INVENTORIUMNEWSLETTERISSUE 2DEC 2010

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

OPENING EDUCATION

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP OVERVIEW

INSPIRATION: PERSPECTIVES ON EDUCATION

EVENT REVIEWS Wellbeing of the Older Person Workshop The Digital Rural Economy Workshop The Long Debate Future of Tourism Workshop Mobile Apps Workshops

UPCOMING EVENTS

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HELLO

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From its launch in Dublin in March this year, Inventorium has grown from strength to strength, with many delegates seeing their ideas come to commercial and successful fruition. Since our inaugural Newsletter,we have held successful workshops on: Health (on 14th September in Bangor);Digital Economy (on 23rd September in Menai Bridge); The Future of Tourism (on 16th November in Llandudno Junction); The Long Debate (on 11th November in Dublin); and a series of Mobile Apps Workshop (on 6/7 September, Wexford; 25/26th November in Kilkennyand 8 December in Bangor).

Our exciting next steps in 2011 include: Concept Development Workshops an Education Symposia and Idea Generation Workshops, which are featured in this issue.

Welcome to our second Newsletter of 2010. As the year fades out we look back on the achievements we at Inventorium have made, working closely in partnerships and potential partnerships with a wide spectrum of entrepreneurial interests.

For our new readers, here is a brief reminder following the well-received success of our first Newsletter. Inventorium is a partnership between CAST Limited in Bangor, North Wales and NDRC in Dublin, supported bythe EU Ireland Wales Interreg IVA Programme. The partnership is built around the principles of Open Innovation to establish a formal, practical mechanism for the generation of new ideas leading to the formation of new businesses and processes. Inventorium also contributes to sustaining existing businesses, through the development of new services and processes with a particular focus on digital technologies for culture, entertainment, environment, health, leisure, public services, tourism and transport.

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Tom Tauke, Verizon Executive Vice President of Public Affairs, Policy,Google Public Policy Blog

HELLO

Caroline Thompson, Inventorium, Business Liaison Manager posted the following on the Inventorium blog on 21st November: “Vantage point is the most important thing when starting along an innovation process,” announced leading innovator and government advisor, Charles Leadbeater, to delegates at Beyond2010 in Birmingham this week. In a session discussing radical thinking and the stimulation of innovation within public services, Leadbeater said...

Many of the challenges we face are thingswe need to create solutions to, rather than deliver services to solve. A service canonly solve a little bit of most of the problems we face. You cannot solve complex problems like a family in crisis or an old person witha chronic condition and who is socially isolated by delivering a pizza-like servicethat goes in and out. You need a servicethat can work with that complexity.

If Leadbeater’s statement is taken out of context, its sentiment is highly relevant to the work we do in our workshops - with delegates analysing often complex opportunities and problems from innovative perspectives, to produce useful, workable, commercial solutions. We look forward to continuing this momentum and helping more enterprises succeed.

With Seasonal Greetings and best wishes for a successful, innovative and profitable 2011.

Inventorium Teamwww.inventorium.org

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OPENING EDUCATION

Interviews with Martin Owen, Inventorium and Director, Smalti Technology andDr Teresa Dillon, Events Planning Manager, Inventorium on what they see as future directions within education and how this relates to events planned for the Spring 2011 programme.

Lord David Puttnam said a few years ago, that if a doctor could be pulled out of a British hospital from the year 1900 and taken through time into a British hospital in the year 2005, the transformations in medicine, technology and patient standards he would see would limit his ability to practice as a doctor without significant retraining.

However, if a teacher was similarly taken out of their school in 1900 and placed in one in the year 2005, they would see that little had changed in terms of delivery of teaching methodology, culture and standards of student learning.

Clearly these words will offend some head teachers and some schools, but the reality is, says Martin Owen, “that in principle, education standards and culture have not changed fundamentally in Britain for more than 100 years.

Martin and Teresa have both worked in various educational settings from primary and secondary schools, through to higher education, research labs, government and public sector bodies.

Martin Owen

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Martin sees the three key issues facing education in the UK as:

1. “We as a country still produce too many NEETs (Not in Employment, Education or Training) in teaching by continuing to make the important subjects of science, technology and mathematics boring, by lacking conviction and creativity in the classroom.

2. Education fit for the 21st century is ‘education enabling technology’ that needs to be at the core of delivery, and we are not making appropriate use of the technology available to us.

3. We fail to place fundamental, tangible, playful experience, at the centre of early learning. The foundations of mathematics and reading are about playing with objects, words, stories and numbers.

In the rush to ‘adultise’ our education system, not only do children suffer a reduced playful childhood, but their learning quality is reduced. The view that Scandinavian countries and South Korea enjoy the most successful education systems, comes from the OECD (the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) run PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) research, which recommends formal teaching methods should not begin until age 7.”

Teresa agrees with Martin and many of the same points can be translated to the Irish experience. Although Ireland’s education system is less extensive in systematic testing of children than the UK, it is still wed to formal methodologies. The Irish system is fundamentally a very conservative educational system and underfunded, particularly within the fields of early years, primary and special needs education.

Albert Einstein

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Key policy documents, which have influenced the Irish education system over the last ten years include the Green Paper, Education for a Changing World (1992) and the White Paper, Charting Our Education Future (1995) as well various EU Directorate General Education and OECD reports.

