In response to today's Action Plan announcement CPA president Gail McEvoy said that it was "important to recognise that Government cannot create jobs".

“ ... Government can only ever create an environment in which individuals have the confidence and the support necessary to commercialise ideas and start new businesses. Measures announced today will go some way towards that but we would welcome a formalised plan to encourage our young people to be the job creators of the future," explained McEvoy.

Ireland's young population and enterpreneurship

She touched on how 41pc of Ireland's population is under the age of 25. "What I don't see clearly addressed in this strategy is how the Government plans to position entrepreneurship as a viable career path for young people. Today's announcement is great progress, and the cross-departmental co-operation is to be applauded, however I would like to see it go one step further.

"I am calling for a working a party, led by Minister Bruton's Department to develop a National Entrepreneurship Strategy, which would align social, enterprise, industrial, taxation and educational policy in order to create and sustain an environment and culture which would be conducive to entrepreneurship," she explained.

Dissolving CEBs

McEvoy did welcome the Government's measure to dissolve County and City Enterprise Boards and instead create a new Micro-Enterprise and Small Business Unit in Enterprise Ireland.

"One of the recommendations in the CPA Entrepreneur Report 2010 was to examine the use of the City and County Enterprise Board network as the high street presence for a national enterprise support one-stop-shop up to and including absorption into Enterprise Ireland. I welcome moves announced today regarding the development of more streamlined support for business. I also welcome the broadening of Enterprise Ireland remit to support all individuals engaged in job creation activity and not only those engaged in manufacturing or exported enterprises," she said.

Micro-finance loan fund

Today's Action Plan also includes reference to a micro-finance loan fund of €100m over 10 years for start-ups and small businesses. The plan also includes a temporary partial loan guarantee scheme for businesses turned down for loans from their bank.

"These measures will prove to be a lifeline to many viable small businesses around the country, but only if administered in a timely and comprehensive fashion. Lack of credit is impacting cash flow, growth opportunities and ultimately jobs. Funds need to be allocated as a matter of urgency," said McEvoy.

Ireland's Action Plan for Jobs

 
The Government revealed today that:

• Business leaders, multinationals and large Irish companies will carry out increased mentoring of SMEs.
• In terms of Ireland's vast diaspora around the world, direct incentives will be provided to them to create jobs in Ireland.
• A Research Prioritisation Plan will be implemented to enact new laws aimed at the State's €500m annual research budget. The aim is to achieve more applied research, which has potential for commercialisation and job creation.

Key sectors

The Government is also targeting key sectors it sees as fuelling job creation and economic growth. Take cloud computing. There will be Cloud Computing Strategy for the Public Service and a research centre in cloud computing.

In terms of Ireland's digital games sector, the Government is set up a cluster development team around this industry. The Government is also establishing other industry clusters for targeted sectors. For example, it will be setting up a Manufacturing Development Forum.

Health tech is also a focus area. The Government will be pioneering a Health Innovation Hub to drive collaboration between the heath system and the life-sciences industry.

"The ultimate goal and top priority of Government has always been to get Ireland back to work," said Taoiseach Enda Kenny today.

The idea of a Government CIO was first mooted in 2009 by the then Taoiseach Brian Cowen.

However, since then there has been no appointment and the matter hasn't resolved itself since the new Government came to power last year.

The ultimate question is does the State need a CIO?

The real answer to this question appears to be no, because as revealed in December by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin TD a different tack will be taken in relation to the management of the State's IT assets.

As part of a proposed a set of plans that will see the number of people employed in the public sector drop by 37,500 to 282,500 by 2015, Howlin recommended appointing a Public Service CIO Council to assist and drive ICT and e-government initiatives across the public sector, beginning this quarter.

So, no State CIO - instead a Public Service CIO Council.

Time to learn the lessons of PPARS and move on

At the EMC event this afternoon Minister Rabbitte acknowledged that there is a need to break free of the 'silo mentality' that prevents State IT systems between various departments from talking to each other.

He said that plans are afoot to bring forward a Government Cloud Strategy and discussions are underway with various industry leaders. "In tandem with this we are working on a Cloud Computing Research Centre."

Rabbitte said that greater efficiencies are needed in terms of State IT and said that a new post code system that will give homes and businesses a "unique identifier" is about to go out to tender.

In relation to e-government and greater efficiencies that can be gained from cloud computing, Minister Rabbitte says its time to no longer allow the memory of IT failures like PPARS get in the way of progress.

“We hope that the system has learned and in terms of strategy we will be looking for the capacity of the cloud to help resolve issues that were unthinkable when PPARS was on board."

He asked openly was PPARS a system failure in Government or how the project was managed and delivered.

“These questions are being looked at."

Pointing for the need to use IT to ensure greater efficiencies in departments like Social Protection he said: "The investment would be minor given the annual €20bn budget [for that department] and we have to come up to speed to operate the system in a way it was designed rather than allowing waste or fraud to happen.

“A cloud for government could eliminate risk," Rabbitte added.

Firstly, the innovation centre will allow indigenous SMEs and multinationals to test, develop and demonstrate apps that could be used by the public sector.

Secondly, it will provide public-sector departments and agencies with a platform to trial new cloud solutions and avoid costly IT blunders.

The centre will also promote Ireland as a leader in the cloud computing and big data industries and provide entrepreneurs and start-ups with an opportunity to vie for Government contracts that would have been out of reach.

EMC country manager Jason Ward said that big data is undergoing a "hockey stick" curve of growth and organisations need to transform what they do with the large volumes of data that are being generated and derive value.

“Think of the propagation of smartphones, they have outpaced PCs sales for the first time in the last year. Big data and cloud can take credit for a cognitive shift that's happening in organisations that are bringing together previously siloed departments. This is a wake-up call that there's a new type of thinking required. Cloud is driving operational efficiencies and big data will enable people to pick apart information and find the silver lining."

Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte said that in terms of the major investments by players like EMC, Microsoft, Google, Intel, IBM and others, Ireland is emerging as a global leader for cloud computing. "This can be a driver of innovation and growth.

“We intend to bring forward Government cloud strategies and we're working with industry players and employers."

Big data is a massive opportunity for small countries and small firms

Also present at the announcement was EMC's executive vice-president of human resources, Jack Mollen. "Ireland is a very important part of EMC. The talent Ireland has to offer the world is second to none."

Highlighting the importance of cloud computing and the economies and opportunities that can emerge for start-ups, Mollen said: "Six years ago, there were no consumer apps available via iTunes, for example. Today, there are half a million apps available, mostly built by small companies.

“The same phenomenon will happen to the enterprise and Government sectors.

“There will be platforms where its no longer necessary to have your own data centres, but you can utilise and share other people's platforms."

Mollen said the new innovation centre will facilitate not only the innovation of third-party Irish SME organisations, but will facilitate the testing and proof of integration between legacy and cloud applications.

“Until now in organisations like governments, there were systems that other departments couldn't use, that will change. To prove this point, we will open this up with a new development lab that will allow new software vendors to come in and build and sell software.

“This will be software that will not only be sold in Ireland but around the world, creating new jobs in Ireland," Mollen said.

The measures include dissolving County and City Enterprise Boards and instead creating a new Micro-Enterprise and Small Business Unit in Enterprise Ireland. This will work with local authorities to establish a new network of local enterprise offices in each local authority.

The plan says a new range of supports will be implemented for small and medium-sized businesses struggling to access credit, such as a €150m Development Capital Scheme aimed at mid-sized, high-growth indigenous companies with prospects for jobs and export growth.

A new Potential Exporters Division will be established in Enterprise Ireland to better support indigenous exporters. Up to €1.2m in extra funding per year will also be supplied for mentoring and management development networks.

There will be increased mentoring of SMEs by business leaders, multinationals and large Irish companies. The Government will also assist small businesses to engage in R&D and to win big contracts from the Government and large multinationals.

Direct incentives will be provided to members of the diaspora and others across the world to create jobs in Ireland.

The Government will implement a Research Prioritisation Plan and enact new laws aimed at the State’s €500m annual research budget towards more applied areas of research which has potential for commercialisation and job creation.

It will reduce costs, such as a request to Government department and agencies to identify charges levied on businesses that can be frozen or reduced for 24 months.

Sectors of growth

The Government will also target numerous sectors it believes will be major sources of job creation and economic growth.

A Cloud Computing Strategy for the Public Service will be created and a research centre in cloud computing will be established to boost this sector in the IT industry.

It will establish a cluster development team for digital games and will establish other industry clusters for targeted sectors.

