14 July 2010
Horn blogs on Irish Innovation Fund
It was refreshing to read that one of the outputs of Ireland's recent Innovation Task Force Report has been the establishment of an Innovation Fund RTE, Irish Times, Bloomberg.
Chris Horn explains the context in his excellent blog post: Innovation Fund: Go, Ireland, Go ォ Chrisjhorn's Blog
For the TSSG's view of research and innovation in Ireland see our submission to the Task Force, the page also has links to the resulting Task Force Report.
6 July 2010
Public Service Review: Science & Technology
The TSSG has published a series of editorials in Public Service review: Science & Technology. This lists them all with links to the on-line version.
- What Next for the Net? PSR: ST Issue 7 (pages 90--01)
- A Telecomms Transformation: IMS and Next Generation Networks PSR: ST Issue 6 (pages 142--143)
- The Dynamic Approach (Research and Innovation in Ireland) PSR: ST Issue 5 (pages 72--73)
- The Telecommunications Software & Systems Group: shaping future communications networks and services PSR: ST Issue 4 (pages 84--85)
- Advertisement PSR: ST Issue 4 (page 1)
22 June 2010
Science Spin Interview on IPv6
Sean Duke interviewed with me recently about IPv6 and the Future Internet. This interview was broadcast on Science Spin on Dublin's Spin FM (103.2) on the 17th June, 2010. Sean was kind enough to give longer than the traditional two minute "sound bite", instead this is a ten minute discussion that allows time for a bit more depth.
You can listen to podcast of this interview, after the introductions mine is the first segment (time 00:50 to 11:10).
11 June 2010
TSSG wins first place in Ericsson Mobile Application Awards

I am very happy to announce that a team of programmers from the TSSG have won first place in the Ericsson Mobile Application Awards. The global student competition generated over 700 registered users, 120 registered teams from 28 countries worldwide and the involvement of 1000 end-users globally. The jury selected the winners yesterday at the Nordic Mobile Developer Summit in Stockholm.
Pictured above is Robert Mullins and the two part-time students Kieran Ryan and Mark Williamson who are both members of the TSSG and students on the TSSG-sponsored MSc Communications Software in Waterford Institute of Technology.
The winning entry has an associated YouTube video and was based on the development of a "Caller Profiler application".
This success demonstrates the capability within the TSSG to translate from a high level research interest in telecommunications networks and services, through to real software development that can have an impact on industry, with a link back to WIT's teaching curriculum, in particular with specialised targeted MSc (taught) course offerings designed to enable professional development of specialist software skills.
Robert Mullins led the TSSG's engagement in Enterprise Ireland funded ILRP IMS-ARCS project that built enablers for next generation IMS services. The development work for the competition was enabled by Enterprise Ireland funding linked to one of the IMS-ARCS industrial members Vennetics as partner.
We are grateful to Ericsson for the opportunity to take part in this competition. Ericsson, both in Ireland and in Sweden, work closely with the TSSG in supporting our Next Generation Network TSSG Centre (funded by the TSSG, Enterprise Ireland, and Science Foundation Ireland), and have worked with us on many leading edge research projects.
Well done to the winning team!
UPDATE 2010-06-14 - Video Interview
A video interview with the winning three teams, the TSSG team as overall winners are third in the sequence starting at timestamp 2:20:
UPDATE 2010-06-17 - TSSG Press Release
The official press release on the Applications Award win was released today: TSSG Press Release
26 May 2010
A busy calendar
The TSSG has been organising so many events over past 3 months that its been hard to keep up. Most of these events have had over 100 people from Irish academia and industry, engaging with various aspects of our activity set in the TSSG.
- NGN Test Centre (Dublin)
- Irish IPv6 Summit (Dublin)
- FeedHenry Developer Day (Dublin)
- FAME/CTVR LTE Event (Dublin)
- 3CS Industry Consultation Workshop (Waterford)
In addition we've taken part in a number of critical events, including an Enterprise Ireland information day on the Future Internet PPP call in EU FP7 (c.f. White Paper on FI PPP), as well as taking part locally in a WIT Research Day last Monday. The TSSG usually try and have 2-3 events in Dublin per year, but 2010 looks like being a bumper year for event organisation.
