Author: Amie Cossens
Young Aussie girls are being encouraged to take advantage of the growing number of programs that are specifically designed to help them develop a passion for science and technology and learn valuable enterprise skills – such as the newly launched Academy for Enterprising Girls.
The program, funded through the Australian Government’s Future Female Entrepreneurs’ Program, is aimed at all Australian girls aged 10 to 18 years old and is a great way to get more young women interested in business and growing STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) professions. The program is being officially launched at Parliament House, Canberra by The Treasurer The Hon Josh Frydenberg on December 4 2019.
“As a big supporter of women in science and technology, the Tech Girls Movement Foundation is proud to be a foundation partner of the Academy for Enterprising Girls,” said Founder & CEO of the Tech Girls Movement Foundation, Dr Jenine Beekhuyzen.
“I’d really urge all young women to find out more about the program, how they can get involved, and how they can develop their own interest in science, technology and business.
“With so many jobs of the future focused around enterprise skills – skills like critical thinking, teamwork and digital skills – having an entrepreneurial mindset is becoming increasingly important so programs like this will be invaluable.”
The Tech Girls Movement Foundation has joined forces with the Academy for Enterprising Girls to run a series of half-day workshops in 2020 around Australia, alongside Young Change Agents and the Foundation for Young Australians.
“We’re really excited about these workshops, which will bring the program to life and help young women develop a positive mindset and encourage them to consider how being an entrepreneur can have a positive impact on the world. It is a timely collaboration, in line with our exciting new 2020 Tech Girls Are Superheroes campaign, which will launch on International Women’s Day in 2020.”
“Young women need to know that they don’t have to figure it out by themselves. We have some really great programs out there ready to support girls to be entrepreneurs and tech superheroes.”
“If you have a student or daughter with an interest in STEM or their own business idea, the Academy for Enterprising Girls and the Tech Girls Movement Foundation are great ways to encourage those interests and develop a life-long passion.”
The Academy for Enterprising Girls is an online one-stop-shop offering girls practical advice from some of Australia’s leading businesswomen and organisations. In 2020 an e-learning program will launch, as well as a national series of in-person workshops aimed at teaching girls design thinking and enterprise skills.
“I’m really looking forward to running a series of half-day workshops in March and April 2020 to introduce female students, teachers, and parents to the many fulfilling opportunities in entrepreneurship,” said Dr Beekhuyzen.
For the 2nd year in a row, we are proud to be part of the Annual Women in Tech Fest conference. With our tech girls presenting to a large industry and government technology audience – this year it is P-Cubed (at 10 and 11 years old!), last year it was Sun Fun (at 12 years old) – we relish the opportunity to showcase the work of our students on a big stage to a VIP audience!
With a stellar panel discussing women in leadership in STEM, our CEO Dr. Jenine Beekhuyzen had the great opportunity to facilitate conversations on diversity, inclusion, equity and leadership. Considering that the technology sector is one of the most challenging sectors for diversity and inclusion activities, it is necessary to have a conversation about engaging all of the sector, not just those championing for change.
Our panelists:
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Donna Vinci – CxO, Chief Digital and Information Officer – Bank of Queensland
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Bernadette Hyland-Wood – Founder & CEO – 3 Round Stones, Inc
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Cathy Ford – CIO – Queensland University of Technology
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Karen Lay-Brew – Past President and (Founding) Director and Head of Government Partnership / Managing Director – ABSIA / 3Pillars.Digital
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Lisa Annese – CEO – Diversity Council Australia
Some of the key conversations included:
How do we create change in big organisations? For example, how do we speak up in government organisations? How do we find our voice?
With much talk “soft skills”, is it time to consider how women’s strengths can contribute to the future skills needed in STEM?
What are the keys to building resilience?
Diversity and inclusion strategies are important, but what is the motivator for actually putting them in place and being accountable? What are the triggers and how can we ensure that D&I activities take place?
It was an engaging discussion, and the time we had was too short! The conversation continued over lunch and dinner and into the next day with the themes reinforced in many other talks at the conference. We can’t wait for next year!
