tech Engineers Ireland will be showcasing, AI, and more. More about Engineers Ireland: Engineers Ireland is the voice of the engineering profession in Ireland. Their 25,000+ members make up a community of creative professionals delivering sustainable solutions for society. They have been representing the engineering profession since 1835, making Engineers Ireland one of the oldest and largest professional bodies in Ireland. Their members come from every discipline of engineering, and range from students to fellows of the profession. 

Traditional views on financial milestones and pathways to financial security are changing, and we need different solutions to address our changing needs at various stages of life. In this episode of One Vision — FinTech Fuse! Theo chat with April Clobes, President/CEO of MSU Federal Credit Union, on the impact of technology in the credit union industry. There is an immense interest in deploying AI to create personalized solutions for members and drive efficiencies for credit unions; how we can best leverage the technology in a responsible and fair manner is an on-going exercise. Financial services industry is at an interesting and exciting crossroad. Much work to be done, there is. 

John Mulhall, is a cloud engineer and a regular contributor to Irish Tech News. Tomorrow his first novel, From Terror to Valor: Echoes and Shadows. I caught up with John to talk about his debut novel. John talks about his background, his debut novel, how his military and tech background helped him write his novel and more More about John Mulhall: John is a versatile author known for his gripping fiction narratives in the thriller, action, and suspense genres. With a background as a Journalist, and expertise in cloud technologies as an engineer; John brings a unique blend of storytelling prowess and technical acumen to his work.  His professional journey began in the Irish Defence Forces, honing his skills in security before transitioning to financial operations and management for over 12 years. 

Fall is kicking off with a big BANG, with a series of fintech conferences for us to connect with founders and funders. It is also the recruiting season for our friends at the ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator and the Center for Accelerating Financial Equity (CAFE). In this new episode of One Vision — FinTech Fuse! Theo, Barb, and Stephanie reunite to reminisce about the past, present, and future of our industry. Looking back, we have seen plenty of innovative ideas. But what do the activities amount to? Are we working on and measuring what matters? Looking ahead, what is the new battleground in the age of AI and data? Is it still fintech versus banks? Or will it be incumbent platforms versus tech players, aka Magnificent Seven? Perhaps it’s time for some honest conversations and a bit of soul searching. 

Tech is now being used daily by businesses, as it is an important tool in their arsenal. However SME’s are overlooked and under serviced when it comes to tech. But thankfully Cozmotec is one company helping, by focusing exclusively on SME’s that are trying to grow, improve their operations or efficiencies, or just need help increasing profits. Ronan recently spoke to City Gupta the founder and CEO of Cozmotec. Cuty talks about her background, what Cozmotec does, how to make tech less scary and more. More about Cozmotec: Cozmotec is a tech company focusing on robotic process automation and artificial intelligence. Cozmotec is all about making advanced technology and automation affordable and easy to use for every business. Their goal is to help businesses of all sizes benefit from these tools without straining their budgets, making sure that all businesses can succeed in today’s tech-driven world.

Are you curious about the future of decentralized finance? Here’s a little secret: The future is already here, but the change is not equally distributed. In our back-to-back episode featuring women in web3, we chat with Rita Martins, author of the brand new book titled “Web3 in Financial Services”, on the past, present, and future of blockchain technology, how the ecosystem can adapt to regulatory changes, and how traditional finance and DeFi can play nice together. While the progress may feel slow, change is definitely coming. Check out Rita’s new book here: https://a.co/d/93ClFuP  ** Our last conversation with Cleve Mesidor, The path to a more financially inclusive future, can be found here. https://shows.acast.com/one-vision/episodes/the-path-to-a-more-financially-inclusive-future  **

Earlier this year I attended the National Enterprise Awards in the Mansion House. This was the 24th year of the Local Enterprise Office initiative, which was won last year by Advanced Cosmetics. The Finalists competed for a prize fund of €50,000 and along with an overall National Enterprise of the Year winner there are categories for Best Start-Up, Best Export Business, an Innovation Award, a One-to-Watch Award, and a Sustainability Award. There is also an Outstanding Achievement award for a business that started with their Local Enterprise Office and has gone on to achieve international growth with the assistance of Enterprise Ireland.  I caught up with Matt Conlon the Co-Founder and CEO of one of the winners Cytidel. Matt talks about his background, what Cytidel does, AI, winning at the Local Enterprise Awards and more. More about Cytidel: Innovation Award winners, Cytidel, is a vulnerability intelligence platform that enables organisations to adopt an intelligence led approach to risk prioritisation that’s up to 95% more efficient than traditional methods. With a focus on actionable vulnerability intelligence, Cytidel is already trusted by leading global financial service providers to save analysts 10+ hours a week.

