Mary McAleese Visits SkySong in Arizona

President Mary McAleese and her husband, Dr Martin McAleese, visited SkySong, the technology park of Arizona State University (ASU) on Monday, December 15, in order to see at first hand the collaboration between DCU and ASU in developing entrepreneurs and facilitating commercialisation. She was shown around the facility by ASU's President, Dr Michael Crow, DCU President Ferdinand von Prondzynski and ASU's Dr Julia Rosen.

President McAleese then addressed a gathering of local business leaders and government representatives, including Dr Bill Harris, the CEO of Science Foundation Arizona and adjunct Professor in DCU. She sais in her speech that, with the dire global financial outlook, young entrepreneurs nurtured by universities could be the driving force to bring the world back to economic vitality.

“The young people will take the lead,” she said. “In this moment, we need people who are not paralyzed by what’s in front of us, but who are energized (by it).”

Some of SkySong’s programs and start-up companies are joint ventures with Dublin City University.

ASU President Dr Michael Crow said that SkySong aims to connect entrepreneurial students with businesses to create successful ventures. He said education and ASU's evolving relationship with DCU would help the economy recover from "the mess we've gotten ourselves into."

Ferdinand von Prondzynski, who also addressed the gathering, said that the United States and Ireland will not exit the recession without the efforts of university incubators, which encourage and help fund student entrepreneurs. He said an increasing number of the DCU's research and commercialisation projects were being developed in partnership with ASU.