P-Cubed presented Jewella with a new cape – because every superhero needs a sparkly cape!
In case you haven’t noticed, there is a worldwide *STEM workforce shortage. This is costing Australia and other countries around the world billions of dollars each year in opportunity costs because we don’t have the workforce we need.
Let’s take a step back. What is STEM? Our colleague Meredith [1] describes it well,
“STEM is a pedagogy not a subject area. STEM is learning how to teach with a focus on these four areas and this can be done in a low cost way. The best way to spend scarce money is on teacher training and upskilling teachers to improve their pedagogy, rather than expensive rooms staffed by a specialist. If your specialist moves on all the knowledge and skills are lost”.
So while the future of the economy and work is digital, Australia is 44th for employee training in STEM and 53rd in graduating scientists. What is concerning about this is that in 2015 Australia was ninth. When the report compares countries with a similar population, Australia fell from 3rd to 5th, and for those in the Asia-Pacific region from 2nd to 5th. Australia has spent the past few years sliding down the ladder [2].
In our everyday conversations with industry, organisations say they need more qualified staff than are currently available. They want to hire 4th year university graduates in engineering, tech and science but students, in particular women, are not studying STEM at university, or if they choose a STEM discipline area, often they are not making it past the first year of their studies.
There are economic projections that there is a need for approximately 1 million more STEM professionals than the U.S. will produce at the current rate over the next decade if the country is to retain its historical pre-eminence in science and technology. The UK reports a current shortfall of 173,000 skilled workers as 89% of STEM businesses struggle to recruit, with the shortage costing businesses £1.5 billion a year in recruitment, temporary staffing, inflated salaries and additional training costs [3].
In Australia, the demand for technology workers is predicted to grow by 100,000 between 2018 and 2024 in trend terms, with the technology workforce increasing to 792,000 workers [4] .
Help us to create that pipeline of new workers through our signature 12 week STEM Entrepreneurship Program in 2020.
1 Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths – explained here: http://observelearndo.blogspot.com/2019/10/how-do-i-teach-steam-5-ideas.html?m=1
3 https://www.stem.org.uk/news-and-views/news/skills-shortage-costing-stem-sector-15bn
4 https://www.acs.org.au/content/dam/acs/acs-publications/Digital-Pulse-2019-FINAL-Web.pdf
Tech Girls are Superheroes Twitter:
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Elizabeth is one of our passionate #techgirls mentors in our 2020 #STEM #entrepreneurship competition. Just hanging… https://t.co/UZuQtP4ruz -
Registrations are now open for teams of #techgirls for our annual competition! We have a new name in 2020 and a rev… https://t.co/aPNqcqSfNm
Tech Girls are Superheroes Instagram:
Primary School
Anger Switch, Citipointe Christian College, Brisbane, Queensland
The app ‘Anger Switch’ is directed at primary aged boys and girls. The aim of the app is to help young children identify when they are angry and help bring peace, in a fun way, to children. ‘Anger Switch’ uses calming colours, such as pale blue and violet and includes a description of anger, a fun maze and happy music to bring a sense of calmness. Our app has an image recogniser that is sure to bring a good laugh to you and your friends! Through ‘Anger Switch’, children will be supported along the way to making new friends.
Secondary School
Codie, Salesian College, Sunbury, Victoria
The app Codie has been developed with primary school-aged children in mind, as a tool for early intervention in mental health management. The app is designed to assist in developing positive coping strategies in young people and was made in liaison with the Salesian College Wellbeing Team. Codie is a gender-neutral character who will check in with young people and offer them some space to get some help with developing skills in reflection, breathing/de-escalation and a planner to help with time management.
With only 2 entries from New Zealand in 2019 we were unable to offer a NZ National Prize.
SECONDARY SCHOOL WINNERS
Codie, Salesian College, Sunbury, Victoria
The app Codie has been developed with primary school-aged children in mind, as a tool for early intervention in mental health management. The app is designed to assist in developing positive coping strategies in young people and was made in liaison with the Salesian College Wellbeing Team. Codie is a gender-neutral character who will check in with young people and offer them some space to get some help with developing skills in reflection, breathing/de-escalation and a planner to help with time management.
