tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278733164379206412024-02-06T18:48:57.507-08:00A President's BlogThe diary of the President of Engineers Ireland for 2009-2010, Chris Hornchris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.comBlogger100125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-13771535552823862252010-05-27T14:05:00.000-07:002010-05-27T14:13:40.557-07:00End of My YearWell, this evening was the end of my Presidential Year, and so this is my last post to this blog.<br />
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We had our Annual General Meeting this evening, and after presenting the annual reviews of the year, and financial report, I duly passed the chain of office to the incoming President, Martin Lowery.<br />
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Its been an extraordinary year for me, and one that I enjoyed tremendously. I've summarised it in my annual report to the members, which has been distributed electronically to them and which is also reproduced below.<br />
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Thanks for following me on this blog.<br />
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My annual report follows...<br />
<h3>Introduction</h3><br />
I believe we have had a great start to our 175th anniversary year. I write this scarcely believing that my own 12 mnoths as President of Engineers Ireland is rapidly drawing to a conclusion. I have had the opportunity and privilege to meet many of the members of our institution, and to personally appreciate the wonderful work by our members in both their professional roles and as volunteer contributors. The huge pro bono commitment by our many regional and sectoral groups is a foundation for Engineers Ireland, and catalyses our growth in stature under the energetic leadership of our Director General, John Power, and the dedication of our team in Clyde Road. <br />
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I want to in particular thank those colleagues who served on the Council, the Executive, together with all of the Region, Division and Society committees and the many other very important committees and boards which enable Engineers Ireland to do it’s business so effectively. Your enthusiasm and in particular your willingness to give up your personal and family time to serve Engineers Ireland is inspiring to witness and is greatly appreciated. You have served, and continue to serve, Engineers Ireland well.<br />
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I have had the opportunity to participate in many events throughout the island of Ireland and in London. I have thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality offered, and always been impressed by the attendances of so many colleagues at these occasions. Their commitment is a testament to the strength and depth of Engineers Ireland.<br />
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During my inaugural speech on the 28th May 2009, I identified a number of issues and objectives for my year as President. I posted this online, and also kept an online diary of every event which I attended throughout the year this. As I write this review, there are 88 entries (actually, finally at the end it was 102..) for the events which I have attended so far this year. In reviewing the year, it seems appropriate to revisit my objectives which I listed in my inaugural speech.<br />
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<h3>The Economy</h3>I took up this Presidency at a very interesting time for Engineering in Ireland. Our country has up until the recent past been the envy of many of our overseas colleagues as our Celtic Tiger economy surged ahead. Now however we are undoubtedly facing the most serious challenge to our economy, and to a sustainable prosperity, since the foundation of the State.<br />
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Since the 1960s, Ireland has chosen international trade as its key national focus, ultimately making our country one of the most openly traded economies in the world. However since 2004, we have changed some of our emphasis to domestic demand, driven by cheap debt financing in the euro zone. Our construction industry has underpinned our economic growth since 2004 but largely focused on domestic opportunity, in publicly funded infrastructure, commercial property and domestic housing. With the credit crunch, the construction sector has changed enormously and regretfully for the worst.<br />
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We are now currently, and unusually, faced with the demise of employment prospects for some of our members. During my year, Engineers Ireland further encouraged Continued Professional Development. We also took initiatives to assist unemployed members via our JobSeekers’ Network.<br />
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A sustained emphasis on innovation for the global market now has to be our highest national priority. Innovation need not only be as a result of scientific and technology research, but also arise from insights in process improvement and service delivery, and in many different sectors of our economy. Innovation for the global market will yield sustainable employment. <br />
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During my year, I was honoured to be asked to represent the engineering profession on the Taoiseach’s Innovation Taskforce. It duly reported in March 2010 and the report emphasizes the central and critical importance of engineers and Engineering in the future of the Irish economy.<br />
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<h3>CEng and MIEI</h3>Throughout the history of Engineers Ireland, we have hitherto insisted that only graduates from accredited undergraduate degree courses in Engineering may become members. Nevertheless it is now commonplace that some Engineers work throughout the Irish economy despite graduating from degrees other than Engineering, but having undergone appropriate professional training from their employers.<br />
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During my year, Council decided to offer the full benefits of membership not only to level 7 as well as level 8 university graduates from accredited Engineering courses, but also to level 7 and 8 graduates from cognate undergraduate courses in the physical sciences, computing and mathematics, whose careers now in practical terms position them as Engineers.<br />
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Our changes to membership (opening it up to level 7 engineers, and to level 7 and 8 cognate graduates) together with our changes to the requirements for Chartered Engineering status (level 9 from 2013, a decision taken in May 2007) have presented Engineers Ireland to further engage with our Universities and Institutes of Technology. During my year, a co-ordination group with all heads of engineering schools, in all our higher education institutes, was established. In the light of the changes to our membership regulations, all faculty are encouraged to join Engineers Ireland. <br />
