National Digital Week comes to Skibbereen, West Cork November 10th to 12th

By @SimonCocking. Great to see this event return for a second year.

The National Digital Week is for three days from  November 10^th to the 12th in Skibbereen in West Cork, almost as far south as you can go before reaching the islands of Roaring Water Bay. Over 1000 entrepreneurs, digital marketers, and tech enthusiasts are expected to attend.

The event encourages entrepreneurship, and making ‘digital’ accessible for all. The event has been organised by the Ludgate Digital Hub, Ireland’s first rural digital hub and is supported by event partners AIB, Vodafone and Google.

Callum Donnelly said “Following last year’s successful inaugural event which saw in excess of €2 million generated for the local West Cork economy, we are delighted to be rolling this exciting event out for a second year. It is great that Skibbereen is taking such a leadership position in the transformation of rural Ireland into a 1 gigabit society. In rural Ireland we have so many talented people of all ages. However, talent often leaves our communities. National Digital Week is about rebranding rural Ireland as a location in which people can stay by choice to establish businesses, that can scale, employ skilled employees, and compete at a global level, that is the beauty of digital. Geography is no longer a restricting factor as long as Ireland continues investing in future proofing broadband connectivity. 

Tomás O’Midheach, AIB Chief Operating Officer and core sponsor for National Digital Week said, “At AIB we are delighted to have the opportunity to back our customers and the partnership with National Digital Week and Ludgate Hub is an opportunity for us to continue to demonstrate our commitment to backing our tech customers and the wider tech community in Ireland.”

National Digital Week 2016 speakers include

Mark MacGann, Senior Board Advisor, Uber;

David Puttnam, Ireland’s Digital Champion & Oscar Winning Film Producer;

Gráinne McCarthy, London Bureau Chief, Wall Street Journal;

Ronan Harris, VP of Sales Google EMEA & Head of Google Ireland.

Key themes for this year’s National Digital Week, are: 

technology in agriculture,

Female Founders and Leadership

Sharing Economy and opportunities in the global economy.

On Day 1 of the event local students will also  showcase coding skills including a virtual reality tour of Skibbereen created in Minecraft.

Ludgate Digital Hub, open sincd July 2016, is the first rural hub to receive a massive 1GB (1000Mb) connectivity provided by Vodafone as the town is connected to SIRO’s 100% fibre-optic broadband network. 

National Digital Week 2016 is a fantastic opportunity for start-ups to meet the Ludgate Hub team and learn about Call II of the Ludgate Seed Capital fund which opens up this month to the value of over €450,000.

For further event details or to register for tickets, please visit: http://www.digitalweek.ie/

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at Simon@IrishTechNews.net or on Twitter: @SimonCocking