Techies in Residence – Call for techies!

1 Feb 2019

The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland’s Techies in Residence Programme is looking for the best tech talent to help deliver a series of game changing ‘tech for good’ digital projects, working alongside charity and social enterprise partners.

The Techies in Residence programme is managed by the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland, delivered by Innovate-NI and funded by Comic Relief. Now in its fourth cycle, the programme brings together social challenges from charities and social enterprises with digital technology professionals to produce innovative digital solutions, products and services that have potential for scalable social impact.

Shelter NI staff with their ‘Techie’ from Zoo Creative

Paul Braithwaite, Programme Leader at The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland said, “We have shortlisted six projects from 34 challenges and now we’re calling for tech talent to enable us to match these projects with the required skills and expertise.

“Over the course of a 12-week placement period, the techies will build prototype solutions to the issues identified by the charities and social enterprises, as well as helping to bring different ways of creative thinking to the organisations they work with. It’s a great opportunity not just to contribute to resolving a key social challenge but also for personal development and exploring longer-term business opportunities.

Paul Braithwaite Programme Leader at the Community Foundation

“We’re interested in hearing from people with a range of technical skills and possible solutions to the problems. If you work in any tech role and want to express interest in the programme, please go to the Techies in Residence website hereand complete the ‘Call for Techies’ form – we’ll then get in touch with further information and to discuss any opportunities with you. Each project comes with £8,000 toward salary contribution, as well as opening up potential partnerships in new areas for your business.”

To date Techies in Residence has supported 19 projects since it was initiated by the Building Change Trust in 2015 as part of their Social Innovation NI collaboration.

These have included the Now Group’s JAM Card, used by people with learning difficulties to smooth their experience of accessing services; and Versus Arthritis’ symptom tracker for young people with arthritis to help them better manage their condition and access support.
With Building Change Trust’s closure in December 2018, the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland has taken on the overall management and development of the programme.