Welcome. Ladies and gentlemen, if I could get your attention for a few quick moments. I'd like to first thank you all IUA - Irish Universities Association: very, very much for joining us here this afternoon in the Alexander Hotel. I'm Mandy Johnston. I'm a business owner. I'm a broadcaster. I'm somebody who's worked in the University space here in Ireland. So I'm very, very interested in today's topic which should provide a very fruitful discussion, and we're looking forward to some interaction
with all of you later on. We're delighted that you could all join us here for this combined in person and online event. IUA - Irish Universities Association: It's great to welcome so many delegates from across the University sector here in Ireland, but also from enterprise, from business and from politics as well. So for those of you who are joining us online, I just want to mention that we have closed captioning today, it's available to alter the size of the text. You can do so by just clicking
on the CC. Button at the bottom of your screen. IUA - Irish Universities Association: So to kick us off today. I just want to introduce you to our keynote speaker. First of all, he is Michael Lohan. He's chief executive officer of Ida Ireland, and later on Michael is going to share his views with us on the central role of universities in attracting international companies here to Ireland. I also want to introduce our panelists. Briefly, we're going to be joined by Professor David Fitzpatrick, w
ho is President of Tu. Dublin, and also chair IUA - Irish Universities Association: of the IUA Council for 2024, and last, but certainly not least, Mike Berry, who is former country manager of Amazon web services, and now chair of the Ucd. Governing authority. IUA - Irish Universities Association: So first of today I would like to welcome Michael Lowen to the stage. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Sorry I made my first mistake already. I'd like to welcome Professor David Fitzpatrick, who's
going to issue a word, a word of welcome. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Thanks very much, and I thought I'd got off the hook there, but no no such luck as Chair of the Irish Universities Association. It's a real pleasure to be able to welcome you here today, and also a welcome to those of you online. IUA - Irish Universities Association: The IUA future of Ireland Series started 5 years ago. Surprisingly, maybe we don't realize it's been that long and essentially it was developed in orde
r to let the universities highlight the role that we believe we play in our economy and society, and also to bring people together to discuss how universities can continue to build and to shape the future of the nation. IUA - Irish Universities Association: The theme for today, as you've already heard, is one that maps directly to that ambition to build and shape the future of Ireland IUA - Irish Universities Association: with foreign direct investment being crucially important to us, and IUA -
Irish Universities Association: what we hope we'll get to is a really important discussion around how universities are a key partner in the development of the Fdi sector and all that that brings and entails. IUA - Irish Universities Association: As we explore the theme, we really look forward to hearing from Michael as to why the supply of high skilled talent is so important to FDI companies, and equally how the substantial research and innovation, agendas and activities, both within universitie
s and within enterprise and business, are enablers to that that FDI activity. IUA - Irish Universities Association: all of which, of course, are underpinned by the policy and action on the part of government and their agencies. IUA - Irish Universities Association: So thank you once again for joining us. And now I'll stand. Now. Thank you. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Thank you very much, David for that, and thank you for jumping up very quickly to take your spot. I appreciate it now. I
would like to introduce you to our guest speaker. Today Michael Loan is a graduate of the University of Galway and also the Berkeley executive program. Michael Loan took up his role as chief executive officer of the IDA in April of 2,023. So I think your annual review is on its way up, Michael. IUA - Irish Universities Association: and he's based here in in Dublin in the headquarters key priority for Michael in his role as CEO is leading on the execution and delivery of the IDA’s organizational
strategy, delivering recovery and sustainable growth, 2021 to 2024. IUA - Irish Universities Association: So again, Michael, time is running out. You have only this year to complete it. But, Michael, I would like to welcome to the stage. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Thank you, Mandy, and thank you, David, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'm delighted to be part of this afternoon's conversation, and I suppose to have an open and candid conversation on the role of universities
in shaping Ireland's future and attracting foreign direct investment, which, of course, is so key to, to, as Mandy put it, my annual review, which is coming up in in a couple of weeks time. IUA - Irish Universities Association: and IUA - Irish Universities Association: but I suppose in seriousness, as was what has really been embedded to me over the last number of months since I've taken on the role, and in particularly, you know, for the month of January. I actually spent a lot of the month tra
veling both within the Us. And when in Europe, that the high quality, education system, and the skilled workforce makes Ireland an attractive destination for our investors. IUA - Irish Universities Association: But as the world changes rapidly, we need to ensure that our university remains relevant, and indeed our workforce remains competitive IUA - Irish Universities Association: throughout my remarks. This afternoon I will be discussing some practical strategies to strengthen the link between
academia and industry. IUA - Irish Universities Association: importantly, to foster innovation IUA - Irish Universities Association: and critically to equip our workforce with the skills needed to thrive in a rapidly evolving environment. IUA - Irish Universities Association: The last 2 years have certainly been, I suppose, unprecedented in terms of change. So for a few moments I'm just going to set maybe the international landscape from an Fdi perspective, and then I'll speak to Ireland's perfo
rmance, and what that means from, I suppose, a university perspective. IUA - Irish Universities Association: We've seen change from Brexit to covid IUA - Irish Universities Association: geopolitical uncertainties. IUA - Irish Universities Association: changes in our corporate tax policy, which, of course, are critically important. IUA - Irish Universities Association: and also what we've seen in the last 2 years in particular, is a renewed focus on industrial policies right across the globe. IUA
- Irish Universities Association: And this in terms of on top of inflationary pressures, and indeed supply chain interruptions and disruptions that we've seen during covid, and are now seeing, because of the more. The the most, I suppose. IUA - Irish Universities Association: impacts we're seeing across the globe in terms of of geopolitical continues to cause, I suppose, that uncertainty in global landscapes. IUA - Irish Universities Association: But at IDA Ireland remain vigilant. IUA - Irish
Universities Association: working closely with our partners to assess the impacts, and importantly, to provide support where necessary. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Just to put it in context, Ireland ranks seventh in Europe for announced projects in in in latest results, and that shows, I suppose, the importance of Ireland's value proposition. IUA - Irish Universities Association: and critically in part of that is embracing transformation would be key to Ireland's sustained success. IUA
- Irish Universities Association: particularly in the context of the Government's white paper on Enterprise, which outlines that vision to 2030, IUA - Irish Universities Association: and as the agency within the Government we are actively collaborating with the Department of Edge of Enterprise, trade, and employment to ensure the full implementation of the white paper IUA - Irish Universities Association: at a fundamental level. Ireland's value proposition for Fdi continues to focus on the stre
ngths that makes Ireland globally competitive. IUA - Irish Universities Association: and maybe I'll just spend a moment in highlighting a few of those key areas IUA - Irish Universities Association: number one stability of economic and political environment. critically, critically important, and no more soul than we look at the world today IUA - Irish Universities Association: enhance focus on sustainability and the green recovery. So the twin transition, critically important. IUA - Irish Univer
sities Association: Highly educated young population. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Without doubt these are the 3 factors that I and my colleagues here on a constant basis, and our engagement with with our enterprise base. IUA - Irish Universities Association: And you can add to that consistency of pro-business policies. IUA - Irish Universities Association: our unwavering commitment to the EU membership. IUA - Irish Universities Association: and indeed leading industries and clusters wh
ich have been built in Ireland over many generations, and which the University sector has been key to ensuring. We built those clusters as well. IUA - Irish Universities Association: It's important to remember that Ireland's existing base of foreign direct investment IUA - Irish Universities Association: is a core national asset, and one that we must continuously nurture and develop. IUA - Irish Universities Association: If we look at the impact from our multinational sector. we can measure it i
n many ways. IUA - Irish Universities Association: If we look at the performance in terms of economic performance, 315 billion IUA - Irish Universities Association: was in terms of national exports in 2022, that 70% of our total economy's exports come from the sector. IUA - Irish Universities Association: But if we look beyond that and we look to the tax receipts, 70% of corporate tax receipts do not come from the from the multinational sector. IUA - Irish Universities Association: In a world ma
