I am a designer.

Disclaimer: I am vaguely proficient in HTML, CSS, PHP, little else.

I am an accidental geek.

Tinker London 2007-2010

Good Night Lamp March 2012

First UK distributor of the Arduino

R&D projects for corporates

A family of internet-connected

lamps.

IDII 2004-2006

Arduino arduino.cc

Raspberry Pi raspberrypi.org

Linux Arduino IDE (Java-like)

Learning is a community

Communities are a process of cristalization

2005…

2012…

This is the perfect time to get involved.

The community is human-sized

tinyurl.com/iotmap13

The Internet of Things

Good Night Lamp

Little Printer

CubeSensors

“Smart Drop”

Energy monitors

Green Goose

Molly

How do you get this? Entrepreneurial Technically-savvy Fearless Multi-disciplinary Young women

Entrepreneurial Funded projects, internships, apprentice schemes, ways for young people to engage with industry are crucial. Collaborate with Makerspaces/Tech Shops/ FabLabs/Hackspaces when there’s no money. Go to them, don’t ask them to come over. Let them see the tools of the trade in action.

<strong>Technically-savvy</strong> Young people understand social media, but don’t necessarily understand the web & how it’s built or how to code. We need codeclubs for all ages, not just the young. We need to make engineering attractive and not associated with coal mines.

Fearless Tech City & other tech startup memes make Iteration & failure more acceptable. We need to remove the stigma of failure in the same way we teach children to keep failing until they get it right. We don’t have to be perfect.

Multi-disciplinarity New industries develop when other people’s languages are understood and collaboration happens. A designer working with an engineer. Young people will have to understand that different languages mean different worlds & be encouraged to work with others from other schools, older students, younger students or remotely with other countries.

Young women Traditional industry is being eroded by the role of technology & automation. What is a 16 year old going to do if she quits school? She can Google her way into a career if she been told she can.

The role of schools An environment for intense collaboration. An environment where you can ask questions and Google the answers. An environment where you can build your own answers. An environment where you can see industry from a safe distance.

The role of schools A career engaging in computing can come from outside of computer science. Talking to Oxbridge about the role of technology for the future. These are not soft skills. Educating parents about the role of technology courses in the future of their child.

This is a fashion student.

Thank you. Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino @iotwatch on twitter alex@goodnightlamp.com