IDA Innovation Ireland Review Winter 2021

WINTER 2021

IRELAND REVIEW

FE ATURING

SMALL MOLECULES

BIG STRIDES Pioneering approaches to Industry 5.0

Feeding INTO THE

FUTURE

Balancing profitability and sustainability

tipping the balance GENDER EQUALITY UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

000_IDA_Winter_2021_Cover Mock Up_V4.indd 1

THE FUTURE OF FINTECH IN A S S OCI AT ION W I T H

08/12/2021 14:58

This is a land committed to new ideas and new ways of thinking. Where strong and productive links are forged between cutting-edge companies, state agencies and third-level institutions.

Here, like-minded enterprises flourish together in world-leading life sciences, technology, and financial services hubs. Supported by our highly educated English-speaking workforce and attracting talent and expertise from across the globe.

This is Ireland. This is where we make it happen.

See how we can help your business grow. Visit idaireland.com or email idaireland@ida.ie

I N N O VAT I O N G R O W S H E R E

We make it happen 170719 IDA INNOVATION Mag Press ads IFC+OBC_IDA_Spring_2021_ads.indd 2 210x265.indd 1

17/06/2021 17/06/2021 12:26 13:03

17071

WINTER 2021 Meet the team

0 6 T h e 18

IDA Ireland

08

W o r l d o f Q u a n t u m Brendan Bonner explores this expanding space.

Consistant, Stable, Supportive

Tipping the Balance

A look at the consistency and transparency of Ireland’s corporate tax rate and regime

Head of Marketing Communications Kevin Sammon

Meg Walker puts gender equality under the microscope

Dr Eabhnat Ní Fhloinn

Marketing Executive Martina Naughton

30

Ashville Media Group

The small molecule pharmaceutical industry is now pioneering an approach to Industry 5.0, Sorcha Corcoran reports.

Editor Jane Matthews

35

Art Director Áine Duffy Cover Design Jane Matthews Contributors Brendan Bonner Sorcha Corcoran Louise Finn Denise Maguire Jennifer McShane Deanna O’Connor Meg Walker

20

40

Over-Exposed What can we do to ensure our digital information remains secure?

Jennifer McShane spoke to Marc O’Regan, Dell Technologies and Eoin Byrne, Cyber Ireland.

24 Published by Ashville Media Group www.ashville.com ISSN: 0332-4400

27

AI: The Future of Fintech

Sorcha Corcoran discusses why Ireland is perfectly positioned to lead the way in the emerging area.

A Sparkling Achievement

Louise Finn speaks to Synthetic diamond innovators Element Six celebrating 60 years of operations at their Shannon site.

16

T h e Tr a n s f o r m e r s

IDA Winter 2021.indb 1

Striding Ahead for Success Deanna O’Connor has a roundup of the companies thriving and growing in Ireland

Feeding into the Future How do we grow more food and increase profitability while still protecting the environment, Sorcha Corcoran reports

The Great Disruption

Jennifer McShane spoke to senior lecturer in the Department of Work and Employment Studies at the Kemmy Business School in Limerick, Dr. Deirdre O’Shea.

4 4 S t a t e - o f - t h e - a r t Ground Up

Creative Director Jane Matthews

All rights reserved. Every care has been taken to ensure that the information contained in this magazine is accurate. The publishers cannot, however, accept responsibility for errors or omissions. Reproduction by any means in whole or in part without the permission of the publisher is prohibited. © Ashville Media Group 2021.

46

Small Molecules, Big Strides

From

The new Earth Surface Research Laboratory will reveal more than ever before about what lies beneath our feet, Louise Finn Reports

5 2 L i g h t s , Action

49

Meet the Agri-Disruptors Denise Maguire finds Ireland’s AgTech companies are shaking things up in what was once considered a traditional sector

Camera,

Denise Maguire looks at the flourishing film industry in Ireland

23

The Disruptor

08/12/2021 15:31

NEWS Winter 2021

NEWS VIEWS and

A first look at new job announcements, research projects, global rankings and ongoing innovation in Ireland.

Want to know more?

Visit the newsroom at idaireland.com for expansions, announcements and investments.

120

New jobs

Will Corcoran, IDA; Rajat Puri, President, Legato Health Technologies; Minister of State Niall Collins; Kieran Donoghue, IDA; and John Shaw, Country Head, Legato Health Technologies Ireland

Legato Health Technologies announced the doubling of its Irish workforce by mid-2022 as it officially opened its R&D hub in the National Technology Park, Limerick.

Legato Health Technologies is committed to transforming healthcare through operational excellence, innovation and digital transformation. The company has 20,000 employees outside of Ireland. The newly established Limerick base will be home to 120 high-quality jobs across business analytics, data science, machine learning and product management.

John Shaw, Country Head, Legato Health Technologies Ireland, said, “We are well on the way to filling our initial posts and this announcement reflects the ambition we have for our R&D hub here in Limerick.”

@IDAIRELAND Congratulations to our CEO @MartinDShanahan on being named amongst the most influential Irish leaders on social media in @RepAgencyIrl’s Social CEO report. The report highlights the vital role leaders play in communicating on behalf of their organisations: https://bit.ly/3HzmQbL

2

Did you know?

SPORTS Te ch

There are ...

80

+

Sports tech companies in Ireland

Many of these companies are already selling to international markets including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, Spain and France. Recently leading sports and well tech companies Thrive Global and WHOOP opened international hubs in Ireland with the support of Ireland’s dedicated steering body, SportsTech Ireland. The initiative builds connections between commercial bodies, start-ups, entrepreneurs, research facilities and VCs, for example: Croke Park Stadium has a crowd capacity of 82,300 and is a test bed for some of the most cutting edge internet of things (IoT) technologies. The Croke Park Smart Stadium project is a collaboration between the GAA, Dublin City University, Intel and Microsoft. Groundbreaking research by Orreco, an Irish SME, in collaboration with IBM saw the introduction of the world’s first cognitive solution for sports that helps athletes predict injury risk and readiness to perform.

European SportsTech has seen a strong year in funding with €348 million invested in 2020. Dublin is ranked #6 in European cities for sports tech funding in 2020.

In 2021, SportX, a new sports tech pre-accelerator programme, was launched in Ireland.

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 2

08/12/2021 15:31

NEWS

The €14m funding boost marks the second part of a fund allocated to the Dairy Processing Technology Centre (DPTC) based at UL. It was founded in 2014 as a collaborative centre between industry and academia, focused on dairy processing research and innovation.

See page

46

for more on agri sustainability and those at the forefront of change in this very traditional industry.

53.5

%

... of 30-to34-year-olds in Ireland have a third-level qualification, compared to an EU average of 40%.

@IDAIRELAND VP of Technology and Business Services at IDA Ireland @KarenIDAIreland speaks to @securitymag about how #Cork – Ireland’s second city – emerged as a global cyber security hub https://bit.ly/3DKPWCG

Sanofi’s 20th birthday present to Waterford Sanofi is to invest €630,000 in a three-year programme driven by a team at its biopharmaceutical and medical device site in Waterford. Waterford Loves Planet Not Plastic developed by the Waterford site’s Green Team was named as one of three winners in the company’s Planet Mobilization ideas generation programme. Sanofi launched the €3m Planet Mobilization fund to support employee ideas and projects that will further contribute to a healthier environment. The other winners alongside Waterford this year come from Vietnam and a combined entry spanning sites in Belgium, France and Italy. The funding to be invested at Waterford consists of twothirds from Sanofi’s Planet Mobilization fund and one-third of in-kind support from the site, which employs more than 750 people and is celebrating 20 years in Ireland. Dr Johannes Schweppenhäuser, Site Head, Sanofi Waterford and a member of the site’s Green Team, said: “We are delighted with this news.

It means a lot to the site team. Waterford City and County is very much part of this success and it is the local environment that we all share which will see the benefits of this major community investment to 2024 and beyond. We are fortunate to live in a very special place and that brings with it a responsibility to protect our fragile environment.”

630,000

€

Did you know?

On you r BI KE

PHOTIO: DARRAGH KANE

Limerick dairy research gets €14m funding to boost sustainability

EDUCATED WORKFORCE

Winter 2021

Ciarán O’Callaghan, Senior Executive Engineer Cork County Council; Norma Beechinor, Director Operations, Plant Manager, Stryker; Mag O’Keeffe, Stryker Vice President of Manufacturing for Neurovascular; Deputy Mayor of Cork County Cllr Anthony Barry; Aisling Holland with her daughter Rosemary Holland; and Ray O’Connor, Head of Regional Development, IDA Ireland

Stryker, one of the world’s leading medical technology companies, together with IDA Ireland and Cork County Council, officially opened a section of cycleway today at IDA Business & Technology Park, Carrigtwohill, Co Cork. The new amenity, developed and constructed

by IDA Ireland, will form part of the Cork County Council-led initiative to develop an interurban strategic cycleway linking Dunkettle and Midleton.

During the development of the cycleway, Stryker provided land and support for the newly completed section, which offers an alternative transportation route that aims to reduce car usage in the county. The completion of this section of the cycleway is an integral part of a larger initiative to construct a cyclelink across Cork County and into the city.

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 3

3

08/12/2021 15:32

NEWS Winter 2021

Want to know more?

@IDAIRELAND Head of Medical Technologies for IDA Ireland Rachel Shelly speaks to The Morning Fix podcast by 510k Café and shares insight into investing in Ireland and the EU as well as the latest on the G20 Summit and tax implications for med tech – https://bit.ly/3HdJ96v

Visit the newsroom at idaireland.com for expansions, announcements and investments.

Mary Buckley, IDA Ireland; Colm O’Cuinneain, Greenhouse; Renu Jhugaroo, Greenhouse

HIRING SOFTWARE COMPANY SURPASSED $110M ARR IN 2021

IRELAND HAS THE...

Greenhouse, the hiring software company, announced the creation of 100 new jobs in Ireland to further boost its expansion across Europe and meet the growing demand for modern hiring and onboarding technology. The new positions will bring the company’s total headcount in Ireland to 160 over the next two years. Greenhouse Software helps more than 5,500 businesses globally bring data, structure and fairness to their hiring process and empowers companies to find, attract and retain top talent. The company opened its EMEA headquarters in Dublin in January 2020 and has since tripled its workforce. The company serves over 700 customers across the EMEA region. Customers include companies such as HubSpot, Intercom, LearnUpon, Poppulo, Webdoctor and Booking.com. In its commitment to offer employees greater flexibility, Greenhouse also announced that it will operate a hybrid workforce model going forward, meaning that the company supports and encourages employees’ decision to work from their home location. The jobs announced include a mixture of hybrid and remote roles based in Ireland that will span across sales, marketing, customer success and support, professional services and talent acquisition.

4

... highest international workforce in the EU.

th

Dublin, especially, is viewed as an increasingly diverse and vibrant global hub, its high housing costs notwithstanding, while regional centres such as Galway and Cork are also proving attractive hubs.

World Clas s Medical device manufacturer Filtertek, an ITW Medical company, plans to invest almost €2m in an innovative NPD programme. Founded in 1912 and headquartered in Glenview, Illinois, Illinois Tool Works (ITW) is one of the world’s leading diversified manufacturers of specialised industrial equipment, automotive components, various consumables, and related service businesses. ITW has operations in 55 countries and employs over 48,000 people. Filtertek has been in operation in Newcastle West for 40 years and was acquired by ITW in 2007. “Our facility in Ireland has a long-standing history of world-class manufacturing, innovative product design and serving our customers with excellence. This has been a testament to the level of talent and support available in Ireland,” said Gina Powers, Vice President/ General Manager, ITW Medical.

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 4

08/12/2021 15:32

NEWS Winter 2021

Want to know more?

CONVERGINT CELEBRATES CONTINUED MOMENTUM ACROSS IRELAND AND SHARES PLANS FOR EXPANSION

Want to know more about film in Ireland?

Turn to page 52

Visit the newsroom at idaireland.com for expansions, announcements and investments.

Is remote working here to stay?

Having increased over 2020 and the first quarter of 2021, the share of people usually working from home fell slightly in Q2 2021 as the lifting of restrictions gathered pace, but remained well above prepandemic levels at 32%. For many workers, it was a first experience with remote work and the conversation has now shifted to a remote, hybrid or flexible working approach as workplaces prepare for the future.

See page

40

Convergint, a global leader in electronic security systems integration, this announced its plans to expand recruiting efforts across all regions of Ireland to help meet the increase in customer demand and continue to provide best-in-class service to its customers. The announcement comes on the heels of the company’s 20th anniversary celebration and significant growth and business momentum reported throughout Ireland, including its most recent technology centre opening in Cork. The $1.7bn global company announced its expansion into Ireland in 2016 and shortly after acquired Ireland’s largest independently owned security systems company, MTS Security, in Dublin. Since then, Convergint has continued to embark on its global expansion initiatives to meet growing customer demand and provide sophisticated service at scale, on a global, enterprise-wide level. Current plans for expansion across Ireland include recruiting 50 colleagues over the next 24 months. The company is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland. “Since joining Convergint in 2016, it was clear Ireland held tremendous growth and opportunity for us to build something extraordinary for our colleagues and clients alike,” said Adrian Hill, General Manager for Convergint Ireland. “We are excited to be working with IDA Ireland and look forward to collaboratively identifying diverse talent, aligned with Convergint’s core values and beliefs.”

@IDAIRELAND Chief Technologist for IDA Ireland’s Technology, Content and Business Services @brendan_ida tells @vmblog #AI will move beyond the hype to real-world implementation – practical applications will begin to emerge in our daily lives and workflows – https://tinyurl.com/k3r66xd4

@IDAIRELAND Everything from TV drama, feature films, animation and VFX sequences are created in Ireland. @IDA_WestCoast‘s @DBrody_IDA and @ScreenIreland talk to @ProductionHUB https://bit.ly/3FEzWm8

Prometric celebrates 10 years in Dundalk “I’m thrilled to recognise our success in Dundalk these past 10 years,” says Roy Simrell, CEO of Prometric. “This investment has not only allowed us to expand Prometric’s global footprint in the testing and assessment space, but it has also greatly contributed to the economic growth in the region – a testament to our incredible employees and the Dundalk community at large. This partnership has exceeded our expectations, and we look forward to continued growth in the years ahead.” Since Prometric chose Dundalk as the location for its European headquarters, it has become a significant player in the North East region, employing 140 people that serve the company’s global client base.

Met Pro Ltd. to expand Trale e fac i l ity, c reat i ng 15 job s Established in 1998, MetPro Ltd. specialises in the provision of sustainable solutions based on proprietary BioCor VCI technology for incorporation into paper and plastic packaging materials in the automotive, engineering, electronics and packaging industries. “MetPro Ltd. is excited to expand operations at its Irish headquarters and consolidate the manufacturing of our market leading VCI product portfolio in Tralee,” said General Manager for UK & Ireland operations Niall O’Carroll. “The Tralee facility has a proven track record in terms of R&D and manufacturing excellence, and we are looking forward to applying that experience to this new process.”

for more on remote working

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 5

5

08/12/2021 15:32

SCIENCE Quantum Physics

world

THE

OF

QUANTUM A Q UA N T U M I S T H E M I N I M U M Q UA N T I T Y O F E N E R GY, A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G O F T H I S A N D W H AT H A P P E N S TO P H YS I C S AT A N ATO M I C O R S U B ATO M I C L E V E L I S C A L L E D Q UA N T U M M EC H A N I C S .

B R E N D A N B O N N E R E X P LO R ES T H I S E X PA N D I N G S PA C E .

Quantum Technology is an area of technology that uses the principles of quantum mechanics to create quantum computers, cryptography, communications, sensors, and other fields where the properties of quantum mechanics such as entanglement, superposition and tunnelling are observed, utilised and provide new levels of technology beyond what is available today in the world of semiconductors, photonics and other technology innovation.

While we have researchers, such as Séamus Davis in UCC, who are working to understand the quantum world of matter and the interactions with space/time, the majority of the applications being research today are more accessible and teams are working on providing quantum computing simulators, communications devices and algorithms that can benefit from the unique properties of 6

quantum technology to provide a whole field of advanced applications.

Ireland is well placed to benefit from what is being termed Quantum 2.0 – the realisation of quantum technology in commercial applications beyond research and a revolution to exploit the quantum world to increase performance in computation, communication and sensing. Ireland has a history in innovation in this area - John Bell discovered a set of equations definitively prove not only the full nature of fundamental particles but also the nature of quantum entanglement.

