Software NI held it's annual 3rd Annual General Meeting with members, officials and a wide range of key stakeholders including the Education Minister.
Having been announced as the new Chair of Software NI, Lorna McAdoo said:
"I’m honoured to step into the role of Chair of Software NI on behalf of our incredible members. This industry has shaped my life and career for over three decades. With the right collaboration and ambition, we will ensure software continues to be a powerful driver of opportunity, inclusion, and global impact for Northern Ireland. My deepest thanks to Mark McCormack for his leadership since 2024, to fellow board members and CEO Neil as we celebrate progress and keep pushing forward in our mission with many others."
Attendees were given a comprehensive overview on our progress across schools, skills, sales and scaling systems - as well as the demonstration of a new 'Signals tool' designed to gather real time information on the industry so we can feed into government and help optimise policy. Leading Economist Mark Magill gave a superb outline of the industry scale and trends using a series of data sources.
Panels included our Working Group Leaders Aine McCaughey, Thomas McLaughlin and Michael McCloskey. We outlined projects like #SoftwareForAll with Richard Kirk from Workplus, the Early Tech Career Board with Niamh Hughes of ISx4, and Bernie McCaughey of Allstate - who are helping to expand Digital Hubs in the North West.
We were delighted the Education Minister could attend given our alignment on aims and focus on the Review of the Northern Ireland Curriculum - a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rewire our education system and ensure the maximum number of children are excited by, learn and choose software sector related opportunities in school, and beyond.
Following the Strategic Review of the Northern Ireland Curriculum, the Minister has committed to including Digital Technology as a discrete strand within the curriculum with specific content – a key recommendation from Software NI. Partnership with industry will be essential to ensure this becomes a reality and to support schools in delivery. Software NI has recommended matching every post-primary school with a Software company to ensure this is achieved.
Given the teacher shortage, a further Software NI recommendation to incentivise the training of new technology and teachers is being met through the Ministers announcement of a £6m STEM teacher bursary scheme, which includes both technology and IT. Overall, Software NI is working closely with stakeholders in the curriculum review team to help ensure the recommendations can be delivered in practice with support from industry.
Speaking at the Software NI AGM, the Education Minister said:
“An important recommendation in the Strategic Review of the Curriculum concerns the importance of digital technology in our curriculum. This is our opportunity to reflect on what our young people need to thrive in a world defined by rapid technological change."
“Our ambition is clear: we want young people to develop a deep, systematic understanding of the digital world. From digital fluency to programming, from cybersecurity to digital design, pupils will gain the tools to navigate, shape, and critically evaluate the technologies that underpin modern society today. If we want to be world-class then we must ensure that we too are bold in our actions and clear on our priorities.”
In addition to announcing Lorna McAdoo as the new Chair of Software NI, Mark McCormack moves to Vice Chair after 18 months of superb stewardship. Tara Simpson joins the Chair Team as Vice Chair with Tom Gray moving out, but remaining a vital member of the board.
This follows three excellent additions to the board in Carla McGlynn of Citi, Andrew Colhoun of First Derivative and Alan Carson of Cloudsmith. Our deepest thanks to Laura O'Neill who contributed heavily. We will recruit further board members in 2026 as terms come to an end.
Thank you very much to all those who attended and those who continue to give - to the companies, volunteers and supporters of the Software NI mission.
See you at www.salesandscale.com on March 26th at the MAC Theatre, Belfast.
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