Techweek Highlight Event

Techweek TV: Reinventing education for a tech future and addressing inequality

To close the digital skills gap in the next decade, innovators will need to work together. We get the latest from industry experts.

What's it all about?

With exponential technology change set to continue, future jobs will require vastly different skills. To equip the youth of today and close the digital skills gap, education and technology innovators will need to work together.

How can we use technology to remove barriers and ensure 1 billion people are upskilled in the next decade? What role does AI have to play? Andrew McPherson of EdTech guides a discussion with the industry experts leading the charge on this important global issue. 

You can drop into this event at any time.

Nationwide Webcast

Friday 24 May
11:30am - 12:25pm

Free event
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This event does not require registration.

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Speakers

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Andrew McPherson

Executive Council, EdTech

Andrew McPherson is a technology leader with an extensive background in both enterprise and start-up leadership positions. His management expertise spans business leadership and strategy, transformation and software development.

Andrew is also a strong supporter of developing new tech talent while increasing diversity in the local industry. As a founder of the Industry Connect initiative, he has helped hundreds of graduates and migrants start their new IT careers in New Zealand over the last 6 years.
Andrew is a member of the Education Technology Association of New Zealand (EdTechNZ) Executive Council and regularly organises events to build a collaborative EdTech community

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Vanessa Sorenson

Enterprise Director, Microsoft New Zealand

Vanessa is the Enterprise Director at Microsoft New Zealand. With more than 20 years’ experience in the IT industry, including a stint as General Manager at Spark, she is a key driver of change and digital transformation. She is passionate about education, children's access to technology and encouraging girls to embrace STEM. As well as being a Mother to two beautiful children – Jack and Grace.

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David Glover

Executive Director - Partnerships, Unitec Institute

David is Executive Director - Partnerships at Unitec Institute of Technology, New Zealand’s largest polytechnic, and is a Chair and Director of a number of education technology companies including Edge Learning Systems and Synapsys. He is co-author of Don’t Worry About the Robots: How to Survive and Thrive in the New World of Work. He has an extensive track record in strategy and marketing and has worked with government agencies, educational institutions and international corporations.
David has a long-standing involvement in digital technology, education and workforce planning. He founded the Wellington EdTech Meet up, the EdTech for Export conference and is a member of the Executive Council of EdTech New Zealand. He holds an MA from Cambridge University, is a Fellow of the NZ Institute of Management and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors.

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Senthil Perumal

Technology Entrepreneur / Founder of Youth Hub

Senthil Perumal is a technology entrepreneur and the founder of Youth Hub. Youth Hub, is an online platform that empowers young people and connects stakeholders to bridge the gap between education and employment.

Senthil sees the Youth Hub platform as a calling, based upon a compelling need to restructure youth transitional pathways from education to employment in order to provide equal opportunities and employment to all.

By providing a real time alternative avenue for stakeholders to collaborate and empower young people, Senthil pushes the boundaries of collective impact to drive positive social change.

As an advisor to a number of technology companies, he has a strong passion for creating robust software solutions that fill the gap through disruptive innovation.

For his work, Senthil has been recognised in the 2017 New Zealander of the Year Local hero awards for services to the community and received the prestigious honor of being in the Top 10, 2017 New Zealand Innovator of the Year category.

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Dr Mahsa Mohaghegh

Senior Lecturer School of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Founder She#

Dr. Mahsa Mohaghegh is a computer engineer with a background in artificial intelligence and natural language processing. Since 2013, Mahsa has been involved with Google’s Computer Science for High Schools initiative and has run these workshops in Auckland for the last 5 years. Mahsa is also the founder and director of the women’s technology group She# - shesharp.co.nz, a platform aimed at promoting STEM to the next generation, and creating networking opportunities for tertiary students and industry professionals in the digital sector.

Her passion for promoting careers in technology to young women has been widely recognised, and she has received a number of nominations and awards for her efforts, including the Emerging Leader Award at the NZ Women of Influence Awards, and is also a semi-finalist for New Zealander of the Year 2018.

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