This week in business: Christine Lagarde in Dublin for Central Bank, DCU events

Astronaut Kathryn Sullivan in Galway for the fifth Our Ocean Wealth Summit

Monday

Indicators: German business climate, current conditions and expectations (June); US new home sales (May).

Meetings: Design Research Society Conference 2018 (University Limerick); Biotech CEO Summit Europe, invite-only event for biotech chief executives (Powerscourt Hotel, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow). The Euro at 20, two-day conference hosted by the Central Bank of Ireland at its head office in Dublin.

Tuesday

Indicators: UK mortgage approvals (May); US consumer confidence (June).

Meetings: IMF managing director Christine Lagarde in discussion on education, innovation and inclusion (Dublin City University); Dublin Chamber's talk "The Future of Work 4.0: Disruptive technologies, opportunity or threat" (Dublin Chamber, 7 Clare Street, Dublin 2).

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The world's eighth most powerful woman, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, is in Dublin this week to speak at a number of events. It kicks off on Monday, with her addressing an event hosted by the Central Bank of Ireland to reflect on 20 years of the euro.

On Tuesday, Ms Lagarde has engagements at Dublin City University, where the focus will be on education and innovation.

Last year Ms Lagarde was ranked eighth on Forbes’s World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list and is currently in her second term as head of the IMF.

The former French finance minister has a heavyweight insight into world affairs, although how much of it she will care to reveal during her time in Dublin remains to be seen.

The IMF recently made headlines after reaching a standby €42 billion lending agreement with Argentina. Earlier Ms Lagarde captured people's attention by saying she saw "darker clouds looming" in world economics, with threats of US trade sanctions, despite forecasts of a 3.9 per cent expansion in the global economy.

Wednesday

Results: Nike.

Indicators: Irish retails sales (May); Euro zone loan growth and money supply (May).

Meetings: ECB non monetary policy meeting; First Derivatives AGM (Canal Quay, Newry, Co Down).

Thursday

Results: Accenture, DS Smith.

Indicators: Irish current account (Q1), GDP (Q1); Euro zone business confidence (June), services, economic and industrial sentiment (June), consumer confidence (June), consumer inflation expectations (June); UK housing prices (June); German consumer confidence (July), import prices (May), inflation (June); US corporate profits (Q1), GDP (Q1).

Meetings: ECB general council meeting; Our Ocean Wealth Summit (Centre Pier, The Docks Galway city); Equinox Inc's "Interconnected Era – Shaping your digital transformation strategy" event (Quay 14, Ormond Quay Lower, Dublin 1).

Of course everyone knows Ireland is an island with all the marine opportunities that come with it, but in an era of changing environmental policy, business outlook and technologies, investment may begin to move away from mere government incentives.

This is a central theme of the Our Ocean Wealth Summit, beginning on Thursday and now in its fifth year.

Think ocean-based commerce and one imagines fishing fleets, wind farms and shipping but how we go about things is constantly changing and it is this change the conference will seek to embrace.

"The central theme of investment for the 2018 summit demonstrates how the integrated marine plan for Ireland is moving into a new phase of commercial engagement beyond EU and Government funding," said PwC partner Declan McDonald ahead of the two-day event.

“We see this theme developing globally with many investment managers and investors actively engaged in funding projects in line with the UN sustainable development goals. We see significant activity in the ocean economy to attract investors seeking returns beyond philanthropy.”

Throw in an astronaut (Kathryn Sullivan) and a Blue Planet producer (Orla Doherty) and the business of oceans begins to really come alive.

Friday

Indicators: Euro zone inflation (June); UK consumer confidence (June), consumer credit (May), GDP (Q1), mortgage lending and approvals (May), business investment (Q1); German retail sales (May), unemployment (June); US personal income and spending (May).

Meetings: Glenveagh Properties AGM and EGM (Herbert Park Hotel, Dublin 4).