Blog's Table of Contents

Topics Below

• Sophia
• Innovation Economy
• Irish Economy
• Business Strategy
• Software Engineering
• Social Networking
• Engineering and Engineers Ireland
• Cloudsmith
• Science Gallery
• Computer History Museum
• Education
• IONA – mainly experiences and strategy
• Service Oriented Architectures – and IONA
• UNICEF
• Child Abuse
• LeCayla
• CTVR
• Sophie Pierce Evans
• Innovation Taskforce
• Implementation Group for Innovation Taskforce
• Vietnamese Economy and Innovation
• Costa Rican Economy and Innovation
• Book Reviews

Sophia

• “Semantic Tagging: OpenCalais and Sophia” (2/9/11) A comparison of the Thomson Reuters OpenCalais and Sophia Digital Librarian semantic tagging engines
• “A Thoughtful Search Engine” (12/2/11) screenshots and explanation of how and why Sophia is cool….

Innovation Economy

• “Go West, Young Man – Go for the Best, Whereever” (11/7/2012) – Irish Times article on the Irish influence in San Francisco area,  current parallels between the Irish and Californian economies,  and the number one challenge for start-up CEOs.
• “Drinking from the Information Firehose” (11/7/2012) – Irish Times article on the problems of handling the information overload from the web, social media and email – despite great tools such as Flipboard and Tweetdeck.
• “Personal Gain and Societal Loss” (11/7/2012) – Irish Times article on the responsibilities of the Ethical Entrepreneur and a re-visit of Joseph Schumpeter.
• “US patent war and consumer implications” (28/8/11) – Irish Times Innovation Magazine article on the current war over mobile phone patents,  the implications for consumers,  and how patent law could usefully be extended.
• “Steve or Larry:  the Smartest Guy in the Room?” (16/8/11) – My thoughts on whether Steve Jobs outwitted Larry Page in Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility.
• “Innovation Ecosystem” (1/7/2011) – Invited speech to a symposium,  on the topics of academic-industry linkage,  Silicon Valley and Ireland,  and the future of the Irish university sector
• “Government’s Jobs Initiative” (29/5/11) – My comments, published in the Irish Times, on the Jobs Initiative announced by the Irish Government
• “Speech to Leyton-organised event on Research and Innovation” (26/5/11) – a discussion of the potential augmented role of multinationals in the Irish innovation economy
• “Talk to the ‘Innovation in Public Services’ Forum” (10/5/11) – how public procurement does not fit well with the innovation economy,  and what to do about it.
• “Europe’s largest venture capitalist” (30/4/11) – an opinion piece in the Irish Times newspaper on Enterprise Ireland and venture capital.
• “Have you already seen the movie?” (25/4/11) – an Irish Times piece about the the entrepreneur and mentor in the movie ‘The Social Network’.
• “Societies Change..” (17/12/10) a reflection on the Innovation Economy in the light of the ECB, IMF and EU interventions
• “F.ounders and Farmleigh” (6/11/10) a retrospective on the two events
• “What Can the Smart Economy Deliver” (12/10/10)  Ireland’s global uniqueness,  and the opportunity that this creates for successful enterpreneurship
• “Ireland’s Chance to be seen to be smart”  Flagship challenges and projects,  what is needed in Irish context (12/10/10)
• “Reconciling the Irish with Entrepreneurs” Irish public’s views on Entrepreneurship,  how it needs to change (7/9/10)
• “Go Ireland go” Announcement of the Government’s Innovation Fund (12/7/10)
• “Innovation,  Risk & Failure” Role of failure in an innovative economy (10/4/10)
• “Innovation and Risks for Researchers” The governance of royalty bearing licenses and risks for University Boards (30/3/10)
• “Catalysing more start-ups:  An interesting Dail Proposititon” A Fine Gael proposition for fostering start ups in the economy (24/3/10)
• “Speech to annual Fine Gael conference” Invited speech on the smart economy (20/3/2010)
• “Digital Strategy:  the role of feedback” How positive feedback will accelerate job growth in the innovation economy – with the accompanying maths! (3/3/10)
• “Intellectual Property:  the Irish opportunity” The global opportunity to administer and trade intellectual property,  in Ireland (18/2/10)
• “The importance of mathematics for the Celtic Phoenix”  The importance of patterns,  abstraction and application in an innovative economy (2/2/10)
• “Transforming Irish Industry..” A review of the performance of the IDA and Enterprise Ireland over the last decade…. (28/1/10)
• “Shift Happens:  Time for Ireland to move on” Not just about foreign direct investment anymore,   but now foreign risk capital (20/12/09)
• “Tim Draper and Jimmy Wales”  Their visit to Dublin (12/11/09)
• “Irish smart economy: aspiration or reality”  Realities behind a smart economy,  perhaps controversial   Slide set also here. (13/10/09)
• “Irish technology exits 2000-09″ An analysis of the volume and value of exits of Irish high technology companies over the decade… (18/8/09)
• “Astrologists call for less funding of the pure sciences and more funding for astrology”  Tongue in cheek report of the debate about publicly funded science and its impact on the economy (7/7/09)
• “The TCD-UCD Innovation Partnership:  a cottage industry perhaps?” Reaction to the announcement of the TCD-UCD Innovation Partnership (13/3/09)
• “Core skills:  not up skills” Focus on core skills,  not nebulous “up-skilling” (30/1/09)
• “Engineers Ireland Innovation Awards” Recognition for Innovation,   not discovery or entrepreneurship (12/12/07)
• “Global Entrepreneurs from Ireland ?”  Why would any entrepreneur chose Ireland as the headquarters for her global start-up ? (21/2/07)

