Obama administration chooses Irish technology

23 May 2011

US President Barack Obama’s administration chose internet technology developed in Ireland in its economic stimulus package website Recovery.gov.

The web standard, Semantically-Interlinked Online Communities (SIOC), is a way of incorporating data into websites and blogs, for example, that makes it easier to connect online communities and internet-based discussions.

Commenting on the visit in Ireland today of Obama, the chief scientific adviser to the Irish Government, Prof Patrick Cunningham, spoke of the great relationship between the US and Ireland in science.

“Ireland has a great reputation of a place to do good science and examples such as the IT developed in Galway and adopted by President Obama’s administration is an endorsement of the calibre of Irish science,” Cunningham said.

Euroscience Open Forum

In 2012, Europe’s largest science event, ESOF 2012 (Euroscience Open Forum) is coming to Dublin.

Cunningham, who is also chair of ESOF 2012, went on to speak of “the great history” of US and Irish science collaboration. One of the major themes in ESOF 2012 will be the Atlantic – a shared resource.

“This aspect of the conference is a joint US-ESOF partnership programme in which eminent scientists from the US and Europe will come together in July next year in Dublin to discuss the critical aspects of this great shared resource,” Cunningham said.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com