The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD has announced the establishment of a joint Industry/Government task force on Big Data to drive the development of this high-growth sector in Ireland.
The core members of the task force will include Government appointed industry partners: Mr Liam Casey of PCH; Mr John Herlihy, Google; and Ms Heather Reynolds, Eishtec. The recently appointed Chief Information Officer in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Mr Bill McCluggage will also join the task force alongside senior officials representing the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Central Statistics Office, IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland and the National Standards Authority of Ireland.
One of the first actions to be implemented by the task force will be to identify and develop two Big Data pilot projects within the public service. It is envisaged that a number of other appointments will be made to the task force in the context of the Big Data pilot projects that are established.
The first formal meeting of the task force will take place in July.
The Minister made the announcement while delivering a speech at a conference on Big Data and SMEs jointly organised by EMC and Enterprise Ireland. “Big Data” refers to the storage and analysis of datasets that are so large and complex that they become difficult to process through standard database management tools.
Making the announcement, Minister Bruton said “a key part of the Government’s plan for growth and jobs is identifying areas where we believe Ireland has distinct advantages compared to other countries, and taking steps necessary to ensure that we realise our potential for employment in those areas. Data Analytics is one such sector, and the Government believes that between our climate, skills base and existing strengths in ICT, we have the potential to reap substantial benefits in terms of jobs and growth from the global expansion of this sector.”
Speaking on the taskforce the Minister added: “I am convinced that this task force will have the insight and leadership necessary to help make Ireland a world-leader in this sector and create the jobs we need”.