Eddie O'Connor's wisdom

Dr Eddie O’Connor, one of Ireland’s leading serial green entrepreneurs today delivered the 70th NovaUCD ‘Entrepreneurs Live!’ seminar.
The aim of the ‘Entrepreneurs Live!’ seminars, which are organised by NovaUCD in association with the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Enterprise Board, is to promote a spirit of entrepreneurship among the academic, research and student population at UCD. Dr O’Connor today launched the 13th seminar series which has a clean-tech theme.

Dr Eddie O’Connor is founder and CEO of Mainstream Renewable Power whose global vision is to develop, construct and operate a range of renewable energy plants using wind energy, solar thermal and ocean currents. The company, which was established in 2008, has raised €72 million in funding including a €20 million investment from Barclays Capital. Dr O’Connor was previously the founder and CEO of Airtricity Holdings Ltd, a global leader in renewable energy development and wind farm operations.

Before that Eddie was a public servant! Can you believe that?
Well, it is true and there are many in Ireland who are glad that he left the ranks of the public service, even relatively late, and went on to do create wonderfully innovative companies.
His insight for would-be entrepreneurs was that, “In a world dominated by sectional interests, entrepreneurs flourish by taking a customer focused ethical stance and are the living embodiment of the values they espouse.”

The remaining guest speakers in the current series, which take place each Wednesday lunch time (1 pm – 1:50 pm) until November 11 are; Dr Peter Daly, co-founder, Cleantech Ireland (October 21), Tom Marren, MD, Combined Energy Solutions (October 28) and Dr Hugh Henry, Director of Innovation and R&D, Bord na Móna (November 4).

At the last seminar (November 11) a panel including André Fernon, co-founder, SolarPrint, Andrew Parish, CEO, Wavebob and John Travers, CEO, Alternative Energy Resources will share their experiences of Enterprise Ireland’s first dedicated clean-tech trade mission to Silicon Valley which ended recently.

The seminars, which are free to attend, take place in NovaUCD, Belfield, Dublin 4 and attendance is open to all.

Speaking at the launch of the current seminar series, Dr Pat Frain, Director, NovaUCD, said, “Given the current economic climate it is not surprising that the ‘Entrepreneurs Live!’ seminars are attracting large and diverse audiences. The establishment of new high-tech ventures is vitally important in transferring research-generated intellectual property into the market place and creating sustainable knowledge-intensive jobs. Given UCD’s research strengths in clean-tech it is not surprising that it has spun-out many clean-tech ventures over the last two decades.”

At the NovaUCD ‘Entrepreneurs Live!’ seminars the guest entrepreneurs talk about their experiences of setting-up and running their businesses and reveal the secrets of their success. They also emphasise the lessons learned and the highs and lows encountered along their entrepreneurial journeys.

Michael Johnson, CEO, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Enterprise Board said, “The ‘Entrepreneurs Live!’ seminar series is a hugely successful collaboration between our organisation and NovaUCD. By talking openly about their experiences as entrepreneurs, the featured business owners give audiences a valuable insight into the commercial and personal challenges that arise when starting and growing a venture.” He added that, “particularly in the current economic circumstances, there is an urgent need for entrepreneurship to be promoted as a viable career choice and as a means to put Ireland back on the path to growth.”

Previous NovaUCD ‘Entrepreneurs Live!’ guest speakers include; Anne Heraty, CPL Group; Colm Lyon, Realex Payments; Eamonn Fallon, Daft.ie; Sean Gallagher, Smarthomes and Dr John Teeling, Cooley Distillery.

The launch of the 13th NovaUCD ‘Entrepreneurs Live!’ seminar series was part of Innovation Dublin 2009, a week long festival of events to showcase, highlight, promote and encourage innovation and creativity in Dublin and runs from 14 to 20 October.