Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
INVENTOR, ENGINEER AND entrepreneur Elon Musk is a busy man – but he spared a few minutes to give Taoiseach Enda Kenny advice on how to move forward Ireland’s digital economy.
Musk, who is now CEO and CTO of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla Motors, was a late addition to the Web Summit line-up in Dublin. He sat on a panel today, chaired by Storyful’s Mark Little, which included Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Musk’s friend and co-founder of Sherpa Global, an investor fund and mentorship structure for start-ups, Shervin Pishevar.
When asked by Little if he had advice for Enda Kenny to drive forward Ireland as a leader in digital industry, Musk broke it down into three top tips:
1. Talent: “The most important thing in creating companies is you need a concentration of talent. It’s like creating a world sports team or something, you really want to focus your talent on a particular area.”
2. Support for start-ups: “Make sure that from a regulatory standpoint – regulations in taxation and government support – that it’s there for start-up companies, and that it goes from start-up all the way through to the medium phase of the company. Because where most companies tend to not make it is not so much at that very beginning stage, but it’s at that intermediate stage.”
“When a new company if formed you are going up against established companies with credibility and it’s incredibly important that companies are nourished through that stage. It’s like a sapling growing in a giant redwood forest. You have these huge companies, if you don’t give them a little bit of sunlight and nutrition, it’s game over.”
3. Develop more engineers: “For technology companies, you need engineers. To the degree that that can be encouraged of that course of study at Irish universities. I think that would be really powerful.
Like, maybe engineering could be tuition-free or something like that. But then tie it to they’ve got to stay in Ireland – they can’t just bail. It’s like, free engineering tuition but you’ve got to hang out and create your company here. I think that kind of thing would be effective in creating technology companies.”
The Taoiseach managed to make the hard sell to Musk on jobs in a different sector, however, encouraging Musk to bring part of his Tesla electric car-building project to Ireland.
The panel had arrived at the side of the main stage in one of Musk’s new Tesla cars, which – as this Twitter user pointed out – had an air of retro about it:
Kenny told Musk that Henry Ford had chosen Cork as the centre of production for his cars 100 years ago. “So if you’re looking for a good base, we’ll give you an opportunity… We’ll give you a fair hearing and our workers will not let you down, I promise you that.”
Later, he returned to the topic, when Little said a suggestion had been made via Twitter that Musk might bring Space X to Shannon. Kenny said: “This man, either of you (indicating Pishevar), are welcome here anytime.
Elon, we’re a different kind of people. The personality of our people has been known around the world for centuries. We’re open, pragmatic, work very hard, we’re not afraid of that. The young talent we have in this country, really, the essence of which has been here all week speaks for itself about their imaginative capacity to change the world for the future.
Whether Musk takes the carrot or not, he spoke of his fondness for Ireland, having visited here as a 7-year-old. Shervin Pishevar said that he had the idea for Sherpa while standing on the Cliffs of Moher, on a previous trip to Ireland for an earlier Web Summit. “Ireland has actually changed my life,” he said.
Musk’s achievements, however, were centre stage as he spoke of his desire with his SpaceX rocket and spacecraft engineering to see humanity eventually make a self-sustaining base on Mars.
The Taoiseach mentioned as an aside: “If you’re going to send that spacecraft off to Mars, I’ve a few people I could put on it for you as well.” He didn’t elaborate on who exactly he might put in the rocket.
Musk spoke about the need to try, try and try again – the first three launches of the rocket at SpaceX didn’t work and it was only in late 2008 that the fourth did work.
“That was our last chance. (If it didn’t work) game over,” he said. “When it succeeded, I didn’t feel elation, I felt stress relief.”
Musk showed similar tenacity when trying to raise money to engineer the electric car into a form that would be acceptable to consumers and really work – he said he was just days away from bankruptcy before managing to scrape together enough money from existing investors and even his friends.
Kenny said: “The lessons we can learn from this weekend are that we have to have a culture of not being afraid that something will fail.” Musk said there is a “fear of failure” in Silicon Valley but Pishevar (pictured above) agreed with the Taoiseach saying, “Fear is finite, hope is infinite. We are afraid of failure but we’re not afraid of trying.”
On convincing the US to embrace the electric car, Musk said: “It was tricky at first. We are going against the pre-conception of what the electric car was which was literally a golf cart.”
A right-hand drive version of the car is due to go on sale in late March or early April.
“That car would sell very well in Ireland,” concluded Kenny.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
And here we go again.
This reads to me like a good news story, full of optimism, innovation and God forbid hope. Yet so far folk just want to moan about it, find the negative and spin it. Thankfully our entrepreneurs, risk takers and future employers of our kids see opportunity and make it happen. The web summit seems to me like a fantastic success and although Enda had little to do with making it what it is, he certainly has embraced it and the state agencies have played a key role in developing it. So credit where its due.
Well done all involved
I agree with you completely- it could be the start of something positive but all most people can do is slag off Enda Kenny! He lacks charisma but he does seem to be trying his best. I wonder is everyone going to vote for FF next election- because I can see that happening- and that would truly be a disaster.