A Manufacturing Development Forum will be established for the manufacturing sector and a Health Innovation Hub will be created to drive collaboration between the heath system and the life-sciences industry.

A Cross-Departmental Plan will be published and implemented for the green economy and the Government aims to win more investment from multinational food companies for the agri-food sector.

“The ultimate goal and top priority of Government has always been to get Ireland back to work,” said Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

“It is the all-consuming obsession of every cabinet minister at a time when we have never seen more people unemployed. Economic recovery has to be matched by a jobs recovery.  

“When the Government was first formed, we were presented with a series of urgent challenges that demanded immediate attention to stabilise the economy and restore a degree of confidence in Ireland. This was necessary for new investment and job growth.  

“Now we must do more. This is why Government has put together this Action Plan for Jobs. We will target specific sectors with new policy supports and improve the way Government interacts with businesses by cutting costs and red tape. I will ensure that Government works hard to deliver on this ambitious plan,” Kenny said.

Speaking today, UCC president Dr Michael Murphy said the aim of the new diploma in cloud strategy would be to equip managers with the expertise to develop cloud strategies that deliver bottom-line value.

And the Government is also making cloud moves. Just today, Ireland's Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte, TD, will be launching a new cloud and big data initiative called Cloud4Gov at Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin. The aim of this initiative will be to give departments and agencies across the public sector the option to store, access, share and analyse their information in a private Government cloud. EMC has worked with the Government to pioneer Cloud4Gov, while IDA Ireland is also supporting the initiative. 

Who is the cloud diploma aimed at?

The cloud course is targeted at technical and non-technical managers, entrepreneurs and graduates with industry experience.

As part of the programme, every participant will develop a "cloud strategy blueprint" for their organisation, said IMI executive chairman Dr Phil Nolan.

The diploma is also the first programme under UCC/IMI's master of business qualification to incorporate an industry partnership.

Senior specialists at Microsoft will be giving workshops, alongside classroom discussion with UCC and IMI experts.

Microsoft Ireland's managing director Paul Rellis spoke about how leveraging cloud-based opportunities requires a new way of thinking about information and its value to any organisation.

The part-time course will begin in April at the IMI's National Management Campus in Sandyford, Co Dublin. The IMI said the diploma can also act as a stepping stone to a full master of business qualification.

Siliconrepublic.com is hosting Skills February, a month dedicated to news, reports, interviews and videos covering a range of topics on the digital skills debate.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has pointed out that while not all of the stations were networked, they could still use secure voice requirements to carry out operational requirements.

The revelation is worrying when you consider how much crime today involves the use of digital technologies, such as broadband and mobile devices.

These technologies could either be the conduit through which crime occurs or is organised, and provide the means through which evidence may be gathered.

While the gardai have specialist units who can use technology to combat crimes such as child pornography, violence, incitement to hatred, stalking and human or drug trafficking, access to the internet for efficiency's sake surely matters?

Add local knowledge to a situation that may be brewing on a social network or something that appears in a YouTube video and surely you have a potent additional weapon in the average garda's arsenal?

US data centre provider Digital Realty Trust has acquired a 10-acre site in West Dublin that will be capable of supporting a massive 193,000 sq-foot data centre requiring 11.5 megawatts of electricity.

The site at Profile Park is 24 kilometres southwest of Dublin Airport. It is part of a growing digital cluster in Clondalkin that includes Telecity Europe as well as Microsoft's US$500m data centre and the latest US$75m data centre built by Google.

“Dublin remains an important data centre market for both local and multinational corporations, including large technology and internet companies, as well as IT service providers," said Michael F Foust, CEO of Digital Realty.

“Using our phased development approach, this site will enable us to support our customers' expanding data centre needs by bringing data centre space online efficiently in terms of both time and cost."

US likely to OK Google acquisition of Motorola Mobility

The US Department of Justice is likely to formally approve Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility as early as this week.

Last year, internet search and advertising giant Google and Motorola Mobility entered into an agreement whereby Google was to acquire Motorola Mobility for US$40 per share in cash, or about US$12.5bn.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the US Department of Justice is poised to OK the deal.

Since beginning the acquisition process, Google has been clear that it does not intend to become a clone of Apple in controlling the hardware and software ecosystem of new devices like smartphones and tablet computers end to end, but would rather seek licensing agreements.

Govt and firms could save €240m through e-invoicing

The Irish Government and Irish businesses could save up to €240m a year by moving to electronic invoicing, it emerged as the State launches its first e-invoicing pilot. This will mean fewer administrative hurdles in Government agencies and firms will benefit by getting paid on time.

Brian Hayes, TD, the Minister for State with special responsibility for the Office of Public Works, has kick started a Government e-invoicing pilot involving a number of public-sector bodies and several technology companies.

The National Procurement Service will oversee the project and the Institute of Technology in Sligo will provide research and technical co-ordination.

Nokia to cut 4,000 manufacturing jobs globally

Nokia will cut 4,000 manufacturing employees at factories in Hungary, Mexico and Finland in order to shift device assembly to Asia, where most of its component suppliers are based.

The three factories in Komarom in Hungary, Reynosa in Mexico and Salo in Finland will now focus on smartphone product customisation for consumers in Europe and America. As a result, the amount of work carried out at these sites will decrease significantly, impacting 4,000 employees.

Staff cuts will be phased through to the end of 2012 and Nokia will offer a support programme for affected employees, such as financial support and assistance with local re-employment.

Microsoft appoints new corporate VP of Worldwide Public Sector

Laura K Ipsen is joining software giant Microsoft as corporate vice-president of its Worldwide Public Sector organisation.

Ipsen will lead the company's sales and marketing organisation serving government, public safety and national security, education and non-privatised healthcare customers in more than 100 countries.

She will report to Susan Hauser, corporate vice-president of the Worldwide Enterprise & Partner Group.

Stay informed - get daily updates on the latest happenings in technology directly to your inbox.

The plan, which contains more than 250 measures, focuses on competition, the financial services sector, supporting indigenous businesses, and encouraging foreign direct investment.

The Government would also like to encourage more co-operation with companies in the life sciences area, with nine out of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies operating out of Ireland, the Irish Times reported.

Once a fortnight during Edible, Science Gallery will have a rotating guest list of designers, chefs and artists who will host dinners for the public. The aim is to explore the relationship between food and geographical location.

But the most striking thing about the exhibit is the huge inflatable stomach resembling a bouncy castle that greets you at the start of the exhibit. Kids are sure to love this particular exhibit as they can take off their shoes and explore how the digestive system functions! Known as the 'Gas Bag' this exhibit was created by Andy Best and Merja Puustinen from Finland. The three-metre high inflatable stomach will actually sonically respond to your movements, as you explore its insides. Once inside the digestive system sculpture, you can throw soft items symbolising pills, bacteria and acid at each other to induce more digestive systems gurgles.

There's also a captivating wall exhibit that explores the world community of eaters. It takes Ireland's 4.5m eaters and looks at how we fit in terms of world consumption of particular foods, in comparison with other countries and continents. The food mural also looks at obesity.

_{Pictured at the launch of Edible at the Science Gallery is Julian Abraham with his exhibit Kapitan Biopunk: Fermentation Madness. Photo by Patrick Bolger Photography}
 
An exhibit that I found enthralling was all about fermentation. The exhibit, Kapitan Biopunk: Fermentation Madness was the genesis of Julian Abraham from Indonesia. Inspired by how Indonesia raise its excise duty in 2010 Abraham set about exploring the rapid increase in people brewing their own alcohol at home.

The sound installation features many larges containers fermenting different coloured liquids, from apple juice to pineapple juice.  The public can actually listen live to the fermentation process, as yeast transforms sugar into ethanol and CO2. Abraham wishes to communicate via the installation the dangers people in Indonesia are sometimes putting themselves under by fermenting their own alcohol. Sometimes the process can go wrong, resulting in methanol being created rather than ethanol. In Indonesia there have been many reported fatalities as a result of home brewing.

Another interesting exhibit was Le Whaf, the brainchild of Franco-American scientist and creator David Edwards and French designer Marc Bretillot. A large see-through cauldron transforms liquids into vapours, creating a different taste sensation when the cloud of flavour wafts into the air and settles in the glass. You can sip the cloud vapour via a type of pipette-like straw. Pioneered at Le laboratoire, a public art and design centre in Paris, the Le Whaf cauldron is due to be commercialised soon.

