THE NATIONAL College of Ireland unveiled a new MSc in web technologies at a technology conference yesterday.

Keith Maycock, director of the course, said it would be open to anyone with a maths, engineering or computing background as well as to entrepreneurs with industry experience. It will be possible to do the court on both a full- and part-time basis.

Mr Maycock said the course would take a “Dragon’s Den” approach that would “encourage an entrepreneurial culture of product development and see students pitching to real world customers. Our graduates will combine business know-how with technological expertise”.

Former RTÉ broadcaster Mark Little, who spoke at the conference hosted by NCI and Irish Internet Association, said businesses should “stop thinking about the app or the gadget and focus on customers’ impulses and urges”.

Mr Little described his own start-up business, Storyful, as being about “separating news from noise”. Thirty-seven per cent of people who consumed news online shared it or commented on it, he said, so the internet was “no longer about searching but about discovering and creating community”.

Gerry Power, who chairs a working group on so-called cloud computing for the Irish Internet Association, described how businesses as diverse as Aiken Promotions and facilities company Acacia were using cloud computing to lower hardware costs and improve service. Cloud computing enables companies to dispense with costly inhouse servers and run everything from e-mail to accounting and other complex computer services on the web with huge savings.

Attendees participated in sessions on topics such as “how to use social media to build richer conversations” and “building a Twitter app in 10 minutes”.

Robert Ward, marketing director of the National College of Ireland, invited the event’s 350 smartphone-wielding attendees to “check in on foursquare” – a localised networking app that awards a “swarm badge” if 50 or more people “check in” to an online location at the same time.