Agreed – enda Kenny gets a raw deal yet is doing his best. If his best is compared to what we Had before – he is lightyears ahead of what we had. He may not be good in some areas, but he’s put a team in place which has taken us out of what FF put us in and working constantly to strive for better. Hopefully the moaners give him a break and lets judge him in 2 years when he had money to work with
Musk stated in business as in life he is scared, optimistic and cautious, he engages knowledgable people around him and decides the best way forward. Paddy Cosgrave stated Ireland should not be focusing or altering their education system to suit IT, but to embrase IT in eductaion. Ireland has been very successful in areas in the past, and will be in the future. Our concentration does not need to be purily IT specific, but if opportunities exist for Ireland in the IT infrastrucure as the gateway to Europe we should embrase it with open arms. Enda was there, as were thousands of others. Everyone there learnt valuable information and contacts, rather than quibble, we engaged.
Canada and Australia have already taken our engineering graduates.
When it comes to software engineering, I disagree. There has never been more opportunities available for those willing to peruse them.
Check the number of IT Jobs listed on any of the recruitment sites for proof of that.
Loads of Medical Device engineers in Galway area (manufacturing, r&d etc.).
My 3 pieces of advice for Enda:
1: Go
2: Away
3: Urgently
Yawn
My engineering graduate son is gone long time ago…graduated 2010, still can’t come back….
@joan, come next general election remember your son when those that are responsible for the thousands that had to flee our Island look for votes!
I could offer him an interview at least, but I appreciate that’s little consolation for a son overseas:
http://lnkd.in/bs3k_7g
Agreed that it’s tougher for graduates to get jobs, but there are some out there. We should continue to promote courses in Computer Science as it is an industry that has been relatively unscathed by the recession.
In fairness Martin he’s a Mechanical Engineer not into computers, he has got three years experience now in CHP in the UK but looking to diversify and at least have the option to come home.
Fair enough Joan, best of luck to him.
In my experience most people with any degree that has a strong association with maths have an aptitude that can be applied in software engineering. Some of the best software engineers I know have degrees in electrical engineering, pure maths and physics.
His dad’s an electrical engineer! Runs in the family, not my side!
It would be sweet if tesla opened a manufacturing plant here.
Just like DeLorean…
I wonder if Kenny would get a one way ticket to Mars…he’s worth it!
Seamus. The journal is the wrong place to look for positivity. Just a load of negative ninnys! Don’t let them get you down.
Christ all mighty can people critique without getting the usual ole blinkered gombeens telling you you’re negative! People who rightfully critique the “lob all our eggs in one basket” attitude like the IT sector want us to are not being negative, they’re challenging the spin that comes from lobby groups and vested interests! Funny, I imagine people who challenged the CIF and over reliance on construction were reacted to in a similar way, maybe even told to kill themselves?
Jaysus Diarmaid, you’re so negative…
Touche Tony, touche my friend!
Mcnab
One doesn’t need to be a genius to figure that out, but I’m coming to the unfortunate conclusion that a certain left wing party is working hard to dominate the sentiment here or maybe I’m getting paranoid, however I can’t accept that the gene pool which has helped build the world could possibly be so defeatist and negative.
Don’t want to shoot the messenger here as i love the platform. Well done journal.ie
I would like to point out at this stage that I am not, never have and never will be a SF supporter of any description!
Might as well be giving advice to the dog
Yeah, because the shitty Irish economy and the state of the EU is all Kenny’s fault! Change the record…
An awful lot of it IS Kenny’s fault. He’s been the leader of the country for nearly three years. Time to take responsibility.
I cringe at the sight of Kenny on the stage with these brilliant men.
It’s like translation night on the Journal….
Kenny translation “Those young people we’ve been unofficially encouraging to get out of here to keep the job figures down – we’d be delighted if you could throw some money at them and they could stay. Just as long as they’re not a cost to the state now… Understand?”
I hope Enda remembered to get his ears syringed.
There’s an awful whiff of the “CIFesque” arrogance off all these Yankee accented Irish IT fellas at the websummit! Only offer free engineering courses in college? They do realise there’s a lot more than IT to life yes??? First we twisted the leaving cert to suit maths students, now we re to offer free college to a certain student? Queue the “you’re a begrudger” response!
Diarmaid! How is the IT sector’s continued growth in the past 15 years similar to the irish construction industry? The fact you can comment on this website, in ireland, using an app developed (I assume) in ireland, with a phone or laptop/tablet that has a technical suppprt infrastructure in ireland is a testament to the fact that the IT sector has grown, needs to grow and will remain the number 1 industry in the country. Go to the Middle East, big shiny buildings, money everywhere, technologically advanced infrastructure but try get any sort of IT support and you’re fcked. They’re all still using blackberrys out there! A company thats gone wallop! Yet it is the smartphone of choice in Dubai and the UAE etc. Why? Because they never invested in IT early enough and dont have the tools to change.. So drag Elon Musk over, drag all of the geniuses over, let them speak. Who gives a sh1t if its the only industry we have thats consistently grown or if its where our education system is focused? What do you suggest? The arts? Have you not watched irish tv lately? We’re sh1t at acting, our singers leg it and avoid paying taxes as soon as they get popular, the world doesnt need irish play writes or artists. We dont have Yates and O’Casey around anymore. If you dont like IT then go back to print media, get yourself a nokia 3210 and party like ite 1998! Times have changed and Ireland is moving along with it. Rant over, now wheres my shtick? I want ta bate the dag.
