Category Archives: Uncategorized

National Digital Strategy

Interview with Kieran O’Hea Publisher of Digitigm.com and Originator of Digital Capability Framework

What is the Digital Capability Framework you are currently developing and how will it benefit us in Ireland?

The digital economy has exposed companies to a plethora of internal and external facing challenges created by higher customer experience expectations across any combination of web, mobile and social media channels to name but a few. This new world of digital transformation will affect not just most businesses but it will affect their competitiveness. Just recently, Bob McDonald, CEO of Proctor & Gamble said: “I want P&G to be the most technology enabled company in the world.We want to be the first company that digitizes from end to end.” No small ask, especially for those who job is to realise his aspiration.

The Digital Capability Framework contributes to this process by helping organisations to measure and improve their digital capability on an enterprise-wide basis. It helps them to align their people, processes and technology in order to meet the challenges of the digital economy. Ultimately, it helps them to decide how much digital transformation is appropriate for their business – focusing at all times on the business value it will add.

The idea for the Digital Capability Frameworks stems from years doing online strategies for significant “non-digital” organisations including Tourism Ireland and Concern Worldwide. I noticed several re-occurring trends which were sector independent.

One, companies were not taking full advantage of the digital opportunity, and even now in 2011 only one in four Irish companies that has broadband is doing business online.

Two, chief executives had a tendency to have digital aspirations based on what competitors were doing or what experts were saying even though their organisations didn’t have the resources or the know-how to implement them. Three, there were no qualified advisers around to tell them what to do. Digital agencies were happy dealing with marketing departments and didn’t want to engage with decision makers higher up the corporate food chain while many trusted sources that the CEO’s went to gave them either partial or inaccurate information. I knew that a specialised consultancy service was needed but didn’t know how to scale it up to a proper business.

After evaluating several delivery formats, I was given the opportunity to collaborate with the Innovation Value Institute, co-founded by Intel and the National University ofIreland in Maynooth. I developed a prototype version of the digital capability framework which is now under consideration by the European Commission and I have just presented it at the Digital Agenda Assembly in Brussels where it was very well received. Feedback from the Commission indicates that it is in their plans to possibly fund a project based on the Digital Capability Framework. I ran a Digital Capability assessment for DAA participants at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/digitalcapability

The results of this survey were presented at the event in Brussels and the feedback will be used to develop a lite version of the Digital Capability assessment for SME’s and a full version of the Digital Capability Framework for large companies

The Irish context of this question is dealt with in question 2 below.

What is a Digital Ecosystem and how does it work?

In the Irish context the Digital Capability Framework will contribute to the development of a Digital Ecosystem initially by increasing the digital capability of large, traditional organisations. Each large company that undergoes some form of digital transformation is likely to need to hire a small internal digital team, perhaps 5 to 10 people per company. The increasing digital activity in the larger companies will inspire suppliers including SME’s to upgrade their own digital capability with smaller amounts of hiring occurring, perhaps 1 to 3 people. So I would see the potential for thousands of jobs being created as a vibrant digital eco-system emerges.

SME’s are typically not early technology adopters but traditionally follow in the footsteps of their larger customers. At the same time digital specialists such as web developers and broadband companies will experience an increased demand for their services due to large companies increasing their digital requirements, about 50% of which may be outsourced. By the time training companies, HR agencies and colleges step into provide the resulting skills needs, a thriving digital eco-system is going to be in place. The public sector should play its part in this by undergoing a certain amount of digital transformation as part of the planned programme for public sector reform.

Support of the digital ecosystem needs to be enshrined in a robust and proactive digital agenda. This should recognise that the impact of a digital ecosystem will not only boost the local economy but will raise the collective digital competency of the entire country, making Ireland an attractive location for foreign direct investment (FDI) from the international digital technology sector. This will provide an attraction that goes beyond low corporate taxation rates and will include working and living considerations. Unfortunately, due to what can only be described as indifference, there is a black hole in the ecosystem where a robust digital agenda, active e-government, digital champions at Government level and joined-up-thinking at policy level should be.

The Irish creative industries and cultural sector can add a creative and intellectual layer around the ecosystem providing opportunities for local content creators and artists to benefit from the ecosystem environment, including legal, copyright and technical assistance and potential access to international markets.

The appropriate state agencies such as the IDA need to include the digital ecosystem as a major part of their promotional activities. The resulting benefit to Ireland can be pole position in a global digital sector where a plethora of digital devices create an insatiable demand for digital content and services. Software itself is becoming increasingly digitised, hosted and downloaded. I believe the digital sector will eventually become bigger than the software sector, an inspiring reminder that Ireland was once the biggest software exporter in the world.

What is your own creative process and who has been a major influence on the way you think?

My creative process is to start by seeing the end point of a project, like something projected onto a wall which is always there to guide me, then going back to the start and dragging everyone along with me on the journey until the end point is subsequently reached. Sometimes others see it quickly (“they get it”) while others never really see it (“the cynics”) but as stakeholders you have to get them all over the line somehow. This is more challenging when you are trying to create something new like the first DVD-ROM in Europe or when you are trying to effect change, like do a digital transformation across an organisation for the first time.

