Global innovation on our doorstep
Some of our Sixth form pupils eager to learn about Sheffield-born innovation spent a morning at the #VibrantSheffield Live! Event at The Crucible, practicing their networking skills and learning about the small and large Sheffield businesses putting the region on the map with their innovative thinking.
#VibrantSheffield Live! was put together by Grant Thornton, a professional services network who has stated that their vision is “to shape a vibrant economy by helping dynamic organisations unlock their potential for growth.” This event brought together businesses from across the Sheffield area that exemplify this year’s theme of Global Innovation with their fresh ways of thinking, creativity and products, with presentations to display how they’re making astounding progress for Sheffield and the wider world. Companies featured in this year’s line-up included Twinkl, Textocracy, SleepCogni, Mobile Power, the National Videogame Museum and more.
Some highlights included hearing how Textocracy solves age-old problems that prevent people from having their voices heard by introducing their new SMS based feedback system, simplifying the process of submitting reviews, complaints, surveys and other feedback.
Twinkl, whose resources are used by Sheffield Girls’ Junior School, is a digital educational publisher whose latest developments are combining augmented reality technology with reading to increase young children’s engagement with literacy, in addition to their ‘Little Red Coding Club’ app designed to teach programming. ‘Little Red Coding Club’ is making strides as the first of its kind to be both multiplayer and use augmented reality.
Sixth form pupils have worked closely with Grant Thornton previously to learn how to network and today put what they learned into practice by gathering feedback on the event. They were confident in approaching the speakers and members of other businesses and gathered information on their opinion of this year’s #VibrantSheffield Live!, in addition to asking any burning questions they had about the innovative products and business practices presented.
Izzy said, “We thought today was really valuable, and there was a lot of new and interesting ideas that we’d never thought of before, especially with Strata Homes’ presentation about their housing projects.”
“It was really eye opening to hear about things that I never even knew were happening in Sheffield,” agreed Flo.