Oscar-winning film producer David Puttnam has been named Digital Champion for Ireland, it was announced yesterday.
London-born Puttnam, who has produced some of the most iconic films over the last 30 years, including multi Oscar-winning ‘Chariots of Fire’, Oscar-nominated ‘Bugsy Malone’, and the family adventure film ‘War of the Buttons’, was announced as the Digital Champion by Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte yesterday.
Puttnam already has a connection to Ireland, as he currently serves as chairman of Atticus Education, an online education company based in Ireland. The company delivers interactive seminars on film and a variety of other subjects to educational institutions around the world.
Referring to Ireland as his “adopted country”, Puttnam said: “Ireland has been at the forefront in a number of areas of digital adoption, for example in teacher engagement with online resources. There is however considerable untapped potential in the digital area, thinking ‘digital’ in all aspects of policy, business, and daily citizen activity, presents huge opportunities, not just for efficiency and effectiveness, but to help unlock the extraordinary creative potential that exists in this, my adopted country.”
It is expected Puttnam will begin his Digital Champion role by addressing a number of key events for the EU, as Ireland assumes the Presidency of the Council of the EU. A number of EU Member States have already appointed Digital Champions.
Minister Rabbitte also announced he will publish a National Digital Strategy in the new year, which will highlight the potential of digital to transform society. The first phase of the strategy will target specific segments of society, aiming to improve digital adoption and realise the economic and social benefits that digital technologies can bring.
Minister Rabbitte said: “We all need to be challenged, to be imaginative about how digital technologies and digital media can improve our quality of life, our skills, our health, our education, our employability and our prosperity.
“Through his careers in cinema, broadcasting and teaching David has always been a genuine champion and early adopter of digital technologies. He is passionate about their ability to positively transform society, for example in education. I am encouraging him to provoke us to think differently about how we use telecommunications in the home, in the wider economy, in learning and in delivering public services to citizens of all ages.”