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<h3>Ethics and Regulation of the Profession</h3>The Engineering profession is altruistic and conscious of its responsibility to society at large. It is important therefore that Engineers articulately voice any concerns to the public.<br />
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At this time, Ireland is facing a number of strategic challenges not just to our economy, but also to our infrastructure. Engineers must continue to ensure that these issues are raised and understood by the public and policy makers. The media and the public at large recognise that the quality of our water is vital for the health and welfare of our society, and indeed for our tourist industry. Coastal erosion together with rising sea levels, and changes to our flood plains, are of some media and public concern. A world class pervasive national broadband service is sorely absent, and is commented upon. The National Roads Authority have raised concerns about the maintenance of our road infrastructure, including our expensively developed new motorway and dual carriageway network. In addition to these challenges, there are others which perhaps have not yet widely reached public attention. For example, a national strategy for energy security, in the face of our increasing dependency on natural gas and wind together with the retirement of elderly plants, should be a national concern, particularly when investment capital for wind farms is increasingly difficult to obtain, and the controversy at the Corrib gas field project continues. <br />
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In some other jurisdictions, any works which may impact the safety, health and welfare of individuals or the society at large must by law be duly vetted by Professional Engineers - whether such works be civil, mechanical, electrical, electronic, pharmaceutical, software or indeed of any engineering discipline. In Ireland at this time, no such legislation exists and yet it surely must be in the interest of Irish society that all technology works are professionally evaluated and approved. Regulation of the Engineering profession in Ireland is an urgent issue. During my year, a working group was established by the Director General to study best practice and legislation overseas and to derive a draft working proposal. The Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government has expressed interest in championing the issue at Cabinet level. I am sure that the incoming President, Martin Lowery, will progress the issue in his Presidential year.<br />
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Unfortunately in Ireland, we have learnt of malpractice and ill judgment in other sectors - for example, in our health care, in our financial institutions, in the Roman Catholic Church, and in both our local and national governments. During my year, we reviewed and updated our Code of Ethics. While protecting the legitimate interests of his or her employer and clients, each of our members should not, above all else, engage in any activity which he or she knows, or has reasonable grounds for believing, is likely to result in a serious detriment to person or persons. <br />
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Engineers serve the public with very high standards for the safety, health and welfare of society. Engineers Ireland ensures that these standards are maintained and will where necessary defend any of its members who, in good faith, report concerns relating from any engineering works in any sector of engineering for the safety, health and welfare of society, and then are subsequently threatened with sanction.<br />
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<h3>Fostering interest in Engineering as a career</h3>We continue to nurture interest in Engineering as a career. Engineers Ireland’s STEPS to engineering programme proceeded energetically throughout the year. We had Xperience Engineering for primary schools at DCU Helix in last June, well – and noisily! – supported. We were represented, and I spoke at, the national Graduate Careers Fair in the RDS. We recognised the Irish world champions of the Formula One in Schools competition (in which 31 teams from 20 countries participated). We were visible at the BT Young Scientists exhibition and I had the honour of representing Engineers Ireland at the associated dinner. Our Smart Futures seminar was also recently well attended, with many members volunteering their services for outreach nationwide. Finally, Engineers Week goes from strength to strength and was extremely well supported this year, with high media interest, and explicit personal support from the Taoiseach, Minister Harney and Minister Ryan. <br />
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One of our most important initiatives of my year was led by our incoming Senior Vice President, PJ Rudden. The taskforce which he led produced a very well received report on the teaching of Mathematics and Sciences in our school system. The report has been praised by both teachers unions and the Department of Education and Science, and indeed the former Minister Batt O’Keefe. An implementation group has been established to follow through on its recommendations.<br />
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<h3>Other highlights</h3>There were many many highlights to my year. We hosted a number of briefings / seminars / forums on topics as diverse as the Spirit of Ireland proposal, nuclear energy, the construction sector, innovation and on water quality. We successfully implemented not only a new web site, but entirely re-worked our backend computer systems, considerably improving our members register and subscription processing. We celebrated the 40th anniversary of the 1969 Provisional Council. We hosted a meeting with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and signed mutual recognition agreements with Engineers Australia, Bahrain and the IEEE. We had a highly successful and widely reported CPD Company of the Year symposium, and separately the Chartered Engineer of the year and papers and awards presentations. We had a new members evening. I represented and spoke on behalf of Engineers Ireland, at the budget briefing by the Irish Institution of Taxation. I had the honour of awarding Fellowship to the Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam, on his visit to Ireland. I gave my Presidential Address, on the engineering safety of software development, on a number of occasions.<br />
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I also had the pleasure of attending both the Young Engineers (fancy dress!) Ball and our own Annual Ball at which I had the honour of presenting the Institution’s first ever Lifetime Achievement award to Domhnall Blair.<br />
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One of my personal highlights was the Army Corp of Engineers annual dinner, hearing of the experiences of young professional engineers in service overseas. I was also particularly delighted that some of our members volunteered to serve for the reconstruction of Haiti. <br />
