As part of Ireland’s Science Week 2012, Dell was very proud to host the inaugural Youth Cloud Summit at our offices in Cherrywood Science & Technology Park, Dublin. Schools within the area were invited to visit our Cloud Centre of Excellence, not only to find out just exactly what Cloud means but also to see how they can be a part of the growing Cloud business in Ireland.
A recent report from Goodbody Consultants, commissioned by Microsoft, highlighted that Cloud services in Ireland could deliver more than 8,000 local employment opportunities. Dell has been to the forefront of the Cloud revolution with the opening of the Cloud Centre of Excellence at our Dublin offices.
The students who attended the Youth Cloud event took part in a number of sessions that included the CoderDojo as well as “IT is not just for geeks.” The CoderDojo gives students an opportunity to practice their coding skills, share tricks and tips and get guidance from the old hands. The “IT is not just for geeks” is a program designed to encourage more young people to invest in IT skills. In recent years third level courses in IT have seen a drop in numbers globally. The program aims to show the wealth of opportunities in the industry. While not specifically designed for female students, one of the programs aims is to readdress the balance, within the IT sector, between male and female employees where females continue to be under-represented.
The Youth Cloud summit got a lot of great press including a piece on the main national TV channel, RTE. News2Day – RTÉ Player The technology press were also keenly aware of the event with a lot good coverage. Here’s some examples:
In picture are student Lauren Canavan Plunkett, Dr Graham Love director of policy and communications for Science Foundation Ireland, Dermot O’Connell General Manager Dell Ireland and student Laura Brett.
Science Week ran from 12th to 18th November 2012.