TECH INNOVATION NORTHERN IRELAND

INSPIRING MORE WOMEN INTO TECH CAREERS

Sheree Atcheson The socially driven tech leader

“ BELFAST HAS SOME PHENOMENAL ACCOLADES

TO ITS NAME”

The city was built on engineering and now Belfast is striking new ground when it comes to tech and science. Cybersecurity, biometric businesses and mobile telecoms rule the startup scene here, boosted by Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University. A recent report by Tech Nation, a network for entrepreneurs, placed the city among the top in the UK for tech workers, competing with London, Manchester and Reading

Among the leading lights are those with a strong social purpose, such as Sheree Atcheson (pictured right), who was raised in County Tyrone.

She has inspired thousands as UK expansion director for Women Who Code, a non-profit that helps to tackle the gender gap in STEM fields worldwide. “People from Northern Ireland inspire me,” she says, “because we are unexpectedly brilliant! Belfast has some phenomenal tech accolades to its name, but the people behind them remain humble and enthused to continue to push boundaries.”

Between 2013 and 2017, Atcheson launched and led the UK expansion of Women Who Code, providing free monthly meetups in Belfast, then London, Bristol and Edinburgh. It is now the world’s largest non-profit dedicated to women excelling in tech, with more than 180,000 members, a presence in some 60 cities and giving over $1m (£790,000) of scholarships each year. Atcheson is now a global ambassador for the organisation, and works for Deloitte UK.

So why is it important that more women are encouraged to work in tech? “It’s important because women are 50 per cent of society,” says Atcheson.

“Plain and simple. We can’t have the best solutions without teams that are formed of and led by people reflective of society. People of all backgrounds, sexualities, ethnicities and all economic backgrounds inspire me because it can be an emotional task to be the ‘only’ in the room.”

Atcheson is of Sri Lankan origin and was adopted at three weeks by an Irish family. After a journey to find her birth mother, she set up I Am Lanka, an online platform that showcases inspirational Sri Lankan people living around the world.

Tech for good in Belfast

• See.Sense is a cycling technology and data company that aims to make cycling safer and cities smarter. It develops products that use advanced sensor technology and AI to improve cyclist safety, as well as crowdsourcing data and insights for cities.

• Neurovalens uses neuroscience to help improve lives. The company is based in Belfast and at The Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego, and led by Dr Jason McKeown, who hails from Country Antrim. Its first product, Modius, is a headset designed to stimulate the part of the brain that controls fat storage, supporting weight loss.

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BELFAST’S BOOMING STARTUP SCENE IN NUMBERS

The increase in new digital businesses between 2011- 2016 143%

£875M The turnover of the city’s digital tech businesses in 2017

8,970

The number of jobs in digital tech in Belfast in 2017