rked by uncertainty, resilience becomes our greatest asset. IUA - Irish Universities Association: As Ireland stands at the crossroads of geopolitical shift. technological advancement and global change. We must not only weather that storm. IUA - Irish Universities Association: but we must harness those winds to make sure we sail towards new opportunities. IUA - Irish Universities Association: I want to speak of those opportunities. I'm just going to take a moment to reflect on on 2023, the year t
hat was seen, as my scorecard is coming up in a few weeks IUA - Irish Universities Association: last year, you know, against the backdrop, and we know what to what the Global Backdrop was last year in terms of a technology recess within Ireland we secured 248 investments, an increase on investment numbers from the previous year. IUA - Irish Universities Association: and what drove that increase IUA - Irish Universities Association: a draw of that increase was innovation IUA - Irish Universities
Association: was the depth of the skills that we have in Ireland, and the ability to perform and deliver. IUA - Irish Universities Association: And importantly, of those 248 investments. 83 of them were what we would classify as first time, Greenfield investment in Ireland. So not alone are we winning investment from our existing base? We're also attracting new innovation and new companies that see Ireland as a home in which they can grow and prosper. IUA - Irish Universities Association: But we
also, I suppose, look at the the case of the enduring impact of Fdi. Over 300,000 people are directly employed by our by our Fti client companies. IUA - Irish Universities Association: and that showcases the enduring strength of the business environment that we have in Ireland. IUA - Irish Universities Association: But important looking beyond the bustling streets here of Dublin. I am very proud to say that her regional success continues to shine in 2023, IUA - Irish Universities Association: o
ut of those 248 investments we secured 54% of those outside of Dublin. So that's 132 investments beyond the Dublin region. And this strong regional performance reflects a commitment to foster economic growth and opportunity across the entire island of Ireland. IUA - Irish Universities Association: So where does education lie in all of this? IUA - Irish Universities Association: But the truth is, the convergence of education and business is not merely a partnership. IUA - Irish Universities Assoc
iation: it's a catalyst for transformation. IUA - Irish Universities Association: It's where ideas are born. IUA - Irish Universities Association: knowledge is applied and breakthroughs are made IUA - Irish Universities Association: in the nexus of education and business lies the key to unlocking the full potential of our society, all of our society. IUA - Irish Universities Association: It's where theory meets practice. Aspiration meets opportunity and innovation needs to impact. IUA - Irish Un
iversities Association: So, as I taught about this afternoon's discussion. IUA - Irish Universities Association: it brought me to sort of consider 2 fundamental points of reflection. One is what is the role of our universities in supporting the efforts to attract Fdi? IUA - Irish Universities Association: And, secondly. IUA - Irish Universities Association: how are we doing? How do we rank in position in Ireland in terms of talent and R&D, IUA - Irish Universities Association: and critically, wh
at are we going to do next? IUA - Irish Universities Association: So, as I share some thoughts in this area. I'm just going to say that our people are the bedrock of the Irish economy's growth. IUA - Irish Universities Association: on which our competitiveness in global markets is built upon IUA - Irish Universities Association: high quality. Talent is one of Ireland's key selling pints. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Our client base consistently talk about the criticality of skills to th
eir business. IUA - Irish Universities Association: In fact, in our 2022 client survey the availability and development of talent IUA - Irish Universities Association: was one of the most important factors influencing the performance of our client's business IUA - Irish Universities Association: along with technological change. IUA - Irish Universities Association: And in the areas. These are the areas where our clients required us to put renewed and enhanced focus IUA - Irish Universities Assoc
iation: in a rapidly evolving global economy. The true measure of competitiveness lies lies not only in resources we possess today, but, more importantly, in the capacity to innovate and adapt for tomorrow. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Currently, Ireland is a competitive location when it comes to talent. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Third Level attainment among our 25 to 30, 34 year olds is at 62%, IUA - Irish Universities Association: which is significantly higher. The EU aver
age, which is at 42%. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Since 2,016, there's been a marked increase in terms of higher education enrollment by a factor of almost 14%. IUA - Irish Universities Association: We have the highest level of stem graduates per cap per capita in the EU. Among the 20 to 29 year olds IUA - Irish Universities Association: over the past decade there's been steady growth in the number of graduates from IT. Science, maths and engineering disciplines all very welcome. howev
er, in the extremely competitive Fdi environment. At a time of rapid change, of technological disruption, we must IUA - Irish Universities Association: work together to ensure that the quality of our talent pool is not just maintained, but is strengthened IUA - Irish Universities Association: and is enhanced to become world class. IUA - Irish Universities Association: And if we continue to attract inward investment on the back of that strength. IUA - Irish Universities Association: our clients s
eek adept of subject matter skills. IUA - Irish Universities Association: but they also look for broader skill sets and mindset. This is driven by the impact of the digital transformation and indeed decarbonisation across all areas of business. IUA - Irish Universities Association: and with it the need to manage analyze and action data to drive productivity and innovation. IUA - Irish Universities Association: The skills impact of this are twofold. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Firstly,
educators need to develop fundamental digital and data skills as part of every student's traversal skill set. IUA - Irish Universities Association: And, secondly, the development of those transversive skill sets must be viewed as a key to strengthening and increasing our competitiveness of our talent. IUA - Irish Universities Association: such skills as critical and innovative thinking. IUA - Irish Universities Association: agility and leadership. IUA - Irish Universities Association: together w
ith curiosity and a growth mindset, are required by individuals and companies to navigate and thrive in the future. IUA - Irish Universities Association: and universities have a central role to play in cultivating both skills and mindsets. IUA - Irish Universities Association: But we must also recognise importance of laying the foundations of critical thinking and innovation at post-primary and at primary level. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Recent third level programs have demonstrated
the potential to innovate and co-create future focus programs with industry that equip students with cutting-ed skills and and industry experience IUA - Irish Universities Association: examples include the University of Lindrick's Limerick's master in immersive software engineering IUA - Irish Universities Association: Mtu's redesign engineering program IUA - Irish Universities Association: and DCU's DCU's future programme developing transversal skills and many more funded under the HCI Pilar th
ree initiative which focus on producing adaptive creative problem solvers sought by industry and by our FDI clients. IUA - Irish Universities Association: we must continue to resource the third level education system to innovate program design and drive industry crow creation. In this way IUA - Irish Universities Association: a growth mindset is one that embraces lifelong learning. the need for which has increased significantly over the past decade. IUA - Irish Universities Association: In fact,
data from Linkedin shows that globally the skill sets of jobs have changed almost a quarter since 2015 by 25%, IUA - Irish Universities Association: and that by 2027. IUA - Irish Universities Association: This is expected to double in terms of that change. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Universities have a hugely important role in increasing participation in lifelong learning and delivering, leading edge up-skilling and re-skilling programs. IUA - Irish Universities Association: That's w
hy the introduction of accredited stackable microcredits through the microcredits program is a welcome step in making learning more accessible and industry relevant. IUA - Irish Universities Association: The learner's journey does not end with a formal education, and that goes for all of us. IUA - Irish Universities Association: A continuous upscaling must become a permanent feature of workforce development IUA - Irish Universities Association: in terms of Rd. And Ireland as a country ranks. Nin
th in the European Innovations Scoreboard of 2023. However, the scoreboard highlights, significant areas of weakness in public and private sector, expenditure and R&D and innovation. IUA - Irish Universities Association: innovation being the process by which companies create new or added value as opposed to developing new products or services IUA - Irish Universities Association: in 2022 idea client companies spent 7 billion on in-house. Rdni. looking forward, though megatrends such as industry