My creative influences are many and I would almost say subliminal. Influences include managers and clients who have trusted me to get on with it. Leaders are also influences, such as Michael Collins, because much of what I do manifests itself in a desire to do something for Ireland and for years I have harboured a secret desire to be the digital Michael Collins! Groucho Marx inspires me because of his famous quote that he would never join any club that would have him as a member. This is the reason I don’t play golf and am not an accountant. I use his quote as a daily mantra, a sort of checkpoint for individualist thinking. Finally there is Mary Shelley, for writing the part in Frankenstein where the villagers go to Frankenstein’s castle with their pikes and their staffs, a frightened assembly of narrow-minded people, clinging to what they know as they try feebly to resist what constitutes change. That could describe many situations I encounter even today whenever I try to introduce a new idea.

I believe artists are rigorous early adopters of new technology and this was found out to be the case in a European project I managed some years ago. They often can’t afford to develop this important role because arts councils don’t generally fund technology developments and most clients of digital agencies won’t pay for this kind of experimentation. Yet I have seen companies like Hitachi learn more about their products from artists than they have from customer focus groups. Some years ago I did manage to get some funding from the European Commission for a project called RADICAL (Research Agendas Developed in Creative Arts Labs – the acronym came first, then the title). The funding was used to give artists time to experiment with and adapt technology and when needed get help from professional technology developers. Artists could and should be doing much more of this type of intellectual work but it has never really become a natural fit with mainstream businesses that don’t recognise its value and won’t pay for it. As I always say “companies think nothing of putting art in the boardroom but they would never invite an artist to a board meeting”.

What is the guiding passion which has informed your career path?

I have always been involved in pioneering different media technologies because it’s been a great way to mix my interests in creativity and technology. It explains why I’ve been in digital media for 15 years. I was working with video before consumer VHS became established and was producing DVD’s before Xtravision even stocked them. While still at school, I was a video operator at the Cork Film Festival and showed Alan Parker how to use a video player – he had some clips of Midnight Express but didn’t know how to use the player! I also worked in TV production in London with the now defunct TV-AM and also in cable television here. I helped create the first Apple Mac based desktop publishing agency in the country and managed the development of the Ireland’s biggest website network, for Tourism Ireland. I was a co-founder of Ireland’s first DVD authoring company DV4 which is still going strong (the origin of the name DV4 has become something of a trivial pursuit question). At DV4 I was the Executive Producer of the first DVD-ROM in Europe which I still have a copy of. At the time there were only four in the world and we tested it by running into computer shops and sticking it in the DVD drives to see what would happen. Once I managed to crash all the screen displays in the shop! I also managed some of the early European web projects for the European Commission and believe it or not we were talking about user generated content in 1997, years before Google, Facebook and YouTube came along. Having “traversed the digital paradigm” since 1993, nothing seems to surprise me anymore. It’s a great world of possibilities but my motto would probably be “more strategy, less gadgetry”.

from Hackers film 1995

How realistic is the Smart Economy ambition for Ireland and what needs to be done to implement it?

Somebody (I think it was Chris Horn in his blog) handily characterised the smart economy as a focus on high quality education system; publicly funded scientific research; attractive corporate fiscal incentives including tax breaks; and great infrastructure including high quality domestic and international connections, pervasive broadband, and excellent public services including in particular health care. No disrespect to Chris who I have great respect for and who was only summarising but I think we need to redefine our definition of highly skilled jobs to attract more intellectual investments here. Many companies are effectively call centres and there’s no strategic decision making done here. The more a company embeds intellectual development and idea generation here, the deeper the roots it will put down. We have to offer companies more than a low corporate tax rate – initiatives like the digital ecosystem I propose elsewhere in this document may help to do that. Broadband is a red herring unless a company is involved in a very bandwidth intensive business like games development. The fact is three-quarters of Irish companies who have broadband don’t seem to use it properly and probably need help to do so. I do agree with Chris about healthcare but for the reasons described below.

We are getting to the point where we have enough broadband, what we need is training for companies in how to use it to do more business online and become more competitive in the Smart Economy. I covered this previously when talking about the Digital Capability Framework. The reason this probably won’t happen and why digital probably won’t play an important part in the Smart Economy is because Ireland has no digital strategy.There’s a black hole in Government where it should be. As far as digital is concerned, there is no evidence that the Government “gets it”. Leading by example is essential, so e-Government can play a part in a thriving digital eco-system. Some e-Government systems are excellent such as www.revenue.ie and www.motortax.ie. But the quality of Government websites themselves needs improvement. The recent change of Government on http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/ involved fuzzy photos of Brian Cowen being replaced by fuzzy photos of Enda Kenny. I have proposed introducing a weighting system where expenditure on Government Department websites is directly proportional to that sites impact on jobs, FDI or the economy. At the moment they all seem to have cost the same, been sourced separately and are of a similarly low standard. I would also weight Government agency website expenditure on their importance to Brand Ireland. I had a budget of several million to spend on Tourism Ireland’s website and it looked better in 2004 than Bord Bia’s website does now even though Irish food is powerfully emotive and must be almost as evocative of Ireland in foreign markets as tourism is.

Putting e-Goment avernside, Ireland need’s a national digital strategy which is robust and engaging. It must also be understood and practiced across Government. It also needs to take account of opportunities in Europe and internationally. This will require digital champions in Government, maybe even a Chief Digital Officer. It will mean amalgamating digital efforts across the Dept. Of Communications which only supports the national agenda and the Dept. Of Enterprise which only supports the European agenda. The Digital Capability Framework has national and European aspects and if it wasn’t for the European Commission seeing it’s potential, it would have fallen without trace between two departmental stools in Ireland. We need to know more about the role of the Digital Hub and the National Digital Research Centre in creating a robust and sustainable Digital Agenda for Ireland. In fact, in a ubiquitous and distributed smart economy such as the one we allegedly participate in, there appears to be a certain irony in the words “National” and “Digital” appearing alongside one another.

