The Irish Tech News Podcast

International Rose of Tralee and apprentice electrical engineer Katelyn Cummins has been announced as one of the first headline speakers for I Wish 2026, as the organisation continues to showcase applied STEM at its re-imagined I Wish Festival, taking place on 5 February 2026 at the RDS Dublin. To find out more about I Wish, I spoke to Caroline O’Driscoll, Co-Founder of I Wish.
Caroline talks about background, what I Wish does, stem and more.
More about I Wish:
As technologies such as artificial intelligence continue to reshape design, builds and innovation, the 12th annual I Wish will place a strong emphasis on applied STEM skills and future-ready career pathways for females. This includes a new dedicated Construction Zone, delivered in partnership with the Construction Industry Federation (CIF). The zone will provide hands-on demonstrations; insight into apprenticeships and engineering pathways; and direct engagement with women working across this evolving sector.

Almost 4,000 female teenage students from across the island of Ireland will attend the 12th annual I Wish Festival for an immersive, experience-led programme designed to build confidence, curiosity and awareness of real-world STEM careers. Registration is still open at iwish.ie/tickets.

🚀New Episode Alert! 
🎙️Dive into the world of FinTech with our latest episode of One Vision — the FinTech Fuse. Join Theo and our guest Alex Jimenez, the OG of FinTech OG, as they explore the major themes for 2026 from innovation to governance, as AI and M&A take center stage. Explore how money movement might become ‘invisible’. Tune in for a thought-provoking discussion on the future of AI, digital transformation, and the evolving landscape of the banking industry.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:51 Reflecting on 2025: Key FinTech Trends
03:22 AI in FinTech: Current State and Future Prospects
04:09 Challenges and Considerations in AI Implementation
13:27 The Evolution of Banking Industry
23:34 Looking Ahead: 2026 and Beyond

📍 Hot take: “When you start thinking about the daily experience of digital banking for retail customers … the next wave is conversational.”

#AI #FinTech #DigitalTransformation #BankingOnAI #BankingIndustry 

Find Alex Jimenez on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ralexjimenez/ 
Find Theodora Lau on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theodoralau/ 

🔗 Theo’s latest book: Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence: https://www.bankingonaibook.com/ 
🔗 About Unconventional Ventures and the One Vision Podcast: https://www.unconventionalventures.com/

The tech skills gap is ever worsening in Ireland, with even large firms struggling to compete with multinationals to snaffle the best professionals. One person who knows all about this is Gillian Whelan, Managing Director and Country Manager of Emagine Ireland.
Gillian has tackled the challenge of accessing specialised tech skills with a model she calls ‘Bestshoring’,  bringing together bespoke, global teams for each project, using the best people from the right locations, at the right cost. In other words, building a custom ‘Avengers dream team’ of global experts. I recently caught up with Gillian.
Gillian talks about her background, fixing Ireland’s devastating tech skills gap, the need for security by design and more.
More about Gillian Whelan:
Since joining Aspira in 2017 as a Senior Executive, Gillian has made a significant impact on the business, progressing to head up the very successful Project Management Training Practice within the company.
She was subsequently promoted to Chief Commercial Officer in late 2021 and became the natural choice for the leading role, as the consultancy evolves and grows through its strategic partnership with Emagine. Gillian then took over from former Ireland MD Peter Ryan.

In this episode of One Vision — FinTech Fuse, we took a deep dive into Walmart with Finovate’s very own Julie Muhn. We started with Walmart's bold move to apply for an ILC charter in 2005, their foray into fintech with OnePay, and the wide array of services they now provide beyond retail. The conversation explored Walmart’s integration of emerging technologies like AI and agentic commerce, as well as potential future developments and implications for traditional banks in retaining customer loyalty and trust in an increasingly digital financial landscape.
00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
01:07 Walmart's Evolution in Financial Services
02:43 Walmart's Super App Ambitions
03:41 Walmart's Diverse Service Offerings
07:15 Challenges and Limitations of Walmart's App
11:01 Agentic Commerce and Future Prospects
18:31 Behavioral Data and Consumer Trust
26:23 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

📍Hot take: (Referring to Walmart) They don't just have financial data, they have behavioral data. 
📍Hot take: The banking relationship or relationships will be secondary as the AI kind of chooses which payment method to use. 

#Walmart #Fintech #AI #AgenticCommerce

Find Julie Muhn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julieschicktanz/ 
Find Theodora Lau on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theodoralau/ 
🔗 Theo’s latest book: Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence: https://www.bankingonaibook.com/ 
🔗 About Unconventional Ventures and the One Vision Podcast: https://www.unconventionalventures.com/

OpenAI’s new Sora reached approximately 627,000 downloads on iOS in its first week but the milestone quickly turned sour as deepfake videos of celebrities, historical figures, and copyrighted characters flooded social media. Families of Robin Williams and Martin Luther King Jr. have condemned the unauthorised AI re-creations, while studios and estates demand OpenAI protect likeness rights. One person who is well placed to talk about this is Ken Jon Miyachi the Co-Founder of BitMind, a deepfake detection company focusing on social platforms. 
I recently caught up with Ken and he spoke about his background, deepfakes, AI, social media and more.
More about BitMind:
BitMind is dedicated to the future of trustworthy, scalable AI. they are building an orchestration layer that accelerates the deployment of AI models across decentralised networks, empowering developers to contribute to groundbreaking projects like Bittensor Subnet 34—the world’s first decentralised deepfake detection system and a keystone of their mission.
Through their open-source subnet and API,  BitMind power a suite of applications that deliver unmatched detection fidelity for AI-generated content from social media, search engines, and image hosting platforms, showcasing the transformative potential of decentralised AI.