21 May 2010
Patsy Phelan at FutureNet 2010
It is great to see the TSSG pushing some of its ideas at big events. Here we are helping re-think the Internet from scratch, by allowing experimentation immediately with any new form of networking protocol, directly programmed in Java. Patsy Phelan, one of our researchers who has been working on the EU FP7 project 4WARD, has been promoting the flexible software he has developed that allows us to deploy new or tweaked networking protocols, at any OSI layer, coded directly in Java. The platform will be released under an open source licence in the near future.
Welcome to FutureNet 2010. For over 10 years FutureNet has been the must attend event for service providers, IT managers, and consultants to stay ahead of the rapidly changing communications services market. This year is no different as we'll address the sustainability of the Internet for business, look at emerging trends around Ethernet, wireless, and SIP, and help you put together a "Green" strategy by evaluating new service options. We'll also examine the management and support strategies necessary to achieve success. We look forward to seeing you this year at FutureNet 2010 in Boston!
19 May 2010
Irish IPv6 Summit 2010 - a Great Success
On Wed 19th May 2010 we held the 2nd successful Irish IPv6 Summit in Dublin Castle with an impressive array of international speakers, and a registered audience of over 100 delegates.Pictured to the right are myself, Eamon Ryan TD (Minister of Communications), Roger O'Connor (Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources).
The event was streamed live over IPv4 and IPv6, and edited videos of the presentations will be available shortly. The slides for each presentation have been posted and are available now. The event received some good press coverage, including local radio coverage by WLRFM and press coverage by Silicon Republic.
We now look forward to further engagement with Irish industry and the public sector to help promote IPv6 in Ireland. Contact me if you would like to get involved.
6 May 2010
Public Service Review: Science & Technology
The TSSG has published a series of editorials in Public Service review: Science & Technology. This lists them all with links to the on-line version.
- What Next for the Net? PSR: ST Issue 7 (pages 90--01)
- A Telecomms Transformation: IMS and Next Generation Networks PSR: ST Issue 6 (pages 142--143)
- The Dynamic Approach (Research and Innovation in Ireland) PSR: ST Issue 5 (pages 72--73)
- The Telecommunications Software & Systems Group: shaping future communications networks and services PSR: ST Issue 4 (pages 84--85)
- Advertisement PSR: ST Issue 4 (page 1)
5 May 2010
Feedhenry
TSSG - Telecommunications Software & Systems Group: FeedHenry, a TSSG Spin- Out Success!
Waterford, Tuesday May 5th 2010. The Telecommunication Software & Systems Group (TSSG) located at the Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) is delighted to announce the official spin-off of FeedHenry, an award-winning software firm.
Dr. Willie Donnelly, Director of the TSSG and Head of Research and Innovation at Waterford Institute of Technology said, “FeedHenry is another successful commercialisation result from TSSG’s purpose-built commercial arm, the Centre for Converged Services (3CS). We believe that the application of technology and the exploitation of research is a key driver for Ireland’s economic growth. Leading research institutions like TSSG have a crucial role to play in en¬hancing Ireland’s economic competitiveness,” he said.
Read the full article featured in Silicon Republic here
26 April 2010
Extended China Visit
Well, trust me to be on the longest trip away I had been on for about 6 months when disaster struck European airspace with volcanic ash meaning lots of flights were cancelled. So ended up being away from home for 2 weeks instead of 1 week.I was with some WIT colleagues visiting Dalian in north east China (see out TSSG weblog entry for details).
I came back to Beijing to get my onward flight to Dublin via Abu Dhabi with Etihad Airways, and I was told at midnight on Saturday the 17th April that my flight was cancelled, and that was not allowed to even go on the first leg of the journey to Abu Dhabi (despite having a boarding card generated via online check-in), and that my payment had been refunded and I was on my own. This is not what I expect as a customer when this type of incident happens, I expect some help and support from the airline. So much for customer service. So there I was on my own in a strange city with nowhere to stay and no knowledge of the local language spoken or written (I'd only been in Beijing the previous Tuesday for a transfer to another flight).