Entanglement itself was described by Erwin Schrödinger, the world’s most famous cat owner, who helped establish the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

The world is now looking at the next level of research. To make sure Ireland is positioned

for this, we will be releasing a National Strategy for Quantum 2.0 Technology before the end of the 2021. The vision is to make Ireland an internationally competitive Hub in Quantum Technologies by 2030, fostering an innovative quantum ecosystem, from hardware and software providers to application users, and at the forefront of scientific and engineering advances and talent growth. 2021 has also seen the launch of the National Quantum Institute hosted in Tyndall, and supported by IBM Research – it provides a one stop shop for quantum research across all universities and the ICHEC centre for high end computing. Ireland has signed up to the EuroQCI initiative to invest in a quantum based communications systems to secure member states public services. The EuroQCI infrastructure will safeguard sensitive data and

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 6

08/12/2021 15:32

SCIENCE Quantum Physics

critical infrastructures by integrating quantumbased systems into existing communication infrastructures, providing an additional security layer based on quantum physics.

QT can be broken down into computation, communication and sensing. Quantum encryption guarantees secure communication and is now well established commercially, providing secure communication means to various industries. Quantum sensors achieve the highest possible sensitivities in sensor technologies and quantum metrology promises many benefits from better medical diagnosis to more precise GPS systems with submeter resolution.

The most promising for this year is quantum computing which has the potential to overhaul most data centric industries. Quantum computing can run AI models in minutes that would take typical computers days, weeks or

THE QUANTUM MARKET IS PREDICTED TO GROW TO $430M IN 2026 AND YOY INCREASE OF 30%, AND THIS IS THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG, AS MORE EU FUNDS BECOME AVAILABLE TO COMPANIES HERE. even years to run. They do this because a quantum bit (or qubit) can be in more than one state at a time. With the right algorithm, and the right hardware, we can predict the possibility of which of these states is what is right. Once this is achieved, it is called a quantum advantage.

In Ireland, the majority of the research remains at the early TRL level, but we are starting to see commercial applications. We have researchers in Quantum Computing and Communications Theory, Quantum Programming and Simulation, Systems Architecture, Microarchitecture and Qubit building blocks.

A significant collaborative project “Quantum Computing in Ireland: A Software Platform for Multiple Qubit Technologies” (QCoIr) was funded by Department of Enterprise, Trade

and Employment through the Disruptive Technology Innovation Fund. This is the largest multi-partner quantum computing initiative in Ireland. Led by IBM, it brings in Maynooth, UCD and Tyndall and on the enterprise side MasterCard, Equal 1 Labs and Rockley Photonics, and showcased the full breadth of research available.

In Industry, the enterprises involved in the end-to-end value chain, such as IBM, Google, Microsoft and ATOS alongside hardware players Intel, Analog Devices, Huawei and United Technologies have all taken part in R&D discussions. On the application front, Accenture, EY, Fidelity Investments, MasterCard, Nuritas, Pfizer, Stryker and Total are all looking at the benefits of quantum technology.

Globally, there is a heavy investment in quantum technology, and the larger enterprises like IBM, Google, Rigetti and Alibaba are partnering with governments and corporations and committing enormous sums to accelerate quantum’s R&D in the sprint to develop the world’s most powerful and reliable quantum computer. Software companies have expressed interest in investing in 2022, as there is a symbiotic need for data to ru quantum algorithms, as well as access hardware to test the outcomes. The quantum market is predicted to grow to $430M in 2026 and YoY increase of 30%, and this is the tip of the iceberg, as more EU funds become available to companies here.

Quantum technology has been seen in the same way as flying was in 1904. The technology works, we’ve seen the prototypes, but what can it achieve? We have seen the strides made in simulation and algorithms, and the availability of less ‘noisy’ quantum chips has started to clear the clouds from the sky. We have had to accelerate investment as the hardware has advanced fasted than predicted, and now the opportunities are starting to manifest. Over the next 12 months, we will see further advances in cyber security, and in particular AI for predictions. Alongside this, there will be further advances in Pharma, chemical and biological engineering that will benefit sustainability as well as global health.

One are that will see an uptake is in manufacturing, where Industry 4.0 will combine with Qt to remove production failures from manufacturing. Overall, it’s down to our imagination.

CURRENT AREAS OF A P P L I C AT I O N

Quantum computing has a number of applications that are using the current state of the art to develop the algorithms and applications that will benefit from accessible quantum computing, which is advancing faster than proposed. While your computer and smartphone are able to store 264 states, IBM has recently released a new quantum processor with 127 qubits. This is the equivalent of a classical computer that is able to simultaneously represent more than the number of atoms in every human alive today. This increase will enable developments in the fields of optimisation of machine learning or financial models: Drug Discovery: The number of simultaneous qubits allows pharma to optimize requests for data to rapidly speed up drug discovery and identify the effects in an individual to the level of rapidly being able to identify how cancer, autoimmune diseases, genetic disorders drugs react with your individual DNA. Finance/Insurance - Quantum technology allows prediction models to be become increasingly more accurate over longer timeframes. In forecasting models for market and portfolio performance, risk and trading optimization as well as fraud detection. Quantum technologies will allow financial companies to generate new opportunities and faster adaption to changing conditions.

Cryptography/Cybersecurity – Efforts such as the EuroQCI initiative are the stepping stones in using quantum technology to secure communications.

Quantum technology will eventually be able to break current encryption when it reaches quantum advantage – the term where is is more optimal to use quantum technology than traditional technologies. Cybersecurity companies are addressing this by creating quantum protected algorithms, creating an entirely new landscape for cybersecurity.

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 7

7

08/12/2021 15:32

LEADING Tipping the Balance

8

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 8

08/12/2021 15:32

LEADING Tipping the Balance

TIPPING THE

balance PUT TING GENDER EQUALITY UNDER THE MICROSCOPE F O R FA R TO O LO N G , T H E N U M B E R O F W O M E N I N S C I E N C E , T EC H N O LO GY, E N G I N E E R I N G A N D M AT H S ( A K A S T E M ) C A R E E R S H A S R E M A I N E D F R U S T R AT I N G LY LO W .

T H A N K F U L LY, I N R EC E N T D EC A D ES , T H AT N U M B E R H A S I N C R E A S E D D R A M AT I C A L LY, B U T W E S T I L L H AV E A WAY TO G O TO G E T TO 5 0 / 5 0 . I D A I R E L A N D I N N O VAT I O N R E V I E W S P E A KS TO F O U R W O M E N L E A D I N G I N T H E I R F I E L D S I N I R E L A N D TO G E T T H E I R I N S I G H T A S TO W H AT ’ S N E E D E D TO I M P R O V E T H E L A N D S C A P E F U R T H E R S O M O R E DY N A M I C W O M E N C A N PAV E T H E WAY F O R F U T U R E G E N E R AT I O N S .

BY M E G W A L K E R

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 9

9

08/12/2021 15:32

LEADING Tipping the Balance

TIA KEYES

A Professor of Physical Chemistry at Dublin City University since 2002, Tia Keyes heads up Keyes Research Group, where she and her team are researching the development of probes for monitoring the dynamic cellular environment and have developed highly versatile cell membrane models, which can be exploited to support membrane proteins that are important for drug targets.

CURRENT WORK “We’ve just completed a programme with Science Foundation Ireland called Microcavity Array Supported Lipid Membranes, and the purpose was to build models of cell membranes – the key barrier when drugs are administered. Our model is a nanostructured high-throughput microfluidic film, so these are mimetics of the cell membrane. Toward the end of the project, we started to look at drug delivery vehicles. This could be potentially quite disruptive in terms of the high throughput and fast response system to looking at drug delivery vectors. Another project, also funded by Science Foundation Ireland, is developing luminescent probes, the probes that emit light, that will report on the environment within the cell.”

WHY SHE FIRST GOT INTO CHEMISTRY “When I was in school, I wanted to study art and my dad talked me out of it, so I ended up studying science, but thought I’d do biology. When I started to study chemistry, I found it way more intuitive – I understood chemistry and found it interesting. I wasn’t sure until my final year projects in college that I wanted to stay in chemistry, but it was the research that attracted me and kept me there. My motivation for most things has always been creativity and problem solving, and I enjoy both of those aspects of chemistry.”

10

Professor Tia Keyes

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS “I have supervised or co-supervised more than 30 PhD students so far, bringing people along who, while they enjoy science, might be unsure what they want to do. The PhD can be a challenge, and getting them through that, providing support, and seeing them go on to blossom within their careers; from starting off unsure to

developing into scientists who can go in and defend their work and interpret it… the whole process is really rewarding. I’m also proud of the model membranes we’ve developed and the way in which we’ve used plasmonic fields to monitor the arrival time of a drug or drug molecule. I take great pride in the projects where I’ve innovated and achieved unthought-of outcomes.”

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 10

08/12/2021 15:32

LEADING Tipping the Balance

WOMEN IN STEM “When I look across the students I’m teaching at undergraduate level, the numbers are at least equal, and in many classes I teach, there are actually more women than men.

So I don’t know if there’s much of an issue anymore around attracting women into the field, but I think the issue now is retaining them and getting them to lead or stay in the frontline of creative science. It’s very challenging having time for family or to balance your work and life, especially in academia. It’s an attractive and exciting job, and it’s important to have women in there, particularly so that young women coming through can see that it’s achievable – that’s where they see their first female scientists and women working in STEM.” CHANGE WITNESSED OVER THE YEARS “I graduated in the early ’90s and there were quite a few women in the class, but very few of the academic staff, especially in some colleges, were women.

Ireland wasn’t as bad as other countries –

I remember seeing women scientists here, but I did a postdoc in the UK and in the department I was in, I think they had 42 academic staff in chemistry and I don’t recall any women amongst them.”

WHAT’S NEEDED “The real problem is retaining women. I wonder after Covid, if people are allowed to have more work/life balance, working from home at times, whether that might improve the situation.

Speaking for myself, I have a very supportive partner, so demands at home are shared equally. Part of the issue comes from the gender roles at home. When something’s required – childcare or looking after elderly parents – it’s often the woman that ends up taking that role. In terms of what universities or industry can do, I think what Covid has shown is that people will do the job, and deliver the work, if they can be given the flexibility to do it.

So having a more output, rather than presenteeism, perspective would probably help.”

BALANCE IN THE WORKPLACE “Sometimes women can find it hard to put themselves forward, but it’s not always women – quieter people or those with less confidence might find it difficult to speak up and present their work or views. How you support that is by having a supportive environment, where people aren’t afraid to speak, or made to feel as though their opinions matter less or aren’t valid. Having women in those positions where they can be seen speaking out at meetings or taking on leadership roles is so important.

Where people don’t want to take on significant leadership roles – that has to be allowed as well; one of the things I think women can be nervous of is when they start to really promote themselves, they can get pulled into senior management roles that maybe they don’t want to take on. So, it’s that flexibility; that people’s abilities and capabilities are recognised and they’re supported; and seeing women in leadership roles in action – all of these are needed.”

8 INITIATIVES WORKING TO ADVANCE FEMALES IN STEM INDUSTRIES

1

30% Club Over 280 Irish chairs and CEOs of leading businesses are supporters of the 30% Club Ireland, which has set a target of reaching at least 30% representation of all women on all boards and all C-suites globally.

Ibec Diversity Forum Ibec’s Diversity Forum brings employers of all sizes and sectors together to share best practice, network and develop policy and practice to support diversity and inclusion and a National Diversity and Inclusion Day to showcase inclusion initiatives across businesses in Ireland.

Request a Woman Scientist This connects a vetted multidisciplinary network of 500 women in science with anyone who needs to consult a scientist for a news story, invite a keynote speaker or panellist for a conference or to collaborate on a project, ensuring that the imbalance of media representation is righted.

2

3

4

Women in Big Data This encourages women in the big data and analytics fields to connect, engage and grow through events, meet-ups and industry training courses.

Women in Technology & Science Ireland (WITS) An independent, voluntary membership organisation, celebrating over 30 years supporting all women in STEM, from students in third level through to senior business professionals and academics.

WITS has regular networking events, and has a focus on driving policy and research to attract and retain women in STEM careers.

Women Returners Ireland Launched in 2017, this network provides Irish returning professionals with a range of supports, including information and advice on the growing number of returner roles and programmes in Ireland.

5

6

7

Women in Coding A new software development programme launched in collaboration with Limerick and Clare ETB, Limerick for IT cluster and the Regional Skills Forum. This fully funded programme offers women looking to return to the workplace the opportunity to upskill while being mentored by industry who will also provide three-month work placement.

Women TechEU Women TechEU will offer financial support with grants of €75,000 to support the initial steps in the innovation process and the growth of women-led start-ups. Additionally, the scheme offers fist-class coaching and mentoring through the EIC’s Women Leadership Programme. Up to 50 promising deep tech start-ups from EU member states and associated countries will be funded under the first Women TechEU pilot.

8

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 11

11

08/12/2021 15:32

LEADING Tipping the Balance

DR EABHNAT NÍ FHLOINN

Dr Eabhnat Ní Fhloinn is an Associate Professor in the School of Mathematical Sciences at Dublin City University (DCU), and Director of DCU’s Maths Learning Centre, a free service where students can get extra help with any level or type of maths.

THE IMPORTANCE OF HER WORK “Maths as a subject can seem quite unforgiving – answers are either correct or incorrect; accuracy and precision are needed throughout. The difficulty that people have is that it’s extremely hierarchical. So, your knowledge of a topic builds on core foundations of mathematics, and if you have missed one of the building blocks along the way, you can struggle enormously. This is where the idea of maths support in higher education comes from: if we can help fill in that little gap in knowledge, then students can progress a lot more easily.”

WHY SHE FIRST GOT INTO MATHEMATICS “I really enjoyed maths in school and it was something I wanted to delve deeper into. I wasn’t challenged by maths in school, but as soon as I got to university, that changed dramatically. I studied pure and applied maths in Trinity, and did my PhD in applied cryptography, but I now do my research in mathematics education. I think my interest in this really sprung from my experience in university – students who had chosen to spend four years studying maths were, within a couple of months, doubting their ability to cope with it. I found it very interesting that students who studied maths for 14 years in our education system and focused on this one area for further study

could so quickly doubt their decision. It inspired me to look at how we can improve our teaching, particularly in the transition from second level to higher education, so that mathematics doesn’t become a big stumbling block for people.”

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS “The area of maths support was fairly new when I was finishing up my PhD – I never had anything like that in university myself. I started working in DIT when they were just setting up their Maths Support Centre, and that meant I got to be at the forefront of that movement in Ireland. We set up the Irish Mathematics Learning Support Network (IMLSN), and I was Chair for many years. We’ve gotten to a point now where maths support is actually something students expect in university – it’s become an integral part of the support services. While

Dr Eabhnat Ní Fhloinn

12

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 12

08/12/2021 15:32

LEADING Tipping the Balance

I love lecturing, you get to interact with students in a very different way due to the numbers involved; whereas with maths support, you really get to work with people one to one. When people can’t understand something, their confidence is low, and they tend to be almost disengaged from the subject. It’s a real privilege to get to work with somebody and see their confidence grow as their understanding increases. So it is important to me that maths support has become established in the way it has over the course of my career.”

CHANGE WITNESSED OVER THE YEARS “There has been some change, but it depends on the area. Traditionally, the purer and less applied the area, the fewer women you see, and that’s still the case. I noticed an enormous change when I went from studying cryptography, which would be applied maths, to mathematics education research. In cryptography, I attended a conference with 400 people, and there were four females. At maths education conferences, the split is closer to 50/50. So female mathematicians are more likely to be in areas where they’re working directly with people.”

WHAT’S NEEDED “The importance of role models cannot be overestimated. I went through university without ever having a female lecturer or tutor, and it is more difficult to see a path for yourself if you cannot see that someone else has taken that path already. We try quite hard now to promote mathematics as a career for women, especially at school level, so that students can see that there is a wide range of options if they do study something like maths. Within higher education, we need to be able to support each other. I’ve been heavily involved in the Athena SWAN process within DCU. This is a movement that promotes gender equality in higher education, and a lot of the initiatives that are run are very proactive in terms of supporting students and early career staff, because you can lose women very early in their careers in mathematics. So it’s about providing supports the whole way along, and I think movements like that can make a big difference.”

