Dublin, 25 August 2020: Last week, for our final installment of ADAPT Radio, our host Donal Scannell had a chat with Liam Cronin, CEO at RDI Hub. RDI Hub is a collaborative workplace in Killorglin, County Kerry that regularly puts together programmes for upskilling and education. They discussed the pandemic, the need for in-person collaboration, and some of the perceived challenges with operating in Kerry.
On September 3rd and 4th, RDI is partnering with the ADAPT Centre and Microsoft to host the inaugural John McCarthy AI Summer School. The two-day event will include experts from industry and academia discussing the role of AI in building sustainable societies.
How apposite that the start of this annual programme also brings the story of John McCarthy, whose father was born in Kerry, full circle. John McCarthy co-authored the paper where the term AI was first used, so he is credited with being the father of AI and he outlined the importance of putting the human at the centre of AI design and development. In his own words, McCarthy expressed the following when discussing human-centric technology in his book The Little Thoughts of Thinking Machines, ”Program designers …..should rather think of their program as a servant, whose master, the user, should be able to control it. If designers and programmers think about the apparent mental qualities that their programs will have, they’ll create programs that are easier and pleasanter — more humane — to deal with.”
Tech innovation and startup culture is overwhelmingly centralised in Dublin, from the titans of Silicon Valley opening up their EMEA headquarters here to budding accelerators developing alongside the capital’s great universities. RDI Hub recognises the need to spread the pockets of collaborative and creative workplaces to other parts of the island and so they created a venue for entrepreneurship and innovation outside the big cities.
Given the current paradigm shift due to COVID-19, many businesses are rethinking their office and physical space needs, considering remote work as a permanent solution, and generally looking to reduce costs. Lower overhead, the flexibility to commit to fewer office spaces, and the educational support the RDI Hub offers make it an exciting option for the new generation of workplaces.
Over two days an international panel of Professors and Industry experts from Université Laval, Trinity College, CIT, ITT and TUD Dublin, Microsoft and Accenture will showcase and discuss the latest advances in the field of Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Societies across Education, Agriculture and Smart Cities. To sign up for the John McCarthy AI Summer School, follow the Eventbrite link HERE for free registration.If you would like to learn more about working with RDI Hub, visit their website HERE.
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