Innovative Young Minds Launches National Programme - Media Opportunities

For the first time IYM is expanding nationwide and doubling in size with opportunities provided to eighty female senior secondary school students to attend a week-long residential programme this year.

IYM participants experience first-hand what it is like to work in diverse industries like ICT, engineering and high-tech manufacturing. Lower Hutt businesses and research-led companies, CRIs, and tertiary education providers open their doors to showcase the work they do and profile the myriad of job opportunities available in tech, engineering and science.

The IYM programme is also providing a dozen alumnae with an incredible chance to visit Silicon Valley (California) in April to experience science, technology and innovation on the world stage. An array of activities will be experienced during a whirlwind ten-day trip, which includes face-to-face meetings with world-leading innovators including ex-pat Kiwi entrepreneur Victoria Ransom, who has been listed as one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs and has developed three companies, one of which sold to Google. Auckland University graduate Dr Privahini Bradoo, Chief Executive of BlueOak Resources, will talk about her work in creating an e-waste recycling company, and Twitch COO Sara Clemens, a tech and media veteran who was COO at Pandora and worked at LinkedIn and Microsoft’s Xbox, will speak about what it’s like in the high-tech world of Silicon Valley. The trip will also feature a symposium at The Harker School, featuring prestigious speakers such as the Head of the Human Genome Programme.

Opportunities for media

Talk to the IYM secondary school students who are going to Silicon Valley. For many this is their first trip overseas. All have been fundraising for the past year and through the help of Rotary and other charities will be supported to travel to San Francisco Bay Area. Hear about their hopes and aspirations for the future.

Launch Programme Tuesday 26 February 2019 from 5.30pm at The Dowse in Lower Hutt

• 5:30pm Arrival, opportunity for media to talk with IYM alumnae and Silicon Valley trip attendees
• 5:45pm Opening Dr Laura Sessions Hutt City Council - hear about the new IYM Trust, 2019 IYM programme, Silicon Valley visit for IYM alumnae and partnership with Rotary
• 5:55pm Welcome: Lower Hutt Mayor Ray Wallace
• 6:00pm Sophie Miller, IYM alumna and participant in Silicon Valley programme
• 6:05pm Dr Catlin Powers, Co-founder and CEO of One Earth Designs and Head of Edmond Hillary Fellowship Programme recognised for its innovative solar energy technologies and high-performance SolSource Solar Stoves.
• 6:15pm Ginny Anderson, Labour List MP introduces Prime Minister’s video launching IYM