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<h3>Finances </h3>The management of our financial position has required careful diligence throughout the year. I am extremely grateful for the leadership of our Director General John Power, ably supported by the professionalism of our Financial Controller John Byrne and the rigorous oversight exercised by our Finance Committee chaired by Brian Kavanagh. This is Brian’s last year as Chair of the Finance Committee, and I wish him warmest appreciation for his wonderful commitment and steadfastness over many years.<br />
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While we have maintained a stable financial position, we are facing a decision to buy out the ground rent for 22 Clyde Road. Deferring this for any length of time will only ultimately cost more, and thus it seems prudent to proceed at this time. Negotiations with the land owner are continuing, and I am sure that this issue will be resolved in the coming months.<br />
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<h3>Conference 2010</h3>At the time of writing, our 2010 conference has yet to be held. Our Cork region will be hosting the event, and it promises to be one of our best ever. We are honoured to have Craig Barrett, retired Chair of Intel Corporation, as a keynote speaker. We have many other interesting speakers, not least Bertrand Barre, Professor Emeritus of nuclear engineering at INSTN in Paris.<br />
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<h3>Conclusion</h3>I have thoroughly and hugely enjoyed my year as President of Engineers Ireland. <br />
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I very much regret that the year has passed so quickly, and I wish Martin Lowery as incoming President the very best for his forthcoming year.<br />
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I could not have taken the responsibility without so much support from very many people – not least, Council and Executive. I sincerely and genuinely thank John Power, as Director General, for the highly professional, competent and wise leadership which he has provided the Institution over the last year. Engineers Ireland could not be in better hands.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-90947596912601144372010-05-13T13:03:00.000-07:002010-05-13T13:03:40.462-07:00Finance Committee Meeting; Executive Committee MeetingThis evening we had a regularly scheduled Finance Committee meeting, followed by a meeting of the Executive.<br />
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It in fact was Brian Kavanagh's last meeting as Chair of the Finance Committee, after six years of voluntary leadership and oversight. It was also Jim Browne's last Finance and Executive meeting, as out-going Past President. I am very grateful to both for their enormous commitment and support for Engineers Ireland, and expressed our gratitude. In fact, it was also my last Finance and Executive meetings as the current President, and Martin Lowery takes over from me at the AGM on 27th next.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>The Finance meeting, as usual, reviewed the finances to date for the year, after four months. We are managing our costs to budget extremely well, but are slightly behind in both subscription revenues and CPD income. John Power, our DG, noted that we are about to launch a radio campaign for new members, targetting in particular cognate degree holders and level 7 technicians. We also are going to place additional emphasis on the members benefit scheme, and will be announcing an "introduce a friend" scheme.<br />
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We also received an uptodate assessment of the continuing negotiations for the ground rent issue, and John Power has been asked to enter negotiations directly with the Pembroke Estate.<br />
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In the Executive meeting, John Power noted the meeting with the President of Ireland on June 23rd to celebrate our 175th year, and to which all members are invited but a quota system applies. He also noted a concert by the Nr. 1 Army band and others on 16th July next at the new National Conference Centre, to also celebrate the 175th year.<br />
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We received a report from the Finance Committee (as above), and then proceeded to review the very successful 2010 annual conference in Cork. We noted some lessons learned, and took a formal resolution to hold next year's conference in Galway.<br />
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In light of the report on the teaching of Mathematics, and the interest of the heads of engineering schools, we formally requested that John Power investigate the establishment of an Education Society, to advise on all aspects of education relating to Engineering, from primary school to post-graduate level.<br />
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We noted the Special General Meeting, immediately before the AGM, and already advertised to Members, on 27th May next.<br />
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Under AOB, John Power noted that the CEO of the IDA, Barry O'Leary, wishes to address a meeting of Engineers Ireland and to present the IDA's strategy, seeking reactions and advice. This meeting is likely to be June 1st, and will be advertised to members once the date is confirmed.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-55519023867880468252010-05-11T13:43:00.000-07:002010-05-11T13:43:03.920-07:00My Presidential SpeechI have given my presidential speech a number of times throughout my year as President, and<a href="http://apresidentsblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/western-region-conferring-and.html"> recently in Galway</a>, for the last time. I've therefore (at last :-) posted the full text of it <a href="http://chrisjhorn.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/why-is-software-engineering-so-hard/">here</a>.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-80550802961460949212010-05-08T05:06:00.000-07:002010-05-08T05:06:29.943-07:00Conferring at the HelixLast evening, I presided over the annual conferring ceremony, hosted at the DCU Helix. The evening was a celebration, and while a little formal was a happy occasion with friends and families attending. About 160 people were conferred with Professional Titles, including over a 100 new Chartered Engineers and about 20 new Fellows. This year, over 450 people nationwide have received Professional Titles.<br />
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As President, I also have the privilege of inviting distinguished engineers to Fellowship. As you may have read earlier in this blog, I already did so for <a href="http://apresidentsblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/fellowship-for-deputy-prime-minister.html">Deputy Prime Minister Hai of Vietnam last October</a>.<br />
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Last evening, I similarly awarded Fellowship to:<br />
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<ul><li>Tim Chapman, of Arup, a leader in geotechnics;</li>
