Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced plans to expand into the UK, by teaming up with InnovateHer.
The Liverpool organisation is teaming up with Sony’s Playstation brand to bring its 8 week tech programme for teenage girls to more locations around the country.
The Digital Bootcamp programme aims to give girls aged between 12 and 16 tech and interpersonal skills whilst encouraging them to consider STEM subjects and careers in tech.
PlayStation has previously worked with InnovateHer’s sister brand Liverpool Girl Geeks to deliver a similar educational programme in Liverpool in 2016.
That saw 20 girls take part in technology themed workshops across 6 weeks, and included an invitation to PlayStation’s Wavertree offices to meet technical staff and learn more about how games are developed and tested.
“We’re proud to be working with PlayStation again on our tech programme for girls. The issues we see around the gender pay gap and low numbers of women in the tech community are the culmination of the seeds that get sown early in young women’s academic careers,” said Chelsea Slater, Co-founder of InnovateHer.
“Our mission is to get girls ready for the tech industry, and to get the industry ready for girls, and a huge part of this is challenging the misconception that girls “can’t do” STEM subjects like Computer Science, equally that the STEM industry doesn’t cater for women. That’s why it’s important for us that our programme reaches girls not just locally, but nationally, too, and that it aims to show young women just what opportunities are open to them. Thanks to PlayStation’s support and recognition, we are able to do just that.”
Programmes will start in selected schools during January 2020, and graduates of the programme will have a chance to showcase their work at next year’s Develop conference in Brighton.
