At the Tech Girls Movement, we are excited to announce our partnership with Girls Invent!
We are proud to partner with Girls Invent to support our tech girls to turn their app prototype creations into viable businesses. After competing in our 12-week entrepreneurship program / Search for the Next Tech Girl Superhero competition, we invite our teams to register at www.girlsinvent.com.au/inventions/
Do you think your tech idea is the next BIG THING?
Large companies often contact Girls Invent seeking new ideas to further develop, so if you would like to find a way to see your idea become a real product that is sold to customers then register it today.
Like to see how some amazing girls who did the Girls Invent program have partnered with Johnson and Johnson? Then watch this video.youtube.com/watch?v=-8YrtPe9UT0
Stay tuned for more details on our joint activites in 2017!
Congratulations to our Founder & CEO Dr. Jenine Beekhuyzen for being awarded as the 2016 Griffith University Sciences Alumnus of the Year.
Jenine has a long history with Griffith University, studying her undergraduate and doctorates in the Faculty of Engineering, and establishing a successful mentoring program as a Founding member of the Computing and ICT Alumni Chapter in 2001.
We couldn’t be prouder of our very own Jewella’s achievements in bringing the Tech Girls Movement to life.
THE ECOFEET APP CREATED BY TEAM ECOCHICKS IS A FUN GAME THAT COMBINES EDUCATION OF POSITIVE ENVIRONMENTAL CHOICES WITHIN A FUN CONTEXT.
See them on ABC News October 2016
Profits generated from the small purchase fee will be donated to selected environmental programs. The team’s vision is that EcoFeet will influence people to make smart choices to minimise their impact on the environment and animals we share it with.
Upon completion of the prototype the team for the TechGirls Are Superheroes competition they shared their pitch video on the school facebook page, with teachers, families and leaders of Tangalooma EcoMarines (a registered charity who work to improve the water quality of waterways and adjacent environs throughout southeast Queensland). Tangalooma EcoMarines were so impressed with the girls App which helped to ‘spread the word’ about making smart environmental decisions, they shared the pitch video on their website immediately. One of our team members, Lily Pitman was a finalist in a Healthy Waterways competition in July and proudly told them about her next project: the EcoFeet App which they also shared on their website. The girls have also been contacted by Urban Utilities who would like to meet the team behind the App and discuss other ideas they have to improve the local environment in which we live. The girls have been overwhelmed with the support and encouragement received for their App which they know will fill a big gap in the market and the marketing campaign hasn’t even commenced yet !
The girls are taking a well-earned break after completing their TGM submission but have lots of friends asking when the App will be available as they are keen to download and play it so stay tuned for the release date which is coming soon…….
On Sunday the 2nd of October, we had a fun showcase event at the post-industrial Xero HQ in Melbourne. With more than 100 attendees, including a number of teams who presented their apps on the day. Our VIC State Finalists Cars Connect from Bailik College and our TAS State Finalists From the Docks from St. Michael’s Collegiate School led the other presenting teams for a fun afternoon.
Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade Philip Dalidakis and Xero Managing Director Trent Innes talked of the importance of supporting programs such as the Tech Girls Movement, and why we need to foster creativity and innovation in our next generation leaders. Laura Cardinal, Global GM – Xero Business gave inspiring advice that she would give her 10 year old self about working in technology. The main take-away advice, it’s never too late to start!
A massive thanks to James O’Rielly from Xero who helped us host a fun, and super special end to our 2016 Search for the Next Tech Girl Superhero competition.
We will be back bigger than ever next year! Stay tuned 🙂
Guest Blog post by Donna Edwards, General Manager of Organisational Development, Ignia
On Thursday 29th September, Ignia proudly hosted our first ever Tech Girls are Superheroes showcase where we celebrated all 12 teams who submitted apps from WA this year.
Originally an event for WA had not been planned, but with such a fantastic response to the competition, Ignia wanted to make sure all the girls had a chance to demonstrate their apps and celebrate what a great job they had done.
With a sold out event and 50 attendees, 5 of the teams set up displays to demonstrate their applications.
The ‘We Serve‘ team from Penrhos College went above and beyond with their display going pink themed with posters, streamers and lollies. Their app promotes community service activities for students to participate in.
