Issue #06 FREE SUMMER 2012 Issue 6 q STARTUPS 06 q DIGITAL FUTURES 15 q IFACTORY 17 Northern Ireland’s Technology, Science & Innovation Community q LEADERSHIP TRAINING 18 Virtual learning for real success @ SWC 08 Northgate Northgate awarded £302,000 contract 12 Citi Citi’s Technology Academy This edition: Focusing on Learning and Development in Northern Ireland www.syncni.com FRIDAY BELFAST 22ND JUNE HARLEQUINS 2012 AT 5PM RUGBY CLUB Do you want to be the next Linford Christie or Sally Gunnell and become 2012 NICFC Daisy Olympics Champions? We are looking for teams of 5 sporting competitors to represent their organisation and get in the spirit of NICFC's Mini Olympics. For more information visit nicfc.com Contact Joanna or Sorcha on [email protected] or 028 90805599 Registered charity NIO49930 www.nicfc.com Inland Revenue no. XR29768 SYNCNI MAGAZINE SUMMER 2012 3 Welcome to the Summer Northern Ireland’s Technology, Science & Innovation Community edition of the SyncNi magazine EDITORIAL SyncNi Team Phone: 028 90820944 Email: [email protected] CONTENT foreword Emma Leahy Email:emma.leahy@syncni. from Dr Stephen Farry MLA - Minister for com ADVERTISING Employment and Learning Sales and Marketing: Email:[email protected] SUBSCRIPTIONS Email: [email protected] DESIGN Graphic Design: Niall Mooney Email:[email protected] ur people and their skills are is supported as there continue to be real GENERAL ENQUIRIES our greatest resource. A high opportunities in innovative and technology Postal Address and appropriately skilled flexible driven businesses. Ensuring that we have a Sync NI Northern Ireland Science Park workforce has a crucial role to steady flow of appropriately skilled employees Queen’s Island Belfast play in a modern, knowledge to enable us to maximise this potential is BT3 9DT intensive, export driven economy. Continuing vital. Phone: 028 90820944 O Email: [email protected] to develop this workforce is the aim of the Website: www.syncni.com Northern Ireland Skills Strategy, known My Department has recently collaborated as ‘Success through Skills – Transforming with South Eastern Regional College and Futures’. The strategy examines the skills we local ICT employers to develop and deliver are likely to need in the future to grow the a Software Testers Academy to meet the economy in line with the Executive’s economic specific demands of industry in Northern vision. Ireland. Last March, 19 participants graduated from this pilot programme, which included These areas include: eight weeks of off the job training and a • the need for more people with higher level six week job placement, with all but one skills; gaining employment in the sector. Tailoring • the need to up-skill the existing workforce; training in this way to the specific needs of • the need to address subject imbalances, local business is an important element of particularly in relation to science, technology, my Department’s work and the success of engineering and mathematics; this pilot has led to a second cohort being COPYRIGHT No part of this publication • the need to increase management and announced. may be reproduced without leadership skills; and the written permission of the copyholder and • the need to attract a moderate level of As we seek to facilitate the economic publisher. SyncNi accepts no responsibility for the accuracy skilled labour. growth to which we aspire we must seek of contributed articles or to focus on developing the skills base of statements appearing in this magazine and any views or We cannot rely on the flow of young our population. I believe that Government, opinions expressed are not necessarily those of SyncNi , people into our workforce to provide these employers, individuals and education unless otherwise indicated. skills – more must be done to ensure that providers must work together to ensure we No responsibility for loss or distress associated to any those already in the workforce continue to can develop and utilise our best resource person acting or refraining from acting as a result of the develop their skills in line with future needs - our people. It is that approach which will material in this magazine can of employers to enable companies, and provide the best foundation for growth as we be accepted by the authors, contributors, editors or our economy, to adapt in an increasingly seek to transform the futures of individuals, publishers. SyncNi does not endorse any goods or services competitive environment. businesses, and Northern Ireland as a whole. advertised, nor any claims or representations made in any advertisement in this Recently, I have been focusing the work of Dr Stephen Farry MLA magazine. The recruitment agencies listed are acting my Department on a number of key sectors. I Minister for Employment and Learning as employment agencies on am determined to ensure that the ICT sector behalf of their clients. 