With five generations of customers using the banking system, whose needs are we truly serving and how can we best fill the gaps? In our first episode back from a short summer break, we welcome Cleve Mesidor, Executive Director of the Blockchain Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit leading an industry-wide crypto education campaign. Credit unions and community banks play a critical role in serving the diverse demographics of our society. How best can we support these institutions in a decentralized finance future? What policy changes do we need to support the workforce of the future, and ensure small business owners can thrive? And what is the story behind Butterscotch Media? Tune in to find out more!

Four years ago I interviewed John Clancy for the Irish Tech News podcast. John was the Founder and CEO of the AI startup Chatspace. Since I last spoke with John AI has changed so much, and Chatspace has rebranded as Galvia. I recently caught up with John to see what’s happened since we last spoke and how their AI product has changed. John spoke about what’s happened since we last spoke, Covid, AI, future plans, Apple AI, AI regulation and more. More about Galvia: Galvia began as a response to a client request to draw insights from various data sources to help organisations learn fast, detect problems early and deploy solutions before issues become widespread. Their clients have played an instrumental role in Galvia’s journey and they continue to shape who they are and what they do. Their clients trust Galvia with their data, and their platform empowers enterprises and higher level educational institutions to turn what is a hugely valuable asset into something that generates revenues, drives engagement and safeguards sustainable growth. Based in Galway, Ireland, Galvia is proud to be a High Performance Start Up (HPSU) with Enterprise Ireland.

Dogpatch Labs and The Fidelity Center for Applied Technology FCAT have selected three breakthrough startups to participate in “The FCAT Fellowship” programme, which will take place in Dogpatch Labs, Ireland’s leading innovation hub based in Dublin. The FCAT Fellowship programme, kicked off last month with Lip, DevA11y and gClinics taking part. David Atkinson the founder of Lip, Cormac Chisholm and Patrick Guiney the co-founders of DevA11y, recently met up to speak to Ronan. David, Cormac and Patrick, spoke about their backgrounds, what their startups do, the FCAT Fellowship and more. More about the FCAT Fellowship: Fidelity Center for Applied Technology (FCAT) scans the future horizons to look for emerging technologies that will change our world. To advance and strengthen the innovation ecosystem, along with Dogpatch Labs, FCAT is sponsoring a new and exciting programme, The FCAT Fellowship programme which will strengthen the innovation ecosystem. By leveraging FCAT’s collective expertise, resources and global network, giving the opportunity to drive significant advancements for the startups involved. 

There is an inactivity epidemic which affects the health of 1.8B adults around the world and WeWard an app that has recently launched in Ireland aims to tackle it. WeWard will do this through gamifying and socialising the step count, allowing users to redeem their steps for rewards like cash, retail gifts, or charity donations. Ronan recently spoke to Yves Benchimol the CEO and founder of WeWard. Yves talks about his background, what WeWard does, their expansion into Ireland and 19 other countries, and their recent partnership with the French government to launch a global walking competition to get users excited for the Olympic Games.  More about WeWard: WeWard rewards users for their daily walking habits through allowing them to earn ‘Wards’, which can then be converted into cash, charity donations, or gift purchases. Users on the app have been shown to increase their walking time by nearly 25%. To date, WeWard has already distributed over $10M in cash to users, $1M in donations to charity partners, and boasts a network of over 1,500 brands, including household names like Netflix, L’Oreal, Nike, Converse, American Cancer Society, United Nations, and more.  To kick-off their expansion, the company has partnered up with the French government to launch a global walking competition to get users excited for the Olympic Games period. Registration for the competition is live, and the contest will begin on July 26.   

In this episode of One Vision, Theo chat with Alice Korngold, C-Suite and board advisor, speaker, and published author, on the value of collaboration between companies and nonprofits in finding innovative solutions to social challenges. Purpose and profits do and should co-exist; when we work together, we thrive — together. From hiring intentionally and creating inclusive social cohorts, to developing responsibly and ethically, let’s commit to staying motivated and changing the status quo for a better and brighter future. Take actions and make meaningful contributions to positive progress, not just for our sake, but for the sake of future generations. As Alice said, we each find our own path. And there is tremendous opportunity for every sector and every job to advance the world towards a more sustainable and inclusive path. Keep asking ‘why?’ and ‘what can I do?”. Don’t forget to check out Alice’s latest edition of A Better World, Inc.

From acting as a silent back office partner to being an enabler of banking services and new business models, technology has transformed not only the partnership between the CIO, CTO, and lines of business, but also the customer experience. What is the next big opportunity when it comes to the future of banking? What role will technology such as artificial intelligence play? In this episode of One Vision — FinTech Fuse! Theo chat with Vanja Tokic, expert retail strategy transformation manager at Raiffeisen Bank International AG on digitalizing the financial world and preserving the human touch. How will banking services being a commodity impact the future of financial services and banking business models? What role should banks play in society and an increasingly connected world, and how can we meet customers where they are? Tune in to find out! 

