Dublin, Ireland really has positioned itself well to attract some impressive innovation hubs, two of which we were recently lucky enough to visit.

The first of these was the Science Gallery Dublin.  In their own words this is “a world first — a venue where today’s white-hot scientific issues are thrashed out and you can have your say. A place where science and art collide. Since opening in 2008, nearly 3 million of you have visited us in Dublin — ranking us amongst the top ten free cultural attractions in Ireland. We’re all about opening science up to passionate debate and want your opinion.”

Science Gallery Dublin has been the starting point, but there are now five further facilities that are going to open around the world including London, Bengaluru, Venice, Detroit, and Melbourne. A key focus is to engage 15-25 year olds with science. Find out more here.

One of the Science Galleries supporters is Google, and subsequently, we were also taken on a tour of Google Headquarters, which is also located in Dublin, Ireland.

Google HQ is unsurprisingly a truly impressive place. Employees live and work in an immersive Google environment. The atmosphere was laidback and electric all at the same time. The vibrant environment oozes imaginativeness, appearing to be a melting pot of cultural and creative diversity. The facilities are astounding, the workspaces many and varied, and the onsite café appears to cater to each of the vastly diverse nationalities that work at Google.

Interestingly the sole KPI for all Google employees is to submit to a 6 monthly, 360 degree review. This outcome predicts their ongoing employment. Apparently, this process is how they feel they optimise the creativity of their teams.

Employees at Google HQ certainly work within the ‘Google bubble’, which is created and managed by Google It is unquestionably an exciting and inspiring place to work, but none the less this style of immersive employment only appeals to employees of a certain age and stage. Whilst as a tech company this has work very well for Google it will be interesting to see if and how Google evolve their environment, to keep themselves relevant to ‘everyday people’ as their business transitions into a product and service that all sorts of people use every day, throughout the world.