SECONDARY SCHOOL REGIONAL WINNERS
HealthSpot, Emmanuel College, Warrnambool, Victoria
The HealthSpot app is designed for adolescents to educate and reduce stigma around mental health and illness. Included are techniques on how to stay mentally healthy, positively deal with stress as well as information around mental illness and local mental health services. Features include meditation and deep breathing. This app, designed for adolescents by an adolescent, is unique and modern.
SECONDARY SCHOOL HIGH COMMENDATION
KC’s Food Aid, Killester College, Springvale, Victoria
KC’s Food Aid is an app designed to allow restaurants and other food providers to donate leftover food to homeless shelters, giving people who are in need a chance to not sleep hungry, while also minimising food wastage. The app connects food providers and volunteers, who can then deliver surplus food to homeless shelters. Providing a unique opportunity for food providers to easily reduce the amount of food that gets thrown away each day. Homeless shelters are then able to distribute the food amongst those in need, not only helping the community but also the environment. The unique value of this app is that it allows people who usually would not work together to connect and help each other out.
PRIMARY SCHOOL WINNERS
TechTutor, St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, North Sydney, NSW
TechTutor is a completely free designing tutorial multiplatform app that teaches young people the basics of design. The app gives tips and tutorials that will teach young children an exceptional amount of knowledge for designing. If the user already has a reasonable knowledge of designing then the app can also direct the user to other useful external links that are more advanced. The app will show good tutorials on the basics of design so students can do exceptional work in school and prepare them for their future. Technology is our future so start learning with TechTutor!
PRIMARY SCHOOL REGIONAL WINNERS
Read Smart, Dunoon Public School, Dunoon, New South Wales
Read Smart is an app aimed at primary school students aged 4-8. Everything about the app is designed specifically for kids with dyslexia or reading difficulties, to help them with their phonics. The background is a light colour other than pink and the font is Open Dyslexia3. Each time the button is pressed, the character pops up and says the sound or word. This is designed to help students know how each sound is meant to be heard. The learning path progresses from a single sound to a word and then onto a phrase or sentence.
PRIMARY SCHOOL HIGH COMMENDATION
Fit’n’Fun, Mount Annan Public School, Mount Annan, New South Wales
Fit’n’Fun has been designed to increase children’s levels of activity and fitness. The app allows the user to earn stars (dollars). Every time the user finishes a workout on the app they will earn 20 stars. There are various sports drills to choose from to complete a workout. Fit’n’Fun includes a detailed video demonstrating the drill to the user. There are 3 drills for each sport. Sports included are walking, basketball, hockey and soccer. Users can use their stars to upgrade their avatar. The more activity the more stars!
SECONDARY SCHOOL WINNERS
HopIn!, Warners Bay High School, Warners Bay, New South Wales
HopIn! Is a car-pooling app allowing people to register their car trip and let people who are travelling in the same direction hop in, for a contribution towards the driver’s travel expenses. Unlike taxis and Ubers, HopIn! cuts down on carbon emissions by preventing additional cars on the road. HopIn! is for people who care about the environment. HopIn! is helping to save the planet, one ride at a time.
SECONDARY SCHOOL REGIONAL WINNERS
AVO (Awesome Vibes Online), St Joseph’s Catholic College, Lochinvar, New South Wales
AVO (Awesome Vibes Online), is an app providing a medium to educate people about safety online while also acting as a platform for members of the public to report potential online threats to others’ wellbeing. This app is necessary so that parents, teachers and children are aware of the online threats that exist for their children and students, such as cyberbullying, inappropriate sexual and violent content, grooming, and unsafe viral social media trends. The app also uses data analysis to raise awareness of these threats before they cause harm. Avo is unique because it is preventative, stopping the threat before it impacts on a young individual’s health. The app is also multifaceted as it meets the issue head-on with a variety of education and engaging online tools.
