US star will.i.am gives tech message to Bessbrook teenagers
The US producer, entrepreneur and tech innovator, will.i.am, has encouraged local teenagers here to “get excited” about a career in the entrepreneurial knowledge economy.
At an event in Belfast recently more than 200 young people received a special, personal message from The Voice star, as they gathered for the Generation Innovation ‘Night of Ambition’.
Teenagers from 80 schools and colleges came together at St George’s Market for the annual event, organised by the NISP CONNECT team at the Northern Ireland Science Park.
This action packed evening aims to inspire 16-17 year olds to consider a career in the tech and creative industries by getting them “up close and personal” with some of Northern Ireland’s most influential startup entrepreneurs and tech founders.
This year, company founders taking part included Kyle Gawley, the man behind event app Get Invited; Colin Williams from Sixteen South Productions; and Ian Scott of video-content tagging company Taggled.
This was no ordinary networking event – the teenagers were teamed up in small groups with these hugely successful mentors in an “Ideas Factory” to come up with innovative products, which they then pitched to the room in just one sentence.
Ambition was the theme of the night. Having heard from 17-year-old finalist of the Science Park’s INVENT 2014, Gareth Reid (creator of an app to help people with dyslexia), and having a live link-up with ex-pat Hannah Hunt, a 27-year-old from Co Down who now works in Google’s San Francisco HQ, the celebrity highlight of the night was a video message from will.i.am, a rapper with a passion for science and technology.
In his message, he said, “I can’t wait to use the things that you guys create. I can’t wait to be knocked off my feet by the things that you guys bring to the world.”
For more information on future events, or to sign up to Generation Innovation, please visit http://generationinnovation.co/
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