DERRY & DONEGAL TO HOST MAJOR EUROPEAN SEMINAR ON DIGITAL INNOVATION HUBS

OVER 60 attendees from 6 European countries will visit Derry and Donegal next week for a two day event exploring how best to connect Digital Hubs and Innovation Centres across Europe.

The first day of the event will be held in the Catalyst Inc Innovation Centre in Derry with the second day of the event being held in Áislann Ghaoth Dobhair.

This event, which will take place on 17 and 18 October, will see the coming together of representatives from Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Slovenia and Sweden as well as experts from the European Commission DG AGRI to explore the role that digital innovation hubs can play in the socioeconomic development of the regions.

This event is being hosted as part of the EU funded ERUDITE project.

And Colm McColgan General Manager with ERNACT believes that this type of an event presents a great opportunity for the north west region saying “it is a great coup for the North West region to secure an event of this kind and we are delighted to have the opportunity to showcase the strong working relationship between both Donegal County Council and Derry City & Strabane District Council and to share with our counterparts in other European countries the impact that our own Innovation Centres and Digital Hubs have had on our region”.

As well as hearing from experts the event will be complemented with several site visits to top class  innovation centres in the north west including the CoLab in Letterkenny and Áislann in Ghaoth Dobhair as well as the Catalyst Innovation Centre, C-TRIC, Eighty81 Hub and the Nerve Centre in Derry.

Participants of this two day event will hear from other inspiring Digital Innovation Hubs and models in Europe, ranging from business-oriented privately-owned initiatives (Ludgate), to university-led like the Maker labs network in Slovenia or socially oriented like the Lab Altobello in Venice (Italy).

The event will also allow those attending to explore the vision for a Peripheral Digital Innovation Hubs Network that would work with other main Innovation Centres of Competence.