GEW Magazine issue 1 | Page 20

Ireland: A global destination that attracts world class events GEW 17 Nov - 23 Nov 2014 Ireland Ireland has always been a preferred destination for corporate events – meetings, conferences, exhibitions and trade fairs. The reason for this in the past was that Ireland was famous for a tradition of warm hospitality, the land of the “hundred thousand welcomes”. A completely new mindset The most exciting feeling in Ireland today is a new wave of Dublin’s state-of-the-art digital hub innovative and creative thinking What has been interesting in Ireland has been the emergence of a new mindset that seems to have been created, ironically, by the last five years of economic turmoil. Necessity has forced the country’s entrepreneurs to trust themselves to find economic solutions. “This has had a major global impact on youth entrepreneurship” says Mary Moloney, CEO of CoderDojo.“We are giving kids the skills, the confidence and the networks to build small, or large, technology-based enterprises in a safe and supportive environment.” series of national events and competitions and this is Ireland’s first year to participate in the global Creative Business Cup during GEW. GEW host organisation: Think Ireland Inc. CoderDojo has become a featured event of GEW Ireland and is launching a new competition for Ireland’s Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Enda Kenny recently released a statement supporting the efforts of Think Ireland Inc., the host of GEW/Ireland, in bringing the global celebration to Ireland. When Ireland went to the very brink of collapse, this imminent disaster became a catalyst for change and spawned a new way of thinking. The hugely successful Celtic Tiger years that preceded the collapse seemed to paralyse the nation’s thinking. In this incredibly comfortable cocoon with seemingly booming construction and tech industries there was no compulsion for the younger generations to do something new or to be innovative. The cosy affluence stifled the nation’s entrepreneurial creativity. And then, out of the blue, the ship hit a rock and it was time to sink or swim as this very catastrophe became the country’s savior. Ireland’s natural instinct has been to survive and in this it has excelled. In the first quarter of 2014 GDP grew 2.7% while there was a 47% rise in the number of Irish tech startups compared with the previous year. In what could be a great economic recovery, necessity has been the mother of invention and a key driver is the realisation that the path to economic prosperity must involve embracing entrepreneurship. A great example of this entrepreneurship in action is CoderDojo, founded by young Irish entrepreneur James Whelton and philanthropist Bill Liao. Just out of college, James was recently featured in Forbes magazine as one of the Top 30 Young Innovators of our Time. CoderDojo is a non-profit global movement which, so far, has taught 50,000 children how to code and develop games in close to 50 countries around the world. Page 20 GEW Magazi