I’ve been through the Information Society, the Knowledge Economy and now the Smart Economy. I don’t believe Ireland sits comfortably in any of these. Over the last few years we haven’t proved ourselves to be very informed, very knowledgeable or very smart. Perhaps a Smart Economy is one that hurts, as in “that smarts” in which case the economy is certainly smarting now. My preference would be for an Emotional Economy, failing that an Intellectual Economy or a Creative Economy. There is a lot to be said for investing in our intellectual infrastructure, built upon strong pillars of innovation, education and creativity. There is also a lot to be said for developing an Emotional Economy harnessing the emotional engagement that people around the world experience with our art, our culture, our sport, our tourism, our food and our people. There are a lot of countries out there who envy us and even people who want to be us. And none of them cares if we have a Smart Economy as long as we have Blooms Day and the like.

At the same time, there’s a lot to be said for Smart Government, not smart just in terms of effective public sector transformation including e-Government but smart in the sense of being an elegant inspiring global advert for our country. Like an online version of President Mary McAleese with the benefit of 24/7 global exposure. Would an Innovation Economy make us global innovators? I doubt it because much as we hold Finland and Israel in high-regard in this respect we will never become global innovators in exactly the same way that they have. We can become acknowledged as global innovators if we identify a crucial indigenous need and solve it. We should therefore create a world class health system in Ireland, improve the lives of our people as a result, even save some lives in the process, then export this knowledge. For Ireland and the Smart Economy, it’s not just a question of going back to the drawing board – we’ve done that too often before. What we actually need now is a new drawing board. The World Design Capital Designation is the new drawing board.

How can initiatives like Your Country Your Call be better harnessed to convert more entrepreneurial ideas into creative businesses here?

While not citing YCYC specifically, in general the Government needs to see these initiatives through to completion and honour their commitment. Specifically in relation to the winner of YCYC (the International Content Service Centre which I am a contributor to), I hope the level of administration involved in implementing it doesn’t end up strangling it at birth. In relation to the amount of money spent on making submissions to these types of initiatives, more projects should be funded. When I ran evaluation teams for the European Commission, we would typically get 250 proposals and fund 25, a 10:1 ratio.

The proposals probably cost €7.5m in total to submit and we probably gave the 25 successful proposals about €50m total funding (although most were matched funding). We knew how to plan the process in order to get quality bids while providing reasonable odds for the bidders. Initiatives like Your Country Your Call seem intended to temporarily capture the country’s imagination and attract thousands of submissions, all except two these being destined for failure.

Over the last couple of years we’ve had a number of initiatives aimed at encouraging ideas. Aileen O’Toole’s Ideas Campaign got 5000 submissions and I followed it up to a point where one tourism idea was supposed to be implemented by Government but I don’t know if it was. If that was the case then the ratio of submission to implementation was 5000:1. Then there was Farmleigh which again caught the imagination and got some good ideas off the ground but I’m not sure where they are now, Gateway Ireland being one that comes to mind. What I wanted to know was how many jobs were created as a direct result of the Farmleigh think-in. I sent a question to the Department of Foreign Affairs who hosted the event but they couldn’t confirm that even one job was created.

While not strictly in the same category as an ideas competition, there is also some confusion as to whom if anyone is implementing the recommendations of the Innovation Taskforce. Committed members like Chris Horn continued to champion the report after it was submitted but the Government itself didn’t seem too keen to take responsibility for implementing the recommendations. This led to unfair situations where Chris and some of his co-authors are assumed by the public to be responsible for implementing it with no real power to do so. Since the change of Government, I am not sure if funding is continuing.

Which leaves Your Country Your Call, which had 9,000 entries and picked two winners, which I believe are now collaborating, which if they were to go even further and officially merge would in effect mean a 9000:1 ratio of entries to winners in YCYC. In summary, in all these cases, more projects need to be funded and the Government should honour its commitments and see things through to the end. Re-assessment by government of the first 200 entries to these entrepreneurial initiatives would likely generate many indigenous jobs.

How do you think the Design Community in Ireland might become more relevant in policy making on the future of the country?

In order to fix Ireland, we must design the future and whatever people say about the importance of FDI and low corporate tax rate, a sustainable long term successful future can only be designed from the inside out, and indigenous business is key whether that’s large traditional employers who’ve got left behind in the tech race but will eventually catch up or the creative forces that are driving the Emotional Economy. Our design community needs to take confidence from this. We must also realise that while we have unique and challenging problems, we are also unique.

We should stop aspiring to be like Finland and New York and accept that we ourselves are the envy of many. Either way it means going back to the drawing board and who better to do that than designers – they can even design a new drawing board if necessary! In a world of conformity, creativity adds value to competence – so either way there’s a place at the top table for the creative community. It has also been acknowledged that competitiveness must be built around something that we know exists but which is seldom articulated in the business world: emotions and imagination.