Luckily, I managed to get myself a booking at an excellent hotel in the city centre, the Park Plaza (very near the shopping area of Wangfujing and walking distance to the Forbidden City), to get a taxi to take me there, and I spent a week waiting for the WIT travel agent, FCM Travel Ireland, to be able to come up with an alternative way home. Eventually I secured a full-price (just shy of €2k) flight home with Lufthansa via Frankfurt the following Saturday. Quite expensive given my original return was only just over €1k.
Well I worked out a schedule where I would get up a bit late, do some touristy things, have an early dinner around 6pm local time, and then work in the evening when the timezone overlapped with home (4pm local time as 9am in Ireland). This has meant that haven't come back to huge email backlog, though obviously I do have lot of meetings to catch up on (I get around 100 per day, many of which do actually require responses).
I really enjoyed the opportunity to see Beijing, taking in the Forbidden City, the Great Wall (at Mutianyu) and some other cool sights. But I really missed being away from my family. I was really glad to touch down in Frankfurt in the EU27 on Saturday afternoon, and then in Dublin a few hours later.
The photo shows me at the Great Wall, Mutianyu section, which was the highlight of the trip, from a tourist perspective. Equally impressive was the evidence of investment and development in China both in Dalian and in Beijing. You certainly get a feel for China as a happening place, as so many people are saying. I really hope China can figure out how to share its wealth among all its 1.3 billion people, and help everyone, not just a privileged few. Bust I guess I should focus on putting our own house in order in Ireland first, where we've let the wealth gap extend too much during the boom years.
I will have to think long and hard before flying Etihad Airways again -- they did nothing to help me, not even honouring my valid ticket with them for the first leg of my journey home! Buyer beware.
A big thank you to FCM Travel Ireland and to Lufthansa for getting me home safely.
25 April 2010
Irish IPv6 Summit (Wed 19th May 2010) - Registration OPEN
Registration is now open for the Irish IPv6 Summit 2010, that will be held in Dublin Castle on Wednesday 19th May 2010.
11 March 2010
Irish Innovation Task Force - STI Debate in Ireland - A personal Index of Sources

This posting tried to capture the key elements of the debate in Ireland on how best to use pubic funding to incentivise innovation, prior to the launch of the Irish Innovation Task Force Report on 11th March 2010.
An interesting debate has started up in Ireland in the past few months on the justification for Ireland's investment in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET), now more usually called Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) to emphasise the importance of the potential exploitation of the results of research by relevant industries.
This page aims to catalogue some primary inputs to this debate, and does not of itself espouse a particular position. For that see other articles I have published on Ireland and STI. This blog does not have comments enabled, so if you wish to comment please email me at mofoghlu attt tssg.org -- I am happy to add additional content as long is it available publicly on-line.
- The Innovation Taskforce
- Innovation Task Force Report Launched (2010-03-11) Innovation Task Force (Full Report) (PDF)
- Announcement: http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/Government_Press_Office/Taoiseach%27s_Press_Releases_2009/Taoiseach_Appoints_Innovation_Taskforce_to_Support_the_Development_of_the_Smart_Economy.html
- Main web page: http://www.taoiseach.ie/eng/Innovation_Taskforce/
- Call for Submissions (DEADLINE Fri 18th Sep 2009): http://www.taoiseach.ie/eng/Innovation_Taskforce/Request_for_Submissions/
- Submissions to The Innovation Task Force http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/Innovation_Taskforce/Submissions_to_Innovation_Taskforce/
- Summary of the submissions to The Innovation Task Force http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/Innovation_Taskforce/Submissions_to_Innovation_Taskforce/Summary_of_Submission_to_the_Innovation_Taskforce.html
