Leading 'green' entrepreneurs will share the secrets of their entrepreneurial success at the next NovaUCD 'Entrepreneurs Live!' seminar series which commences on October 14 and runs each Wednesday lunch time until November 11.
The aim the 'Entrepreneurs Live!' seminar series delivered 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.
This seminar series, which has a clean-tech theme, will be launched by Dr Eddie O'Connor, founder & CEO, Mainstream Renewable Power. The launch of this seminar series coincides with the launch of Innovation Dublin 2009.
Podcasts of previous NovaUCD 'Entrepreneurs Live!' seminars are available.
List of all previous 'Entrepreneurs Live!' speakers.
Jacques Lefebvre, co-founder and CEO, DataKraft who launched the 12th 'Entrepreneurs Live!' Series
The seminars take place from 1pm - 1:50pm (light lunch available from 12:30 pm) in NovaUCD, Belfield Innovation Park, UCD. Attendance at the seminar series is free and is open to all especially undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The guest speakers at the forthcoming 'Entrepreneurs Live!' seminar series are:
| Date | Speaker | Company |
|---|---|---|
| October 14 | Dr Eddie O'Connor | Mainstream Renewable Power |
| October 21 | Dr Peter Daly | Cleantech Ireland |
| October 28 | Tom Marren | CES Energy |
| November 4 | Dr Hugh Henry | Bord na Mona |
| November 11 | André Fernon |
At the seminars the guest entrepreneurs will talk about their experiences of setting-up and running their businesses emphasising the highs and lows they encountered along their entrepreneurial journey and highlighting the secrets of their entrepreneurial success. After each seminar, attendees will have the opportunity to ask probing questions of the guest entrepreneur.
**** As space is limited at these seminars advanced registration is recommended ***
To register to attend any seminar please contact: Caroline Gill, t: 716 3715, e: caroline.gill@ucd.ie.
Speaker Profiles
Dr Eddie O’Connor , who was named a world energy policy leader by Scientific American magazine in 2003, is the founder and CEO of Mainstream Renewable Power. Mainstream Renewable Power’s global vision is to develop, construct and operate a range of renewable energy plants using wind energy, solar thermal and ocean currents.
He was previously the founder and CEO of Airtricity Holdings Ltd which he established in 1997. Airtricity went on to become a global leader in renewable energy development and wind farm operations. In 2007 Airtricity sold its North American business unit to E.on, the German utility giant, for approximately $1.4 billion. In January 2008 Scottish and Southern Energy acquired the remainder of the company for €1.1 billion.
Eddie holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering and a Masters in Industrial Engineering from University College Dublin and a doctorate in Business Administration from the International Management Centres, Europe. In June 2008 he was conferred with an honorary Doctorate of Science by UCD.
Dr Peter Daly is an experienced business leader and company founder whose experience encompasses a number of sectors including start-ups and large corporations. He formerly co-founded and was CEO of two healthcare companies, one of which EiRx was listed on AIM.
Dr Daly recently co-founded the new Irish networking organisation Cleantech Ireland. Cleantech Ireland has been set up by a group of business people, angel investors and academics with the aim of creating a space for networking and to promote new company formation and financing as well as technology transfer. Their focus is wide ranging but is primarily on the tech side and includes such areas as green IT, PV, energy storage, green buildings, energy efficiency products and software, new materials, smart grid and renewable energies.
Tom Marren is Managing Director of Combined Energy Solutions (CESenergy) and owner of Marren Engineering. He has considerable experience in building & installing cogeneration and air conditioning systems and business management. Tom is also a director of Cogent Energy Australia.
Combined Energy Solutions has a proven track record in the successful delivery of on-site sustainable energy generation solutions and energy efficient products on a business-to-business basis. The company designs, builds, maintains and operates energy centres in Ireland, England and Australia. The company’s solutions are successfully in operation within the industrial, pharmaceutical, commercial, healthcare and leisure sectors.
Tom has a degree in Building Services Engineering from Trinity College Dublin and an MBA from University College Dublin.
Dr Hugh Henry is Director of Innovation and Research and Development at Bord na Móna. Established over 50 years ago to develop Ireland‘s peat resources, Bord na Móna is now active across a range of peat based and other industries including environmental technology and renewable energy fields.
Hugh joined Bord na Móna in 1990 working as a research scientist on a range of development projects focusing on wastewater treatment. He subsequently held a number of positions within the company including senior/principal environmental consultant, manager of the environmental consultancy unit and chief operations officer of Bord na Mona’s environmental business.
In his current role he is directly responsible for the management of the research focus and subsequent product development initiatives across the entire group. This process will expand the company beyond its present activities into new opportunities in the resource management, environmental technology and renewable energy fields thereby developing a commercially and environmentally sustainable future for its employees and other stakeholders.
Hugh was awarded a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Science and Technology from the Institute of Technology Sligo and he subsequently completed a PhD there. He also has a graduate Diploma in Business Finance from the Irish Management Institute.
André Fernon is co-founder of SolarPrint. SolarPrint is developing Dye Sensitised Solar Cell (DSSC) technology, a novel 3rd generation printable, flexible solar cell technology, which uses abundant, cheap raw materials and employs a low-cost, fast and easy manufacturing process. SolarPrint recently announced a significant investment of €1.6 million, from Custom House Capital, Enterprise Ireland and a number of private investor partners to ramp up production and accelerate the company’s growth.
André started his career as a financial analyst within the Morgan Stanley Investment Banking Division before joining Apollo Real Estate Advisors, a US private equity firm, where he remained as Vice-President until his return to Ireland in 2005. From 2005 to 2008, he was a Director of Crownway Investments, an Irish private equity firm.
He has a BA in Economics and a Master in Management from the ESCP-EAP European School of Management.
Andrew Parish is CEO of Wavebob. Wavebob, established by William Dick in 1999, is one of the world's leading wave energy technology companies. The company is developing a a unique Wave Energy Convertor,‘Wavebob’, which harnesses the immense power of the ocean to produce clean, renewable energy.
Prior to joining Wavebob, Andrew was Irish Practice Leader for Pera International, a commercial R&D consultancy and previously held management positions in Sustainable Energy Ireland and GE Water and Process Technology. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management and Institute of Engineering and Technology.
He is a graduate of the National University of Ireland, the Irish Management Institute and Henley Management College, London.
John Travers is CEO of Alternative Energy Resources (AER). AER, which is headquartered in NovaUCD, is a leading Irish biofuels company with a world class performance record in three key areas; production and supply of biofuels in the Irish market, large scale biofuels production projects and next generation biofuels research and development.
John has extensive experience in the energy and consulting sectors. He has worked for 14 years in the energy industry, spending 5 years at Shell International in Holland as an operations manager and subsequently commercialising Shell technologies for the worldwide oil and gas industry. He joined McKinsey management consultants for 4 years and worked as a manager specialising in energy. He led consulting projects at international companies and governments in Ireland, UK, US and Africa.
He holds an engineering degree from UCD and an MBA from Harvard University.