_{Diners checking out the Supper Club culinary experience at Edible}

There's plenty to whet your senses at Edibles in Science Gallery, which is based on the Trinity College Dublin campus, over the next two months, from the Insects au Gratin, which explores the ingestion of insects, to the Disaster Pharming exhibit, developed by The Center for Genomic Gastronomy. An exhibition definitely worth checking out!

Now in their second year, the Irish CREST Awards are organised by The Galway Education Centre in association with The British Science Association. Their aim is to reward students who demonstrate creativity and the ability to tackle issues in the STEM subjects. The CREST committee said this year's standard of submissions was so high that independent adjudicators decided to award four gold CREST awards.

Students' projects ranged from water-saving devices and food safety gadgets through to smartphone apps.

Here's a sampling of some of the recipients. Students from Citywise Education in Jobstown, Tallaght, Co Dublin, won a bronze award for their project 'The Dangers of Chicken'. Students from Castletroy College in Co Limerick also won a bronze award for their project, 'The Fridge of the Future'. Students from Coláiste na Coiribe in Galway won a silver award for their project, named 'Legolicious'.

And the gold award-winning projects, all hailing from a single team who study St Gerald's College in Castlebar, Co Mayo, centred on four projects: 'To Design and Build a Water Saving Shower'; 'Weather Dependant Underground Drip-Feed Irrigation System'; 'An Investigation into Smart Drip Irrigation Systems'; and 'iCollapse, a mobile phone application for assisting those liable to collapse'.

The iCollapse project already gleaned awards at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition in January of this year.



_{Students from Coláiste Croí Mhuire in Spiddal, Co Galway, after winning a silver award for their project entitled 'Investigation of the Food Journey of the Brown Crab'}

Relying on students to invent solutions for societal challenges

Yesterday, Geoghegan-Quinn spoke about how now, more than ever, Europe needs "excellent young scientists" with solid educational backgrounds coupled with the intellectual curiosity to spur them to become "world-class researchers and innovators".

"We will be relying on these young people to discover and invent the solutions to society's enormous challenges that we so urgently need," said Geoghegan-Quinn.

Katherine Mathieson, education officer, The British Science Association, spoke about the "impressive" quality of the entries from
from primary and secondary schools across Ireland.

"These students join the 30,000 UK students who gain a CREST award every year on average, setting them on the road to be the scientists, technologists and engineers of the future," she said.

The documents give numerous insights into Jobs, who died in October. Many left favourable comments to his “character, reputation, associates and loyalty” and recommended him for the position. The Associated Press reports that Jobs did serve on the council after the investigation.

The documents also give an account of some individuals who claimed Jobs would “twist the truth and distort reality in order to achieve his goals.” Another claimed he was “a deceptive individual who is not completely forthright and honest.”

However, many of those who had fallen out with Jobs recommended him for the role. One person said that while he “did not consider Mr Jobs to be a friend” he believed Jobs “possessed the qualities to assume a high-level political position” as he believed “honesty and integrity are not prerequisites to assume such a position.”

There were also numerous references to Jobs' previous drug use, including LSD and marijuana. One account said this happened in the late 1960s and early 1970s, “having come from that generation.”

One part of the documents detailed how a special agent from the FBI tried to arrange an interview with Jobs, who was the president of NeXT at that stage. However, Jobs’ secretary told him he was not available to speak for even an hour for three weeks.

Jobs was eventually interviewed, saying he had experimented with LSD and marijuana between 1970 and 1974. He also confirmed “he was not a member of the Communist party and did not belong to any organisations that espoused the overthrow of the government.”

“In seeking to identify how best to bring about greater competitive advantage and a rise in employment, exports and growth, science has increasingly become a focal point. In my role within the EU Commission, I can see the compelling impact that research and its commercialisation can have and is having beyond the parameters of science. Science, therefore, forms and informs our path to economic recovery," she said.

As regards Horizon 2020, the European Commission's proposal for an €80bn EU funding programme to secure Europe's competitiveness through research and innovation for the period 2014 to 2020, Geoghegan-Quinn also spoke about Ireland's scientific research agenda and how it must adapt.

“With Ireland remaining on course to reach its target of over €600m funding from the existing EU 7th Framework Programme, the scientific community here must ensure that it adapts and responds to the evolving research agenda as set out in Horizon 2020."

_{Ireland's Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton, TD, with St Patrick's Festival performers Rachel Lally, Vijaya Bateson and Grace Kelly at the official launch of Dublin City of Science 2012 on 26 January. In 2012, there will be more than 160 science-related events happening all over Ireland throughout the year. The highlight will be ESOF 2012 in July, when the world's scientific community will be descending upon Dublin. In addition, ESOF will host the Europe - US Symposium on the Atlantic Ocean as a shared resource}

Dublin City of Science 2012

As Dublin is European City of Science this year, hosting the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF2012) in July, Geoghegan-Quinn also pointed to how "science has perhaps never been so prominently placed in this country".

Along with ESOF 2012, Ireland is set to take over the presidency of the European Council in January 2013, so she said this "could not come at a better time, when research and innovation are among the building blocks for economic recovery and growth".

Ireland's scientific research climate

Prof Pat Fottrell, SFI chairperson, also spoke about Horizon 2020 today and the aim to position Ireland as a global influencer in the scientific research arena.

“SFI welcomes the opportunities provided by Horizon 2020 and will be working with Ireland's research community to identify the opportunities to ensure that the available funding will allow for continued research, innovation and economic benefit. SFI-supported researchers have been successful in leveraging further support and investment from Europe," said Fottrell.

Here's a sampling of some innovative SFI-supported researchers who are leading EU research projects. The Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI) at NUI Galway is leading a multimillion European project on improving citizens' access to EU policy. Via the Puzzled by Policy project, the researchers are using new web technologies with the aim of supporting democracy and making governments more cost effective and transparent.

Meanwhile, Prof Dan Bradley from the School of Genetics and Microbiology at Trinity College Dublin also recently received a European Research Council (ERC) advanced grant to enable him to continue his research into ancient DNA of domestic animals from archaeological samples. The 'Codex' project, 'Decoding domesticate DNA in archaeological bone and manuscripts', is using leading-edge genetic tools to build up a 'DNA data matrix' of domestic animals over the past 10,000 years.

Bradley believes the matrix could help identify key genetic changes that accompany domestication and subsequent animal management strategies. He also asserts that the research work should also give insights that could be of benefit to the farming sector, as well as disease control and animal productivity.

The National Procurement Service will oversee the project and the Institute of Technology in Sligo will provide research and technical co-ordination.

Earlier this year, the EU set a target for all invoices sent between businesses to be electronic by 2020 in a move that could speed up the payment process.

According to a report from National Irish Bank in 2010, Target 2013: Modernising Payments in Ireland, e-payments can save the Irish economy up to €1bn each year.

The departments trialling the various technologies include the OPW, the Department of Defence, the Department of Justice, the HSE, Enterprise Ireland and the Local Government Computer Services Board.

“The full rollout of e-invoicing could lead to multi-euro savings for the exchequer in terms of reduced administrative and transactional costs, as well as providing savings to suppliers to the public sector," Hayes said.

“In addition, Irish service providers in this area could become leaders in this technology across the EU member states.

IT Sligo says the pilot has the potential to save both Government and business up to €240m a year. It is expected that the project will lead to widespread adoption of electronic invoices by public bodies and businesses throughout the country for the first time.

The benefits of e-invoicing

The Institute of Technology said the potential benefits of e-invoicing for buyers and suppliers include:

• Reduced costs - no postage costs, low error rates and reduced staff time re-keying
• Less confusion - a single standard model for all structured invoices
• Real-time data delivery - more information delivered and processed more quickly
• VAT compliant - new EU directive
• Environmental benefits - less paper and lower carbon footprint
• Accurate management information about purchasing, supplier and line items detail, and better stock analysis
• International reach - acceptable across the EU (PEPPOL) and further

The end of the old excuse 'the cheque is in the post'

One of the companies taking part in the pilot is eBox, a provider of e-invoicing software. The company's managing director John Larkin told Siliconrepublic.com that e-invoicing reduces costs in terms of automating efficiencies in business, saving paper and postage, reducing error and provides a boost to the economy because firms get paid more quickly.

“Receiving an invoice in electronic form means companies can take the information into the system and save on data-entry errors. A lot of companies have this capability on their ERP systems, but the key element is getting suppliers to send invoices in the right electronic format.

“The objective of the pilot is to create a standard format acceptable to all agencies in the State," Larkin said.

He acknowledged that Ireland is still behind a number of European countries when it comes to moving away from expensive and inefficient cheque-based payments.