The NIS 2 Directive is due to come into effect later this year, and while we await full clarity on what the Directive will entail, what can we do to prepare for it? Two people who can answer that are Paul Casey, and Fergal Meehan from the cybersecurity service provider Paradyn. Paul is Paradyn’s Chief Operations Officer  and Fergal is Paradyn’s Chief Commercial Officer and Ronan recently caught up with them.  Paul and Fergal talk about their backgrounds, what Paradyn does, the NIS 2 Directive, attack surface areas, AI and more. More about Paradyn: Paradyn provide their customers with managed connectivity right through to desktop support. They build, pro-actively monitor, support and maintain their entire infrastructure. They also build, monitor and support their internet connectivity and wide area network; as well as supplying, supporting and maintain their firewalls, network switches, servers and desktops. All of this under one managed service contract with one single supplier, something they can’t get from any other Managed Service Provider in Ireland.

Just as the pandemic has accelerated the acceptance of digital payments in retail for consumers, it has sped up similar changes in the financial operations of organizations, enabling improved compliance and spending controls while reducing complexities. In this episode of One Vision, Theo chats with Chris Juneau, SVP, Head of SAP Concur Product Marketing, on the future of payments and expense reporting, powered by AI and mobile connectivity. We cannot create more time, but we can streamline processes so that we can spend more time focusing on what matters — at moments that matter. 

Ireland is a tech hub because it is an English-speaking beacon in the EU. But others are not so fortunate: only one billionth of the content created worldwide gets translated  leaving millions of people out in the linguistic cold. With 87% of site visitors preferring their own language when surfing the web, companies should prioritise localised content or face disastrous consequences. One person who knows this all too well is Bryan Murphy, the CEO of Smartling, a cloud-based translation technology and language services company headquartered in New York. Ronan recently caught up with Bryan Murphy. Bryan talks about his background, what Smartling does, Gen AI, translation localisation, existing and new tech stacks, quantum computing and more. More about Bryan Murphy: As the CEO of Smartling, Bryan leads a team of passionate and innovative professionals who are transforming the way content is created, managed, and delivered across the world. With over 20 years of experience in e-commerce and SaaS, he has a proven track record of building and scaling successful businesses that leverage cutting-edge technology and customer-centric solutions. Prior to joining Smartling, Bryan held various leadership roles at eBay, where he was responsible for driving growth and profitability for key verticals in North America. He also co-founded and led WHI Solutions, the largest automotive e-commerce platform in North America, which was acquired by eBay in 2012. Bryan has received several awards and recognitions, including the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Technology Fast 500 Award, and the a16z Marketplace 100. His mission is to empower businesses to reach new markets and audiences with Smartling's LanguageAI Platform, the #1 rated translation management system by users on G2.  

While AI is not new, the excitement has skyrocketed in the past 2 years. As organizations embark on the AI journey, what do they need to keep in mind? What does responsible AI really mean? Are we being overly critical when we are biased and imperfect human beings? And how do we even stay ahead in the rapidly evolving field of AI and risk management? In this episode of One Vision — FinTech Fuse! Theo chat with the brilliant Nicole Königstein, Chief AI Officer and Head of AI & Quant Research at Quantmate, on the current AI hype cycle and what the future holds. And don’t forget to check out Nicole’s latest book: Transformers: The Definitive Guide.

As AI gets more advanced, one of the AI startups to watch out for is Qlindex, the company behind jarvic.ai.  Ronan talks to Iman Zolanvari, the CEO and founder of Qlindex. Iman talks about his background, Gen AI and the concerns around it, where it’s going, mitigating risks in AI, AI Cold War, small language models, RAG systems, Jarvic and more. More about Jarvic: Jarvic are considered one the Ireland's top AI companies and are part of a Microsoft incubator programme. Jarvic functions as an AI-powered assistant helping to conquer complex business challenges such as managing and analysing vast text data. Connected mag recently identified Jarvic as "ones you need to keep an eye on in the coming years.

Homeownership is normally looked upon as a part of the American Dream. Unfortunately, reality often squeezes out many of those who don’t have access. In this episode of One Vision — FinTech Fuse! Theo chats with Brendan Kennealey, Founder/CEO at NESTER, and part of the first cohort for CAFE (Center for Accelerating Financial Equity), on his quest to take some of the guesswork and stress out of the home buying and selling experience. Imagine a world where technology can be used to create a positive impact for the LMI communities and uplift those who are underserved.  **  About One Vision: One Vision podcast, hosted by Theodora Lau, brings purposeful innovation to spotlight. It is where impact meets innovation. One Vision is a convergence of minds that dream of a sustainable world for future generations galvanized by innovation. The new season, Fintech Fuse! features the powerful trio of women in fintech: Barb McLean, Stephanie Foster, and Theodora Lau.  ***  ► NESTER: https://nester.app/⁠  ► Unconventional Ventures: https://www.unconventionalventures.com/  ► Subscribe on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter follow?entityUrn=6598548173482967040  ► Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaLj99yHUUGFTHLdJeZqaPg?sub_confirmation=1