5 0 IUA - Irish Universities Association: AI and quantum. IUA - Irish Universities Association: The whole whole area of healthcare in terms of advanced therapeutics, digital, health and personalized medicine IUA - Irish Universities Association: present real opportunities for Fdi of scale and complexity that will require a multi-faceted approach of industry, academia, collaboration. IUA - Irish Universities Association: and indeed, building research, excellence in in embedded technologies IUA -
Irish Universities Association: there is significant opportunity to deepen academia and industry partnerships, in cutting-edge research of strategic importance, and this must be supported by increased public investment in research, capability. IUA - Irish Universities Association: There is also a need to build innovation, capability, and capacity amongst the enterprise. Base companies who innovate are better placed to manage uncertainty. IUA - Irish Universities Association: to solve challenges
IUA - Irish Universities Association: and to grow more sustainably resilient operations. IUA - Irish Universities Association: The skills to drive innovations are found within our universities. IUA - Irish Universities Association: and as the Oecd review of Ireland's skills strategy identified, we must leverage postgraduate talent in the workforce to strengthen our innovative capacity. IUA - Irish Universities Association: In addition, universities and government agencies must work closely toget
her to support the spin-out of excellent research and develop an entrepreneurial capacity of our postgraduates. IUA - Irish Universities Association: This is critical to building a vibrant rdni ecosystem and cluster. IUA - Irish Universities Association: and increasing the R. And D capacity of our entire enterprise, base IUA - Irish Universities Association: the Science Foundation's Sfi centers of research training and the arch hubs would support regional innovation and entrepreneurial training
and accelerate research commercialization. And we believe they're fundamental IUA - Irish Universities Association: remaining at the cutting edge of science and technology is critical to retaining our global competitiveness. IUA - Irish Universities Association: The third level research ecosystem must continuously horizon scan IUA - Irish Universities Association: for future disruptive research areas. And the next generation of enabling technologies. IUA - Irish Universities Association: helping
to inform both industry IUA - Irish Universities Association: of emerging opportunities and critically policymakers, and the capacity we need to build. Now, if we are to produce to researchers with the experience and the skills to attract the next generation of Fdi and our enterprise from an indigenous perspective. IUA - Irish Universities Association: A final point I would like to make is the criticality of diversity in the workforce. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Ireland is an open, w
elcoming and globally focused economy and society. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Mnc. S. Are prioritising diversity in their workforce as diversity and inclusions. Inclusive workplaces are more innovative. IUA - Irish Universities Association: agile. IUA - Irish Universities Association: and have greater levels of customer satisfaction and employee engagement. IUA - Irish Universities Association: The the Government's unified tertiary system policy, and the launch last year of 23 patriot
programs for further to higher education is an excellent demonstration of Ireland's commitment to increasing access to higher education and enabling people from all backgrounds to enter, renew rewarding careers IUA - Irish Universities Association: with industry and society benefiting from a diverse talent pool. IUA - Irish Universities Association: In conclusion. IUA - Irish Universities Association: as we reflect on the insights we're going to share. This afternoon and ideas exchanged IUA - I
rish Universities Association: a hope that wanting will be abundantly clear. The relationship between academia and industry is not just a theoretical concept. IUA - Irish Universities Association: It's a catalyst for real world change IUA - Irish Universities Association: by forging stronger tides together together. IUA - Irish Universities Association: education and business, we can unleash a wave of innovation. IUA - Irish Universities Association: drive economic growth and equip our workforce
with the skills needed to thrive in an increasing global landscape. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Thank you very much and look forward to the conversation. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Thank you very much, Michael. There's lots of things in there that we can unpick during our panel discussion, and I would now like to invite to the stage Professor David Fitzpatrick, chair of the Iua, and to TU Dublin, and also Mike Berry, who's recently retired as country manager of Amazon web s
ervices IUA - Irish Universities Association: in Ireland. He's also the newly appointed chair of the Ucd. Governing authority. Mike is an alumnus of Ucd. And the University of Pittsburgh, and before his return to Ireland 7 years ago he held global leadership roles in human resources with Amazon and what the Walt Disney Company in the Us. So I'm sure lots of food for thought from all of you. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Do you mind? Can I move? I don't want to know what I can? IUA - Iris
h Universities Association: Mike. They were fascinating comments from from a number of different perspectives. But I guess. IUA - Irish Universities Association: And I'm looking at all of this as someone who's worked in government and been IUA - Irish Universities Association: part of those trade delegations that are going out into the world trying to seek international investments to come in. And you know IUA - Irish Universities Association: talent or well-educated workforce, as it was called
back. Then, in my time it was always a huge part of the offering, and I was always amazed at. IUA - Irish Universities Association: and also very proud of how interested people were in the Irish education system. IUA - Irish Universities Association: And it really does give you an immense sense of pride that it's valued in the way that it is internationally, I think, beyond our economic success. That was the thing that always struck me. People wanted to to find the kernel of truth in in what? Wh
at that was IUA - Irish Universities Association: listening to you today. and it's still very much part of your and offering when you go out into the world. IUA - Irish Universities Association: I remember it was the 3 Ts. The talent, the taxation, and the track record. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Do you think we still have that track record? IUA - Irish Universities Association: That I remember? Or has it kind of waned, or in a competitive sense, internationally, how are we faring? I
UA - Irish Universities Association: So thanks. But first of all, it just strikes me. But we're going to do a better job in bringing up our our current value proposition. The treatise are still resonating, but but I think it's still important, because IUA - Irish Universities Association: but fundamentally, you know what I hear back. And, as I say, most recently in the last number of weeks, is IUA - Irish Universities Association: the core competency of of discussion with clients is around innov
ation and people. IUA - Irish Universities Association: And we're fortunate in Ireland that you know. Okay, this year we celebrate her 70 fifth anniversary as IDA as an agency. And so we've built. I suppose that's very strong base of enterprise here in Ireland. So we have a. So we're coming from a position of strength. IUA - Irish Universities Association: But, like all positions, you have to continuously add competitive advantage to desk. And and that's why, you know, we didn't get to this posi
tion without the people and without that innovation and that talent and that education. IUA - Irish Universities Association: We won't get to the next trajectory without actually refocusing to my mind, how we actually unleash the next generation of that talent, because. IUA - Irish Universities Association: as you look across the world. IUA - Irish Universities Association: the biggest problem that companies have in terms of expansion is. IUA - Irish Universities Association: you know, you talk
about uncertainty of policy and market access, and there are 2 elements. IUA - Irish Universities Association: but none of those will actually be achieved if you don't have a workforce that's able to exploit that or to capitalize so the workforce is at the very center of what decision of our companies are making? Where can we find that workforce? And is that workforce going to be able to adapt and change to our business needs. IUA - Irish Universities Association: and is the ecosystem in which w
e're coming into. And in this case we talk about Ireland. Will it adopt and change to our needs as well. And I think we've, you know, and the people in this room and and doors online, we have shown that in spades I've been able to IUA - Irish Universities Association: adopt our delivery. IUA - Irish Universities Association: to actually IUA - Irish Universities Association: to generate an output as well, and that continues to be critically important. And, Mike, if I could bring you in here. You'
ve been on the absolute other side of this, where you've sat at boardroom tables making these types of decisions. IUA - Irish Universities Association: So when you're looking at it from that perspective. And you know, how are you evaluating a country first of all? And what are the type of skills that a massive company like Amazon will be looking at to acquire from from partnerships and relationships with someone like Ireland. IUA - Irish Universities Association: But I think Michael has laid it
out very well in terms of how IUA - Irish Universities Association: barn direct investments organizations think about where to go next, and why, if I put it, I could put it this way IUA - Irish Universities Association: in in the Amazon days we would think about customer demand IUA - Irish Universities Association: and capacity in the environment. And so signals in regard to how comfortable will our customers be that their data is housed in Ireland, that it's a secure, safe, stable environment.
