The National Manufacturing & Supply Chain Conference & Exhibition is Ireland’s leading event for professionals in the manufacturing sector. Celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2025, this prestigious gathering has become a cornerstone for innovation, collaboration, and progress within the industry.

The National Manufacturing & Supply Chain Conference & Exhibition 2025 offers a comprehensive two-day agenda featuring expert-led discussions, keynote presentations, technical case studies, and industry panels. With multiple co-located events (stages) running simultaneously, attendees can tailor their experience to focus on the topics most relevant to their business and sector.

Each stage is dedicated to a specific theme, featuring industry leaders, innovators, and technical specialists who will share insights, real-world applications, and the latest advancements in manufacturing. Whether you’re interested in automation, sustainability, supply chain optimisation, life sciences, or digital transformation, there is a stage designed to provide in-depth knowledge and practical takeaways.

ENTIRE and Insight’s Research Centre for Data Analytics Helmut Simonis will be presenting ‘Skills Development for Scheduling in the ENTIRE EDIH’ on Thursday May 29th at 10:00 in the Skills, Training and Future of Work strand.

Stop by Stand B02 each day where Stephen Lyons will be on hand representing Skillnet Ireland and ENTIRE EDIH to answer any queries you have regarding how businesses can benefit from EDIH services.

For more information visit https://manufacturingevent.com/

ENTIRE is delighted to be presenting at TechFest 2025. This flagship event brings together tech and business leaders to explore the evolving relationship between technology, artificial intelligence, and humanity – and how we can harness innovation to shape a better future.

At TechFest 2025, industry pioneers, disruptors, and thought leaders will come together for a cutting-edge, forward-thinking, and immersive experience. Expect insightful discussions and inspiring talks from global visionaries and local trailblazers who are shaping the future of technology.

Agenda:

• 08:00 – 09:15 Registration & Networking
• 09:15 – 09:30 Opening Remarks
• 09:30 – 10:20 TechFest Keynote: Consciousness and our evolving relationship with AI
• 10:20 – 11:05 Panel Discussion: Technology & Humanity in the 21^st Century
• 11:05-11:45 Refreshments, Networking & Exhibition Stands
• 11:45 – 12:30 Panel Discussion: The Future of Tech Talent
• 12:30 – 13:30 Showcasing Evolving Tech Companies
• 13:30 – 14:15 Refreshments, Networking & Exhibition Stands
• 14:15 – 14:45 Keynote – Building the Internet in Space
• 14:45 – 15:30 Panel Discussion – Space & the Future of Humanity

For more info visit: https://techindustryalliance.ie/techfest-2025/

With rising energy prices, tightening sustainability targets, and increasing competition, optimising energy use is essential. For Munster’s industries and public sector organisations, smarter energy management unlocks financial savings, enhances resilience, and drives environmental leadership.

Economic Advantage: High energy costs place pressure on businesses and public institutions. AI-driven optimisation reduces expenses by minimising waste, predicting failures, and improving efficiency. Savings can be reinvested into operations, workforce development, and business growth.

Competitive Edge: Energy-efficient businesses attract investment, secure funding, and meet sustainability expectations. Whether in manufacturing, IT, public administration, or retail, those optimising energy gain a strategic advantage, strengthening their reputation and long-term viability.

Sustainability and Compliance: Ireland’s carbon reduction commitments and regulatory demands require decisive action. Integrating renewables, optimising consumption, and leveraging predictive maintenance help cut emissions and ensure compliance.

Delivered by Helmut Simonis from University College Cork, this on site one-day skills development course will combine several industrial case studies and overview presentations. Lectures will explore Ireland’s energy landscape and demonstrate proven AI techniques for optimising energy use. Attendees will gain valuable insights through case studies and interactive discussions while networking with industry leaders and key decision-makers in the energy sector.

Date: Thursday, May 1^st 2025 – this is a provisional date, which is subject to change based on timely registration of the minimum required number of attendees.
Location: Onsite in UCC – Room 2.26, Western Gateway Building, University College Cork

Participants will gain hands-on knowledge and skills to:
– Understand Ireland’s energy landscape and optimisation challenges.
– Improve data collection, reconciliation, and anomaly detection.
– Use energy use and price prediction models for smarter decision-making.
– Leverage renewables, storage, and load shifting to reduce costs.
– Analyse real-world case studies, including campus energy supply and data centre efficiency.

For more information and to register:
https://entire-edih.ie/skills-development/ai-fundamentals-energy-cost-optimisation/

Registration Deadline: 16th April 2025

The European AI Act came into effect on August 1st 2024. Article 4 of the Act places obligations in relation to AI literacy within organisations that provide or deploy AI systems. Specifically, Article 4 says “Providers and deployers of AI systems shall take measures to ensure, to their best extent, a sufficient level of AI literacy of their staff and other persons dealing with the operation and use of AI systems on their behalf, taking into account their technical knowledge, experience, education and training and the context the AI systems are to be used in, and considering the persons or groups of persons on whom the AI systems are to be used.”

