Academy pupils at Generation Innovation event

Local students from Banbridge Academy were in attendance at the prestigious event hosted on Tuesday, November 20 at Titanic Belfast.

Key speakers at the prestigious event hosted on Tuesday, November 20 at Titanic Belfast, included David Perry, who recently sold his company to Sony for $380m and Danny Moore, who sold Wombat Financial Software to the New York Stock Exchange for $200m.

Generation Innovation - delivered by NISP CONNECT in partnership with representatives from the local business community - provides an exclusive support programme and network for young people who have the ambition and passion to forge their own high achieving career.

The 150 young people from across Northern Ireland became this year’s exclusive members of Generation Innovation after teachers, parents and businesspeople were urged to nominate young people with the drive to become future leaders of the new economy.

The annual event provided students with the opportunity to be inspired by leading global innovators, to meet local technology company founders and like-minded young people, and to identify work experience positions and future career paths.

Each student also received a Raspberry Pi - a credit-card sized computer that plugs into a TV or computer keyboard – that was donated by Generation Innovation sponsors.

Speaking at the event Director of NISP CONNECT, Steve Orr, said: “Generation Innovation aims to develop Northern Ireland’s next generation of business leaders by providing them with access to Northern Ireland’s most successful entrepreneurs, who will inspire them to realise their potential for innovation and entrepreneurship.

“These high-potential young people are Northern Ireland’s future and we need to help them harness their skills, whether it’s engineering, medicine, software, languages or any other discipline, by providing them with a platform to change the global business landscape and drive our future economic success.

Key speaker, Danny Moore, said: “All of the young people involved in Generation Innovation have the ability to be the next big entrepreneur and I would urge them to ‘dare to dream’.

“Generation Innovation will provide young people with the opportunity to tap into Northern Ireland’s entrepreneurial spirit and if they have the passion to embrace it now, they will have a massive head start and forge very successful careers.”

Membership of Generation Innovation provides students with a range of unique benefits, including mentoring opportunities from some of Northern Ireland’s top business people and invitations to a range of high profile networking events.

Members will also have access to an exclusive online social network which allows members to exchange ideas, post news about their developments and seek out internships and valuable business relationships.

Generation Innovation sponsors are: Asidua, Consilium, Core, Kainos, Seagate, Aepona, Bombardier, Anaeko, Almac, Kana, Liberty IT, Pathxl and Texthelp.

For more information please visit: www.generationinnovation.co.uk.