“The Nordic countries, in particular, have been leading the way and it is envisaged the Government here may follow the Danish model which in the first instance mandates that all government agencies have to accept invoices electronically.

“For the public sector, the manual tasks associated with processing invoices and payments are reduced and they can focus on providing better frontline services.

“For businesses in an environment where transactions have fallen by 25pc, the speed and efficiencies enjoyed and being able to get paid on time help enormously," Larkin said.

Forests and carbon footprint

As regards forests and the race to reduce the planet's carbon footprint, UN statistics have revealed that 20pc of the world's carbon emissions come from forests.

The UN's REDD programme, which has been set up to help keep the developing world's forests intact, is estimated to be valued at US$50bn over the next few years.

Paul Harris, member of the Green IFSC Steering Group, pointed to how the new provision in Irish tax legislation will serve to help the UN reach its targets as he said it would assist investors operating through the UN programme in the monetisation of forest carbon credits.

"The change is an important contribution to the emergence of the forest carbon bond market as it provides, for the first time, a cost-efficient structure for the monetisation of forest carbon credits which should prompt issuers and investors to engage with this element of the developing global low carbon economy," explained Harris.

Dublin's potential to be a hub for green financial business to transact

He said that the changes should also help entice the financial markets to look "favourably" upon Dublin's credentials as a location for listing of green and environmental bonds. According to Harris, the Bill changes around clean tech also reflect the commitment and expertise of the various Green IFSC working groups who understand the regulatory changes that are needed to make Ireland a pivotal location for green financial business to transact.

_{A 3D photo scanner pioneered by Irish company Treemetrics. The scanner helps foresters determine width, height, volume of trees, as well as wood quality}

Irish clean-tech player Treemetrics

One Irish start-up that has been steadily channeling its energies in the forestry clean-tech space is Cork-based Treemetrics. The company was co-founded by agricultural science graduates Enda Keane and Garret Mullooly back in 2005. It is aiming to revolutionise the forestry industry via its cloud-based platform that also harnesses Google Earth. Keane and Mullooly say the aim is to bring foresters around the globe into the digital century using cloud computing.

An Enterprise Ireland HPSU, Treemetrics is fast making waves in the forestry industry. Recently, the company secured contracts with some of the planet's most prominent state forest owners, including the British Forestry Commission, Forestry South Australia and the state forest owner in Finland - Metsahallitus.

Treemetrics is also seeking to double its workforce to 20 this year.

Speaking about the changes to yesterday's Bill around forests, Treemetrics CEO Enda Keane said that this new tax change would give the company, as well as Ireland, a competitive advantage.

"If we can get our forests back on track and run more efficiently that would obviously go a long way to reducing the world's carbon footprint. Anything which validates forest carbon and helps encourage growth in investing in forests is very welcome," said Keane.

He said that the real benefit of such a move as that in the Finance Bill would be seen in the years to come, especially as Ireland had one of the lowest forestation levels in the world - up from 1pc at the foundation of the State in 1922 to 10pc today. Keane said it meant Ireland is in an ideal neutral position to be seen as a world authority in carbon validation and trading in the sector to help tackle deforestation globally.

Just last week, Taoiseach Enda Kenny visited Treemetric's facility down in Cork when it was announced that serial games entrepreneur and tech investor Dylan Collins had become chairman of Treemetrics. Collins is currently also start-up ambassador for Enterprise Ireland.

Ireland's green economy push

But back to the Finance Bill and the Government's push to focus on propelling Ireland's green economy.

Here's what Taoiseach Enda Kenny had to say about the clean-tech element of the Bill changes yesterday: "This provision in the Finance Bill is the latest in a series of developments by the Irish Government to ensure Ireland is in the best possible position to capitalize on the financing needs of the future green economy - and attract new business and jobs to our shores as well as give a competitive advantage to indigenous companies operating in this space."

The IFSC Clearing House Group and the Department of an Taoiseach set up the Green IFSC initiative to capitalise on the growing area of green finance. Global investment in clean energy reached US$260bn in 2011, up 5pc on 2010 and almost five times the total of US$53.6bn in 2004, so it a strong focal point for investors right now.

In the past two years collaboratve efforts between the Green IFSC, the Irish Government and the private sector has resulted in a number of additional tax changes in the area of green finance in a bid to grow business and jobs in the sector.

Other recent tax changes assisted by the Green IFSC, include:

• The inclusion of carbon offsets within the existing structured finance regime (S110, TCA 1997)
• Relief from stamp duty on transfers of greenhouse gas emissions allowances (S90A SDCA 1999)
• Extension of corporation tax relief for investments made in renewable energy projects up to 31 December 2014 (S486B TCA 1997)
• Inclusion of companies involved in production of energy from renewable sources within Income Tax Relief Scheme for Investment in Corporate Trades - Employment and Investment Incentive (S488 TCA 1997).

Following a pilot of 78 schools, 200 more will get this infrastructure this year, followed by 200 in 2013 and 250 in 2014.

What's missing however, Mortell warns, is a syllabus that integrates with this investment and empowers teachers and students together.

"This investment will only be as good as the syllabus we put in place to integrate with this. My hope is the new Junior Cert that is coming will result in changes to the syllabus. I know for a fact that Education Minister Ruairi Quinn is a genuine believer in education and really understands what needs to be done to get it to the next level."

Mortell is an avid believer in the power of education and skills to propel the Irish economy forward, and by making the right infrastructure and education decisions in tandem he is certain Ireland will lead rather than follow the next industrial wave.

He is adamant that we must provide students with the skills to attain the jobs digital industries will bring, and to do that we must eradicate the digital divide that exists between schools with the infrastructure and knowledge and those schools that lack sufficient connectivity.

Dublin data centres

Last year, Mortell's previous company Data Electronics was acquired by European data centre player TelecityGroup for close to €100m and the company operates a number of large data centres in Dublin.

The data centre where we are having our conversation looks out on what is probably one of the most vibrant digital clusters in Europe. In front of us, construction is advancing on Google's €75m data centre. Down the road is Microsoft's €1bn data centre that serves its cloud businesses across Europe and the Middle East, while US data centre empire Digital Reach Group is preparing to build a state-of-art operation across the road.

These data centres - the engine rooms of the digital economy - will serve everything from social networks to cloud computing, online banking, e-commerce and a host of global financial services that will represent the beating heart of commerce in the 21st century.

At TelecityGroup in Ireland, plans are in progress to add an additional 7.5MW of incremental customer power, which will take its total customer capability across its sites to 12.5MW.

TelecityGroup Ireland operates three carrier-neutral data centres in Dublin, with a combined capacity of more than 5,000 sq metres and 5MW of customer available power. These data centres are key international internet hubs and offer access to more than 40 carrier networks and access to INEX, the Dublin internet exchange.

Ireland and digital infrastructure

Mortell says that in terms of digital infrastructure, Ireland is currently in fourth place in Europe because of a myriad of factors, chiefly fibre connectivity and electricity.

"What Ireland needs to attract is some of the large Asian fibre carriers into the country. We are seeing major investments by Hibernia-Atlantic bear fruit and Emerald Networks intends to bring fibre ashore at Belmullet in 2013. We are well served in terms of transatlantic projects but an Asian carrier would bring extra opportunities."

The kind of opportunities that Mortell is talking about are operations like video game firms EA Games and BioWare, which have generated hundreds of new jobs in the west of Ireland, or pharmaceutical firms like Allergan, which before Christmas announced 200 new jobs as part of a major R&D-led investment.

"But unless we take a more national view on rolling out infrastructure to the SMEs and homes we're going to be behind the curve."

Mortell is in the driving seat to capture a lot of the industries that could create future jobs in Ireland and is aware of the areas in which the country is missing a trick.

One of the major opportunities he warns could be missed is the creation of legislation to support the arrival of online gaming and gambling businesses in Ireland.

A study by DKM Consultants estimates that as many as 8,000 new jobs for e-commerce professionals, accountants and business analysts could be created with average salaries of €40k per annum if the Irish Government moves on amending the 1956 Gaming and Lotteries Act.

DKM says that if Ireland were to capture just 5pc of the global online casino business it would represent a local sector worth €2.2bn.

"Failure to amend this legislation has meant we've already lost opportunities to Gibraltar and Malta, where legislation has been specifically set up and designed for companies of this nature.

"You've also got to bear in mind that the US are going to soon start softening their view on hosting online gaming and gambling platforms in the US and this could create further competition for Europe," Mortell stresses.

