Cork leads the way as Ireland’s Creative and Tech City of Tomorrow

Huawei, the global technology leader, today unveils its New Renaissance Hotspots report which reveals how the Ireland is witnessing a new age of technological and creative innovation with Cork, Dublin and Galway ranking highest in terms of new ways of sharing, creating and innovating respectively.

The New Renaissance Hotspots Report, commissioned by Huawei and authored independently by the Institute of Arts and Ideas and Kjaer Global, explores how hundreds of years after the original Renaissance, we are witnessing a similar cultural frisson of big ideas, driving innovation and change. Analysis of both quantitative data and qualitative research, saw cities within ten European countries scored against three key drivers: Creativity, Connectivity and Innovation to establish the cities at epicentre of today’s explosion in ideas and creativity.

This time around, the Report finds, Ireland is experiencing the New Renaissance in a way in which it could not the original.

The in-depth analysis scored cities based on key indicators, such as the number of creative and knowledge-based jobs, levels of engagement with digital creativity and cultural activities, as well as the diversity of integration with new technologies. It also considered how well cities were prepared for the future, analysing the number of graduates in key creative and technology-based fields and looking at applications for patents in ICT.

As a result of this ‘New Renaissance’, the report predicts that a raft of new job opportunities and roles will arise in countries across Europe:

• Professional Rebel – hired to act as a corporate agent provocateur, constantly challenging the status quo and received wisdoms to boost creativity and innovation.
• AI Artist – Works with AI to create new artistic expressions and art forms. Some work simply to hone creativity in artificial intelligence
• Creativity Therapist – The Creativity Therapist helps people overcome stress and other mental health problems through creative activity
• Personal Identity Curator – ensures our online personas are coherent and aligned
• Robotic Rights Advocate – ensures fair treatment of robots – both domestic and industrial
• Empathic Technology Designer – allows people to share others experience to build emotional and empathic understanding of others. Good for doctors, architects and in real estate
• Cellular Agriculturist – the production of agricultural products from cell cultures. E.g. meat made without using animals and milk created without cows. Ethical and sustainable
• Diversity Officer – ensures organisational diversity to optimise innovation capacity and avoid ‘group think’; including diversity of experience and special skills, for example, autism

The study also highlighted how the New Renaissance will be responsible for the creation of more than 1.1 million jobs* across Europe by 2025 and 1.47 million jobs by 2030.

Anson Zhang, Managing Director, Consumer Business Group, Huawei UK & Ireland said: “The European renaissance was a time of empowerment – largely driven by technology – when art and design was set free of its traditional constraints and new ideas flourished. At Huawei, we believe we are the forefront of a New Renaissance, fuelled by AI. Our newly launched flagship – the Huawei P20 Pro – pushes the boundaries of design and innovation, giving people a smartphone experience that empowers them to achieve and do more. With AI embedded into its core and the world’s first Leica triple lens camera, we’re redefining what’s possible with a smartphone, and hope our device inspires creative communities across the UK and beyond.”

Anne Lise Kjaer from Kjaer Global comments: “The world is changing; complexity in society and business growth is changing the future of jobs and skills. Evolving technologies, notably robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are driving automation of ever more traditional jobs and rewriting the rules of education and skills. To this end, individuals as well as organisations will need to adopt a growth mindset and nurture the creativity, agility and lifelong learning skills that will make us, not just resilient, but thriving as the world changes.”

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