On the 25th and 26th of October the City of Bragança held a Transnational Meeting on the Policy challenge “Innovative and Smart Business”. This TNM was only the first part of the event focused on smart and innovative cities, as Limerick City and County Council presented their innovative and smart city strategy and actions during this virtual study visit on the 9th and 10th of December 2021. The planning of this Virtual Study Visit as evolved into the very first ever Limerick Innovation Live Event (LIVE), a public event to showcase Limerick as a Smart City. Limerick is rich in talent and hosts many leading areas of expertise and practice – including some of the leading global technology, medical and pharma companies as well as globally significant research and education facilities. Find Your Greatness project partners heard about innovation from ULG members such as DELL Technologies, University of Limerick, Technical University of the Shannon, Analog Devices, and others. The event also contained the Limerick Small Scale Action. We introduced the Limerick Makers Club and FabLab, who demonstrated that innovation in Limerick is not trapped behind the walls of Intellectual Property, but a living aspect of the City.
The recordings of Day 1 and 2 can be viewed at: https://www.limerick.ie/council/whats-on/citizen-engagement/limerick-innovation-virtual-event
Day 1 Thursday, 9. December 2021
Innovation Showcase Event Launch
The event took place in the CONFIRM Centre in Limerick City. CONFIRM is a newly opened research centre that investigates process improvements through smart manufacturing. It is funded by Science Foundation Ireland and its main areas of research are: Data analytics, Product and process control, Enterprise modelling and simulation, Software systems, Network systems and IoT, Sensors, Robotics & controls, and Materials processing. Originally this event was to be centred around the opening of a new Citizen Innovation Lab in Limerick, which will also be the new location for the FabLab, however delays in construction threatened the event, so the decision was made to move it to the CONFIRM centre. This was perhaps serendipitous as the CONFIRM centre was very enthusiastic about LIVE and were a great help in ensuring the event’s success. It allowed the event to have a close tie to the educational institutions, and it provided a suitable space for the display of drones, the City One boat, and the autonomous vehicle.
The Limerick Innovation Virtual Event (LIVE) was opened by the Mayor of Limerick City and County, Cllr. Daniel Butler. The Mayor gave a special welcome to the Find Your Greatness partner cities, and to Urbact partners joining online. There were also speeches by Niall Collins TD, Minister of State at the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science; by Prof. Kirstin Mey, the President of the University of Limerick; and by Dr. Pat Daly, Chief Executive of Limerick City and County Council, who also made reference to TechTown, an Urbact project Limerick has previously participated in which led to the creation of the Digital Leaders Network, the foundation of our Urbact Local Group.
Panel 1: Innovating with City Assets
The first panel discussion focused on how the city has existing under-used assets, which could be potentially repurposed for new innovative uses. For example, Rosie Webb from Limerick City and County Council spoke about how the heart of Georgian Limerick is being reimagined through the H2020 +CityxChange project, while Gary McMahon from the Ilen Marine School looked at innovation from a cultural angle, by revitalizing traditional crafts people can be given a new sense of meaning, and place, through the Shannon River. Prof. Kerstin Mey spoke about how the new University Campus, revitalizing a large derelict supermarket, will help bring people back into the city centre and engage them in new and exciting ways through the Citizen Innovation Lab. Dr. Liam Browne, from Ireland’s newest University, the Technical University of the Shannon (TUS) spoke about the relationship between the city and its people, and how the future of the city is through education, training, and engagement with business and enterprise.
Demos & Showcases
Following panel 1, at the venue, participants had an opportunity to network and to view the technology on display, while online the panel was followed by videos looking at the Future Mobility Campus and their work on Autonomous Vehicles, the boats which are built by the Ilen Marine School for inner city recreation, the drones being developed and tested by the University of Limerick, and the Virtual Immersion cave in the CONFIRM centre. A highlight of the day was the opening of the lunch break! A drone was flown across the city from the University, carrying a box of lunch from the Green Onion restaurant, who were catering for the event. When it landed, the master of ceremonies, Dave Griffin, brought in the lunch and announced the break.
Panel 2: Future-Proofing for a Resilient City
This panel had a strong focus on education. Dr. Maeve Liston from Mary Immaculate College Limerick spoke about the work they do in relation to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) teaching and outreach activities across the city, and how teachers are preparing to educate the next generation. Dr. Stephen Kinsella, one of Irelands pre-eminent economists, spoke about the broader state of affairs, how while we have a young population now, it is aging, and we need to prepare for that future by having an economy which is ideas based. He also spoke about the new Immersive Software course at the University. Stephen was followed by Gillian Barry from TUS who spoke about the innovation ecosystem and how to prepare the entrepreneurs of the future for the new economy, by developing a mind-set of collaboration. In particular Gillian spoke about EMPOWER, a summer camp for young innovators: https://lit.ie/en-ie/events/june-2021/empower. Terry Connolly, EU Programme Manager from Limerick City and County Council spoke about the future needs of the city, the services that a council may need to provide in the future as new technology comes into reality, and how people with the skills to deal with these new technologies are being taught today in our educational institutions. Finally, Eimear Brophy from the Limerick Learning Festival spoke about Limerick’s legacy as a UNESCO learning city, and how lifelong learning is a key enabler for resilient communities.
Confirm Centre
Panel 2 was followed by a series of interviews with key Limerick partners. The first interview was with Dr. Eoin O’Connell from the University of Limerick. Eoin runs the CONFIRM centre, which has 60 investigators and 150 researchers across the country. An issue the centre has is conveying the technology being developed. The centre in Limerick resolves this issue by providing a space to showcase their work in a friendly and safe environment.
TUS Innovation
Next came an interview with Gillian Barry from the Technological University of the Shannon. Gillian presented the strategic centres which TUS runs, and how they use these centres to incubate start-up companies across the Mid-West region. Gillian also spoke about the RUN-EU project. This project is a network of seven like-minded and regionally focused higher education institutions committed to societal transformation in their regions in the context of both new and emerging regional and global challenges but in particular sustainable regional development. The video from Gillian was followed by a live interview with Dr. Liam Browne, Vice President of Research, Development and Innovation.
UL Innovation
This section consisted of a number of video’s and interviews from some of the University of Limerick’s top researchers. First up was Dr. Briga Hynes, Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at the Kemmy Business School. Briga spoke about the social and human aspects of innovation development. Dr. Hynes was followed by a video from Dr. Maura Adshed who runs the CWELL course in UL. The Community Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership and Life skills (CWELL) diploma is a unique academic programme that has been co-designed with local Limerick communities to address their community-identified needs. The CWELL diploma programme represents a long-term university commitment to supporting both individuals and communities in under-represented parts of Limerick. This was followed by an interview with Dr. Luuk Van Der Wielen, Director of the Bernal Institute. The Bernal Institute hosts a multidisciplinary team of world-leading materials scientists and engineers. Their research focuses on the synthesis, characterisation, and design of nano, meso and macro structured materials.
Makers Club and Fab Lab
Day 1 ended with a video interviewing members of the Limerick Maker’s Club. Fab Lab Limerick started in 2012 as an elective course at the School of Architecture, UL in which open-source 3D printers, CNC routers and laser cutters were built. Since then, Fab Lab Limerick has evolved into a fully functional digital fabrication laboratory that offers cultural, educational and research programmes on digital fabrication, bridging the gap between these technologies and creatives from all disciplines. The FabLab will form a core part of the Citizen Innovation Lab, which will open in January in the city centre, a collaborative space between the UL and Limerick City and County Council. Ger Walsh, the Coordinator of the FabLab was interviewed and invited viewers to come visit and see the work that takes place there. To learn more see:
