EirePreneur

The Munster Institute of Technology

John Jennings, Mike Kiely, Liam Noonan and Bernie Goldbach. These are just four of the staff at Tipperary Institute who have been regulars at OpenCoffee Limerick since the networking event begun a few years ago. Not to mention the large number of Creative Multimedia students who have joined them on long journeys to the Absolute Hotel to mingle and discuss ideas with the entrepreneurs in attendance.

Its excellent outreach programme is just one of the things that makes Tipperary Institute special. So it saddens me to read that this element could be diminished in a re-organization that may see Tipp Inst combined with Limerick Institute of Technology in a single organization. Bernie Goldbach would call this new entity the Shannon Suir Institute of Technology but I'd prefer the name suggested by Stephen Houze in a comment to Bernie's blog post; The Munster Institute of Technology -

"With the success of the Munster rugby team in particular, there is a resonance of success on the name as well the feel of an international brand, and it's all ready to go. The name also kills off any of that inter-county rivalry nonsense."

I'm a big fan of the user-generated 'barcamp' style of conferencing but the best event I attended this year was ICT in Education at Tipperary Institute. It made for a refreshing change to get outside of the usual echo-chamber and listen to the most highly motivated educators in the country. I came away from the day with a new found respect for the teaching profession and their hunger to incorporate the technology that can deliver the best education possible to our young people. And I don't believe there's another Institute in the country that could have made the day a better annual success story.

There's something very special about the culture of education at Tipperary Institute. Perhaps we can afford to change its name but we can't afford to lose its essence.

Outvesting winner - KildareStreet.com

Outvesting has come to a conclusion and KildareStreet.com is the winner of the €5,000 fund. Head on over to take a look and see why so many of our donors voted for a service which a number of them said "is vital for democracy in Ireland".

Well done to them and indeed all the applicants, donors and in particular John Keyes for helping to make it happen.

Tanaiste launches entrepreneurship education report in 3rd level sector

Key findings of the report suggest that:
- 78% of undergraduate students surveyed expressed an interest in starting their own business at some point in future;
- Entrepreneurship education is not readily available to all students, is fragmented and delivered mainly only in business schools;
- There is a lack of communication about, and visibility of, entrepreneurial supports and policies;
- There is insufficient joined-up thinking between institutions, academics and practitioners;
- Despite some initiatives, industry engagement with the third level sector is neither widespread nor intensive;
- Entrepreneurship education is under-resourced and lacks an articulated strategic policy;
- Higher education institutions need to adopt a framework to embed entrepreneurship education across all disciplines;
- Experiential learning, not theory based lectures, will most benefit entrepreneurial students.

via www.sligotoday.ie

Well at least that 78% figure is encouraging, although it's very easy to 'be interested' while a whole lot more difficult to actually take the steps towards doing.

Sugru is definitely one of the coolest products I've seen in years - a new type of silicone developed especially for hacking. Oh, and it's got Irish pedigree.

SiliconRepublic.com: Limerick firm scoops €100,000 at Seedcorn finals - Business

Cauwill Technologies, which was crowned Best Emerging Company, has developed PinPoints - an application that helps users locate their hotel using their mobile phone. Since the launch of the product in July 2009, the company has secured subscribers in more than 66 countries worldwide.

Co-Managing director Dr Ronan Skehill said: “Being recognised as overall emerging winner will help us gain more international recognition of our product and new access to the investment community.”

via www.siliconrepublic.com

Congratulations to Ronan who is a regular at Limerick OpenCoffee. And likewise to another regular Ger Harnett of CoClarity which received a special award of €10,000 for best University Spin out or Platform.

Irish school making great use of Twitter

From the Computers in Education Society of Ireland mailing list comes this gem from Pauric O'Donnell at St. Eunans College in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal -

"I set up a twitter account that several staff have access to update using the web or mobiles, it means they can quickly add news about the school - such as snow days, etc. to the feed. I then embedded the feed onto the front page of the school website so now the updates appear there live.

The school also uses the feed to report live commentary from sporting events - for example goal alerts during a senior football game, updated by text by a teacher. The leader of the annual school tour to America also uses his mobile to update the feed with information for parents - such as "Landed in Boston Airport, all luggage collected, headed to hotel..." etc. to keep parents up-to-date."

A brilliant use of twitter and something all Irish schools should be doing. I've asked Pauric if it's Ag Tweet they're using to tweet by text and will report back later.

How the unions react to critics

Via Damien Mulley -

Outvesting now seeking startup applications for €5,000 gift

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Online campaign seeking start-ups for €5,000 donation

NEWCASTLEWEST, CO. LIMERICK - OCT 30, 2009: Outvesting.org, the online campaign which has raised a €5,000 fund through donations on Twitter is now seeking applications from Irish entrepreneurs. The entire fund will be gifted, no strings attached, to one lucky start-up after a review and voting process.

"We simply asked people to pledge €50 each in the hope that one hundred others would do likewise.  Those pledges came rolling in and in the space of four weeks were converted to donations amounting to the target €5,000", said John Keyes, one of those behind the project.

Applications can be submitted to the Outvesting.org website until November 21st and the winner will be announced on December 7th. Those who donated to the fund will review applications and vote on the start-up with best potential.

"There's obviously a groundswell of opinion that entrepreneurs should do more to help ourselves at this time of banking and economic crises. We just tapped into the generosity and goodwill that exists within the start-up community in Ireland", said James Corbett, the other half of the Outvesting team.

About Outvesting:

Outvesting.org was founded in September 2009 by James Corbett and John Keyes as an online campaign to raise funding for entrepreneurs and start-up companies. The idea was generated as one response to the general dissatisfaction amongst entrepreneurs with the lack of appropriate angel funding and state supports in Ireland.

Contact: 

James Corbett, co-founder

Outvesting.org

Newcastlewest,

Co. Limerick

http://www.outvesting.org

€2.5m giveaway to Irish Social Entrepreneurs

From the Social Entrepreneurs Ireland website -

As I’m sure most of you have heard, the Arthur Guinness Fund is currently taking applications from Social Entrepreneurs around Ireland as part of the Guinness 250 Celebration.

Guinness & Co. has partnered with Social Entrepreneurs Ireland to implement the initiative, which will support projects that deliver lasting social, community and environmental benefits. It will seek to identify, support and empower social entrepreneurs who have projects and initiatives that are innovative, impactful and sustainable, and make a real difference to Irish society.

This Fund is seeking to find up to 25 social entrepreneurs over a two-year period within Ireland. Successful applicants will benefit from financial support (in the region of €100,000 per project) as well as practical support and advice. In addition, successful applicants will benefit from access to our wonderful Alumni Network. Be sure to spread the word to anyone you know who has a great idea and is eligible to apply.

For more information and to apply to the fund, please visit www.guinness.com, click on the Arthur Guinness Fund button and follow the instructions. Alternatively, you can access information on the fund directly here. The closing date for applications is the 31st of October so be sure to get your application in before then.

Don’t forget to read over the criteria carefully before applying, as the fund is not open to projects that are based overseas (or that have a primary overseas benefit) or projects where a significant focus is on activity involving people under 18 years of age.

Over 100 pledges to Outvesting - now collecting

Two weeks ago, when we made the initial pledges to donate €50 to an Irish startup, we weren't quite sure what to expect. Would the fund drive get the necessary momentum to reach the target of 100 pledgers? Or would it fizzle?

Happily it didn't fizzle and within a few days we'd actually exceeded the target. So now we're collecting and would like to invite all pledgers to submit their donation to Outvesting.org. Thanks again.