A North West Regional College (NWRC) I.T. student who has spent the past year turning his love of gaming into projects that help other young people get involved, will be one of the speakers at TechTides Youth on Monday, 23 November.
Louie Proctor, studying BTEC level 3 in IT, developed the TechTides Youth competition portal to remove barriers to entry for young people wanting to take part. He has also supported more than 80 young people across the North West to use AI and tech tools on civic issues that matter to them.
Louie is North West Coordinator for the Builders Network at Illuminate Labs, where he is launching a monthly tech and AI meet-ups for young builders. He also volunteers with gaming charity Kippie, building gaming PCs and representing the charity at Game Jam competitions.
At TechTides Youth which takes place at NWRC, Louie will share how to go from playing games to building the things around them.
“I started out just playing games. Then I got curious about how they were made, and that changed everything. I want other young people to see that you don’t need permission or a fancy job title to start building.” said Louie.
Earlier this year Louie won a place on the Patch x OpenAI Young Builders Week in Dublin – a programme bringing together some of Ireland's brightest young tech minds.
Louie was the only participant from Northern Ireland to be selected for the Patch Programme.
TechTides Youth is made by young people, for young people. Now in its second year, the half-day event at NWRC’s Foyle Theatre brings together young founders and builders to share how they got started, with a live Tech for Good pitching competition, games and tech built by young people to play and test, and a look at what’s next for young tech talent in the North West.
