Over 750 young people join Northern Ireland business hub's free work experience programme

Over 750 young people with an interest in innovation and entrepreneurship have taken part in Catalyst’s free work experience programme, Generation Innovation, which ran across three locations in Northern Ireland.

It was the highest number of participants for the Innovation Centre since the programme was established in 2018.

The programme for 17-18-year-olds empowers, enables and upskills young people for the workplace of tomorrow and giving them a real-world working experience by pairing them with 41 businesses such as headline partners EY, Bank of Ireland and AVEVA.

Over the course of the four- or five-day programmes in Londonderry, Belfast and Dungannon, participants worked together to solve a real-life company challenge, develop a solution and pitch the final idea to the company and their peers, allowing for constructive feedback and potential future employment introductions.

Ally Armstrong, Generation Innovation programme manager at Catalyst, said: "The Generation Innovation programme has grown immensely since it began six years ago, showing the demand and real interest from young people to learn more about innovation, entrepreneurship and how the business world works here in Northern Ireland."

Jack Kearney, a Generation Innovation participant, added: "I found being surrounded by so many like-minded people and getting one-to-one time with businesses a real learning experience and has further fuelled my passion for innovation."