The first day of the ACE UnConference saw hundreds of entrepreneurs visit Derry/Londonderry to gain an insight into becoming more creative in their own businesses. The NORIBIC managed, delegate-driven UnConference welcomed senior figures from the world’s leading IT and communications companies to the country to highlight trends and possibilities through sharing their own vantage points and insights. Participating companies included Palm, Adobe, Powerscourt, Deutsche Bank, Archos, and Microsoft amongst others. They have been encouraging local entrepreneurs to instil re-invention and creativity into their businesses and practices by enabling them to access global expertise within an open innovation environment.

Lorraine McDowell, Director of Operations with the Arts Council who is funding the event highlights why ACE is so important:
“ACE UnConference supports the government’s priority to develop the creative industries. The ingredients are all here in Northern Ireland, with careful nurturing, we should have resources, talent, ingenuity and the belief in ourselves to compete successfully in the creative industries worldwide.”

Ian Hughes, Metaverse Evangelist, Director of Feeding Edge Ltd and formerly of IBM showed delegates the benefits of communicating in social networks and virtual worlds.
“When you connect people from all different walks of life with different ideas, and you get them talking, get some dialogue going, some good things happen, and that is where the innovation springs. You are no longer in a position that you have to sit there as an individual and get permission from someone to get something done, there is a whole world out there of people to connect to, so you can be entrepreneurial in whatever you’re about. Whatever your business is, you can connect with some other people.”

Euan Semple, former Director of Knowledge for the BBC and leading authority on the use of social media in organisations, covered the speed of communication and the decentralisation of knowledge. Using the example of the 2007 London bombings, he explained that within thirty minutes of the bombings photos were posted on Flickr and the traditional media could not gain access to the area. Within a short time frame major news organisations were getting in touch with these people to gain permission to use their photos. Euan also urged businesses not to restrict their employees’ access to social media websites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, as increasingly complex conversations and valuable connections are being made in these spaces.

Dr Barney Toal, Chief Executive of NORIBIC feels the UnConference has been highly beneficial for local companies. He explains:
“Indigenous SMEs have been building an impressive network of contacts at the event while learning new skills which they will implement into their own businesses. The ACE UnConference reinforces the region’s position as a hub for the creative industries and highlights the need for further investment in the North West.”

For further information on ACE UnConference visit http://ace.noribic.com, contact Tim Kelley on 028 7126 4242 or email ace@noribic.com.

Tags: ACE UnConference, Creativity, Social Media

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 at 11:56 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.