The aim was to help students understand what is currently happening in the city region and why their skills will be vital in the future. After a lively introduction, including a quick-fire quiz, we moved into workshops.  First up was the NHS digital team, explaining how they use AI currently to help speed up diagnosis of various conditions, but how we also need human input to ensure accuracy and as a check and balance.  Students then had a chance to develop their own idea for an NHS application and there were some amazing ideas. 

Next up was Lyva Labs, an early-stage investor in the city region, who explained what they do and then got the students to pitch, dragon's den style their ideas.  Some very brave students pitched their amazing ideas.  After lunch, we had 2 more workshops, kicking off with Ramboll, an architecture and engineering firm, who set a challenge for students about what do we do with all the data. Students had to think about the implications of huge data centres and where in the city region we can position them.  Students needed to think about power, heat, water, etc., as well as access and cost. 

Finally, we saw LMA, a performing arts provider, who ran a session on character design where students had to think about the back story to a character and what attributes they would have.  Again, some very brave students then presented their characters in from of the overall group. Overall, a really interesting day for students to really think about how and where they are going to use their technical skills in the future.