An age of “poetry and physics” is approaching and parents should try not to “knock the creativity” out of their children, a conference in Dingle heard today. The Ireland’s Edge event, a gathering including academics, senior company executives and artists, was also told “the jobs of today are not going to be the jobs of tomorrow”.

Philip King, founder of the Other Voices music festival out of which the conference has grown, said Ireland could “steal a march”, and be “audible, visible” and a place others would consider “as a destination in which to grow and enrich their business”.

Games designer

Mr King highlighted the case of game designer, artist and Fulbright scholar Brenda Romero, who moved with her husband John and four children from Silicon Valley to Galway a year ago and is in the process of expanding the games company the couple has established there.

Ms Romero, whose great-great grandfather left Cobh as a 12-year-old stowaway, told the 200 participants in Dingle that “without creativity, we are lost”.

She said her Irish connection was a factor in her relocation but added that IDA and Enterprise Ireland “didn’t miss a beat” in their promotional and support work.

The conference also heard from Intel fellow and former lecturer at Stanford University Dr Genevieve Bell, who said the formal education system was only part of education. She said new thinking needed to include everybody.

The Ireland’s Edge conference continues on Saturday and will examine the diaspora and review this year’s 1916 celebrations.