The Design Council and Nominet Trust have today announced that three teams have been awarded £50,000 to design, build and launch new digital products and services that help young people access education and employment opportunities.
With youth unemployment at an all time high, the Working Well Design Challenge has attracted some great teams with great ideas. Over the next six months the three successful teams will be supported by the Design Council to make their great ideas a reality. The three teams were selected from over 80 applications, and the Working Well advisory board were impressed by their fresh thinking and the new solutions they proposed.
Commenting on the teams selected, Chief Design Officer at the Design Council, Mat Hunter said:
“We’re delighted that such strong teams rose to the challenge. What’s great is that there is true collaboration between designers and youth organisations. We’re really excited about the three winning ideas and are confident that the teams will re-engage young people and provide practical help in giving them a proper start in life.”
Annika Small, Chief Executive of Nominet Trust, commented on the selected teams:
"Tackling youth unemployment is a key priority for the Nominet Trust and we’re really pleased to be able to fund the three successful teams through this crucial design process. The ideas that have made it through are inspiring and are just the sort of thinking we need to create the right opportunities for young people."
The three success teams and their ideas are:
Spark+Mettle & Pixel group: Discoverabl.es - A personal branding platform for young people who want to tell their story, their way. Discoverabl.es is an open-ended, gamified online journey that enables young people to be the architects of their own story and aspirations - discovering the soft skills needed to flourish and the relevant ways of showcasing their talents, passions and potential through social media.
Young Scot, Firstport, Snook & Telaco: Newstart - A programme that enables young people to form temporary micro-enterprises that respond to burning, societal questions via online publishing. Newstart will allow young people to develop soft skills in communication, collaboration and self-organisation, whilst gaining practical experience of self-employment.
The House: They plan to develop a new webapp that will connect young people looking for funds and advice with the general public who can help mentor and invest in their future. Their app will help young people overcome the difficulty of finding the funds to complete further education or work experience.
The results of Working Well will be showcased in January 2013.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The Design Council enables people to use design to transform communities, business and the environment for the better. As an enterprising charity, our work creates value by stimulating innovation in business and public services, improving our built environment and tackling complex social issues. We inspire new design thinking, encourage public debate and inform government policy to improve everyday life and help meet tomorrow’s challenges today. www.designcouncil.org.uk
2. Nominet Trust is a UK registered charity, which advocates the imaginative use of digital technologies to improve lives and communities. Since its inception in September 2008, Nominet Trust has invested in hundreds of projects, providing business support as well as financial investment, seeking to make a positive difference to the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people. www.nominettrust.org.uk
3. For further information, please contact:
Tim Crowley, Design Council: 020 7420 5263 / 07748 906897 tim.crowley@designcouncil.org.uk
For further information from Nominet Trust, or to arrange interviews with Annika Small, please contact:
Rakhee Shah, 020 7815 3960 nominettrust@munroforster.com
4. Working Well follows similar national design challenges run by the Design Council to develop design-led solutions to social and healthcare issues. The Design Council’s Living Well With Dementia challenge recently resulted in five innovative products and services that have been critically acclaimed by dementia specialists and the design community. Other recent examples have addressed reducing violence and aggression in A&E, improving patient privacy and dignity, and reducing health care associated infections in wards.