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Google Chief and Minister to attend first Digital Week

October 17th, 2015 11:05 AM

By Southern Star Team

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SKIBBEREEN is the location of Ireland’s first ever National Digital Week which will take place from November 3-8.

SKIBBEREEN is the location of Ireland’s first ever National Digital Week which will take place from November 3-8.

 Organisers Ludgate are aiming to attract over 2,000 entrepreneurs, digital marketers, technology enthusiasts and others embarking on a ‘digital journey’.

Communications Minister Alex White and Google’s Irish chief Ronan Harris are among those attending.

National Digital Week aims to develop entrepreneurship by making digital accessible for all, and is the first of its kind in a non-urban area in Ireland. It aims to cater for everyone and anyone with an interest in the future of digital technology. 

The four-day event, which has been organised by the recently established Ludgate@Skibbereen, Ireland’s first rural digital hub, will focus on the future of digital technology and will be attended by Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Alex White.

It will feature more than 60 high profile international and national speakers on two stages, including  Dr Laurence O’Rourke, Rosetta Mission Science Operations Coordinator at the European Space Agency, who will discuss the success of the Rosetta mission and the future of space exploration.

Ingrid Vanderveldt of the US-based Empower A Billion Women 2020 organisation, who was a former entrepreneur in residence at Dell, and a CNBC television host, will also speak at the event.

She will conduct workshops with attendees and showcase toolkits for entrepreneurs. 

Discovery Networks, Enterprise Ireland, the ESA, Musgrave Group, PayPal, Vodafone, and Microsoft are just some of the other companies presenting at National Digital Week, and there will also be a video conference from Ireland’s Digital Ambassador Lord David Puttnam.

There will also be seminars, exhibitions and extracurricular activities throughout the week, including cycles of the Wild Atlantic Way and a stellar line-up of entertainment with live music from Jessie Kennedy, Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill, Sasha Puttnam and special guests. 

National Digital Week is organised by the steering group of the recently established Ludgate@Skibbereen, an initiative which aims to create a digitally enabled rural society in West Cork, in which innovators can create and expand their businesses in rural Ireland whilst competing on a global scale.

 The main corporate sponsors of the event are AIB and Vodafone, Discovery Networks, Paypal, Cork County Council, Apical, and Spearline Labs. Other supporters include Google,  Glen Dimplex, Vilicom, Fields Supervalu, and Enterprise Ireland. Media partners are The Southern Star, RTE and The Irish Times.  

 The four-day conference will be held in the West Cork Hotel and The Southern Star printworks building, which is adjacent to the hotel. 

Tickets can be purchased for individual full day sessions priced at an early bird price from €35 to €65 euro and are now on sale at www.digitalweek.ie

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