- The Innovation Task Force tag on Twitter http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23itaskforce <- does a twitter search for the tag
- Selected Irish Times articles
- 12th March 2010 - Positive priming can drive new jobs growth - Chris Horn http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/0312/1224266103468.html
- 12th March 2010 - Report on smart economy is vague and pulls its punches - Pat McArdle http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0312/1224266107415.html
- 11th March 2010 - Building on a wealth of knowledge - Patrick Cunningham http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sciencetoday/2010/0311/1224266033461.html
- 11th March 2010 - Taskforce says plan can create 117,000 jobs - John Collins http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0311/1224266044924.html
- 10th March 2010 - Front Page leak of report contents - Innovation taskforce says 120,000 jobs can be created - Sean Flynn http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/0310/1224265980969.html
- 12th Feb 2010 - Big rise in college 'spin-out' companies - IUA releases 2009 figures http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0212/1224264267079.html
- 9th Feb 2010 - Invest in education and RD - Barrett http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0209/1224264028886.html
- 30th Dec 2009 - Overcoming R&D's law of diminishing returns http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0104/1224261599678.html
- 04th Sep 2009 - Defending Ireland's strategy for science technology and innovation, Frank Gannon (Director General, SFI) http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/innovation/2009/0904/1224253647119.html
- 04th Sep 2009 - Chris Horn on Smart Economy Strategy http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/innovation/2009/0904/1224253642455.html
- 04th Sep 2009 - Ian Cambell discusses Rory O'Shea's research into university-innovation links http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2009/0904/1224253815205.html
- 04th Sep 2009 - by Michael Casey discusses the links between R&D spending and the smart economy http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/innovation/2009/0904/1224253641713.html
- 31st Aug 2009 - Article on proposed cuts in science funding by Dick Ahlstrom http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/innovation/2009/0831/1224253510984.html
- 27th Aug 2009 - Article by Dr Patrick Cunningham (Irish Chief Scientific Officer) http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sciencetoday/2009/0827/1224253326151.html
- 25th Aug 2009 - Article on Investment in Research by Liam Donnelly (Teagasc) http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0825/1224253194727.html
- 20th Aug 2009 - Article on Science Funding by Michael Hennigan (Finfacts) http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0820/1224252951654.html
- 18th Aug 2009 - Article on McCarthy call to cut science funding by Luke O'Neill (TCD) http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0818/1224252768970.html
- 06th Jul 2009 - Article on Innovation Taskforce in Innovation Magazine http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/innovation/2009/0706/1224250001121.html
- Selected Sunday Business Post articles:
- 21st March 2010 Comment: Innovation is what this country needs - Chris Horn - a response to the previous article by Colm McCarthy http://www.sbpost.ie/commentandanalysis/comment-innovation-is-what-this-country-needs-48116.html
- 14th March 2010 - Taskforce Plan is a Flight of Pure Fantasy - Colm McCarthy http://www.sbpost.ie/newsfeatures/taskforce-plan-is-a-flight-of-pure-fantasy-47934.html
- 30th Aug 2009 - Pearse Coyle on spin-outs and innovation http://www.thepost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=NEWS+FEATURES-qqqm=nav-qqqid=43986-qqqx=1.asp
- 16th Aug 2009 - Response to Tol's article (see below) by Graham Love (SFI) http://www.thepost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=NEWS+FEATURES-qqqm=nav-qqqid=43759-qqqx=1.asp
- 09th Aug 2009 - Article questioning current Irish STI policy by Richard Tol (ESRI) http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=GUEST+WRITER-qqqm=nav-qqqid=43614-qqqx=1.asp
- 09th Aug 2009 - Blog version of Tol article (09th Aug) with comment responses from the Internet http://www.irisheconomy.ie/index.php/2009/08/10/ireland%E2%80%99s-flagging-innovation-strategy-needs-a-radical-overhaul/
