Stephen Metcalfe, MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock, opened the Basildon Creative Tech Fest on Saturday 10th February. This is a new event made possible with investment from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which aims to showcase creative technology and encourage young people to pursue careers in the industry.
Tech Fest will feature two main events: the _LAB event and the _LEARN event. Over the weekend, Stephen cut the ribbon at the _LAB event and spoke about the importance of increasing participation in science and technology.
_LAB events invite young people (primarily aged 14-16) and their parents to play with cutting-edge technology, explore how everyday technology skills can lead to interesting careers, and work with creative technology. Provided an opportunity to speak with experts.
Speakers included internationally exhibited digital artist Sian Huang, Anglia Ruskin senior lecturer Sarah Strachan, and Basildon-born game developer AJ, who has worked with Disney, Xbox game studios and Rare. Includes Mr. Grand-Scruton.
Metcalf said: “New technologies are transforming the job market. Virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, blockchain, machine learning, chatbots, robots and coding are all disrupting the way we work.
“Many of these technologies are no longer just for technical experts, but are used by a wide variety of people in their daily work.
“Many of the jobs we know today will no longer exist in the future, but new jobs will emerge to replace them. This is why Basildon Creative Tech Fest will be so important in the coming years .”