Irish Economy

• “The Tech Sector is Buoyant…” – a post mortem on the 2012 BT Young Scientists Exhibition (28/1/12)
• “Gap Emerging in Irish VC funds?” - review of the activity and committed finances across the Irish venture capital industry (29/11/11)
• “Societies Change..” – a reflection on the Innovation Economy in the light of the ECB, IMF and EU interventions
• “F.ounders and Farmleigh - a retrospective on the two events
• “Armchair Economics” A back of the envelope analysis of the debt pile in the Irish economy (11/2/10)
• “Transforming Irish Industry..” A review of the performance of the IDA and Enterprise Ireland over the last decade….(28/1/10)
• “Irish technology exits 2000-09″ An analysis of the volume and value of exits of Irish high technology companies over the decade…(18/8/09)
• “Astrologists call for less funding of the pure sciences and more funding for astrology”  Tongue in cheek report of the debate about publicly funded science and its impact on the economy (7/7/09)
• “Here be dragons”  Satirical piece on not reading a commissioned report on the banking crisis (13/2/09)
• “Dell Ireland” Why didn’t Michael Dell face his own people ? (9/1/09)
• “Software Industries in Ireland and China” What Ireland is trying to do with its software industry,  and how China is taking a different view of its software industry .. (27/3/07)
• “Irish Science Policy” Role of the SFI funded CSETs in leading Irish science (26/2/07)

Business Strategy

• “Steve or Larry:  the Smartest Guy in the Room?” (16/8/11) – My thoughts on whether Steve Jobs outwitted Larry Page in Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility
• Cloud Illusions (27/6/11) - an attempted explanation for the plain man and woman over some of the dynamics between Microsoft, Google and Apple (27th June 2011)
• “Outsourcing to China:  the Yin-Yang of building a global business” Balance between innovation and execution;  high and low barriers to entry and adoption; old customer retention and new customer wins (29/5/10)
• “Boxing above your weight” Strategies we followed in IONA to play in the big time (9/6/09)
• “Using Standards as a Business Development Strategy”  How we used industry standards in IONA to gain industry leadership (25/3/09)
• “Professional software business management”  Is there such a thing as a profession of business ? (17/5/07)
• “SaaS business models” implementing intelligent tariff models as a Software as a Service provider (1/3/07)