- Sunday Tribune
- 06th Sep 2009 - Universities under pressure to commercialise their research by Ken Griffin http://www.tribune.ie/business/article/2009/sep/06/universities-under-pressure-to-commercialise-their/
- Chris Horn's blog - he is on the Innovation Taskforce
- 13th March 2010 - Chris Horn's Explanation of the Innovation Task Force Report with links to a version via a zamzar HTML version (allows direct references to subsections) http://chrisjhorn.wordpress.com/2010/03/13/a-guide-to-the-innovation-taskforce-report/#more-345
- 19th Aug 2009 - Irish Venture Capital investments 2008/2009 (link to GoogleDocs via twitter): http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0BxsAN4FL7PFsZjIyNDgxZGUtZmMyYy00N2RkLWE5NWQtNDY1MWVmMGY2YjMx&hl=en
- 18th Aug 2009 - Comment on statistics he gathered on Irish exits 2000-2009 http://chrishornat.blogspot.com/2009/08/irish-technology-exits-2000-2009.html
- 18th Jul 2009 - Comment on 1st meeting of Innovation Taskforce http://chrishornat.blogspot.com/2009/07/innovation-task-force-first-meeting.html
- Innovation Blog
- 06th Jul 2009 - Post critiquing lack of debate on smart economy by Karl Whelan (UCD) http://www.irisheconomy.ie/index.php/2009/07/06/some-more-contributions-to-innovation-debate/#more-2984
- 29th Jun 2009 - Commenting on Innovation Taskforce by Karl Whelan (UCD) http://www.irisheconomy.ie/index.php/2009/06/29/innovation-taskforce-appointed/#more-2882
- Ferdinand von Prondzynski' Blog (President of Dublin City University - DCU)
- 21st Aug 2009 - Comment on tone of STI debate http://universitydiary.wordpress.com/2009/08/21/research-economics-and-trench-warfare/
- UCD/TCD Innovation Alliance Initiative
- 11 Mar 2009 - Announcement of TCD/UCD "Innovation Alliance" http://www.tcd.ie/Communications/news/pressreleases/pressRelease.php?headerID=1121&pressReleaseArchive=2009
- Frank Gannon's blog
- 12th Mar 2010 - detailed comments on Task Force Report release http://frankgannon.wordpress.com/2010/03/12/the-report-of-the-innovation-taskforce/
- Mícheál Ó Foghlú's blog
- 16th Aug 2009 - Comment on nature of Research Institutes http://www.ofoghlu.net/log/2009/08/does_ireland_need_independent.html
Last Update: 2010-03-22 @ 17:50
10 March 2010
NGN Test Centre Launch
The TSSG is Next Generation Network (NGN) Test Centre launch event in the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin was held on Wednesday 10th March 2010. NGN Test Centre.
Speakers included: Willie Donnelly (TSSG), Ulf Olsson (Ericsson), Shane Dempsey (NGN Test Centre), Anastasius Gavras (Eurescom), Ioannis Fikouras (Ericsson Sweden), Philip Sharpe (ISIN, Danu Technologies), Brendan Kearns (Eircom), Cathal McGloin (FeedHenry), and Catherine Mulligan (Ericsson).
A lively panel discussion was introduced and chaired by Chris Horn; I partcipated on the panel.
- Main website NGN Test Centre
- Photos from the launch event: Flickr
- Slides from the launch event: Slideshare
- Search for hashtag on Twitter #ngntest
9 March 2010
HTML5 canvas Tag
This simple online example is a great illustration of the power of HTML5:
- Blog post: Mr.doob's blog | Harmony
- Play with the drawing tool (see video in blog post for tips): Harmony - Procedural drawing tool
TSSG/FeedHenry at CTIA Wireless 2010

The TSSG will have a strong presence at CTIA Wireless event in the USA the week of the 22nd March 2010. One of our spin-out companies, FeedHenry, will be on the Enterprise Ireland sponsored Ireland Pavilion. Ironically, although the TSSG have been at this event every year for the past 5 years, this is the first time we've been part of the Ireland Pavilion. In previous years we've been guests on the Oracle stand or similraly hosted by other companies.
About FeedHenry:
FeedHenry is the leading innovator in pay-as-you-go cloud solutions for building and deploying cross-platform business and telecoms apps that will run natively on all smartphones, social media sites and browser start-pages from a single code base. We specialise in the development of sophisticated business and telecoms apps, that need to operate across mobile and social media channels, and which require business logic and storage in the cloud, secure integration with existing IT and telecoms systems and delivered to our customers as a complete end-to-end solution with full app lifecycle management and analytics.