Dr Shirley O’Dea

DR SHIRLEY O’DEA Dr Shirley O’Dea is an Associate Professor of Biology at Maynooth University and Co-founder, Director and CSO of cell engineering technology company Avectas.

THE IMPORTANCE OF HER WORK “There’s a very exciting new wave of medicine being developed at the moment, where immune cells are actually being used to treat diseases. These immune cells can be taken from patients directly or from healthy donors.

They’re then modified in the lab and engineered to have new functions and features, and administered back into patients to treat diseases. This cutting-edge area is showing exciting success, particularly in the area of cancer treatment, as well as other areas, like autoimmune diseases and some infectious diseases. At Avectas, we’re developing a technology that will do the engineering step to those cells, and can enable the modification of those cells when they’re outside the body. Our technology does this in a particularly gentle way that keeps the cell as fit as possible, so that when it goes back into the patient, the cell can function potently as a medicine. These medicines are currently being used in patients with blood cancers, and working well in many cases. There’s also a far greater number of cancer patients who have solid tumours. That’s going to be more challenging, with a need for more engineering done to those immune cells to enable them to tackle solid tumours. That’s an application that we think our technology will be particularly suited to.”

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 13

13

08/12/2021 15:32

LEADING Tipping the Balance

WHY SHE FIRST GOT INTO BIOLOGY AND CELL ENGINEERING “I’ve always been curious about the world, and trying to understand why things are the way they are, but also trying to use that understanding to improve things. I did a science degree focusing on biology and studied cell biology and fell in love with it as a discipline. I was fascinated trying to understand how cells in our body are different to each other. Why is a lung cell different to a bone cell? How do cells communicate with each other? What’s gone wrong when we have diseases in the body like cancer or diabetes? And how can we potentially alter the course of those diseases by modifying the cells?”

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS “In my academic career, I’ve supervised PhD students and I’d be particularly proud of mentoring them to becoming independent scientists and following their own diverse careers, and all the scientific discoveries we made along the way. In my commercial career, at Avectas, we have a fantastic interdisciplinary team that I really enjoy working with. We’re a very ambitious company, we’re working in a challenging area, and we have a novel technology. For me, it’s about the journey towards making our ambitions a reality.”

CHANGE WITNESSED OVER THE YEARS “I started out in academia in the early ’90s, and in many ways, the environment is unrecognisable to what it was then. Back then, there were very few women in senior positions, or even visible at all in STEM careers. There’s been a dramatic difference in terms of women holding positions and senior positions, whether it’s in academia, in various institutes, hospitals, organisations, and up to board level. So while things still need to be improved, certainly, comparing today to the early ’90s, there have definitely been changes. And that’s probably largely because society has changed so much. There’s a better understanding of the needs and benefits of a work/life balance, and improvements in parental leave and flexibility. In the ’90s, you couldn’t step off the academic treadmill for any sort of a career break without it affecting your career. Now, in terms of 14

academia, there are more supports and grants for returning from career breaks to carry out research.”

WHAT’S NEEDED “It’s really important to encourage children to be curious, and develop problem-solving skills. Role models are also essential to highlight the career paths and opportunities that are there and allow girls to imagine what their future might look like. Having teenage children myself and seeing them go through secondary school, there seems to have been some changes to the way the curriculum is taught, where students are taught the methodologies first before they start going into the substance of the courses. I think that could come later, when you’ve already gotten the children excited about the subject, and then tell them about measurements and calculations when it’s less abstract. Once women have chosen a STEM career, the next challenge is retention and advancement. At that stage, they have the technical expertise and disciplinary knowledge, but what they might need then is to recognise opportunities for undergoing personal development.”

BALANCE IN THE WORKPLACE “This is something that needs ongoing attention and consideration, and you can always improve. Encouraging diversity is critical.

Whether it’s gender or race or interdisciplinary, your venture, what you’re trying to do, will be more successful with a diverse team. It’s also important to try to maintain awareness, both with individuals and within the culture, that there are issues that should be discussed. We’re fortunate that we have a young and passionate group of colleagues at Avectas, and that leads to open and honest conversations.

It’s very refreshing. We’ve also facilitated personal development courses, and I’ve found these invaluable in terms of my own personal development, but also for the team because it allows you to discuss issues and challenges in that space away from the everyday work environment and gives you a common language you can all share. That’s been really helpful.”

DR CRISTINA TRUJILLO Born in Spain, Dr Cristina Trujillo is a Research Fellow in the School of Chemistry at Trinity College Dublin specialising in computational organic chemistry, and the Leader of Trujillo Research Group, which has a special focus on computationally-led catalyst design within asymmetric organocatalysis.

CURRENT WORK “I’m currently working on designing new catalysts from the theoretical perspective and predicting enantioselectivity to get the best enantiomer, the drug that is going to have the most beneficial effects, and get rid of the one that is harmful or does nothing. I then give my results to the synthetic research group in Trinity and they try to synthesise the best catalysts. So, we’re trying to save money and time predicting everything in silico within the computer, and then validating in the lab.”

WHY SHE FIRST GOT INTO COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY “I was always curious and wanted to know why things happen and how they work, so I decided to study chemistry, but soon enough, I realised I didn’t like the lab. Last year, I had a brilliant female teacher who taught quantum chemistry. And straight away, I knew I wanted to do that.”

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS “Being awarded the SFI Starting Investigator Research Grant (SIRG) in 2018 and the Highly Commended certificate by the L’OréalUNESCO for Women in Science UK and Ireland Fellowship in 2019 were both wonderful moments and great opportunities for visibility.”

CHANGE WITNESSED IN HER CAREER “I arrived in Ireland in 2013 and found it quite a change. I did my PhD in

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 14

08/12/2021 15:32

LEADING Tipping the Balance

Dr Cristina Trujillo

theoretical and computational chemistry at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in 2008 and the gender balance amongst the PhD students was 50/50. We had some female full professors within the discipline but the percentage was low too.

When I arrived here, I found it quite unbalanced, unfortunately.”

WHAT’S NEEDED “Things are improving, but we still have a long way to go. Currently, only 25% of those working in STEM are female. It is vital we encourage more women into STEM careers, and we need to address the gender pay gap. Diversity is so important – it makes the science better, and it makes us all better. If you don’t have women and varied groups in science, the viewpoint is narrow. And we need more female leaders in science. We are so used to seeing men in those positions, and that has to change.

We need more diverse and balanced committees. It has to be tackled in all phases of secondary school. Science Foundation Ireland is implementing gender initiatives to support a stronger representation of women in research. And initiatives like the event last June co-hosted by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris and organised

by Women in Technology & Science (WITS), which brought female leaders in science and research together to discuss this issue, really help and that’s a start.

Female role models are also essential. For women like me, working in research who want to move forward in their careers, we need visibility, we need outreach. And we need to implement implicit bias training, because unconscious bias is everywhere.

We need better gender balance in committees, conferences and seminars.

I’m reorganising the seminar here in Trinity, and it’s something we have to put in place.

Every time we invite a male speaker, we invite a female speaker because there are plenty of female speakers out there. We need mentoring programmes, and we need to promote work/life balance.”

BALANCE IN THE WORKPLACE “On my research team, we have two female PhD students and one male, and we respect each other – there are no gender issues. I have found with fourth-year

project students, it is difficult to encourage females to do projects within computational chemistry. I also find some tend to be terrified of the lab, because it’s competition, and they may have limited experience with this. Again, more representation of women in this field might lead more women to feel it’s a possible career path for them. Visibility works, and I take every opportunity I am given to stand up and speak because I believe it is important and we all need to work together to improve the presence of women in all academic levels towards a 50/50 balance.”

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 15

15

08/12/2021 15:32

PROFILE The Transformers

The Transformers Gillian Keating & Caroline O’Driscoll CO-FOUNDERS, I WISH

Tell us why you feel there is a need for organisations like I Wish?

Of the 20 fastest growing careers in the world, 15 require a background in maths or science. Yet less than 25% of STEM jobs are occupied by women. It is critically important that girls participate in the economies of tomorrow. Through our surveys, 80% of girls identified I Wish as an important source of information on STEM careers, with 100% of teachers saying they would attend again. Interest in I Wish has grown considerably since the first event in 2015, which attracted 1,000 student’s to the 2021 event, which attracted 15,122 students from 19 countries. We are determined that the next generation of

FOR MORE: www.iwish.ie

16

At I Wish we b e lie ve , in a r a p id ly chang in g wo r ld , th at it is time to rethin k h o w STE M su b jects a r e pres en te d in sch ools, with over three q u ar te r s (78% ) of te e n a g e girls sa yin g la c k of ch oices is a barrie r to a c a r e e r in STE M.

females will be thought leaders, innovators, and game changers in a world in which science and technology is powered by the best and brightest minds.

We have been talking about women in STEM for quite a while now. What are the ongoing barriers that necessitate this continued focus?

84% of I Wish 2021 respondents identified the lack of female role models as a barrier to pursuing a career in STEM. Our data shows that teenage girls who know a female adult in STEM are significantly less likely to see confidence as a barrier to pursuing a career in STEM, less likely to see access to STEM subjects as a barrier, less likely to be deterred by higher male representation in STEM and more likely to have studied higher level

junior cert maths and to consider studying higher leaving cert maths. Female role models matter. A lack of STEM subject choice was identified as another barrier. Our research shows that 55% of our respondents who are interested in studying engineering to leaving cert do not have access to it as a subject choice. We believe that equal access is important and there is an inherent bias in not permitting girls access to certain subjects which are more commonly available to boys.

What do you see as being pivotal achievements along this journey for I Wish?

I Wish has now established itself as a significant part of the STEM education eco-system. Year on year we have scaled the event, taking it from a local event to a national event within two years and by re-imagining I Wish online during Covid.

Reaching 15,122 girls from 19 countries in 2021 was a proud moment on our journey. Over the past number of years, we have surveyed the girls that come to I Wish to hear their voice and listen to what matters to them. 2021 marked the sixth annual I Wish survey, with 2,449 respondents making it the largest survey of secondary school girls and their attitudes towards STEM in Ireland. This is a significant dataset that informs our outreach activities and STEM education policy. However, the real achievement for us is when the alumnae community tell us their stories; these are young women who once went to I Wish, were inspired to study STEM in college and now they want to pay it forward. We are a small team, but it is the people and our industry partners that have got behind us, given their time freely, and are an incredibly important part of the I Wish community.

Many studies have identified the years up age eight as being important for habit forming. How does this fit with the I Wish model?

I Wish intervenes at a critical point when a girl is making subject choices. However, each year we invite a pilot group of primary school girls to attend I Wish and assess the positive impact it has made. As a result of that, we are currently developing an exciting new primary programme with our partners to bring STEM to life for girls of primary school age.

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 16

08/12/2021 15:32

AT A GLANCE Are you finding an increasingly positive transition from girls’ self-reported interest in STEM to take-up on STEM jobs?

Yes. Between 2016 and 2019, just under half of students taking higher level leaving certificate maths were female. In 2021, for the first time ever this has risen to 50%.

I Wish participants planning to take higher level leaving cert maths increased from 66% to 81% between 2016 to 2021.

Increasing female participation in STEM is a stubborn global problem but we have made significant strides. Ireland now has the second highest level of female participation in STEM in Europe.

Your survey shows high percentages of girls perceive there is not enough information on STEM jobs. The same level of information is available to both sexes, so is it possible that teachers and parents are not presenting this information to girls? How do you combat this?

Unfortunately, gender bias remains alive and well. Some of that is unconscious, but it can be deeply ingrained. Girls self-report confidence issues in our survey and we really need to think about that and how we empower the next generation. We need to change the narrative and the way that we as a society talk to girls about STEM careers. But we can also clearly see how exposure to female role models makes a significant difference to girls – both to their confidence and subject choices – and we need to continue to work on programmes that deliver this.

Tell us about the next steps for I Wish?

We are expanding to an all-year-round programme in order to make a lasting impact at different stages of a girl’s educational journey. Earlier this year, we launched with Park Place technologies in Ohio a “Tech for Good” programme for disadvantaged students who we became aware were having technology access issues in particular through Covid. We opened an I Wish mentorship programme with Deloitte, a support network for our alumnae (girls who once went to I Wish) to support them as they navigate their way through third level. We have launched an international twinning programme, twinning

schools in Ireland with schools across the globe and profiling successful women in STEM. We plan to launch a primary programme to excite pre-teens about STEM and provide female role models and challenge gender-stereotyping. Certainly, a busy year ahead!

Role modelling is important for children. Who is or was your greatest role model?

From an early age, children begin to view particular careers as more or less suitable for their gender. Role model interventions increase girls’ interest and expectations of success in STEM. For us, we have many I Wish ambassadors who participate in I Wish and are our role models. Brenda Romero (BAFTA-winning gamer), Anne O’Leary (Vodafone), Marie Moynihan (Dell Technologies), Oonagh Reid (Arup), Dee Forbes (RTÉ), Dr Pixie McKenna, Mary Robinson, Marion Buchet (fighter pilot) – these are all women who are blazing their own trail through STEM and have inspired and supported us on our own journey as we developed and scaled I Wish.

Why is it so important to change the narrative on STEM jobs for women?

We need to continue to work with girls, teachers, and parents to empower girls to think positively about STEM and their role in it. We need to show girls how STEM changes the world, for the better. We need girls to know that we need their voices at the table. Covid-19 has fast-forwarded many of us into the digital future and highlighted the vulnerability of women in the workplace.

Women are disproportionately affected by the pandemic. The Global Gender Gap 2021 report confirmed that the gender gap has increased by a generation from 99.5 years to 135.6 years as a result of Covid. Now more than ever, it is imperative that we help girls recognise their potential in STEM where the jobs of tomorrow exist. This is a “whole of society” issue. As the world moves ahead at an astonishing rate, fuelled by advances in STE,M each one of us has a part to play to ensure no girl gets left behind.

Today, sitting in a classroom, there is a 13-year-old girl, full of ability, who does not feel confident enough to think she can do STEM. We all need to help her know that she can.

PROFILE The Transformers

85% OF TEENAGE GIRLS BELIEVED THERE WERE NOT ENOUGH SCHOOL VISITS BY ROLE MODELS

55

%

OF GIRLS INTERESTED IN STUDYING ENGINEERING TO LEAVING CERT WERE NOT GIVEN ACCESS TO IT AS A SUBJECT CHOICE

74% OF TEENAGE GIRLS BELIEVE ACCESS TO RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE IS NECESSARY

About Gillian Keating Gillian leads Ronan Daly’s – Jermyn’s Corporate Department. She is a highly regarded deal lawyer known for her work in the healthcare and technology markets. She is an Adjunct Professor in the College of Business and Law at UCC and in 2017 received an Alumni Achievement Award from UCC for her work with I Wish. She has held, and continues to hold, non-executive board and audit committee positions in the private and public sector.

About Caroline O’Driscoll Caroline is the Technology Media and Telecommunications Tax Leader at Deloitte North and South Europe. She is a member of Deloitte’s European Diversity and Inclusion Council for the Technology Sector and a member of Deloitte Ireland’s Diversity and Inclusion Council and a member of the gender balance advisory group for the Department of Education to achieve better gender balance in STEM education at post-primary level. Caroline is a Board Director of ReThink Ireland, Chair of their finance committee and is also Past Chairperson of it@cork (2017-2019). She recently took on the role as an Advisory Council Champion for Women Business Collaborative.

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 17

17

08/12/2021 15:33

LEADING Policy

consistent STABLE

t

SUPPORTIVE

BY M A R T I N S H A N A H A N T H E S TA B I L I T Y, C O N S I S T E N CY A N D T R A N S PA R E N CY O F I R E L A N D ’ S C O R P O R AT E TA X R AT E A N D R EG I M E H A S B E E N A N I M P O R TA N T S T R E N GT H F O R I R E L A N D I N F O S T E R I N G A B U S I N ES S E N V I R O N M E N T T H AT I S AT T R A CT I V E TO F O R E I G N D I R ECT I N V ES T M E N T. I N V ES T I N G O V E R S E A S I S A R I S K Y E N D E AV O U R W I T H F E W C E R TA I N T I ES .

