Danny Laverty, Head of Science, Technology and the Creative Industries at North West Regional College.
The event, which was held at the college’s Strand Road Campus featured range of speakers from the world of entrepreneurship, business, science, art & design, technology, and international projects.
The aim of the event was the promote staff and students projects, show entrepreneurial spirit and to highlights the college’s strong link with industry.
The keynote speaker for the event was Jennifer Neff, CEO and Founder of Social Prescribing group Elemental Software. Jennifer has more than 16 years of experience in management in the public and private sector and voluntary, community and social enterprise sector partnerships.
Students from the college’s media department Ciaran Lockhart and Daire NiChanain made their debut as event hosts, as they guided the room through a series of presentations, culminating with a lively panel discussion.
Dr Danny Laverty, Head of Science, Technology and the Creative Industries at NWRC welcomed everyone to the conference thanking staff and students for their enthusiasm.
He added: “I would like to our special guests today, both from inside and outside the college and also offer a special welcome to our Chinese guests Lecturers in Automation and Mechanical Engineering – Indeed we can now say that this is an international conference with delegate representation from as far afield as China.
“What a year 2019 has been for our students. Earlier this year a group of our students travelled to Hong Kong to take part in the TC-ITE International Student Seminar on Smart Living, the only students from the UK to take part, an unforgettable experience for them all.
“We were also delighted with the success of our regional award winning Art & Design department for their Make Art Not War project.
“Next week we are looking forward to our annual Hour of Code conference, introducing coding to primary schools, which was a huge success last year. Our Department was also delighted when Science student Suzanne Ramage returned from the Worldskills Show in Birmingham with a Bronze medal.
“We’ve also enjoyed hosting our successful Digital Cities event for the second time.
“Today’s showcasing event, with contributions from STCI and our Business Support Unit (BSU), aims to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and knowledge transfer through dissemination of project activities undertaken by staff and students, supporting businesses and collaborating with a range of stakeholders.”
The event concluded with a panel discussion including Technology and Innovation Manager at NWRC’s Business Support Centre Fergal Tuffy, Bronagh Fikri, International Projects Manager at NWRC, and Danny Laverty, Head of Science, Technology and the Creative Industries at NWRC.