About FeedHenry at CTIA Wireless on Ireland Pavilion
CTIA Wireless
March 23rd to 25th 2010, Las Vegas
Ireland Pavilion, Central Hall, C3, booth 1727
About CTIA Wireless
One of the Largest Technology Events in the World!
The International CTIA WIRELESS® show represents a $1 trillion global marketplace that brings together wireless and converged communications, wireless broadband, applications, mobile web and data.
For 25 years, International CTIA WIRELESS® has been THE premier marketplace for all things wireless. Don't miss 2010—guaranteed to be another crucial and groundbreaking event for the industry. Join us for the next era of Mobile Life!
26 February 2010
IET Lecture (Thu 26th Feb 2010)
I gave this talk to the IET on Thu 26th Feb 2010.
It gives an overview of the TSSG (Telecommunications Software & Systems Group). The focus is on the unique model of balancing basic research, applied research and commercialisation activity (roughloy equally) in a research centre in Ireland.
The next part was a call to arms to migrate to IPv6, giving the historical context of IPv4 depletion.
Finally a note was made of the TSSG's progress towards IPv6 deployment, and of our research activity since 199 in various research themes linked to IPv6, particularly SHIM6.
24 February 2010
TSSG hosts NGN Testbed Launch: Wed 10th Mar 2010 - Guinness Storehouse, Dublin
The TSSG is happy to announce that it is organising a launch event for its Next Generation Network (NGN) Testbed in the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin on Wednesday 10th March 2010. This all day event, starting at 9:00am. Register Here.
Speakers include: Willie Donnelly (TSSG), Ulf Olsson (Ericsson), Shane Dempsey (NGN Test Centre), Anastasius Gavras (Eurescom), Ioannis Fikouras (Ericsson Sweden), Philip Sharpe (ISIN, Danu Technologies), Brendan Kearns (Eircom), Cathal McGloin (FeedHenry), and Catherine Mulligan (Ericsson).
Panel discussion introduced and chaired by Chris Horn.
23 February 2010
In Praise of Shiny Old Things
Jon Udell argues that innovation is as much about inventive reuse of existing components, shiny old things, as it is about creating something completely new. I whole heartedly agree. Shiny new uses for familiar old things --- Jon Udell. Thanks to Miguel ponce de Leon for the tweet reference.
19 February 2010
TSSG at Mobile World Congress

Mobile World Congress, organised by the GSMA, is the biggest annual conference for those interested in mobile telephony in Europe. As usual the TSSG have an active presence at this trade show.
This year one of the TSSG's spin-in companies, GoMoNews, has been there this week in force covering the event, and organising one the main social mixer events on everyone's calendar, where more than 400 showed up to exchange formal and informal news on mobile technologies. Sinead Quealy has just returned from the event and the highligt for her was Stephen Fry presenting the GSMA awards on Tuesday afternoon.
The other main TSSG presence has been via our spin-out company FeedHenry, that has a demonstration hsoted on the Oracle stand. Richard Roger has also returned to base, and the highlight for him was meeting the BBC.
Next month CTIA in Las Vegas 23rd-25th March 2010 will be a similar event for the North American market, and anticipate a strong TSSG presence there as well.
4 February 2010
European Research Council (ERC)
Very well written article on European Research Council, why it is so different from EC research funding to date, and the challenges it faces Fork in the Road :The Scientist [2010-02-01]. Thanks to Brendan Jennings (@toofardown) tweet.
3 February 2010
Minister Cullen tuns sod on new TSSG Research Building

Last Friday we had Minister Cullen visit the TSSG to turn the sod on our new TSSG Research Building, funded by HEA PRTLI Cycle 4 capital programme, with matched funding from Waterford Institute of Technology. See the TSSG press release (copied below).
It is important to mention that the key people behind the original proposal were Willie Donnelly (the PI), myself, Brendan Jennings and Sven van der Meer. Of course like any large proposal this was team effort with many others contributing as well, and more subtly with the potential success based on the reputation of the TSSG that draws on an even wider set of people and achievements. The funding was won back in 2007 and this comprised a recurrent element, that funds the FutureComm project, and the capital element, that funds this new building.