Software Engineering

• “Why is Software Engineering so hard ?” Software engineering vs traditional engineering forms,  my Engineers Ireland Presidential Address (11/5/10)
• “Building Cathedrals from Bazaars” A re-take on a very famous paper:  and how software components sourced from bazaars can be used to build great work (18/9/08)
• “Open Source:  China and Microsoft” Why open source is different in China,  and how Microsoft is approaching China (10/11/07)
• “The long tail wags” How the “long tail” changes,  and the business opportunities therein (30/10/07)
• “Software Patents:  why should we have them ?”  Comparing patents in pharmaceutical and software industries,  and how software patents should really be regulated and used (21/6/07)
• “Self service software as (and?) a service” Self-service underpins scaling companies (28/5/07)
• “Professional software business management”  Is there such a thing as a profession of business ? (17/5/07)
• “Software Industries in Ireland and China” What Ireland is trying to do with its software industry,  and how China is taking a different view of its software industry .. (27/3/07)
• “Lean Software Services” Lean principles applied to software architecture (20/3/07)

Social Networking

• “A social networking policy” Corporate policies for social networking (30/9/10)
• “Will the Real You please identify yourself” Politicians’ use of the web and social networking (16/5/09)
• “Social Newsworking:  Reflections on the future of newspapers” What is the future of the newspaper industry and of professional journalism ?… (6/4/09)
• “The long tail wags” How the “long tail” changes,  and the business opportunities therein (30/10/07)

Engineering and Engineers Ireland

• “The Renaissance of Irish Engineering” Keynote at 2010 Engineers Ireland annual conference,  failure is not an option… (23/4/10)
• “Launch of the Engineers Ireland Mathematics and Science Report” Announcing the launch of our report (11/2/10)
• Pointer to my parallel blog as President of Engineers Ireland (14/6/09)
• “Engineering Engineers” How Engineering students may be better instructed…(3/7/09)
• “My start to my Presidential year” My manifesto for my forthcoming year as President (29/5/09)
• “Why is Engineering not taught by Professional Engineers ?” The incredible shortage of Chartered Engineers in our nation’s Engineering Schools (12/9/08)
• “Engineers Ireland Innovation Awards” Recognition for Innovation,   not discovery or entrepreneurship (12/12/07)

Cloudsmith

• “Building Cathedrals from Bazaars” A re-take on a very famous paper:  and how software components sourced from bazaars can be used to build great works (18/9/08)
• “Software Playlists” How Cloudsmith enables stacks of software components to be shared,  rather like music playlists (27/8/08)
• “Sharing the best and most valuable: software hot-rodding”  How Cloudsmith enables tailoring of software stacks (10/9/07)
• “Cloudsmith goes live” (20/8/07)
• “Eclipse spaces” Catalysing sharing and prototyping in http://www.eclipse.org (12/3/07)
• “Lego Instruction Sets – and Buckminster”  Analogy between Lego instruction sets and Buckminster (18/2/07)

Science Gallery

• “Artbots at the Science Gallery” The Artbots Exhibition (20/9/08)
• “Ready to be Illuminated ?” The opening of the Science Gallery!! (19/1/09)

Computer History Museum

• “Computer History Museum: capturing our innovation”  Thoughts on the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley (15/4/09)