Although a state education system in Ireland was established in 1831, it was not until 1998 that a comprehensive education act was actually passed. Since then there has been a number of significant reports, as noted above and pieces of legislation, which have radically improved within Ireland, the provision of education for all, particular for children with special educational needs. Despite such advances, which have taken place against a backdrop of unprecedented economic growth within Ireland, research shows that the recommendations set out in the White Paper in relation to literacy and numeracy targets, have not been meet.

Teresa points out that within the Irish education system differences in how the curriculum is approved are school or even teacher dependent. Although Transition Year for 13 to 14 year olds is now commonplace, during which students are relieved of a classical syllabus, ceasing pure academic education and focusing on assessed life skills instead, there has been little challenges to mainstream educational provision. In comparison to the UK and Wales, who have adapted and tested various learner-centred approaches to education, in Ireland there is an overall dearth of such research and practice.

Where does Inventorium fit into the education space?

Inventorium is examining the contributions it can make by bringing together a variety of specialists and stakeholders in to the education and knowledge economy, with one major remit - to create new ways of doing things, with new businesses to do them.

If businesses are to develop in the ‘education space’ the potential lies in changing the way young people learnto read and use numbers.

Within the UK and Wales, Martin thinks that the two key policies that will have a long-term effect are:

“First, in Wales is the pre-19 year old programme of:• LearningThroughPlay,theFoundation

Phase for 3 to 8 year olds.• LearningPathways,for14to19

year olds through the Baccalaureate replacement of A Levels, so students benefit from combining traditional academic and vocational subjects.”

Scotland’s government is implementing a similar system, but England is re-trenching the traditional model.

“Second, in North West Wales, the announcement by the British Government on 6th December 2010, of a national roll-out of universal broadband to all communities, at a minimum speed of 20mbps. The impact of fast broadband for schools, communities and private homes cannot be over-estimated and will create new opportunities for learning by not following the pathways and models of 19th century education. This is where Inventorium can create the biggest impact.”

Einstein is quoted as saying “it is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.” Martin Owen seems like a man on a mission to find and apply innovative technologies to help children rediscover their curiosity and drive to overcome the limitations of modern formal education. Dr Teresa Dillon agrees that igniting children’s and young people’s creativity and imagination at an early age is vital to their continued development and growth. Investing in early years education sets someone up for life, it provides him or her with adaptable thinking strategies. Developing tools and viable business within education needs the creative and innovative energy of makers and doers, who have different skills and mindsets; at Inventorium we hope to help people find such business partners.

Workshops will focus on providing the idea groups and owners of ideas who wish to work with others, with support to develop a workable technical specification and robust business plan and work to address issues such as ‘intellectual property’, ‘how to market your product or service’ and ‘how to generate sufficient revenue to succeed commercially’. A useful example might be of a potential community tourism business idea - Inventorium staff will help a group develop its idea into a self-funding operation.

The workshop focus is on ‘making it happen’ as can be seen from its place in the flow of activities described in the new Inventorium brochure: Sharing Ideas and Solutions, Creating Cultures of Innovation. The workshops are aimed at groups and individuals who have an idea and are serious about turning it into a successful commercial venture.

The individual commitment is to sign up for the programme of workshops, which progressively refine the owner’s idea until it can realistically proceed to market within a workable business plan.

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CONCEPT DEVELOPMENTWORKSHOP OVERVIEWThe Inventorium Concept Development Workshops are now planned for 2011, and are an essential stage in the process of bringing an innovative digital technology idea from concept to commercial realisation.

This process will comprise of a structured set of progressive 1-day or half day workshops. They will be run in Wales under Caroline Thompson, and in Ireland under Evert Bopp, both experienced facilitators.

The practical purpose of these workshops which are run along the Nesta Creative Suite toolkit lines, is to help individuals (the Idea Champion) or groups (the Idea Group) to follow a filtering and building process to turnan idea into a commercial, deliverable, sustainable and profitable reality.

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CONCEPT DEVELOPMENTWORKSHOP OVERVIEWEach workshop is expected to have an appropriate expert or business person who has been through the startup process, as a guest speaker to pass on the benefits of his or her own experiences.

Inventorium staff insist that at the end of the workshop series, delegates will have their business plan completed because it will be crucial to their success in going forward and seeking investment and customers for their business.

The whole workshop programme is seen as an indispensable process on the road to success, acting as both a motivating escalator of idea refinement and reality filter to weed out weak propositions.

These workshops are best suited to Idea Groups and owners of an innovative digital technology idea who wish to work with others and feel ready to begin the commercialisation of their idea. The geographical extent of Inventorium’s area of operations is the North and West of Wales, and South East of Ireland.

The Concept Development Workshops for 2011 are planned for March and April in both Ireland and Wales, with specific dates to be confirmed soon. These dates will be published on the website at www.inventorium.org

For any further questions, please email:

Wales Caroline Thompsoncaroline@inventorium.org

IrelandEvert Boppevert@inventorium.org

INSPIRATION:PERSPECTIVESON EDUCATION

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With each Newsletter, we like to include an ‘Inspiration’ section to reflect the views, in thoughts and words, of groups of people living and working in our world of technological innovation. These views come directly from interviews with unbiased participants in Ireland and Wales, and their unedited words are used to colour and inspire.

In our last issue we talked with four entrepreneurs who had taken part in our workshops and benefited from the Inventorium process. In this issue we have spoken with two professionals with different involvement in and perspectives on the Welsh and Irish Education system, and how technology fits into their lives and views. We have also spoken with three young people who are attending different schools across Ireland and got their views on the Irish secondary school system and what they would improve.