4 SYNCNI MAGAZINE SUMMER 2012 08 15 20 contents 12 03 Foreword 06 Startups - Farset Labs 07 Meeting Astute Labs 08 Northgate new contract 10 (IPR) - It’s Your Business 11 Is formal training obsolete? 11 Developing Developers 12 Citi’s Technology Academy 14 N.I. Cancer Fund for Children 15 Digital Futures 16 NORIBIC helps boost growth 17 iFactory 18 Leadership training 20 South West College 22 Flacknite & Upcoming Events 22 I ’ M TALKIN’ ABOUT A four day festival of digital culture and technologies 29 August - 1 September 2012 Derry City, N. Ireland SYNC NI readers save £10 off the ticket price! Use discount code syncni02 www.culturetech.co 6 SYNCNI MAGAZINE SUMMER 2012 Startups Introducing: Farset Labs q Who are Farset Labs? working in the technology industry technological leaders. Farset Labs is a hackerspace involves wrote learning, contrived that provides a hub of creativity, non-problems, outdated resources and q You recently organised and hosted technological innovation and techniques, and being pushed into Flaknight, what is next for Farset Labs? entrepreneurship for local professionals, working in overloaded groups about Frankly we’re trying to find our students and interested hobbyists in problems or projects that are of no pattern! For a community like this, Belfast City Centre. interest to most of the group. with such a diverse membership, it’s important to begin to establish some q What has been the biggest challenge Outside of academia, professionals regularity in our events programme. that you have faced since starting up in often end up pigeonholed in their Events such as Flacknite and the Open Spring? particular area of ‘expertise’, which Data Playground will be regular monthly Time; We soft-launched at the ends up with them stagnating both as Farset Labs events, and we’re hoping to beginning of the Easter academic a productive team member but as a maintain our relationship with Digital holidays, which made it significantly person. Circle to host their #Bloc54 gaming easier to get volunteers to donate meetups for the coming months. In their time to developing our space and These factors make education and terms of expansion, we’ve always got programme, but that has driven us into gaining any wide-raging, continued an eye on the September period, where (and through) exam time, where it is experience difficult; Farset Labs we can grab new university starts and very difficult for anyone to find time. provides open and accessible get them to contribute and share in our Add to this that the three directors workshops, education days, and community. (David, Eoghan and Andrew) are all in domain-specific short-courses covering full time study, volunteering their time; a wide range of topics that are run by q What advice would you give a start- the fact that we’re up and running at all the community, for the community. up company? is amazing! We aim to educate and enlighten Don’t spend 9 months filling in forms our members with enthusiastic peer that could be spent building a product. q Farset Labs provides a supportive support networks, rapid prototyping learning environment for technologists and implementation of ‘crazy’ ideas; q Finally, if you could sum up your and professionals, how important do a welcoming hub for discussion company ethos in 1 word what would you think that is in this industry? and critique; and a community in that be? 90% of the academic preparation for which to grow the next generation of Hackerspace. SYNCNI MAGAZINE SUMMER 2012 7 Meeting: Astute Labs q Who are Astute labs? has to be engaging and fun and relevant. Astute Labs is a Belfast-based start-up q Can you tell us more about your publishing specialising in the education sector. We are tool, School App Kit, and some of the work you the makers of the School App Kit – a one- have been doing with it recently? stop communication platform for schools to School App Kit has grown out of my publish from anywhere to everywhere using experience as a parent. I was tired of losing app technology. crumpled notes about term dates or standing in the supermarket wondering what I had Since earning E-Synergy funding and private to buy for my daughters’ school trip when investment in early 2012, Astute Labs’ client the information was pinned to the fridge at list has grown internationally, with schools home. With more and more people using now using School App Kit to communicate smartphones to access the Internet, it with parents, engage with students using makes sense for schools to put this sort smartphones and iPads and to make it of information in parents’ hands. Also, my easier for teachers to update the school’s wife is a teacher and she commented that it information channels online and on mobile. was difficult to upload information to some Astute Labs was founded by CEO Richard schools’ websites, which is why it never got Johnston.