Due to overwhelming demand for the first delivery of the IMI it@cork Skillnet Leadership Development Programme we are delighted to announce that we will be running a second intake, starting in December 2020.

This industry-led IT Leadership programme responds to the unique challenges of technical leadership, equipping professionals in the sector to transition from individual contributor to both technical and business leader. it@cork Skillnet have again committed to a significant subsidy on this programme for member companies of it@cork as part of our Covid-19 response.

Please contact Annette Coburn it@cork Skillnet Manager for more information or to book your place: skillnet@itcork.ie

This month it@cork said goodbye to it@cork Cluster Manager - Eoghan O'Mahony. it@cork would like to take this opportunity say thanks a million to Eoghan for all of his hard work and dedication to the organisation over the last two years. Eoghan was a great addition to the it@cork team and we are all sad to see you go. Best of luck in your next chapter Eoghan from everyone in it@cork.

it@cork would like to wish the very best of luck to the four it@cork member companies and entrepreneurs that have been shortlisted for this years upcoming EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Ireland awards on the 12th November. These finalists are showcasing some of Cork's finest Tech and include:

• Joe Lennon & John Goulding of Workvivo 
• Pat Lucey of Aspira
• Tim Houstoun of Global Shares 
• Andrew O'Shaughnessy of Poppulo

AT-Virtual (Interreg Atlantic Area project) has launched the first of its three open calls and are seeking start-ups who would like to get involved with the project. Successful companies will be given a budget of €15k to develop their technology for the IoT challenge. This is a great opportunity to get involved in an exciting project, all about improving the performance of Maritime Safety and is open to all start-ups with IoT capability. 

Are you planning to host a webinar or online event? For our recent it@cork TechFest we were delighted to have Trend Micro as our expert platform provider for the virtual technology festival. Kevin Flynn, Communications Service Lead at Trend Micro recently launched a video giving his top tips and recommendations for hosting a webinar. Watch his tips here: Trend Micro - Setting the Virtual Scene

it@cork in association with CloudCIX and CIT (MTU) is excited to bring you this exciting informative webinar on Hashes, Keys and Certificates. Hashes, Keys and Certificates are three technical terms that people frequently confuse with each other. Join us for this informative session as expert panelist, Vincent Ryan (Senior Lecturer at CIT), will discuss and explain these terms. 

We have recently launched a new fireside chats series in partnership with KPMG Ireland. We are absolutely delighted to announce that we have a very interesting line-up of guest speakers for the next event including: Joanne Wrenn,Vice President of Talent Services at LinkedIn and John Wrenn, Chief Technology Officer at Flex. Be sure to keep 5pm on Tuesday 17th November free for this virtual event that is not to be missed. More information and registration details will be released in the coming days. 

We are pleased to announce that our next upcoming Diversity in Tech webinar, ‘Neurodiversity in the workplace’, is scheduled for Thursday 19th November from 12-1pm. This event will be an inspiring, insightful and informative panel discussion with experts in Neurodiversity. Each speaker will be sharing their knowledge on best to raise awareness of Neurodiversity in the workplace. Register here: it@cork Neurodiversity Webinar

Last’s month it@cork TechFest was an outstanding success for the organisation with 5 tracks over 5 days and 5 workshops.

Throughout the weeklong virtual technology festival there were over 900 attendees from countries all over the world. Countries including: United States, UK, South Africa, Poland, Canada, Netherlands, Argentina, Portugal, Bulgaria, Brazil, Spain. Attendees came from various types of companies and organisations including: SME’s to multinationals; cyber security companies, tech, pharma, third level institutions, public sector, professional services, recruitment, SaaS companies. it@cork were also honoured to have a members only closing special event with Liam Casey, CEO at PCH International. A special thanks to everyone who was involved in making this virtual event a huge success.

The recordings of all tracks and workshops are available on our YouTube channel which can be accessed here: it@cork TechFest Webinar Recordings 

If you attended this event and have any feedback, please email: admin@itcork.ie

Recently it@cork chairman Anthony O'Callaghan interviewed Bask Iyer CIO at VMware to find out more about his careers, his views on technology trends and his recommendations for those wanting to follow in his footsteps.

The recording of the this exclusive webinar is available here: it@cork Fireside Chat with Bask Iyer

Our most recent Diversity in Tech Webinar was on ‘Next Generation Planning'. We are currently living in a new world and companies will need to plan strategically to meet the expectations and beliefs of the next generation. This Diversity in Tech webinar was truly insightful as panellists gave their thoughts and opinions on Next Generation Planning. During the webinar panellists spoke about how it is vital for companies to have a strong online presence, diversity and inclusion programmes, mentorship opportunities and career progression to attract graduates. 

The recording of this webinar is now available on our YouTube channel: it@cork Next Generation Planning Webinar

Start date: 10 November 2020

Location: Virtual Delivery 

Cost: Member subsidised rate €1,150

On November 11th at 16:00 TWi are running a webinar “When chatbots make sense - A business case analysis of chatbots for more effective customer engagement”. 

Chatbots are cool to implement, but will a chatbot support your business objectives? During the webinar Toni Ressaire and Neil Mahony will discuss the cases for and against automated chat support and will address the following key questions:

• Does your business need a chatbot?
• Can a chatbot add value to your customer's experience?
• Which metrics can validate the business case?
• Will a fully automated chat or a hybrid-human model work better?

To register and find out more about the event check out: TWi Webinar: When Chatbots Make Sense

The Founders’ Circle is a private space for tech founders to meet, have rich conversations in small groups, to share experience and gain valuable insights from other founders. The Founders' Circle is powered by RDI Hub in association with Scale Ireland.

Upcoming Events:

> 11am, 20th November Tech Talent - Where are these precious people hanging out and the in-house vs outsource experience.
> 11am, 18th December - EU Funding – What’s available now, partnerships, draw down and lessons learnt.

To register for these events click here: The Founder's Circle Zoom Registration

Sigmar Recruitment established in 2002, is a leading Irish recruitment services company comprised of 14 specialist divisions covering the entire recruitment process and managed service spectrum. Sigmar employ over 150 industry specialists across offices in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Athlone and Tralee.

With a core team of 50+ specialist Talent Advisors and a sourcing presence in 270+ locations across Europe, Sigmar IT combines the smartest technology with human intelligence matching, to onboard top IT talent across Europe, focusing in core tech centric locations such as  Berlin, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Paris & Zurich.

Sigmar has the highest number of certified recruiters coupled with extensive industry specialism across the entire IT spectrum. Sigmar has achieved over 50 industry awards and has been recognised for our client delivery success, candidate experience and our innovative recruitment excellence methodologies – including ; Best in Practice IT & Telecoms 2018 & 2019.

it@cork member company CWSI are offering Free Remote Working Security Assessment and will give provide you with a report outlining their expert opinion on the security of your organisation’s remote working set-up. To avail of this offer check out the following link: CWSI - Free Remote Working Security Assessment

it@cork member company DB Alliance Ltd offers Database services for Oracle and SQL server, TrackWise QMS support and consulting and IT Project services. Recently DB Alliance highlighted some important information on Oracles Critical Patch Updates (CPU), which are collections of security fixes for Oracle products released quarterly. If you would like to find out more about their services please check out: DB Alliance Ltd