As Michael points out, that's absolutely critical in terms of the top line decision. IUA - Irish Universities Association: And then, as you go through the decision making as to IUA - Irish Universities Association: this place versus that place and the trade-offs in terms of other jurisdictions, that question of capacity becomes absolutely critical. IUA - Irish Universities Association: And obviously, it's things like infrastructure. So whether that is power, water, global air links. IUA - Irish
Universities Association: telecommunications, infrastructure, capacity of the of the government to run a good environment. All of that is, you know. IUA - Irish Universities Association: the first line of assessment. And then you get into the talent question, right? People, the people question. And so what? What organizations at that level? But they want to know is again, it's back to one of the things you mentioned, which is the track record is there? Is there a pipeline of people who are avail
able for potential new opportunities? IUA - Irish Universities Association: And is there capacity in the Third Level situation IUA - Irish Universities Association: and a sector to to produce the kind of graduates and people with the right kind of skills and experience and and curiosity to be able to have big impact for the company. And so so for us, when when we made big decisions about 7 or 8 years ago, to to really double down in Ireland, all of those factors came into IUA - Irish Universitie
s Association: play along with that sense of IUA - Irish Universities Association: a confidence because other companies had made similar bets in the earlier years and saw good outcomes. But we made smaller bets in the beginning, built confidence, and then continued to invest. And so I'll give you one example, and in terms of IUA - Irish Universities Association: of the Third level sector, and I'll slightly embarrass David as I do it. So so when we when we started investing out in talents out Dub
lin, we're we're building a lot of infrastructure out there. And we're struggling to get IUA - Irish Universities Association: enough talent to staff our our and facilities out there. And we needed frontline people who had good technical skills. IUA - Irish Universities Association: I had a conversation with Thomas Stone, who was the leader of the Tu Dublin Talla campus at the time, and said, We're really struggling to find people who have these kinds of backgrounds. IUA - Irish Universities Ass
ociation: and from the day I had that conversation with Thomas till IUA - Irish Universities Association: till the day they had released a new curriculum for a program was 5 weeks, and that program has been running for 7 or 8 years now, and we continue have great pipeline. Of IUA - Irish Universities Association: of, actually, say, aws! Continues to have great pipeline of talent coming through the the Tu set and system all across Dublin now, and so that level of flexibility IUA - Irish Universit
ies Association: collaborative planning willingness to try stuff that those kind of signals, you know. I told that story every time I went back to Seattle and said, This is another that we can continue to invest here. And then we were able to come in behind organizations like stripe and invest in the Inmars of software education program. That's that's up and running. Now in Ul, again, a confidence builder in terms of pipeline and potential. IUA - Irish Universities Association: David. If I could
bring you in here. That's a really good example of practical application of relationship building, where, as Mike said, they started small. They came in. They looked at the experience that they were having the turnaround in IUA - Irish Universities Association: putting something together, solving their problems. So those relationships that start are really, really important. We're really good as a nation at developing relationships, I think, as well. Do you think IUA - Irish Universities Associ
ation: universities at the moment have a lot of problems as a lot of businesses do? There's funding issues for everybody. Do you think that universities are well placed? Still, to put the time, effort, energy, and finance into that type of relationship building that that companies like aws need IUA - Irish Universities Association: absolutely there. There are and, as you say, there are many challenges. But we all face a lot of challenges. You know, 1 point of reference for the universities is si
nce 2,008. We're now dealing with 30% more students than more in 2,008. So so the the demand for university education is extremely high. Michael referenced the 62% IUA - Irish Universities Association: figure. That's, you know. Again, a real tribute to to the capacity of what we can do. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Traditionally, university industry relationships would have been very much around the research space. And and you know, what can we work together on? How can we collaborate?
