Catch22’s Social Tech Amplifier is working with tech-enabled ventures that support young people to access jobs and navigate the future of work. On Tuesday we held our final event of the series focusing on unlocking the power of AI (articificial intelligence) and digital in the employment and skills sector.
The event, held at Microsoft’s Experience Centre on Oxford Street, brought together a room full of ventures, employability providers, government departments and young people to draw focus on both the benefits and concerns of AI and the power this may hold in the sector.
We heard from three of our current ventures who have been working on the programme for the past year. They took the time to talk us through what they do, their successes and struggles, but mostly importantly provide insight on their experience:
- Imployable – A free career management tool which provides all learners with the skills, resources and knowledge to identify careers, develop themselves, and search and apply for jobs and training. The app works can support employment advisors to track, monitor, support and communicate with learners.
- Earlybird – Software that can replace the time-consuming, form-heavy, initial meetings between an employment adviser and a participant, and helps employability providers to create supportive relationships with participants and focus on their needs.
- SkillLab – A mobile app which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to allow people to capture and express their unique skills, explore careers and apply for jobs. In parallel, SkillLab builds platforms for career counsellors where they can access this data, allowing them to better understand their clients, informing and creating opportunities to tailor the career counselling process.
To further explore the power of AI and digital we held a panel discussion with:
- Claudine Adeyemi, Founder and CEO of Earlybird,
- Sean Williams, Founder and Chief Executive of Autogen AI,
- Sue Attewell, Head of AI and Co-Design at Jisc, and
- Stefan Atanasiu, Senior Cloud Architect at Microsoft.
Panellists shared their experience and thoughts on AI and the possibilities it holds for the sector going forward.
David Hinton, Senior Venture Partner for Catch22’s Social Tech Amplifier, said:
“We had some great conversations about AI and other digital technologies which have the potential to transform the employment and skills support landscape. Whilst no doubt there will be challenges ahead, the underlying feeling in the room was of optimism and opportunity. Our ventures in the room really brought this message to life when showcasing their technologies which are already having great impact helping people into work today. It has been a real pleasure working with these ventures over the past few months and I’m looking forward to watching them continue to do great things.”