<li>Bill Grimson, of DIT, a respected and a long time senior volunteer for Engineers Ireland;</li>
<li>Dervilla Mitchell, a director of Arup, and who lead the design team of the Heathrow Terminal 5 project;</li>
<li>Regina Moran, who developed her career as an Engineering Technician to Chartered Engineer and is now the CEO of Fujitsu Ireland (and who spoke at <a href="http://apresidentsblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/annual-conference.html">our recent conference</a>); and</li>
<li>Ray O'Rourke, who is the founder, CEO and Chairman of Laing O'Rourke, now one of the world's largest construction firms.</li>
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Finally, I was delighted to be able to give a special award to Malcolm O'Kelly, of the Irish rugby team and who has freely given much of his time as an engineer to our STEPs programme.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-37276758639993487932010-05-08T04:48:00.000-07:002010-05-08T04:48:39.832-07:00Academy of Engineering: AGMI attended the AGM of the <a href="http://www.iae.ie/">Academy</a> last Thursday morning at the RDS, representing Engineers Ireland. Michael Hayden retired as President, after many years, and Jack Golden is the new President. The meeting was well attended, including a strong representation from Northern Ireland. It was followed by a lunch which I had to miss due to another commitment.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-44894837793872899332010-04-29T15:04:00.000-07:002010-04-29T15:04:30.076-07:00Western Region Conferring and Presidential AddressThis evening I was the kind guest of the Western Region at their professional conferring ceremony in the Clayton Hotel in Galway. I was particularly delighted that amongst the twenty members conferred tonight, three were to Fellowship. of registered status (Fellow, Chartered and Associate) on a number of their members. I also gave my Presidential Address, and took questions from the audience afterwards.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-79174695935329494742010-04-29T05:06:00.000-07:002010-04-29T05:06:13.082-07:00Midlands Region Conferring and Presidential AddressYesterday evening I was the kind guest of the Midlands Region at their conferring of registered status (Chartered and Associate) on a number of their members, at the Clonmore House hotel in Tullamore. I also gave my Presidential Address which stimulated quite a lot of discussion and questions afterwards.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-65442807426068358702010-04-27T14:56:00.000-07:002010-04-27T14:56:57.273-07:00World Intellectual Property DayThis evening, I gave a guest presentation as President of Engineers Ireland at an event organised by William Frys to celebrate <a href="http://www.wipo.int/ip-outreach/en/ipday/">World Intellectual Property Day</a>. I spoke about some of my experiences and thoughts on intellectual property, arising from my career at IONA. There was also some discussion during the Q&A on the innovation taskforce.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-48470466377424692712010-04-27T14:53:00.000-07:002010-04-27T14:53:13.176-07:00DIT Bolton StreetThis afternoon, I gave a guest lecture via the kind invitation of Mike Murphy of DIT to about 350 engineering students at DIT Bolton Street. I spoke briefly about my own career, and then addressed the importance of Chartered Engineering status, and the role of Engineers Ireland. We had a pretty lively Q&A afterwards, with people interested in entrepreneurship, Chartered status, Jobseekers, and the transition in 2013 to Masters level for Chartered Engineers.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-2255069149861303312010-04-27T14:49:00.000-07:002010-04-27T14:49:57.037-07:00TCD-UCD Innovation AllianceTCD & UCD hosted an all-day design innovation today at Foster Place. As President of Engineers Ireland, I chaired a one hour discussion panel at lunch time with Mark Dyer, Tony Fagan, Eugene O'Brien, Gregory O'Hare, Feargal O'Morain and Richard Reilly. The main emphasis of the Q&A with the audience was on even more efficient mechanisms for technology transfer including intellectual property.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-34360757868518003342010-04-26T13:29:00.000-07:002010-04-26T13:29:19.240-07:00Bicentennial of Robert Mallet, the father of seismologyThis evening, I had the pleasure of chairing a meeting of the Heritage Society at Clyde Rd, and also streamed to the internet and will soon be available for playback on <a href="http://www.engineersireland.com/services/web-tv/">Engineers TV</a>.<br />
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The presentation was by <a href="http://tcdlocalportal.tcd.ie/pls/public/staff.detail?p_unit=civil_engineering&p_name=rcox">Dr Ron Cox</a>, historical author and former Dean of the TCD Engineering School. His subject, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mallet">Robert Mallet</a>, 1810-1881, was an observationalist, experimentalist, polymath and engineering scientist. Amongst his many achievements, he is widely internationally regarded as the father of seismology, writing his seminal work on the dynamics of earthquakes in 1846 and coining both the terms "sesimology" and "epicentre". Three of his descendants travelled from the UK this evening to join us.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-66588961989885797762010-04-26T07:38:00.000-07:002010-04-26T07:38:40.798-07:00Launch of HSE Medical Device & Equipment Management PolicyI attended by invitation and spoke at the launch this morning at the HSE Phoenix house building, of the HSE's new policy document on medical device and equipment, covering procurement, operation and maintenance. The event was hosted by Brian Gilroy of the HSE. Minister Mary Harney was the guest of honour and spoke of the importance of the new policy.<br />
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I used the opportunity to highlight the role of engineers in the medical profession, and how engineering mistakes can be more dangerous than medical ones. This of course gave me a segue to talk about registration and licensing of Chartered Engineers in Ireland.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-69999632484043942352010-04-25T03:37:00.000-07:002010-04-25T03:49:37.653-07:00Annual ConferenceWell, the dust has settled after a great annual conference in Cork last thursday and friday. Well over 300 people attended, and I suspect the final figure may be as high as 350.<br />
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Last monday (19th), I was very concerned since we had lost four featured speakers due to Eyjafjallajökull - Minister Conor Lenihan, Craig Barrett, Ian Quinn and Bertrand Barré. Conor was stuck in Dubai; Craig on US east coast; Ian on US west coast and Bertrand in Paris. Bertrand very kindly agreed to do a video conference instead. I approached Ian's CEO, Helen Ryan who happened to be in the country, and she very kindly agreed to take his place. But both Conor and Craig were completely unavailable.<br />
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So, tuesday was an intensely busy day on the phones.....<br />
