Young coders programme Plymouth for takeover
Over 1,000 of the most talented young UK and international coders will descend on Britain’s Ocean City to takeover Plymouth University’s Campus and Plymouth Pavilions for the finale weekend of a major phenomenon – The Festival of Code 2014, part of the Young Rewired State (YRS) programme.
i-DAT - the Open Research Lab for playful experimentation with creative technology – based within Plymouth University successfully bid to host the now international event with backing and the crew is primed to welcome, guide and challenge the competing tech entrepreneurs of the future from Friday 1 August to Sunday 3 August.
The Festival of Code initiative, sponsored by powerhouse global brands American Express, Google, Met Office, TalkTalk and SAP, is run by YRS, a worldwide network of coders whose aim is to find and foster young people already teaching themselves how to programme.
The annual Festival of Code brings together the young coders of our future and fires their imagination, feeds their creativity and challenges their competitiveness. The talent is fierce and inspiring, so much so, that the intellectual property of their concepts has to be protected and each year, global headhunters are closely following the competition and its winners, with jobs often being offered to the winners.
With over 1,000 young people from across the country and beyond booked in for the finale, Plymouth will come alive as a hyper-connected digital stage. Young coders between 11 and 18 years will reign the Plymouth University landmark Roland Levinsky building as they hack, confer, rest and socialise.
Birgitte Aga, Creative Director at i-DAT, says: "i-DAT is proud to be involved in the Festival of Code for the third year in a row, supporting the Plymouth contingent through their work. However this year, we’ve gone several steps further, inviting international entrants to join our crew for the first time as well as playing host to the major finale weekend.”
Birgitte continues, “Sadly coding is rarely taught in schools and the UK is falling behind in the global race to rule this constantly evolving area of the economy. Programming is often seen as something of a ‘mystical science’ and yet coding giants like Google and Facebook are transforming our world. By hosting this event we are supporting young South West coders so we can inspire our technology entrepreneurs of the future an keep Plymouth near the front of the race as a key UK centre of talent and innovation in this vital, and very exciting, field.”
Throughout the Festival of Code, young programmers will work alongside peers on coding challenges - supported by professional mentors. They will be given government data, which has only become open source for the event, and challenged to develop digital solutions to real-life problems.
The coders will then present their ideas to an elite panel of judges. Heats will be held at Plymouth University and the final, held at Plymouth Pavilions on Sunday 3rd August, will welcome an expected audience of 2,000 spectators. The festival finale weekend also features free talks, music and entertainment from experts and celebrities from the digital world.
Emma Mulqueeny, Chief Executive of Young Rewired State, said: “The digital world in which we live is crying out for a workforce with the right skills for the 21st century and Britain is unfortunately lagging behind. The Festival of Code is an opportunity for young innovators to develop their skills in a creative and collaborative environment and we can’t wait to see the heats unfold every year. The energy, imagination and innovation from these fresh, young brains inspires us deeply every year and it’s just brilliant to see over 1,000 entrants registered and ready to head for Plymouth for the 2014 culmination.”