And you know, there are Sfi and other funded programs for collaborative research. IUA - Irish Universities Association: But that has changed. And and Mike gave an example of, you know, a program being developed on the bespoke side. Michael referenced the human capital initiative, Hci. I. 3, which again has IUA - Irish Universities Association: broadly accessible educational and training opportunities, but also direct IUA - Irish Universities Association: industry university links to form around
IUA - Irish Universities Association: specialists, maybe cybersecurity or digital skills, training and development for any particular organization. So so I think universities are IUA - Irish Universities Association: riding all of those horses at once. We want to increase our research capacity, need to engage with industry, to drive, that. We want to form strong relationships and respond to needs of industry on on a broad education basis IUA - Irish Universities Association: and also then on a b
espoke basis. So so IUA - Irish Universities Association: it's very demanding. Yeah. But the desire to do it and to to achieve it is still there, and HCI. 3, being one very current example which runs out next year. If anybody's listening, Michael, you must have mentioned innovation IUA - Irish Universities Association: more than any other word. Maybe in your speech. And you were talking about research and those innovation research partnerships are expensive right? And what more can we do as as a
nation, I suppose, and as universities, to enhance that part of our offering? Yeah, do you think we're doing enough. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Who could help us do more? What could they do? IUA - Irish Universities Association: Okay? So so the reason I mentioned it is because I fundamentally believe it's it's key to that to our competitive advantage. And because if you want to build enterprise, that's, you know, long lasting, it needs to innovate. IUA - Irish Universities Associatio
n: And you have to do that, whether that's an innovation of product or services, or indeed of the business. And from an idea perspective. What we are seeing from our client companies is, we are seeing an increased IUA - Irish Universities Association: level of investment in that RD and I cycle. IUA - Irish Universities Association: And you know I've been in IDA for for 2 decades at this juncture, and we used to talk about. And you know, having. So you know, Big D and small R, IUA - Irish Univers
ities Association: but we no longer have big D and small R, we have big D, and we have a bigger art than what we had before and growing. And we need to strengthen that. And from an IDA perspective. We're very focused on making sure. We we help companies IUA - Irish Universities Association: transform into desk. IUA - Irish Universities Association: big R space. And what does that mean? It means for us. We can do that. And within some multinationals. Yes, they can do that within their own environ
ments. But actually the benefit for us as an agency and as stakeholders is, we want to see them engaging more deeply with the research institutions here in Ireland. IUA - Irish Universities Association: And and if we're honest, we probably need to think about. Are we making it easy for them, because they have choices. They can go to other parts of the world and do this. So are we. Have we the right conditions here to do it. Do we have the right IP regime? IUA - Irish Universities Association: Wh
at are we trying to achieve here? And I think we need to take a fresh look at those elements, because I think in some areas we are not the most compelling location for that research, Mike, you're nodding away there. And you've obviously, you know, been into massive companies with global considerations. And now you know, you're immersed in university as well. So you're seeing this from all sides. Do you agree with with what Michael saying. There I do. I do. I think I think I am. IUA - Irish Unive
rsities Association: you know. Maybe to to put a slightly different lens on it. I think companies IUA - Irish Universities Association: make decisions around and IUA - Irish Universities Association: and markets and economies. People make decisions around IUA - Irish Universities Association: societies and communities. Right? And I think in the university sector, we have to. We have to kind of meet people at at that midpoint between those 2 demands. IUA - Irish Universities Association: And so s
o at one level, I fully agree with in terms of Michael saying in terms of level of innovation, the investment in research. IUA - Irish Universities Association: And and and I think the university environment, we can make investments in research that are kind of nonlinear. Sometimes they're they're they're risky, they're we don't know what's gonna happen. We're gonna try it. Whereas whereas in in in a for profit environment. You you try to hedge your bets as best you can, so you have a positive o
utcome right in in the university setting. You can absolutely explore and innovate, and you don't know where. What will it be? The outcome IUA - Irish Universities Association: as we do that IUA - Irish Universities Association: we, we're developing skills, capacities, insights that become then the bedrock of assessment. When a new organization comes to Ireland and says, we're going to build one of these, and we have to think from a society and a culture and a country perspective is that is that
going to be good? Are we proud? That's here. IUA - Irish Universities Association: does? Is there? What's the implications from a society perspective, from a a governance perspective from a regulation perspective. So having people who understand that technology, even if we're not the leading edge of the invention of it, having that IUA - Irish Universities Association: assessment, capability, the research and IUA - Irish Universities Association: insights in the society, I think, is going to be
really important for Ireland in the future to Michael's point in terms of the level of change that's about to happen. IUA - Irish Universities Association: David. Just one of the other things that Michael mentioned in the speech was this, and IUA - Irish Universities Association: I suppose, changing the environment of of learning and micro credentials and niche learning and learning more about a specific topic to make yourself. IUA - Irish Universities Association: I suppose, attractive to an i
ndustry, but also to enhance your own career with lifelong learning, and that we need to start, I suppose, thinking of universities as not just a place we go for a period of time, but something that's accessible to all of us throughout our life, throughout our career. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Do you think that, and all universities in Ireland are well placed. To do that again. I'm going back to the whole. I know that there's challenges out there for everybody. Is there something mor
e that you'd like to see from government on that front? Or and what does the landscape on those micro credentials look like in Ireland? Yeah, I mean that I've I've been in higher education IUA - Irish Universities Association: directly for 25 years, and we've been talking about lifelong learning for 25 years. And I think actually, we're now on the cusp of actually seeing some real change. I think the initiatives around micro credentials are really to be welcomed. I think that's that's a really i
mportant step. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Part of the lifelong learning problem is, you know, how do you resource people to engage with it? So universities need to figure out how they can provide the offering in a way that's accessible. And that might be a combination of in person and online. We learned a lot through Covid. We should be benefiting from what we've learned around how we deliver programs in that way. IUA - Irish Universities Association: But I think the the big ask is, h
ow do you separate the responsibility for paying for lifelong learning IUA - Irish Universities Association: away from it being a company or a corporate responsibility to being part of a wider government portfolio of education, and you know this idea that well, we'll pay you up to your bachelor's degree, and that fees are covered. IUA - Irish Universities Association: That's fine. But you know people have another 40 years. IUA - Irish Universities Association: They need way of accessing, funding
to engage in life and learning in an area that interests them, not just their employer. IUA - Irish Universities Association: So the acquisition of talent now is no longer just about graduates, either is it is we live in a very IUA - Irish Universities Association: like, you know, talent or environment, in the sense that there's not enough of is to keep industry and companies going. Yeah, we gotta embrace that extension of the career of learning IUA - Irish Universities Association: absolutely,
you know. And so, and Michael made reference to what what many of the universities are leading on, especially Dcu in regard to the new approach to transversal skills IUA - Irish Universities Association: and that sense of transversal skills, of having IUA - Irish Universities Association: the ability to assess a situation where you may not have this direct knowledge and and past experience on that becomes absolutely critical in the level of change that we have in in society, in the world today.
Just want to be clear about that. If you don't mind the transverse skills. So that's the capacity to understand problems in a sense, but rather not IUA - Irish Universities Association: from a learning perspective which that you have that core IUA - Irish Universities Association: basic in, you know, knowledge. So one of the things that Michael mentioned there was digital and data IUA - Irish Universities Association: and awareness and and and that's core learning about that is is a bit like ou
r generation. Maybe it isn't your generation. But my generation thought of English and math. We have to produce a society that has that digital data thing at their core, learning you IUA - Irish Universities Association: to. To a degree. Yes, we absolutely need to have a digitally literate literate and workforce. But what what I'm thinking about in terms of the transversal skills is IUA - Irish Universities Association: is you're suddenly faced with a problem you've never seen before. How do you
