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Ireland’s vibrant culture of ideas doesn’t stop at The Pale

Our first Open Mic Jams ran last autumn, as part of Innovation Dublin. Participants pitched to packed houses at the Stag’s Head and The Odessa Club, and before we even get to the great ideas, we loved the sheer energy in the room. People seemed to like the stripped-down format, too.

So we thought we’d take the show on the road.

In Ireland, more than half our population lives outside an urban area, and of our cities, the resources, networks and attention are disproportionately focused on Dublin. “Most of the channels to express ideas are in Dublin, but there are a lot of people with good ideas outside of Dublin,” says Brendan O’Driscoll CEO of LaunchPad company, Soundwave, who pitched in Kilkenny. “It’s very important for there to be opportunities in other cities.”

Our Open Mic Jams in Waterford and Kilkenny were aimed at creative and innovative clusters in the southeast, but we also welcomed pitches from anywhere in Ireland — it’s not just about going where the ideas are, it’s about bringing people together.

Langton’s, Kilkenny (28/2/2012)

There’s already a thriving arts, culture, and startup community in Kilkenny, and we’re grateful for the enthusiasm of the people who got involved to help us spread the word. At our Kilkenny event, the networking opportunity seemed at least as beneficial as the open forum.

We heard eight pitches in total, including one from Kilkenny-based LaunchPad company, Instant Opinion, who talked about their feedback service that helps hotels and restaurants respond in realtime, so their customers leave happy.

“The three minutes makes you really focus and hone in on your message,” says Soundwave’s O’Driscoll. “In NDRC we had visuals to carry our message but we had to reinvent the pitch without visual aids or props. It really helped us focus on our message.”

But it wasn’t just established early-stage companies or LaunchPad participants. Or even tech companies. One of the benefits to hosting an event like this in a smaller city is that you get a really broad range of contributions.

“One woman had an idea for an arts festival, and everyone would dress as their favourite literary character,” says O’Driscoll. “That was a breath of fresh air, hearing a strong idea that doesn’t necessarily revolve around a next-generation web service.”

He’s talking about Clare Muldowney’s Literal Festival, a community-based event she wants to run, that would be both literary and theatrical. Inventorium is focused on digital ideas, but it’s still key to realise that not all digital ideas start out that way, and that traditional ideas might develop a digital element. And failing all of that, the exchange itself is valuable.

“There’s better crossover there,” he adds. “It was nice to have feedback from people in the arts about tech ideas, and vice-versa.”

Oh, and then there was the marriage proposal.

“We opened the floor after our pitch and one lady asked for more information. Then she asked if she could marry one of us,” says O’Driscoll. “I think we’re the first startup to get a marriage proposal out of an open mic jam.”

But you never know — look out, Lisdoonvarna.

Waterford (6/3/2012)

Waterford’s tech startup cluster, based around Waterford Institute of Technology, meant that this event especially helped people forge some real, meaningful links.

We heard seven ideas in total, with some impressive breadth. These ranged from Elaine Larkin’s early-stage Freelance Availability idea, to help link freelancers with available work, as well as her second idea for a news syndication service, to Nicholas McNulty’s concept based on condensed matter and shock waves, with which he and some colleagues in the nuclear industry want to develop a process for smashing solids into powder

Dublin-based startup Popdeem, a current LaunchPad company, also came down to pitch. About three weeks into their LaunchPad tenure, they realised they had to make a major change to their concept.

“We were right in the middle of our pivot when we went to the Open Mic Jam,” says CEO Richard Whelan, one of its founders. “So instead of coming down with a really firm idea, we pitched the problem and talked about two or three solutions that we had.” When they pitched, they were still called StudyBuddy, but the event was part of a major shift that included a name change.

In addition to putting some things in perspective, the team liked the energy of Waterford. “There’s a good buzz down there because it’s a smaller community,” says Whelan. “It opened our eyes, and we met a group of guys [based there] who ended up developing our facebook timeline page for us.”

He also met someone from Waterford IT who suggested he contact the CEO of Wexford-based R Works, a company that sells a productivity application for managing distributed teams, since the ideas were similar, but for a different market.

“It was similar to what we wanted to get into, and I was lucky to get 15 minutes of the CEO’s time, where we had a really good conversation,” says Whelan, who quickly learned that what R Works does for large industries wouldn’t work for the student market.

“It put the final nail in the pivot coffin, and it was good to know I could open up a dialogue with people quite high up and it was comfortable.”

In Waterford and the surrounding areas it’s not just about catering to the Waterford market, or even the Irish market. In fact, a large urban area like Dublin can leave us with a false sense of a large market.

In smaller cities, towns, and rural areas, innovators have no choice but to look outside their own regions; it’s small communities of highly skilled people, focusing on the bigger picture.