Of course it would be easier to achieve this if there were more recognition for the Emotional Economy. Engagement with the creative industries– for example with advertising and the arts– is always an emotional one. Yet these sectors are expected to conform to conventional economic models that have been designed to generate growth from financial transactions rather than emotional ones. We’ve got to get this argument onto the policy table and as someone who has helped creative communities do this, I’ve always believed that if you want to sell somebody an idea, especially one that’s original or intangible, you’ve got to make them comfortable with your idea in their environment and not make them cross over into yours.

I’ve seen designers and artists lose work by not making themselves accessible to clients and by not being willing to compromise on design styles. At the same time I think designers and artists are naturally articulate communicators but are not acknowledged for this because they communicate primarily through media rather than through written or spoken words. So if you add one and one above and you give an artist or a designer a chance to be articulate in the client’s environment then I see no reason why designers and artists cannot compete with the best in terms of contributing to policy development. I have seen examples of this before including the RADICAL consortium and the European Cultural Backbone, both of whom who produced documents which were articulate enough and impactful enough to bring them credibility at a European level and ultimately get them funding.

As I’ve said before, a company has no problem hanging art on the boardroom wall but would never invite an artist to a board meeting. That may not always be the company’s fault – designers and artists need to prove they are worthy of a place at the boardroom (or policy making table) by presenting themselves in a way that the client is comfortable with, preparing an articulate position paper and delivering it to its target audience in the most compelling way. There’s an example of such a paper at this link:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/27894671/Creativity-and-the-Framework-Research-Programme

If you were asked to put together a dream team to work together on a digital technology project what characteristics would you look for and how might you approach it?

I would need at least one champion at Senior Management Team level to send encouraging messages down the corporate food chain and sign off the budget. I would need to build an internal full-time digital team to stay behind after the project was delivered. This is in order to make sure knowledge builds up in the company. I would need the best development team in the world for the sector I was working in. If you want to be the best, find the company that has developed the best sites or campaigns in the world and hire them. I would need the best experts in user experience design and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to make sure that the internal team got the training they needed to keep the sites performing and evolving after the developers left. I would like to develop the site on an open source platform and hire an open source developer to build subsequent sites. I would do this in order to provide autonomy and not have to go running back to the external web company every time something small needed to be done. I would like this project to be acknowledged as the best in its sector, to win awards, provide the best user experience, increase traffic many times over and be regarded as exemplary of best practice by its peers. Just like all the ones I have actually worked on!

With the exception of the Peace Process, Ireland does not seem to have a long track record of delivering ‘Big Projects’. Typical reasons cited here for this are;

• Risk adverse

• Venture Capital regime

• IP regime – no sharing

• Silos mentality / territoriality / design of public services / fear

What is your opinion ?

The factors listed above are not showstoppers of a really “Big Project”. They are sometimes allowed to derail or delay various types of project and if I was given the chance to implement my ideal project – a Digital Agenda for Ireland – I would expect to encounter some or all of them. But that’s not a really “Big Project” –it’s not going to change lives. I think that “Big Projects” and what drives them does come down to changing lives, sometimes even saving lives. It comes down to indigenous need and some projects are big because they cannot fail, because their successful delivery means fundamental changes to so many people’s lives. The Peace Process qualified for this reason, but it doesn’t for example apply to the IFSC which was a big, successful project but hardly life changing. If we did for example decide that healthcare was a matter of critical indigenous importance (which we should in my opinion) and developing a world-class health service became our new Peace Process it would have potentially greater significance in the long run and might also eclipse what the Peace Process has done for our reputation abroad. It could ultimately lead to the coveted accolade of “Ireland –Global Innovator”.

I have reproduced below from Wikipedia a few paragraphs about the Ardnacrusha power plant, another “Big Project” which happened when the country was trying to get on its feet as a new state, and had relatively little money but still backed this project. It became world renowned and made us a global innovator, harnessing the power of the entire Shannon. At the time, it was the largest hydroelectric station in the world, until surpassed by the Hoover Dam.

“In 1924-25 the new Irish Free State’s Minister for Industry and Commerce Patrick McGilligan commissioned the engineer Dr. Thomas McLoughlin to submit proposals. Dr McLoughlin had started working for Siemens-Schuckert, a large German engineering firm, in late 1922, and produced a scheme that would cost £5.2m. This caused considerable political controversy as the new state’s entire budget in 1925 was £25m, but it was accepted. The Siemens report drew on earlier hydrological work of John Chaloner-Smith an engineer with the Commissioners of Public Works.The Shannon Scheme was officially opened at Parteen Weir on 22 July 1929. One of the largest engineering projects of its day, it was successfully executed by Siemens to harness the Shannon River. It subsequently served as a model for large-scale electrification projects worldwide. Operated by the Electricity Supply Board of Ireland, it had an immediate impact on the social, economic and industrial development of Ireland and continues to supply significant power in the 21st century.”

LINKS

http://digitigm.com

Affordable Rapid Prototyping

Leave a reply

Affordable Rapid Prototyping to fast track Innovation – Interview McCor Technologies

©Frank Hughes –originally posted on pivotdublin web blog 2010

3D prototype produced by Matrix machine copy

Bell X-1 prototype r_edited-1

Early prototype

MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

Evolved prototype for Matrix

Matrix Machine exploded isometric

Matrix Rapid Prototyping machine

photo 8

Prototype produced by Matrix machine

Prototype produced by Matrix

MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

Bell X-1 prototype r_edited-1

Early prototype

MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

Evolved prototype for Matrix

Matrix Machine exploded isometric

Matrix Rapid Prototyping machine

Structure and Housing Prototype

Prototype produced by Matrix machine

Prototype produced by Matrix

Electronics

3D prototype produced by Matrix machine copy

right

Mcor Technologies is the innovative Irish company which has made low cost 3D Rapid Prototyping possible. Two brothers have developed the Matrix 300, a rapid prototyping machine using A4 office paper which when used in conjunction with CAD can produce fully formed three dimensional models in a matter of hours rather than days.

