The midpoint of TECH WEEK YQG saw St. Clair College hosting a Tech Talent Day on October 31, introducing over 250 local high school students to the world of robotics, entrepreneurship, e-gaming and coding.
The day also featured keynote speakers Katie Renaud, LEPC Researcher and Lead Methodologist of Workforce Windsor-Essex; Brian Hendel, President of Splice Digital; and Jacob Duchaime, Founder and CEO of iDream Interactive, a local online video game company.
“The foundation of a vibrant tech sector is tech talent, and that means inspiring young people to consider career paths in science and technology that lead through St. Clair College,” says Kevin Hamilton, Marketing Administrator and Analyst at St. Clair College. The school hosted Tech Talent Day in partnership with title sponsor Workforce Windsor-Essex and co-organizer WEtech Alliance.
In addition to computer- and robotics-related programs at the college, St. Clair’s Saints (e)Gaming varsity team and new eSports Administration academic offering were featured attractions during the day.
Tech Talent Day follows on the heels of Tuesday’s Tech Show that featured four speakers from Detroit including Matt Cullen, the principal at Rock Ventures, with all speakers emphasizing at one point or another that education and developing tech talent were keys to Detroit’s resurgence.
“In the United States, about one million tech jobs will remain unfilled by 2020,” said Yvonne Pilon, President and CEO of WEtech Alliance. “That’s why in Detroit we see an all-hands-on-deck approach with both the public and private sector stepping up to fill the gap between demand and supply for tech talent.”
As part of Tech Talent Day, WEtech Alliance partnered with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce, and the Discover Ability Network for a seminar held at the University of Windsor EPICentre on breaking down barriers to employment in the tech space for the accessibility community.
On November 1, St. Clair’s Zekelman School of Business and Information Technology hosts a discussion on the role of Women in Tech.
