Design Talk (dot IE)

This is the first half of a two-part interview with Damian Scattergood, programmer and co-founder of STAR Translation Dublin, Ireland.Damian recalls how he got into programming as a teenager and his early experiences developing video games before moving into software translation and localisation. Damian has programmed a wide range of computers, starting with the Z80 chip in the ZX80, the TRS-80, ZX81, ZX Spectrum, onwards to the North Star Dimension, Amstrad, Spectrum, MSX, Commodore 64, IBM PC, Amiga, and others.Notes:https://www.star-ts.com/ https://scattergoodstudios.itch.io/AcknowledgementsThis episode was recorded in conjunction with the Techarchives.Irish project led by John Sterne. The TechArchives project collects and preserves accounts of the social history of technology in Ireland.https://techarchives.irishThe goal is to create a public record of actions and events that might otherwise be forgotten.We want to convey what it was like to work with the technologies of the past – as a computer user, a software developer or a project participant, sharing our memories and recollections of relevant people and organisations, products and services, successes and failures.Music Title: Voltaic FluctuationsArtist: Ben PruntySource:  https://www.benpruntymusic.com/License: Non-transferable license. Permission granted by Ben PruntyCover Art Title: Complex collageArtist: Allen HigginsSource: vignette_version.pptxLicense: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0Podcast LicenseDesign Talk (dot IE) CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 The license can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0By taking part you give permission for your voice to be recorded, for the recording to be edited, and for it to be posted and published as a podcast.

Host: Allen Higgins. We are delighted to have Fergal O’Reilly with us today. Fergal is an Adjunct professor and a Research Physics & Innovation Officer in the UCD School of Physics, with a career that spans, experimental physics, innovation, entrepreneurship and new venture formation.Could you tell us a little about yourself and your background to begin?1.     SiriusXT offers a great example of the process of bringing scientific discoveries through to market, from primary research and development to commercial offerings, can you share a story of going from a handful of founders to a new enterprise?2.     Is the process repeatable? What part do you think is the most difficult?3.     Do you think it’s necessary for a science-driven venture to have a singular design concept, even though it is probably complex, complicated and multi-disciplinary?4.     Do scientist founders with deep specialised knowledge really need to invest in building their competences in other specialisms? I suppose ‘business expertise’ is the most cited example.5.     How relevant is institutional support for these endeavors, from the University, from national agencies, and the EU?6.     What kind of supports and surrounding environment do you think research scientists need to make the leap of faith to initiate or join an entrepreneurial venture? 7.     What words of advice would you give research team thinking of taking that step, from university laboratory to commercial realities?8.     When (if ever) should founders bring in the next generation of leadership?9.     <questions from the audience>Well, we’ll wrap up there.Thank you for sharing your experience and learning with us today.AcknowledgementsMusic Title: Voltaic FluctuationsArtist: Ben PruntySource:  https://www.benpruntymusic.com/License: Non-transferable license. Permission granted by Ben PruntyCover Art Title: Complex collageArtist: Allen HigginsSource: vignette_version.pptxLicense: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0Podcast LicenseDesign Talk (dot IE) CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 The license can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0By taking part you give permission for your voice to be recorded, for the recording to be edited, and for it to be posted and published as a podcast.

Hosts: David Heskin and Allen HigginsWe are very pleased to have John Sterne, a technology journalist, historian and digital archivist, long involved in recording the social history of technology in Ireland: writing books, articles, press and online on the website techarchives.irish.John, can we start by telling us a little about yourself and your vision for techarchives.irish?So, today’s conversation, hopefully the first of many, we want to look at multiplier effects and spill-over benefits of having subsidiaries of multinational firms in based in your country.To test these ideas, we are going back 30 years or so to when Digital came to Ireland. By Digital we mean the company, also known as DEC or Digital Equipment Corporation.·       Let’s start with the DEC story, who were the main actors at the time?·       Was DEC’s corporate culture different to its peers? (The distinctive culture inside a corporation run by 20th century engineers – not by investors or accountants)·       And DEC’s products, did they deserve their reputation for innovation? ·       How did Galway City, the West of Ireland, end up as the home for DEC’s European manufacturing operations centre? ·       How many sites did DEC end up having in Ireland and what kinds of work were the Irish sites involved in?·       How did DEC interact with the corporate and political scene in Ireland and Europe?·       Was there a tradition of entrepreneurial talent emerging from DEC during the good years?·       And then we arrive at 1993, DEC closes its Irish assembly plants after 22 years of operation. It must have been devastating…·       A lot has been written positing the resilience and value of “Industrial Clusters”. What lessons were learnt in the wake of DEC’s closure?·       And what did Digital itself think? What was the corporate view on reflection some years after the experience?·       <questions from the audience>Well, John, we’ll wrap up there.Thank you for taking the time to talk and for sharing your knowledge. Let’s do this again and continue the conversation…Notes:https://techarchives.irish/AcknowledgementsMusic Title: Voltaic FluctuationsArtist: Ben PruntySource:  https://www.benpruntymusic.com/License: Non-transferable license. Permission granted by Ben PruntyCover Art Title: Complex collageArtist: Allen HigginsSource: vignette_version.pptxLicense: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0Podcast LicenseDesign Talk (dot IE) CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 The license can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0By taking part you give permission for your voice to be recorded, for the recording to be edited, and for it to be posted and published as a podcast.