Inspired by the rigours of aeronautical design , it has many applications in Engineering, Architecture ,Medical sectors. New applications are constantly evolving.

This innovation permits streamlining the design process, through developing fast 3D prototypes, detecting deficiencies in the design ,software coding etc , refining the design and moving swiftly to production and delivery phase.

In an age when Speed to Market is paramount, the cost effectiveness of this innovation will provide new opportunities for Ireland’s ( and other countrys’) talented designers to work efficiently with clients and industry worldwide.

The following interview was conducted with Deirdre McCormack with input from brothers Conor and Fintan McCormack.

Why a rapid 3 Dimensional Prototyping machine?

Dr Conor MacCormack and his brother Fintan had been tinkering with engines and were collectively always ‘inventing’ from childhood. It was only a matter of time before they identified something that they would go the distance with. The sons of an Engineering teacher, Conor and Fintan, were early computer enthusiasts and interest was high in all things technical and futuristic. Both boys were always fascinated with motorbikes, flying and space travel (and still are) – their early heroes being Neil Armstrong, Chuck Yeager, Joey Dunlop. And more recently interested in the success of the likes of Steve Wozniak and Padraig O’Ceidigh in the business world.

So it was with a firm interest and exposure to rapid prototyping, both founders realised that 3D printing technology was not being exploited and utilised to its full potential due to the high ‘total cost of ownership’ of the technology. And so it was that on the back of some desk research, the idea of producing an entry level 3D printer was born in 2003. Primary research, conducted in December 2004 reinforced the identified niche in the market for a low cost 3D printer. The company was incorporated in July 2004 and Conor and Fintan left their full time employment in May 2005 and set up an office in Ardee, Co Louth. Mcor’s technology mission was clear; to bring 3D printing to the masses and to make 3D printing as easy as printing on paper!

What are the key innovations of the product and your inspirations behind its design?

The concept for the Matrix was born out of the desire to make an entry level 3D printer – office paper was selected as it the most readily available sheet material and the least expensive. A water based eco-friendly adhesive was the other selected ingredient and R & D commenced on making these ingredients work in an entry-level 3D printer.

The Mcor Matrix 300 is the only 3D printer in the world that can use ordinary/used A4 paper to make 3D objects. This is the key technology breakthrough innovation that shatters the industry’s cost barrier to universal access to 3D printing and the most eco-friendly 3D printer in world.

What size is the market in Ireland, EU and elsewhere?

In 2009 all competitors combined sold 5,361 3D Printers. However, the market opportunity for 3D printing is mass. There are over 7 million CAD stations worldwide prompting the CEO of the market leading competitor, Stratasys to estimate the market potential at 500,000 per annum. In 2008 Gartner estimated the market to be 300,000 by 2012.

In order to address this untapped latent market, Mcor offers a 3D printer that is up to 60 times less expensive to own than existing technologies; this will provide access to 3D printing technology to a broader audience and rapidly increase adoption.

Describe your design process in steps from the original hunch to getting the product to market.

The original idea was conceived in December 2002. At this time Fintan was living in the US and work commenced on a part time basis by night. By December 2003 there was an alpha machine in the front room of Conor’s home; Fintan came home during the Christmas break and testing commenced on the electronics and the mechanical components together.

Full time work commenced on the machine in June 2005 – much of the R & D work was carried out on how to apply a water-based adhesive on to paper.

An article appeared about the company in the Sunday Business Post in Dec ember 2007 – this went on line, Guy Kawasaki blogged about the Matrix and that was it the company was on the map! The following October the company launched the Matrix at the TCT Exhibition in the UK; In the week of the launch the Mcor website received over 2 million hits and since then Mcor has received enquiries from around the world including companies such as Dyson, Nintendo, Nickelodeon, Rock Star Games, Boeing, IBM, Cambridge, Stanford, John Deere, Frog Design, Siemens, Panasonic, MIT and Guys Hospital to name just a few.

What were the founders’ key skills and biggest challenges along the way?

Dr Conor MacCormack

Co-founder & CEO

As former site manager for a 5^th Framework European project with Airbus and principal investigator with SPS Technologies in the US in the aerospace sector, the company CEO, Dr. MacCormack has a blend of general management and project management experience and, with a PhD in mechanical engineering, has in-depth experience in the CAD/3D printing field. He has worked as a consultant with companies such as Boston Scientific, ABS Pumps, Aisle Master, Mantis Cranes, Tanco Autowrap, Keenan Systems and Dromone Engineering.

Conor has been CEO of Mcor Technologies since 2007, and in that time the company has ran a very lean operation, winning two national competitions, launched a world beating product and generated worldwide demand.

