The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have met with a number of young coders and female and social entrepreneurs on a visit to Ireland. The royal couple visited Dogpatch Labs, a start-up hub based in the CHQ building in Dublin’s Digital Docklands.
Dogpatch Labs is home to over 80 start-ups and over 350 members. It hosts the most amount of free events for the tech community of any Irish entrepreneurial hub and provides a platform for organisations like HackAccess, PyLadies, ChangeX and Social Innovation Fund to accelerate positive impact and foster diversity and inclusion within the tech sector. Dogpatch Labs is also a founding patron of CoderDojo, a global movement of volunteer-led programming clubs for young people.
The Royal couple participated in a Diversity Roundtable, focusing on specific commitments to empower and invest in women and girls in tech. The couple heard about commitments made, including Dogpatch Labs’ pledge to host a major female-focused Global Investor Day in 2019 and CoderDojo’s commitment to recruit 5,000 new female volunteers and youth mentors to the global movement by 2021.
Commenting on the royal visit, Patrick Walsh, Managing Director of Dogpatch Labs, said: “The fact that influential figures like the Duchess of Sussex are engaging in the topic of women in tech can really help elevate the conversation. Further, having The Duke of Sussex at the table sends a strong signal that men can play a valuable role in amplifying women’s voices.”
Pictured above: Patrick Walsh, MD, DogPatch and Liz McCarthy with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the Dogpatch Labs, CHQ Building
Image by: Julien Behal Photography
