It could so easily be the launch of One Man and his Dog Interactive, as Duncan the Sheep Dog is the star attraction. Alas for all sheep-herding enthusiasts it is, in fact, the launch of MediaLab Europe - a multimedia research centre - in the former Guinness Hopstore, an event dominated by weird and wizard gadgets.
Duncan is a virtual dog which exhibits "real dog" behaviour as it romps around the screen chasing sheep, and Bertie Ahern gets a chance to play the role of virtual master, with MIT MediaLab staff standing by ready to help out. The Taoiseach confesses later that he is slightly baffled at "whatever it is you do with some of the gadgets I've been shown around".
Gadgets, interactive toys and sushi features, as does a great mix of business-people, academics, techies and students. Denis O'Brien of Esat is in great form, exploring the revamped former gallery in the Hopstore, now given over to MediaLab Europe and admitted that he "was looking forward to playing all the games". But don't let the hardworking graduates of MIT MediaLab hear you call their projects toys because they have worked long nights to get their hi-tech projects, showcase for their research, ready for the Irish launch.
Apparently, they were even too busy the day of the launch to notice when members of U2 dropped in to say hello. Bono and The Edge called in for a sneak preview and are apparently very excited about some of the interactive music and arts elements. The boys from U2 and the MIT students were all suitably impressed with each others' achievements.
Some 100 top brains from MIT in Boston are in Dublin for the event, and among them is Dubliner Aisling Kelleher. Hard to miss with her bright pink hair, this former DCU student is now with MIT Stateside and is here to show off her interactive cinema project along with James Seo. Erik Blankinship is another MIT MediaLab friend and they're all having a great time in Dublin so far.
U2 manager Paul McGuinness is finding it a "hoot" he says, and Tod Machover, professor of music and media at MIT, is upset that his party-piece - a sensory music chair in which you sit and compose music by waving your arms around - hasn't made it over from Vienna in one piece.
Head honcho Nick Negroponte, director of MIT Media Lab in Boston, is delighted with the Irish weather over the course of the visit and says it is going to make his job of getting people to relocate from Boston to Dublin a lot easier, since everyone there now thinks Dublin has a balmy Mediterranean climate! Hmm, there'll be some glum faces next summer if that's the case.