SXSWedu Organisers Court Relationship with Kainos on Strategies to Nurture the Future of IT Talent

London, UK June 16^th, 2014 Digital solutions company Kainos has been invited to play a more proactive and long-term role working with other promoters of IT talent development around the world. In March, Kainos CTO Tom Gray delivered a powerful lecture on the topic at the prestigious international South by Southwest Education (SXSWedu) 2014 conference in Austin, Texas. In it he emphasised the importance of fostering future generations of IT talent, drawing on Kainos's extensive experience of running innovative schemes to inspire and develop skills in young people. The session, Bringing Coding Back to Schools, explored reasons why students appear to be losing interest in computer science and software engineering degrees at university, and what could be done to turn the situation around. On the back of this popular session, representatives of the SXSWedu organising body travelled to the UK this month to meet Kainos and discuss further opportunities to work together on strategies for positive change. Speaking during the team's visit to the UK, Greg Rosenbaum, SXSWedu Producer, said, 'Tom's session at this year's event was phenomenally well received because the topic resonated so strongly with the audience. STEM fields are a vital part of the curriculum but the challenge is how to bring coding into the classroom in a more mainstream and accessible way, and how to develop more informal learning opportunities. 'Kainos is already innovating in all of these areas, and has much of value to share. We came to see Kainos to understand more about its Digital Academy, and the various schemes making this up - including Earn as you Learn initiatives, AppCamps, CodeCamps, and schemes to promote a greater passion for technology among young females. There is a large overlap between Kainos's work and our own, so we foresee lots of opportunities for future collaboration.' In the short term, Kainos has been approached to submit new content for next March's SXSWedu event, which celebrates its fifth anniversary in 2015. Speakers are voted on to the panels by attendees education professionals, industry leaders and policy practitioners from around the world, who are passionate about the future of teaching and learning. The Panel Picker process for 2015's conference opens on July 1^st. More information on the event can be found here.