Three teams of young aspiring digital entrepreneurs from the North East have reached the final of the Duke of York and Nominet Trust’s Inspiring Digital Enterprise Awards and will be pitching next week to a select committee of judges including HRH Prince Andrew and programme steering group member Will.i.am..

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The teams of young people have been participating in the iDEA programme, which aims to support more than one million young people to pursue their own ideas, develop their digital skills and get to grips with the reality of business over the next five years.

 

Teams Multihost, Digital Acropolis and Waffling On have worked tirelessly for almost three months, attending several workshops, battling through multiple pitching events and participating in The Key programme before being selected as part of a ten from across the UK.

 

Each team has had to overcome their own barriers, including Waffling On, a group of 5 young people from Northumberland with Specific Learning Difficulties. Waffling On have impressed judges so far with their clear business strategy, creative presentations and sheer commitment for their cause. Frank, Kirsty, Kylie, Phil and Kay and trying to live independent lives and feel their opportunities are being oppressed. The group are developing a series of technical products which are aimed at raising awareness of the benefits and needs of young people with learning difficulties in the workplace.

 

ABOUT iDEA

www.onemillionyoungideas.co.uk

iDEA is an inclusive, 5 year programme inspired by the Duke of York and funded by Nominet Trust. The scheme aims to equip 1 million young people with digital skills and provide them with a platform to utilise these skills and turn them in to digital enterprises.

 

WHY IS THE DUKE OF YORK INVOLVED IN iDEA?

The Duke of York works on supporting the UK's Economic Prosperity.  HRH focuses on encouraging young people to develop relevant employability skills.  Digital skills are critical for this.  The Duke also believes that the growth in job opportunities will need to come from a more entrepreneurial economy.  Therefore, for some time HRH has seen the need to increase the opportunities for young people to develop digital and entrepreneurial skills, and iDEA has been devised to meet that need.