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1. What is the current approach to learning and teacher training in Irish schools?Traditional and conservative.

2. What is positive about the currentIrish system?Irish education has served us very well for the last thirty to forty years, especially asthe Celtic Tiger was coming of age and joining the EU.

3. What is negative about the Irish system?“It is past its sell-by date and is not fit for purpose. Technological determinate arguments are incredibly dangerous and should be resisted at all costs. Technology has a role to play in teaching and learning, but must not dominate. It is best used to empower when engaged in learning and open-ended constructive activities. It is not about communication but about students doing things for themselves. An example might be using smartphones, mobile phones with apps, for measuring distance and volume for doing mathematics exercises. The teacher then becomes a mentor while the student carries out practical and applied activities engaged in mathematics. My mantra is about empowering students to make and do things.”.

Brendan Tangney’s research addresses the use of technology to mediate learning, with specific interests in environments for learning music, math’s and programming, ICT policy and evaluation and distributed computing. Within Ireland he has received numerous awards for his teaching and educational programs.

Fellow Trinity College DublinSenior Lecturer, School of Computer Science & StatisticsCo-director Centre for Research in IT in Education.

4. What vision of learning do you have for Irish education in 2020?My vision for 2020 is simple: holistic, collaborative, contextual, cross-curricular, supported by technology, producing people who are critically minded thinkers. A good model of such a school is High Tech High in San Diego. Education should be meeting the needs of the individual, not engaged in the mass production of human widgets.

5. What role do you see technology playing in this vision?Supportive and facilitating, not determining needs or policy because there is the danger of industry seizing the initiative and agenda for themselves.”

Brendan Tangney

3. What is negative about the Irish system?The system has constraints, particularly financial, which stifle and do not encourage or allow professional development.There is a massive underfunding in the classroom in comparison to English schools. Pupils in this area of Wales are formula funded differentially and unfairly even within the same catchment area. Parents are unaware that pupils attending a school only across a road from each other can receive up to three times more capitation in the same education authority. This has an impact on resources and unfair competition.

4. What vision of learning do you have for Welsh education in 2020?I see that schools will reach out their resources and communication to the home. We may even see whole schools/centers of learning existing virtually and more opportunities for community based learning. We will inevitably see that schools have to adapt to provide more vocational courses. Wales is ranked lowest of the UK countries and is now cast adrift from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.Out of 67 countries taking part in the OECD Programme for International Students Assesment (PISA), Wales was ranked 38th for reading, 40th for maths and 30th for the tests for science. In order to compete in a modern world it is important that Wales needs to stop trying to lead and tweak educational initiatives but start to follow what works in other countries - it is important that communication is central to progress with English, Maths and Scienceat the forefront. 10

John Whittaker is a school teacher in Wales with a special interest in technology-based teaching tools and methods. His development work in 3D educational resources has received considerable interest from all sections of society, and therefore on the basis that, “a picture speaks a thousand words” he has created three short U Tube clips about his work and tools, for public viewing, links to which are given on the next page.

Science Teacher Ysgol Friars, SchoolBangor Wales

John Whittaker

1. What are you thoughts about teaching in Wales today?I have taught Science since the 1970’s and have seen a full cycle of emphasis from mixed ability teaching involving practical skills to a content led curriculum of National Curriculum targets from 21 –down to 17 and then to 4. It has gone full circle to an unrealistic expectation, back too far, to an extreme pupil centric skills based curriculum, which will not deliver the content or requirements for GCSE, A-levels or University. DCELLS (Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills) is out of touch with the classroom. Pupils need to be able to relate their attainment in the classroom to marks and not to an array of comments about skills. We need a more balanced approach where skills and content deliver the needs of a balanced interesting and stimulating curriculum and where assessment relates to attainment.

2. What is positive about the current system?The pupils are now competent with the new technology and presentational, research and communication tools available to them. They are not daunted by finding out and researching their own answers to big fundamental questions.

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5. What are you thoughts about teaching in Wales today?Technology is developing rapidly and my opinion is that games technology will integrate its processing power with voice and movement activated interfaces with superfast broadband speeds to deliver more intuitive access to resources and faster communication. Easier and faster access to the resources of subject areas via 3D interfaces will enable even our weakest pupils to be involved and more in control of their learning and progress rather than struggling to cope with the basics. Experimentation involving haptic devices which provide the look and feel of reality will become part of science as well as art, design and music. The technology for the future is interesting but we must see how other countries like the Far East are using it now for educational purposes and try to stimulate our pupils with similar desires to learn and progress.

We are already seeing the integration of multimedia technology, TV, video games consoles and social network sites like Facebook onto single platforms. This is the way the students of tomorrow will be interacting and learning from and with each other.

6. What technological infrastructures have you developed for your school?I have developed a 3D school server based model which enables the school to be in control of its resources and securely protect its users. My 3D virtual school application also allows the integration of Chat rooms, Facebook and Internet. It is currently in the development phase and will require more than just one person, a commitment from the school and external funding. I have also set up a social networking site for pupils to access resources and communicate with each other in lessons and outside hours. This is in regular usefor GCSE Media Studies and we evenhave one remote student who has keptin touch with the course this term and is due to start in our school after Christmas.The site has links and access to presentations and video resources, a joint whiteboard, video chat room, Facebook and Twitter integration. In the Y11 forum 2010-11 sample examination paper you will see evidence that the students have been jointly preparing answers to sample questions for their mock examination in preparation for their external GCSE module in January. There are 28 posted responses and 198 views from a class of only 22 pupils. I am sure that you will agree thatthis is evidence of effective use and voluntary engagement by the students.

