Tech Partnership Degrees students from 20 universities across the UK are getting ready to pitch their submissions for the Smart Cities competition, to be judged at the next Tech Partnership Student/Employer event in Reading on 14th March.
The Tech Partnership runs two major Student/Employer events a year – one in the north and one in the south of the UK – bringing together students of its Tech Partnership-accredited degrees, with employers and academics. Next month’s event at the Madejski Stadium in Reading is set to be the biggest event to date, with over 300 students in attendance, the support of headline sponsor GSK and over 20 top companies exhibiting at the careers fair, including Capgemini, CGI, IBM, Nominet, Pepsico, SAS, and more.
The student competition is a key feature of each event and this time, the limelight is on Smart Cities – ie the utilisation of technology and Internet of Things (IoT) to manage a city’s assets and communities, and allow city councils to better communicate with and monitor city communities, enabling a better quality of life for visitors, businesses and residents. Teams have been set the challenge to develop a unique idea that will innovate and benefit a city of their choosing, focusing on the application of new technologies. Each team will get the chance to pitch to an employer panel of senior business decision makers and get constructive feedback. Winners will be announced on the day and prizes awarded during the closing session.
In addition to the competition, the event features keynote speeches and addresses from leading industry speakers, together with a recruitment fair where employers get the chance to promote their jobs, placements and grad schemes to 300+ ambitious students from all university year groups.
The Tech Partnership’s degrees – IT Management for Business (ITMB) and Software Engineering for Business – are unique degrees designed by employers to provide students with the most relevant academic learning, alongside the technical, business and interpersonal skills that place them in high demand in the tech sector. It was announced last week that the programme will be taken forward by a newly formed Tech Partnership Degrees company post-closure of the Tech Partnership.
Prizes awarded at the event will include cash prizes as well as the opportunity to shadow a CEO/CIO for the day, offered by companies on the new Tech Partnership Degrees Board, including Amazon, DWP, Fujitsu, Jaguar Land Rover, Telefonica UK and more.