With another 3 teams from Penhros in attendance and setting up fantastic displays, the teachers and mentors in attendance were clearly very proud of what the girls had been able to achieve throughout the past year.
Tech girl Superhero Michelle Sandford (aka ICT Angel) and I formally introduced the evening and gave some background on the Tech Girls Are Superheroes program and the accolades that Jenine has been receiving for the brilliant job she is doing!
Quote from Michelle “This is the largest number of entrants from WA that we have ever seen, and we were extremely impressed by how much they had achieved on their first attempt, especially as many of them were only 13 years of age. There was a wide range of apps and I was delighted by everything they had created. There is clearly a large range of talent in WA and we were excited to see what was entered into this years competition“
Michelle announced the Finalists around the country with a special shout out to the WA State runners up teams ‘Pin Point My Pet’ and ‘We Serve’ both from Penrhos College. She presented the certificates to all the WA teams that participated.
Kira and Delaney, the creators of Vocabulary Voyagers were completely shocked and excited and had some very proud parents to watch! Teale was travelling in Europe so missed out in the celebration unfortunately. Kira and Delaney then did a presentation to the group which included their app pitch video.
After a few happy snaps, attendees then broke away to spend more time with all of the teams and the demos. There was plenty of chatting, demonstrating, questions and of course food and drinks!
It was a fabulous event and a huge congratulations to all the teams that entered the competition, and of course our very own Vocabulary Voyagers who will now be off to San Francisco with sponsorship from Technology One to showcase their app to the world!
A massive thank you to Ignia for hosting this event.
On the 29th of September, we hosted our Sydney showcase at Microsoft. We announced the National Finalists – Team Vocabulary Voyagers from WA won the Secondary award, and Reading Republic from NSW won the Primary award. Marin Explorers from SA won the highly commended award.
We had many special guests including the five teams that pitched…
Let Me Know – NSW Runners Up Primary – Gymea Bay Public School
Reading Republic – NSW State Finalists Primary – St Philip Neri School
Amuse – NSW State Finalists Secondary – Nagle College
Cars Connect – VIC State Finalists Secondary – Bailik College
We also had presentations from Haneesha Nimmagadda and Krystal NG from Microsoft, Robyn Elliot from Fairfax Media, Sally-Ann Williams from Google. Magformers were on display, and the Australian Computer Society came along to help out.
Parents had a great time supporting their teams.
We were also filmed by Darren for ABC Good Game Spawn Point – stay tuned – it airs soon.
Photos from Michael Fakiye and Tech Girls Movement.
We can’t wait for next year!
We are so very proud of all the tech girls across Australia who participated in this year’s competition.
The Australian Financial Review and Westpac announce the 100 Women of Influence for 2016
Dr. Jenine Beekhuyzen has been announced as a winner in The Australian Financial Review and Westpac 100 Women of Influence Awardsfor 2016. Dr. Beekhuyzen has been recognised in the Diversity category for her contribution to advocacy for women and girls in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).
“This is a great honour to be named among so many passionate and successful women. As I was nominated for the award by a mother of one of our tech girl competitors, I take the opportunity to influence our next generation of leaders very seriously”.
A gala awards evening celebrating these inspirational women and the resounding impact they have had within their chosen field will be held at Sydney Town Hall on Thursday, 27 October 2016.The 10 category winners and overall winner for the year will be announced on the evening.
In its fifth year, the 100 Women of Influence Awards celebrate outstanding women from a wide variety of sectors across Australia. There are 10 categories: Board/Management, Public Policy, Diversity, Business Enterprise, Young Leader, Global, Local/Regional, Innovation, Arts, Culture and Sport, and Social Enterprise/Not-for-profit.
Entrants into the awards were assessed by a panel of well-regarded judges and have been recognised based on their exceptional ability to demonstrate innovation, vision, leadership and action in their fields.
Ainslie van Onselen, Westpac’s Director of Women’s Markets, Diversity and Inclusion said: “Influence is the power to make change, and women across Australia are using this power to transform the country and to make an impact abroad – and we saw this in the calibre of this year’s nominees. It is an honour to be able to recognise and award the incredible work these women have made ongoing to our society.