Check John’s work: http://www.youtube.com/user/JJFLASHMEDIA#p/u/14/RtIvHiHC8XI. In this link John explains more technically and graphically, how he has created a focal point classroom plus alternative classrooms in the sky (for different subjects or regions) by linking a 3D user interface with Schools Moodle VLE to create Sloodle. Sloodle is an Open Source project aiming to bring together the learning support and management features of web-based LMS (Learning Management Systems) with rich interactive 3D multi-user games technology such as Second Life or Open Sim.

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Q2. How could you improve the school system?Aron: “I’m in transition so I don’t have homework; it’s a fun year because I playa lot of music, but it has its bad points when there’s lots of time doing nothing. I’d preferto be given more work.”Cian: “Improve the checking of our homework.”Elle May: “I don’t know. There’s not much Icould improve. I really like my school.”

Q3. What technologies do you use in the school?Aron: “We have two computer rooms with 25 computers in each, that are fairly new and use Windows 7.”Cian: “We’ve got interactive technology such as the drawing board for teachers in every classroom. Great for projecting film clips for English and religion, but Accountancy still uses an OHP.

We can use the PCs in the computer rooms and they are always supervised.”Elle May: “We have a weekly computer class and we’re taught Word and Excel. Most kids know some of the things we are taught because we’ve learned the tools at home.”

Q4. How do you think schools in Ireland could use technology better?Aron: “By having more. Smartphones for maths and other subjects would be good.I’d like us to iPads but can’t see that happening. I’d also like more freedom and access to use our computers because we only get two classes a week. We can’t use computers for our school work.”Cian: “By giving all students a laptop with access to printers. We bring in homeworkon USB sticks at the moment.”Elle May: “By teaching about the internet and safety first, rather than applications first.We don’t use any computerised projectorsin class, only the old overhead projectors.”

Q5. If you were to organise and run a school how would you do it?Aron: “Give iPads to all students.”Cian: “Go for as much technology as possible in all classrooms, plus individual laptops to replicate a working environment. I’d also like to see technology in sport so we could analyse our performance on say, video.”Elle May: “I’d have teaching slates like the iPad and more computer classes, and learn howto use the internet better.”

Q1. What do you think of secondary school in Ireland? What is good about it, what is bad?Aron: “The range of subjects is good; you can choose from a lot in transition year, like woodwork, drama, music. The bad is teachers can’t be fired if they are useless. We get stuck with the same teacher for three years and if they are incompetent we don’t learn and can’t do anything about it.” Cian: “The good things are we have lots of extra-curricular activities like football, debating and sports. The academics are mostly good and technology and the interactive web is good. What is bad is that many teachers don’t check the homework so why bother with quality work?”Elle May: “The teachers are really friendly. I can’t think of any bad things to say.”

During the day speakers clarified and explained some of the buzzwords used increasingly in this sector such as: active third age, remote patient management, remote diagnosis, online support, assisted living, telemedicine, and telecare.

The population of the UK is ageing - as shown by the government’s Office of National Statistics. The ‘Baby Boomer’ generation is now becoming pensionable, between 1901 and 2003 the proportion of people aged 50 and over rose from 15% to 33% and is projected to rise to 41@ by 2031. Life expectancy for men is predicted to rise from 76.4 in 2004 to 80.3 by 2024, and for women from 80.7 to 84 years inthe same period.

Whilst this ageing population is better served by society than its predecessors in many ways, serious concerns for health care costs are growing. The reality is that everyone who does not die prematurely will grow old and face the questions of health and wellbeing at some stage in old age.

Speakers during the day were: Maldwyn Roberts of Age Concern Gwynedd and Ynys Mon who spoke about issues concerning older people in Wales; and Gareth Williams, director T-Cubed of Parc Menai, who spoke about the provision of personalised Telecare services.

Delegate tables were organised to create a dynamic mix of policy-makers, technologists and ‘end-users’. The usefulness of the workshop centred around activities drawing out extraordinary, creative and critical thinking at each table. The key to most solutions was to find innovative uses of technology at the point of care, within a care environment, for a carer’s use, or for the benefit of older people not yet needing care. It was generally accepted that people now in their 60s were more technologically aware if not computer literate, and therefore more comfortable with the use of technological facilities and solutions. Those in their 70s and over were much less adept and so needed a different, traditionally less cost-effective and more human approach.

The first activity was the popular Inventorium Poker, adapted for this workshop to include Wild Cards on which delegates wrote their own sector-specific issues.

Inventorium’s Health Workshop: Wellbeing of the Older Person, held in Bangor, on 14th September, reflected those concerns as well as the interest in the innovative opportunities this market offers. Inventorium delegates included Local Authority and NHS policy-makers and end users, technologists, software experts, local charities such as Age Concern Wales, Betsi Cadwaladr Universal Health Board, Voluntary Services and the Arts Council. This was a packed workshop for which 40 people registered and 31 attended.

The Health Workshop focused on these key questions:

• Howcantechnologyenrichourlater years?• Howcandigitaltechnologyhelpprovide better care in old age?• Candigitaltechnologyhelpsupport carers?