SECONDARY SCHOOL HIGH COMMENDATION
COu – Santa Sabina College Strathfield, Sydney, New South Wales
The app COu aims to educate and promote environmental change. It is targeted towards Australian high school students through the focus on the current climate crisis affecting their future world. The core of the app is the eco-challenge which allows users to track their carbon emissions and aim to lower them individually or in a group comprised of other app users. Users have the opportunity to empathise and understand how people in our neighbouring nation, Kiribati, are affected by our fossil fuel addiction. The overall concept of COu is that any change begins with you, but can grow exponentially when powerful motivation teams with an arsenal of knowledge.
PRIMARY SCHOOL WINNERS
Anger Switch, Citipointe Christian College, Brisbane, Queensland
War Stoppers developed an app ‘Anger Switch’ directed to primary aged boys and girls. The aim of the app is to help young children identify when they are angry and help bring peace, in a fun way, to children. ‘Anger Switch’ uses calming colours, such as pale blue and violet and includes a description of anger, a fun maze and happy music to bring a sense of calmness. Our app has an image recogniser that is sure to bring a good laugh to you and your friends! Through ‘Anger Switch’, children will be supported along the way to making new friends.
PRIMARY SCHOOL REGIONAL WINNERS
#familycommunic8, Golden Beach State School, Golden Beach, Queensland
#familycommunic8 helps divorced or separated families communicate with each other. It is designed to share concerning organisational information to make life less stressful and make it easier for all involved to know what is going on with pick up and drop offs, keeping both families up to date with current information, important events and appointments. #familycommunic8 has a shared calendar that children and parents can easily access.
Games are included to encourage and hopefully mend parent/child relationships. Parents can communicate too, through a note page where a parent can share with the other parent important information about children and making transitions between households run smoothly. Parents and children can talk online plus children can chat to other children who are experiencing similar situations.
PRIMARY SCHOOL HIGH COMMENDATION
Cyberbullying – Back In Control, Windsor State School, Brisbane, Queensland
“Cyber Bullying – Back in Control” is aimed at teenagers (mainly 13-18 year olds) who are being bullied, specifically online, but the app could help in all cases of bullying. It has 6 features including chatting to a counsellor, a calming music section to help you relax, resources and links to counselling services and instructions on how to report a bully. All of these features provide information to empower young teens and gives them strategies to forget what is making them sad and help ignore any rude comments they may have received. Our app centralises all of the necessary and relevant information from the internet, making it easy to use and navigate.
SECONDARY SCHOOL WINNERS
Harvest Cook Create, St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School, Corinda, Queensland
‘Harvest, Cook, Create’ will help small food producers thrive by providing a marketplace that connects them with buyers in their local community. It will allow producers to sell anything from veggies or fruit to homemade gluten-free cookies. Buyers will benefit because they can purchase food that is ethical, locally sourced and unprocessed. Whilst many food producers have an online shop-front, ‘Harvest, Cook, Create’ will be a “one-stop-shop” for producers and consumers.
SECONDARY SCHOOL HIGH COMMENDATION
Right Now Refugee – Cannon Hill Anglican College, Cannon Hill, Queensland
The app ‘Right Now Refugee’ has been designed to ensure that when refugees relocate to a new country, they feel welcome and informed about daily life. The app covers basic information on laws, visas, health, education, transport, housing, asylum support, common greetings, cultural events, financial support and translation support. Our prototype focuses on refugees and immigrants coming from Iraq and moving to Australia. Although, this app could be used by any immigrant specifically from non-English speaking countries to an English-speaking-country. Our app is unique as it brings together many different fields of information that immigrants need in one easy, accessible app.
PRIMARY SCHOOL WINNERS
Confidence Coach, Sacred Heart Catholic School, Ulverstone, Tasmania
Confidence Coach is an app designed to help kids who lack self-confidence. The app features activities designed to build self-confidence. Activities such as cooking, outdoors/gardening, physical activities and meditation. The app is targeted towards kids, tweens, teens and young adults.
PRIMARY SCHOOL WINNERS
Divorce Support, Woodcroft College, Morphett Vale, South Australia
Divorce Support is an app to support kids with divorced parents. The app is designed to offer people help with their feelings in relation to their parents’ divorce. The app features a quote of the day to make people feel happy, offers links to support lines, as well as useful articles to ensure the user doesn’t feel alone in their situation. The app is aimed to support tweens in dealing with what can be a very emotional experience.