We admit we’re more used to working within Dublin-based networks, where everything is within easy reach, but we also know how limiting that can be. The rest of the country isn’t like Dublin, and tapping into new networks can work to everyone’s advantage.

We’d love to hear more about how we can best meet the needs of innovators in areas outside of Dublin, and outside of our own comfort zone.

Learn more about music analytics company Soundwave.

And keep an eye on Popdeem’s site for a beta launch.

This weekend the 870-mile Wales Coast Path (WCP) opens, a walkable route that stretches all the way from Chepstow to Saltney, Chester. Combined with the existing Offa’s Dyke Path, Wales will become the only place in the world where it’s both theoretically and practically possible to circumnavigate an entire country on foot.

Pembrokeshire or Shangri La?

What Wales lacks in ‘Land of Milk and Honey’ weather it more than makes up for with scenery, activities, coastal access, and natural and cultural heritage — not to mention actual milk and honey. That’s why last year the WCP was the #1 travel pick for Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2012, beating Borneo, Sicily, Arunachel Pradesh (described as a modern Shangri-La), and six other contenders for the top spot.

From the rugged cliffs of Pembrokeshire to the geologically unique landscape of Anglesey, dolphin-spotting in New Quay and heritage from the prehistoric to the industrial, any project of this scale brings a whole series of challenges and opportunities. That’s why GeoVation, the innovation arm of the Ordnance Survey has included the path and the communities along it in its 2012 GeoVation Challenge.

The GeoVation Challenge

In the past few years, the OS has been opening up its data, making it easier and more exciting for people with great ideas to use spatial data to make those concepts into reality. The GeoVation challenges offer £125,000 worth of prizes to help develop the best ideas that use geography and geolocation.

At Challenge-specific pow wows, GeoVation looked at some of the problem areas that arise with the new path, and at how it will redefine some of the long-standing questions and challenges for the relevant communities.

For example, we can’t change the wet Welsh weather, but we can find ways to make tourism less seasonal, by providing more wet-weather activities. There are increased (and existing) needs for accommodation, toilet facilities, transport and parking, and mobile and internet connectivity. Addressing these needs is not only helpful for visitors but provides engagement opportunities for communities, as well as potential business opportunities.

Inventorium and GeoVation

GeoVation and Inventorium were brought together by our shared dedication to open innovation and collaboration.

Inventorium held a workshop on March 1st, where we brought together stakeholders to generate and shape ideas that could be uploaded to the GeoVation Challenge website. We wanted to engage with tourism providers, local authorities, accommodation providers, outdoor activity groups, local organisations and voluntary bodies, to encourage fruitful collaborations that might not otherwise have happened.

There were 22 participants, and ideas were submitted to the Challenge website, along with other idea submissions from around the UK. We are waiting to hear the winners of the challenge who will go forward to the GeoVation Bootcamp on June 22nd and 23rd, where the concepts will begin to take shape as potentially viable commercial prospects. The winners of the challenge will be announced in early July. The top prize money is £40,000, with two further prizes and a community prize of £1,000 and we’ll keep you posted.

The best GeoVation Challenge ideas will win big prizes, but when they’re implemented, they’ll mean everyone wins.

An article on WalesOnline.co.uk gave some interesting perspectives from business leaders on what 2012 holds for businesses in Wales some extracts are included below;

Phil Cooper: Managing Director, Venture Wales

“The natural reaction for some will be to downsize and simply cut costs. However, I hope others will respond by exploring new markets and diversifying products and services.”

“Yes, we are in a tight corner and 2012 is going to be very tough for many businesses. But only through individual enterprises taking initiatives and pursuing new opportunities together with strong political leadership will we start to turn the tide.”

Iestyn Davies: Head of External Affairs, Federation of Small Businesses in Wales
“Based on early indications, small businesses will be looking to employ more staff and will be keen to innovate and bring new products and services to market. In tough times they realise that innovation gives them a competitive edge over their competitors.”

To read the article in full click here.

Throughout 2012 Inventorium will be continuing to encourage open innovation inWales andIreland, helping teams to work towards the generation of new businesses, products and services. Our programme of workshops and Symposia will support the development of new ideas and ways of working for the public sector, SME’s and not-for-profit enterprises.

Events planned for 2012 will look at how digital technologies can be used to better support aspects of culture and industry in Wales Including workshops focussed on: Digital Culture inWales

Heritage Tourism

The Rural Economy

Education

Welsh Language and Media

Tourism

Agriculture

At each of these events Inventorium will aim to have sector professionals clearly defining some of the problems they are currently facing – the main focus of the rest of the day will then be on diverse teams of people – made up of industry professionals, technologists, designers, developers, academics and entrepreneurs – working together to develop solutions to those problems.

Details of these events will appear on www.inventorium.org/events