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I was able to assemble - at very short notice - a panel to discuss the enterprise economy and the role of engineers. Roger Whatmore and John Mullins were already speakers at the conference, and kindly agreed to join me on the panel. John McGowan, a past President, kindly agreed to act as a moderator for the session. I approached Peter Clinch, special economic advisor to the Taoiseach and the driving force behind his smart economy initiatives including the Innovation Taskforce; and Regina Moran, CEO of Fujitsu, and having as inspirational career, having attended a convent school in Cork where honours mathematics was not offered, and rising via a Technician to become a Chartered Engineer and now CEO of one the major corporations in the country. I am very grateful indeed to Regina and Peter who cleared their diaries at short notice, and travelled to Cork for the panel.<br />
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James Ives, CEO of OpenHydro, also agreed at very short notice to give a talk on thursday afternoon - I thought his video animations and explanation of their novel tide flow turbines were inspirational.<br />
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In the event, Ian managed to make it back to Ireland with two back to back overnight red-eyes: west coast to New York, and then back to Shannon. I have done this myself in the past and know how exhausting it is: nevertheless Ian seemed to be full of energy, enthusiastic in his presentation and stressing how simple engineering done well has made Cregana such a globally successful firm.<br />
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Bertrand spoke passionately about the state of the global nuclear industry, by video link from Paris, and made some telling observations on the Irish energy sector. He was kind enough to remain on the link for the entire session and then take part in Q&A.<br />
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Roger Whatmore generated awe by his description of the advanced research work being undertaken at Tyndall. <br />
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John Mullins - as ever - gave a very powerful speech on Bord Gais's strategy and some telling observations on Government policy. Very unfortunately, we couldn't get John's presentation up while he spoke - a file corruption problem - but managed to resurrect it by the time of the Q&A.<br />
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Tom Costello of Sisks gave a measured analysis of the construction sector. Terry Nolan gave an update on the Corrib gas project, including some interesting videos. James Winter presented some impressive results of process re-engineering of the manufacturing operations at Depuy in Ireland.<br />
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In the evening, Minister Michael Martin spoke very positively before dinner about the increasingly important role that engineers must play in Ireland's recovery.<br />
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We started the friday morning with a speech by Minister John Gormley, who emphasised the Government's continued commitment to capital programmes and especially water. He also discussed water charges, and his interest in our proposals for regulation of Chartered Engineers. He was kind enough to take a few questions from the audience afterwards.<br />
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We then had parallel sessions. Kevin Murray, of the Cork region, chaired the session on leadership and innovation. Brian Cassidy, of the local government division, chaired Ireland's water challenges. Jim Gannon, of the energy and environment division, chaired the session on engineering and Ireland's energy future.<br />
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In the afternoon, we had a very interested session in which five resolutions were taken from Members. We had a strict five minute policy for the proposers, with a count down. We also limited the discussion to at most ten comments from the floor. Finally, we used electronic voting - each delegate had a hand held radio voting machine - to instantly conduct the polls.<br />
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I was frankly very disappointed that the Northern Region, having proposed one of the five resolutions, did not attend to present their resolution. I believe this was unacceptable.<br />
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I think the conference was highly successful, with good media coverage including RTE's "Morning Ireland". I believe that the mood was upbeat, and it was a wonderful opportunity to network, to be presented with insightful presentations and best practice, and to share experiences.<br />
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I am very grateful to all our sponsors, but in particular to Bord Gais as main sponsor; and to both Corrib Natural Gas and Roadbinders as platinum sponsors. Both the Cork Region and the team in 22 Clyde Rd made extraordinary effort to produce the conference.<br />
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The text of my own opening keynote is <a href="http://chrisjhorn.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/the-renaissance-of-irish-engineering/">here</a>.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-12180814605406252082010-04-24T10:03:00.000-07:002010-04-24T10:03:50.988-07:00ICE Presidential AddressOn Friday 16th last, we were honoured to have <a href="http://www.ice.org.uk/about_ice/aboutice_president.asp">Prof. Paul Jowitt</a> of the <a href="http://www.ice.org.uk/">Institution of Civil Engineers</a>, visit us and deliver his presidential address. I had previously <a href="http://apresidentsblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/institution-of-civil-engineers-ni.html">met Paul in Belfast</a> and he was kind enough to attend my <a href="http://apresidentsblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/presidential-address-london.html">own presidential address in Londo</a>n.<br />
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Paul and his wife June had a challenging time reaching us, leaving Glasgow at 9.30am, and travelling via Stranraer, Larne and Belfast, to reach us by 7pm. I am very grateful for their determination!chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-42023587805607899312010-04-10T07:31:00.000-07:002010-04-10T07:33:21.796-07:00Joint Council & Executive MeetingThis morning we held a scheduled joint meeting of Executive and Council at Clyde Rd, from 10am-1pm.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>We opened the meeting by holding a minute's silence in memory of <a href="http://apresidentsblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/tadhg-walshe.html">Tadhg Walshe</a>, Council and Executive member who very tragically died recently.<br />
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After the most recent minutes of both groups, we reviewed the key engagements which the Director General has attended, and noted the increasing media coverage and profile of Engineers Ireland.<br />
