Educators and industry have key smart economy role


21 Apr 2010

Ireland’s educators and industry both have a vital role to play in the development of the ICT infrastructure required for the smart economy, an inaugural workshop at the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) was told today.

The workshop, the theme of which was ‘Evolving Communications Networks – Education in the Service of Ireland’s Infrastructural Needs’, brought together leading industrialists and academics in Ireland to share their views on the challenges and opportunities presented by the infrastructural needs of the smart economy.

The workshop focused on the field of energy-efficient data centres, green ICT, virtualisation and cloud computing, and the next generation of communications networks.

Organised by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (DCENR) and the RIA, the half-day workshop called on the assembled experts to explore ways in which the latest innovations in industry and the latest academic research could be harnessed to improve the competitiveness of the economy and lead to closer links between the two fields in the development of the future skills required to drive innovation in the communications infrastructure of the future.

“We are following an integrated approach involving the latest developments in optical networks developed in Ireland and energy-efficient technologies to ensure that we take the lead in the development of world-class green data centres and cloud-computing solutions,” said Roger O’Connor, director of business and technology, DCENR.

Article courtesy of Businessandleadership.com