Chris Horn: Patents are good, but a secret sauce is betterProtecting the key intellectual ingredients of a product may be the most effective way to prevent a well-funded competitor reinventing it and capturing the marketMon May 09 2016 - 07:30
Chris Horn: Machines, choice and the illusion of customer serviceWhichever company dominates the provision of an automated concierge may well be the next GoogleMon Apr 18 2016 - 07:30
Chris Horn: ‘We are on cusp of an exciting new age of innovation’By building simulations of the real world, and letting Google’s DeepMind experiment, it can learn new skillsMon Mar 28 2016 - 07:30
Apple case shows beauty is in eye of software engineerExtreme pride of engineers in something being well designed made me reflect on our approach to educating student engineers and innovatorsMon Feb 29 2016 - 07:00
Chris Horn: Singapore lures start-ups – and chill-out zones providedTechnology investment has increased from about €25m in 2011 to €1.14bn in 2013Mon Feb 08 2016 - 10:03
Chris Horn: Time to ask searching questions of all candidatesThe Government parties want to be judged by IrelandStat, yet oddly it is not up to dateSun Jan 17 2016 - 07:00
Chris Horn: Technology takeover kept growing in 2015Innovation Talk: How significant has the past 12 months been for computer industry?Mon Dec 21 2015 - 07:00
Post-PC era to give way to post-website eraRise of apps represents a potentially fundamental change for internetSun Nov 29 2015 - 07:00
Inconsistencies in Kenny’s ‘best small country’ claimCoalition’s aspirations and actual policies on innovation are contradictoryMon Nov 02 2015 - 07:34
Time for another revolution in smartphone technologyiPhone made things simple but the plethora of apps has made them complicated againMon Sept 14 2015 - 07:00
Trust and transparency in the new ‘sharing economy’What level of responsibility should Airbnb and Uber take for customer behaviour?Mon Aug 24 2015 - 07:00
Smartphones unstoppable but fears of attack still lurkGiven the poor profits in the smartphone market, there will be market turmoilMon Aug 03 2015 - 07:00
Chris Horn: History of wearable devices links watch and Fitbit rangeA challenge faced by firms offering wearable products is consumer boredomMon Jul 06 2015 - 01:45
Don Draper would be amazed by marketing nowMarketing is moving away from the campaigns the ‘Mad Men’ ad men would have commandedMon Jun 08 2015 - 01:45
Self-drive tech moving into fast lane to be ready for 2017The technology research necessary for self-driving cars is leading to spin-off subsystems for automation, driver monitoring and guidanceMon May 18 2015 - 01:45
People will drone on about UAVs – they have a big futureUAVs have taken off and landed on aircraft carriers; refuelled in-flight; and conducted stealth low-altitude missionsMon Apr 27 2015 - 01:45
Live-feed video stream apps such as Meerkat and Periscope have stirred up marketMeerkat enables you to broadcast a live video stream from a smart phone or tablet cameraMon Apr 06 2015 - 01:40
Sharp Irish creativity must be harnessed to pragmatic facilitatorsEngineering, finance, distribution and sales must mesh with innovationMon Mar 02 2015 - 01:45
When central banks print money, it rubs off on the tech sectorWith the ECB putting on a drive to stimulate the economy, Ireland’s tech sector may benefit from more US companies locating hereMon Feb 09 2015 - 01:45
Can we ever expect an Irish start-up to join the €1bn club?Opinion: substantial investment awaits the right ventures, regardless of locationMon Jan 05 2015 - 01:00
Indian city has work to do on its high-tech reputationBengaluru is the centre of the Indian IT industry, a major biotechnology centre, and the focus of the national aerospace industryMon Dec 01 2014 - 01:30
Eager networking fosters dynamism of tech industryThe 2014 Web Summit is an extraordinary validation of the perseverance, vision and courage of one Irish entrepreneurMon Nov 03 2014 - 07:52
Crazy Jack, the multibillionaire teacherPerhaps Ma’s biggest coup so far has been to get global investors to buy his sharesMon Sept 29 2014 - 01:35
Innovation Talk: Innovation sector is like white-knuckle early days of aviationMost terrifying of all, sometimes a company will attempt to change its engine in mid-flight, as it fundamentally modifies its product offering to avoid a market dead endMon Sept 01 2014 - 01:00
