The City of Revelstoke’s Youth and Tech Working Group will be bringing in a brilliant line-up of industry professionals for a presentation at the Performing Arts Centre for the Revelstoke Tech Summit on 22nd February, 2018.
This years theme will be Hack into Tech, with a focus on how technology has changed the workforce space and what types of jobs are available. There will be an spotlight on what type of skills youth will need to acquire in order to implement them into a strong career with longevity.
The presenters this year are no stranger to success, as VP engineering at buddybuild, and former VP engineering at Mozilla Foundation, David Ascher will be the guest keynote speakers for the kids of Revelstoke.
In a press release from the City, Tech Strategy Coordinator, Hayley Johnson stated, “The workforce is evolving at an incredible rate through technologies such as AI, machine learning and augmented reality, to name a few. Youth will need to be equipped with the technical and soft skills to forge a career in an increasingly complex labour market.”
In the afternoon of the 22nd, there will be a trade show taking place, game developers from both Sad Panda Studios, who created the game, Crush, Crush and the Centre for Arts & Technology out of Kelowna will be present to answer questions for our younger generation. In part, many locally based talents will be at this event including, Keri Knapp Photography, Shopify, Cruise Line Employment Services, InFlik Productions, Telus, BC Hydro, location data platform company Mapbox and Lortap Construction.
There will be a question and answer period that evening for the students as well as the general public and Specialist technology workshops will be offered to students on February, 28th and March 1st, 2018.
Nicole Fricot, Director of Community Economic Development commented on the Summit stating, “This Summit will be great opportunity for students to meet and hear from the growing list of tech and innovation workers based here in Revelstoke, and further afield in the Okanagan, which is home to over 500 technology businesses and now a billion dollar industry.”
The BC Rural Dividend Fund provides opportunities for the smaller communities that have a population of 25,000 or less, to help diversify the local economies. The City of Revelstoke and Community Futures have teamed up to create tech and entrepreneur events through the Revelstoke Technology Strategy, which will be a two-year program. The Columbia Shuswap Regional District’s Economic Opportunity Fund also supported the implementation of the Revelstoke Tech Strategy in the amount of $30 thousand dollars.