SECONDARY SCHOOL WINNERS
Bin It Right, St Mary’s Anglican Girls’ School, Karrinyup, Western Australia
Bin It Right aims to solve the problem of improper waste disposal with its unique photo recognition feature. This feature allows users to simply take a photo of the item they are unsure what bin it belongs in. The app then scans the image and indicates whether the item belongs in the green waste, waste or recycling bin. Bin It Right is designed for anybody having trouble determining where to put their rubbish and anyone looking for a quick and convenient solution.
GAME CHANGER AWARD
This award is chosen by the TGMF as the app that is believed will make the most impact in the community
Breakthrough, St Clare’s College, Waverley, New South Wales
Breakthrough is an employment education app targeted specifically for teens looking for jobs. Providing education for teenagers that are preparing for a job or who are struggling to manage the workload of having a job, Breakthrough is an innovative and informative solution to the growing job demand for teens. Breakthrough is helping to make teens confident in themselves while also helping them expand their workplace capability. With information like how to create a resume, plan for an interview, manage a payslip and tons more, Breakthrough is the free answer to teenager employment education and is an app made by teens, for teens.
National Winners
2019 VICTORIAN STATE WINNERS
2019 NSW STATE WINNERS
2019 QLD STATE WINNERS
2019 TASMANIAN STATE WINNERS
2019 SA STATE WINNERS
2019 WA STATE WINNERS
2019 TGMF AWARDS
Letter to Tech Girls Are Superheroes from a participant at AVIXIA / Integrate Conference Melbourne
This week I attended the integrate AV Expo. I came to this experience as an outsider. I had no idea what to expect. I had no idea why I was there, to be honest. My background is psychology. I am disabled. And I am female. I know from my life experience, that technology rarely considers how to integrate women and the disabled. But this week’s expo changed my views on that.
Firstly, as an outsider, don’t be fooled by the ‘AV’ (audio visual) in integrate ‘AV’ expo—there was some stunning AV, but this expo captures something more. Integrate explores the borderlands of where people and technology meet thus, giving us a window into the future of this industry. It was a week ripe with inspiration and opportunity for anyone from any background… so long as you weren’t a woman.
Don’t think being a female in this industry is a disadvantage? Ask me how many times I was asked to “Get us a coffee will ya, love?” at integrate. Ask me how many times I was asked where my husband was? Ask me how many times I was looked over in the integrate Q and A sessions? Then look at the figures for how many women are in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) field, and how much they get paid when compared to their male colleagues. Women are significantly disadvantaged in the STEM field when compared to men. Not only are we under-represented, our experiences in the field, whether on worksites or presentation podiums, are often discouraging.
However, the tide of sexism is turning. Not only did Integrate put on another flawless and exciting expo displaying future trends of our industry, they are actively working to reduce the gender gap in STEM. Their partners in this venture are CEDIA and AVIXA. Both are authorities in AV industry. Both provide training and certification in this industry. Both are bound by a code of ethics that includes inclusivity.
Tech Girls are Superheroes (TGAS) is an organization that works to engage girls in STEM. AVIXA invited the founder of TGS, Doctor Jenine Beekhuyzen, to speak at the women’s breakfast. Dr Beekhuyzen was deeply inspiring in both her energy and her words. The work TGS is doing, and the impact that TGS is having worldwide, promises a bright future for women in technology. Indeed, many of the women at the breakfast were visibly moved by Dr Beekhuyzen’s words. The room was lit up with hope. As coffee flowed, so did the excited hum of women connecting and energizing each other.
The power of recognition and connection can never be overestimated. It is incredibly powerful and revitalizing to be in a room amongst people who are navigating the same challenges that you are. AVIXA’s Women’s Breakfast was no different. Even just sitting among these women was inspiring. As I reached out and spoke to various members and listened to their stories of hardships and successes, I was reminded the tide of sexism is slowly turning. Women are out there in the industry, working in any number of roles, achieving and succeeding. This progress is in part thanks to organizations like TGAS, AVIXA, and CEDIA. Not only because they are lobbying for greater equality and equity, but they also understand the importance of simply bringing women together.