The Government’s decision to increase Ireland’s corporate tax rate to 15% for the relatively small cohort of companies with global annual turnover in excess of €750 million clearly represents a significant change in Ireland’s tax offering to investors. Global circumstances and Ireland’s constructive participation in the multilateral process necessitated this change. While we will be moving to a 15% rate for those companies that meet the turnover threshold, crucially Ireland will once again be emphasising the stability and consistency of that rate moving forward. The 12.5% rate will continue to apply to the vast majority of businesses in Ireland.

18

IDA Ireland will continue to engage with multinational companies on Ireland’s endorsement of the 15% global minimum and the wider set of international tax reforms agreed at the OECD. I recently travelled to the United States to engage first-hand with existing and potential investors on this and other issues. A full assessment of the potential effects of the changes on FDI at a global level and in Ireland will only be possible once we have sight of further details on how the reforms will be implemented.

Our initial conversations with investors indicate that the move to a 15% corporate tax rate will not impact upon their existing investments in Ireland. IDA client companies

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 18

08/12/2021 15:33

LEADING Policy

have welcomed Ireland’s active and open dialogue with the OECD process and the public consultation held by the Department of Finance. Ireland’s reasoned position was well flagged and ultimately Ireland’s agreement to the global minimum rate has not come as a surprise to investors. As global tax talks gathered momentum, we continued to see a strong flow of FDI projects into Ireland. IDA recorded remarkably resilient results in 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and in the first half of 2021 we saw performance return to near record prepandemic levels. The investment pipeline remains strong.

For the companies IDA works with – leaders in their fields from high-tech manufacturing to knowledge-intensive services – the factors that make them invest and reinvest in Ireland are multifaceted and

often unique to the company in question. It is difficult to isolate corporate tax on its own as a factor behind Ireland’s attractiveness to FDI and its importance varies amongst our client base depending on their stage of development. Tax, whether the corporate tax rate or the level of personal income tax, matters. As does Ireland’s track record as a place to do business, the availability of skilled talent, the quality and resilience of infrastructure, cost competitiveness, public investment in education and innovation to name but a few. We have also seen over the last year the resilience and strength of the the Irish state and its people in a time of immense adversity.

The change to the corporate tax rate will not make Ireland uncompetitive in attracting FDI. Many of our main competitors currently have higher corporate tax rates than 15%

and are not expected to lower them. An Ireland with a stable corporate tax rate of 15%, within a global framework, will be well placed to succeed provided we ensure we have a business environment fit for the 21st century economy. Even had the corporate tax rate remained unchanged, it was clear that in an intensely competitive environment Ireland needed to safeguard our strengths and address our areas of vulnerability.

Ireland has attracted a far larger share of FDI than might be expected given the size of our population, providing countless opportunities for people in each region of the country. From an economically disadvantaged island on the periphery of Europe, FDI has transformed Ireland into a hub at the centre of the global value chains that underpin the modern global economy. Multinationals dominate Ireland’s exports, spend on R&D and business contribution to the Exchequer.

In addition to their transformative impact on our economy and society, multinationals have demonstrated longevity in, and commitment to Ireland. FDI is deeply embedded in Ireland through sizeable investments in people and capital. A third of IDA’s existing client base have been in Ireland for 20 years or more. The decade ahead will bring many challenges and opportunities, particularly as the technological and green transitions accelerate. Multinationals can drive Ireland’s transition to a digitalised and decarbonised economy. The new international corporate tax environment is an additional component to an era already characterised by change. Ireland has in the past adapted ably to changed circumstances. If we retain our competitive edge across all parts of our FDI value proposition, I believe we will adapt and continue to thrive.

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 19

19

08/12/2021 15:33

TECHNOLOGY Security

OVERexposed O N E O F T H E G R E AT ES T C H A L L E N G ES F O R T E LC O S A N D I N T E R N E T S E R V I C E P R O V I D E R S ( I S P S ) I N T H E C U R R E N T C L I M AT E I S H O W T H E I N T E R N E T O F T H I N G S ( I OT ) W I L L I M PA CT T H E I N D U S T RY. T H I S ES S E N T I A L LY M E A N S O U R N E T W O R KS C A N P OT E N T I A L LY B E L E F T V U L N E R A B L E TO CY B E R AT TA C KS A N D DATA L E A KS . W H AT C A N W E D O TO E N S U R E O U R D I G I TA L I N F O R M AT I O N R E M A I N S S EC U R E ? J E N N I F E R M c S H A N E S P E A KS TO M A R C O ’ R EG A N , CTO E M E A , D E L L T EC H N O LO G I ES A N D EO I N BY R N E , T H E CY B E R I R E L A N D C LU S T E R M A N AG E R , TO F I N D O U T. 20

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 20

08/12/2021 15:33

TECHNOLOGY Security

IoT is the concept of ‘everything’ being connected all the time. This can be a very good thing. “It brings significant opportunity for companies and workers as they use AI and Modern Analytics to extract information and value from data,” explains Marc O’Regan, CTO EMEA, Dell Technologies. “The current climate brings many challenges and opportunities for telecommunications (telcos) providers and ISPs alike. While cloud and ISPs across Ireland provide the services that we all want to consume, it is the telcos that actually keep us all connected. Without their services, we are at risk of digital isolation.

IoT and edge computing are some of the main emerging technologies helping to accelerate the digitalisation of Dell Technologies’ manufacturing facilities in Ireland and position our island at the forefront of engineering innovation.”

Innovation is the key word here, as it’s this new technology that brings with it a host of benefits. “For the telecommunications sector, the growing adoption of edge computing is helping to connect digital cities, smart utilities, self-driving cars and devices across a range of industries – from healthcare and manufacturing to finance and energy,” he continues.

IoT has skyrocketed as a result of its application with connected devices, creating more entry points in the process. As Marc points out, there are significant benefits to

this. However, this hyper-connectivity also brings with it a major problem: If all these points are not patched properly (as not all of them are) this can leave accounts for users, clients and companies exposed. For those that don’t know, 47% of the most vulnerable devices are security cameras installed on home networks, followed by smart hubs (15%), like Google Home and Amazon Alexa, and network-attached storage devices (12%), so be it at home or in work, we all use them – they are an intrinsic part of our professional and personal lives.

As the pandemic saw organisations across the globe forge ahead with remote working, companies have had to accelerate their digital transformation. In fact, the Digital Adoption Survey from Dell Technologies and the Executive Institute revealed that 68% of Irish businesses have now shortened the target window for digital transformation. From

purchasing goods and services to working and learning from home, people doubled the amount of time spent online. Not surprisingly, with this massive digital migration, cybercrime has reached an all-time high.

“If you look at some of the statistics, there are already billions of devices connected to the internet, even without the challenges we have now as a result of this new way of working, and that is going to be increasing over the next number of years. The effects of that means an increase in online activity, and internet traffic, and this is going to be a wider target for attacking cyber criminals who are always looking for new entry points,” says Eoin.

“And we’ve seen that there’s been an increasing number of cyber attacks, including disinformation, attacks on critical national infrastructure, and attacks on major industry players as well, over the past 18 months, with

“For the telecommunications sector, the growing adoption of edge computing is helping to connect digital cities, smart utilities, self-driving cars and devices across a range of industries – from healthcare and manufacturing to finance and energy.”

Marc O’Regan, Dell Technologies

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 21

21

08/12/2021 15:33

TECHNOLOGY Security

Eoin Byrne, Cyber Ireland

some very high-profile ones internationally, such as the Colonial Pipeline attack in the US, which affected oil and gas prices. And in particular, with the HSE ransomware attack area this year, it’s been a real wake-up call for Ireland and the Government in terms of the risks.”

So, naturally, we need to be more aware of these risks – in any setting where we use technology and leave a digital footprint, as Eoin explains. “We should be cautious with any kind of new technology that we have in our homes or in the workplace. That’s important, and it goes back to what we’re trying to do, which is raise more awareness around the importance of cybersecurity, not just from an IT perspective, but how cybersecurity is important for the whole of the economy and for the whole society as well. It’s not just a technical challenge, and that we need different perspectives to address those challenges with people that are coming from different backgrounds, be it law or policy or education or the social sciences.”

And here are things organisations can – and need to – do to maximise their overall digital security. This is especially essential in the data-driven era we now find ourselves in, Marc says, as these challenges will only increase.

“Consumers and businesses need to be mindful of the cybersecurity risks they face 22

“We’ve seen that there’s been an increasing number of cyber-attacks, including disinformation, attacks on critical national infrastructure, and attacks on major industry players as well, over the past 18 months, with some very high-profile ones internationally.”

when using technology – not only where a device is connected to a network but across the wider system to which they connect.

Organisations should leverage technology where security is intrinsically built in to help them better prevent, detect and respond to cyber threats. As we look ahead to our datadriven era, organisations will increasingly need to meet data and keep it secure where it lives – at the edge. For example, by 2024, the International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts that there will be an 800% increase in apps at the edge.”

“Dell Technologies’ 2021 Global Data Protection Index (GDPI) reveals that eight

in ten organisations are concerned that their existing data protection solutions may not meet future business challenges. With organisations managing more than ten times the amount of data than they did just five years ago, it’s vital that organisations look at moving business critical data into an isolated air gap environment – or what we call a cybervault – which provides the ultimate protection for business-critical information.

That’s why we believe that a holistic, new approach to security is required. An approach where security is intrinsically built into everything – from infrastructure, devices and applications. Network functions implemented as containerized microservices can leverage cloud native security advances such as hardware resource isolation, automatic reconfiguration, and automated security testing, which can improve both open-source vulnerability management and security configuration management.”

He points out that the Dell Technologies Managed Services team are supporting businesses and organisations in Ireland to enhance their cybersecurity and resilience by using AI, ML and analytics to help identify suspicious behaviour, conduct periodic recovery testing, and provide aid during the recovery process in the event of an attack.

“We need to move away from the fractured nature of how security is built and handled, and we need to look at the various levels and layers where security needs to be built in.

Essentially, it’s about building intrinsic security into the very fabric of the service delivery model from process to platform to endpoint.”

“A lot of companies are moving to the idea of zero trust, whereby you don’t trust anyone or anything, whether it’s someone that’s on your work network or on your home network,” Eoin points out. “So, you might be expecting a package that day and will enter your details in to pay a customs fee, for example, but you have to take this approach of zero trust, which is, assume this might be somebody trying to get your details or hack into a system. And a lot of it comes down to yes, it’s an IT issue, but really it’s a human challenge as well, that it’s really about an education and awareness that we can improve on across all organisations in Ireland.”

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 22

08/12/2021 15:33

PROFILE The Disruptor

The Disruptor Kristin Jensen FOUNDER, PUBLISHER A N D E D I T O R AT NINE BEAN ROWS BOOKS

How does Nine Bean Rows differ from other long-established publishing houses in Ireland?

As a small boutique publishing house, I have the luxury of being able to focus exclusively on the area that most interests me: food and storytelling. And because I have such a personal interest in this topic, I can dedicate myself to my authors and their books in ways you might not get at a bigger house with more genres on their list.

Why Blasta Books?

The Blasta Books quarterly series of small, illustrated cookbooks is a way to provide a more inclusive snapshot of Ireland’s modern and diverse food culture. They’re little books with big voices.

FOR MORE: www.blastabooks.com

In th e n o tor iou sly c h a lle n g in g wor ld o f p u b lish in g , Kr istin J e n sen p r o ve s th er e’s a lway r o o m fo r a little on e. Small b u t mig h ty, th e c o u n tr y’s n e west p u b lish in g h o u se la u n c h e d with th e e x c itin g , c r o wd fu n d e d Bla sta Bo o k s p r o ject ear lier th is ye a r .

Nin e Be a n Ro ws Bo o k s g ive s vo ic e to th e d iver sity o f talen t in th e food in d u str y in Ir e la n d to d a y.

What has the reaction been in both the publishing and food industry?

The response has been 100% supportive. It’s also been validating to see how many other people were just as frustrated as I was at the lack of opportunities for new voices to be heard but also to see how excited people are about the project.

Small and agile is the traditional start-up business model – how do you feel this impacts on the quality of your product?

We can be bolder and edgier in who, what and how we publish, which is also helped by the fact that we are targeting a niche market rather than the mainstream.

A clear vision of the end product is vital, as is the willpower to stick to that vision. How do you avoid your brand being diluted as you recruit external talent?

I trust the expertise, advice and vision of our creative director, Jane Matthews, and series artist, Nicky Hooper. Any time I start going off brand, they steer me back on the right track.

AT A GLANCE

Tell us about Kickstarter. What are the benefits? Would you recommend it as a funding model to other start-ups?

The big advantages were that I was able to test the market for the idea and create a buzz about the books.

I wouldn’t have been able to do either of those things if I’d just gone to the bank for a business loan. I hope our success with Kickstarter inspires other people to consider crowdfunding as a viable option.

In a competitive market, knowledge sharing is sometimes not seen as a wise move.

Did you find this to be the case and how did this impact your journey?

I was a freelance editor for 20 years before I started my own publishing company and all my clients have been nothing but supportive and encouraging. Being able to ask for their advice was hugely reassuring in the early days when I wasn’t sure if I was on the right track with cost projections.

What will 2022 bring for Nine Bean Rows?

We are actively building our book list and working on other collaborations and events.

What sustains you?

Having this chance to do the work that I’ve been dreaming of for years.

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 23

23

08/12/2021 15:33

AI INNOVATING AI in Finance

THE FUTURE OF FINTECH

T H A N KS TO I TS W E L L- ES TA B L I S H E D , C O L L A B O R AT I V E EC O SYS T E M A N D S I G N I F I C A N T I N V ES T M E N T I N A R T I F I C I A L I N T E L L I G E N C E ( A I ) R ES E A R C H A N D D E V E LO P M E N T O V E R M A N Y Y E A R S , I R E L A N D I S P E R F ECT LY P O S I T I O N E D TO L E A D T H E WAY I N T H E E M E R G I N G A R E A O F T R U S T W O R T H Y A I I N F I N A N C I A L S E R V I C ES .

BY S O R C H A C O R C O R A N

Dr Nicola Stokes

24

Ireland has an impressive number of innovation and research and development (R&D) labs in financial services, which are leading on the data and artificial intelligence (AI) roadmaps for their organisations globally.

In fact, some of the largest AI R&D labs in this country are in the financial services sector – those established by Mastercard, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Stripe, Fiserv, and Fidelity are of a similar scale to IBM’s and Intel’s R&D labs here.

Mastercard Ireland’s global software development centre in Dublin has grown into a vibrant, multi-cultural hub of over 650 technologists since 2008. In February 2020, the company announced plans to open a new European Technology Campus in Dublin, employing a further 1,500 technologists.

Dublin is also home to The Hive, one of Deutsche Bank’s Global Centres of Excellence for Data, which provides data analytics tools, services, AI, machine learning and software products to the group worldwide.

As far back as 1996, Fidelity’s FCAT Lab was established in Ireland as Fidelity’s first non-US Tech and Operations Centre and now employs around 1,000 people in the technology space. One of its recent innovations was the development of a chatbot that could improve customer engagement and create savings.

“The reason financial services companies do technology innovation in Ireland is because of the strength of the tech and AI talent we have here. With both the financial

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 24

08/12/2021 15:33

INNOVATION AI in Finance

services and technology ecosystems having been really well developed over the past 40 years, there is great cross-pollination of skillsets between the two,” says Nicola Stokes, Technologist, International Financial Services at IDA Ireland.

According to a LinkedIn study, Ireland has the highest ratio of AI professionals in the EU and a World Economic Forum (WEF) 2021 report has identified Ireland as an AI Rising Star for its solid talent base and for demonstrating excellence in AI R&D. “The academic ecosystem in Ireland is strong in terms of AI. Financial services companies are collaborating with academia on industry-driven projects across the spectrum,” notes Stokes. “A lot of money has been invested in Science Foundation Ireland’s

(SFI) Research Centres of excellence relevant to the financial services sector and there is a critical mass of individuals here with high-level expertise.”

One such SFI Research Centre is ADAPT, which is leading an initiative called Fintech Fusion, aimed at strengthening the international competitiveness of the Irish financial services industry through the production of new results from cutting-edge financial technology research. Deutsche Bank, for example, has worked with ADAPT on the development of an augmented reality/ virtual reality headset for fraud analysts to use to identify anomalies in terms of money movement. The tool allows the user to view a large dataset of known people and organisations who are on an international

“The academic ecosystem in Ireland is strong in terms of AI. Financial services companies are collaborating with academia on industrydriven projects across the spectrum. A lot of money has been invested in Science Foundation Ireland’s Research Centres of excellence relevant to the financial services sector and there is a critical mass of individuals here with highlevel expertise.”

