Ahead of the weekend, the GSMA celebrated the annual ITU Girls in ICT Day with students from The Bridge Academy in Hackney, highlighting the exciting learning and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) areas.
According to a provided statement outlining the efforts, the group of Year 8 (12-13 year-old) schoolgirls from The Bridge Academy spent the day at Wayra, Telefónica’s start-up accelerator, where they worked with developers to create a virtual reality (VR) experience, heard success stories from young entrepreneurs from Acorn Aspirations, and learned more about careers experiences from a number of female executives.
“We are thrilled to again be participating in the ITU’s Girls in ICT Day,” said Michel O’Hara, Chief Marketing Officer, GSMA. “Mobile technology has become central in the everyday lives of billions of people around the world and this will only increase in the years ahead, as nearly everyone and everything is connected by mobile. We want to ensure that young women are preparing themselves to take a leading role in this mobile-first future, by focusing on STEM subjects in their education and then pursuing and advancing in careers in technology.”
Speakers for the London Girls in ICT Day programme included:
Elena Sinel, Founder and CEO, Acorn Aspirations
Georgie Barrat, Technology Journalist and Broadcaster, and Presenter on Channel 5’s ‘The Gadget Show’
Roisin Hartshorn, Research and Programme Manager, GSMA
Natasha Rooney, Internet Engineering Director, GSMA
Ramat Tejani, Advocacy Marketing Manager, GSMA
Peter Falcone, Google Expeditions
Rukshan Mehra, TMT Strategy Consultant, RedShift Strategy
Ada Rose Edwards, Senior Engineer & Web Developer/Advocate, Samsung
Anthea Greco, Head of Partnerships, Wayra
We’re told that a major highlight of the day was the virtual reality experience led by Ada Rose Edwards of Samsung, where the students had the opportunity to do some basic programming and to edit a VR environment using the Google Cardboard viewer, mobile devices and laptops.
The girls later put their VR experiences to use with an immersive virtual tour from Google Expeditions.
“Following on the Women for Tech programme and the Youth Mobile Festival, both launched at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Girls in ICT Day offers another opportunity for us to highlight the importance of technology in education and careers for young women in Barcelona,” said Therese Jamaa, General Manager, Mobile World Capital, GSMA. “We also want to help young women understand the breadth of careers available to them in the technology industry, from engineering and technical roles, to marketing and sales, and more. The possibilities are endless!”