Fintan MacCormack

Co-founder & CTO

Fintan MacCormack leads the company’s technical development as Chief Technical Officer. A qualified aircraft mechanic and graduate from the prestigious TempleUniversity in the US in electrical engineering, Fintan has accumulated a vast amount of experience in control systems and machine software development with the world’s leader in wire bonding machines in the semi-conductor industry Kulicke and Soffa Industries. Kulicke and Soffa supply machines to the likes of Intel, Lexmark, AMD and NVIDIA. Fintan also worked with RCA in PrincetonNJ, and British Aerospace as a fabricator on the Harrier Fighter Aircraft.

Biggest Challenges:

Setting up a manufacturing company in Ireland – with so little high tech manufacturing going on, there is little understanding of what is involved.
Bootstrapping and keeping the business alive until the machine was ready

Who was most helpful in helping you to get the company and concept off the ground? ( state ,3^rd level or individuals)

The company was self-funded up until June 2009 – at this stage Mcor received private investment and EnterpriseIreland also invested in the company. Prior to this Mcor received assistance from the Louth County Enterprise Board who provided employment grants.

Mcor have also been fortunate to have met some individuals who would have provided advice at different stages of the company’s development. For Example, as part of the ‘The Business’ radio show on RTE, Mcor was appointed Martin Murphy, MD HP Ireland as a mentor in March 2009.

If you were to do some things differently to get to where you are now what might these be?

Our progress was inhibited by lack of resources so if funding had been sought earlier our milestones may have been achieved at greater speed.

What does being Irish mean in the international marketplace for your type of product?

Mcor is the only Irish manufacturer of rapid prototyping technology – this is a very niche market and the main competitors are 2 large American companies. There is pride in being a small company, coming from a small place competing with such large companies.

Mcor was nominated for a World Technology Award in July 2009 in the category corporate hardware. Mcor was runner up to none other than Amazon (for the kindle reader). Mcor was the only rapid prototyping company represented and the only Irish company at the event.

Describe the characteristics and personality traits of the type of people you would like to build out your company with?

Mcor’s employees really need to share Mcor’s vision. They need to be focused and driven to achieve the goals of the company enjoying the challenges presented along the way.

Because Mcor have outsourced the manufacturing of the product Mcor will build a substantial R & D centre in Ireland with a variety of different engineers.

Mcor is really about producing innovative products – unfettered innovation!

Mcor Technologies http://www.mcortechnologies.com/

Prototype http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototype

Rapid Prototyping http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_prototyping

Bell X-1 Image with Chuck Yeager pilot www.flickr.com

Harrier Vertical Take Off and Landing Image http://juliantheaviator.files.wordpress.com

Trocaire’s approach to Innovation

Leave a reply

Helena Carlica Nhunho pumps water at a pump funded by Trocaire

Irish NGO Innovation in Third World and Emerging Markets

Interview with Justin Kilcullen, Director of Trocaire – © Frank Hughes -originally published in pivotdublin blog 2011

Can you list some examples of good and really bad design for third world and emerging economies in key areas – from smallest scale water provision to work within cities and shanty towns?

At a small level one of the best pieces of design I have seen in recent years is the production of wood burning stoves in Malawi, which reduce the amount of firewood required by a remarkable level. All of the skills and materials required to make them are available locally and they are manufactured from local clay. The stoves are made using traditional pottery skills and tools and burnt in an easily constructed kiln. They are proving to be a best seller at very affordable prices. Women’s groups are making them and selling them so it is an income generator for women through projects supported by Trocaire.

Too many water projects have failed because they have excluded women from the process. Traditionally it’s a women’s role to collect water but when technology is applied, such as the installation of pumps or using springs to bring water to villages, it is the men who are trained in managing and maintaining these services under the misconception that men are technically more proficient than women. The result is that as men have no role in providing water, they drift away from the project neglecting the system and it falls into disrepair. Will we ever learn?!

In relation to slum areas and shanty towns the best solutions always come from the residents themselves. They can identify the problems and with skillful facilitation can derive solutions. Given the resources they are capable of implementation themselves. Imposed projects in such areas that don’t involve local communities rarely succeed as they should.

What Role did your design training as architect play in how you approach the work of Trocaire ?

One of the key skills you learn as an architect is how to solve problems through analysis of situations and understanding desired outcomes. This has stood me in good stead in my role as Director of Trocaire

How does Trocaire as an organisation approach problem solving on a daily basis?

Our approach is about consultation and participation as appropriate, whether it is working with poor communities in developing countries, seeking to help them to resolve the issues they face, or in our own organisation and structures. A recent example is the issue of reducing our carbon footprint with the launch of an eco project with a cross organisational team. Staff were invited to submit proposals on how we can deal with our carbon footprint and a policy was put in place reflecting the main ideas gleaned in the process. We work in 26 countries each with its own operational plan under our strategic framework.

These are put together in consultation with our project partners, the local organisations with which we carry out our work, and with our staff and others. It is largely a bottom up process involving the people we serve combined with the particular organisational insights that we as an organisation can bring drawing on our own global insights. We try to operate a policy of subsidiarity, resolving issues at the lowest possible level within the organisation, delegating to working groups and teams the responsibility to find solutions and solve problems.

Which characteristics does Trocaire value most in its Staff as creative problem solvers and why?

We endeavour to promote a culture of innovation. For example with the current financial crisis new ways of raising funds have to be promoted. Last year as a result of the work of a number of staff the idea for Trad for Trocaire emerged. A partnership with Comhaltas saw almost 500 trad sessions taking place across the country and as far away as San Francisco to raise funds for Trocaire. It gave the organisation a new, fresh, youth-friendly image and we hope to build on its success in the coming years.