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 25

25

08/12/2021 15:33

INNOVATING AI in Finance

watch list and collaborate in real time over multiple locations.

Financial services companies across IDA Ireland’s portfolio are exploiting AI technologies to improve operational efficiencies, enhance customer engagement and tackle the challenges arising from increased regulation and compliance.

According to McKinsey, financial institutions typically allocate 10-15% of their workforce to compliance – a level that is not sustainable in terms of cost of doing business.

“From a purely technology viewpoint, financial services at its core is a data industry; in other words, financial services companies are tech companies, but with heavier regulatory burdens. Automating regulatory compliance using AI is a massive area of focus in Ireland.

The operational excellence piece is very much on our clients’ minds, with many using AI to improve the efficiency of back-, middle- and front-office processes. Typically AI results in a 20-30% reduction in costs for particular processes,” Stokes explains.

In global banking alone, it is estimated that AI could deliver up to US$1trillion of additional value each year, a McKinsey report in 2020 predicted. This would be achieved by boosting revenues through increased personalisation of services, lowering costs through efficiencies and uncovering new and previously unrealised opportunities through the use of data.

“AI will impact everything in financial services and is actually creating new business models. A massive area of growth that we see in Ireland is how incumbents are looking at other revenue models as they modernise their in-house technology capabilities. They are now seeing opportunities to offer technology products alongside their financial products, and Irish sites are leading these product R&D roadmaps,” says Stokes.

“There are some good examples of this in insurance. Munich Re Automation Solutions has built a ‘robo-underwriting’ tool using AI which it is selling to other insurance companies.” Last year, Munich Re Automation Solutions announced plans to invest around €16m in an R&D programme called Horizons, which involved the recruitment of 60 new people in Dublin to accelerate the development of new cloud products and 26

“From a purely technology viewpoint, financial services at its core is a data industry; in other words, financial services companies are tech companies, but with heavier regulatory burdens. Automating regulatory compliance using AI is a massive area of focus in Ireland.”

services. Since its acquisition by Munich Re in 2007, the Irish subsidiary has grown to become one of the most successful providers of automated life insurance solutions globally.

Partnerships with fintech start-ups have become a key aspect in how long-established players in the financial services sector in Ireland are bringing new technologies inhouse. A recent example of this is large Japanese bank MUFG partnering with Dublin-based Fund Recs, an Irish innovator in cloud-based reconciliation software. In response to the EU Directive MiFID II, the partners worked together to develop a reconciliation and cash-flow monitoring system for Irish depository services using AI techniques. The offering frees up staff from data processing so they can focus on valueadded depositary activities in the investment and regulatory compliance discipline.

The investment in and regulation of AI is an immediate and significant focus of the EU under European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In October 2020, the EU parliament published a report explaining how it proposes to regulate AI while boosting innovation, ethical standards and trust in these technologies. Draft legislation was published earlier this year. Financial services

has been identified as a high-risk application area for AI technologists and so is likely to be significantly impacted by the legislation.

The Irish Government has invested heavily in AI over the past 20 years and trustworthy AI is a central tenet of its National AI Strategy which was launched earlier this year.

Trustworthy AI is about ensuring AI systems are accurate and reliable, safe and secure, explainable and free from bias. Irish academics have been instrumental in guiding the EU’s understanding of AI ethics.

“What I am seeing on the ground is that one of the challenges client companies are grappling with are the practicalities of implementing the EU AI regulation – how to bridge the gap between 400-odd policy documents on trustworthy AI/AI ethics and figuring out how to implement this in practice,” says Stokes.

“This presents Ireland [and the financial services industry here] with an opportunity to showcase itself as a leader and expert in trustworthy AI and AI regulation, given its deep academic expertise in this area and more broadly in the area of data governance.

This is in addition to the depth of AI R&D that is being undertaken by both indigenous and multinational industry.”

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 26

08/12/2021 15:33

INNOVATING Element Six

a Sparkling ACHIEVEMENT

For any company to reach a 60th anniversary is cause for celebration, but for synthetic diamond innovators Element Six, who have just celebrated this milestone at their Shannon site, this is as CEO Walter Hühn describes it, “a very fitting diamond jubilee”.

The Shannon site’s General Manager, Stephen Linnane, agrees, saying: “Very few manufacturing sites have been able to achieve such a significant milestone in the area and beyond, and I think it’s important that all of the Shannon teams, past and present, feel proud of what has been

achieved in our first 60 years and look forward to achieving even more in the years to come.”

The facility in Shannon opened in 1961 and was the first location the company (then known as De Beers Industrial Diamonds – they rebranded to Element Six in 2002) opened outside South Africa. The site opened just two years after the company had first successfully created a synthetic diamond. Of the decision to set up in Shannon, Linnane says: “At the time, we were looking for a location in the northern hemisphere, and Shannon

SY N T H E T I C D I A M O N D I N N O VATO R S E L E M E N T S I X C E L E B R AT ES 6 0 Y E A R S O F O P E R AT I O N S AT T H E I R S H A N N O N S I T E . I DA I N N O VAT I O N R E V I E W S P E A KS TO STEPHEN LINNANE, G E N E R A L M A N AG E R .

BY L O U I S E F I N N IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 27

27

08/12/2021 15:33

INNOVATING Element Six

Airport already had a positive reputation, extending back to when it was a frequent landing location for transatlantic flights… De Beers were looking for a new location with good international access links and the Shannon Industrial Estate was growing considerably [too].”

Since then, Element Six has worked at Shannon to manufacture and develop world-leading synthetic diamond solutions.

“The Shannon site synthesises and processes synthetic diamond and polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) – the hardest and second hardest materials in the world,” says Linnane. “These are typically used industrially for their incredibly durable abrasive properties in oil and gas, automotive, aerospace and consumer electronic manufacturing applications.

The site is also home to some of our group’s customer service, finance, supply chain, sales and IT functions, with more than 500 people currently employed in total.”

The company’s continuing success with the facility is down to a mix of factors unique to the area and to doing business in Ireland.

“The operating conditions in Ireland are favourable to international business, while the country sits in an ideal location for export to Europe and the US,” says Hühn. “Moreover, thanks to its strategic connections to the local universities, Shannon has provided us with a constant and reliable stream of talent in a variety of roles and levels... Our investment in the Shannon site, including cutting-edge processes for the synthesis of diamond, has allowed the company to remain at the forefront of supermaterial solutions development for new and evolving industrial applications.”

Linnane agrees, saying: “One of the key factors in our success is the reliable access to talent in a range of areas, from engineering to customer service, from finance to IT. In addition, given the heritage and reputation that Element Six has in Shannon, we have several members of staff who have had family or friends joining our company at some point over the last 60 years. This gives rise to a very unique and positive culture, a true sense of community that is 28

We face many challenges as a society, from the climate crisis and the need to transition to a low carbon economy to the rapid pace of digitalisation. Diamond, tungsten carbide and polycrystalline cubic boron nitride supermaterials are crucial to the development of many solutions to these problems.”

difficult to find within the industrial space.”

Asking Linnane to identify a standout achievement from the site’s first 60 years is a little like asking him to pick his favourite child.

“There are so many to mention – the list would be incredibly long! A few highlights include in 1966 the launch of our first synthetic saw grit product SDA, then in 1980 the successful launch and commercialisation of our first polycrystalline cubic boron nitride product – Amborite. Then in more recent times, the rebranding of De Beers Industrial Diamonds to Element Six in 2002, and finally a fantastic commercial milestone – in 2014, our PCD materials were used to shape the next generation of smartphones in partnership with one of the world’s most successful mobile phone manufacturers.”

When it comes to celebrating, Linnane says there have been a number of events on site to mark the occasion: “Our Executive Team was here on site to mark the official 60th anniversary, opening a wellness garden, created by employees for employees, and taking part in a 6km walk with more than 100 local employees. We also have a family event planned… which will ensure every member of our teams has the chance to celebrate this momentous occasion with their families, showing them around at their place of work.”

The celebrations seem to reflect the community ethos at the heart of this site’s success, something both Linnane and Hühn recognise.

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 28

08/12/2021 15:33

INNOVATING Element Six

“Building and nurturing a community is at the heart of what we do. Many of our Shannon employees and their families have developed and evolved their careers with us. Our work is underpinned by the same values of passion, trust, teamwork and innovation we upheld 60 years ago.

We strive to maintain a safe, diverse, inclusive and vibrant place to work for our teams, and remain faithful to the highest standards of corporate responsibility,” says Hühn.

He continues: “The sustainability initiatives being pioneered by our colleagues in Shannon are good examples of these values in action. We have installed new state-of-the-art leaching equipment that significantly improves the efficiency of our material’s processes. The site is also working on the installation of a heat pump to recover waste heat and displace 90% of its oil usage. We do this because it’s the right thing to do. These values are embedded in the DNA of our company and its people and will continue to be the driving force in ensuring a prosperous future for Element Six.” “One of our colleagues recently retired with 43 years of service and there are many others here with a similar tenure, but they will certainly not have been doing the same job for all this time,” says Linnane.

“We talk about careers as opposed to roles. What is the career path of the individual? We want good people to stay here and offer varied opportunities that give people a real understanding of the business and of the challenges faced by our clients and different parts of the business.”

“Having established such strong foundations, the manufacturing capabilities of the Shannon site are vital to the future production, precision engineering and development of high-quality synthetic diamond for our industrial clients.”

Over the course of the last 60 years, “the world has not stood still in that time,” says Hühn, adding “neither has Element Six. Our continued success is a result of the innovative and adaptive mindset of our teams, as well as the investments we have made as a company in fostering regional talent, creating a centre of manufacturing excellence and finding new international markets for the supermaterials that we engineer together.”

When it comes to the future, Hühn recognises that, like for any industry, there are challenge,s but says that Element Six is actively ready to face these.

“We face many challenges as a society, from the climate crisis and the need to transition to a low carbon economy to the rapid pace of digitalisation. Diamond, tungsten carbide and polycrystalline cubic boron nitride supermaterials are crucial to the development of many solutions to these problems – for example the precision machining of automotive and aerospace components, increasing heat efficiency in electronics, such as 5G communications networks, and producing more effective, safe and durable tools for mining. Our scientists and engineers continuously develop and advance our knowledge of diamond’s

properties and its applications.”

Linnane says the company is “constantly investing into the Shannon site to ensure we can protect our competitive advantage. In 2017, we further expanded our synthesis capabilities, enabling the site to synthesise and process new products.

This investment was obviously very significant for the future of the site.”

“Having established such strong foundations,” adds Hühn, “the manufacturing capabilities of the Shannon site are vital to the future production, precision engineering and development of high-quality synthetic diamond for our industrial clients.”

Plans for continued growth are already in motion, says Linnane: “Over the next three years Element Six will embark on further significant infrastructure programmes aimed at paving the way for the site’s future and improving the overall operational efficiency at its Shannon facility.”

Hühn concludes: “We remain focused on the road yet to come. Sustainability and digital transformation are not finite projects to complete – they will require constant innovation and agility. We will continue to dynamically adapt to new market trends and customers’ needs.”

See www.e6.com for more information IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 29

29

08/12/2021 15:34

LEADING Pharma 5.0

30

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 30

08/12/2021 15:34

LEADING Pharma 5.0

SMALL MOLECULES

big

strides W H I L E I T H A S N ’ T H I S TO R I C A L LY B E E N A S S O C I AT E D W I T H

L E A D E R S H I P I N T EC H N O LO GY A D O P T I O N , T H E S M A L L M O L EC U L E P H A R M A C EU T I C A L I N D U S T RY I S N O W P I O N E E R I N G A N A P P R OA C H TO I N D U S T RY 5 . 0 , W H I C H H A S T H E P OT E N T I A L TO G I V E I R I S H O P E R AT I O N S A R E A L E D G E I N T E R M S O F D R I V I N G O P E R AT I O N A L E F F I C I E N C I ES A N D LO W E R I N G C O S TS .

BY S O R C H A C O R C O R A N

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 31

31

08/12/2021 15:34

LEADING Pharma 5.0

Dr Chantelle Kiernan, Senior Scientific Adviser – Innovation, IDA Ireland

32

At a time when “less talk, more action” is the prevailing adage, it is refreshing to discover there is a collaborative industry project happening in Ireland which is all about taking practical steps to deliver real transformational change.

The industry concerned is the small molecule pharmaceutical sector, representing a significant footprint of plants mainly manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), with some dating back to the 1970s. Thanks to the project spearheaded

by IDA Ireland, this traditional and longestablished industry vertical is now ahead of the curve in embracing Industry 5.0.

While Industry 4.0, or the Fourth Industrial Revolution, focused on the automation of traditional manufacturing and industry practices using smart technology, Industry 5.0 takes things to another level. According to a report published by the European Commission in January, this new paradigm “attempts to capture the value of new technologies, providing prosperity beyond jobs and growth, while respecting planetary boundaries and placing the wellbeing of the industry worker at the centre of the production process.”

“Because small molecule is an older, more mature sector with a lot of capital investment, there hadn’t been much modernisation in the past few years. It didn’t really get onto

the Industry 4.0 roadmap in any kind of meaningful way,” explains Dr Chantelle Kiernan, Senior Scientific Adviser – Innovation at IDA Ireland.

“There were challenges with respect to digitalisation that other sectors such as medtech didn’t face. A lot of plants were involved in chemical synthesis from an early stage and handle volatile liquids.

Because of restricted access, Apex areas on sites weren’t even WiFi enabled and things that other industries take for granted – like bringing mobile devices into spaces – were not permissible.”

When Covid-19 hit, however, everything went up a gear. “Ireland was responsible for a significant volume of globally important drugs and small molecule manufacturers had to look at keeping their operations going and being enabled by technology. They had to embark on the digital transformation roadmap or risk being left behind,” says Kiernan.

“We had been working collaboratively with small molecule manufacturers since 2019 on Industry 5.0. On the day of the Covid-19 lockdown announcement, we came together as a small group to discuss how to progress this and what needed to be done to ensure the future resilience, viability and scalability of the industry.”

One of the key things the group identified was the need for convergence across different sectors – because of the emphasis within Industry 5.0 on mass customisation, man-machine interaction and, crucially, sustainability.

“The broadened scope of Industry 5.0 requires different players to come together and talks to the need for an ecosystem to deliver objectives. We realised early on that we needed industries other than pharmaceuticals to be represented so we weren’t reinventing the wheel. We call it a community response,” notes Kiernan.

The consortium that emerged is made up of large small molecule companies such as Janssen Sciences, contract manufacturers, technology and engineering companies including Siemens and Analog Devices, sustainability consultants – and Innopharma, an Irish SME focused on advancing skills and capabilities across the pharmaceutical, food and medtech industries.

Supported by Ibec, the consortium member “The broadened scope companies work in partnership with IDA Ireland of Industry 5.0 requires and Enterprise Ireland. The project also feeds different players to come together and talks to the into Science Foundation Ireland in terms of future need for an ecosystem research implications. to deliver objectives. We Kiernan describes the efforts of this unique realised early on that we group to date as “phenomenal”. “Collectively we needed industries other have tried to understand what Industry 5.0 means than pharmaceuticals for our operations and what the roadmap is for to be represented so the Irish industry over the next three to five years. we weren’t reinventing We have defined the deliverables for the next the wheel. We call it a year and are actively progressing those to community response.” outcomes,” she says.

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 32

08/12/2021 15:34

LEADING Pharma 5.0

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 33

33

08/12/2021 15:34

LEADING Pharma 5.0

A really innovative aspect of the project has been the development by Innopharma of a deep-dive assessment diagnostic to define the maturity of individual smallmolecule sites. An Ibec member company, Innopharma spent two weeks on site with each of the seven pilot companies. It used the assessment tool to help them to understand the impact of various Industry 5.0 technologies and what they need to invest in over the next three to five years to move their maturity level upwards.

In October, Analog Devices hosted a meeting at its Catalyst centre in Limerick where the managing directors of the seven companies presented their findings on the maturity of individual sites and Innopharma provided a sectoral analysis.

“Here we had pharmaceutical competitors coming together to collectively identify common challenges and potentially common areas for collaboration going forward. The reason they could all talk openly was that nobody owns the intellectual property of the processes,” says Kiernan.

