Created by Silicon Republic, Inspirefest is a two-day festival exploring the future of science, technology, and creativity.
Attended by more than 3,000 people from over 40 countries it's fast becoming one of the most exciting events on the sci-tech calendar.
Good morning! We look forward to welcoming you to #inspirefest day two. We had a great day yesterday and today promises to be mighty! pic.twitter.com/iKFlcU19Bm
— Inspirefest 2019 (@InspirefestHQ) May 17, 2019
Yesterday afternoon, we dropped into Dublin's Bord Gais Energy Theatre to chat with some of the impressive speakers. The line-up included New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly; former CNN photojournalist Reggie Selma; explorer Mark Pollock; RTÉ Director General Dee Forbes; AsIAm founder Adam Harris and many more.
The most surreal experience at #Inspirefest today! Did a call to action on my new technology idea that I’m developing with my brother @StevenOR_. We’ve spent months talking about it. After my speech I discover €50,000 was granted by @kirkMichaelD. #WhoIsNext #LetsMakeThisHappen pic.twitter.com/8kPJFLa5pL
— No Limbs No Limits (@NolimbsNolimits) May 16, 2019
While we were there, we were lucky enough to catch Joanne O'Riordan just seconds after she had received the extraordinary news that Kirk Donohoe, co-founder and CEO of Solvers, planned to grant €50,000 towards her latest project. Watch her in the video below.
"If anyone has seen Iron Man, it's Jarvis," Joanne says, describing the project. "It's basically a smart home for people with disabilities and people living in isolation and things like that."
In the film, J.A.R.V.I.S. (Just A Rather Very Intelligent System), is Tony Stark's artificially intelligent computer that controls his whole house, something that Joanne is aiming towards.
"It's coding your house and coding all your appliances in order to be smart," she continued.
"To react to voice recognition and voice commands; opening the curtains, turning on the shower, sending a simple text for people who can't communicate verbally."
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Later that morning, we managed to catch Galway girl Ciara-Beth Ní Ghríofa for a chat ahead of her presentation. The autism-rights campaigner discussed her app, MiContact, which aims to help individuals with autism practice making eye contact with other people as well as her recent appearance on The Tommy Tiernan Show. Watch her in the video below.
"The reaction to The Tommy Tiernan Show was so overwhelmingly positive," she smiled.
"I didn't know what to expect - to be honest, I didn't expect any reaction whatsoever - I've done a lot of public speaking over the past couple of months and I've been really lucky to share my story but this has been the most overwhelmingly positive story that I have to date.
"The vast majority of comments were positive and there were 100 extra downloads in the 24-hours after the show."
Finally, we spoke with secondary school students and BT Young Scientists Jennifer McCarthy and Anna O’Connor about their award-winning projects. Jennifer was the project leader of the 'Best Group' winners while Anna O’Connor was the 'Best Individual' awardee at the 2019 BTYS Bootcamp.
"I know that one thing I'm really passionate about is humanitarianism and solving world problems which is what I did with my project," Anna said while discussing her solar-powered devices for educational purposes in developing countries and refugee camps.
"Going forward with that, I have a fully-working prototype now so I need to clean up the wires a little bit more so it's a bit neater and then it's about getting it out there and testing it."
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