Mayo 2040

“You can shape the future
if you can first imagine it”

Charles Handy

Mayo Science & Technology Festival – now in it’s third year – has organised an innovative night of presentations, discussion and debate on the types of technology that might be in use in 30 years time and how these will affect our lives and that of our children. Entitled Mayo 2040, the night is aimed at entrepreneurs, business people, teachers, parents and anyone with an interest in what Mayo might be like in 30 years time.

30 years is considered by scientists as the average period of time between the advent of new and innovative technologies and their widespread uptake and use by the general population. The question is: “how will the technologies that scientists are developing today impact on our lives in 2040”?

Mayo Science & Technology Festival now wants to begin a discussion about the types of technology we might be using in 2040 and how these will affect our lives. For example, advances in medical technology have led to estimations that a child born today can expect to live to the age of 100 and that their children might be able to live for much longer again. How might this affect life in Mayo? Advances in renewable energy technologies will have profound implications for Ireland. Can Mayo be to the forefront of these developments?

The event will take place in GMIT, Castlebar on Thursday 12th November, starting at 7pm.

Speakers:

A series of speakers will present their ideas of what the future in Mayo will look like. Speakers include:

• Bill McDaniel, Head of the Innovative Technology Unit at the Digital Enterprise Research Institute, NUI Galway who will speak on “The Future of Information: The Web and You in 2040”:
• The National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science, NUIG, which is at the cutting edge of developing the medical technologies of tomorrow;
• What will Mayo actually look like in 2040? Peter Hynes, Director of Services, Mayo County Council;
• “Mayo as an energy exporter?”: Ben Wrafter, Business Consultant. Could Mayo and West of Ireland actually become an energy exporter?

The evening will be chaired by Barbara Burns, Head of GMIT. A panel discussion will take place after the presentations.

Speaking this week about the upcoming event John Magee of the Mayo Science & Technology Festival said he was very excited about the Mayo 2040 event. “This promises to be a fascinating look into the future. The pace of technological change is incredible and technologies and applications currently being developed will have a tremendous impact on our lives in the coming decades. What are the potential business opportunities that might arise in the future? Lets start talking about these things!”

Further details on the Mayo Science & Technology Festival are available at www.mayoscience.ie

03.Nov.09 Events Read more Comments (0)

Yearly Event in the IiBC in Castlebar: “Spirit of Entrepreneurship”

Speaker of this Years Event is going to be John Quinn from Surface Power, Tourmakeady in Co. Mayo, who is a start-up veteran across the US and Europe with 20 years experience in general operation and global manufacturing management and holds world technology patents.

He was finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2002 and Winner of the All-Ireland Innovation Award in 2003. He is a judge on the world’s largest Innovation challenge in the USA, a Council Member of the Irish Wind Energy Association and an Advisor to several Government functions and Government Clean-Tech Policy.

John will talk about his experience of setting-up and running his own business emphasising the highs and lows encountered along his entrepreneurial journey and highlighting the secrets of his entrepreneurial success.

After each seminar, attendees have the opportunity to ask probing questions of the guest entrepreneur.

The Event will take place at 6pm on Thurs 10th Sept in either the GMIT or IiBC (depending on numbers).

Anyone interested, please register at iibccastlebar {at} gmit(.)ie

06.Aug.09 Events Read more Comments (0)

Some pictures from the 2nd MOCC

Unfortunately I was unable to attend myself, as I had to go to Germany for two Weeks. Thanks to Ciarán Duignan from Abaca Photography we have a few photographs. If you attended the 2nd Mayo Open Coffee Club meeting, please tell us about it…

13.Mar.09 General Read more Comments (0)

2nd MOCC with entrepreneur Michael Thornhill from Maithú

We are very happy to announce that Michael Thornhill from Maithú will be our guest speaker on the 2nd Mayo Open Coffee Club in the Innovation in Business Centre, GMIT in Castlebar on the 11th of March @11.30am

Michael will tell us how networking helped him land his biggest deal with the multinational company, Samsung to whom he sold his software package for phones; ‘Get the Focal’, a mobile phone application which provides over 12,000 English-Irish translations for off-line use. This application is ideal for Irish language students, parents, teachers, or anyone interested in the Irish language and as Des Bishop said “Get Focal’d!”

We are equally happy to be host to the Club Caife on the 11th, which is a networking event that will give local businesses an opportunity to network with each other in an informal setting and also to learn about opportunities that are available to market their business in a unique way using the Irish language. The Club Caife will tour the County from March 9th to 12th:

• Dalton Inn Hotel, Claremorris – 9th March
• Ballina Library, Ballina – 10th March
• Innovation in Business Centre, GMIT, Castlebar –11th March, 11.30am
• Áras Inis Gluaire, Belmullet – 12th March

24.Feb.09 Events Read more Comments (4)