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We then proceeded to consider the draft annual financial report, which had been examined in depth at last Thursday's <a href="http://apresidentsblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/finance-committee-meeting.html">Finance Committee</a>. Because of changes in national accounting treatments relating to pensions, the accounts for last year are not directly comparable to those for 2008. After appropriate explanation, the accounts were accepted by Council and will go forward to the AGM.<br />
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We examined the financial results to the end of March 2010, and noted that our subscription revenues remain behind budget. We also considered the cash flow projection for the rest of the year, and noted that should revenues remain on their current trajectory, then further cost actions will be required if we are to break even. Finally, we had an update on the opportunity to buy out the ground rent on 22 Clyde Rd., and Council gave the authorisation to proceed with the negotiations.<br />
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This was in fact Brian Kavanagh's last report as Chair of the Finance Committee and after six years of leadership, he is stepping aside with Murt Coleman taking over in his stead.<br />
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We approved my proposal for the incoming new Vice President, who is Michael Phillips, Dublin Director of Traffic and City Engineer. <br />
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We have five nominations, and five positions open, to next years' Council. The incoming Council also has the ability to co-opt further participants should it so wish. Our bye-laws nevertheless require us to hold an election, which in turn costs us a considerable sum. Council therefore proposes to seek approval via an EGM, to be held immediately before the scheduled AGM on 27th May, to avoid the cost of running an election under the circumstances. Separately, a new working group is to be formed which will review all the bye-laws, with a view to proposing any changes and amendments via Council to the membership in due course.<br />
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We approved by nominations for fellowship by Presidential Invitation, who will all be conferred on 7th May next.<br />
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A further working group, to review and consider our CPD policy and strategy, is being formed under the Chairmanship of Bill Grimson, and will report in the next few months.<br />
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The report of the Liaison subcommittee was adopted.<br />
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A couple of ethics cases were duly noted.<br />
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John Power reported on the recent meeting he and I had had with the Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government over the regulation and licensing of Professional Engineers. The current draft whitepaper was circulated to Council, seeking further comments and input.<br />
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John Power reported on the status of the planning for the Annual Conference on 22nd/23rd April next. Both he and I stressed the urgent need to increase the number of registrations, which are so far disappointing in the light of the strength of the programme and our 175th year.<br />
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I gave a report on the work of the Taoiseach's Innovation Taskforce, at which I represented Engineers Ireland.<br />
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Under any other business, we noted the momentum building behind our new Middle East region, and some interest arising from Irish Engineers in forming a new region in Libya.<br />
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The joint meeting then concluded.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-52359408561814127762010-04-09T14:04:00.000-07:002010-04-09T14:04:31.589-07:00Finance Committee MeetingYesterday evening, we held a scheduled meeting of the Finance Committee at Clyde Rd.<br />
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We spend a considerable amount of time examining the draft annual accounts for 2009 together with our auditor. The main focus was understanding the details of the accounting treatment of the pension fund, since the accounting treatment has changed from the previous year, and so the two years' accounts are not directly comparable.<br />
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We also reviewed the accounts for March 2010. Revenues and costs are pretty much as expected, with the sole exception of membership subscription revenues. We are behind, but the management team fully expects to be able to catch up in the months ahead.<br />
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The ground rent situation continues to be progressed, and a barrister has been chosen to give us appropriate advice.<br />
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The annual conference sponsorship has progressed reasonably well and with a great deal of effort. Registrations for conference are progressing.<br />
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</span></span></div>chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-59699818386673385782010-03-16T11:47:00.000-07:002010-03-16T12:32:36.569-07:00Tadhg WalsheIt was with great sadness that I attended the funeral mass for Tadhg Walshe this morning, along with other members of Executive and Council. Tadhg attended our Executive meeting <a href="http://apresidentsblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/finance-committee-meeting-executive.html">just last Thursday evening</a> and was in fine form as usual! He died suddenly, and completely unexpectedly, the next afternoon and as a relatively young man.<br />
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He is survived by his partner Pauline, daughter Mary-Liz and son-in-law JP, together with his large family of brothers and sisters.<br />
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He served Engineers Ireland, and his colleagues and students at Bolton St. extraordinarily well.<br />
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May his soul rest in gentle peace.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-62471426191010320962010-03-11T15:53:00.000-08:002010-03-11T15:53:13.110-08:00Finance Committee Meeting; Executive Committee MeetingThis evening, we held our regular Finance Committee Meeting, followed by Executive, at Clyde Road.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>In the Finance meeting, we reviewed our management accounts for February. Revenues and costs to date are reasonably as expected, with the sole exception of our membership revenue to date. At this point, it is causing a little concern, since we are behind in this revenue against our expectations. March will be an important month for us, and we probably have yet to see the positive impact of the <a href="http://www.iei.ie/membership/benefits-of-membership/lifestyle-benefits/">new and improved Membership Benefits</a> scheme, which should add as a further incentive for subscription renewals.<br />
