Girls in ICT Day event, Ottawa

4/25/2019

The Americas, Canada, 7 Bayview Road, Ottawa, ON, Canada

80 participants

Girls in ICT Day in Ottawa
April 25, 2019

More than 80 youth in Ottawa, Canada participated in Girls in ICT Day on Thursday, April 25th in a half-day event that saw community partners, non-profit organizations, and Canadian technology organizations provide hands-on learning activities in science, engineering, technology, and math. 

The event was hosted by organizing partners Global Affairs Canada, Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada (ISED), Invest Ottawa, and Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT).

Kicking off the day, guest speakers shared their personal journeys to entrepreneurship and social impact through ICTs. Speakers included:

• Susan Richards, Co-Chair of Invest Ottawa and Bayview Yards, and Co-Founder and Managing Partner of numbercrunch inc.

• Jennifer Francis, Technology Mentor, Advisor, and Investor at Cafe Noir Consulting; Capital Angel Network, Technovation Ottawa 

• Lama Chami, Digital Community Manager at Refugee613

• Janet Longmore, Founder and CEO at Digital Opportunity Trust

• Elizabeth Audette-Bourdeau, Co-Founder and CEO of Welbi
  
  

Video remarks were provided by The Honourable Navdeep Bains,  Minister of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada (ISED) and Doreen Bogdan, Director, International Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU.  Watch a live stream of the opening remarks at https://youtu.be/9L4aWlZrymY.

“[Today’s speeches] were really inspiring, especially learning about the small percentage of women in the technology field, it’s really upsetting but it’s also inspiring for all of us to really want to get in there.” - Jane, Elmwood School

Following opening remarks, students participated in activity tables hosted by Girls in ICT Day partners and engaged in hands-on learning workshops. Participants rotated between tables throughout the morning, engaging in activities like HTML coding, using social media for businesses, moving objects through a robotics maze, and learning about the opportunities available to them in ICT fields.

“I’ve always thought about bridging business and commerce and technology somehow in the future, and today was great because we got to see lots of examples of how we might be able to do that or be inspired to do that.” - Alexandra, Elmwood School

Participating organizations included African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, ambiSHEous, Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), Code Mobile, Canada Learning Code, Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Engineering Outreach, Global Affairs Canada, Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC), International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Kids Code Jeunesse, Let's Talk Science, Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, Oxfam Canada, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, Technovation, and Welbi.

Link to event photos: Girls in ICT Day event photo album, Facebook.