As it happens we are conducting an internal mid-way review of the FutureComm project today in the Digital Hub. The key people in terms of actually delivering this work programme are Dmitri Botvich, who coordinates our research activity and manages the team, and Tom Pfeifer, who contributes his own expertise and acts as the logistics and support coordinator.
So these two events have given me the opportunity for reflection, and I am generally reminded of the good job we are doing, and of the importance of capturing this and promoting it publicly. This is actually very difficult given the complex nature of the inter-relationships between our various activities (126 funded projects in the period 1996-2010 to date, with nearly 40 active in 2010, and that doesn't include the 52 smaller Enterprise Ireland Innovation Vouchers we have done).
Martin Cullen TD, Minister for Arts, Sport & Tourism, turned the first sod today (Fri, Jan 29) on a new 1,056m² four-storey research building at Waterford Institute of Technology’s West Campus at Carriganore.Funded by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) under the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI), the €5m development designed by Devereux Architects is being built by BAM Construction and represents the next phase of expansion at the campus where much of the Institute’s fourth level research, development and innovation activity is now concentrated.
Set for completion in 2011, the new building will be clearly visible from the Waterford City Bypass and is being developed to the northwest of the ArcLabs Research and Innovation Centre. With a maritime design, it will overlook the nearby River Suir and accommodate offices and meeting rooms for postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers as well as general office and laboratory space.
Speaking as work commenced on site, Minister Cullen said: “Continued investment in Ireland’s research infrastructure is a central part of our push towards delivering on the ‘Smart Economy’ agenda that offers the strongest prospects for economic recovery and a return to sustainable growth.
“Going back to my own time as Minister of State at the Department of Finance a decade ago when the land-bank here at Carriganore was acquired for Waterford Institute of Technology, I had always been convinced that the Institute would have – as it now does - one of the finest higher education campuses in the country.
“Following on from the refurbishment of Carriganore House, the development of ArcLabs and the National Biodiversity Data Centre, this latest phase of development marks another milestone in the rollout of the terrific vision that exists for this location where excellent sports facilities are also nearing completion. The West Campus is, of course, more accessible than ever to the entire region since the opening in October of the N25 Waterford City Bypass.”
Redmond O’Donoghue, Chairman, Waterford Institute of Technology, added: “In what is our 40th year, the Institute and the wider community in the southeast can be justly proud of the great strides that have been made by researchers here. This latest significant addition to our West Campus will allow that work to continue to grow in scope and depth.
“It is vital that we maintain investment in the research that will deliver the employment opportunities of tomorrow. The additional space to be provided by this latest campus expansion will allow further growth of our Telecommunications Software Systems Group (TSSG) which has won €40m in national and international research funding for 85 projects over the last five years alone. Specifically, the building will facilitate TSSG work on globally significant HEA-funded research where they are partnering with NUI Maynooth and University of Limerick on the ‘Future Internet’.”
Dr Willie Donnelly, Head of Research, Waterford Institute of Technology and director and< co-founder of TSSG, said: “Our research has enabled us to successfully create a mobile services cluster of high potential start-ups where almost 200 sustainable direct and indirect jobs have been created.
“Our research team continues to successfully compete for funding at a national and international level with the additional facilities now being provided with HEA support set to allow us grow further in the years ahead. As well as having a considerable economic impact for the southeast and ‘Ireland Inc’, TSSG research outputs will also increasingly generate products and services that benefit end users in society more widely.”
The project team for the new building also includes JODA Engineering Consultants; Michael Punch & Partners Consulting Engineers and Brendan Murray & Associates Quantity Surveyors.
20 January 2010
Video Interview with me, Digital Hub TV
On 3rd December 2009 when I was attending the Irish Future Internet Forum in the Digital Hub in Dublin, I was interviewed by the Digital Hub TV. Here is the edited interview, you can also find it here: TSSG Interiew.
14 January 2010
Avatar Review
I enjoyed reading my colleague Paul Watson's Avatar Review. See also the IMDB entry Avatar.