go about thinking about that? So what's the information you need to gather to say, II understand what's going on here. How do I collaborate with people who think differently than I do? How do I articulate my my assessment of the issue? So it's that that ability to to face into something that you haven't faced before IUA - Irish Universities Association: is, I think, one of the those core capabilities that we have to have, and across our workforce. And again, I think the university sector is doi
ng an amazing job now in in addressing that. So not they're not just teaching to the task anymore. They're they're starting to say we need to IUA - Irish Universities Association: empower people with an ability to to have confidence in uncertainty. Yeah, Michael, one of the other things that you mentioned, it's kind of related to that a little bit is that we need to create a broader mindset. And so not just producing graduates, but rounded individuals. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Yeah,
and and look at, maybe maybe, and put my own bias on the table as an engineer like we think logically and and so forth. That's that's how you were. That's how you were educated. That was the part that you know it was. It was logic. And but you know, I suppose, what I learned from to my educational model, you know I come out. Haven't done pure electronics started my first my first job. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Then I actually started to learn if I'm honest, right? Because I had all
the theory but interaction. Then, in terms of those decisions. I was facing problems. To be honest, I didn't even know exist the week before, or the 2 months before I left college working into. So how do we actually? And what industry needs at this point is, and what I suppose, and that's where the lifelong learning comes into it is you have to be. Yes, you need that technical expertise. And there's base levels of it. IUA - Irish Universities Association: And at one level, I think we went too fa
r. We thought everyone needed to have masters upon masters, upon masters. But actually, what we need is you need to have technical competency, whatever that might be. But you also need to mirror that or complement that with that decision, making that ability maybe to in some ways to communicate actually and engage with others as well. Because that's so critically important. IUA - Irish Universities Association: II know a very few problems in this world that get started by one person. I don't car
e who you are or where you are. It involves a team. But we have to do more of that. So we need those rounded individuals to be part of that. And obviously, the more the technology comes. IUA - Irish Universities Association: you know, in some ways more the more we can be threatened by those elements. But IUA - Irish Universities Association: but I do think when it comes back to it. Ultimately, people make decisions. You know, we decide what we use technology for or not. And the same goes whether
you're an industry or an education. But you have to position to make those decisions as well. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Michael, just to go back to the the partnership thing for for moment. Part of all of that is the practical experience that you need to get to to work in any industry. You can come out very well qualified, and then you need to to know how to operationalize all that learning. Right? So the partnerships are important there, I guess, because you're you're supplying a s
tream of people, and they have to go someplace, and IUA - Irish Universities Association: when you look back over your experience, working in Amazon, particularly with with Irish universities, and are there any examples you give like you can give of like, even down to the detail of courses that you might have worked on that were specific to you? Or does that level of detail not happen. IUA - Irish Universities Association: you know. II don't know that I would name a course, but I but I certainly
would say that the the the increased importance in IUA - Irish Universities Association: and internships and applied experiences and time in the workplace to to Michael's point in terms of of you can learn so much in the classroom. But you like, how does it work in real life? And so I see a lot of the the IUA - Irish Universities Association: the kind of leading edge programs, including some of the the programs that we collaborated on in in tu D IUA - Irish Universities Association: were about
that blend of classroom understanding and an implied experience. One of the things in in Ucd now is, we've we've and IUA - Irish Universities Association: we've we've changed how we approach the engineering program, for example. So you can do a 5 year program that goes bachelor straight into a master's. That includes a 6 or 8 month immersive experience in in one of the companies. That is a supporter of the of the program. And so suddenly. When you come out, then IUA - Irish Universities Associat
ion: you can talk with real confidence in terms. I've done stuff. I've seen how trade offs are made. I see how teams operate and things like that. So that sense of a blended experience, I think, is becoming more and more critical. IUA - Irish Universities Association: David. Just your ambition. Now, as chair of the Iua for for the next year. What would you like to see happening in this particular space to advance? As Michael has said, it's it's not just enough anymore to be competitive. You gott
a be seen around the corners and and ahead of the curve. What would you like to see happening? And A. A on the Fdi sort of innovation front from the university's perspective. IUA - Irish Universities Association: I think there are. There are a number of areas of opportunity IUA - Irish Universities Association: sticking with lifelong learning. For for a minute. I think universities are uniquely placed in that. We can provide both the technical skills and the education and the and internship oppo
rtunities that a lot of Fdi organizations are interested in. IUA - Irish Universities Association: But to Michael's point around the need for critical thinking and problem solving innovation. IUA - Irish Universities Association: we also have the opportunity to roll on the arts and manities, and bring in all of those elements into a wider, science-based or engineering-based education. And I think there's opportunity for us to draw on that and really make a difference. And and to start to figure
out how we integrate that more fully. IUA - Irish Universities Association: On the research side. IUA - Irish Universities Association: definitely opportunity for enhanced collaboration and and figure out how IUA - Irish Universities Association: we leverage research Ireland, which will come into being shortly. We hope I know Phillip's sitting over there, and that again is bringing together Sfi and the Irc into a single organisational space, which I think is a big opportunity for us. IUA - Irish
Universities Association: And I think ultimately, then it does come back to from the Ios point of view. How do we look at getting a longer term view IUA - Irish Universities Association: of the financial modeling and budgeting processes that are going to underpin what's happening? I think you know, I understand the reasons I understand the rationale for why we budget on an annual basis at a government level. IUA - Irish Universities Association: but having a 3 or a 5 year line of sight, not an
absolute promise, but a line of sight of where we want to go as a country in terms of investment and growth and support and development of education in other areas, I think, is really, and I guess, having a government department dedicated to this area. Now, is that a help? I think that has been a really IUA - Irish Universities Association: significant change, and it is a very important element that brings together not just the tertiary education, but also the research innovation enterprise, our
entire everybody coming together into a single shared space. And it helps that really focus on on the imperatives around IUA - Irish Universities Association: tertiary education and beyond. Whereas before, as higher education institutions, we were within the Department of Education, which was very much dominated by secondary and primary education requirements. So so I think it's been a step change and really important IUA - Irish Universities Association: collaboration key to all of this, Micha
el, like, you know you gotta get all the pieces working together. What could Fdi do, or what could idea do to to help the university space? Yes. So so you're absolutely the right collaboration that the future is is about collaboration, because there's so many challenges out there. And, as I said, you know, very few problems are solved by by the person of one or day, whatever that might be. But what can we do? And I think what I spoke to was the areas of focus. And that's where we're working with
with Philip and his team in terms of IUA - Irish Universities Association: those thematic areas to us of the future. As we look at the horizon. You know we're looking at AI and Quantum read opportunity, and I know there's a lot of conversation about AI, and I can come back to that in a moment from an enterprise perspective, but areas that we need to build IUA - Irish Universities Association: capacity, capability from a research from an education perspective and and and an enterprise, perspecti
ve, and IUA - Irish Universities Association: advanced manufacturing. You know I mentioned that creatively important. The backbone of our economy, you know, has been. IUA - Irish Universities Association: is, and continues to be, our manufacturing strength both for Fdi and indigenous, and I think the whole area. And it speaks to that digital transition. So we go back full circle. Then we're talking about the future employee has to be digital digitally enabled. Because that's where that area's go
ne. And then healthcare. You know whether in advanced therapeutics, 7 gene therapy can we build competency in that area? The whole area of digital heads? We have the world's leading digital companies here in Ireland IUA - Irish Universities Association: towards health care companies in Ireland, we have a real opportunity to be different there. So I think to my theory, our point is. IUA - Irish Universities Association: you know, we through the educational system and through our research system,
