East Belfast-born David Kirk today received the degree of Doctor of Science (DSc) for services to entrepreneurship. Mr Kirk is one of Silicon Valley’s most well known and successful executives with a career in the computer and networking industries spanning almost four decades.
In 1983, he moved to Silicon Valley and has worked at senior executive level in several firms such as AOL and Telepost and across multiple industries including software, internet, networking and telecommunications.
The go-ahead entrepreneur recently offered an economic rescue plan for Northern Ireland, saying:
“If Northern Ireland was a product, and I was the product manager, I’d form a product launch team to reintroduce Northern Ireland to the world stage; create a compelling value proposition, develop a Go-To-Market plan for NI technology and companies, and a strategic marketing plan to rebrand, reposition and relaunch Northern Ireland to leapfrog the competition. And then go out and start winning, or die trying.¨
“The most successful Northern Ireland technology entrepreneurs no longer live there, but almost all want to give back! It appears to me — again looking from the outside but being a regular visitor and investor — that the “De Lorean effect” has eliminated any real risk tolerance or taking by the public sector, and has suppressed ambition in the public sector.”
For full graduation coverage, see
http://www.ulster.ac.uk/graduation/summergraduation2010/index.html