Presented by Prof Barry O’Sullivan, this skills development course provides a grounding in artificial intelligence, how ethical principles have been developed and applied to AI systems, and how these have informed the development of the AI Act. This course will offer companies a grounding to help them ensure compliance with the AI literacy obligations under the Act.

This comprehensive one-day skills development course will provide participants with:
– An overview of artificial intelligence
– Principles of machine learning
– Evaluation of AI systems: robustness, performance, fairness, bias, etc.
– Ethics for AI and the Seven Key Requirements for Trustworthy AI
– An overview of the AI Act
– An overview of the Assessment List for Trustworthy AI

On completion of this skills development course attendees will have an appreciation for the principles of AI systems, understand how ethics principles have applied to AI and informed the AI Act. Attendees will have attained a basic level of AI literacy sufficient to assess an AI system against the Seven Key Requirements for Trustworthy AI which underpin the AI Act.

This is a one day course will take place in hybrid format online/in person at University College Cork and will run from 9:30am-4pm on May 2^nd, May 29^th and June 26th.

For more info and to register: https://entire-edih.ie/skills-development/ai-literacy-and-the-ai-act-from-ai-to-ethics-to-regulation/

Deadline for registration for May 2nd course is April 16th 2025
Deadline for registration for May 29th course is May 8th 2025
Deadline for registration for June 26th course is June 5th 2025

ENTIRE is looking forward to taking part in this major AgTech Ireland Conference, which is in partnership with Irish Farmers Journal and sponsored by FBD Insurance and Enterprise Ireland, featuring guest speaker ENTIRE Programme Manager at Walton Institute, Hazel Peavoy.

Join us at The Curragh Racecourse for an exciting event where we explore the intersection of agriculture and artificial intelligence. Beyond hype and fear, how can agribusiness and farming leverage AI to overcome current and future economic, environmental and social challenges?

If you are a decision-maker in agribusiness or farming and wonder how AI can work for you, book your place now!

Conference programme

9.30 Registration and coffee

10:00 Opening address

• Martin Heydon, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine 

10:15 Keynote address: AI: beyond the hype

• Dr Patricia Scanlon, Ireland’s AI Ambassador and Chair of AI Advisory Council 

MORNING SESSIONS

Global insights and strategic overview

10:45 AI explosion in agfood: global to local studies

Short presentations followed by a discussion panel.

• Dr Daniel Kearney, CTO, Firmus
• Jerome O’Connell, CEO, Proveye 

Session MC: Stephen Robb, Renewables Editor, Irish Farmers Journal

12:15 AI redefining the agrifood ecosystem

Presentation followed by a discussion panel.

• Doris Marquardt, EU DG CNCT Programme Officer
• Dr Sjaak Wolfert, Wageningen University
• Dr Jurgen Vangeyte, ILVO
• Kevin Doolin, Walton Institute 

Session MC: David Leydon, Group Head of Growth and Agrifood Consulting, Ifac

1:30 Lunch

AFTERNOON SESSIONS

Practical applications for Ireland

14:15 AI solutions for on-farm challenges?

Discussion panel.

• Kieran Sullivan, Dairy Farmer and Research Engineer ICT, SETU
• Francie Gorman, President, Irish Farmers’ Association
• Siobhán Jordan, Head of Technology Transfer and Commercialisation, Teagasc
• Niall McGauran, MD, Efficient Farming Solutions Ltd, Co-Owner, Lely Mullingar Centre

Session MC: Catherine Heffernan, Technical and Customer Success Specialist, MSD Animal Health

15:30 Integrating AI in Irish agriculture and agribusiness

Three-five minute case studies followed by a discussion panel.

• Daniel Izquierdo, CEO, Micron Agritech
• James Greevy, Director of Product, Herdwatch
• Hazel Peavoy, Strategic Business Partner, Walton Institute    

Session MC: Deirdre O’Shea, EMEA Food, Agribusiness and Beverage Industry Leader, Aon

16:30 Closing remarks

• William Minchin, CEO, The Agricultural Trust

Presented by Walton Institute, this exciting webinar taking place April 30th (11am – 1pm) offers an opportunity to learn about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its different types with definitions and a broad introduction to AI, its applications and impact on society.

This programme is designed for people with little technical background and shall explain how AI works with broad descriptions of concepts such as Machine Learning, Deep Learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP).

Participants will gain a foundational understanding of these concepts, as well as applications of AI such as chatbots (like ChatGPT), predictive analysis, automation and computer vision.

This will give participants the opportunity to not only learn about AI but to see what it could mean for your business, where knowledge of these processes could help to streamline operations, remove decision making. This can help businesses to enhance efficiency and competitiveness as well as unlocking new growth opportunities for them.

The following areas shall be covered:

1. Introduction to AI
2. How AI works
3. AI Technologies and their use cases
4. Business benefits of AI
5. Challenges and Ethical considerations

For more information or to register your interest in taking part before the April 15th deadline visit:
https://entire-edih.ie/skills-development/introduction-to-ai/