Technology is a huge part of my life nowadays. I use technology for education, leisure, and basically anything I need to figure out. The technology industry has been growing rapidly over the past few decades, and with that many new innovators and engineers have created some amazing tools and websites that have changed the world. In PLP, technology is the new way of learning, and with that we were given the opportunity to learn more about new innovation and creativity at the BC Tech Summit Exhibition. The Tech Summit is an annual event where motivational speakers and entrepreneurs come to talk about the changing world and products they have created.

I watched the live stream of the tech summit and with that, I learned about many entrepreneurs and people with new ideas. One of the people was a man named David Katz. David Katz is the founder of Plastic Bank, a system that is designed to not clean the ocean, but to reduce the amount of plastic being dumped into it. Simply put, this program is a form of encouragement to those who live in third world countries to start collecting the plastic they see on the ground. With this plastic they can bring it to a collection centre (a plastic bank if you will) where in exchange they are given money, fuel, cooking ware, first aid materials, electricity, home supplies, it all depends on how many bottles and bins they’re able to collect. The money that’s earned then goes into an online account that has ben set up for the person, this is a way of reducing the amount of theft because of the extra security. The idea is to “create a new sense of worth to people living in poverty.”

Another’s person I wanted to talk about is a man named Brent Bushnell. Brent Bushnell is a Los Angeles based entrepreneur, engineer, and CEO/co founder of Two Bit Circus, an experiential entertainment company. This company uses virtual reality to create entertainment for people that usually take the form of amusement parks. His tech is used to inspire kids about science, technology, engineering, art and math. Or in another form, S.T.E.A.M. During his very inspirational talk, I got these main points. The world outside is changing and technology is at the heart of it. He said that 65% of children will have jobs that don’t exist now, meaning that technology will be disrupting our daily lives so much that the jobs we have now will be changed forever, and new ones will take over. This was just one of the many topics he spoke about. Brent Bushnell’s talk was my favourite out of them all since he talked a lot about new innovation and the future of the technology industry.

All over Canada, there are many programs and post-secondary institutions that teach students interested in technology. With a focus on Vancouver, one of the programs highly recommended by several of my Mom’s friends is called “Brainstation”. This camp allows young people to learn about the ever so changing world of technology, and more specifically a bootcamp for digital and coding skills. It is a great introduction program, and is based in Vancouver and Toronto. Another program recommended program is called “Lighthouse Labs” which is all about “html” and giving people the opportunity to learn about coding.

Along with listening to handful of different people on the stream, I also interviewed Michael Tippett, a well known entrepreneur in the city of Vancouver.

Podcast coming soon.

Anyways, that about wraps up this post. I definitely learned a lot about this moving industry and the changes happening to it all the time, as well as new entrepreneurial ideas to revolutionize the world. Thanks for tuning in, see you in the next one.