"So we're probably missing a trick at the moment. The longer we wait the more likely we'll miss out."

In terms of power infrastructure to support major data centres and manufacturing operations such as Intel or EMC, Mortell says Ireland is just about competitive at the moment.

"Paris is using nuclear energy and it is costing 4 cent per kilowatt per hour - Ireland is double that.

"In general terms, the grid is viewed here positively. The grid is considered to be robust and resilient and rarely goes down.

"Our pricing is just about competitive at the minute and we need to be careful not to make ourselves too uncompetitive, especially in a European environment where we're trying to attract business in."

Irish weather as an asset

Believe it or not one of Ireland's assets in this regard is its weather.

"For 50pc of the year, the temperature in Ireland is less than six degrees, which means free cooling for data centres that can take the ambient temperature from outside and cool the facilities.

"This is crucial when you consider the megawatts of power that need to be cooled in your typical data centre. For Ireland with its aspirations to be the 'Internet Capital of Europe' our climate is an invaluable asset."

Returning to skills and employment, Mortell notes that the skills shortage in technology is bittersweet at a time of high unemployment. There are currently 5,000 tech roles that need to be filled and despite high unemployment in the domestic economy the jobs are being filled by tech professionals from all over the world, attracted by Ireland's cities and lifestyle.

"We've never had difficulty getting people, it's just the process can take a long time. Finding professionals in areas like networking, operating system management, database administration and security is key.

"My concern would be that the next wave of people coming out of universities - if we ever have enough of them - tend to emigrate and don't have the right skills.

"We've talked a lot about retraining and taking people from other sectors such as construction and reskilling them to work in the technology industry, and institutions like IT Tallaght are doing great work in this regard, but it just takes time.

"It is my hope that the next wave of school leavers and graduates are equipped with the skills and know-how to work in the exciting industries of the 21st century.

"I believe Ruairi Quinn is genuine about this - the key will be integrating a digital syllabus with the new Junior Cert and boosting maths and science performance to ensure the skills needs of the future are there."

It's estimated that 55pc of high-level ICT skills are being met through inward migration, meaning that more needs to be done to boost ICT skills in the domestic market.

"One of the key competitive advantages for Irish technology companies, be it multinational or indigenous, is the high quality of skills that are available in Ireland for workers in the technology sector," says Paul Sweetman, director of the Irish Software Association.

"Over time, with the growth in the sector, employment has increased rapidly in it so that has created a new demand for more workers for the technology sector and employees in that area. We brought this to the Government some time ago and expressed that in order to keep the competitive advantage, we'd have to up our game."

Addressing the IT skills gap

It resulted in last week's launch of a major joint industry and Irish Government action plan to address the gap in high-level IT skills in order to ensure Ireland is at the forefront of the technology industry worldwide.

It aims to double its annual output of honours degree ICT undergraduate programmes to 2,000 graduates by 2018 through numerous educational initiatives.

"They range from short-term measures, such as conversion courses which were launched on the day itself, through to long-term policy measures such as reform of particular curriculums in second-level," explains Sweetman.

"It's trying to improve the image of the sector through things like our Smart Futures campaign and also trying to encourage closer co-operation between third-level and industry in terms of what industry would require and what universities or institutes of technology are able to deliver for the tech sector."

Sweetman points out the demand for skills in a wide range of technological fields, such as computer science and engineering.

He also says there is a need for people with skills in communications and languages.

"Certainly there's a large demand for people with skills in computer science, software engineering and electronic engineering.

"When you look at the high-tech manufacturing facilities that we have here, they're all looking for people with degrees within life sciences, within other disciplines of engineering, and then outside of those specific areas there's certainly a demand for people with strong project management skills.

"On the other side of the coin, you look at some of the companies that are developing here putting investments in place that are serving European customers, so there's a strong languages demand here, too, that may not have been here before and certainly something that you would not traditionally associate with the technology sector.

"Underpinning all of that are the companies requiring people with good communications skills and the ability to work in diverse teams with people with diverse backgrounds."

Conversion courses

One of the short-term plans from the ICT action plan was the announcement of new conversion courses. These one-year, full-time HDip courses would cater to people with degrees in other fields in order to intensively train them up in core computing and programming skills.

Sweetman hopes the courses will be successful and he has already seen strong interest in them.

"I think that the message getting out there is that there are good career opportunities (in IT) that people mightn't have looked at before and there's also impetus on the other side in particular sectors where people are qualified for are not performing as well as the technology sector," he says.

He notes, too, that ICT Ireland and the ISA have already been involved in their own conversion courses through their Skillnets programmes, which have been heavily over-subscribed.

Encouraging young people to enter the sector will be key to ensuring a greater increase on talent for the IT sector.

Sweetman believes IT could be integrated into the everyday teaching and learning process.

"It should be used as heavily in a technology subject as in a subject where you wouldn't think technology would be traditionally used, such as geography, English or any of the languages.

"Certainly there is scope, as well, for having core programming subjects in technology areas and we should expand that.

"We should also continue to really push hard on encouraging students to take on the subjects that we have already which will lead to strong careers in the technology sector, such as higher-level maths and science," he adds.

Siliconrepublic.com is hosting Skills February, a month dedicated to news, reports, interviews and videos covering a range of topics on the digital skills debate.

The Wave Hub, an electrical "socket" for testing wave-energy machines, was put on the seabed off Hayle, Cornwall, in 2010.

For three years now, Ocean Energy has been testing a quarter scale prototype of its buoy in Galway Bay.

Ocean Energy's buoy uses the oscillating water column principle. As waves enter a subsea chamber they force air through a turbine on the surface, generating electricity. As the waves recede they cause a vacuum, drawing air back through the turbine.

Together with its technology partner Dresser-Rand, with which it has signed an MOU, Ocean Energy was one of a number of companies competing for the opportunity to win the Wave Hub contract. The full-scale unit, when installed, will have the capacity to generate sustainable energy to power up to 1,200 homes.

Wave Hub said it will fund Ocean Energy's deployment costs up to a maximum of £1m (€1.2m). This will include the cost of securing a marine licence and installation of moorings and deployment, it confirmed today.

Speaking this afternoon, John McCarthy, chief executive and co-founder of Ocean Energy, said the contract win was a major achievement for Irish technology that has been developed with the assistance of Irish Government funding and expertise at the UCC Hydraulics and Maritime Research Centre.

"It is also an endorsement of the technology development path adopted by Ocean Energy," he said.

McCarthy said the "rigorous testing" and "proven survivability" of Ocean Energy's technology was a key driver in winning the contract for its device.

"Ireland, with its resources and technical capabilities, has the potential to become the world leader in wave energy and Ocean Energy plans to play its part in making this a reality," he said.

"Ocean Energy has completed three years of prototype testing in energetic sea conditions and is ready to make the next step to Wave Hub with a full-scale device. If the testing goes well we expect to see Ocean Energy deploy an array of devices," said Wave Hub's general manager Claire Gibson.

Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland recently released statistics, which pointed to how the Irish wave-energy industry has the potential to employ 50,000 people by 2030 and could generate more than four times Ireland's current installed capacity or 30,000MW of power.

In line with the European Commission's plan to create an 'Innovation Union' as part of its Europe 2020 strategy, the proposal to transform the ITs into more regional hotbeds of technological innovation – engaging with industry, spinning out companies based on applied research and sharing knowledge capital – appears to be on the cards.

Hunt report

The high-level strategy group chaired by Dr Colin Hunt brought out the Hunt Report early last year, looking at a national strategy for higher education for Ireland up to 2030. Part of the report evaluated the future evolution of the ITs and the universities.

It looked at the benefits of a regional cluster approach for such institutions. The Hunt Report pointed to how "consolidation should be promoted to create amalgamated institutes of technology" that would participate in "regional clusters with partner universities of a similar scale".

“However, there may be a case for facilitating the evolution of some existing institutes following a process of consolidation, into a form of university that is different in mission from the existing Irish universities," indicated the Hunt report at the time.

Munster and BMW regions - technological university plans

In the past few weeks, ITs in two regions have unleashed their plans to create technological universities. At the end of January, the presidents of the ITs in Limerick, Tralee and Cork announced their plans to create a Munster Technological University (MTU), with the aim of strengthening the region's educational prowess and enhancing links with local industry.

The IT heads said the MTU would have campuses in Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Clare and Tipperary and an initial enrolment of more than 24,000 students.

At the time, Dr Maria Hinfelaar, president, LIT, said that since the Hunt report came out last year, the ITs have been forced to rethink how they would view themselves in the new landscape and to reposition themselves.

