Digital Dun Laoghaire presents the

A big welcome from

Keynote Speakers

Topic 1 - Localities as platforms for sustainable jobs

Topic 2 - Digital First Communities - Uniting people around their place for prosperity

Topic 3 - Reimagining hubs as the power behind Digital First Communities

The Dargan Forum is supported by

What is it

The 21st century will see a major paradigm shift brought about by the digital and green transitions that will have considerable socio economic impacts on localities.  Places that organise around digital and new technologies most effectively stand to gain the most by increasing their capabilities rapidly and making the economic base of their locality sustainable in the long term.

The DARGAN Forum will share the latest ideas and technologies that can empower people and places to become what we term ‘Digital First Communities’. 

A ‘Digital First Community is one that works collaboratively to attract investment, remote workers, home buyers, shoppers and visitors by constantly improving the three pillars underpinning a vibrant, sustainable locality, namely the physical, the digital and the smart. 

In providing a platform for the ideas and technologies that can help reimagine rural Ireland in the 21st century, the Forum will highlight Dún Laoghaire’s pioneering history in being the location of the world’s first suburban railway, the world’s largest asylum harbour for 50 years and the the world’s first vacuum railway!

Why DARGAN

Dun Laoghaire was the birthplace of Ireland’s rail network in 1834 thanks to the drive and determination of William Dargan. The democratising power of this new technology brought people and places closer. Ireland has gone on to be a world leading location for the HQs of companies that are changing the world through the power of technology and all just a couple of kilometres from Mallin Station, Dun Laoghaire where it all began!

Why Rural Ireland

Our work in Dun Laoghaire since 2016 has focussed on the regeneration of localities. We believe that the coming years will provide the tools and technology to help revitalise rural Ireland, so we choose to focus on where the need is the greatest. Our goal is to highlight ways to leverage the twin transitions facing society, digital and green, to the goal of changing 200 years of migration from rural Ireland to the East Coast and Dublin in particular.

Focus of the event

When Dargan built Ireland's first railway to Dun Laoghaire in 1834 it opened the floodgates on rail travel in Ireland which at its peak reached 5,600 km of railway network and 140 stations. In the 21st century the power of technology has evolved from being predominantly physical to digital and online. This will be the key theme of the DARGAN Forum, what are the ideas and technologies that can help reimagine rural Ireland through empowering people to get behind their places for its prosperity in the 21st century.This will align directly with @Digital Dun Laoghaire’s work with the Department of Rural & Community Development's Connected Hubs initiative.

CALL FOR PROJECTS 2023

We are currently accepting proposals for projects or initiatives that fit the theme of the Dargan Forum, have you led or participated in a project that can help localities thrive and be sustainable?

Please jot the details down on this form and we will be in touch!

Expression of interest in sharing a project or initiative at the Dargan Forum 2023

Format

The Forum will be a summer school, half day keynote speaker and panel discussion driven event. In addition to the main forum a number of break out sessions on specific topics will take place.

When

9am - 1pm on 6th July 2023 as part of DLR County Council’s Coastival festival.

Where

Assembly Room, County Hall, DLR County Council, Marine Road, Dun Laoghaire.

Our guest of honour

Our guest of honour, our honourary patron Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Minister of State at the Department of Finance, will officially open the Forum. 

Who is this event for?

• Change-makers that would like to learn how localities can become platforms for sustainable jobs

• Community activists who can learn how Digital First Communities can can unite people around their place for its prosperity.

• Hub managers who can find out how your hub can become a driver of a better, more sustainable way of life your locality.

• Members of the public who want to play their part in helping create a better future through Digital First Communities.

Come for the forum stay for the Coastival

Come for the Forum but stay for the COASTIVAL festival and enjoy all that Ireland’s leading seaside town has to offer - Experience Dún Laoghaire