iDEA Launch: A Landmark Day for Open Badges

Wednesday, 15 October is a landmark day for Open Badges. iDEA officially launches with a reception at Buckingham Palace, where the first iDEA winners of 2014 will be announced. DigitalMe is thrilled to have played a role in helping to devise the award, which is much more than a competition that benefits a small number of entrants. Crucially, iDEA is also a programme that sets out to equip at least 25,000 young people per year with digital and entrepreneurial skills.

This is achieved through a range of industry endorsed skills badges that can be taken at specific points throughout the course of the iDEA award. DigitalMe has provided the Open Badge technology and educational consultation needed to make these badges a reality. In partnership with Makewaves, DigitalMe has also helped to create the the online platform that will allow participants to take the badges, share their achievements and connect with other participants.

There are three levels of the idea award: Discovery, Beta and Live. Discovery is open to all participants nationwide. This stage offers young people the opportunity to earn a badge for identifying a problem they want to solve, explaining how technology could solve the problem and creating a compelling pitch video for their idea. Further badges are available in the Beta and Live stages, but the larger influence of iDEA badges will be seen in the uptake of the additional and complementary range of badges for digital and entrepreneurial skills, which are open to the public and can be taken at any time.

Impact for Young People

The impact iDEA could have on young people is potentially far reaching. iDEA badges are industry backed by major national and international sponsors like Microsoft, Mozilla, Barclays, Go Think Big, Salesforce, Silicon Valley Bank and will.i.am. Topics covered by the badges include pitching, digital creativity, the sales process, social media for business and demonstrating enterprise skills. These skills are not normally highlighted within traditional educational qualifications, but recognizing them can provide a more comprehensive picture of a young person’s character, background and talents. In addition, badges will be easily shared across the web so that participants can showcase the skills they acquire.

Some iDEA participants will go on to develop a promising digital business idea in the Beta stage. At the Live stage, Twenty of the top ideas will win a £2500 grant and three finalists will win £15,000. Many, many more participants will earn badges that recognize their digital and entrepreneurial skills and that in turn will become recognized as the iDEA continues to run for at least the next five years. We hope that recognizing these skills will unlock new opportunities for young people in employment, education and enterprise.

Impact for UK Businesses and the UK Economy

iDEA also has potential long term benefits for UK businesses and the UK economy. The scheme was in fact partly inspired by a genuine need for digital skills by UK businesses. iDEA will create a pool of digital talent that these businesses can draw on, which will continue to expand as as more and more major UK businesses come to endorse additional badges. We hope that iDEA award badges will come to be immediately recognisable when presented to an employer on a CV, much like the Duke of Edinburgh award, which has become known as an impressive achievement outside traditional qualifications.

We would like to imagine a future where iDEA badges open new doors with employers as they demonstrate an entrepreneurial mindset as well as the digital skills so valued in the workplace today. We hope that the backing of The Duke of York and Nominet Trust will also encourage recognition of the value of Open Badges generally. Schemes like iDEA as well as the employers that endorse these schemes could well come to play a major role in shaping the future of the recognition of skills, which will doubtlessly become more and more dependent on digital technology in the future.

If you would like to endorse an iDEA badge, please get in touch.

If you are a young person or an educator who would like to get started with iDEA, you can visit their website at www.onemillionyoungideas.org.uk.