Standard content for Members only
To continue reading this article, please login to your Utility Week account, Start 14 day trial or Become a member.
If your organisation already has a corporate membership and you haven’t activated it simply follow the register link below. Check here.
Students whose studies have been affected by lockdown are being offered a helping hand to enter the world of work with career-focused sessions at Northumbrian’s all-digital Innovation Festival next month.
Recent news of exam grade disappointments mean many young people are facing an unconventional start to further education or careers, and the team behind the festival saw an opportunity to assist, according to head of innovation Angela MacOscar.
“The people we can reach out to and help this year are the ‘class of 2020’ – school, college and university leavers as well as people who are displaced in the job market,” she said. “We’re creating specific content to help them think about what would give them the best chance for attracting a new employer and getting them geared up for the world of work.”
She described the prospects for young people as “a tough landscape”.
“One of the activities we have is mirroring the design thinking process from sprints and applying that to how people think about their career differently. We have some create content for school leavers and indeed anyone to tap into who want to think differently and shape up their own personal brand.”
The event will have around 40 different topics covering a spectrum of technological, environmental and other challenges.
Director Nigel Watson described one such session for utilities whose field workers use Apple’s IoS platform. Apple will conduct a show sharing field worker user experience, explaning how to best utilise features and what is coming in the next update to assist companies in improving field workers’ lives.
Hacks and sprints will work around the clock with online participants in the US, Canada and Australia exploring ideas such as creating a digital twin to help reduce energy and chemical usage within a utility.
Elsewhere participants will work towards creating a “global learning lab for utilities” with South Australia Power Networks, identifying technologies and ways of working from around the globe.
Isle Utilities and Schneider will look at diversity of utilities across the globe, which Watson and MacOscar said is a strong part of what makes the festival environment special.
MacOscar said: “We can have meetings with water sector colleagues any day, but this allows us to work with organisations from different sectors and walks of life to help us better serve our customers with products and services.”
There will be guest speakers including author and entrepreneur Sam Conniff and comedian Neil Mullarkey, and to recreate the atmosphere of the festival the team is developing “cocktails” in an artificial intelligence studio.
Registration is open now.
Please login or Register to leave a comment.