Minister Pat Rabbitte to open Digital Ireland Forum

The minister will open proceedings at this year's Digital Ireland Forum, while keynote speakers include serial tech entrepreneur Sean O'Sullivan - the latest addition to Dragons' Den - and Emer Coleman of Government Digital Services in the UK, recently named in Wired magazine's Top 100 Digital Power Influencers List 2011.

The keynotes will be followed by panel discussions with some of Ireland's leading tech CEOs, including Intel Ireland general manager Eamonn Sinnott, BT Ireland CEO Colm O'Neill, Vodafone CEO Jeroen Hoencamp and MD of TelecityGroup Maurice Mortell.

Recognised as co-creator of the term "cloud computing", Sean O'Sullivan is co-founder and managing director of Avego, a technology firm with offices in the US, Ireland and China. He is also managing director of SOSventures International, which boasted returns averaging 27pc over the past 15 years.

A founder of JumpStart International and Chinaccelerator, O'Sullivan's first company, MapInfo, grew to a $200m public company and popularised street mapping on computers. He is also the latest high-profile addition to the TV programme Dragons' Den.

The Digital Ireland Forum 2012 marks a rare opportunity to see O'Sullivan speak live, bringing his wealth of experience in the international digital economy and his views on Ireland's current digital status on the global stage.

Irishwoman Emer Coleman was until December director of Digital Projects for the Greater London Authority and had responsibility for development of the London Datastore, a project to release all of London's public-sector data into the public domain. She was also responsible for digital projects supporting the work of the mayor's environment and digital adviser. This included supporting work to develop connectivity in London, including greatly increasing Wi-Fi availability in London ahead of the Olympic Games.

Key themes discussed on the day will include:

• Ensuring an enterprise-friendly culture in a digital age
• Attracting and nurturing the knowledge professionals
• Creating a workforce with the skills for the next economy
• Access to next-generation infrastructure
• Becoming the location of choice for tech MNCs and start-ups
• The industries that will be winners in the next economy
• The imperative of adaptability of policy in an age of rapid change.

For further information or to book your place (early bird rates end on 29 February), please click here.

Ann O'Dea | |