Media Lab Europe shuts down

by b Sun Jan 16, 2005 09:24

Undoubtedly this will really worry the likes of Lily Karlington of the Irish Times and the other pretend techno-journos who couldn't even programme "Hello World" in Java. As for the denizens of the Libertys it was of no consequence. Who cares.

by luxembourgerrrr. Sun Jan 16, 2005 13:22

:-)

by redjade Sun Jan 23, 2005 17:38

New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/18/technology/18lab.html?ex=1263704400&en=be3795d8a030b53d&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland

"The need for innovation is not being met by the top-down, highly bureaucratic and geopolitical funding offered by the E.U.," Nicholas Negroponte, Media Lab's founder, said in an e-mail interview. He said that he had hoped the Dublin operation would be "a virus," spurring innovative research and prompting reviews of legislation like bankruptcy rules that handicap entrepreneurs.

Mr. Negroponte said he had discussed that potential role with politicians like Romano Prodi, the former president of the European Commission.

Critics say that Media Lab's financial model was ill-suited to Europe, and especially Ireland, where potential sponsors are mostly subsidiaries of multinational corporations that lack the freedom to finance independent research.

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics Sun Jan 23, 2005 23:03

Are we going to make the Celtic Tiger the Celtic Tortoise?

Media.Lab forms the nucleus of the Digital Hub initiative and in an area of social disadvantage.

Has anyone heard about the Knowledge Economy? The EU office in Nassau Street holds lots of literature and from what I grasp Ireland is moving to the next level in the world order i.e. the Knowledge Economy.

Knowledge is a little broader than having the business capacity for deals and the evasions masked as avoidance!!!!

There is so much talk about our Universities presently. We know that an inflow of students from outside countries propped up our revenues by nearly 32 million euros last year. This is to be the new source of funds and it is a good market to seek.

The question is why is there such a quagmire amongst the university heads preventing them achieving what is possible i.e. a first world competitive power. I hope that core factor of competiveness, envy and jealousy is not hampering judgment. These emotions are just that and so often can hamper being Learned and wise.

Core to our supply of Universities is the need for truly learned people willing to take chances and veer off prescribed paths if exceptions occur.

I encountered problems at University as a person with multiple disabilities, and lots of ideas that originated from being one dimensional in terms of the University I attended. Within the faculty I was in....I still see scope but then no-one else does.

I would love to see investment in Media Lab. Ireland needs it. We need people to promote research, to offer it to our Universities, our large Employers, who knows we might not have lost Smurfits if the like of Media Lab (within the Knowledge dimension) created a profitable alternative).

As we head for China and as our Manufacturaing heads for cheap labour in Eastern Europe, we need to broaden our scope. We need to review the competitive nature of our University syllabus in the direction of a lateral thought function workforce, encouraged to interact, proact, create, adapt.

I hope there is some investor out there who can engage in appraisal of Media Lab viz a viz the European Community Knowledge concept..........and ensure that we do not miss out on a Potential to keep the Celtic Tiger from metamorphisis to a Tortoise.

Good Luck to Media Lab......No doubt the research could involve any spectrum. There are a lot of young people around D8 with real problems with the education syllabus.....I hope this loss does not affect the opportunities these children might have had......

Feast and Famine
'We cannot have a feast on Global Resources while the world's poor struggle to survive on inhospitable lands. It is as simple as that. IT IS THE RICH WHO ARE MAKING THE WORLD POORER.
ENVIRONMENT AND POVERTY ARE ONE CRISIS NOT TWO
Petra Kelly (1947-1992) German Green Politician

by whisper Sun Jan 23, 2005 23:09

Please turn off your caps key when you are typing your titles.
Thank you.

by redjade Mon Jan 24, 2005 17:45

Message to Ireland: get with broadband
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-528-1451895,00.html

The collapse of MLE has no implications for Ireland’s industrial sector. Much more serious is the stinging criticism made by the Institution of Engineers of Ireland (IEI) concerning our record in broadband roll-out

[....]

In the meantime, our efforts to crawl up the manufacturing value chain will continue to be hampered by the failure to ensure rapid and comprehensive roll-out of broadband. Despite recent rhetoric from Eircom (“over 100,000 customers signed up and rising . . .”), the performance of our biggest telco in selling broadband has been dismal from a macroeconomic viewpoint.

Contrast our record with that of Northern Ireland. Last March, BT was awarded a contract to roll out broadband to every household and business by the end of 2005. By December, the number of broadband users in Northern Ireland had increased by more than 200% in 12 months, exceeding the 125,000 mark. It is on target to become the most wired region in Europe.

In the republic, our broadband penetration lags behind a number of east European states, including Hungary, while the technology is simply unavailable in many places, even in prosperous Dublin suburbs.

by uri Mon Jan 24, 2005 18:55

The Media Lab closure highlights the failure and imminent implosion of the Irish capitalist experiment. Death to the Celtic Tiger!

by redjade Wed Mar 02, 2005 00:06

First time tragedy, second time.....

→ Minister announces consultation process on a new research entity for the Digital Hub

http://tinyurl.com/5d3uw

The Minister for Communications, Marine & Natural Resources, Noel Dempsey T.D., today announced a consultation process with a view to establishing a new research entity at the former MediaLab Europe premises in the Digital Hub.

“Considering the importance of digital media in the broader ICT sector, and the need for commitment to Research and Development in this field, there is a need to make a comprehensive assessment of what model and structures should be put in place as part of a new research entity,” Minister Dempsey said.

--- --- ---

on a related note....

''The back-handers of government-aided enterprise will have to change now that Neelie Kroes, the EU Competition Commissioner has pledged to take a tough line in policing State aid. Intel's Fab 24.2 in Leixlip will lose some of the millions of euro of government aid if Ireland is to follow the EU's view in terms of "less and better" support. The Irish government would have absorbed much (if not most) of the capital construction costs for the Intel plant. It will be hard to offer that hand-out now, since the EU has reviewed the back office paperwork behind the Intel deal.''

http://irish.typepad.com/irisheyes/2005/02/sunday_snippets_3.html

by redjade Tue Apr 19, 2005 11:30

The State body managing the Digital Hub project in the Liberties has scrapped a three-year-long tender to appoint a firm to develop the €250 million project.

The decision was taken last week by the Digital Hub Development Agency (DHDA), which is currently working on alternative development proposals for the flagship Government initiative.

[....]

The Government has already spent about €70 million developing about two of the nine acres. Almost 50 companies are located at the Digital Hub employing 400 people and there is now a shortage of space for firms wishing to locate at it. However, the Digital Hub has had its share of setbacks. Earlier this year the Government closed Medialab Europe, a research institute on the site.

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/finance/2005/0419/1727418900BZDIGITALHUB.html

by big d Fri May 13, 2005 09:55

was media lab meant to entertain / support / feed the druggies on thomas street? NO!
of course this is of no consequence to them. so what?

this was of consequence to Europe, and in particular, to Ireland.