we have to place our chips IUA - Irish Universities Association: on where we believe the best impact can be from an that does a, a, a result both from a society perspective and an enterprise perspective. And to us they're some of those opportunities that it's in there. Maybe I might just share just on on AI just a perspective, because it's it gets so much conversation. And IUA - Irish Universities Association: in the last number of weeks, and and particularly when and in on the west coast of the
Us. And and following in Davis and in in mid January. IUA - Irish Universities Association: The conversation wasn't just about the technology. IUA - Irish Universities Association: actually, from an enterprise perspective. They were actually talking about. What does this mean for skills for people? IUA - Irish Universities Association: And that was to me that was heart warming to hear. It's not about like to be honest. Most most enterprises cannot take IUA - Irish Universities Association: just
more technology, and there it in. They have to understand what it means for their business. And when they, when they were having that conversation? IUA - Irish Universities Association: What do they practically mean when they say, what does it mean for the people? Do they mean? Are the people gonna be displaced, or what skills, will they get correct? So so there's 2 things. So first of all, companies and enterprise in particular are looking at AI and saying, Okay, what does this mean for my bus
iness? How can I bring it in ethically. IUA - Irish Universities Association: unfairly, and in regulatory requirement? IUA - Irish Universities Association: And then what does that mean for my activities? And indeed the workforce. So how do we evolve the workforce? Because this is a new tech? Another technology. We've had many technologies before, and Mike can speak to those better than I can. So in some ways, but the pace of technology we know has increased. So therefore, our pace of change has
to increase our pace, of which we actually get people to adopt and move, because some of our activities, which IUA - Irish Universities Association: possibly we all do every day, will IUA - Irish Universities Association: can be revolutionized by AI. But to be other, it'll free us up to do other higher value. Different activities go back to that decision making again. So I think that's where our Enterprise base is gone is, how do we bring AI in? What does it mean to our business? And, more impo
rtantly, how do we manage that in and make sure we transition people in that context as well. And I think we're going to see this over the next. It's gonna take probably a decade for that to come true. Yeah, Mike, I was thinking about AI the other day and trying to equate it to some other evolution of IUA - Irish Universities Association: an industry, and I was thinking about the newspaper industry. If if we were talking about the news industry, we're not even at the stage where someone's on a b
icycle flinging it up the driveway like I mean, this time last year a lot of us hadn't even heard of AI and Chat Gp. And all of that. What's your perspective on that, as somebody who's obviously been IUA - Irish Universities Association: exposed to this for for many, many years from within a company. Well, I mean, I think I think it's burst into the kind of public consciousness in the last 12 months, but in reality machine learning and artificial intelligence. People have been working on that fo
r years and years and years. We have it all around us as we speak in terms of you know how. IUA - Irish Universities Association: how? Everything from like how do you price an airline ticket to how do you decide what what options show up on your, on your, on your feed on your social media? There's IUA - Irish Universities Association: how a lot of customer service interactions are now managed is all through. It's ubiquitous. It's there already. We just didn't know what to call it. Yeah, right? Y
eah. But there is an implication I think, beyond, and what we know of it already is to make sure that we're being thoughtful about what are the long-term and implications for it, and that that's IUA - Irish Universities Association: to Michael's point about the people piece. It's there's also about the societal piece, the cultural piece, and things like that IUA - Irish Universities Association: in the end. I don't think we're going to see people out IUA - Irish Universities Association: on the
streets being laid off because of AI. I think people's jobs will will evolve hopefully. We'll get to a stage where where some of the things that are that can be automated that can be managed through through technology will be done so, and then the higher judgment. What we've been talking about for the first 1520 min, the high judgment, the collaboration, the assessment of risk, all those high judgment things become what you need a really IUA - Irish Universities Association: a well-rounded workf
orce for looking at this from the complete other side, David from students. Are you getting IUA - Irish Universities Association: more people interested in this type of technological innovation and more demand for these type of courses. Do you think that ultimately we'll be able to compete in this space internationally, from a student's perspective. Absolutely, we IUA - Irish Universities Association: currently do and will continue to compete in in this space. I mean, I think, as Mike said, AI a
nd machine learning has been around for a long time. So we already have a base. That's that's really strong. Nationally. IUA - Irish Universities Association: from the student's point of view. IUA - Irish Universities Association: there's an area of of interest where new programs can be offered and where there's the opportunity to learn new skills from the university's point of view, we're interested in that. We're also interested in figuring out, how do we work with students who are gonna be us
ing it in a way that we may or may not want them to use it. And and so it comes back into really examining how we deliver what we do and and how we help people to learn but IUA - Irish Universities Association: longer term. For me. I think the the fundamental piece is that in any particular discipline, space in any particular area of education. the fundamentals are are there. You have to be able to ground people in the fundamentals and have really strong intellectual capacity in those. IUA - Iri
sh Universities Association: The added value that we can provide to to Fdi organizations and others is around how they, as graduates, are then able to critically assess what's coming in through IUA - Irish Universities Association: AI tools IUA - Irish Universities Association: and really validate whether they are correct or not, and make judgments on the back of not just what's in front of them, but a critical assessment of what's coming through from various feeds IUA - Irish Universities Assoc
iation: and using that, it's it's that that ability to really, critically assess. IUA - Irish Universities Association: determine what's right and figure out where the errors are, because not everything that's on the screen is true. And that's a big challenge. There's a multifaceted complex problem, particularly for universities, because you've got to look at it from from all aspects of positive and the potential misuse of it as well. And, Michael, I want to go and a little bit into the future f
rom an Fdi perspective. You mentioned the 2,023 results there, and New Greenfields IUA - Irish Universities Association: industries, you know. Traditionally, as you say, we use technology done very well in the pharmaceutical space. What are those green fields areas that you secured last year? And there any other potential ones that you're looking at for 2,024? That broaden out. I suppose our traditional base? Yeah, so so if if we looked at to to last year, first of all, what drove those numbers
in particular, was IUA - Irish Universities Association: our life sciences. Industry continues to be very innovative both from our pharma and a medical device. We've seen incredible growth in in those areas and our international financial services sector IUA - Irish Universities Association: has been continues to grow, and it's strong. And Brexit has has a well, I think I think we've we've we've gone past Brexit, if we're honest. But yes, Brexit was was, and there still is, if you wanna call it
a breakfast Brexit bounce in some of those elements. But critically, in the financial services sector. What we're seeing is IUA - Irish Universities Association: a deeper embracement of that innovation and research. And particularly looking at the area of AI. IUA - Irish Universities Association: It's it's really encouraging to see how that sector is embedded in itself in technology and innovation, absolutely. And our accelerating our innovation capacity as well. And so that's a real growth. And
the third area we've seen, we've seen growth and reflecting. And last year of numbers was but we would have classified as our as our in in industrial engineering IUA - Irish Universities Association: category. But actually, it's not industrial engineering. It's technology engineering. It's engineering on autonomous vehicles. It's on the new modes of transportation. So we're looking at those areas through a lens of technology and innovation. So as an asylus very interesting, I just, I read somet
hing recently about a lack of people going into engineering on the energy side and traditional energy engineering as we would know it because of climate considerations, transition to a Lower Carbon Society and all that. Even geologists are not as IUA - Irish Universities Association: yeah. Well, well, big opportunity, then, is the whole area of sustainability renewable, and that comes in every facet and forward. But you talk about solar wind hydrogen. So so there's so much opportunity gonna come
in terms of of the sustainable agenda facets within it. I agree, I just think that there's a bit of a job of work to be done to kind of make people realize positive, absolutely. IUA - Irish Universities Association: because I think the energy in industry of the past is not the energy industry of the future, and in a couple of weeks time IUA - Irish Universities Association: the the Government will be launching their industrial strategy for offshore wind. So it's it's taking, I suppose, if we wa
