Inaugural Digital Week to draw tech enthusiasts to West Cork

Thousands of technology enthusiasts will descend upon West Cork next month as part of the country’s first National Digital Week.

The four-day event in Skibbereen will feature more than 60 national and international speakers and is expected to attract upwards of 2,000 people to the area between November 3 and 8.

Some of the more high-profile speakers include Ronan Harris, head of Google EMEA, and Laurence O’Rourke from the European Space Agency.

Mr O’Rourke, who was science operations co-ordinator for the Rosetta mission, will talk about the mission, the future of space exploration, and the importance of the STEM subjects: Science, technology, engineering, and maths.

Ingrid Vanderveldt, a former Dell entrepreneur and CNBC presenter, will also speak at the event, discussing her latest work with the Empower a Billion Woman 2020 organisation.

“I am very excited to play a part in the partnership between EBW2020 and National Digital Week which provides the tools, technology, and resources needed to succeed in business in a digital age,” she said.

“My team and I especially look forward to guiding motivated women in Ireland to success, which is our key focus. I believe the formation of this relationship will have an exciting future long after Digital Week.”

Other companies presenting at the event include Discovery Networks, Enterprise Ireland, PayPal, Vodafone, and Microsoft, while there will also be a video conference from Ireland’s digital ambassador David Puttnam.

Speakers will also discuss working or running a business from a rural location rather than a metropolitan area and how this impacts on company strategy.

“Digital innovators can be found in all rural towns and villages. Ireland is a small nation where metropolitan urban centres have become technology and multinational hotspots,” said Communications Minister Alex White.

“However, rural Ireland can compete with these urban centres, when given high-speed broadband connectivity. National Digital Week is a fantastic initiative that will get this message out to all.”

Over four days, there will be seminars, workshops, exhibitions, extracurricular activities, including cycles of the Wild Atlantic Way, and a host of live music acts.

National Digital Week will take place from November 3- 8 at the West Cork Hotel in Skibbereen, Co Cork. Individual session tickets cost up to €65 while a full week pass costs €180. For more information, or to buy tickets, go to digitalweek.ie.