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Regular readers of the Finance Committee posts to this blog will be aware that we have been reviewing the ground rent situation for Clyde Road for some time. In the past few weeks, this has thrown up a challenging situation which may have further cost expectations than we initially expected, although ultimately clearly in the long term beneficial to the Institution. The Finance Committee is investigating the situation in detail, with outside professional advisors, before being in a position to make a specific recommendation to the Executive and thence Council.<br />
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The sponsorship of the <a href="http://www.engineersirelandconference.ie/">Annual Conference</a> is off to a reasonable start, but we have some way to go before reaching our target.<br />
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We followed the Finance meeting with Executive. After minutes and a summary of key engagements, John Power updated Executive on plans for the celebration of our 175th anniversary, including a meeting in the Aras in the summer.<br />
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Brian Kavanagh reported to the Executive on behalf of the Finance Committee.<br />
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I then personally announced the name of the candidate whom we would like to propose at our next Council meeting as the incoming Junior Vice-President (and who would then be President in 2012-13). Executive were enthusiastic about the candidate, and his name will go forward to Council accordingly.<br />
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We then had a 25 minute presentation and discussion on our CPD strategy, as a further update to the presentation and discussion on <a href="http://apresidentsblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/finance-committee-meeting-executive.html">the topic at our last meeting</a>. As an outcome, John Power is seeking volunteers to head up a CPD task force, with a view to analysing and proposing a CPD strategy back to Executive (and thence Council) within a three month period.<br />
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John Power then updated Executive on the planning for the Annual Conference.<br />
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A number of items were raised under AOB. In particular it was agreed to seek volunteers for a second new task force, which would oversee the implementation of the recommendations in the recent report on Mathematics and Science teaching in our schools.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-18509388217812973532010-03-04T15:24:00.000-08:002010-03-04T15:24:58.608-08:00Presidential Address - LondonI gave my Presidential Address as a guest of our GB region this evening under the leadership of Catherine O'Sullivan, at the Institution of Civil Engineers headquarters in Westminster. About 50 people attended. In my presentation, which I have <a href="http://apresidentsblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/presidential-address.html#more">previously given</a> in Clyde Road, I consciously try to address both non software specialists in the audience as well as software practitioners - in the event, only 2 of the 50 were software engineers.<br />
<a name='more'></a>Afterwards, a wonderful dinner was hosted for me by <a href="http://www.ice.org.uk/about_ice/aboutice_president.asp">Paul Jowitt</a>, President of ICE, and whom I have previously met in Belfast.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-53135737566370040742010-03-01T10:57:00.000-08:002010-03-01T10:57:06.066-08:00Smart Futures SeminarThis evening, I spoke at the Smart Futures Seminar being hosted at Clyde Rd, in conjunction with our STEPS team, ICT Ireland, Discover Science and Engineering, and Fasttrack to IT. The main purpose of the evening was to launch the Irish participation in the European wide eSkills week, and in particular to brief and assist new volunteers from the Engineering profession who are interested in participating in our schools outreach programme via STEPS. About 80 people attended.<br />
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The event was hosted by Paul Sweetman of ICT Ireland. Minister Conor Lenihan was our chief guest speaker, and spoke passionately without notes, on the Government thinking behind the smart economy, and the progress to date.<br />
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A number of senior managers and CEOs then spoke about their own personal experiences in career choice, and the current opportunities in the profession. They were:<br />
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<ul><li>Denis Canty, Alps Electric;</li>
<li>Jim Glennon, Chairman Edelman;</li>
<li>Austin McCabe, VP Symantec;</li>
<li>Regina Moran, CEO Fujitsu Ireland;</li>
<li>Paul O'Riordan, country leader of Oracle; and</li>
<li>Liam Ryan, SAP Ireland MD</li>
</ul>I was absolutely delighted to see so many people volunteering to get involved in promoting the profession, and hope in due course we will get many more.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-5801441139940804672010-02-27T00:56:00.000-08:002010-02-27T00:56:11.482-08:00Northern Region Annual Dinner DanceRounding off a busy week, I attended the Northern Region annual dinner dance in the Ramada Hotel, Shaws Bridge, Belfast.<br />
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Gerry Cawley, chair of the Northern Region, presided and about 250 people attended.<br />
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An unusual innovation, which proved to be extremely popular, was two blackjack tables and a roulette table! Every guest was given "pretend" 100 pound vouchers, to cash in as chips. At one stage, the tables were certainly busier than the dance floor!<br />
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A collection was made to raise funds for the emergency shelter box programme of Rotary International, which has provided over 70,000 such boxes to the people of Haiti.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-83495774326939611602010-02-27T00:50:00.000-08:002010-02-27T00:51:16.803-08:00Atlantic Corridor Conference 2010On Thursday, I attended and spoke at the <a href="http://www.atlanticcorridor.ie/">2010 Atlantic Corridor</a> conference in the Tullamore Court Hotel. Funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs, the organisation has built links between Ireland, and in particular the east coasts of Canada and the USA. The main theme of the conference this year was the education of Science and Mathematics.<br />
<a name='more'></a>About 150 adults attended part of the conference, while concurrently about 150 4th, 5th and 6th year secondary school students had their own conference. After lunch, the two groups came together to hear the students recommendations for improvements in the teaching of Science and Mathematics.<br />