“We know that women have the power and expertise to influence change. This year’s Women of Influence winners, such as Dr. Beekhuyzen, are an example of how women are not waiting for change; they are backing themselves and acting now to make a real impact.”
Joanne Gray, The Australian Financial Review BOSS Editor, said: “It’s not just a senior job title that confers influence – the women chosen as winners this year have gone above and beyond their roles to create a positive legacy. We are thrilled to be recognising this fresh cohort of extraordinary women.”
Australian women were nominated for the 2016 Awards in recognition of their outstanding work in their respective fields and ability to inspire those around them. The 2016 winners join an alumnus of 500 of Australia’s most inspiring women.
Candidates were judged on their demonstrated vision, leadership, innovation and action in and beyond their field; their impact and how it was achieved. The judging panel gave consideration to:
Personal, academic, professional and community achievements.
Demonstrated performance in their field.
Demonstration of collaboration within and beyond their field, and a wider circle of influence than their direct role.
How their influence has contributed to women’s social and economic advancement.
Involvement and contribution to Australian communities through collaboration and mentoring.
Extent to which their contribution was achieved in new and creative ways.
Key Dates
Winners announced in The Australian Financial Review on 29 September 2016
Category winners and overall winner announced – Thursday, 27 October 2016 at a gala event held in Sydney’s Town Hall
Paul Armistead spoke to Jenine (a.k.a. Jewella) in his podcast Disruptive Clarity about two very important things: why aren’t there more girls in tech careers and how do we get more girls in tech?
While studying and teaching in the field of Information Technology, Jenine noticed that something was stopping young women from studying in the areas of STEM and decided to try and find out why this was happening.
Ada Lovelace (Lego)
Jenine discovered that the research says we lose girls attention and interest in STEM around the age of nine-years-old as this is when the media stereotypes kick in, and in co-ed schools, often boys will be more interested in these subjects than girls. This is exacerbated by a distinct lack of visible female role models and a lack of understanding of what technology people do.
Alongside her teaching, Jenine has been running interventions and programs since 2002; one of these programs is a one-day event that brings girls onto a University campus and exposes them to Women in Tech doing interesting things and using technology in ways that they may not have considered before, as well as talking about their career options. This bi-annual event is called Go Girl, Go For IT.
While running these events, Jenine also took part in researching how the programs were running and more importantly, if they were working. The research team discovered that young women and girls are excited about the application of technology in other areas, not just technology for technology’s sake. Solving real problems – this is something that particularly appeals to girls.
Go Girl, Go For IT
Jenine spoke about the importance of choice in discovering or choosing a career. Events such as the Go Girl, Go For IT event in Melbourne, had a turn-out of nearly 2, 000 girls, exposing them to Women in Tech.
Research has shown that on average, after an event such as Go Girl, Go For IT, 60% of girls were not interested in tech before the event but they were afterwards. Events such as these give young women a choice in STEM that they might otherwise had never known existed.
This all led to the creation of the Tech Girls Movement and the Tech Girls are Superheroes campaign.
Three young superheroes, year six students from Star of the Sea School, Henley Beach, South Australia, have created MarinExplorer, an app which helps beachcombers identify marine life or objects they see at the beach.
This app has the potential to capture and share data about our beaches and marine life.
MarinExplorer has been announced as the Tech Girls are Superheroes Highly Commended App in 2016.
It is easy to learn how to use this app and even easier to use, in fact, people aged four and up can use this app! All you have to do is find an object you wanted to identify & take a photo with the app – not only does the app gives you the name of the object, but it also offers extensive information, including habitat, diet, & description.
The app is free to download and extra features are being released over a number of phases.
The app has five features – the photo identifier (where the photo is uploaded to a web service to provide optical recognition), QR code (where you scan approved codes to access information about that item), an upload feature (where you post images to the web), a help feature (which tells you how to use the different functions and the different icons) and, a link to the Marine Discovery Centre (which gives you access to the Marine Discovery Centre gallery.
data-animation-override> “It is a lovely application. The color composition and idea are beautifully represented (said one of the judges)”
In their business plan, the app designers identified “that there is no way of accurately identifying the things that you come across”, and this is how they came up with the idea for their app! Their comprehensive business plan also discussed competitor analysis, marketing (including market size, advertising, finance and target audience) as well as how they came up with their app name and logo.