Earthquake resistant Housing San Cayetano El Salvador –

How has Ireland and Irish design assisted development in third world / emerging economies?

There is a long tradition in Ireland of providing buildings, roads, bridges and other technical projects that make life so much easier for poor communities, for example, roads and bridges that enable farmers to get goods to market and earn an income. Irish development workers over the years have provided clever, cost-effective ways of providing such basic structures.

At the other end of the scale, the role Denis O’Brien’s company, Digicel, played in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake in providing mobile phone technology, that within days was available to those coordinating the emergency response, made an extraordinary difference to the recovery effort in very difficult circumstances. Communications technology has the potential to transform developing countries, skipping not one but two generations and putting them at the leading edge.

How the design community here might learn from and contribute usefully to the work of Trocaire?

The major challenge for designers training in the Western world in applying these skills in a developing world context is to really learn and understand the reality of communities in the developing world and that the majority of the problems they face can be solved in relatively simple, straightforward ways. For example, an Irish architect is trained to produce a solution in design and built form for a client, such as the National Children’s Hospital. In the developing world the designer has to unlearn this approach of being the trained professional who provides the answer, and rather make his/her skills available to local communities to enable them to design the solution. That requires an element of humility but if successfully achieved can lead to a very rewarding experience for the designer.

What are the most innovative initiatives you have come across in the different countries using minimum resources to achieve maximum effect?

A good example of this is the design and construction of earthquake resistant houses by Trocaire in El Salvador. Working with local communities, employing traditional construction techniques,

Lorenso Meja outside her earthquake resistant home in Santa Marta El Salvador

Trocaire was able to introduce technical innovation to the designs that transformed vulnerable housing into safe homes for communities. Rather than importing a clever design derived in a drawing studio, this was done on a very affordable budget which was of course critical.

INNOVATION IN THIRD WORLD AND EMERGING MARKETS

http://www.trocaire.org/whatwedo/video

Future of Mobile Marketing

Leave a reply

Interview with CEO Eamon Hession of Púca, Irish Innovator company in Mobile Marketing.

Tell me about Puca, its origins and its innovations in marketing here and abroad.

I founded Púca back in late 1999 originally as an online community specialist developing and managing web communities. We started integrating SMS as one of the features of our platform so that for example, you got an SMS if someone responded to a post you had made online. We were then asked by an advertising agency to run an SMS competition where people would text a number with a keyword, and that opened our eyes to the whole potential for interactive SMS, where the messages are not just being pushed out, but whereby the messages that are being received can be connected to information, applications and databases. We had a bit of a Eureka moment and decided to ditch the online community stuff, which at the time wasn’t making any money for us, and started devoting ourselves full-time to developing and managing SMS messaging for major brands and organisations. Over time we’ve added additional mobile technologies and capabilities, including Android and iPhone development. These obviously give a lot more richness in terms of the design and graphics possibilities. Although I think there’s still a lot to be said for plain old SMS in terms of its mainstream reach and instant access.

Our business these days involves a combination of mobile apps, SMS services and mobile commerce. Often a project will involve a mix of all of these so we could be developing an integrated PC website, which is also optimized for mobile phones, an iPhone app (and potentially Android, Symbian and other platforms) and an SMS service.

We entered the Chinese marketplace a few years back and we now have a well-established office and team in Beijing serving multinational customers who are seeking a local mobile partner in China.

Our customer base in Ireland includes companies like UPC, the National Car Testing Service (NCT), Meteor, Spar and many others whilst in China we’re currently working with companies such as Accuweather and Grohe. Our Chinese team also worked on the Irish Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo developing the whole mobile and web presence that went along with that.

What drives the founders? Who inspired them most and why ?

Mobile appointment reminders NCT I’m the founder of Púca. Before that I was involved in web development: I set up the Irish web design company Webfactory in 1994, which I think was the first dedicated web development company in Ireland. Before that I worked in the music industry, at EMI records in London. I’m driven by trying to do things that are original and a bit ahead of the curve. I like to be working with something that’s on the cutting edge but it can also be a good business strategy to be positioned early on in a sector that is going to grow. I think its also important if you’re operating out of a small country and a small market like Ireland that you look outwards and create something that can be sold internationally. I think what probably inspired me originally was seeing how people like U2 and their management organization have been able to build a successful international business based out of Ireland built upon innovation and creative talent. There have been many other similar accomplishments in areas like film, dance and theatre so I think those of us working in other industries in Ireland, be it the technology sector or whatever, should be inspired by those people working successfully in the arts and try and emulate them in our own fields.

Describe your design process and which part you find most scary and most satisfying ?

Its very much a team effort in here. What we effectively bring to the table with our customers is a deep knowledge and experience of mobile technologies and what works and what doesn’t on the mobile. Combined with that we have the execution capability from our own in-house software development and design resources and of course our own proven, tried and trusted mobile platform which we have developed and enhanced over the years. We try and make sure that the customer has clearly defined their objectives in advance and we generally engage in a workshop process with them to tease out the requirements in full. For us its extremely important to have all of the specifications detailed in advance as our team is spread between Dublin and Beijing so we have to be very disciplined about making sure everything is clearly defined upfront so we can keep everyone on the same page. Generally we’ll do the front end, user interface designs here in Dublin along with the technical architecture and software design, and then the Beijing team does a lot of the implementation, working closely with our Dublin-based developers. Mock-ups and wireframes are a key element of the process so usually we’ll do that very early on and that’s obviously a key part of the specifications process with the customer. On the graphic design front, whilst we do have in-house design capabilities, we also tend to work with different freelance graphic designers based locally here in Dublin and this I think gives a bit of variety and freshness to the different interfaces.