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The Taoiseach opened both parts of the conference. Leo Enright acted as the compere for the adults part of the conference. Michael John Gorman gave a perspective on the first two years of the <a href="http://www.sciencegallery.com/">Science Gallery</a> (which I also chair). Padraig McManus told of his difficulties in finding Engineering schools in Ireland willing to engage with the ESB on increasing the numbers of students undertaking engineering, with the notable exception of the Cork Institute of Technology. Andrew Parish gave an overview of Wavebob and spoke about the wave energy section in Ireland.<br />
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Eucharia Meehan of the HEA gave numerous statistics on the uptake of engineering and mathematics by students, and especially focussed on gender differences. I spoke on the role of the internet in teaching, drawing largely from <a href="http://chrisjhorn.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/educators-and-technologists-how-can-we-best-change-ireland/">some of my blog posts</a>, and gave live illustrations of some specific websites.<br />
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After lunch, the students joined us for a panel session. Some of the themes which emerged were a strong desire to make maths and science teaching more interesting by having live practical examples in the classroom; concerns that Project Maths may disadvantage those who take it because they will not have covered the breadth of topics compared to the regular course; and a desire for more inclusive team based and social inclusion teaching.<br />
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Jean Marc Soustre of Ericssons Ireland discussed technology changed, drawing on some of the themes of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig27w_YIx0s">Shift Happens</a>. John Mighton of the Fields Institute in Toronto gave a talk by recorded video on his <a href="http://jumpmath.org/about/mighton">JUMP approach</a> to teaching maths. Jeff Evans from Georgia Tech discussed his experiences of internet based teaching approaches, particularly in rural areas. <br />
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A final panel discussion, in which I also participated, was then held.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-78062343345466629552010-02-23T15:55:00.000-08:002010-02-23T15:55:38.690-08:00Sir Bernard Crossland LectureI had the honour of being one of four keynote speakers and panellists at the 9th Sir Bernard Crossland Lecture series, in Queens University Belfast this evening, on the theme of "Engineering Innovation - re-inventing business".<br />
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About 150 people attended. Sir Bernard introduced the series, and Gerry Cawley (Chair of the Northern Region) was our host for the evening. <br />
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Each of the four speakers spoke for about 10-15 minutes. The first speaker was Mark Nodder of the Wright Group. Mark gave a brief history of this independent supplier of accessible buses, for the UK and export market. The Group went through severe challenges in the recent economic downturn, but has managed to re-build its business through innovation.<br />
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I then spoke about the work of the Innovation Taskforce and its current status.<br />
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Mandy Chessell of IBM then spoke about the challenges of innovation in large organisations, and the cultural issues arising.<br />
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Peter Russo (<a href="http://apresidentsblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/innovation-forum.html#more">who had spoken at Clyde Road yesterda</a>y) of the EBS then spoke about Germany's re-emergence after the second world war, and the challenges which Germany had faced in commercially exploiting many interesting inventions, including the MP3 standard and the fax machine.<br />
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There followed a short session of Q&A.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-43669517266519147702010-02-23T15:41:00.000-08:002010-02-23T15:43:51.337-08:00Innovation ForumYesterday evening I chaired the Innovation Forum at Clyde Rd. <br />
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<a name='more'></a>Just over 100 people attended, with several more webex'ing in. The webex is available for playback <a href="http://www.engineersireland.com/services/web-tv/title-4822-en.html">here at Engineers TV</a>.<br />
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Our first speaker was Peter Russo, Director and Chairman of the Executive Board of the Strascheg Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Euroepan Business School at Frankfurt, Germany. Peter presented an interesting analysis of German economic policy as regards innovation since the World War II, noting successes and failures. He highlighted the re-position of Audi with the Quattro series and how that came about. He also noted the failure to commercialise in Germany the MP3 audio compression technology invented by the Fraunhofer Institute, that in due course became the underpinning technology of the Apple iPod and Player. He summarised with a SWOT analysis of Germany's innovation policy.<br />
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Anna Scally, of KPMG, then gave a presentation on the process and work of the Innovation Taskforce, and its progress to date. She highlighted some of the key themes if its work before focussing on taxation policy, including as relates to Intellectual Policy.<br />
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Damien Callaghan, of Intel Venture Capital, spoke on enabling entrepreneurs to be successful, and the role that Venture Capital can and cannot play. As a member of the Innovation Taskforce, he reinforced some of Anna's comments, and discussed the role of risk capital in re-building the economy.<br />
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A lively Q&A session followed, with about 15 questions taken overall.chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327873316437920641.post-28792708756466756012010-02-20T16:24:00.000-08:002010-02-20T16:25:38.037-08:00West Region Annual DinnerI had the pleasure of attending the annual dinner for the West Region, in the Ardilaun Hotel in Galway, hosted by the regional chairman John Colleran.<br />
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The Mayor of Galway Declan McDonnell also attended, along with past president and NUIG president Jim Browne; the Chairs of the North-West Region Michael O'Halloran, North-East John Brannigan, Midlands Paul Devaney and Thormond Seamus Lynch. About 170 people attended in all.<br />
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I was truly surprised to be given a wonderful personal gift of bound copies of the papers from the TCD Philosophical Society from 1683-1709, as a memento of the evening!chris horn @chrisjhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03562424333768625107noreply@blogger.com0