When Dr Beekhuyzen invited the room to get involved with TGS and work as mentors, the whole room surged forward. Everyone was eager to help in any way they could. In response to Dr Beekhuyzen’s leadership, the whole room was ready to lift up other women up, to smash through the binds of patriarchy, and show young girls that if they can dream it, they can do it. Connection is our key to the future.
Integrate is a fabulous opportunity for industry and industry partners to come together to explore the cutting edge of our industry. Through forging these new partnerships, we will bear the technology of the future. And while gender is still a pressing issue, it was heartening to see it being tackled head-on by someone such as Dr Beekhuyzen as supported by integrate. Both are courageous and necessary leaders in the field, and both understand the importance of bringing likeminded people together, even us outsiders, because in these collaborative spaces that the magic of change happens.
TECH GIRLS ARE SUPERHEROES 2019
VICTORIAN SHOWCASE
Announcement of Victorian Finalists & Winners
2019 Search for the Next Tech Girl Superhero Competition
Melbourne, Victoria, August 2019 – The Tech Girls Movement Foundation (TGMF) announced the Victorian Finalists and winners at the Victorian Showcase for the 2019 Search for the Next Tech Girl Superhero competition. The Showcase was hosted by TGMF’s long-time Strategic Partner Xero at their office in Melbourne.
TGMF run a successful STEM Entrepreneurship program called ‘Search for the Next Tech Girl Superhero’ (SNTGS). Teams of girls aged 7-17 across Australia and New Zealand identify a problem in their local community, research it, develop a business plan, design an app, code an app prototype, and pitch it to leaders from the Australian STEM industry. The winning teams are then invited to travel to the Silicon Valley to pitch their ideas to top technology execs & engineers. The competition is in its 6th year and is on track to have 10 000 girls through our STEM Entrepreneurship program by 2020.
Congratulations to our Victorian State Winners Team Hamilton Hustle. 5 tech girls from Salesian College in Sunbury with their app Codie. Their app helps children develop positive coping strategies through a gender-neutral character. The team is obviously very passionate about improving well-being. Check Codie out here: https://youtu.be/x6VL2Lz0YeA
Our highly commended award went to The Killester Innovators. A team of 5 girls from Killester College, Springvale with their app KC’s Food Aid. An app connecting restaurants with surplus food with homeless shelters in Victoria. This team presented a very innovative idea, with brilliant graphics. You can view their pitch video here: https://youtu.be/O8-cVxKlp7c
Congratulations to our VIC regional winner HealthSpot – a solo effort from Nina from Emmanuel College in Warrnambool. The topic of supporting children’s mental health is a very important one. You can see Nina’s app in action here: https://youtu.be/Jtfm6rilwzI
The Victorian Showcase was not only an opportunity to celebrate our tech girls teams but also a chance to thank and celebrate our awesome female STEM industry mentors and coaches who helped guide the teams through the 12-week program.
Special thanks to Jacqueline Tate from Coder Academy for ensuring all the tech girls and their father’s made awesome wearable superhero masks to take home with them for Father’s Day.
Founder & CEO of the TGMF Dr Jenine Beekhuyzen; “Our research tells us that 78% of students who have participated in SNTGS are more likely to consider a career in STEM, and 69.5% of them are more likely to start their own business after completing our program. These figures are significant, and we are passionate about encouraging more girls to get into STEM because our nation’s future as a tech leader depends on finding pathways to rebalance gender participation in this critical field! Why? Because we all think differently, and we all have a part to play in solving problems using technology. And that means everyone!”
“This year teams from Victoria have worked hard in defining a problem that has a purpose for them. Problems such as mental health, recycling, food waste, feeding the homeless and mindfulness. It just shows we cannot discount the contribution our young tech girls can make to ensuring the diversity of STEM industries”.
James O’Reilly, Global Head of Talent for Xero; “Working in tech provides the opportunity for individuals to use their creativity to solve real world problems in so many shapes and forms. Xero continues to support the Tech Girl Movement; a small but mighty group who are breaking down barriers and creating ‘lightbulb moments’ for young females regarding careers in STEM.”