For the Munster region, the three presidents sought out international advice before proceeding with their MTU plans.

"Prof Simon Marginson, an Australian expert on higher education, played a major role, while Prof Robin Smyth from the UK also gave advice. He had experience of when the polytechnics in the UK were converted into universities," said Hinfelaar, who is also chair of Institutes of Technology Ireland (IOTI) this year.

"When you think of the 14 institutes of technology in Ireland, including DIT, and the aim to consolidate them down to four, it's about increasing the pathways for students to receive higher education and to manage and use resources better," she said.

In terms of the border, midlands and west (BMW) region, in January the five ITs located there also set out their plans to create a technological university in the region. The ITs involved in the BMW Technological University plan are Athlone Institute of Technology, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, Letterkenny Institute of Technology and Institute of Technology, Sligo.

The steering group said in January that such a university would be the largest higher-education institution of its kind in the State, with the capacity to take in up to 27,000 students.

For a long time, Waterford Institute of Technology and Carlow Institute of Technology had been campaigning to pursue a technological university for the southeast.

Organised by Innovation Wexford and The Fuse Initiative, the conference came about after a group of entrepreneurs in the southeast decided to tackle the region's enterprise drive for themselves. They headed over to Silicon Valley and knocked on doors to forge links with the diaspora in Northern California. Their aim was to network and make connections to help develop growth within the Irish SME sector.

"We saw a unique opportunity to develop growth within the Irish SME sector by forging stronger links with the diaspora in Northern California. We simply got on a plane and flew out to see them and were welcomed with open arms," explained Brendan Ennis, founder of Techovate and group chief executive at Innovation Wexford.

And the result? Senior executives from some IT giants, including Microsoft, Google, IBM, Facebook and LinkedIn, will be at the Techovate conference to share with local entrepreneurs how to innovate and survive in the challenging economic climate.

Speakers will include Carlow-born Lorraine Twohill, Google's vice-president of Global Marketing, Colin Brown, director of business operations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) with Microsoft; Claire Hayes, managing director, Emerging Company Services, PWC; and Conrad Burke, general manager, Innovalight Dupont.

Notable entrepreneurs to emerge from the southeast include Terry Clune of Taxback.com, David Walsh of Netwatch and Fred Karlsson of DoneDeal. They will also be sharing insights from their own entrepreneurial journeys at Techovate.

Business success

One of the highlights of the conference will be a session focusing on how to execute for business success, including top tips from five of the world's largest companies.

Techovate 2012 will use dialogue, seminars and workshops to show businesspeople how they can use technology to grow their business in a fast-moving global marketplace. The 48-hour event will also feature Techovate Interact, where people can experience the latest Facebook, Google, IBM and Microsoft technologies.

And select Irish companies will also be able to pitch their businesses at the Techovate Showcase.

Ennis said Techovate has had "phenomenal support" from vice-presidents and directors of these global companies. He said they had volunteered their time to address the conference in person or via video link and attend forums and panel discussions. Ennis also cited Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland's support in helping foster relationships between Techovate and the global technology leaders taking part in the conference.

Fred Karlsson, founder of DoneDeal, spoke about how the internet is quickly changing every business. "This creates lots of opportunities for new businesses, but also a lot of challenges for existing businesses," he said. DoneDeal.ie has its office in Wexford Town.

Innovation Wexford itself is a not-for-profit job creation organisation with a community focused approach to enterprise development. Up to now it has helped in the creation of more than 800 jobs and has supported the establishment and development of more than 100 companies. The FUSE Initiative is a group of 250 entrepreneurs and businesspeople aimed at promoting business growth in the southeast.

The Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association has indicated that Ireland's pharmaceutical industry generates more than 50pc of the country's exports, making Ireland the second-largest net exporter of medicines in the world. And right now 13 of the top 15 pharma companies in the world have operations in Ireland.

On the jobs front, Waldner Ireland is aiming to take on 16 new hires in 2012, as it anticipates an €8m turnover. Waldner already supplies lab spaces to companies in Ireland such as Genzyme, Pfizer and ISPEN and to academic institutions such as University College Cork and Dublin City University.

Plug and Play lab experience

Yesterday, Waldner held what it called a 'plug and play' laboratory experience at the lab, which is based at the company's Ballycoolin base in Blanchardstown, Co Dublin. At the open day, representatives from Irish universities and pharmaceutical companies tested out the energy-efficient scientific research laboratory for themselves.

Some of the sustainability-driven aspects of the lab Waldner has pioneered include a real-time dashboard or laboratory touch interface that monitors energy consumption of lab fittings and linked-up heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

The lab aims to encourage user interaction as opposed to direct analysis, with the goal of reducing energy output by 40pc, explained Christian Meichsner, laboratory carbon emissions expert and head of Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning solutions at Waldner.

Meichsner said visitors to the lab could interact with the interface, as well as viewing the fume cupboards.

User interaction

Waldner is liaising with University of Bradford to research the most effective ways of encouraging user interaction.

"Interestingly, users respond optimally to smiley faces on the communication interface. By plugging in information, for example, if the user is away from the lab the system will then decide and respond by dimming the lights and switching the heating off and automatically adjusting the laboratory ventilation," explained Meichsner.

'Pharmaceutical centre' of the world

Also speaking yesterday was Waldner Ireland managing director Noel Hodgins, who described Ireland as being "the pharmaceutical centre" of the world.

"Universities have placed a huge emphasis on improving lab facilities as more and more students enrol in science-related courses and they are becoming higher-profile, industry-linked facilities. The mass migration of pharmaceutical companies to Ireland has also seen a concentration on lab work. We have worked to provide a product that is both safety conscious, sustainable and energy efficient," added Hodgins.

The competition itself was part of a pan-European environmental initiative 'Future of Rural Energy in Europe' that was supported in Ireland by Calor Gas. On the island of Ireland the competition received over 1,000 post-primary entries. Students were encouraged to outline their vision of how to power Ireland's homes, hospitals, factories and schools into the future in a sustainable way. The Tell The Future judging panel comprised Science Foundation Ireland, Foróige and the Northern Ireland-based Rural Development Council.

Juanita O'Kane's entry, which won in the junior category, put forward ideas including the introduction of biomass energy, harnessing power from the sea, and developing new technology in sewage systems.

Jillian Murphy's entry, which won the senior category, focused on a world where resources were completely depleted and existing items could only be repaired. In order to generate electricity, new 'trampoline energy creators' were developed whereby people needed to jump up and down for 20 minutes to generate two hours of electricity. Looking at the positive side to the energy crisis, Jillian also highlighted how obesity was virtually non-existent.

Other Junior Category winners

• Second Place: Rachel O'Grady, Manor House School, Dublin
• Third Place: Callum McQuoid, Ulidia Integrated College, Antrim

Other Senior Category winners

• Second Place - Áine Donnelly, St Catherine's College, Armagh
• Third Place - Sarah Mulligan, St Louis Grammar School, Antrim
  

Check out what Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin has to say about science!

Here's the video featuring Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, the former Rose of Tralee, who is a science teacher and who has just returned to full-time education to do a PhD in maths education at Trinity College Dublin. Ní Shúilleabháin is one of the ambassadors for Dublin City of Science 2012. And her message for students, with all of the science events happening around the island this year? "Get involved. Just come and have fun!"

Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin on the importance of science education

Firstly, the statutory instrument gets signed into law and the battle between internet service providers (ISPs) and record labels is out of the Government's hands and is firmly in the hands of the courts.

Or secondly, the State may decide that the matter needs more consideration and the process of forming and designing realistic, primary legislation that is fit for purpose for the digital age may begin.

In the past two weeks, a petition against the statutory instrument received some 80,255 signatures.

More than 1,300 of the signees have pledged to visit their TD on the matter.

The entire matter concerns a court case between UPC and IRMA in 2010 in which the presiding judge Mr Justice Peter Charleton pointed out that existing legislation did not give him the power to grant injunctions against ISPs because the European directive had not been fully transposed.

This failure to transpose the directive has given the record labels a powerful motive to sue the Irish Government if the statutory instrument isn't passed. For a country afflicted by a property bust, the collapse of its financial system and support of the IMF, a drawn-out and expensive court case may prove unpalatable.

At the same time, it is worth remembering that ICT and digital media are the silver lining in the dark clouds that have gathered over the country in recent years, yielding investment, jobs and opportunity and hope for entrepreneurs, job seekers and future graduates.

What if Irish SOPA is signed?

