Attendees at Inspirefest 2016. Image: Conor McCabe Photography
If you want to get tickets to Inspirefest 2017, act now before early bird prices run out.
Now in its third year, Inspirefest is gearing up for another deep dive into the world of technology, science, design and the arts.
Everything from infosec to blockchain, AI to robotics, and gaming to professional development will be discussed at the event, which will be held at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin’s Silicon Docks from 6-8 July.
Early bird tickets are priced at €295, until 31 May, with a 10pc discount when buying three or more tickets also expiring at the end of the month. Elsewhere, an early bird offer for one adult and one child (under 18) costs €295, also expiring on 31 May.
Update, 1.35pm, 31 May 2017: Due to popular demand, the deadline for the Early Bird rate has been extended to midnight on 9 June. Book your tickets here.
For entrepreneurs trying to get their start-up off the ground, a select number of €150 tickets are available.
Teachers, academics, and those working in non-profits or in government departments can avail of €150 tickets, with €95 tickets allocated for students, unemployed and those over 65 years of age.
Among the dozens of international speakers at Inspirefest, there will be experts from some of the biggest companies in the world, each with a story to tell.
Tarah Wheeler
In a bid to help build ties with a hacking community bulging in importance, Symantec went to Tarah Wheeler for help. Naming Wheeler as ‘website security czar’ of the company, Symantec has put an established face front and centre of the next stage of cybersecurity.
Author of a 2016 book called Women in Tech, Wheeler has founded InfoSec Unlocked, Hack The People Foundation and Red Queen Technologies.
Ellen Pao
Perhaps best known for her role as interim CEO of Reddit a few years back, Ellen Pao is currently the chief diversity and inclusion officer at the Kapor Center, and venture partner at Kapor Capital. She is a long-time entrepreneur and tech investor, and a more recent activist.
During her time at Reddit, Pao implemented changes to the site and company to address harassment, including banning revenge porn, unauthorised nude photos and several harassing subreddits.
Arlan Hamilton
Arlan Hamilton founded Backstage Capital, a venture capital fund based in LA that invests in exceptional women, people of colour and LGBTQ tech founders. It has invested close to $2m since its creation in 2015.
“The more I move forward and go, go, go, and the more that we build out Backstage with our amazing crew, the more I see that I just want to invest in as many women of colour as possible,” she said earlier this year.
She also has plans for a third fund that will become more focused on her own demographic.
Marcus Weldon
Marcus Weldon is president of Bell Labs and corporate CTO of Nokia. A winner of several awards in the electronic and optical materials field, Weldon edited The Future X Network: A Bell Labs Perspective in 2015. Now into his third decade with the company, Weldon’s work focuses on ‘inventing the future’.
He was selected as one of the Global Telecoms Business Power 100 most influential people in ICT in 2014, and one of its top CTOs to watch in 2015.
Matt Flannery
In 2004, while working as a programmer at internet TV company TiVo in San Francisco, Flannery co-founded Kiva, a non-profit that allows people to lend money via the internet to low-income entrepreneurs.
Since then, he has created Branch, a branchless Android-based smartphone bank that is starting out by offering small loans to people in Tanzania, Kenya and Nigeria.
Flannery is a Skoll awardee and Ashoka fellow, and was included in Fortune magazine’s 40 Under 40 List in 2009. He was selected for The Economist’s No Boundaries Innovation award in 2011.
Dr France A Córdova
Dr France A Córdova was the first woman to become chief scientist of NASA, and is a recipient of NASA’s highest honour, the Distinguished Service Medal.
An astrophysicist by trade, Córdova is now the director of the National Science Foundation in the US, an agency charged with advancing all fields of scientific discovery, technological innovation, and science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.
Ana Matronic
Ana Matronic is an artist, musician, author, DJ, radio and television presenter, perhaps most recognisable as one of the members of Scissor Sisters.
Having collaborated with such legendary artists as Elton John and New Order, her first full-length book, Robot Takeover: 100 Iconic Robots of Myth, Popular Culture and Real Life, was published by Octopus (Hachette) in 2015.
Inspirefest is Silicon Republic’s international event connecting sci-tech professionals passionate about the future of STEM. Book now to get your Early Bird tickets.