This proved a useful idea since delegates enjoyed overlapping sector knowledge and could dig deep into their analytical discussions. One idea was selected from each table, worked through in more detail and finally presented to the room.

The second activity was a critique phase adapting Edward de Bono’s ‘Six Hats Thinking’ technique. Here each person was nominated to ‘wear’ one of six meaningfully coloured hats: red for intuitiveness, blue for process control, green for imaginativeness, yellow for positive and black for negative critical attitude, and white for data and information focus. Delegates had to convincingly play their role, often a character they were not themselves. This was difficult to begin with but powerful ideas and critiques quickly arose as players found they were better understanding some issues with characters and attitudes of some colleagues back at their own workplaces. The final outcome was to come up with a powerful poster for their idea.

Online documentation of this event is available on Facebook: facebook.com/album.php?aid=581271&id=390314135376

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WELLBEING OFTHE OLDER PERSONWORKSHOP

Peter spoke about the difficulties of implementing broadband on Anglesey, particularly the problems of topography, population/business distribution and concentration, and the ‘not-spots’ where broadband currently is unavailable. He explained how fast evolving wireless technologies were poised to overcome Anglesey’s difficulties. His company Bluenowhere has considerable experience in the area of working with local government and business communities with what are known as ‘high quality fixed and nomadic broadband connectivities’.

The afternoon programme was full and intense, and included workshop activities such as the evaluation game -

Another useful analysis game played was “Pain and Gain”. In this activity, players were given an example, such as a B&B owner, and had to describe the ‘pain’ he/she was enduring by not having broadband, and then describe the gains which would arise from having fast reliable broadband. This game would be equally useful to business owners in Gwynedd and other parts of Wales where broadband speeds are notoriously slow and pressure from businesses can be applied to government for an improvement of the broadband infrastructure.

Initially planned by Inventorium as a ‘taster session’ this mini-workshop’s value and success has led to general agreement that future full day workshops will be held.

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THE DIGITALRURALECONOMY

The key issues addressed by Inventorium revolved around the question: “Will an investment in wireless broadband, accessible in every village, make a difference?”

Led by Martin Owen, the session was orientated towards examining the opportunities technical innovation might bring to the local economy. The key issues discussed and worked on were about the implementation of wireless broadband - that by whatever means, it will come; how will it change ways of doing business and services provided; how to make and save money from it.

The keynote presentation was given by Peter Curnow-Ford, Chairman of Bluenowhere Ltd, who is working with Anglesey County Council on their broadband strategy for the island.

What will life on Anglesey be like in 10years time?This was the big question addressed during this Anglesey Business Week workshop. Anglesey Business Week is a week-long event organised by Anglesey County Council from 20th to 24th September 2010. The Inventorium workshop was held on the afternoon of Thursday 23rd at the Victoria Hotel in Menai Bridge. Of the 28 people registered, 16 attended - all business people from Anglesey, concerned about their future amid fears that Anglesey will continue as an under-resourced and under-developed local economy within the UK.

Inventorium Poker. In this game players were grouped at tables and played with a card deck comprising three suits of cards: different business contexts, different types of people, and different technologies. Each player was dealt three cards - one from each suit, and from these, had to produce a creative business idea to present to the others in the group. Players were very creative and able to relate their ideas to their own context of Anglesey business.

A key event in Dublin’s Innovation Festivalwas the Long Debate, held on Thursday11th November at the NDRC in the DigitalHub at Crane Street. It followed the March 2010 publication of the government’s Innovation Taskforce report setting out recommendations for developing Irelandinto an ‘International Innovation Hub’,through developing the country’s creativeand smart economy.

What do they think would be a systemic approach to the development of innovation cultures within Ireland?

What are the right actions to take to develop systemic innovation?

How we do these things – with emphasis on practical tools and interventions?

Each speaker took their turn, presenting in quick succession their viewpoint on these questions with the aim to facilitate an open, public conversation on these issues.

THE LONGDEBATE

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This 3-hour event was packed with over 150 delegates listening to 21 speakers who were introduced as: “twenty one of Irelands finest thinkers, academics, entrepreneurs, creators and makers, coming together to look at the question of innovation.”

The evening was planned to be a presentation of 21 profound ideas and personal perspectives, which against the present backdrop of economic belt-tightening, would generate lively discussion and networking opportunities for everyone involved in any form of innovation looking to Ireland’s future.

Taking the Innovation Taskforce report as the start point, each speaker was asked to respond to the questions in a 5-minute perspective:

EVENTREVIEWS

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The evening was moderated by highly experienced and respected journalist and columnist Kevin Myers from The Irish Independent. His view of this event is important: “I’m a layman, that’s why I’m here. The systemic approach to innovation is one of those buzzwords we hear about in the lay community.

The first speaker was Alan Costello, Managing Director of Ruby Consulting, who concluded his presentation with: “...we tried deadline strategies and funding strategies to fuel innovation. I believe we do innovation well, and the question is, how do we improve it a little more? Lets look at the evidence of what we are doing well, and lets not just wait for the last person out to turn off the lights.

This sombre warning was taken to refer to the recent press reports of threats of worried educated and trained young Irish people looking to go abroad for work, taking their skills elsewhere and depriving Ireland of their contribution to future economic success.

