Ciaran Cannon TD is a founder of EXCITED – The Digital Learning Movement, a member of Dail Eireann and a former Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills. Ciaran has a passion for innovation in education and has been at the heart of the reform of Ireland’s further education sector culminating in the publication of Ireland’s first ever Further Education and Training Strategy in 2014. He is also a strong advocate for the use of technology in education and in 2013 he co-founded EXCITED – The Digital Learning Movement. EXCITED is working to innovate education through the use of technology and includes teachers, students, academics, policy makers and tech industry leaders in its ranks.

In 2013, along with tech entrepreneur Sean O’Sullivan, Ciaran launched Mathletes, the world’s first ever online maths competition for schools on the Khan Academy platform. Following the launch of Mathletes, Ireland saw the number of its Khan Academy users grow from 4,000 to 26,000 and the Mathletes concept has now been adopted by the Khan Academy in the US.

In 2015 EXCITED partnered with Code.org to launch the Hour of Code in Ireland. Ciaran is also the founder of The Village Theatre, an experienced musician, an award winning songwriter, and an avid cyclist.