Last Friday, the ISPAI, an organisation representing ISPs, spoke out at the potential damage the statutory instruments could cause.

They warned that the changes to the legislation will open a can of worms that ultimately harm the country's standing in the global internet industry.

They pointed out that the statutory instrument will mean that issues of copyright and illegal downloads will be debated on a court-by-court basis. They say this is going to be economically unsustainable for ISPs to contest. It may also be unsustainable for internet companies that have located in Ireland.

They also pointed out that isolating individual tracks and blocking content is not easy and checking and quantifying the vast array of internet services could grind the internet to a halt.

“What makes this so sad, is the government is trying to tell us that at the same time, that they see Ireland as a hub for cloud computing services, which by definition are services hosting other people's content and more than other online businesses exposed to the vagaries of this S.I.," the ISPAI stated.

The important thing to bear in mind is that since Napster burst onto the scene 13 years ago, no collaboration between rights holders and ISPs in fighting online piracy has taken place.

New and emerging models such as Netflix and Spotify are the way forward and should be seen as a model for new revenue for the record companies and video industries. There can be no question that these industries have indeed lost millions through piracy and the acts of illegal downloaders and file sharers.

But the reality is most people for a reasonable fee would subscribe to content services and happily pay for quality content. There is a future, it just needs to be explored ... and importantly for a State, facilitated.

Tomorrow, the Government of Ireland will usher the country and its digital dreams down one of either two paths.

Let's hope the right decision is made.

Asset financing for utility-scale projects continue to be the main type of clean-energy investment in India, with US$9.5bn in 2011.

Bloomberg attests that the clean-tech upsurge has been propelled by a seven-fold increase in funding for grid-connected solar projects - from US$0.6bn in 2010 to US$4.2bn in 2011.

Solar almost reached the same level of investments as wind, which totalled US$4.6bn, according to the report.

'Record year' for India and clean tech

Ashish Sethia, head of India research at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said there had been concerns at the start of the year that higher lending rates might have impacted investment. However, he said policy measures like the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, and renewable energy's increasing cost competitiveness, have made this a "record year" for India in terms of its clean-tech investment climate.

The Bloomberg report pointed to how venture capital and private equity investment also made a strong comeback in India, as $425m was invested in 2011, more than four times the 2010 figure.

Wind and solar project developers such as Mytrah Energy India and Kiran Energy Solar Power were successful in carrying out deals.

India's wind sector added 2,827MW of capacity in 2011 compared with 2,140MW in 2010. This capacity placed India third in the global rankings for new wind energy installations, trailing behind China and the US.

And Bloomberg New Energy Finance is predicting that around 2,500MW to 3,200MW of wind capacity could be added in 2012.

Explained Sethia: "The surge in installation of renewable energy shows that it is becoming cost competitive and scalable, at a time when India is struggling to meet its targets for conventional power capacity."

He said that federal and state governments in India would have to ensure four elements if India's renewables focus is to stay apace.

"First, that transmission lines are available for projects; second, that the grid can handle an increased flow of renewable energy; third, that renewable purchase obligations are enforced; and, fourth, that project developers are paid on time for the power they produce," said Sethia.

The facility itself was designed by McCullough Mulvin Architects. In 2010, it won the prize for best educational building at the Irish Architecture Awards.

Speaking this afternoon, Ó Catháin described the 11,000 sq-metre facility as "a landmark on campus". He said it is not just a landmark in terms of its physical presence and the technology it embodies, but pointed to how the engineering centre is sparking new partnerships.

"Significantly, it positions the School of Engineering to the forefront of engineering education in Ireland," said Ó Catháin.

Already, faculty, students and researchers in mechanical, renewable and sustainable engineering electronics and software engineering, polymer engineering, plus civil and construction engineering are using the building.

Engineering education and industry

Ó Catháin also said engineering education has been "written into the DNA" of AIT since its inception. He also spoke today of the importance the institutes of technology (ITs), such as AIT, place on engaging with industry.

"As an academic community, we listen closely to what they are saying about their needs, responding to the requirements for particular skills, such as the need for graduates in cloud computing and network management, for polymer technologists for the medical device industry, for environmental engineering scientists, for green technologists," he said.

More than 1,000 engineering students are currently registered at AIT. Engineering students can also undertake a PhD and post-doctoral work on the AIT campus.

Technological universities and changing face of IT education in Ireland

The ITs have been in the news in recent week as the institutes in the border, midland and west (BMW) region announced their plan to pool their resources to create a technological university in the region, in a move to also ignite greater linkages with local industry. The BMW steering group comprised The steering group comprises presidents and senior staff of Athlone Institute of Technology, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, Letterkenny Institute of Technology, and Institute of Technology, Sligo.

Last week the ITs in Munster – Cork Institute of Technology, Institute of Technology Tralee and Limerick Institute of Technology – announced their plan to create a Munster Technological University.

Last month, the Delhi High Court asked Facebook and Google India to remove “offensive and objectionable material” for their sites or be blocked in the region.

The civil case being heard in Delhi was filed by Muslim petitioner Mufti Aizaz Arshad Kazmi, who claimed the companies were hosting material intolerant to religious beliefs. A separate criminal lawsuit is being brought to court by journalist Vinay Rai which makes similar allegations against a number of web firms.

Google and Facebook said they complied with the court’s order to remove certain material.

Previously, India’s telecommunication minister, Kapil Sibal, met with officials from the Indian units of Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! to discuss prescreening user content and removing anything derogatory before it’s posted online.

It stemmed from the Indian government’s disapproval of web pages dedicated to insulting its prime minister, Manmohan Singh, ruling congress party leader, Sonia Gandhi, and major religious figures.

However, Google argued it was not possible to prescreen material uploaded by “billions of people across the globe.” Facebook argued it already has policies in place to allow users to report abusive content.

“It is a matter of opinion as to whether this is really needed and certainly in the decade since the Directive, the European Commission, who is responsible to ensure compliance with Directives hadn't picked up on it. However, Minister Sean Sherlock is now introducing a quick fix by using an S.I. (statutory instrument) rather than primary legislation.

“This is made more urgent because the music industry is now suing the State for lost revenue due to this perceived omission - expecting the tax-payer to cough up again - and we understand the government must respond during next week. The problem is Minister Sherlock's quick fix is far too broad, offers no clarification, simply cites the EU Directive and effectively throws interpretation back to the courts," the ISPs said.

The ISPAI said the reason this legal technicality is so important is because it adds more pressure in what are already difficult trading conditions.

Dark Shadow

"Ireland has secured many large international online businesses to locate here. There are also many successful indigenous online companies servicing international markets. Together they account for a sizeable chunk of our export revenues.

“These companies utilise the internet infrastructure of our members as do the internet using public. The ISPs and many of these online service companies have business built on handling data or content belonging to other people. The whole sector is very buoyant, provides many thousands of jobs in Ireland and is bucking the recessionary trends.

“But this S.I. now hangs like a dark shadow over the industry because, once signed, it copper-fastens that the courts should decide on a case by case basis the remedy for claims of copyright infringement - done by third parties - and whether the remedy should be to force the operators by injunction to prevent infringement (by others) occurring on their services."

Grinding the internet to a halt

ISPAI manager Paul Durrant didn't mince his words when he said that the statutory instrument means establishing technical blocking measures against websites, parts of websites and internet services that aren't even in this jurisdiction.

“Though it is easy to say, it can only be achieved by complex technical interference with the fundamental systems that keep the internet up and running."

The ISPAI says that blocking sites and content will put ISPs into an impossible position. "The vast quantity of music tracks and films against which traffic would have to be checked would probably grind the Internet to a halt, affecting all the online services on which we have come to rely."

The ISPs say that they are against their networks being used to illicitly obtain or share copyrighted content like music. They maintain the best way to stop copyright theft is to go after the services that facilitate piracy such as the recent closure of Megaupload.

Killing innovation?

The ISPs group also warns that the statutory instrument will have enormous implications for the internet industry because it opens companies operating in this jurisdiction to test cases that may set a precedent for the entire EU.

They also point out that most ISPs in Ireland don't have the deep pockets to defend an injunction action taken Ireland.

“The only option is to cave in to the injunction and take the cost of implementing the technical remedy which would have to be passed on to customers. This can also backfire as customers suffering from inevitable collateral damage will sue you for your trouble and probably leave you due to increased monthly charges.
“Either way it's a recipe to kill off innovative online businesses in Ireland.