What do awards mean for your company and the people within it? Do you think Commissioning Clients get adequate recognition for their vision by commissioning innovative work? How might this be improved?

Its certainly a very good marketing tool in that it reassures customers that they’re working with the best and there’s definitely a great buzz that the staff get when every time we win an award. But at the end of the day we’re here to just do the work and the success and failure of a particular application or project is not in whether it gets an award but in whether the client’s objectives are achieved. Of course if we can do that AND win an award for it then all the better!

How can the technologies Puca uses solve problems in emerging markets and third world ?

The use of mobile technologies is often more advanced in developing countries. They don’t have the same legacy infrastructure as we do so it’s more of a blank page they are starting from. There often isn’t an existing fixed line broadband infrastructure there and with the cheaper cost of phones versus computers, mobile usually represents the most logical way to communicate information. Mobile solutions often are also the most pragmatic way to solve a particular issue or problem. For example, in extending banking and payment services, in communicating health information, in getting access to market prices – all of those areas are currently being addressed using mobile technology in the third world at the moment – to an extent barely touched upon here. Its not even smartphones or mobile Internet or apps that are most widely used – usually its just two-way SMS as its very cost effective, its available on all handsets and yet it has all of this highly functional interactive capability.

6. In your opinion which institutions in Ireland – Educational and Enterprise really understand the core dynamics of innovation ? What key recommendations might you make to encourage more entrepreneurship here in Ireland?

I think there’s different types of innovation. In the enterprise area, it has to be very market driven and it has to have a business case. But it doesn’t – or maybe shouldn’t – have to be the same way as that in the universities, and I think there’s a lot to be said for just pure research. You have to allow for the potential of unforeseen discoveries or outcomes, so I’m not sure that there is the same dynamics between enterprise and education nor that the approach should be the same.

I think there’s plenty of things that could be done to encourage entrepreneurship in Ireland. Firstly, there has to be tax and other financial incentives in existence – just look at how the government was able to inflate the property bubble by its policies over the last ten years. Imagine if all of those incentives and all of that effort into promoting the property sector had been put instead into creating world-beating Irish companies, into creating something that was actually productive, sustainable and useful. Secondly, people have to be inspired by, and want to be, entrepreneurs. They need to see more successful businesses and companies coming out of Ireland and they need to have the role models to emulate.

7. In the 21^st Century what are your predictions for technology in 10, 20 and 30 years and their implications for Ireland ?

I’m not sure I can think that far ahead!! But one technology I believe is really interesting is augmented reality, which is effectively about the intersection between the real, tangible world of physical objects and the virtual, interactive world of information and social networks. I think there’s huge potential in enhancing our real world experiences with interactive ‘layers’. At the moment, we may be at the point in the technology cycle where we’ve gone too far into an essentially superficial world in our online life and connections: it’s all very ‘inorganic’ – and so I wonder what will happen when all of that gets drawn back into, and blended with, the real world.

8. What are the traits of your ideal collaborators , in Ireland and abroad?

We’re happy to explore collaborations with companies where our platform and/or our skills can add value. For example, we’re currently working with a company who has a strong web-based presence and a lot of large clients, but no mobile skills or technology. The way we are working with them is to connect our SMS platform and app development skills with what they have. This gives them the ability to instantly provide their customers with an integrated mobile solution which adds value to their offering, and for us it gives us another channel to market.

9. Are Clients here beginning to understand the beneficial role of technology for their activities or are they very much behind their global competitors?

Yes I think Irish companies may be beginning to understand the value of technology and I hope that they now finally grasp the opportunities that are there. In my opinion I don’t think that its sufficient for Irish companies to only seek to be ‘as good’ as the international average, instead they’ve got to take risks and get out ahead of the curve, not follow behind it. We’re a small island country with a small home market, so we’re disadvantaged in that way – in order to compete internationally we’ve therefore got to do things better than anyone else and part of that is using new technologies in an intelligent way. On the plus side, we’ve actually got quite a technologically advanced home market: for example, we have the highest text-usage per person in Europe and our usage of apps, smartphones and mobile Internet is similarly ahead of international norms. Therefore companies here should be trying out new things with those technologies in a market where there is a ready appetite for them, and that might also give them the opportunity to take those home-grown innovations into other international markets. This is I think an area where the government and public sector could take a lead in introducing and promoting initiatives around some of the key new areas of mobile innovation including for example mobile payments and ticketing and mobile-enabled communication with public services generally.

Weblinks Puca

www.irelandexpo2010.com

www.puca.com

M-Pesa Mobile Payment Service Technology Kenya – Vodaphone and Safaricom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNrDv4PQdCc&feature=related

Welcome

Leave a reply

Frankarchitecture is a design led architecture practice based near Dublin, Ireland. Projects range in scale from Urban Master Planning to Private Domestic Houses and include specialised experience in retail, office, conservation, hospitality, education , cultural and interiors in Ireland, France and the French West Indies.