THE LONGDEBATE

As in other parts of this Newsletter, recalling valuable words of some of the speakers best reflects the passion, creativity, divergence of opinions, and breadth of commercial interest in Ireland’s potential for innovation. Karlin Lillington, Irish Times put it eloquently with: “You will hear some points that you will agree with, and then you’ll hear a completely oppositional view and you’d see validity in that argument…We’ll all learn something from each other.”

Kevin Thompstone, Economic Development Practitioner and Consultant: “Where do we want to go? What the Innovation Taskforce is saying is that we’re looking for a highly attractive incubation environment for the best entrepreneurs in Europe and the world. We must invest ahead of demand not wait for it to be created.”

I love events like thiswhen minds cometogether. After the formal presentations there will be a free-for-all and that has the makings of a wonderful interchange where there is serious talk and exchange, and out of the exchange you get the exciting things, when atoms explode and collide and new things happen.”

EVENTREVIEWS

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THE LONGDEBATE

Cairin O’Connor, Development Director of the Bolton Trust and Dockland Innovation Trust: “I believe clustering will happen and I would like to see more incubation centres across Ireland, especially more specialised centres for mobile, cloud, nanotech and biotech etc.”

Jean Byrne, Design 21st Century:“Something that is systemic, we must be providing for from an early age. I don’t believe we are providing enough creative thinkingthat allows innovation to flourish at an early age in schools. There isn’t that much mystique to innovation - it’s just a big word, but really it is about imagination.”

Dierdre De Burca, Former Green Party Senator and Entrepreneur: “Finance is an essential element of supporting any innovation culture. There’s also a tendency to romanticise innovation sometimes, to say it will succeed despite all the obstacles and against all the odds. I think that’s true of small scale innovation to a certain extent, but when you look at the restructuring of the Irish economy and what is proposed in the Taskforce report, you’d have to accept that major investment and financing will be necessary.”

The last word goes to Steve Gotz, Commercial Development Manager,Centre for Next Generation Localisation,who succinctly brings together Ireland’s current economic situation with its talentfor innovation: “Lack of resources forces people to innovate.”

Online documentation of this eventis available on:

Site: Inventorium.org

Vimeo: vimeo.com/user4167125Facebook: facebook.com/album.php?aid=573512&id=390314135376

There is a very very strong body of evidence that what actually differentiates the success of centres of systemic innovation from those who have put in the capital and expertise, are the soft factors - the culture, attitude and particularly relationships.”Dan Crowley, Head of Commercial Operations, NDRC

“The function of education is primarily social reproduction. Education is also anincredibly trans-formative spaceand we can seethat educationmust be integralto the innovationeco-systems.”Mick Wilson, Dean of GradCAM(DIT, NCAD, IADT, UU):

EVENTREVIEWS

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• Howwilltomorrow’scustomerchoose their holiday?• Whatwillbethereforthemtochoose?• Howwilltheymaketheirbuyingdecision?• WhychooseWales?

The questions were addressed through a combination of a talk by keynote presenter Ed Parsons a Geospatial Technologists from Google, discussion groups and practical idea generation activities led by the Inventorium Team.

Issues specifically addressed were: increasing revenue and promoting delegates’ tourist businesses, reducing the effects of seasonality, using new geographical locative web and mobile technologies to enhance visitor experience, and enhancing visitor service information and reservation facilities.

Ed used many examples to illustrate his points.One suggestion was linking renowned artefacts now in national museums with their local origins to expand tourist interest. A good case is the Mold Cape, presently on display in the British Museum in London and recently featured in the BBC’s British Museum project “A History of the World in 100 Objects”. The Cape’s extraordinary workmanship and uniqueness reflected an artistically sophisticated Bronze Age society living in the Mold area nearly 4,000 years ago.

Whilst the workshop focused on innovative technology applied to tourism in Wales, some delegates with business interests or ideas beyond the borders, were thinking hard about widening their view to the bigger more lucrative possibilitiesof overseas tourism.

The travel industry is renowned for constantly changing. It segments into overseas and UK-based tourism. Inevitably overseas tourism is driven with ‘push agendas’ with industry operators focusing on: packages for new destinations, a new trend for bespoke adventure itineraries, budget airlines opening up new accessible destinations in Europe, promoting city-break attractions etc. UK-based tourism is similar, only with local perspectives.

The Future of Tourism event focused on tourism in Wales and our delegates reflected the import- ance of the workshop, coming from diverse interests such as: local Tourist or Food enterprises, Arts and Culture and Environment and Heritage organisations, Digital Technologists, Tourism Communities, and people seeking to start a new enterprise or expand their current activity.

Change often happens as a ‘pull response’ by market forces triggered for example by: an economic downturn, unexpected natural disasters, local outbreaks of disease such as Foot & Mouth, new tourist profiles as population age and wealth concentrations change, but most often by leaps in technology.

THE FUTUREOF TOURISM - TOMORROW’STOURIST TODAY

Over 50 people registered and 42 people attended the busy workshop in Llandudno Junction on 16th November. Martin Owen spoke at the start, introducing ideas on niche markets.

Technology has given the individual tourist more choice and control by increasing awareness of options, access to shopping around to take advantage of real competition, and importantly, access to information about destinations and a range of activities which might suit families, young people or mature tourists.