One of Catalyst’s objectives is to help Analog and its customers to convert megatrends into new product and services opportunities. Facilitated by Siemens, another part of the workshop was about helping participants to understand what the Industry 5.0 megatrend means for them, which activities to prioritise and how to develop a business case to present at corporate level to allow them to implement projects.

“There were fantastic outcomes from the meeting. A number of big-ticket, multidimensional, collaborative projects were pinpointed as well as separate projects at company level. The projects broadly cover three categories: the impact of Industry 5.0 on the primary value chain, on the secondary value chain and those with a climate action and sustainability focus,” says Kiernan.

For Bryan O’Donnell, Partnership and External Supply Lead at Janssen in Cork, there were three key reasons why the company decided to be part of the consortium: “One is the personnel involved, who are representatives from small molecule companies all passionate about this area.

Secondly, it was because the project adopts 34

IDAIRELAND.COM

“API operations are a very large and important part of the pharmaceutical industry, one where companies still need to invest, in our opinion.”

a fact-based collaborative approach utilising digital maturity assessments. Importantly, the third reason is that ultimately this is about a shared vision on how advancements in technology can create solutions to problems we have been dealing with over a number of years. It’s about how technology can be a differentiator for our industry and really accelerate and advance our capabilities,” he says.

“This is such a new area and there is a real opportunity for Ireland to show leadership and proof of concept in terms of delivering against this vision. We believe Ireland has an advantage over other geographies when it comes to partnering and collaboration.”

Siemens got involved in the project as part of the work it does to support digital transformation in the manufacturing industry generally. “A strong manufacturing base here is good for informing our research and development work and in the long term also helps our local business. Our primary role is to bring our knowledge on how technology can support digital transformation,” says Domhnall Carroll, Country Lead, Digital Industries at Siemens.

“This project is very important in that it will help the existing manufacturing footprint in transforming to digitally-enabled operations – with technology and processes appropriate to the small molecule industry.

The extremely open and collaborative nature of it – working towards common objectives in a short timeline – makes this kind of project quite unique.”

Ibec has been engaged for some time in Pharma 4.0 through a working group led by BioPharmaChem Ireland. As well as putting Innopharma forward for this initiative, it is helping the group to develop Pharma 5.0 expertise. “Our ultimate plan is to bring the whole industry, from small molecule to drug product to large molecule, to the 5.0 plain

using the Innopharma maturity diagnostic.

The bottom line for us, especially when it comes to the traditional manufacturing base, is that competitiveness is becoming increasingly more important. Therefore API plants need to be as cost-effective as possible while at the same time maintaining service levels for the industry,” says Matt Moran, Director, BioPharmaChem Ireland.

“API operations are a very large and important part of the pharmaceutical industry, one where companies still need to invest, in our opinion. Most major global pharmaceutical players have significant API manufacturing facilities here. It was good to see recently that AstraZeneca is planning to establish a next-generation API facility near Dublin.”

Ibec is currently exploring bringing the approach to Pharma 5.0 being taken in Ireland onto the wider European platform and is interacting with the European Commission and other industry associations with a view to establishing further consortiums.

Kiernan is hopeful the project will achieve World Economic Forum (WEF) Lighthouse status. Amongst other things, WEF Lighthouse projects are multi-stakeholder, transformative, future-oriented and have growth potential or are replicable.

“The WEF Lighthouse award has been achieved in other sectors such as biologics and medical advices for facilities in Ireland so we want to roll it out to the small molecule sector. This 5.0 initiative came about following a new IDA Ireland strategy launched last year. Under this strategy, we have a new Talent Transformation & Innovation Department, which I sit in. Part of my role is to identify global megatrends and convert them into a national impact, which links to 5.0. We are going to create completely new horizontal sectors and look at how vertical sectors can collaborate and co-create roadmaps to define the activities to focus on,” she says.

“We recently pulled together 19 companies across sectors for a new Industry 5.0 collective project in response to the open call for the Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) on Health. This is the first time Ireland has engaged in the Health IPCEI process.”

GROWTH Expansions

success Striding Ahead for

W H I L E T H E L A S T T W O Y E A R S H AV E S E E N U N P R EC E D E N T E D C H A L L E N G ES R O C K T H E

B U S I N ES S W O R L D , T H E R E A R E C O M PA N I ES T H AT H AV E K E P T M O V I N G A N D A R E S T R I D I N G A H E A D TO FA C E T H E F U T U R E R EG A R D L ES S O F G LO B A L D I S R U P T I O N – T H ES E A R E S U C C ES S S TO R I ES O F G R O W T H , E X PA N S I O N A N D A C H I E V E M E N T. W I T H TA L E N T E D T E A M S , I N N O VAT I V E R ES E A R C H , A M B I T I O U S P L A N S F O R T H E F U T U R E A N D O P E R AT I O N A L E XC E L L E N C E D R I V I N G B U S I N ES S , T H E F U T U R E I S B R I G H T.

BY D E A N N A O ’ C O N N O R

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 35

35

08/12/2021 15:34

GROWTH Expansions

Deem Going for Growth as Travel Rebounds

As part of a bold global growth strategy, California-based travel-tech company Deem announced a new European Innovation Centre in Dublin in 2019, which would create 50 new jobs. Ashutosh Saxena, Deem’s Director of Engineering and Director of Ireland Operations (previously Engineering Manager based at San Francisco headquarters), relocated to Ireland to set up the European Innovation Centre, starting out with a small 11-person team in July of that year. However, as the pandemic pressed pause on corporate travel, the redevelopment of the high-volume e-commerce platform for booking and managing corporate travel paused too, but only for a while. Deem started hiring again in April 2021 and have added 15 people to their Dublin office this year already, growing to 45 employees. Deem’s original travel booking and management tools, which are used by corporate customers and travel management companies, were built in Silicon Valley starting in 1999. The Dublin office covers a variety of functions such as research and development, with a focus on building the nextgeneration platform for Deem, rearchitecting Deem’s existing travel platform into a highly scalable application, built on a modern microservices architecture. Updating the legacy architecture, the team at Deem is taking a mobile-first, modernised approach across iOS and Android development, shaping the technology of the future through AI and personalisation. One of the key attractions which led Deem to set up in Dublin was the cluster of companies in the travel technology sector, with the likes of Travelport and Retail inMotion in the area. As well as the pool of peer companies, other attractive factors included access to technology talent needed for its innovative plans, and the ability to scale quickly – the company has already moved office four times within the same building to accommodate its growing team, and from here, the only way is onwards and upwards.

“The Dublin office covers a variety of functions such as research and development, with a focus on building the next-generation platform for Deem, rearchitecting Deem’s existing travel platform into a highly scalable application.”

Ashutosh Saxena, Director of Engineering and Director of Ireland Operations, Deem

36

Jabil Healthcare Bray Awarded for Excellence

Worldwide, manufacturing solutions provider Jabil comprises over 260,000 employees across 100 locations in 30 countries. In Ireland, Jabil Bray specialises in the design, development, and commercial scale up of complex and innovative healthcare products, serving the world’s leading pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostic companies.

Jabil was recently awarded Medtech Partner/ Supplier of the Year by the Irish Medtech Association, for its new product offering in molecular diagnostics launching a COVID PCR testing device; and to acknowledge the company’s success achieving elite Shingo status. With expertise in the areas of moulding, tooling, engineering, quality assurance and automation, Jabil Bray also serves some of the largest packaging customers in the world. Established in 1980, the Jabil Bray site employs over 450 people across 153,000 square feet of manufacturing floor space, 14 state-of-the-art clean rooms, 65 injection moulding machines and 18 assembly cells. With a designated Centre of Excellence, the site’s annual production exceeds 1.7 billion products and components for the respiratory, ophthalmic, renal health markets and more.In October 2021, Jabil Bray was awarded the prestigious Shingo Prize. The award is the world’s highest standard for organisational and operational excellence. Awarded by the Shingo Institute, a programme in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, it recognises organisations that demonstrate an exceptional culture of continuous improvement. Jabil Bray is the first Jabil site to apply for Shingo recognition and becomes one of an elite group of only 190 organisations globally to receive the Shingo Institute’s highest award. To attain the award, seven Shingo Examiners rigorously reviewed operations at Jabil Bray over four days, marking it against the Shingo Model™ and its guiding principles. Examiners observed

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 36

08/12/2021 15:34

GROWTH Expansions

“The Shingo principles have served us well in navigating challenging times, continuously improving and adapting to meet the changing needs of our customers.”

behaviour and determined the frequency, duration, intensity and scope of the desired principle-based behaviour. They also observed the degree to which leaders focus on principles and culture, and managers focus on aligning systems to drive ideal behaviours at all levels.

“Manufacturing high-quality products have been taking place on this site for over 40 years,” says Jabil Healthcare Bray General Manager Kevin Heffernan. “The Shingo principles have served us well in navigating challenging times, continuously improving and adapting to meet the changing needs of our customers. Shingo enables us to create value and deliver exceptional results for our customers, the world’s largest pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostic companies.” “Customers seek out partners who are consistent, reliable and accountable,” notes Jabil Healthcare Europe Senior Director of Operations Padhraic McGinn. “Over the last ten years, the Bray site has demonstrated its commitment to continually improve to better serve its customers and that dedication has been formally and externally recognised with the Shingo Prize. Congratulations to the team in Bray on this fantastic achievement.” Jabil Healthcare Bray will be presented with the Shingo Prize at the 34th Annual ShingoConference in Orlando, Florida, 19-20 May 2022.

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 37

37

08/12/2021 15:34

GROWTH Expansions

Zoetis Expanding Biologics Manufacturing in Tullamore

Zoetis, the world’s leading animal health company, has a presence in Ireland across four sites – a commercial head office based in Cherrywood Business Park in Dublin, along with three manufacturing sites in Tallaght, Co. Dublin, Tullamore, Co. Offaly and Rathdrum Co. Wicklow. Out of its 11,300 employees worldwide, 450 of those are in Ireland. In July 2017, Zoetis acquired Nexvet and its biologic manufacturing site in Tullamore in the Irish Midlands, approximately 1.5 hours west of Dublin. Since 2017, the site has undergone significant development to expand its manufacturing capacity and be ready for commercial launch of Solensia, an innovative injectable used to relieve pain associated with osteoarthritis in cats. The team in Tullamore had been working on this breakthrough product since 2015, and its approval by the European Commission was an exciting milestone. In 2019, Zoetis completed phase 1, a $2.2m investment that allowed the company to scale its manufacturing process two-and-a-half fold, moving on to executing phase 2, an $8m project that will see a further four-fold expansion. The team has already grown to approximately 90 highly-skilled scientists, a talent pool with extensive experience in all aspects of biologics manufacture, process development, quality, engineering and supply chain. The current Tullamore site supports development and manufacturing services across all phases of biopharmaceutical development and commercialisation.

The expansion is planning, subject to approvals, to break ground in early 2022 and become fully operational by 2025. This investment will potentially create 80-100 new jobs over the next three years, with some roles beginning to phase in later on this year.

“This site has undergone significant investment and development since 2017. In preparation for the commercial launch of Solensia, Zoetis invested in the site to scale our manufacturing process to meet demand and has grown the team accordingly,” says Conor O’Dea, Site Lead, who has managed the site for 20 years. “With the high concentration of biologic manufacturing sites in the area and the skilled Irish workforce, we have built a strong team with extensive experience in all aspects of biopharmaceuticals 38

manufacture and we look forward to developing it further with this investment.

The expansion will offer current and future employees tremendous experience and career opportunities.” Ultimately, this expansion of the existing Zoetis facility in Tullamore will strengthen and diversify the Zoetis global manufacturing and supply network, enabling it to meet growing commercial demand and support future growth in veterinary biopharmaceuticals.

“The expansion is planning, subject to approvals, to break ground in early 2022 and become fully operational by 2025. This investment will potentially create 80-100 new jobs over the next three years.”

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 38

08/12/2021 15:35

GROWTH Expansions

TCS: Delivering globally and locally Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was established over 50 years ago and has grown into a global player in the IT services sector, with 528,000 employees in 46 countries. The multinational company generated US $22.2 billion in the fiscal year to 31 March 2021 and the Country Head, Deepak Chaudhari believes that TCS’s commitment to its customers lies behind figures of 98 per cent repeat business. Deepak highlights TCS’s reputation as a quality employer and points to its recognition as a Global Top Employer by the Top Employers Institute — one of only eight organisations worldwide to have achieved this status.

TCS in Ireland TCS established an office in Dublin in 2001, 20 years ago, largely serving global clients based in Ireland and a small number of Irish customers. Today the business employs over 1,400 people in Ireland and has 30 customers, including companies such as ESB, Aer Lingus, SSE Airtricity, New Ireland Insurance, Bank of Ireland, and Primark. TCS also serves several large multinationals based in Ireland and have recently invested into creating the Letterkenny Global Delivery Centre (GDC) which will serve further global customers as well as local Irish customers. Andrea McBride, Head of the Letterkenny GDC, outlines future plans to greatly expand the size of the company’s operations in Letterkenny and how they plan to build out the GDC. In November 2020, TCS acquired the assets and employees of Pramerica Systems Ireland, the software and business support subsidiary of US insurance company Prudential Financial. As part of the deal over 1,000 employees transferred over to TCS. Andrea was one of the first eight employees that started with Pramerica in 2000 and prior to her current role was Vice President of Software Engineering in Pramerica Systems Ireland. The organisation hires staff with experience internationally, usually from Fortune 500 companies, and this is reflected in the 35 different nationalities it employs in its Letterkenny operations. For example, TCS’s head of data science came from Fidelity in Boston 10 years ago. TCS Ireland also now designs courses in partnership with Queen’s University Belfast, Ulster University, Letterkenny IT, Sligo IT and NUI Galway. The TCS acquisition is a big opportunity for the Letterkenny operation and Andrea highlights the reduction in risk from relying on one client and emphasises the opportunity of moving to multiple clients across several industry segments. “Our strategy is to keep the Prudential business going and build out from that, focusing on clients in Ireland, UK, EMEA and near shore USA,” she says. “We are already working with some of TCS’s big UK retail clients such as M&S and Boots. The aim is to have five big clients supported from Letterkenny and growing out from that in the medium term.”

The team are busy building a business unit focused on supporting Microsoft, together with a centre of excellence in cyber security and a centre of excellence in cloud services. “It is particularly exciting for staff to be able to work in different industries and to work in vertical centres of expertise,” Andrea says.

“We have already plugged into the global experience of TCS across its 10 core industry segments. On one project in particular, I was able to access the expertise in digital transformation from the TCS group in Chicago.”

“The aim is to have five big clients supported from Letterkenny and growing out from that in the medium term.”

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 39

39

08/12/2021 15:35

h

THE NEW NORMAL Remote Working

A S W E B EG I N TO F I L E B A C K TO T H E O F F I C E , A H Y B R I D M O D E L I S S E T TO B E T H E NEW NORMAL FOR THE M A J O R I T Y O F C O M PA N I ES .

B U T W H AT M A K ES B L E N D E D W O R K I N G A S U C C ES S F O R S O M E A N D N OT F O R OT H E R S ? W H AT E N S U R ES C O M PA N I ES A R E S TA N D I N G OUT FROM THE CROWD?

THE

GREAT disruption Jennifer McShane speaks to Senior Lecturer in the Department of Work and Employment Studies at the Kemmy Business School in Limerick, Dr Deirdre O’Shea.

40

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 40

08/12/2021 15:35

h

Hybrid working is the new way forward, but as we delve into who gets it right, Dr. O’Shea is keen to point out that it is not a universal option for companies across the board.

“In terms of truly embracing going back to the office in terms of blended or hybrid remote working, the first thing that I think we need to probably be very aware of is that it’s not an option for many workers,” she explains. “There was some analysis done in the US, which suggests that only about 30 to 37% of jobs can actually be performed remotely, or in some sort of hybrid fashion.

So we’re predominantly talking about office workers, possibly some of the professional types of roles that had the option to work from home in the first instance, or to work in some sort of extended or hybrid model prior to the pandemic.”

In terms of the last 18 months, most organisations, and these tend to be multinationals to a degree, she says, are recognising that what is possible versus what is desirable is different, and that while remote working may be possible, it tends not to be entirely desirable, either from the company or the manager perspective, for a number of reasons including mental health, social interaction and the capacity for innovation.

