MIT Mullingar

Category: Blog

  • Vodafone V-Hub Digital Advice

    Vodafone V-Hub Digital Advice

    Vodafone Business offer the following service which might be of interest to MIT members, especially startups, thanks to Isobel H for this.

    V-Hub Digital Advice

    It is a free, one-to-one digital advice and support service available to all Irish SMEs covering topics such as building an online presence to creating digital marketing strategies and more. Any Irish SME can book a call with Vodafone Business Digital advisors and discuss a tailored action plan based on their digital challenges. Please note that they do not have to be an existing Vodafone Business Customer. Some examples of advice available is shown below.

    Finding and keeping customers

    • Establish an online presence for your business.
    • Enhance your online visibility to connect with your target customers and facilitate their discovery of your brand.
    • Foster customer loyalty by creating an exceptional customer experience.

    Maintaining a productive workforce

    • Optimize your business by employing the right devices, tools, and technology.
    • Equip your employees for success with effective communication and collaboration tools.
    • Institute well-defined cybersecurity policies and processes to safeguard your business.

    Businesses can access the V-Hub through the Vodafone Business website or directly by clicking https://v-hub.vodafone.ie/advice

    As stated previously, it’s free and the call will not be a sales call but will be tailored to suit the callers needs.

  • Midlands Regional VEX Robotics Competition

    The Midlands Regional (Post Primary) VEX Robotics Competition is taking place on Tue 23rd Jan in Coláiste Choilm Tullamore and we have 25 teams taking part…19 of these teams are from the Midlands https://www.robotevents.com/robot-competitions/vex-robotics-competition/RE-VRC-23-4953.html#teams

    This years the teams will play the “Over Under” game https://www.vexrobotics.com/v5/competition/vrc-current-game and I just want to let our Midlands ICT group know it’s taking place and to invite anyone who wished to attend. If anyone would like to get involved or be a referee etc that would be most welcome…last year David Caulfield – Zinkworks was a referee and Barbara Quinn – Ericsson was a judge, so hopefully we’ll get 1 or 2 more this year. There isn’t a lot to it and we’ll go through everything with you. It’s good fun 😊. If you or additional colleagues would simply like to attend and want to manage your time commitment, it is advised to join from midday, after the preliminary matches take place.

    Photographer and Videographer will be capturing the event and we will be creating content under Midlands Ireland brand. If you would like to do a short piece to camera that would be great but not required.

    We are going to have an exhibit area for students to engage with industry about potential career pathway for students interested in software engineering, coding, engineering, robotics and manufacturing. The venue will be bustling with students from the region and it is a great opportunity to highlight the opportunities your companies can offer them directly on their doorstep.

    We also have a few companies from the Advanced Manufacturing regional cluster attending and this cluster has sponsored 3 teams from their Dreambig programme and they will be competing in the competition. These teams are made up of students from the midlands counties.

    The venue is

    Coláiste Choilm
    O’Moore Street
    Tullamore
    Offaly
    R35 WF97

    The Competition Agenda is:

    • 09:00 – 10:00 : Inspection opens, check in, Skills Fields Open and Practice Matches begin
    • 09:00 – 10:00 : 2 fields open for practice matches, 2 fields open for robot skills
    • 10:15 – 12:45 Qualification matches (Each team gets 8 matches)
    • 12:45 – 13:45 Lunch Break and all 4 arenas open for robot skills
    • 13:45 – 14:00 Alliance Selection
    • 14:00 – 15:00 Finals
    • 15:00 – 15:30 Closing Ceremony
    • 15:30 Finish

    As per https://www.midlandsireland.ie/business/clusters/ – “Across the Midlands, Smart Specialisation is seeing a number of Industry Clusters grow and develop. Our regional clusters are creating ecosystems which aid economic growth for partners by focusing on cooperation and collaboration. Our clusters bring together the triple helix of Industry, Government and Education to ensure continued competitive advantage for members, and for our region.” The 4 arenas will be called:

    • Government Arena
    • Industry Arena
    • Education Arena
    • Offaly Arena

    The partners/sponsors etc will be listed under each arena(below list is only draft at the minute):

    Government Arena

    • Offaly County Council
    • Laois County Council
    • Westmeath County Council
    • Longford County Council
    • Department of Rural and Community Development
    • Department of Education and Skills
    • Government of Ireland

    Offaly Arena

    • Offaly County Council
      • Information and Communications Technology
      • Libraries
      • Engineering Departments
    • Offaly Libraries
    • Offaly Local Development Company
    • Offaly Local Enterprise Office

    Industry Arena

    • Local Enterprise Offices (Laois, Longford, Offaly, Westmeath)
    • Midland Ireland Regional Clusters
      • ICT Cluster
      • Advanced Manufacturing
      • Engineering
      • Food and Drink
    • DreamBig – To DreamBig – You don’t need to go far
    • Companies – List of companies attending on the day
    • Dell Technologies Ireland

    Education Arena

    • Munster Technological University
    • Atlantic Technological University (Donegal Letterkenny & Galway)
    • Technological University of the Shannon
    • Primary and Post Primary School in the Midlands
    • Laois and Offaly Education and Training Board
    • Athlone & Laois Education Centre
    • Professional Development Service for Teachers
    • Science Foundation Ireland

  • What we do in the background

    We are always looking for people to talk about stuff they love, especially if its techie and interesting.

