Our mission to make technology accessible
Technology: we don’t really understand it, yet it pervades everything. This is the story of why we set up Tech Will Save Us and our mission to spark the creative imagination of young people using hands-on technology.
Changing Our Relationship With Tech
We started Technology Will Save Us in response to a couple of different things. We found a laptop in our bin and thought it was crazy that someone would throw a working piece of technology away. It really highlighted the role that tech has in our everyday lives and our relationship with it.
Both myself and my co-founder Daniel were teaching at the time and were keenly aware of how long it takes for education to catch up with the pace of technology. The maker movement was growing and the world of creative tech tools was on the rise. We felt there was a need for a business that would empower the creator generation and parents, whilst also inspiring kids to make and be productive with tech— in a fun and hands on way. We also had a baby and he was basically born with an iPad.
How We Formed Our Business
We started out as a workshop company, but soon realised that by creating products or kits that give parents and kids the power, the knowledge and, most importantly, the confidence to be able to do it themselves at home around the kitchen table is equally, if not more, empowering. We created the design-led company in 2012. It has since sparked the imagination of children in over 97 countries. We work closely with children to design our kits, engaging in large scale research projects before beginning on design & manufacture.
Our Mission
Technology Will Save Us is on a mission to spark the creative imagination of kids - and the adults who love them - with the confidence and skills to invent, pave and explore the future by getting hands on with technology. We combine the power of play with the possibilities of technology to create toys that kids can build, play and code themselves.
Our kits and digital platform empowers kids to make and code the world around them, with unique themes and skills that they are passionate about.
Our goal is to be the gateway for millions of kids to get into the world of hands on learning, to be creative with technology and to unleash their skills for our future.
We launched the Mover Kit on Kickstarter and 1,822 backers pledged $129,311 to help bring this project to life...
Prototype, Prototype, Prototype…
After testing our prototypes with over 300 kids for our Move Kit, we learned that kids love technology that is portable, reactive and open-ended. This allows them to be engaged and active, while having fun. We used feedback from kids to define the form factor of the Mover Kit, which, after testing and iterating, became a wearable. The technology we chose––motions sensors, a compass and rainbow lights––gave kids a responsive, active and stealth learning we were after. And they wanted to keep using it again and again. As we continued to develop the product, we got even more excited that this wearable was not a smart watch, not a fitness tracker and not about data in a cloud but about something very clear–– kids learning through active play.
Our Collaborators
We work hard at reaching out to awesome institutions and focus on building and maintaining these relationships. We work with some really great people including teachers who host code clubs from the Prince’s Trust and Barclays. We were honoured to partner with the BBC to design the micro:bit, the most ambitious education product the BBC has created in over 30 years. A tech tool used to teach young people to make and code, the micro:bit was given to 1 million kids for free in 2016.
The Gender Divide
The tech industry is mainly male, but there are definitely some amazing females in it. We aim to combat the lack of females in tech through the use of our gender neutral educational toys so both males and females can benefit from playing with tech toys.
We have lots planned for the upcoming year, maybe even a new kit! Watch this space!
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Tech Will Save Us
- Non Creative Industries