By Business & Finance 
Ian Hyland, Ireland INC; John Hartnett, SVG Partners LLC; Stuart Dwyer, U.S. Embassy; Bill Archer, eircom Business Solutions pictured at the inaugural Ireland INC Summit.
Prominent figures from the private and public sectors met at the inaugural Ireland INC Summit at the Double Tree by Hilton, Dublin yesterday, October 22nd, to discuss key business development goals for Ireland.
The summit was established to assess the current state of Irish business – both at home and abroad – and to identify how best to facilitate accelerated growth for those businesses in the future.
The distinguished list of speakers at the event spanned both the private and public sectors. Prominent figures in the Irish business community such as Stuart McLoughlin, Oisin Hanrahan, Domhnal Slattery, John Hartnett, Sean O’Driscoll and Danny McCoy discussed topics ranging from the importance of aligning CSR programmes to a company’s core strategy and the increasing importance that today’s consumers place on a company’s CSR values.
The panels focused on issues such as the reality that Ireland is not as digitally advanced as it often claims to be – and that the education system is fundamentally flawed in terms of delivering a generation which is digitally capable. This focus on the ‘millenial’ generation was a main feature of various discussions, with panellists such as Fiona O’Carroll from Independent News & Media commenting that there is an increasing willingness to learn from failure in places such as Silicon Valley which Irish entrepreneurs often lack.
The theme of technology, and its role in allowing Irish business and entrepreneurs to thrive, was also raised. Bill Archer, managing director of eircom Business Solutions, acknowledged that high speed connectivity is a necessity for start-ups, and discussed eircom’s role in offering that connectivity to entrepreneurs in a world which is becoming increasingly connected.
