During his visit to officially announce the new accelerator space open, the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, said he had seen some “amazing examples” of young people turning great ideas into companies promoting social change.
To mark the launch, Clegg hosted a question and answer session with 100 young people, on the issues that matter to them including jobs, training and skills. 50 of the 16-25 year olds applied to attend the session through[ilink url=”www.GoThinkBig.co.uk”]www.GoThinkBig.co.uk[/ilink] – the social action partnership founded by O2 and Bauer Media, which aims to improve the employability of Britain’s young people, through structured work experience and skills opportunities.
The other half of the young people were brought in through O2 Think Big, the company’s flagship programme which gives young people funding to run their own social action projects in communities across the UK, helping to build a more entrepreneurial mindset.
One organisation receiving plenty of interest in the current cohort was DNAdigest, which aims to provide a secure way to query genome data, as it wants to encourage greater use of such information, which it claims is currently “embarrassingly limited”.
There was also Know Maths, providing online tutorials for those struggling with the subject, and Discoverables, which wants to be seen as a livelier version of LinkedIn for young people with its “gameful platform” that provides more insight into personal strengths and soft skills.
SkinAnalytics, meanwhile, wants to enable early diagnosis of melanomas, using patent pending technology to detect small changes in the geometrical structure and colour composition of moles.
Ronan Dunne, Telefónica UK CEO said: “We’re delighted that the Government has co-funded Wayra UnLtd and very pleased that the Deputy Prime Minister is here to officially open this new facility. It is brilliant to see him speaking to 100 people, engaged through GoThinkBig, about issues that matter to them.”
Wayra Unltd offers an exciting pathway for digital talent to grow, disrupting and transforming the social venture sector and exploiting the possibilities of new technology to address key social issues. UnLtd are experts in social venturing, meaning that finding appropriate social ventures has been possible; and together Wayra Unltd is able to help accelerate social ventures; and measure social impact.
Cliff Prior, CEO of UnLtd, the UK’s leading supporter of social entrepreneurs, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Wayra, the world’s biggest and best tech incubator network, to give these innovative social entrepreneurs theincubation and market connections they need to make a significant social impact. Combining digital technology with entrepreneurial talent through this special partnership will help to address some of the pressing social issues our country faces today. The Government is fully behind our initiative so what better way to officially open the Wayra UnLtd Academy than with a visit from the Deputy Prime Minister.”
