Scope

5G-DiGITs is an Erasmus+ project that aims to foster innovation, entrepreneurial mindset and knowledge exchange in order to fill the gap between the rapid ongoing digital transformation and the skills and knowledge required for the workforce in the deployment of 5G technologies. Such gaps call for a collaboration and mutual understanding between educational institutions and the labour market, given that perceptions may differ and hinder synergetic advancements.

In the scope of the project's activities, brokerage events bring together stakeholders in order to foster mutual understandings about 5G, whilst also promoting discussions about European policies and educational curricula and what may be the future for such technologies.

Also, the event aims to bring together potential partners to identify opportunities for businesses and collaboration opportunities. This brokerage event in Ireland represents the first effort for promoting discussions in terms of 5G technology and its applications, with local players, educators, and students, and to discuss existing policies and opportunities in the field of advanced technologies.

Objectives

In the bigger picture and as the main objective, the event will provide a platform for participants to share knowledge, discuss challenges, and explore collaboration opportunities in the field of advanced 5G technologies and discuss the curricula recommendations developed in T5.2.

It is expected that this activity will lead to an informed and co-creation based reporting to be included in the project´s scope, more specifically:

Create a place for dialogue with sustainable outcomes for the establishment of a network of stakeholders;

Co-creation session for a state-of-the art analysis of current challenges and opportunities beyond grey literature and desktop research;

Reporting on findings as a first step for policy recommendations, including assets for foresight studies.

Audience

The four main stakeholder groups that are included in the industrial value chain for innovation are:

Students

Students from technical institutions and universities, bring an inside perspective of what type of skills they believe to be missing and how ready they feel to be to enter the labour market. Their perspective shall bring to the discussion both gaps between educational curriculum and realistic expectations from professional hiring teams.

Educators

Educators, such as VET providers, researchers and teachers from universities and technical institutes, bring a more realistic tone to the dialogue, managing expectations from students and the labour market, equally identifying hindering factors from policy and administrative procedures from public bodies and their own institutions.

SMEs and Start-ups.

Innovation is acknowledged to flourish within new business environments, and hence, start-ups and SMEs are at the forefront of European innovation both in new developments and new entrepreneurial organizations. By focusing on both Start-ups and SMEs in spite of more consolidated big companies, it will be possible to bring to the discussion not only gaps between educational curriculum and professional skills but also gaps in financing and procurement issued from policy and administrative public bodies.

Investors

Investors who seek to invest in advanced technologies entreprises, may find opportunities in the brokerage event whilst also contributing to industrial knowledge in terms of gaps and requirements for financing and seed investing.

Event Format

Opening

The opening session will present the scope of the 5G-DiGITS project and the objectives of the event. It will also be the moment to present the speakers.

5G Introduction and Roundtable

Introduced and moderated by Irish technology journalist Elaine Burke, this part of the event aims for a sharing of experiences on a professional, real level, on the opportunities and challenges for start-ups, the steps for business funding, and what investors are looking for when investing in tech startups.

Taking part are;

Alison McMurtrie, a global business leader and founder of Idunn Consulting, where she helps startups and SMEs—particularly women-led ventures—scale sustainably and strategically.

With over two decades of international experience, including executive roles in a FT100 corporation and successful tech startup exits, Alison brings deep expertise in innovation, operations, and sustainable growth. She is also the co-founder of an emerging venture capital firm, championing early-stage founders with a focus on impact and inclusion. A board member, advisor, and passionate speaker, Alison blends corporate insight with entrepreneurial grit to inspire actionable change and resilient leadership.

Joe Cunningham, an engineer by training, Joe co-founded Aldiscon which brought text messaging to billions of users worldwide in the 1990s. This was followed by pioneering ventures in mobile internet, pre-payment, roaming and DevOps.

Joe is a non-executive director and advisor to a number of technology ventures. Joe holds patents in the areas of wireless messaging, roaming, pre-payment and telecommunications signalling systems.

Elaine Burke, is an Award-Winning Science & Technology Journalist & Broadcaster, Through her enormously successful podcast, ‘For Tech’s Sake’ she helps audiences to understand trends in innovation and technology in real terms (beyond the hype), and to be more informed and empowered when engaging with tech.

Audience Discussion

As a first step for the curricula recommendation, it is herein proposed that this part of the session utilises slido as a tool with structured questions to function as a “visioning” activity in foresight. It shall benefit the curricula recommendations by defining in co-creation a common expectation and ground for the best-case scenario of 5G education and access to market policy, which will be deepened within the next brokerage events.

Open Networking Session

Audience members will be divided into groups and given four to five topics to initiate networking. The activity aims to increase connectivity between peers, and to the possibility of further contacts on business or collaboration.

Closing Session The closing session will be for further presentation of 5G-DiGITs, to invite attendees to follow the project website/social media channels.