“What makes this so sad, is the government is trying to tell us that at the same time, that they see Ireland as a hub for cloud computing services, which by definition are services hosting other people's content and more than other online businesses exposed to the vagaries of this S.I.," the ISPAI stated.

The agreement is designed to fight the trade of counterfeit goods, including pharmaceuticals, but also encourages ISPs to take cooperative measures to fight copyright, which could result in repressive measures, such as a three strikes rule.

The treaty is being considered as being more dangerous than the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which was railroaded in the US after widespread online protest.

The clandestine nature of how ACTA came about, with little or no public consultation, is considered an affront to civil liberties and last week the EU's principal rapporteur (investigator) MEP Kader Arif resigned in protest and slammed the whole process as a 'charade.'

A new organisation called Access, which has the tagline 'Mobilising for Global Digital Freedom', says protests are being organised all over the world to urge the European Parliament to reject ACTA.

So far, protests are taking place in Austria, Belgium, Britain, the UK, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland.

There are no protests organised in Ireland yet, which is surprising, considering 35,000 people signed a petition last week as part of the Stop SOPA Ireland protest of the controversial new statutory instrument about to be signed into law.

In the circa 2,000-word letter, the 27-year-old Zuckerberg spoke about the genesis of Facebook and its mission.

"Facebook was not originally founded to be a company," he wrote. "We've always cared primarily about our social mission, the services we're building and the people who use them. This is a different approach for a public company to take, so I want to explain why I think it works."

Zuckerberg added that he had began by "writing the first version of Facebook myself because it was something I wanted to exist."

After that, he said "most of the ideas and code that have gone into Facebook have come from the great people we've attracted to our team".

The hacker way?

So what did Zuckerberg mean when he alluded to "the Hacker Way"?

"We have cultivated a unique culture and management approach that we call the Hacker Way," he said.

"The word 'hacker' has an unfairly negative connotation from being portrayed in the media as people who break into computers. In reality, hacking just means building something quickly or testing the boundaries of what can be done. Like most things, it can be used for good or bad, but the vast majority of hackers I've met tend to be idealistic people who want to have a positive impact on the world."

"The Hacker Way is an approach to building that involves continuous improvement and iteration. Hackers believe that something can always be better, and that nothing is ever complete. They just have to go fix it - often in the face of people who say it's impossible or are content with the status quo."

Hackathons at Facebook

He said that every few months, Facebook runs "a hackathon", where employees work on building prototypes for new ideas they might have.

"Many of our most successful products came out of hackathons, including Timeline, chat, video, our mobile development framework and some of our most important infrastructure, like the HipHop compiler."

And Zuckerberg said Facebook requires all new engineers to share this type of hacker approach.

"We require all new engineers - even managers whose primary job will not be to write code - to go through a programme called Bootcamp where they learn our codebase, our tools and our approach. There are a lot of folks in the industry who manage engineers and don't want to code themselves, but the type of hands-on people we're looking for are willing and able to go through Bootcamp."

Other key segments of the letter include Zuckerberg's hope "to strengthen how people relate to each other".

He wrote: "Even if our mission sounds big, it starts small - with the relationship between two people ... At Facebook, we build tools to help people connect with the people they want and share what they want, and by doing this we are extending people's capacity to build and maintain relationships."

Then he said that the social networking site hopes to "rewire" how people "spread and consume information".

"We think the world's information infrastructure should resemble the social graph - a network built from the bottom up or peer-to-peer, rather than the monolithic, top-down structure that has existed to date. We also believe that giving people control over what they share is a fundamental principle of this rewiring".

Influencing people's relationships with governments?

Zuckerberg also wrote how he has aspirations for Facebook to alter how people "relate" to their governments and social institutions.

"We believe building tools to help people share can bring a more honest and transparent dialogue around government that could lead to more direct empowerment of people, more accountability for officials and better solutions to some of the biggest problems of our time," he said.

“The technology sector in Ireland is thriving. Since the beginning of the year, over 300 jobs have been announced,” said Regina Moran, ICT Ireland chair and CEO of Fujitsu Ireland in the release of the ICT Action Plan report earlier this week.

“This is on foot of 4,000 jobs announced in the sector in 2011,” she said.

However, a major challenge for the industry is finding the talent to support these jobs. According to the ICT Action Plan report, 55pc of high-level ICT skills are being met through inward migration.

It identified that more needed to be done boost ICT skills in the domestic market. By implementing a number of education initiatives, it plans to double its annual output from honours degree ICT undergraduate programmes to 2,000 graduates by 2018, up from 1,000 graduates in 2011.

Identifying skills gaps in IT industry

Where exactly are the gaps within the IT industry? Both Smeaton and Gurrin believe there is great demand for people right across the sector.

“It’s quite widespread and there’s a spectrum of IT jobs which vary from hardcore technical skills - such as hardware engineering, programming and development - right up to the softer skills, such as search engine optimisation and digital marketing,” says Smeaton.

“And interaction with other people in the organisation, such as personal communications skills, as well. It goes from technical to personal, as well,” adds Gurrin.

Smeaton believes there isn’t a single reason for this skills gap. He points out that one reason was due to the dot-com bust at the beginning of the millennium. Indeed, the ICT Action Plan notes there was a significant decline in graduate numbers in computing and engineering from a peak in 2002.

Educating students in IT

Smeaton and Gurrin also point out how students who commence a computer science degree in university often don’t know what they’re letting themselves in for.

“The reason that there aren’t enough graduates being produced is that when people come to university to learn programming, they haven’t any experience or exposure to what that’s about,” says Smeaton.

“They’re not really sure what they’re coming to university to learn. They’re doing computer science without knowing what it is, which is an issue that stems from the high school system here,” says Gurrin.

“Children in schools normally don’t get exposed to what computer programming is about,” adds Smeaton.

“They get things like ECDL and some schools will do computer programming, but mostly when they arrive in the university sector, they don’t know what computer programming is. Some people take to it but some people don’t and they realise that they’ve made a mistake,” he says.

DCU has aimed to address this by inviting between 400 and 600 transition-year students to the university for a week during January to learn computer programming and web development. It hopes to show students what university life is like and what it’s like to work with computer programming so they don’t decide to start a computer science degree without knowing what’s involved.

Problem solving

Of course, due to the changeable nature of technology, teaching digital skills in primary and secondary level may be a challenge, so Smeaton believes that teaching problem=solving skills may be more important.

“One of the ways that I think children can discover (if they want to work in IT) is knowing if they’re good at problem solving,” says Smeaton.

“It’s problem-solving skills and abilities rather than digital skills, because digital technologies will constantly evolve. Trying to build digital skill awareness into a secondary school curriculum is going to be very challenging because it’s very much a moving target.

“But underpinning that is problem solving and if you’re good at problem solving, then it most naturally follows that you’re good at mathematics and therefore likely to be good at programming and software development.

“So I think if they discover that about themselves at an earlier stage, they can make a more informed career choice and they’re less likely to contribute to drop-out rates,” he says.

Siliconrepublic.com is hosting Skills February, a month dedicated to news, reports, interviews and videos covering a range of topics on the digital skills debate.

Dr Thomas Cooney, a lecturer in entrepreneurship at DIT, who is also a member of the European Commission FP7 Advisory Group on SMEs, is chairing the Science To Business programme.

He says the aim of the interactive workshops at ESOF will be to help scientists, academics or entrepreneurs who want to make contacts and learn more applied research enage with others in their field and potentially forge new alliances.

Tthe 12 workshops, each lasting 90 minutes, are open to calls for proposals. The 12 areas people can submit proposals for are:

1. How does the economic environment influence opportunities for Science to Business activity?
2. What do we mean by 'Innovative Entrepreneurship' and why should it become an integral part of government policy?
3. What is required to engender greater entrepreneurial activity amongst SET students / graduates?
4. What should universities do to encourage more spin-outs and licensing arrangements?
5. What actions should be taken to reduce the barriers for innovators to start a business?
6. What is the future of Open Innovation?
7. A 90-minute guide on everything you should consider when starting a business.
8. Why are business clusters beneficial to enterprises and regions?
9. What are the challenges involved in building innovative capability?
10. What are the challenges involved in getting Intellectual Property Protection?
11. Multinationals in search of research output and people?
12. What are 'Exit Strategies' and why should I think about them at the start?

Cooney says that the 12 winning submissions must be internationally focused, ie they must incorporate at least three partners from three countries to give the projects a strong geographical spread. He says the proposals will also need to showcase how they will be interactive and imaginative so as to attract attention from delegates visiting ESOF this summer.

For more information see the ESOF 2012 website.