Innovation in local tourism is vital to the lifeblood of Wales and its local economy. The agenda for the day was explicit: to find innovative ways to address four key questions using digital technologies for maximising Wales’s assets. The four questions were:

EVENTREVIEWS

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MOBILE APPSWORKSHOP

This review of the one and a half day Mobile Apps workshop reflects mainly on what was said by speakers and participants, to give a flavour of just how useful the event was for:

• UnderstandinghowInventoriumcanhelp individuals develop their ideas.• Pushingparticipantshardthroughaseries disruptive thinking activities, to exercise their creative minds, draw out refinements and see new opportunities in their own ideas.• Networking,challengingandsharingideas with like-minded potential entrepreneurs.

The first guest speaker was Richard Rodger, CTO FeedHenry Ltd, who spoke about the basics: “This is about the landscape for building mobile applications, how you go about it if you are an entrepreneur who has an idea and wants to get in to the mobile application space. Based on the iPhone or Android - how are you actually going to go about it.”

The next was Shane McAllister, Founder MobaNode, who said during his presentation: “As at February 2010 there were around 4.2 billion mobile subscribers in the world - more than all TVs and computers combined. The market is really only 18 months to two years old, and people are jumping on to the app bandwagon. Your actual market place is enormous and growing bigger all the time as devices become more and more capable.”

Andy Goodman, Inventorium, led the first exercise. “The core focus of this workshop is to generate as many ideas as possible, then select a subset of those ideas through an interesting process. At each stage critiquing the ideas, improving them and improving the communication of that idea with a final aim of having a well-framed, pitchable idea that can be used to present to investors, and other end-users, and potentially to recruit other collaborators.”

Two Mobile Apps workshops were held inIreland and one in Wales during this quarter. Mark Kearns, Inventorium Project Director Ireland, opened the first workshop at the Carlton MillRace Hotel in Bunclody, Wexford on 6-7thSeptember 2010. With these commercial and powerful words Mark said: “I think the mobileapps space has astounded everybody withthe amount of growth that it’s seen. You’relooking at over €2 billion in revenues being madeby mobile app developers at the moment.”

The exercises went very well and participants enjoyed their hard work.

Zoltan Kovary a participant said: “So far it has really fulfilled my preconceptions. Basically they are very well organised. I really liked the time-keeping being strict which forces you to work as hard as you can.”

Teri Morris, another participant, reflecting on the day said: “I feel that the mobile device is so important these days. It’s a pervasive device that is involved with everybody. Everybody has one, everybody uses one, it’s a very personal device, and this really is the future of the way applications are going. I think if you want to produce a website or an application or business that is relevant, you have to have a mobile application, and then you have to start thinking about mobile devices.”

EVENTREVIEWS

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MOBILE APPSWORKSHOP

“You’ve got a lot of people here with great ideas. I’d say half the people are idea people in need of some structure and some process to help funnel, filter and distil the ideas into a discipline that would be practical. From that practicality people get a more intuitive and more developed learning experience.”Damian Eames summary of the Wexford event

“I came to the work-shop to get engaged with what is happening nationally and internationally, to find out what the thinking is and how it can be applied to my field.”

The second workshop to be held in Ireland was held at the Hotel Kilkenny in Kilkenny, over 25th and 26th November.

The workshop was moderated by Martin Owen who started the first morning off with the ice-breaking game ‘Conversation Cascade’. Participants pair up with someone they had never met before, to discuss their work, mobile apps and their ideas.

Eileen Coleman, a participant in the Kilkenny event

EVENTREVIEWS

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MOBILE APPSWORKSHOP

Two extracts from presentations are of particularly memorable significance.

Dermot Daly, of Tapadoo told his audience: “The amount of time you actually spend using your app is actually 20 to 30 seconds unless it is something very engaging - which means an app has got to do something, and do it well.”

Darren Morris, of App Bits told his audience: “Almost 2/3rds of development time is taken up by the design process. So I give you three tips:1.1. Read the guidelines, buy the device and get used to working it.1.2. Use the apps that come with your device and buy some more to use.1.3. Hire a designer, get a professional; they know what’s going on and how to do it.

Valuable advice indeed. The other elements of the whole app package come together through the applied exercises we at Inventorium provide during workshops. Then the whole process of bringing together ideas with the people who will help “make it happen” is through the Concept Development Workshops described earlier in this newsletter. They are the gateway to commercial success.

The third workshop was held in Bangor at Technium CAST on 8th December, for which 36 people registered and 35 attended the three separate sessions.

The first session provided three innovation industry speakers:

• Theuser-needperspective, by Jonathan Jones-Morris.• Whatmakesagreatapp?byAndyWigley.• Howdoyougetyourappinthespotlight? by Paul Levy.

Session two was activity based using the Inventorium poker game as a successful creative fun tool for generating new ideas.

Session three was activity based working on developing and critiquing ideas, similar to that used in Kilkenny - then making a 30 second product advert.

The first stage was for groups to create posters showing the key factors which arose from earlier analysis and discussion in Session 2, such as: the people who would use the app, the context of use, the technology required, the features applied to their idea, and the business model.

A member of the group would present the ideas and a vote taken to select the best. The next stage was to create a 30 second advert distilling the idea into a communication piece. The purpose of this exercise was to get the group to focus in more detail on the end user, and the customer to whom they would sell the idea as a business pitch - in a short space of time.

One group product example from Kilkenny, was for a GeoNanny app, for parents who were concerned to know where their children were.

said Stephan Downey.

As Caroline Thompson, Business Liaison Manager, Inventorium, Wales noted: “A variety of good ideas came forward, whether tourism based, entertainment/leisure based or an informational platform for someone’s existing business”. Over 2011, Inventorium will be supporting some of these ideas to reach their full potential.