Artificial intelligence moves from realms of science fiction to realityThe scenario played out in the Oscar-winning film ‘Her’ is becoming a distinct possibility as digital virtual assistant programs such as Cortana up the ante in the smartphone marketMon Aug 11 2014 - 01:00
Remembering Kevin Melia, a brilliant mentor for IonaWithout his wise understanding, Iona would never have been the success it becameMon Jun 30 2014 - 01:05
Innovation Talk: Market is ripe but growth in hi-tech garden yet to BloomI long for the day when a robotic weeder would gently untangle bindweed from my raspberry canes, remove creeping buttercup and scutch grass from my flower bedsFri May 30 2014 - 16:37
Innovation Talk: Heartbleed exposes the vulnerability of internetIt would appear that everyone thought somebody else had checked the source code. Since almost everyone else was using it, everyone assumed it thus must be safeMon May 12 2014 - 01:00
Innovation Talk: Awards to celebrate ordinary people with extraordinary commitmentThe encouraging conclusion from the finalists was the breadth of entrepreneurship and innovation across different business sectorsTue Apr 08 2014 - 13:02
Innovation Talk: Smiley’s people, and the future of the internetSmiley would have raised an eyebrow had he learned that the Post Office opened every single letter he sent, whether business or personal, and also read every single letter he received. And that his social life, gossip and photo snaps were all being monitoredMon Dec 16 2013 - 07:53
Innovation Talk: Government still rooted in bricks and mortarThe digital era falls in behind the old economy in Budget 2014Mon Oct 21 2013 - 01:00
Who's next in line to suffer same fate as Nokia?The business model of the TV industry is ripe for disruption. Hi-tech companies such as Google, Apple, Intel and Microsoft, are all trying to break into the global TV marketMon Sept 09 2013 - 01:00
Weighing up the costs and benefits of state-funded researchIrish taxpayers have spent a considerable sum on publicly-funded research since the creation of Science Foundation IrelandMon Aug 19 2013 - 01:00
Innovation Talk: Uncertain future for public sector broadcastingContent producers – such as RTÉ and TG4 – may need to provide unbundled access to both live and archived content with a pragmatic micro-payment modeMon Jul 29 2013 - 01:00
No strategy evident for retention or development of our multinationalsIf the multinational sector were to materially shrink its presence in Ireland, the economic consequences would be quite profoundMon Jun 03 2013 - 01:00
If nothing is changed, then nothing will be venturedThe recent drop in activity in the sector illustrates that for successful venture capital activity, the key factor is not the quantity of venture capital available but the returns generatedMon Apr 29 2013 - 06:00
The political stakes are high for technology companiesInnovation talk: For many years, the techies in Silicon Valley largely ignored Washington DC, and Washington DC ignored the …Mon Feb 25 2013 - 00:00
Bosses at Boeing face the ultimate challengeINNOVATION TALK: While we in Ireland fret about the damage to the international perception of our well-regarded standards of…Mon Feb 04 2013 - 00:00
Statistics hide true picture of where R&D spending takes placeINNOVATION TALK: Of all the large multinationals in the world, which of them spends the most on research and development? Maybe…Mon Jan 07 2013 - 00:00
Inspirational tales can be spark for new risk-takersINNOVATION TALK : I recently visited the South Island of New Zealand for the first time – an achingly beautiful part of our …Mon Nov 26 2012 - 00:00
A cluster of great people in one location is key to the next GoogleINNOVATION TALK: WHY ARE THERE not any Googles, Oracles or Apple Incs from Europe? Why are there not any from Ireland? Will …Mon Oct 22 2012 - 01:00
Presidential candidates miles apart on researchINNOVATION TALK: WHEN APPLE first launched the Mac, Steve Jobs noted that “innovation is not about moneyMon Sept 24 2012 - 01:00
Investing in infrastructure is a big dealINNOVATION TALK: IT’S LIKE THE start of a low-budget thriller: a growing high-tech economy, with software and services representing…Mon Aug 06 2012 - 01:00
Funding partner is such a big deal for start-upsINNOVATION TALK: ‘HAVE I GOT a deal for you!” asserted Jim Green, of Sun Microsystems (now a part of Oracle), to my two IONA…Mon Jul 16 2012 - 01:00
