A fresh round of funding will soon be available to inspire young people in Scotland to develop digital skills through high quality extra-curricular activities.
八月三十日, Digital Xtra Fund will launch its next round of funding with a total of £75,000年可用. 补助金最高可达5英镑,000 will be awarded to extracurricular activity providers that teach skills such as coding, 数据科学, and computational thinking and help inspire Scotland’s next generation of designers, 开发人员, 数字技术专家.
The Fund is seeking applications for activities that engage young people from a wide range of backgrounds, especially groups underrepresented in the technology industry, such as girls and young women, and those often excluded through lack of resource or facilities.
创建于2016年, the goal of the Fund is for young people across Scotland to have access to digitally creative activities to increase the number of young people entering highly skilled digital careers, helping bridge Scotland’s widening skills gap.
在过去的两年里, Digital Xtra Fund has supported 33 initiatives enabling them to engage more than 20,000名年轻人. The Fund has previously supported Code Clubs in public libraries across Scotland, 应用程序为善, which teaches young people to develop apps with social benefit, 和VEX机器人, a global robotics competition.
Kraig布朗, 合作伙伴关系 and Development Manager for Digital Xtra Fund, said: “Our aim is to inspire young people to create technology rather than just consume it, and help them understand the huge range of future career opportunities these skills provide. These careers aren’t just in tech companies either, they are across all sectors including finance, 热情好客, 医疗保健, 农业也是如此.
“The Fund has already supported some brilliant initiatives and the results have been fantastic. 例如, last year the Fund supported the Scottish F1 in Schools STEM Challenge which taught students to design, 构建, 和F1赛车模型. 从那, several teams qualified for the UK Finals in Silverstone with two all-girl teams from West Lothian now heading to the World Finals in Singapore, representing Scotland and Britain. This goes to show there is much untapped potential across Scotland which, with a little bit of extra support and expertise, is something we can easily unlock.”
迈克尔•霍尔, Senior Engineering Manager at Skyscanner who are a Key Partner of the Fund said, “Digital Xtra Fund is making a real impact and we are excited to be able to support digital skills initiatives from across Scotland. Inspiring the next generation to embrace digital learning and technology is vital for the future of Scotland’s tech sector, as well as our wider economy.”
Digital Xtra Fund brings together businesses, 组织, and individuals with a common will to help young people succeed in a digital world through an annual grant awards programme. Key Partners include 技能 Development Scotland, Skyscanner, 和博天堂入口政府, 以及埃森哲, 柏丽吉福德, BT博天堂入口, CityFibre, 富士通, 增量集团, Micro:bit Educational Foundation, ScotlandIS, 英国的天空, 和纬向.
The closing date for applications is 1 November and awardees will be chosen by a panel made up Digital Xtra Fund Partners and EdTech experts. Funding will be awarded to successful initiatives from mid-December 2018.
For more information on Digital Xtra Fund and to apply, visit http://www.digitalxtrafund.scot/.