Youth Tech Fest 23 at the University of Nicosia successfully completed
More than 1,000 participants from all over Cyprus participated in the festival
With the participation of hundreds of students’ teachers and their parents, the Youth Tech Fest 2023 took place on November 18, at the premises of the University of Nicosia.
With the motto “Together we can inspire the generation of the future”, the festival was dedicated to the curiosity of young people about technology, science, art, environment and entrepreneurship.
More than 1,000 participants, including students, teachers and parents from all over Cyprus, took part in the festival, which was organised under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth.
In her address, delivered on her behalf by the Inspector of Design and Technology of the Ministry of National Economy, Mr. Panayiotis Zymaridis, the Minister of National Economy, Dr. Athena Michaelides, referred extensively to the ways of promoting programmes and activities among young people, which will encourage them to adapt to the realities of our times.
As he explained, “it is necessary to promote programmes and activities that encourage our young people to be stimulated to research and develop creativity, ingenuity, innovation, technological/engineering literacy and to go much further in their scientific and technological training. To be able to critically think, investigate, create and innovate, develop basic manual skills, develop digital skills, acquire the ability to present and support their actions.”
The Festival was organised by the Executives; Club of Cyprus in collaboration with the University of Nicosia and was aimed at students aged 6-18 years old from public and private schools in Cyprus, with a strong emphasis on technology and science.
In addition to the new technologies and technological tools used in education, teachers, students and their parents had the unique opportunity to listen to the experiences of speakers representing, among others, the European Commission, Shell, Google in Education, Oracle Academy, the University of Nicosia, etc.
In his presentation, Mr. Nikos Isaris, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation in Cyprus, referred to what the EU is promoting for education, spoke about the cooperation between private and public education and stressed that this cooperation is necessary for better education, as well as the need for a better education in Cyprus.
Mr. Andreas Konstantinidis, Manager of Professional Services of Odyssey Cybersecurity, expanded on online disinformation, blackmail, bulling etc., while he also mentioned the pros and cons of AI (Artificial Intelligence).
Mr. Tarig Hussein NXplorers Global Lead of Shell, reported on global STEAM education by analyzing the impact of using technology and AI, the gender gap in the field and ways to develop critical and creative thinking in young people.
The ways in which they can deal, with the help of technology, with the unpleasant consequences of the war in Ukraine was addressed by Mr. Vladimir Linkevichh, CBDO of ASBIS Group, while Mr. Andreas Vlachos of the Institute for the Future (IFF) of the University of Nicosia focused on the importance of digital education, stressing that it is legitimate to educate and then let young people decide on the path they will follow.
Very interesting was the presentation of Mr. George Danos, President of the Cyprus Space Agency, who stressed that the topic of space is increasingly exciting young people. In his turn, Mr. Mike Lloyd, founder of learn-tech.io referred to the “Age of AI and Automation” pointing out the increasing role of AI in the global economy.
Dr. Dimitris Trichinas, Lecturer at the Department of Informatics, University of Nicosia, referred to the future of AI-enabled education, while Dr. Michael Agathokleous of AC Goldman Solutions emphasized the use of AI as an assistant. “Certainly with its implementation a lot will change, but it will help in decision making and job creation,” he said.
Christina Sailas, founder of Gear Education, called AI a “tool”, elaborating in her speech on how teachers can be helped by it. Haralambos Vrasidas, Professor of Educational Technology at the University of Nicosia and Director of CARDET, highlighted the importance of AI, stressing that it is “advancing faster than we expected”.
The festival presentations concluded with a panel from which Maria Lavithi Howard, CEO of MGD Heroes Made focused on diversity in society and stressed that “we need to trust our children, as they are capable of doing more than we think”. She concluded by saying that technology can be used as a tool or a weapon.
Students enriched their knowledge with interactive performances, workshops, masterclasses and hands-on activities led by teachers, engineers, scientists and developers.
The Robotics, Gaming and Coding XR/VR,eco and Fun Science zones in specially designed areas at the University of Nicosia attracted the attention not only of the children but also of their accompanying parents.
This was followed by a special award ceremony for students’ projects from various schools in Cyprus, related to the E2STEAM (Environment, Entrepreneurship, Science, Technology, Engineering, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) educational approach.
