Celtic kitten: Ireland's tech start-ups flex their claws, ready to play. 25 September 2014Last updated at 19:13 ET By Padraig Belton Dublin Celtic kitten: Are Ireland's tech start-ups ready to flex their claws and play with the big boys?
Dublin City Council now has a commissioner for start-ups - Niamh Bushnell, a veteran of new technology-related venture battles in both the Republic of Ireland and New York. "Everything I'm seeing is on a par, in terms of companies, talents and innovative ideas, with what I know best - which is the New York tech scene," says the new commissioner. It's all part of a new dotcom boom in Ireland, which has boasted success stories like peer-to-peer currency market CurrencyFair and payments provider Realex Payments. While the Irish domestic financial sector has dwindled since the 2008 downturn, internationally-trading financial technology (fintech) companies have trundled on, gaining customers abroad to replace falling domestic demand.
Niamh Bushnell is the new start-up commissioner for Dublin City Council Peer to Peer Shared e-ecosystem. Homogeneity in an organization breeds failure. Excellence is contagious.
A business is only as strong as its people, which is why it’s so crucial to hire the right ones. A recent experience triggered this post, one that comes up all the time in the world of entrepreneurship and innovation: how to maintain a culture of excellence. In my experience, it all starts with vision and values, and that determines the type of people you will bring in to help you reach that vision. Very straightforward, but most of the time the “people” part is kicked to the curve in favor of “people who can come in and fill a void” to get things done as efficiently as possible; whether or not they fit the culture (if there is one).
Like you, I have friends I hang out with. Like personal relationships, in most organizations your get comfortable with the people you work with and might even develop friendships with them. Great talent often doesn’t look and think like you Hiring for innovation is different from hiring for specialized roles. Future PCs threat to Apple? Yes, says Citibank analyst. Apple's "limited innovation" in tablets this year will make it vulnerable to newfangled PCs -- so says a Citibank analyst.
Yes, you heard that right, PCs. While financial analysts write lots of research notes about Apple every week, this one from Citibank analyst Glen Yeung -- sent out early in the week -- got my attention. We believe Apple will launch an iPad Mini Retina and a thinner/lighter iPad5 (both likely sporting newer processors) in 3Q13...iPad innovation of this nature is insufficient to reverse share loss. Whereas we see limited innovation in tablets in 2H13, we see growing innovation in PCs. The growing presence of touch-based, ultrathin, all-day notebooks at improving price points (e.g., Intel requires all Haswell-based Ultrabooks to have touch and envisions price-points as low as $599) could create competition for 10" tablets not fully anticipated by the market.
And, lest we forget, Apple doesn't put touch screens on its MacBooks.
Reference and Useful Quotes. Sustaining Innovation. Temp. Overview. Facts and Figures. Drivers of Innovation. Business Model Innovation. Innovation System. Cost Innovation. Agility. Disruptive Innovation. Three Horizons.