Ireland’s first self-organising technology business conference, TechCamp, will take place in October.
On 15 October, a core group of well-known technology entrepreneurs will gather at the Northside Civic Centre in Dublin to address the perception that Ireland is falling behind the US in grassroots technology innovation.
According to the organisers, the format of TechCamp is unique because it is a collaborative event. It is not a presenter-attendee conference, everyone participates instead. While admission to TechCamp is free, the rule is everyone must contribute to the event. For example, participants could give a presentation, moderate a discussion, demonstrate a technology or help with running the event on the day.
Another aspect to the event is the fact that the participants themselves will decide what the discussions will be and how the day will pan out. The event webpage is open editable so participants can add elements to it. Topics scheduled for discussion so far include: building a Web 2.0 business in Ireland, using blogs in third-level education and growing a user community.
Some of the participants confirmed to attend the event so far include: John Breslin, founder of Boards.ie; Fergus Burns, CEO of Nooked; and Tipperary Institute lecturer Bernie Goldbach.
“The reason we set this up is because Ireland is falling behind the US in grassroots technology innovation,” explained Ed Byrne of BDM Innovate. “This means small and independent developers are coming together to create new projects and found new companies.
“A possible reason for this is that we don’t have enough shared-learning experiences, where a peer group meets to exchange knowledge and discuss developments. TechCamp hopes to solve this problem by bringing together a group of innovative and energetic individuals and providing a platform for them to collaborate,” Byrne said.
By John Kennedy