“We created the presentation on screen, then recorded it for the demo. It made you focus on what you wanted to get across, to understand what the customer really needed for the product, and what you wanted to satisfy that need with”

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UPCOMINGEVENTSFollowing on from a successful run of events in 2010, in both Ireland and Wales, marketing for 2011 events and workshops is now under way.

For full details of each event,and to register, please go to:www.inventorium.org/events

Concept Development Workshop dates in March and April will be notified as soon as they are agreed.

Education Symposia and Workshops in April and May will be notified as soon as they are agreed.

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Mobile Apps Workshop, 18th January at Technium Aberystwyth

Mobile Apps Workshop,27-28th January at Carton House, Maynooth, Kildare

Future of Tourism 21st February BluestonePembrokeshire

Mobile Apps workshop22nd February at Trinity CollegeCarmarthen

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UPCOMINGEVENTS

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MOBILE APPSWORKSHOPHow can mobile technology disrupt your life, work or business?

Want to take advantage of increased revenues from having a mobile app?

Bursting with ideas for new mobile apps?

Ambitious but unsure and unready for entrepreneurship?

The Workshop

Between January and February 2011, Inventorium will bring together:

• Technicalexpertsfromindustry.• SkillediPhone,MicrosoftandAndroid

developers. • ExperiencedGraphicandInteraction

designers.• Entrepreneursandpotentialbackers.• Keyindividualsfrom:Education,

Entertainment, Environment, Health and Tourism sectors.

In a workshop to generate and work up ideas for mobile apps which will be facilitated by the Inventorium Team, with key note speakers from the mobile apps industry.

Most suited to:

• Companiesrequiringanappfor their business

• ‘EndUsers’withadisruptiveanddemanding perspective on mobile technologies.

• ProfessionalsworkinginEducation, Entertainment, Environment, Health and Tourism.• Actual,potentialandrecovering entrepreneurs in Wales.• Individualswillingtoinvestonefullday in the event.

The Opportunity:

Mobile applications are emerging that offer exceptional opportunities to innovate, incubate and initiate powerful, popular solutions in unheard of volumes. Apple’s App Store exceeds 1.9 billion downloads; Android’s is now over 90,000, and the forecasted market value is $30 billion by 2015.

Register now:

Workshops are restricted to 36 delegates attending one free event at numerous venues.

Dates and locations:

• 18Jan,TechniumAberystwyth• 27/28JanCartonHouse, Maynooth, Kildare• 22Feb,TrinityUniversityCollege, Carmarthen

Visit inventorium.org to register your interest or email events@inventorium.org to find out more.

If you thought YES to any of these questions, then the Inventorium Mobile Apps Workshop is for you.

UPCOMINGEVENTS

THE FUTUREOF TOURISMWORKSHOP 2How will tomorrow’s customer choose their holiday?

What will be there for them to choose?

How will they make their buying decision?

Why choose Wales?

We will be exploring how:

• New,locative,webandmobiletechnologies can enhance tourist’s experience

• Youcanincreaseyourrevenueandpromote your tourist business

• Toenhancecustomerservice,informationand reservation facilities

• Toreduceseasonalityinourtouristmarket• Toenhancethevisitorexperienceand

enable tourists to sample the best Wales can offer

The Workshop Agenda:

The goal of the workshop is to develop new ideas, which can be taken forward with support from the Inventorium team and developed into viable business solutions, products and services.

Participants will be led through a series of Inventorium idea generation activities.

The Inventorium team will facilitate the workshop with keynote presentations from Rheinallt Ffoster-Jones, People’s Collection Wales and Graham Morgan, Spatial Consultants.

This workshop is most suited to:

• LocalTouristorFoodEnterprises• KeypeoplefromArtsandCulture,

Heritage, Environment and Entertainment • TourismCommunities• DigitalTechnologists• Peopleseekingtostartanewenterpriseor

expand their current activity

When and Where:

1st February 2011 09.00-17.00 Bluestone National Park ResortNarberth, PembrokeshireSA67 8DE

Numbers are limited. Registration is essential.Free registration now at: www.inventorium.org

The opportunity and challenge is to find innovative ways to address these questions and utilise digital technologies to maximise Wales’ assets - great local produce, historical sites, unique culture and stunning landscape.

Our aim is to help you innovate and ensure that Wales becomes a major tourist destination in the future.

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Inventorium IRL TeamMark Kearns, Project DirectorEvert Bopp, Innovation Commercialisation managerDr. Teresa Dillon, Event Planning ManagerInventorium, NDRC, The Digital Hub,Crane St, Dublin 8Tel: +353 1 542 4156

Inventorium Wales TeamJenny Dickinson, Project ManagerCaroline Thompson, InnovationCommercialisation managerMartin Owen, Innovation StrategyAndy Goodman, Industrial Design Inventorium, TechniumCAST, Ffordd Penlan,Parc Menai Business Park, Bangor,Gwynedd. LL57 4HJTel: + 44 1248 675013

If you have any questions about Inventoriumor would like to view further documentationof our events, please contact:Jenny Dickinson, Project Managerjenny@inventorium.org

www.inventorium.org

CreditsEditorial: Inventorium TeamDesign/Layout: www.newgraphic.ieText: George PetryPhotographers: Teresa Dillon, Tim Redfern,Jenny Dickinson, Caroline Thompson,Jo Quinney, Ian Pearse