Business
Packed programme for Galway Science & Technology Festival
Over 35,000 primary and secondary school students will take part in more than 180 events when the 17th Galway Science and Technology Festival takes place from November 10 to 23, as part of National Science Week.
This year’s Festival will explore and celebrate the ‘Power of Science’ at events in schools, colleges, research institutes, companies and community centres across Galway City and County.
There is a fantastic line-up for primary schools this year including the Bug Doctor introducing students to insects and much bigger creatures, Lego Education Workshop will introduce robotics to young children, the Science of Sound shows students how to make sound and test how it travels, and for junior and senior infants Little Cells is back again, introducing students to the concept of cells that form our body. Festival favourites Bubble Magic, Kitchen Chemistry and Jumping Clay make a welcome return.
Secondary schools can also avail of many brilliant shows including Dr Ken’s Circus, which reveals the scientific principles used by circus performers using gravity in their stunts, True Physics shows students how to launch rockets and and learn about flight pressure, travel on a hovercraft in The Strange World of Forces by Dr. Paul McCrory, learn how to Bend it like Beckham in James Soper’s Science Shows and perform live experiments in Scientific Sue’s Chemistry Show.
The Reel Life Science NUIG video competition for primary and secondary schools was a great success in 2013 and has now gone nationwide, which aims to promote Science to a wider audience. The Festival is seeking students to submit a short one to three minute video communicating a scientific topic in an engaging and entertaining way.
There is something science for everyone at NUI Galway this year featuring educational tours to the Geology, Marine Biology and Computer Musuems, school visits and talks including RTE’s BugHunter, the third annual THREESIS Competition where researchers battle it out to get to the point in three minutes, Visit the Sea Science exhibition presented by NUI Galway’s Ryan Institute at the Galway City Museum and the NCBES Roadshow looks at the exciting future of Biomedicine in Ireland.
The Programme of events is available at www.galwayscience.ie and the Festival Exhibition will open at 10am on Sunday, November 23.
Bookings can be made at www.galwayscience.eventbrite.com on Friday, November 7.
The new President of Local Ireland, the association representing local news publishers around the country, is Head of Irish Times Regionals Dan Linehan.
Mr Linehan takes over the presidency from Declan McGuire of the Connacht Tribune. His appointment was confirmed at the recent Annual General Meeting of Local Ireland at Bloomfield House Hotel near Mullingar, Westmeath.
Mr Linehan, who has served as Vice President of the organisation for the last two years, said: “The coming years are a very important time for local publishers with many important issues to be addressed, including the implementation of the Future of Media Commission recommendations, defamation reform, the role and support for local publishers in public service reporting and helping publishers develop commercial digital offerings.”
Speaking at the AGM, Mr McGuire acknowledged the work done by the Executive in the past two years under the direction of Executive Director, Bob Hughes, on several projects related to the publishing industry but most especially the successful conclusion of the long-running campaign for the abolition of VAT on newspapers.
He also wished Mr Linehan the very best in his new role as President of the association for the next two years.
Mr Hughes thanked Mr McGuire for his leadership and support during his term of office and said he looked forward to working with Mr Linehan on the key policy priorities for the association, including Government supports, Government advertising, fair remuneration for content from the tech platforms and the reform of the legislation for defamation.
Local Ireland members also elected Seán Mahon, Managing Director of the Southern Star, as Vice President for the next two years.
The shortage of affordable housing is the single biggest impediment in attracting and retaining workers in the West, according to business group Ibec.
At a ‘Regional Insights Series’ meeting in the Galmont Hotel in Galway last week, employers were told that capacity constraints and labour supply are the key challenges facing business growth in the region.
Ibec Head of Regional Policy Helen Leahy said: “There must be greater focus by government on enhancing quality of life issues such as housing and infrastructure which are driving labour shortages in the region.
“Ibec’s vision for the West is to realise its potential to become a globally competitive location. An inadequate supply of affordable housing is now the single largest impediment to attracting and retaining talented workers, without whom business investment and expansions are not possible.
“Labour shortages are a real concern for businesses in the region. People decide where to live and work based on quality of life and access to high quality services and amenities. Industry tends to follow talent, and in this regard, the region needs to have all the building blocks in place as the attraction and retention of world-class talent becomes increasingly competitive on a global level,” said Ms Leahy.
Amongst Ibec’s priorities for the West are:
- Addressing housing and infrastructure challenges
- Transitioning towards a new growth model with Net Zero energy powered by Atlantic offshore wind resources
- Adapting businesses to the new economic realities
- Enhancing capacity and skillsets to achieve sustainable development objectives
- Investment in people and skills
- Creating competitive advantage through digitalisation
- Innovation as a key driver of productivity growth
One in five Galway businesses want to go fully cashless, as the move towards card payments and tapping continues unabated post-Covid.
In all, 22% of Galway businesses would like to be fully cashless, according to a survey carried out by BOI Payment Acceptance (BOIPA), a provider of payment technology solutions, which asked Irish businesses about the current payment landscape as well as business confidence and concerns.
Over one-third (36%) of Galway businesses were unaware there is no contactless limit on mobile wallets – just below the national average – while 54% believe the increase in card over cash transactions has helped them run their business.
Six out of ten Galway businesses expect to grow this year despite the cost-of-living crisis and running costs dominating as key concerns; 62% believe their business will grow over the next twelve months despite global economic uncertainty.
Unsurprisingly cost-of-living increases and running costs were the main concerns the majority of businesses had.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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