THE NEW NORMAL Remote Working

“We know that social interaction is really, really important, not just for us in terms of our mental health and well being but also to get work done, to be productive. And while we can do Teams, and Zoom, and Skype - all those sorts of things have made remote interaction much easier, we know that it still doesn’t replace the quality of interactions that we have when we actually sit down with people in person. And that’s particularly

important for things like creativity and innovation. Any of the firms that have a focus on innovation, creating new products, and so on feel here’s an advantage to meeting and interacting with people on a regular basis.

And that is both formal and informal. You would have a lot of very innovative, multinational firms who created spaces in their organisations for that informal interaction where they’re bumping into each

“We know that social interaction is really, really important, not just for us in terms of our mental health and well being but also to get work done, to be productive. And while we can do Teams, and Zoom, and Skype – all those sorts of things have made remote interaction much easier, we know that it still doesn’t replace the quality of interactions that we have when we actually sit down with people in person.”

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 41

41

08/12/2021 15:35

THE NEW NORMAL Remote Working

other, or a group of people happen to talk to each other. And suddenly there’s a new product. That’s something that we lose out on in a remote environment, because we don’t have those accidental interactions. And that’s a reason why some companies may not want to have fully remote working.”

“Another very valid reason for hesitancy on the part of some companies is that our current health and safety legislation is very much based on the idea of workers going to work and being in the workplace; the onus is on the employer, and we don’t know what happens in a remote working environment in terms of what the responsability of the organisation is. Say you work remotely and the internet goes down in your area, is that your problem? Or is it the organisation’s problem?”

For those who can and do embrace it, she says that trust is a major factor. “If you were to go back, pre-pandemic, one of the areas around resistance to allowing employees to work remotely, is around the area of trust – do we trust them to do their job? Do we trust them to work if they don’t have monitoring and oversight? The outdated idea is that unless people are being monitored and observed, they are not going to work. I think what is probably a more useful way of conceptualising, is not so much can we trust employees to work when they’re at home, but it’s to seek more information about how we design those jobs, so they are motivating and enjoyable,” she continues. “So much trust comes from knowing your workforce.”

This ties in with how a company will gauge promotions and how companies make the

“If we have some people in the office and some people who are using a hybrid, the people in the office are more observable and interact more with people who are potentially raising their performance in terms of getting ahead in their jobs. This puts a huge onus on organisations to manage these sorts of things to ensure that they’re not accidentally driving discrimination in the workplace.”

decision to promote based on work performance in a remote or hybrid work setting. “We can think of different models of work performance and how we test work performance. But if you’re only getting assessed on your outputs, there’s an awful lot of perceptions that start to come in because that’s dependent on many factors that can be outside the control of the individual.”

The other side of that is most organisations in multiple countries have a big push around diversity and inclusion; and in terms of remote working and whether this means we might end up with a more diverse workplace, Dr O’Shea says we potentially end up with a more biased workplace, with a clearer and more discriminative approach unless a huge effort is put into not letting that happen, citing the gender gap as an obvious reason for this.

“We know that women are more likely to take up the option of remote working,” she says.

“Particularly, you see mothers going for hybrid working options because of other demands in their life, whether it’s children or caring responsibilities. And if we have some people in the office and some people who are using a hybrid, the people in the office are more observable and interact more with people

who are potentially raising their performance in terms of getting ahead in their jobs. This puts a huge onus on organisations to manage these sorts of things to ensure that they’re not accidentally driving discrimination in the workplace.”

Culturally, she agrees some companies can excel at this over others for particular reasons. “Certainly many multinationals have a very focused and really excellent approach of actually managing the fact that they have a presence globally. So that has not changed, because in terms of remote versus the hybrid working they’ve been doing that anyway as they have locations in lots of different countries. It’s going back to the idea of how we set work performance. And we talk about the difference between what we call getting ahead versus getting along in terms of work performance. And, depending on the type of work and the industry, they tend to emphasise the idea of ‘getting ahead.’

“So the idea of getting up the ladder in the career doing things that will help you get promoted, versus doing things that help the organisation run and function as a whole, and

“The outdated idea is that unless people are being monitored and observed, they are not going to work. I think what is probably a more useful way of conceptualising, is not so much can we trust employees to work when they’re at home, but it’s to seek more information about how we design those jobs, so they are motivating and enjoyable.”

42

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 42

08/12/2021 15:35

THE NEW NORMAL Remote Working

what potentially happens if an organisation is focusing on the ‘getting ahead’ performance criteria. So performing the core tasks of your job as opposed to what we sometimes referred to as organisational citizenship behaviours, with being a good citizen for the organisation, helping out people if they need it, etc. If those sorts of behaviours are not assessed in a performance appraisal, they

tend not to be valued, but very few organisations can function without people being good citizens. And so that’s not necessarily a national culture difference, but more of an organisational culture, and how that organisation culture translates into work performance criteria.”

“Some of the things we’ve seen coming out in terms of needs of organisations over

the next 18 months, is very much around building leaders of the future that can lead and manage in this blended or hybrid environment. There are new competencies that traditional leaders would not necessarily have been trained with. For both leaders and employees, we need to build digital skills, not just using the technology, but the people skills that come in that are nuanced and different. I think one of the hopes for organisations is that it not just gives flexibility to employees, but it also gives agility to organisations, so that there’s some aspect of organisational agility enabling their workforce to go into more hybrid and remote environments.”

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 43

43

08/12/2021 15:35

DISCOVERING Earth Surface Research Lab

Ground STATE-OF-THE-ART FROM THE

UP

The new Earth Surface Research Laboratory will reveal more than ever before what lies beneath our feet.

BY L O U I S E F I N N

“Ireland has an extremely diverse geology formed over millions of years. Part of the reason why researchers might want to study the surface of Ireland is to try and understand really important planetary processes, about not just the development of the country and the island of Ireland, but broadly how the planet has behaved over hundreds of millions of years,” says Dr Michael Stock, Assistant Professor in Geochemistry and Director of the new Earth Surface Research Laboratory (ESRL) at Trinity College, Dublin.

“More specifically, though, there are also economic reasons [as to] why doing a broad scale survey on the surface of Ireland is important,” he says.

The laboratory, described by Dr Stock as “absolutely state of the art”, was launched by Geological Survey Ireland and Trinity College, Dublin in 2019, and is based at the university. It boasts expert staff and world-class technology, including two X-ray fluorescence spectrometers which can analyse elemental samples down to 44

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 44

08/12/2021 15:35

DISCOVERING Earth Surface Research Lab

just trace concentrations. The ESRL will allow those using it to understand, in greater detail than ever before, what lies beneath our feet.

What is critical to research conducted there, says Dr Stock, is that “all the data we produce from the lab… it has to be put into the public domain.”

The primary purpose of the laboratory is to analyse data for the Geological Survey Ireland Tellus programme, which Dr Stock describes as “an amazing example of geochemical surveying”.

Now in its tenth year, this nationwide project funded by the Department of the Environment Climate and Communications aims to gather geochemical and geophysical data in order to examine the chemical and physical properties of Ireland’s soils, rocks and water.

“It’s a surface sediment survey of the whole of Ireland,” explains Dr Stock. “They take a couple of samples at different depths on a four kilometre grid... with a higher density in urban areas – in Dublin they are doing a one kilometre grid. What they want to know, once they’ve collected these samples, is what is the chemical make-up of the soil or stream sediment. Once they’ve got all that data, it goes up on the Geological Survey Ireland’s website and is freely downloadable and accessible by anyone who wants to go on there. You can go on there, choose your element of interest and bring up a heat map of how that element is distributed around the country.”

In addition to the analysis being carried out in support of the Tellus survey, Dr Stock explains that researchers from the island of Ireland and SMEs will be able to apply for free or subsidised access to the lab and its equipment for their own projects.

“There are various ways researchers can access the lab. They can use grant money... Or we have a free access route where they can come in and collect a little bit of pilot data. Again, it’s attracting more research investment in Ireland. It’s all about giving people that little piece of help they need to attract more investment.”

This is something Dr Stock says is also very exciting, as not only will it reveal more about Ireland’s geology, but it also “allows geoscientists to compete in a high technology research environment”.

The importance of the data the lab produces

“All the data we produce from the lab, it has to be put into the public domain.”

being freely available can’t be overestimated, and Dr Stock says he sees three main areas where it can be of particular use.

“It can be used in agriculture, so farmers might like to know about micronutrient concentrations in their soils, that will help them more efficiently choose their crops to get higher yields,” he explains. “The second one is mining. Ireland has a very active and extremely well-regulated raw materials sector. [It has] world class deposits which is an important part of the economy, obviously managed in a sustainable way. We have data from active and historical mine sites which can help to inform remediation and sustainable mining processes. The third one is related to that, to help with environmental remediation efforts.”

When it comes to industries such as mining, Dr Stock says that “it’s all to do with derisking.

If you’re looking for a gold deposit and there’s no data to go on, there’s a huge risk; whereas if you already have that baseline information, it gives you a starting point.”

One of the biggest projects the laboratory is currently working on is securing its ISO certification, which should be in place by the end of this year or early in 2022, and which will provide yet another internationally recognised guarantee of excellence when it comes to the data they produce.

As for what the future holds, despite the disruption of Covid-19, Dr Stock says they are on track to bring the laboratory to its next phase.

“I’m excited to see what happens as we enter this more operational stage,” he says. “We’ve put a lot of work into developing various different procedures. As of next year, we’ll be in that operational phase and then I’m excited to see what ideas the researchers from Ireland bring to us.”

It seems that when it comes to this kind of research and analysis, many more exciting findings are just waiting to be discovered. “Lots of amazing work is done by people all over the place and the Geological Survey has an amazing history of research in Ireland,” says Dr Stock, “but there’s a whole lot more to do.”

To find out more about the Earth Surface Research Laboratory, visit www.tcd.ie/Geology/esrl.

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 45

45

08/12/2021 15:35

Feeding SUSTAINABILITY Farming

I N TO THE

FUTURE

FA R M E R S T H E W O R L D O V E R A R E A L L FA C I N G T H E S A M E C H A L L E N G E – H O W TO G R O W M O R E F O O D A N D I N C R E A S E P R O F I TA B I L I T Y W H I L E S T I L L P R OT ECT I N G T H E E N V I R O N M E N T. S TA R T- U P S A N D R ES E A R C H E R S I N I R E L A N D A R E H E L P I N G T H E M TO M E E T T H I S C H A L L E N G E H E A D - O N , W I T H C U T T I N G - E D G E S O LU T I O N S A N D P R O J ECTS TO A D VA N C E S U S TA I N A B L E FA R M I N G P R A CT I C ES .

BY S O R C H A C O R C O R A N

One of the most significant outcomes of the Cop26 summit in Glasgow was a pledge by over 90 countries to cut 30% of methane emissions by 2030. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described reducing methane levels as “the lowest-hanging fruit” among the options available to make a major impact to climate change. This has put agriculture very much in the spotlight as part of the

46

solution to addressing rising global temperatures. Recent developments on the ground in Ireland have highlighted that startups and researchers here have already come up with fresh and innovative ideas on how farmers can make their practices more efficient and sustainable.

Based in Co Cork, FodderBox was among the 14 category winners of the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Arena Awards, held virtually in September in association with the National Ploughing Association. FodderBox has developed and built a fully-fitted, selfcontained, computer-controlled fodder production system that arrives

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 46

08/12/2021 15:35

SUSTAINABILITY Farming

James Maloney, senior regional development executive, Enterprise Ireland, and Ella Goddin, FodderBox

on-site, ready to plug and play. Essentially ‘a field in a box’, FodderBox is the equivalent of a 40-acre field in a 40 ft container – with zero water pollution, air pollution, herbicides, pesticides and insecticides. It is capable of sustainably producing a tonne of fresh premium fodder per day using hydroponic technology.

“Our system reduces water pollution and consumption, conserves land and natural habitat, reduces the use of fossil fuels and reduces livestock methane production through increasing their feed conversion efficiency,” says Ella Goddin, who founded the business in 2018.

State research agency Teagasc is partnering with FodderBox on a ground-breaking 10week animal trial of fresh Asparagopsis seaweed, cultivated in the container as an anti-methanogenic dairy cattle feed supplement. FodderBox is part of the first cohort of eight start-ups that have been selected to participate in University College Dublin’s new accelerator programme AgTechUCD. Due to finish in December, the intensive 12-week virtual programme includes business development workshops, investor readiness training and mentoring from agritech and foodtech experts. It provides access to incubation space and on-farm testing for new products at UCD Lyons Farm.

“We are delighted with the calibre and global potential of the start-ups selected to participate in the inaugural AgTechUCD accelerator programme, which received applications from across Ireland and all around the world,” says Tom Flanagan, Director of Enterprise and Commercialisation at NovaUCD. “The interest from international start-ups underscores Ireland’s leading reputation in the agritech and foodtech sectors.”

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 47

47

08/12/2021 15:35

SUSTAINABILITY Farming

Another start-up taking part in the accelerator programme is Carbon Harvesters, founded by UCD PhD student Luis Alejandro Vergara, who was named Young Innovator of the Year at the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Arena Awards. The Carbon Harvesters platform monitors farmers’ emissions on a weekly basis, promoting the implementation of economic climate mitigation strategies. It certifies the verified emissions reductions to monetise them as market premiums or through the carbon offsets market. Vergara’s PhD project is part of Farm4More, an EU-funded programme that aims to develop climate mitigation strategies in the dairy industry including a grass silage biorefinery. He is also a research assistant in BiOrbic, the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Bioeconomy Research Centre, on the Farm Zero C project. Earlier this year, this project won the SFI Future Innovator Prize under the Zero Emissions Challenge.

Meanwhile, AMBER, the SFI Centre for Advanced Materials and Bioengineering Research, is collaborating on a third project with MagGrow – a Dublin-based SME, which raised €6m in funding for its magneticassisted agricultural spraying technology in August 2020. MagGrow’s technology

Rad iant research

Luis Alejandro Vergara, Carbon Harvesters

reduces spray drift by more than 70%, delivers superior crop and weed coverage and reduces water usage by up to 50%.

Taking a deliberate, science-based approach towards developing an effective solution has resulted in an easy-to-use, low-maintenance product that delivers a return on investment of less than a year.

This third collaborative project with AMBER will build upon previous successful projects that have yielded important results concerning the magnetic-field effects upon agricultural spray performance. “Our aim is to use innovative and detailed analysis to test our hypothesis both in the laboratory and in the field. This will help to optimise the current MagGrow technology and open new avenues that could prove vital for feeding everyone on Earth in the coming years,” says Prof Michael Coey of AMBER and the School of Physics at Trinity College Dublin.

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin and the University of Limerick (UL) are among a European consortium that has secured over €7m to promote underutilised crops in Europe as part of a new project.

Headed by researchers from the Catholic University of Portugal, the Horizon 2020 framework project, RADIANT (ReAlising DynamIc vAlue chaiNs for underuTilised crops), envisages a future where a widespread, informed adoption of agrobiodiversity promotes the wider use of underutilised crops.

“By focusing on underutilised crops, this project will facilitate the development and showcasing of farms, management systems and dynamic value chains across Europe that promote agrobiodiversity,” says Mike Williams, Assistant Professor in Botany in Trinity’s School of Natural Sciences. “Trinity, in partnership with UL, will be involved in developing a toolkit to assess these production systems in terms of nutritional, environmental and ecological impact.”

START-UP SNAPSHOT Brandon Bioscience Based in Tralee, Co Kerry, Brandon Bioscience was the overall winner at the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Arena Awards 2021. Its winning entry is an innovative new biostimulant product using extracts from common brown seaweed that has the potential to reduce chemical nitrogen input on farms by up to 20%. Brandon Bioscience collaborated with traditional manufacturer Target Fertilisers in developing the solution.

Freshgraze This family-run Co Westmeath company has developed a robotic moving fence and management system which portions out new pasture to grazing animals as they require it. By constantly allocating small portions of fresh grass, it ensures that the animals do not walk on or soil the food they are about to eat, enabling farmers to make the best use of their grassland.

Cotter Agritech Brothers Jack and Nick Cotter from Limerick are the founders of Cotter Crate, which is developing a novel sheep handling and monitoring system to transform how sheep farmers care for their animals. The system combines hardware – which addresses animal handling and labour issues – with novel software that addresses anthelmintic (wormer) resistance. This enables farmers to move from treating all sheep to only drenching those that require treatment.

