THE ORBISPACE INITIATIVE

This International Women's Day, Channel 9 News covered The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, connecting with TOI students and teachers to discuss female leadership. She also heard from students about the sustainability solutions they have developed through their participation in Pitch for the Planet.

Students participating in The Orbisapce Initiative travel from regional NSW to attend The Future of Female Leadership Forum at the Sydney Startup Hub

Check out our action packed online program in 2021, bringing together students across NSW to connect with innovation industry leaders and mentors, despite the global pandemic. Through our hybrid incursion / virtual model, students and teachers collaborated online and in the classroom.

The highlight of Term 3 in our 2022 program was a day at the Sydney Startup Hub, home to the highest density startup space in the southern hemisphere, supported by the state government’s Investment NSW and housing our accelerator partner, Tank Stream Labs. This day encompassed hands-on experiences with industry experts, and a tour of the hub, where Tank Stream Labs showed students what the future of work looks like– podcasting studios, AR/VR green rooms, and breakout spaces for creativity and brainstorming. At the centre of the event was a speed networking lunch with female mentors, drawn from some of the most impressive business and STEM leaders in the country. Guest speakers, Jan Mason, CEO of Quest Payment Systems, and Kim Graham-Nye, Co-CEO & Co-Founder of gDiapers, also spoke on how sustainability is a focus for their businesses. Students built their confidence in communication and mindset coaching sessions with Julie Demsey. Technical workshops such as UX/UI with Ananda Vasudevan (Senior designer @ WooliesX), and business modelling with Audrey Gan (Engineer and Consultant @ Deloitte), helped introduce students to new technical skillsets and tools. Special thanks to Microsoft who sponsored these sessions, making laptops available for all of the student groups. We wrapped up the day with a fantastic maker space session with Alexandra Millward (Educator), building on design thinking and engineering skills.

Year 8 high school girls from schools across the state of NSW submitted questions for Australia's first female Astronaut, Meganne Christian. As part of The Orbispace Initiative, students connect with female leaders in STEM to explore their personal and professional journeys. We can't be what we can't see!

Featuring 2023 Pitch for the Planet Day 1 Winners, Rutherford Technology High School.

To celebrate the launch of The Orbispace Initiative’s 2022 program, students from schools across NSW, Australia, submitted questions to Dr. Lika Guhathakurta, an inspiring woman in STEM and a lead scientist at NASA HQ in the United States. Lika shares real insights into her journey as a female innovator.

The future of work for women is changing, but we are tired of 'telling' young women about it... we want to show them! The Orbispace Initiative is bridging the gap between leading female innovators and the next generation. Gathering at the Sydney Startup Hub, the country's largest innovation ecosystem, 50 female innovators were seated across from 50 female, senior high school students for 'speed mentoring' style lunch conversations that might change a future career, inspire a bold idea, or challenge an assumption (on both sides of the table)! Right now, the benefits of technology are not distributed equally across the globe. While it can be a powerful tool for change, technology is also driving inequality. Through The Orbispace Initiative, we are actively practising co-creation and drawing together communities from across the globe to discuss, debate, and share ideas on what technology leaders (and innovators alike) should do differently to make a positive social impact. Central to this discussion are the voices of those from communities needing greater connection, physically and symbolically. By way of exploring how Orbispace can bring greater connectivity to remote and disadvantaged communities, we wish to consider the fears, hopes and values of the people who inhabit them.

TOI 2022 - Student Reflections