12-19 year olds will use AI to create solutions for mental health at two day hackathon ending London Tech Week on 17, 18 June

On 17 - 18 June, up to 70 young people will work with mentors from London’s Tech City to develop AI based solutions to tackle mental health and associated social issues for their local communities and the world at large. Masterclass workshops in APIs, lean UX and Business Model Canvas help the teams of 5 come up with ideas which they present with elevator pitches before winners are selected. There are tickets still available for young people to join in.

Winning teams will present their ideas at CogX, Artificial Intelligence Conference on 19-20 June and will be encouraged to develop their ideas further. Judges include well-known tech personalities including: William Tunstall-Pedoe, inventor of Amazon Alexa algorithm, Mischa Dohler, Professor in Wireless Communications at King’s College London and founder of WorldSensing, Natasha Rooney, Internet Engineering Director at GSMA, Tabitha Goldstaub, CEO of CognitionX, Matt Celuszak, CEO of Crowdemotion.

The latest addition to the Judges is robot Sophia from Hanson Robotics.

Motivated to give young people a chance to find out whether careers in the technology sector are for them and to encourage social mobility, CEO of event organisers Acorn Aspirations Elena Sinel said:

‘We make sure that pupils from all backgrounds, particularly girls and teenagers from underrepresented communities, have access to technology and entrepreneurship education. We want them to be prepared for jobs that do not yet exist and to be able to create future jobs.’

Acorn Aspirations are seeking sponsors for young people who cannot afford the £60 ticket price – and young people with the curiosity and interest to attend. Would be attendees can either buy tickets at http://bit.ly/AIAcornAspirations or register their interest on the website www.acornaspirations.com and sponsors can either buy tickets direct on Eventbrite http://bit.ly/AIAcornAspirations or contact Elena Sinel directly to discuss various sponsorship packages such as £250 for 4 students to attend. London-based tech business Profinder has already sponsored four students in this way.

The GSMA has donated space at its headquarters in the City of London.

Over 600 young people from boroughs such as Tower Hamlets, Harringay, Tottenham Hale, Barnet, Camden and Southwark have experienced Hackathons organised by Acorn Aspirations in the last year. They have relished the opportunity.

“The mentors who helped us (Ayo and Emma) were very inspiring as well as encouraging and they helped us to fully believe and to love our idea”

Sarah Elderderi (18) The UCL Academy

“Learning to code with others was really fun. It's not normal to be around a physical programming community, and that felt good :)”

Tobias Edwards (17) Chingford Foundation School

- ENDS –

Note to editors

Acorn Aspirations is a social enterprise set up to provide interactive events where young people work with leading experts in AI, virtual, augmented and mixed realities, entrepreneurs, designers, developers and marketers to create solutions that solve real life problems. With an emphasis on encouraging social mobility and working with disadvantaged young people, Acorn Aspirations aims to inspire the innovators and digital workers needed for the future. www.acornaspirations.com @AcornAspiration

For further information, please contact:

Lucy Saunders 0777 55 66 074

lucy.saunders@lucysaunderspr.co.uk

Elena Sinel 07780 478616

elena.sinel@acornaspirations.co.uk


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About Lucy Saunders PR

Experienced B2B hi-tech PR specialist concentrating on strategic media and influencer campaigns. I train people in-house and in agency in media delivery and management as well as strategic development. I have also run successful media campaigns for not-for-profits, such as The 401 Challenge. I am currently setting up a new business, Hawkmoth Training, to offer coaching and support for young people who want to get into PR and pragmatic training to help make their early years in the profession successful.