To get involved in the Tech Girls Movement Foundation, or the Search for the Next Tech Girl Superhero Competition please contact the Tech Girls Movement Foundation.
https://searchforthenexttechgirlsuperhero.org/
https://www.techgirlsmovement.org/
UTS Women in Engineering and IT (WiEIT) Program fosters a network of passionate females and males who are actively involved in the development of our next generation of young engineering and IT professionals.
We’re delighted to share that they offer two scholarships – the Cooperative Scholarship (4 years) and the Faculty of Engineering and IT Scholarship (1 year) to women to study Engineering and IT at UTS.
There are 20 scholarships available for the Faculty of Engineering and IT Scholarship, which is really exciting for us tech girls!
Application process:
You can apply using the online application form at wieit.uts.edu.au
For more information, download the UTS WiEIT Scholarship flyer.
Lego, cupcakes, and rainbows!
Hellooooo Orla, Rebecca and Chris from Rubrik!
Rubrik
So awesome to see you again and this time at Rubrik HQ in Palo Alto. We had so much fun at our last event in Sydney at UTS a few months ago coding chatbots with our Tech Girls.
And what a visit! Thank you so much for the generous 12-month subscription to CodaKid for all 11 students across our three teams to keep coding with game design, and the Lego robotics kits that the teams can take back to their schools. Not to mention the unique opportunity and time with your CEO and co-founder, Bipul, who shared great advice for the teams around considering the ‘triggers for first use’ for their apps – seasoned Silicon Valley advice from a venture capitalist, startup founder and CEO.
John and Julia from the Marketing team shared fantastic feedback for each of their teams on their marketing approaches and pitch videos. Such valuable insights around how critical it is to think about who might have the problem that you’re trying to solve, to create an emotional connection with your buyer, and that you are always competing for your user’s attention. Sharing the ‘Backup Things’ ad that your team created really showed us why keeping messaging short and simple matters, and that telling stories in a different way is far more impactful than just telling facts. And to be authentic: so fun to see Rebecca and Chris on screen in the ad! And Chris in a dress! We loved it.
Such a diverse range of women from across Rubrik for the panel discussion – there were nearly more of them than our tech girls which was amazing! We learnt about journeys and advice from legal to sales, tech dev, finance and business and product management. Most importantly, we learnt how important it is to have good people around you, be challenged to learn and grow, and to believe and advocate for yourself. So many happy surprises at the Rubrik visit, the Rubrik’s team authenticity, effort and attention to detail really made our visit fantastic and we felt very special and looked after. Customised cupcakes with the Tech Girls Superheroes’ team logos, t-shirts for the girls, the interactive Lego build activity, and the Rubrik Lego minifigure HEART.
Rainbow Mansion
Then what a wonderfully homely surprise to end our last day, by venturing up the hill along the curiously named Rainbow Drive. Could there be a pot of gold at the end? Almost! The houses get bigger and bigger as we head up the hill to the… Rainbow Mansion! Imagine a house full of Silicon Valley young professionals working at companies such as Google X, Parc, Google Daydream, iRhythm and the NASA Ames Research Centre – where the tech is so out there (science fiction like!) that they can’t really tell us what they’re working on – yow!!! Great to hear about the journeys of how the residents came to Silicon Valley, and what it’s like to live in a sharehouse bursting with ideas, brainpower, and a lively community (with pizza!).
This is definitely the ultimate sharehouse hang, with a makerspace in the garage (thanks for sharing your inventions with us Jeremy!), regular tech talks and Sunday community dinners. And just for our visit today, the NASA engineering crew setup an impromptu display about the next Mars helicopters currently in development to show our tech girls first hand! We were so excited to not only see the future in Mars exploration right in front of us, talking directly to the engineering team working on it and the wind tunnel simulation, we crossed our fingers and toes for their successful mission in July 2020. Minds blown!