nna call it the overarching strategy for sustainability. And what does this mean at an industrial level, and from that then we'll under hopefully. That also will show the the, the, I suppose, the roadmap. But that future talent to look at IUA - Irish Universities Association: at the whole energy, space and sustainable space. This is going to be a really area of excitement and growth. And Ireland can actually be at the can be at the center of that as well. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Mi
ke, and we're kind of running out of time now. So I wanted to ask you. Somebody has come from IUA - Irish Universities Association: Big Industry outside of Ireland back to Ireland. And now you're in a university. Yeah. IUA - Irish Universities Association: being in, immersed in the university and the governing authority, and all of that. Now, does that change your perspective in any way? IUA - Irish Universities Association: II think it has, and I think it's an evolving one. I think I think it's
broadening my lens, if you like, because because I think, and sitting on top of of a large tech business, I was very focused on the talent pipeline in terms. People who who can add value to to our environment as quickly as possible. We still wanted people who had a wide variety of experiences and and life skills. You know, I'm a social worker sitting on top of a tech company. So so I'm a IUA - Irish Universities Association: I'm I'm an example of somebody who has a different. Experience who can
still add value. II hope, anyway, to to that. But coming into Ucd, I think one of the things I appreciate is back with that point about that intersection between enterprise and society. Right? And so, you know, we're about to embark on our IUA - Irish Universities Association: 5 year strategic planning cycle for ucd, now. And you know, when you think of the scale, scope and breadth of what an environment like Ucd does. IUA - Irish Universities Association: you would imagine I would be the Guy s
aying, we need to have more engineers. But but one of the things I think I'm I'm I'm surprising people by saying IUA - Irish Universities Association: a place like Ucd. Also needs to be the place where we have a great arts, education, where we have people who really deeply understand culture and folklore and history and music. IUA - Irish Universities Association: where we continue to have people who are world specialists in in the classics and things like that. Because when you think about what
a society needs, we need those people and those the skills that you may get by going really deep into Irish folklore. IUA - Irish Universities Association: You may find yourself, then, still being able to say, How do I go about a really complex research problem that could be in in a different setting. So, having that breadth of subject matter, expertise, curiosity about the past IUA - Irish Universities Association: is absolutely vital. I think, as we continue to think about what this, what's t
he society we want to build and what's the capabilities we need to have across society. And one just one last thing, because you you mentioned about about the sustainability and about the the whole question about people, maybe not going into geology. One of the things that's I've been delighted to learn going into Ucd is, is we now have a degree in sustain sustainability. IUA - Irish Universities Association: People come in and have a core first year experience. But then we've got people who com
e in from engineering. They come in from social science, they come in from from politics and law. And so suddenly, you've got a multidisciplinary group of people learning together, trying to solve really gnarly complex problems. And so that's so, part of what's happening is IUA - Irish Universities Association: we're we're we're still attracting those kinds of people. It might be call something different now. But it's still gonna be addressing some of those systemic challenges around sustainabil
ity and decarbonization. IUA - Irish Universities Association: And, David, it is. It's all about adapting, isn't it? Being agile? And and, as Mike said, they're changing, maybe existing courses, configuration to adapt to the needs of industry, but also to speak to your points originally, which is. IUA - Irish Universities Association: look, universities are like many communities, they can't be one thing they've got to be all things. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Are you sort of comfortab
le now in this post, covid environment that we are nearing a point where we kind of IUA - Irish Universities Association: dealt with the legacy issues of the remote learning, and all that, like students of that time have gone through such a very difficult time because they lost out on all of that great community. IUA - Irish Universities Association: But as you look to kind of the overarching perspective of of the sector, do you think we found a a spot now where IUA - Irish Universities Associat
ion: we're comfortable with how IUA - Irish Universities Association: universities are operating with that kind of co-location issue. IUA - Irish Universities Association: I think IUA - Irish Universities Association: think we're getting there. I think there are, as I said earlier, that there are a lot of things we have learned from the Covid experience, and I mean last summer's conferring for tu Dublin IUA - Irish Universities Association: 5,000 students coming through. IUA - Irish Universities
Association: Anyone who'd done a bachelor's degree was there. They were the first students to come through TW. IUA - Irish Universities Association: And add that code with his with, you know, massive impact on on them. But IUA - Irish Universities Association: they all came through. They've all graduated. They've all gone to jobs, most and I think we've learned a lot about how to deal with that. I think that really helps us then build and feed into IUA - Irish Universities Association: the futu
re lifelong learning models, the micro credentials and the improvements in it. So we haven't got the final solution, and we never will. But we've evolved to a point now where I think we're actually at a jumping off point for our next step in in terms of how we improve and enhance that. And we're always learning. Yeah, Michael, I'm gonna leave the final words on all of this to you. You're off to America in a couple of weeks. IUA - Irish Universities Association: and a lovely little tour where you
'll be relaxing a lot, I'm sure. But to be out there in the world talking about Ireland, trying to get those new cutting edge businesses interested in coming here. IUA - Irish Universities Association: What more would you like to see from the University sector, or even the Government, in helping you IUA - Irish Universities Association: to get those people interested in coming here and looking in Ireland, maybe even in a new way. Yeah. So so you're right. So that's what the team does on a day to
day basis across the globe for for idea. So what more? I think we have to continue doing what we do well, and I think we have to recognize what we do well, as well. So I think that's important. Like we, we have that track record, we IUA - Irish Universities Association: we we are coming from a position of strength. There's no doubt about that so. But we do need to strengthen our research capability. We need to strengthen those relationships with academia and industry. We need to. IUA - Irish Un
iversities Association: If I'm honest, we need to do it at scale as well. And and to me, that helps, I think we do that. We do that through a few different ways. Right? We do that by focusing on on the automatic areas that's important to us both from an enterprise and society's perspective. IUA - Irish Universities Association: And then we do it through focus. And the one thing we know in Ireland we're good at, you know. Despite, you know, all of all of our our different challenges is when we fo
cus on a challenge. We actually can bring results. And we've shown that. And I think, with a whole of of government, a whole of agency education with enterprise, sitting together and saying, These are our big challenges. How do we work together to collaborate? And let's make sure that we do that in an open manner that we can. Actually. IUA - Irish Universities Association: we don't put barriers in the way that collaboration. That's what we need to do. Because if I'm honest, the future for any so
ciety, Irish society, or indeed any society in terms of enterprise, is, we have to have collaborative environments that support the needs of society and enterprise, both foreign and indigenous, and that's going to be based on a plentiful supply of sustainable energy. It's also going to be based on a plentiful supply of talent, and it's going to be based on collaboration. They're the key to tree points. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Well, look, I think that's a great note to to end it on.
And I've certainly enjoyed today's discussion. I found a very, very informative and interesting way to spend your lunch break. I hope everyone agrees. I'd like to to thank all of our guests today. Michael Loan is CEO of Ida, Ireland, Professor David Fitzpatrick, President of Tu, Dublin, and chair of the Iua, and also Mike Berry. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Former. Anyway, I would get it wrong. Some point is with the county manager of a Amazon web services. And now chair of Ucd. Govern
ing authority. A round of applause. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Now, before we close up today, I'd just like to remind you all that the next future of Ireland event is on the seventh of March, when Iliana Ivanova who is the European Commissioner for innovation, research, culture, education, and youth. IUA - Irish Universities Association: we'll be giving her views on developments in research and research funding in Europe and the opportunities that exist for Ireland. And if you want to
get that, the registration details for that event are on iua.ie also have been asked to mention that season 2 of My Uni Life, which is a 9 part documentary series. IUA - Irish Universities Association: showing a busy year across campuses of the 8 IU. 8 universities will begin on RTE One and RTE Player on February the sixteenth. That's Friday at 8 pm. So be sure to watch it. Thank you very much for all your attention today, and enjoy the rest of your day. IUA - Irish Universities Association: Ve
ry good, thank you. Thank you, Nick. That was great.
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