    If you have something you would like to share with the MIT group we’d love to hear from you.

    If you are a startup and looking for a bit of free impartial tech advice we’d love to help.

    If you are a student looking for a work placement or recent grad looking for the dream start we can probably help there too.

    Drop us a line [email protected] or connect with us on LinkedIn for a chat.

     

     

  • Hey guys, when’s the next event ?

    Hey guys, when’s the next event ?

    One of our MIT members recently asked this question and we thought we’d answer here on our blog.

    Q: Hey guys, when’s the next event ?

    Our Answer

    Hi Paul,

    Good question. We are toggling four upcoming events.

    1. Artificial Intelligence with IBM Watson – IBM speaker.
    2. Social Media – Trumping the opposition 🙂 – (various speakers/panel)
    3. Music in a digital age – University Lecturer
    4. Alternative Energy Developments in Mullingar – Local Visionary/Entrepreneur

    We are hoping to nail one of these for the next meetup either end Feb or more likely early March.

    If you have any suggestions I’d love to hear them….!

    Maybe I’d better post these upcoming topics to keep people updated

    Hope all is well.
    Regards,
    Tony

    Subscribe to our Mailing List

    If you’d like to be kept in the loop about upcoming events, subscribe to our mailing list via the Event Notifications form at the bottom of the website.

  • Creativity is not a Talent. Its a way of operating.

     

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    Apart from being a Director of Creative Agency Studio 93 and a lecturer at AIT, Darren Doyle also reassuringly refers to himself as a brain owner [handy]. Over 40 people turned up to the Old House room of the Annebrook Hotel to hear Darren explain how it is in fact possible for us to improve our own creativity. He debunked what he described as the myth about right-brain thinking being the more creative. Darren is of the view that coming up with one brilliant creative idea is a numbers game  – if you keep coming up with ideas, creative or not eventually one of them will provide that eureka moment for you.

    There are certain times and places where you are more likely to come up with creative ideas, such as in the shower. Children have a greater tendency to think creatively, however this drops from 95% to 12% in teenage years.

    Back to what we must do to improve our creativity? And the answer is of course, take exercise! Meditation and exercise. In order to test his own creativity and at the suggestion of founder member of the MIT Tony Palmer, Darren then fielded a quick-fire round of questions from the entire room. Questions of all types, from whether Irish people are more creative, to when is the best time of the day for creativity to… whether there were any chocolate biscuits to accompany the post-event tea. And on that note, the meeting was soon over. Well done Darren.

    What Darren achieved better than perhaps any of our previous speakers was a sense of brain-storming and idea-sharing within the group. And afterwards as people enjoyed both the hot and cold beverages of the Annebrook, there was plenty of interaction and happily, many of them newcomers to the MIT and certainly not all from IT backgrounds.

    Keep an eye on the MITMullingar.com website for updates of future upcoming events which will be open to people of all IT interests and skill levels.

     

  • Got a good idea? – Aviva Insuretech Event is this weekend

    Got a good idea? – Aviva Insuretech Event is this weekend

    Aviva are looking for any disruptive tech idea has an application to the insurance industry. The event is free and there is a 5,000 euro prize to be won for best idea. The primary purpose of the weekend will be for idea owners to try and validate their business model with bonus points if they get some tech built also. A couple of us from Cartell be there in a general mentoring/data supply capacity. Even if you don’t have an idea, why not come along, maybe you can join a newly formed team and get some serious startup experience!

    Register and more info:
    http://www.ndrc.ie/aviva/

  • e-Working Centres Westmeath

    e-Working Centres Westmeath

    Westmeath County Council under the CEDRA Rural Innovation and Development fund has established six community e-Working centres across the county of Westmeath. The centres will be located in Mullingar, Castlepollard, Rochfortbridge, Delvin, Killucan, and Kinnegad. The towns were chosen to act as strategic hubs within the REDZ framework plan.

    For bookings please contact Bernie Ginnell [email protected]

    eworking-centres

  • MIT @ Mullingar Chamber Industrial Committee

    MIT @ Mullingar Chamber Industrial Committee

    Just a quick note to update everyone that Eddie Daly and myself were delighted to represent MIT at a meeting of the Mullingar Chamber of Commerce Industrial Committee last Thursday.

    The meeting was attended by senior members from local businesses as well as representatives from Westmeath Co. Council, County Enterprise Board and Enterprise Ireland.

    The Committee was delighted to hear that the IT community in Mullingar were ‘self organising’ via MIT Mullingar and happy to support any initiative that will encourage IT careers in the area.

    There was also talk of bringing some third level presence to the town and we spoke of the need for IT courses that were cutting edge and relevant.

    In addition we have secured commitments from the County Enterprise Board and the Director of Enterprise Ireland (Midlands Region) to present to the MIT group in the near future.