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Competition – Entrepreneur of the Year 2013

Business ModelsIt’s a competition that has been running for 15 years, and once again Ernst & Young are searching for Ireland’s Entrepreneur of the Year 2013. This is an all-island of Ireland competition, with nominees accepted in categories such as emerging industry and international.

To enter the competition, nominees must be founders or owners of companies, which are at least 2 years old. The nominees should also be primarily responsible for the recent performance of their respective businesses. Finally, nominees must own at least 5% of their companies (though publicly listed companies are an exception to this rule.)

If you are interested in entering the competition to find Ireland’s Entrepreneur of the Year 2013, visit http://www.eoy.tv for further details. Good luck!

 

Cultivating Intrapreneurs

Picture4When we think about enterprise innovation, key words like “entrepreneur” and “business start up team” come to mind. But in more established organisations, who leads the business innovation process? The answer is often the company’s “intrapreneurs” i.e. internal entrepreneurs. Richard Branson has commented that such people are required to drive new projects and in particular, to explore new and unexpected business developments.

The key to cultivating intrapreneurs seem to lie in creating the working conditions that enables such people to emerge and thrive. Most importantly, the intrapreneurial mindset thrives when it is given the space and resources it needs to develop new ideas. Google’s 70/20/10 Rule is a case in point. 70% of time is focused on the core job; 20% of time is focused on potential projects; whilst 10% of time may be used to pursue “off the wall” ideas!

The advantages of having a number of intrapreneurs in an organisation may seem obvious. But Andy Birol suggests that there are situations in which becoming a company intrapreneur may not prove effective:

  • When insiders control the organisation and hence preserve the status quo
  • When the pain of changing is greater than the pain of retaining the status quo
  • When the motivation to change is driven by wealth protection rather than the creation of new value

There are lessons to be learned from long established organisations the world over about how to succeed and thrive over time. The role of the intrapreneur would seem to be a key component in that process.

Gravity Light

At CramdenTECH we love learning about new innovations. One such innovation that has caught our eyes recently is “Gravity Light”, an LED light that is powered by the decent of a 9kg weight. The weight is pulled up by the user at 20 minute intervals. As the weight slowly descends, its store of energy is gradually released to power the LED. A simple idea, but a very powerful one, for the many poor people in developing countries who rely on kerosene lamps, candles or oil lamps to see in the dark. Aside from the respiratory problems that can arise, the economic cost to families using kerosene and oil is high, relative to their disposable incomes. The “Gravity Light” on the other hand, is environmentally friendly and costs a fraction of a solar powered lamp. Developed by industrial design company therefore.com, the Gravity Light has the potential to provide a large scale sustainable light source to poor, inaccessible regions on the planet. Well done to the team at therefore.com!

 

Digital Pedagogy

The annual summit of the Irish Technology Leadership Group is taking place in Cork this year. At the panel discussion on how best to close the gap between education and skills for Ireland’s Tech industry, Sean Cottrell (director of IPPN) suggested that the answer lies in investing in digital pedagogy. Basically, he is suggesting that subjects at primary level and up to junior certificate at second level could be delivered by means of technology. This concept is not new; one of its star practitioners is The Khan Academy.

But as with all new or emerging ideas, timing is everything. And it would seem that it is time to start having this kind of discussion in Ireland. This Christmas past, how many young people under the age of 15 received smartphones, iPads and other tablets as gifts. Rather than simply using them to play games apps, why not turn these devices into a conduit to engage young learners? As The Khan Academy has proven in the field of mathematics, you can deliver the “standard” lecture or lesson via the medium of video, leaving the teacher to engage fully with each student during class time. Students learn at their own pace and from each other, as well as from their teachers. This approach to teaching is referred to as the “flipped classroom”, that is, children follow lessons delivered via video at home, whilst completing homework and assignments in class!

The typical classroom is home to a group of children whose learning capabilities and aptitudes vary along a spectrum of ability. The flipped classroom concept could offer a solution to managing classes containing widely divergent student abilities. Teachers get to spend time working with struggling students, whilst star performers can move ahead and learn at a pace that also suits their particular needs.

Sean Cottrell may very well be right. The future of Ireland’s Tech industry may depend on how we educate and engage learners at primary level and through second level!

 

The age of MOOCs has arrived

If you haven’t heard about MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) before, you will in 2013! Many higher education institutes worldwide are grappling with shrinking operating budgets and the need  to fully engage their social networking literate students. Increasingly, universities are recognising the opportunities that MOOCs afford them, as they attempt to deliver courses to large numbers of students at a lower cost and without compromising quality.

MOOCs are not just another name for distance learning courses. For a start, they are developed to be accessible to anyone with Internet access. Thus, millions of people worldwide can follow a MOOC without enrolling in a college first. It’s free to use! Course participants can interact with each other through forums and those who wish to receive accreditation for their learning, can register with the MOOC institution and enrol as a student.

The development of MOOCs is a huge step forward in the democratisation of higher education. Initiatives such as Future Learn and Coursera are to be welcomed and encouraged!