Re-engineer your career with Tech Futures Lab

Re-engineer your career with Tech Futures Lab

Auckland, New Zealand – 14 July, 2016: New Zealanders can now access leading professional development to prepare and upskill themselves for 21st Century careers thanks to a progressive 10-week programme from education futurist and 2016 Blake Leader, Frances Valintine.

Tech Futures Lab today opens the doors of its new facility in Newmarket, Auckland.

Frances Valintine says that with the rapid advance and integration of technology across all sectors, it’s crucial that New Zealand businesses commit to skill development.

“We are living in an environment where business disruption is transforming the world around us at an incredible rate, and entire industries are being forced to overhaul their business models in order to survive.”

When compared with the Industrial Revolution, McKinsey Global Institute estimates that change in the Technological Revolution is occurring 10x faster, at 300x the scale, with 3000x the impact.

Valintine says, “We are standing on the beach and the tidal wave is about to hit. No job, sector or industry is immune.”

Designed for professionals who are looking to equip themselves with technical and business transformation skills, Tech Futures Lab offers five full-time, 10-week immersion programmes – Cybersecurity, Robotics and Automation, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Big Data, and Business Innovation and Disruption – each of which is aligned with high growth sectors where skills are in global demand.

The programmes also provide a specialist learning pathway for New Zealand businesses to upskill and provide professional development opportunities for their people, in a similar mould to that of Singularity University and Harvard Business School – a first for New Zealand.

“We recognise that for most business professionals and their employers, taking 2-3 years out for further education is simply not an option. Our programmes provide a year’s worth of higher-learning in a 10 week immersion programme. Candidates spend 40 hours per week learning, testing and applying relevant and specialist knowledge that can then be integrated back into the workplace.

“The programmes will fast-track the applied learning of some of the most sought after skill sets in the world right now, fostering an investment that has the potential to take New Zealand businesses into the future.”

In addition to a progressive curriculum, Tech Futures Lab is offering participants access to a world-class team, comprised of a blend of experienced subject experts, industry partners, global specialists and academics.

“We have assembled an outstanding breadth of talent at Tech Futures Lab, with PhDs and a depth of industry and technical experts on topics ranging from swarm robotics to artificial intelligence and entrepreneurship. The team is led by our highly skilled general manager Sarah Hindle, who we’re thrilled to have on board,” she says.

Hindle is a recent returnee from the United Kingdom. She is a qualified lawyer who shifted her career to advise CEOs and their teams on how to develop and exploit a competitive advantage in the face of complex and rapid change.

She says, “There is a real gap in the market for local high-intensity, immersive courses that will equip New Zealand professionals with the skills to lead and navigate the disruptive change businesses are facing. It’s incredibly motivating to be leading the charge with Tech Futures Lab, helping New Zealand businesses to take on the world. We’re looking forward to the courses starting in September.”

Tech Futures Lab is a private public partnership between Frances Valintine and Unitec, New Zealand’s largest technical institute.

ENDS

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