What a fabulous way to round off our 2013 events! The Copper Box was transformed from a world class sporting venue to a high tech palace, as 480 teenagers from 44 schools from across London got a taste of what it might be like to work with some of the very best tech and engineering companies in the world.
Teenagers showcased their ideas for The TeenTech City of Tomorrow, BAFTA hosted a games design workshop and industry ambassadors from leading global and regional organisations were on-hand to guide the young people through a day of ‘hands-on’ experiments and interactive and immersive challenges with the help of over 235 technologists, engineers and scientists.
There were some fabulously imaginative activities which had a real impact on teenagers. The voting buttons revealed that although only 29% of girls arrived at the event ‘fairly’ or ‘very’ interested in a career in technology or engineering, over 71% left the event thinking that way!
Making their debut at TeenTech were Ravensbourne College. Three teams of students built three different websites to reflect the day. More material will be added over the next few days but they’ve already done a brilliant job of capturing and reflecting what was a very special event for TeenTech. Each team focussed on particular areas of the event and we are very excited to see their impression of the day. You can see their work in progress here;
Tech Tomorrow http://techtomorrow.ravewebmedia.co.uk – Insight and Innovation Zones
Generation Tech http://gentech.ravewebmedia.co.uk – Insight and Innovation Zones
Activities were supported by JVC, Activ Robots, Equal Experts, Samsung, Blatchfords, Qualcomm, Express 3D printing, City University, Salex, University of Manchester, National Grid, Loughborough University, Robot Science Club, UK Power Networks, QMUL, Bloodhound, NPL, Pavegen, Cisco, British Gas, London Legacy, Guildford College, The Welding Institute, Moment.us, Sodexo, University of Central Lancashire, Reward technology, Sony, Dyson, Alias Hire, Alstom, Softwire, Atkins, Thames Tideway Tunnel, , Mozilla Firefox, Gensler.
A word from our sponsors;
“City University London is delighted to be the delivery partner for TeenTech City 2013. We are keen to use the collaborative relationships built by last year’s event to create an even bigger impact this time. Tech companies in East London are driving economic growth and creating so much buzz, excitement and potential in the area. We owe it to local young people to show them the opportunities.”
– Dr Sue O’Hare, Director of Enterprise at City University London
“TeenTech’s activities are a perfect fit with Queen Mary’s Doctoral Training Centre in Media and Arts Technology and our qMedia Research Centre. Our academics, researchers and support staff just love helping spread the word to the next generation of scientists and engineers. I know they love it because they keep coming back for more, and there are more and more of them involved every time.” – Mark Sandler, Head of School and Director of qMedia and the doctoral training centre in media and arts technology
“Young adults today are already highly skilled in the use of technology, but it is still important to ensure we are getting the innovators of the future excited about pursuing careers in science and tech. London has a growing reputation as the digital capital of Europe and Tech City is an ever expanding source of job opportunities. The City of London Corporation is pleased to be sponsors of Teen Tech City as we have always sought to nurture talent and aspirations within the capital and this will help give young people a powerful insight into this world.”
– Mark Boleat, Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee at the City of London Corporation
” RBS are committed to supporting the young innovators who will become the inventors of the future, whilst providing the link from education to employment by involving our graduates to assist in these fantastic events.”
– Neil Woollam, Energy and Innovation Manager
“TeenTech is a fantastic initiative which iCITY is proud to support. Many industries particularly within the creative and digital sectors have significant skills shortages, while at the same time youth unemployment remains stubbornly high. There is a real opportunity to tackle both these problems by helping the next generation of tech entrepreneurs develop their skills, and crucially discover the wide range of opportunities available to them.” – Gavin Poole, iCity, Chief Executive Officer