Inspirefest Dublin Blends Tech, Science, Design and the Arts
January 29, 2022
Ready to be inspired? Look no further, as just last month over sixty global tech leaders gathered in Dublin’s Silicon Docks for this year’s Inspirefest.
International Festival of Tech, Science, Design & the Arts
The second year for the popular event, highlights included Robin Chase – co-founder of Zipcar – who shared her thoughts on the future of the collaborative economy in a panel discussion with business guru Nilofer Merchant and Jules Coleman, who co-founded the on-demand cleaning service Hassle.com.
Creativity was also a hot topic during the weekend. A panel discussion on Designing Human-centric Products and Services for the 21st Century saw Lorna Ross, Director of Design with the Mayo Clinic, and Lara Hanlon of IBM share new insight into design thinking.
While tech entrepreneur, Zoe Philpott, looked at the dynamic between arts and technology. Well-known for her work with clients including the White House, Ford Motor Company and the Nike Global Foundation – Zoe was joined by Noel Murphy of Intel for the occasion.
On The Fringes
Just a short bus journey away from the main conference area was the Inspirefest Fringe Festival held in the beautiful gardens of Merrion Square, which proved to be the perfect place for a spot of relaxed networking.
Keeping with the inclusive theme of the weekend, children and families were not forgotten and hundreds of kids took to the park for the many tech and crafts activities provided in collaboration with local maker and science groups including CoderDojo and GameCraft.
Ann O’Dea, founder of Inspirefest notes: “The Family Fringe event is designed to demonstrate to all kids that science and technology can be creative and fun. Whether you’ve done coding before, or you’ve never touched a computer, we have activities for you to have fun and be inspired.”
It certainly didn’t disappoint.
The event closed with a suitably awe-inspiring performance from the award-winning Irish singer-songwriter Lisa Hannigan.
Searching for more inspiration?
You can catch up with highlights from the speakers and this year’s event online.
Interested in attending next year’s Inspirefest event?
Head to inspirefest.com, where you can avail of the Ultra Early Bird tickets for 2017.
Photography by Conor McCabe Photography