Next Up 2015 winning teams

Next Up: Digital Girl Power

Digital services Digitization Innovation Gender equality Skills supply Education and training

Yesterday, Tuesday, this year's edition of Next Up ended, where final competitions were held in Umeå, Stockholm and western Sweden during the past week. Together, almost 1000 eighth graders have worked with cases from our member companies. Each school is represented by five students, and the three winning teams from Hagaskolan, Carlssons skola and Smedingeskolan included a total of 11 girls and four boys!

When Next Up started last year, we had a rule that the teams representing their class during the final would have a 3-2 gender split, to ensure the balance between boys and girls. This, together with the fact that the team leaders coaching the schools during the case work come from DataTjej (a network for female IT college students), would help achieve the project's aim of "inspiring young people, especially girls, to a future in IT".

It turned out that the 3-2 rule was difficult to keep, but from the "right" side so to speak. Several of last year's teams - including the winning one from Birkaskolan - had both four and five girls who ABSOLUTELY wanted to be part of the teams. With our ambition to promote girls, it became ridiculous to stick to the rule, so we changed it to "at least 2 girls" (this is however unbreakable).

What we have seen this year, and not just among the winning teams but among everyone who has competed, is a clear preponderance of girls. I heard an apt explanation when Kunskapsskolan Nacka, when presenting its Sogeti case, was asked why there were only girls in the team: "We divided into groups and came up with different proposals for solutions, and it turned out that the groups with the best solutions had only girls".

Both the IT industry and IT education Sweden have a lot to do when it comes to gender distribution and equal recruitment, but when it comes to Next Up, you can't blame us for not letting the girls take their place. Or the girls for not being interested.

So there is hope - and very good reasons to continue with Next Up!

Ps. Do you want to participate next year? Please register your interest here now.