How ‘Digital Growth Hubs’ can help localities navigate the Green & Digital transition

I was delighted to have the opportunity thanks to .ie to speak at their Digital Champions event yesterday in Athlone about the work our Dargan Hub in DunLaoghaireTown.ie does. We term our Dargan Hub a 'Digital Growth Hub'.

As we seek to build the social capital within localities to empower them to navigate the big changes facing our country, I outlined our belief that we need a new entity at the grassroots level on high street in towns across Ireland. I believe that the Connected Hubs network of 400 hubs offers the opportunity to help localities across Ireland navigate the green and digital transition to create the productivity and collaboration that technology offers for the benefit of all.

I also outlined what our Dargan Hub as a 'Digital Growth Hub' does in our home town namely help build a 'Digital First Community' through actions such as -

- Running the website and social media campaigns for the locality to help attract investment, remote workers, home buyers, shoppers and visitors.
- Carrying out upskilling workshops for the locality’s stakeholders to help narrow the digital divide for micro businesses and social enterprises. Here’s an example from our Dargan Hub programme - Workshop for Small Businesses
- To enable the locality's stakeholders to focus on what they do best in advancing their mission (Tidy Towns, Business Association etc) the hub leverages a simple membership based platform for managing the operational affairs of the stakeholders at the heart of the town’s growth. This platform also enables those stakeholders to increase their ‘Digital Visibility’ through its in built newsletter and social media capabilities.

The event had a great line up of speakers including Allan Mulrooney Oonagh McCutcheon Joanne Mangan Donal O Murchadha Stephen Carolan Michelle Thompson and Liam Cronin all expertly MCd by Seán Tobin.

Thanks Clare McEnroe for taking the photo!