Multinational tech companies don’t give two shites about you, me or any Irish citizen. Yet they come over here telling us how to work our education system at 2nd and 3rd level to suit them when they’d leave the country at the drop of a hat if it suited them! For some fella to propose that engineering is offered free at 3rd level to rapturous applause is proof of the selfish mindset!
No, its proof that theres sustainability in the industry. The technology is never going away, its only going to improve. Ask any recruitment agent and they will tell you probably most of the IT jobs advertised now didn’t exist 10 years ago! Why? Because the industry and the technology has grown and we’re a part of it. There was no such thing as a smartphone in 2003! Look at how thats changed and how do you expect that happened here? Because of investment, education focus and the good old corporate tax rate.
So the leaving cert should be altered to suit one industry. Students of one discipline should get preferential treatment? We should essentially forget the disciplines that are also growing and have been around for much longer (medicine, social studies etc etc) and give preferential treatment to one group so we get a whole pile of students into one discipline so that if anything were to go wrong in that industry, we YET AGAIN are caught out with a surplus of educated youth whom we’ll have to export like we just did with all our tradesmen!? Good logic alright!
There are currently over 250 medical technology companies in Ireland, exporting €7.2b worth of product annually and employing over 25,000 people – the highest number of people working in the industry in any country in Europe, per head of population.
Then read this
http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.distilledmedia.thejournal
Sorry, that second link should have been..
That’s EXACTLY my point Marcoop! We are over invested in multinational tech etc already! every economy needs a balance of sectors, otherwise they leave themselves exposed to shocks! Jeez, do Irish people ever learn! It’s what we did with construction for so long!
Even the very admirable and likeable Paddy Cosgrave said recently on radio, Ireland should not be focusing or altering their education system to suit IT! So the guy who actually created the event at least has a bit of cop on, that’s something!
Diarmaid, theres COUNTIES in the UK with higher populations than this country so theres only so much you can wrangle out of us as far as home grown industry is concerned. .. as for farming, read this..
One in five babies globally to feed on Irish milk formula after Danone investment –
Look each to their own I just think we shouldn’t leave ourselves so exposed to one sector within the multinational sector. It’s asking for trouble. If I had my way I’d be encouraging students into stuff that Ireland’s geography and human need will always ensure we can support jobs – food, farming and clean energy!
Agreed, we need to utilise our surroundings better rather than ignore them. This country has enough wind and tidal power to generate tonnes of clean power. we are caked in forests and empty fields ripe for tree growth. We’re drenched in water but unfortunately naieve on a global platform and led by selfish gits who are only too quick to hand sh1t over to the money lenders as soon as things dont go as planned so now we have to pay for it. I don’t know what the future holds but I do know we’ll be reading and commenting about it just the way we are now, hopefully we’ll still enjoy that freedom.
Enda looks dynamic
With the constant drool of negativity in the posts below, I dont know why kenny or anyone else should bother their arse trying to bring jobs and investment to Ireland to a bunch of spoilt whingers. All the shit going on in the country is someone else’s fault. If you don’t like it, get up and move, your not a tree.
I resent that comment, I am in fact a tree!
I wonder did he ‘fix’ Edna’s Nokia
is enda really that far removed from reality that a culture of failure in start-ups is something that we should only start looking at now?
“Seriously, if you are coming to Europe with Tesla, we will compete with the best, so if you are going to do that, give us a chance, we’ll give you a fair hearing and our workers will not let you down.”
If this is Edna’s best attempt at the hard sell it’s no wonder the country’s in the state it is, a fair hearing ? for crying out loud someone take the microphone off him please… the electorate maybe?
Kenny said ” The lessons we can learn from this weekend are that we have to have a culture of not being afraid that something will fail”
I thought the property bubble tought us the opposite… To be afraid that something might fail & take adequate precautions.
The comments here a just proof the Ireland is a. Action of moaners. A good news story turn into a slagging match. Get up of yer a@@ and do something positive instead of complain all the time. I have two friends unemployed who have spend the last two days volountering to help that man missing on the mountain….there is so much more ye could be doing than inside going to battle on yer keyboards all day.
Isn’t it very presumptuous and stupid of you to think that those who critique “do nothing” and “need to get up off their asses” or that they are even unemployed? Laughable exercise in stereotyping that proves your stupidity and laziness in observations more than anything else!
Stop moaning steve please ,youre upsetting our positive ju ju.
It would be excellent if Tesla used Ireland for manufacturing particularly as a gateway into the rest of Europe. We need more production in Ireland. We can’t depend on IT and Agriculture all the time, a mix of self sustainable employment platforms are needed…
have your say