Berlin’s digital culture event re:publica comes to Dublin

One of Europe’s best known digital culture events, Berlin’s re:publica, comes to Dublin for a digital festival launching tonight, with the event proper running on Thursday.

The conference, which has sessions exploring technology and society, politics, privacy, media, business, arts and innovation marks the first time organisers have taken the 10-year-old festival to another country, said Andreas Gebhard, one of re:publica's founders.

The Berlin festival has grown from a 700-person meeting of bloggers in its first year to an annual three-day event which drew 8,000 people last May, and included 770 international speakers from 60 countries.

Organisers were looking to take the event to an English-speaking location. “We had already worked with some companies from Dublin, and we know about the start-ups and the digital scene here,” Gebhard said.

Depending on how the Irish event goes, organisers may consider an annual re:publica festival here, possibly dovetailing with another Irish-based event.

Organisers stress that the event attracts an audience of many backgrounds, ages and interests, and promotes the opportunity to network and exchange ideas during the day and at evening parties.

Unusually for many technology-oriented events, re:publica has consistently succeeded in attracting women. Nearly 50 per cent of conference-goers last May were women, and 46 per cent of the event speakers were female.

The event is based at three venues, with sessions held simultaneously at the Generator Hostel in Smithfield, Smock Alley Theatre and Merchants Arch Pub.