In the modern workplace, ensuring a diverse and representative environment is of the utmost importance for forward thinking organisations. Both Dublin as a capital city, and Ireland as a nation are becoming more diverse, socially, culturally and economically. In acknowledgement of this trend, last month we hosted ‘Diversity Week’ which served as a platform for bringing together a plethora of Ireland’s most prominent tech start-ups and grassroots tech communities, and was held in conjunction with Ulster Bank and Google.

The occasion of International Women’s Day (8th March) played a central role in the themes and perspectives that inspired the events throughout the week. We welcomed a variety of Ireland’s leading women – and men – from the tech industry to share their ideas and inspire the audience in the spirit of inclusion in the workplace. Here in Dogpatch Labs the growing diversity in the world of tech is highly reflected in the range of female-led fast developing technology companies based here, including Konnect Again led and founded by Jayne Ronayne and Helen Flynn, Viddyad whose CEO is Grainne Barron, and CoderDojo – led by Mary Maloney.

Ulster Bank hosted the ‘Business Women Can’ breakfast briefing – a particularly inspiring morning with a dynamic set of speakers including Niamh Bushnell, Dublin’s first Commissioner for Startups; Majella Crennan of Philip Lee and Helen Flynn from Konnect Again. These innovative thinkers and entrepreneurs shared the secrets behind their personal and business success.

By now, most of you will know Vicky from our Events Team in Dogpatch.  For those of you who don’t know who she is, Vicky Twomey-Lee of Coding Grace – a true celeb amongst the Grassroots community – most recently mentioned in Siliconrepublic.com as one of the top 15 ‘Wonderful women working to change the face of tech’ – hosted an event that brought together key female players in the gaming industry. Vicky presided over a series of addresses and discussions from professionals, entrepreneurs, crafters and makers – showcasing their work and sharing their experiences from the constantly growing and evolving gaming industry.

Over the last year, we have co-hosted mentoring sessions and workshops with the Startup Engagement team at Google Ireland. These mentoring sessions with Google Dublin staff are open to the wider start-up community. This is part of a broader partnership with Google for Entrepreneurs – a global program connecting and supporting leading coworking spaces across the world. As part of Diversity Week, Google hosted a special mentoring meetup that focused on diversity and all issues related to it. A group of experts, including guest speaker Helen Tynan, Human Resources Manager at Google, offered their knowledge and experience on how Google incorporates knowledge, unconscious bias and diversity in their hiring process.

Diversity needs to be at the heart of decision making at all levels in order for the development of a successful and sustainable tech and start-up ecosystem in Ireland. Initiatives such as Diversity Week play an important role in creating the foundation to ensure that the startup community is inclusive, representative and equipped for the 21st century business environment.