I too saw the movie and enjoyed it immensely, especially the full immersion in the 3D world that was so well realised. I too felt a bit let down by the black and white moral juxtaposition of the final third, that lacked all nuance. Would it not have been much more interesting if the military guys were real people too? or the if the plot had focused on another element of the rich world?
Strangely, as in no one else I have spoken to thought the same, I thought that the film was most like The Mission, essentially a recreation of the moral conflicts that arise with colonisation; for any American or European audience the main such example in our collective history was the discovery and exploitation of the "New World". Indeed the culture on the Avatar world does share many features of the native north American ethos. The Mission has a much more nuanced plot around the religious justification for joining the natives in resistance, and perhaps a more realistic ending where this resistance is doomed to failure against the might of European expansionism. I remember first hearing The Mission as a radio drama that dwelt even more on this debate, that was curtailed for the more visceral and visual movie. Avatar does include a sort of coming of age subplot that works quite well in terms of engaging the audience in the culture.
As for Paul's plea for a cinema that celebrates the science of exploration instead of the blockbuster military show down, perhaps I could direct him to the excellent Mars trilogy of books by Kim Stanley Robinson. If these are ever dramatised, they will need to preserve that focus to really reflect the books.
Also worth mentioning, for the most fully realised depiction of an alternative biology in science fiction is Brian W. Aldiss' Hellicona Trilogy Spring, Summer and Winter.
Despite its flaws, so well described by Paul, Avatar is one of the best science fiction movies of recent times. But really good science fiction is always better a book, as no director can ever capture what people can imagine in their own heads.
8 January 2010
3D Objects Representing Social Data
A facinating illustrated article about 3D visualisation of data, as Christmas ornaments russell davies: datadecs.
Snow Business is Web Business
Netcraft have posted an analysis showing that the UK National Rail website is suffering under the increased traffic load as worried comuters and travellers check the availability of their routes: National Rail website affected by snow - Netcraft.
27 November 2009
26 November 2009
IdeaGen hosted by ArcLabs (TSSG) on Thursday 2nd December 2009 (5pm-7pm)
I have written some background notes on the topics discussed at IDEAGEN on 15th October 1009 in the TSSG, WIT. There is a follow-up event (aimed at for those who attended the first session) on the evening of Wed 2nd December 2009, so these notes could help kick-start some discussions and brain storming. That could be useful notes for those not familiar with the topics, or provocative for those that are.... I just spent 2h or so doing it, so it is not a very studied piece of academic writing, but a set of notes and pointers.
25 November 2009
Jonathan Brazil on his new Android Hero
Well, as a personal comment on my recent blog post about smart phones, I thought I'd cross link to one of the TSSG researcher's personal expereinces with the HTC Hero smartphone, that runs Android 1.6 at present: When jbwan met: HTC Hero.
I predict that Android phones are going to be very big in 2010.
23 November 2009
Irish Future Internet Forum
Miguel Ponce de Leon: Irish Future Internet Forum 2009
Irish Future Internet Forum will be on in the Dublin Digital Hub on 3rd December 2009, free registration.
See you there.
19 November 2009
IMS-ARCS @ Digital Hub - Stakeholder Meeting
This morning I attended the stakeholder meeting of IMS ARCS (http://www.ims-arcs.org) project.This is an interesting project partly because of the funding mechanism. It is an Enterprise Ireland ILRP, Industry-Led Research Programme. These programmes are defined by a group of industrial partners, who then use Enterprise Ireland funding to fund the research activity in Higher Education Institutions in Ireland. This can be seen as the Irish equivalent (on a smaller scale) of the EU Technology Platforms (EUTPs http://cordis.europa.eu/technology-platforms/).
The project is also interesting as it tracks a major trend in telecommunications: the emergence of the IMS platform (IP Multimedia Subsystem) and the dominant paradigm for fixed-mobile convergence, and for the migration of telecommunications networks to the use of Internet protocols.
The TSSG has used its existing expertise, and the new expertise and market intelligence gathered during this, and other projects, to help create a national IMS testbed. We will be launching this testbed formally early next year.