Izario Based in Galway, Izario has developed an autonomous poultry robot that operates in broiler-breeder and commercial egg-laying hen houses. Using custom-built, proprietary artificial intelligence and computer vision software, the robot detects eggs laid on the floor by birds and retrieves them. It also monitors the birds’ welfare and the environmental status of the sheds to allow farmers/ producers to make informed decisions based on the data.

48

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 48

08/12/2021 15:35

A G R I C U LT U R E The Next Generation

I R E L A N D ’ S AGT EC H C O M PA N I ES A R E S H A K I N G T H I N G S U P I N W H AT WA S ONCE CONSIDERED A TRADITIONAL S ECTO R .

BY D E N I S E M A G U I R E

For a country that’s synonymous with farming, it makes sense that it’s Irish AgTech firms that are using technology to improve the lives of farmers and the future of food production. Irish AgTech is making a global impact, delivering forwardthinking solutions to some of the industry’s greatest challenges. Since 2012, approximately $1 billion (€920 million) has been invested in Irish agrifoodtech companies, with Ireland being one of only a few countries worldwide to see a rise in deal activity in 2019. Ireland is leading the way with technology solutions that improve agricultural efficiency through greater automation. By applying AI and IoT technology such as wearable devices, companies around the country are helping livestock farmers to improve yields while minimising waste.

IDA Innovation Ireland Review caught up with four such companies to find out how their technology is helping to transform farming in Ireland.

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 49

49

08/12/2021 15:36

A G R I C U LT U R E The Next Generation

PADRAIG HENNESSY

GARY WICKHAM Gary Wickham and David Moore, cofounders of technology and IP company MagGrow, have created a patented technology that reduces waste associated with conventional pesticide spraying. It’s a solution that farmers can retrofit onto any tractor boom, regardless of make or size. “70% of the pesticides sprayed by farmers don’t reach or stay on the target weed or crop. Most farmers don’t know that. Our magnetic assist technology reduces spray drift and delivers better crop and weed coverage, as well as reducing water by up to 50%. Our solution dramatically reduces the waste by solving the compromise between drift and coverage associated with conventional spraying,” says Gary. The Irish tillage and crop markets are quite small, so Gary and the team knew from the start that this was a business that needed to go global. “We have a few customers in Ireland and we’re building that out this year. We’re currently based in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and some European countries. Regardless of the 50

The idea for TERRA NutriTECH came about when Padraig Hennessy saw a cow go down with a condition called grass tetany and die within 20 minutes. Padraig and the team searched the world market for a solution but came up short. The company’s current solution, the OPIS Controller, has been designed to automatically overcome variations in water consumption, ensuring that the animal receives the correct dose of magnesium and minerals, whatever the weather. It’s plug and play and easy to install and it’s also robust enough to go to international markets and not be reliant on technicians for installation. “In the first three years, we doubled the size of the business every year. In 2017, we knew we needed to upgrade the technology but then we had the Brexit vote and at the time, we were importing all our minerals from the UK. The day after the vote, I began to make my first phone calls about getting a manufacturing facility here on our home farm in Kildare to start producing our own minerals. That was operational within about 10 months.” Once the facility was up and running, it was time to embark on a significant technology upgrade. It’s companies like TERRA NutriTECH that are driving change in the AgTech space, says Padraig. “It’s the smaller start-ups that are disrupting the industry and it’s these companies that can deliver real change to help with emissions, improved returns and better data.” Padraig and a number of other players have just set up a new organisation called AgTech Ireland. “The aim is to enhance and promote AgTech adoption messaging and collaboration within companies. It’s our voices that need to be heard as much if not more so than the large players.”

country you are in, though, farmers are all facing the same challenge – the need to grow more food, increase profitability and protect the environment. The only way this can be achieved is through sustainable intensification of food production and that’s where MagGrow technology steps in.” The company’s very deliberate science-based approach towards developing an effective technology has resulted in an easy-to-use, low-maintenance product that delivers a return of investment of less than one year. “In our testimonial videos, growers state that they are getting 20-30% higher yield using up to 50% less chemical and water.’’ In 2019, MagGrow signed a commercial agreement with US agricultural company Trimble to distribute its technology. To date, the company has installed over 200 units in its target territories.

“We see real growth for MagGrow going forward. At the Innovation Arena at the Ploughing in 2016, we took home a gold medal in the sustainability category for a start-up company. We have come a long way since then and we’re only getting started.”

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 50

08/12/2021 15:36

A G R I C U LT U R E The Next Generation

TERRY CANNING Terry Canning set up CattleEye in January 2019 to provide farmers with a completely hardware-free method of monitoring dairy cows. Along with his partner Adam Askew, the pair set about developing an autonomous monitoring system for ruminant livestock based on video analytics and powered by Artificial Intelligence. This isn’t the first AgTech company that Terry has been involved in.

“In 2005, I founded FarmWizard, the world’s first software service for managing livestock. I sold that business in 2015 and shifted my focus to CattleEye. The aim of the business is to improve animal welfare and to provide farmers with accurate data to make better decisions,” says Terry. CattleEye uses a simple plug and play device; the farmer sets up the camera outside the milking parlour, it connects to the cloud and AI then takes over to determine if there are any issues with the cow’s feet. The technology is used to monitor livestock, specifically dairy cows. Lameness is a big problem for dairy farmers and one that they’re increasingly taking action on. “You tend to see more problems with cows’ feet in dairies where the cows are housed all year round. You don’t really see large numbers of housed cows in Ireland so we’ve focused the business on Britain and we’re also starting to move into the Middle East and China where we believe we’ll be able to hit the large farm market quickly.” The US is another target market for the business. “The US differs from Europe in that we have legislation that maintains high standards of animal welfare whereas over there, it tends to be driven by consumer trends. There are a lot of housed animals in the US so we see it as a growth market.” Since setting up FarmWizard in 2005, Terry has noticed a significant shift in how AgTech businesses are viewed. “Back then people thought you were a bit crazy for trying to get farmers to change. Now, there are billions being spent by investors in this type of technology.”

JAMES GREEVY The idea for Herdwatch came about in 2012 when CEO and co-founder Fabien Peyaud developed an app to help farmers organise and manage their paperwork quickly and efficiently. “The initial offering was a simple, easy-to-use app that allowed farmers record their basic farm compliant information. It proved invaluable, especially during spring-time when the vast majority of calves are born in Ireland.

Every animal that’s born needs to have a passport created for it within 27 days.

That’s a huge paperwork burden when a farmer is so busy. Herdwatch provided farmers with a tool that slotted seamlessly into their operations and could record paperwork as they were going about their jobs, even offline,” said James Greevy, Head of Innovation at Herdwatch. That simple idea took off and since then, product offering has grown along with customer base. Today, it’s a complete farm management solution for dairy, beef and suckler farmers in Ireland and the UK, used by about 14,500 farmers and growing. From the start, Herdwatch has operated a mass market business model. Herdwatch is currently in the process of launching a new feature in partnership with DoneDeal, allowing for greater security in online trading. “Farmers will be able to create a code for their animal and verify that the information they’re providing is correct. With everything online now, being able to verify the provenance of an animal is extremely important.”

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 51

51

08/12/2021 15:36

Camera L I G H TS

ACTION DENISE MAGUIRE looks at the flourishing film industry in Ireland.

52

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 52

08/12/2021 15:36

CREATING Film Industry

I R E L A N D ’ S F I L M I N D U S T RY I S T H R I V I N G .

I N N O VAT I O N I R E L A N D R E V I E W C H ATS TO E L A I N E G E R AG H T Y, M D AT A R D M O R E A N D T R OY S T U D I O S A B O U T T H E O P P O R T U N I T I ES A N D C H A L L E N G ES I N T H I S E XC I T I N G .

There’s never been a better time to be in the TV and film production business. With Covid restrictions forcing us to limit our social lives to 5km walks and online cookery shows, it’s no wonder that TV watching and online streaming surged during lockdown. “Right now, it’s the best time to be in this type of business, that’s for sure. With the recent acquisition by Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital Management, we’re now part of the world’s largest independent studio and media portfolio. It’s an exciting time,” says Elaine Geraghty, Managing Director at Ardmore and Troy Studios. The HCPMBS studio and media platform owns and operates the world’s largest independent studio portfolio, with more than €6.5 billion in media real estate assets including 11 studio properties. The MBS Group manages 28 studio campuses and exclusively services over 380 sound stages within its global network of over 65 locations across 46 cities and six countries.

Elaine Geraghty, Managing Director at Ardmore and Troy Studios

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 53

53

08/12/2021 15:36

CREATING Film Industry

Ardmore Studios, Bray

It’s a move that can only be described as positive. “Michael Hackman, the principal at HCP MBS Studios Ireland Ltd, talked about Ireland as a superb destination for production but he also praised our indigenous content industry and skilled crews. We’re now part of a global structure within which Ireland is being promoted very prominently as a destination. The new company is ambitious; it has clearly stated its intention to invest, support and grow the industry and that really is to be welcomed. We’re already feeling the benefits of the acquisition.”

The acquisition of two of Ireland’s biggest studios was a no-brainer. There’s more demand than ever for filming in Ireland, so what makes our country such an attractive destination for international TV and film productions? “We have a reputation that goes back decades. Ardmore was set up in 1958 and I think that’s something we forget; we’ve worked hard to build this reputation that we’ve become globally renowned for.

We’re known for the skills of our crews that 54

“We’re known for the skills of our crews that can travel and work anywhere around the world. That means that productions like Foundation or Disenchanted will come to Ireland for our destinations, our crew but also for our studio space.”

can travel and work anywhere around the world. That means that productions like Foundation or Disenchanted will come to Ireland for our destinations, our crew but also for our studio space.” That reputation has seen productions like Netflix fantasy series Fate: The Winx Saga filmed at Ardmore and

Apple TV+’s Foundation filmed at Troy. With a budget of over €45 million, the latter is Ireland’s largest scale production ever.

Foundation is based on the influential series of books from Isaac Asimov, with the series described as the centrepiece of Apple’s slate of original content this year.

An expansion at Troy Studios in Limerick was completed in 2019 and additional space at Ardmore is expected to be up and running by the end of 2021. “When it comes down to it, it’s all about space. There’s no mystery about this industry, it’s really quite straightforward. It’s about good space and enough of it. It’s also about having the right support structures in place for companies and content makers when they need it.” Troy Studios, which is based at the old Dell site in Castletroy, boasts the largest studio space in Ireland. “If you can’t provide that very large space and superstructure, you’ll miss out on major productions.”

Troy Studios is hugely important for Limerick, says Elaine. “I wouldn’t say Troy put

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 54

08/12/2021 15:36

CREATING Film Industry

Fate: The Winx Saga

“Essentially, that will train and upskill people in the area, which will then naturally feed into productions that come to Troy in the coming years.”

Limerick on the map, because that would be doing it a disservice. Limerick is rich in terms of culture and creativity, but I think Troy has helped enhance that. It has helped industries in the region to grow and it’s obviously a major employer; at its height, Foundation had over 500 people working on it.” The studio also works very closely with education institutes in the area. Just recently, Screen Ireland announced an investment of €3 million into supporting regional crew hubs.

“Essentially, that will train and upskill people in the area which will then naturally feed into productions that come to Troy in the coming years. What will happen over time is that Limerick and Troy will continue to build their reputation as an ideal location.”

Despite having the space, the State sometimes loses out on production activity and its associated job creation. “Projects run up against the €70 million expenditure cap on which they can claim the section 481 tax IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 55

55

08/12/2021 15:36

CREATING Film Industry

Troy Studios, Limerick

56

would help move us to that attractive onestop-shop offering.”

At the time of writing, Elaine had been in her MD role at Ardmore and Troy for a year, almost to the day. Previously, she held the role of CEO at Screen Producers Ireland.

“I was very happy at SPI but when I got the call about this role, I couldn’t pass up the

Mid-West filmmakers receive e40,000 to produce documentary films The Engine Docs initiative, run by Innovate Limerick through Film in Limerick, with support from Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board and delivered with Sheffield Doc Fest, is a training scheme aimed at supporting documentary directors and producers to create inspiring, engaging, worldclass documentaries that reach a wide international audience. The four winning teams of the initiative, who’ll receive €10,000 in funding each as well as further training and support to produce their documentary projects in the Mid-West, are: Focal Nua – director: Andrew Keogh, producer: Muireann de Barra; Life on the Bridge – director: Marian Morrissey; Liscannor Flagstone – director: James Skerritt, producer: Pete Moles; and Vonnie: Limerick’s Forgotten Fashion Icon – director: Renata Lima, producer: Melissa Collins. Completed films will be delivered by the end of the year for distribution to film festivals internationally.

DON MOLONEY

credit. I have to say that the Irish government has been incredibly supportive, but it’s also true to say that there’s a minimum expectation in any territory that a tax incentive is in place.”

Decisions to film, regardless of scale, are made on a number of variables – availability and level of crew, infrastructure and a great tax incentive. “That’s where the work is needed in order to remain competitive at every level. The global screen industry is growing; it’s a fantastic time for the business but we need to be as good, if not better, than any other country.”

Government has been very clear about its intention to look at section 481, says Elaine.

“There’s an ambition there to increase the scale of the film and TV sector in Ireland and to double its employment. To achieve those objectives, we’re doing a lot of things right but we do need to have a look at the tax cap.

I think over the next 12 months, it needs to be examined in earnest.” Being able to offer a complete production offering would transform Ireland into a one-stop-shop, says Elaine. “At the moment, productions are supported to a certain level, but post production is going to other countries. We’ve got fabulous skills right here on our doorstep; reviewing the 481 incentive and the cap

opportunity. I went from working from home during Covid to getting back on the road between Bray and Limerick.” The industry is in Elaine’s blood; her father was a production manager and both her brothers also work in the industry. She may have tried to resist it, but there was an inevitability to Elaine ending up in the film studio world. As Managing Director at Ardmore and Troy, her role is to manage the two properties, generate new business and keep the clients happy. A longstanding contract with one of the big streaming networks is, says Elaine, on the wishlist. “I see that as a major part of the future. They want to make content and we have the facilities and the talent to make that happen. Equall,y though, our indigenous industry is very important. I think that by attracting inward investment from the big studios, a rising tide will float all boats; it’ll benefit everyone on a number of levels.”

Ireland might be a favoured location for productions but it’s not a case of opening the order book and sitting back. “We fight very hard for business, it’s an extremely competitive environment. Every single territory is fighting for their space, so all of the variables have to be as good as they can be. We’ve got to get it right and for the most part we are, but there’s still more to do.”

ABOVE: Film in Limerick Regional Film Manager Paul C. Ryan (second from right) with filmmakers Pete Moles, James Skerritt, Muireann de Barra, Marian Morrissey, Melissa Collins, Renata Lima and Andrew Keogh

IDAIRELAND.COM

IDA Winter 2021.indb 56

08/12/2021 15:36

This is a land where opportunities flourish. A safe and stable environment where sustainable progress is at the heart of everything we do. It’s in our pro-business philosophy. Our highly skilled, English-speaking workforce. Our commitment to the EU. And in our can-do attitude.

This is where collaboration grows, fostering lasting and productive business partnerships in world-leading technology, life sciences and financial services hubs.

This is Ireland. A natural place to put down roots.

See how we can help your business grow. Visit idaireland.com or email idaireland@ida.ie

OPPORTUNITY GROWS HERE

We make it happen 12:26

170719 IDA INNOVATION Mag Press ads IFC+OBC_IDA_Spring_2021_ads.indd 3 210x265.indd 2

17/06/2021 17/06/2021 12:28 13:03

This is a land of doers and dreamers. Where visions become reality as ‘what if?’ becomes ‘why not?’.

A hub for trail-blazing tech, game-changing financial services, and life-changing medtech and pharma.

It’s a natural home for innovative companies who flourish here with the help of our highly educated, young and agile workforce and the hands-on support of IDA Ireland.

This is Ireland. A strong and stable European base and an ideal launchpad for the future.

See how we can help your business grow. Visit idaireland.com or email idaireland@ida.ie

I M A G I N AT I O N G R O W S H E R E

We make it happen 170719 IDA INNOVATION Mag Press ads IFC+OBC_IDA_Spring_2021_ads.indd 4 210x265.indd 3

17/06/2021 17/06/2021 12:27 13:04