Education

• “Whither Irish education?” Version of MacGill summer school talk for Irish Times (9/8/10)
• “MacGill Summer School – Education: Reform and Innovation Required?” MacGill speech (22/7/10)
• “Launch of the Engineers Ireland Mathematics and Science Report” Announcing the launch of our report (11/2/10)
• “The importance of mathematics for the Celtic Phoenix”  The importance of patterns,  abstraction and application in an innovative economy (2/2/10)
• “Jim Cooke: a quiet Irish hero”  Tribute to Jim Cooke’s remarkable record as a physics and mathematics teacher at Synge Street (23/5/09)
• “Educators and Technologists:  How we can best change Ireland” How the teaching profession can help itself to share best practice (5/3/09)
• “Core skills:  not up skills” Focus on core skills,  not nebulous “up-skilling” (30/1/09)
• “Academic and industry research multi-disciplines are best”  Convergence and multi-disciplinary research (08/09/07)

IONA – mainly Experience and Strategy

• “Boxing above your weight” Strategies we followed in IONA to play in the big time (9/6/09)
• “You’re not playing at Croker”  An IDA view of the early days of IONA (3/12/09)
• “Using Standards as a Business Development Strategy”  How we used industry standards in IONA to gain industry leadership (25/3/09)
• “IONA acquires C24″ Reacting to the acquisition (7/3/07)
• “Open source and the Enterprise”  Managing the pros and cons of open source as an enterprise software vendor (26/2/07)
• “Built to last” Managing change in software technology (22/4/07)

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) – and IONA

• “SOA Guardianship and SOA Governance” Managing and governing SOA (4/4/07)
• “Lean Software Services” Lean principles applied to software architecture (20/3/07)

UNICEF

• “Dr Robert Fung:  Chair of UNICEF Hong Kong”  The sad loss of a very great man (11/3/09)
• “Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday” How we in UNICEF Ireland celebrated his birthday (4/7/08)
• “Myanmar” UNICEF’s response the the Myanmar floods and cyclone (4/7/09)
• “Rwanda”  My reaction to my field trip to Rwanda (28/1/08)
• “Maura retires;  Melanie joins” Thanking Maura Quinn on her retirement from UNICEF Ireland;  welcoming Melanie Verwoerd as our new Executive Director (26/3/08)

Child Abuse

• “Ireland must Remember” Reaction to the publication of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (23/5/09)

LeCayla

• “LeCayla bought by Opsource” The acquisition of LeCayla by Opsource (11/2/08)
• “SaaS business models” implementing intelligent tariff models as a SaaS provider (1/3/07)

CTVR (Science Foundation Ireland funded telecommunications initiative)

• “The Van” Parallels between Roddy Doyle’s great novel,   and the CTVR van in the streets of Dublin (13/4/07)

Sophie Pierce Evans – a great Irishwoman

• “Sophie Pierce Evans” for Ada Lovelace day (24/3/10)

Innovation Taskforce

• “Tag cloud for the Innovation Taskforce report” – thanks to John Breslin (21/3/10)
• “A Guide to the Innovation Taskforce report” – some of the thinking and analysis behind its recommendations (13/3/10)
• “Fifth – and last – plenary meeting of the Innovation Taskforce” – summary of the last plenary meeting (31/1/10)
• “Fourth plenary meeting” – summary of the fourth plenary meeting (15/12/09)
• “Third plenary meeting” – summary of the third plenary meeting (31/10/09)
• “Broadband Infrastructure” – summary of the discussions on broadband (31/10/09)
• “Consultation meeting” – summary of the consultation meeting (19/10/09)
• “Second plenary meeting” – summary of the second plenary meeting (25/9/09)
• “First plenary meeting” – summary of the first plenary meeting (18/7/09)

Implementation Group for Innovation Taskforce

• Second meeting (21/7/10)
• Inaugural meeting (1/6/10)

Vietnamese Economy and Start-ups

• “Chồn con Tiger: Hanoi and Vietnam” Experiences of innovation in Vietnam (19/11/09)

Costa Rican Economy and Start-ups

• “Tigre Tico:  Tico Tiger” Experiences of innovation in Costa Rica (29/9/08)

Book Reviews

• “Doing Business in China” by Chris Torrens (15/9/12)
• “Big Switch” by Nick Carr (3/3/08)