Thanks so much to Alex, Jamie, Jeremy, Crystal and Witold and the NASA team for sharing your home and stories with us – parting words of wisdom from our host Alex to our Tech Girls: “Don’t think about what you want to do, but what you want to try.” So what are the 3 things that you’d been putting off or want to try??
The end of Friday evening fast approaches and we don’t want to leave… but alas, even Superheroes have to go back to school and work. A big thank you to all of our hosts this week across the Valley and Bay area, we’ve had an amazing week of inspiration, hearing your stories and journeys, taking on super insightful advice and feedback, and seeing tech that seems beyond this world. Watching our tech girls grow so much in such a short amount of time, being amazing ambassadors for not only us but for STEM and entrepreneurship in Australia, we could not be prouder of their professionalism, hard work and enthusiasm on the trip and beyond.
Although this is a wrap for the Tech Girls tour of Silicon Valley for 2019, we’ve already started conversations on visits and new sights for next year – stay tuned for info on the 2020 competition! Winners of the 2019 competition to be announced at our showcase events. Dont miss out and book your tickets now.
A huge thank you to Technology One for sponsoring our trip, and to Stockland and the many other sponsors who helped teams fund their way to the USA – for a trip of a lifetime.
Tech innovation and inspiration from around the globe, this is Technovation!
A global parade of flags waving proudly, young changemakers taking the stage, and app ideas that will change our world. This is the global Technovation final: six teams of young women from across the world, aged 10-18, pitching their app solutions to take on some of the biggest challenges that humanity faces. Words won’t be able to properly capture the events and experiences of the evening, but we will try!
It is heartbreaking to see that we have common challenges concerning young people regardless of geographical borders, such as domestic violence, mental illness and environmental sustainability. But, these young women are taking on some of these biggest challenges that we have created by our past actions and inactions, and they have developed technologies that will change our future.
What are these big challenges and ideas on the world stage tonight? A donation platform to help send kids to school in Nigeria, preserving the Cambodian cultural heritage of Khmer poetry through an education portal, connecting children with social anxiety to support and help, pairing social work interns with non-profit organisations in underserved communities in India, creating a virtual community in Bolivia for reuse and recycling of what might be trash to you but treasure to another, and detecting opioid addiction using image processing techniques in collaboration with leading US universities and medical research institutes. Mind-blowingly wow, right?? But this is just the junior finalists aged 10-14!
What are the seniors up to? The CoCo team from Kazakhstan shared with us how to live eco-friendly lifestyles through a 3D mobile game with augmented reality, D3C0ders from Albania are helping to connect women facing domestic violence to help, support and employment opportunities, When&Where is a emergency response app to keep women safe in Spain, using a powerful metaphor of drops of water and a ‘glass of blue feelings’ to help prevent youth suicide in Brazil, applying machine learning to identify noxious and invasive weeds affecting farmers in California, and connecting children at orphanages to seniors to aged care homes for improving inter-generational social and mental well-being in India.
So, who are the winners of the Technovation competition this year? We don’t at all envy the judges in having to choose a winner and runner up in each division! As the judges deliberate, we hear from Justine Sass, UNESCO Chief of the Section of Education for Inclusion and Gender Equality, who has flown all the way from Paris to share with us the critical role the gender equity plays in global innovation, change and leadership – and the need for STEM education as part of girls and women’s empowerment. Gender equality affects us all, and we all play a part in this change. Very much yes indeed, and our Tech Girls team reflects on who we should be reaching, but haven’t yet?
Judging decisions are made, and the Indian and Cambodian teams take 1st and 2nd in the junior division, with Albania and the US taking the 1st and 2nd awards for the senior division. Congratulations and cheers to all the teams! Our Tech Girls Superheroes mingle and chat to their competition peers around the world, sharing ideas and inspiration. In reality, all of the teams participating globally are winners by bringing about local change in their communities with global impact – putting into action the saying of ‘think global, act local’! We can’t wait to see what pathways these young women will take in the future, but they will no doubt they’ll be back on world stages again soon. This is just the start, and it does make us think back to what we were doing when we were in school… how what amazing role models these young women will be when they join their peers back home. Our future looks very bright indeed!
Official Technovation website announcement
