One of the fabulous things about heading up TeenTech is the way it brings me into contact with so many great people. Firstly, the teenagers who constantly amaze with their sharp and fresh approach. In our recent TeenTech Awards, the finalists stunned everyone at The Royal Society with their ideas on how to make life better, simpler or easier. As visitors remarked, the projects weren’t just ‘good for their age’, they were brilliant, full stop. Google described one project which won the Education category as having global significance.
Building the TeenTech events means constantly working with people at the sharp end of Science, Technology and Engineering who are pushing exciting concepts forward. Last week Queen Mary’s College London got in touch with their latest idea which they’re hoping to get crowd funded – Touchkeys – a keyboard that has touch sensing (like a smartphone) on the surface of every key. It lets the player naturally control vibrato, pitch blends and other expressive techniques just by moving the fingers on the key surfaces. What’s so brilliant is that the research team will be bringing it along to our TeenTech events to help inspire our students . Another TeenTech supporter, Kate Stone is also crowd funding a project she’s been showing off to enthusiastic teenagers – cool interactive posters
It means being constantly reminded of the great opportunities out there for people with the right skills. I met up with Alstom yesterday – who employ over 6,500 people in UK across the rail and power industries. They pointed out to me their three CrossRail projects will mean taking on over 500 people as they fit out tunnels and install power.The company is also lead contractor on the Carrington gas-fired power station in Greater Manchester and the consortium building the extension to Nottingham’s tram system . Most people will never have heard of them and that’s a great shame when they have so many exciting career paths. They’re currently recruiting in Nottingham, Rugby, London, Radlett, Stafford and Manchester. Get in!