Promoting young IT talent in Heilbronn-Franconia

On Wednesday, January 14, 2015, connect.IT organized the first meeting on the topic of promoting young IT talent in the Heilbronn-Franken region.

In addition to the host, the Gustav-von-Schmoller-Schule (GVSS), the Christian-Schmidt-Schule, Heilbronn University, the Heilbronn-Franken economic region and various company representatives from the region were also represented.

After a brief welcome by host Ms. Reichert, moderators Frank Dörrstein and Dieter Hertweck began by working out possible support measures. The participants were then asked to present their goals and motivation, as well as previous approaches to promoting young talent. As an example, Ms. Reichert and Prof. Hertweck provided information on the GVSS and university cooperation in the awarding of "project studies with companies". Here, both companies and students can find out "whether they are a good match". From the schools' point of view, these "company internships" should be offered more often and for a shorter duration (2 weeks).

A creative exchange of ideas and cooperation concepts quickly took place among the participants. An "open day (with IT users and providers), a "central information point for internships and apprenticeships" and the development of a "list of further education and networking offers in the region", LAN parties, involvement of the Heilbronn theater ... the participants agreed: we can start new interesting activities together and thus make the IT location Heilbronn even more attractive.

At the end of the workshop, the participants agreed on initial measures for the further development of the ideas and defined responsibilities and the next steps. The "kick-off" event for the "Talents" forum was a success! In future, regular meetings will take place within this framework. Finally, Steffen Jung informed the participants that an "online talent forum" will be made available via the connect.IT website and motivated them to use this platform for further cooperation.

Are you also interested in making a difference in the IT region of Heilbronn-Franken? Then come along to one of our events or support our work with an active membership!