This report was commissioned as part of the Innovation Voucher Scheme run by Enterprise Ireland to explore and analyse the issue of expanding and developing the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland, currently situated in NUI Galway’s Digital Enterprise Research Institute. To this end, after analysing recent trends for museums and tourism in Ireland, a study was undertaken of other computer and science museums to develop benchmarking and to seek out critical success factors. In consultation with Dr Chris Coughlan and the board of the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland, four computer museums and two science museums were chosen to review, using the Business Model Strategy Canvas:
- Computer History Museum – California, USA
- National Museum of Computing – Milton Keynes, UK
- Centre for Computing History – Cambridge, UK
- Heinz Nixdorf MuseumForum – Paderborn, Germany
- Techniquest – Cardiff, UK
- Museum of the History of Science – Oxford, UK
From this exploration of computer and science museums, along with benchmarking analysis several factors were identified as critical for the success of the computer museum. These factors were Location, Building and Display Aesthetics, Exhibition Vibrancy, and Variety of Offers. Gap analysis was carried out to look at the disparities between the six museums and the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland around several areas of museum life:
- Website/Online Presence
- Key Partners
- Customer Segments/Relationships
- Funding
- Organisation/Structure
From this gap analysis and the business model strategy canvas study, recommendations were set out to develop and expand the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland, arranged as short and medium term actions around Location, Funding Models, Product Offerings, Customer Segmentation, and Organisational Structure.
Funded by
Enterprise Ireland Innovation Voucher