Recap of IVI Summit 2024

From June 10-12th, the Innovation Value Institute (IVI) hosted the Summit 2024 at Maynooth University with the theme of ‘Digital- Unleashing the Power of Data and Services’.

The following headline speaker presentations (from June 12th) are now available to view:

Jeevantika Linaglwar – Presentation Slides

John Ghent – Presentation Slides

Zoe Ryan – Presentation Slides

On Monday June 10th IVI hosted the Social Event in Russell Library in Maynooth University and then to Dublin to the EPIC museum and the Dublin Guinness Storehouse. This was a wonderful experience for our delegates that had not been before, and we are glad they enjoyed the day in Maynooth and Dublin.

On Tuesday June 11th IVI hosted 6 Co-Creation workshops on a range of topics from

• Research Symposium
• Sustainable Digital Transformation and Circular Economy  
• Equitable Futures: Addressing challenges for Women in STEM in higher education 
• Building a better 2 way street: improving the value of action-based research for SME/Micro businesses 
• The three seasons of agriculture data: shall we talk about the fourth one? 
• Generative AI and Smart Cities – Examples, practices and discussion 

To provide an international overview and discussion of digital transformation and strategic directions in specific areas, the workshops were interactive and thanks to the chairs and panelists from each workshop as attendees gained key takeaways from each and follow up discussions.

On June 12th: IVI Summit -Shaping the Digital Future

Innovation Value Institute announced a pioneering initiative, the ‘Data Governance Roadmap for Ireland’, launched on 12th of June by Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Seán Fleming TD, at IVI Summit 2024 in Maynooth University.

Aligned with EU Digital Decade policy targets and several other critical EU initiatives such as the Data Governance Act, Data Act and AI Act the initiative aims to bridge skills gaps and develop new competencies to tackle growing challenges across various sectors, including sustainability, security, and education.

The roadmap reflects Ireland’s commitment to maintaining leadership in information, data and digital innovation, setting highest standards for governance, promoting transparency, and ensuring equitable distribution of digital benefits that digital and data creates. It sets new benchmarks for success aligned to Ireland’s ambition to lead and set standards in Europe, inspiring other nations to follow suit.

We were honoured to have welcomed Seán Fleming TD -Minister of State Department of Foreign Affairs (International Development and Diaspora) and TD for Laois Offaly to launch the Data Governance Roadmap for Ireland and Prof. Eeva Leinonen, President of Maynooth University who gave the welcome address and a welcome from Prof. Markus Helfert.

We were delighted to have the keynote presentations given by Dr. Mihai Bilauca, Chief Information Officer, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Jeevantika Lingalwar, Founder, International Women in Tech; Cloud Solution Architect, Microsoft, and Anne Joséphine Flanagan, Vice President, Artificial Intelligence at the Future of Privacy Forum.

We were excited to have our morning panelists Dr. Kevin Walsh, Head of SFI Research Centre, Robert Gunning, Senior Data Scientist, Intel Corporation, Josef Treml, Austrian Trade Commissioner for Ireland, Advantage Austria and Lorraine McNerney, Head of Data Governance, Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform to discuss ‘Digital Futures – Shaping a sustainable society through digital transformation’.

After lunch we broke in Three Parallel Deep Dive Sessions topics included:

• Exploring the future of Ireland’s public services data strategy: AI, Services and Data in focus
• Innovation in the Workplace: the Evolving Role of the Tertiary System
• Co-creating a data governance framework for an Irish genome sequencing initiative

These workshops provided more interactive sessions for attendees along with insights into the topics above which has opened up pathways for further discussion with attendees.

Later in the afternoon we had very insightful presentations from Claire Dunleavy, A/Head of Enterprise, Kildare County Council, Zoe Ryan, Streaming Coordinator, RTE Sports, John Ghent, Co-founder and CEO of PrivacyEngine.

In the evening we were honoured to welcomed Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Ireland to the award ceremony to present the winning teams awards who participated in “Careers in the Digital Age with impact to the Society Ukraine and Ireland’s Student Innovation Challenge” from the three Universities Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas, Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman and Maynooth University. Well done to the winning teams and to all involved and thanks to our sponsors Unum.

Lastly the IVI recognition awards where Prof. Markus Helfert presented to a number of very valued contributors to IVI over the year. 

We look forward to seeing you all next year at the IVI Summit 9-11^th June 2025