Image: Connor McKenna/SiliconRepublic.com
The second episode of The Leaders’ Room features HPE’s managing director of Ireland, Ray McGann. The series has been created in partnership with IDA Ireland.
Every fortnight, the host of the podcast, Ann O’Dea gets up close and personal with studio guests, the Irish-based leaders of some of the world’s leading technology, health-tech, finance and engineering companies with operations in Ireland, and gets their insights on the nature of good leadership, as well as their take on the trends that are shaping their sectors.
Episode one featured Jane Dawson-Howe, country manager of Slalom, who offers some great insights into organisational clarity. Episode two sees HPE managing director of Ireland, Ray McGann, share his thoughts on leadership in the technology sector, with a focus on artificial intelligence of course, and on the recently passed EU AI Act, but also on Big Tech’s role when it comes to climate change mitigation.
The issue of e-waste often doesn’t get the attention it deserves, considering it is to be the “fastest-growing waste stream in the world”, with many millions of tonnes going to landfill every year. The World Health Organization says the millions of electronic devices and appliances discarded each year present a major threat not just to the environment but to human health.
So HPE’s place in the circular economy is an interesting one. Its re-use policy has been in place since the early 90s, ensuring IT hardware such as servers and networking products, get a new lease of life. Where products are not suitable for reuse, at HPE they are processed to recover material that can then be used to manufacture new products.
As well as chatting leadership styles, McGann shared his belief that we need to see the ‘democratisation of AI’. If AI has the transformative potential we all believe it has, it clearly can’t only be in the hands of the few. According to McGann, HPE’s GreenLake – that’s its portfolio of cloud and ‘as-a-service’ solutions that runs on an open edge-to-cloud platform – can allow even small organisations access to supercomputing and to the kind of compute power required as they delve into the potential of AI.
New episodes of The Leaders’ Room podcast will drop every fortnight and can be found by searching for ‘The Leaders’ Room’ wherever you get your podcasts. For those who prefer their audio with visuals, filmed versions of the podcast interviews will also be available on Silicon Republic.
Check out The Leaders’ Room podcast for in-depth insights from some of Ireland’s top leaders. Listen now on Spotify, on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
