BT extends partnership with the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition until 2018

The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition will be organised by BT Ireland until at least 2018, following an extended agreement between the leading communications and IT services company and the YSE charitable trust.

Close to 80,000 Irish secondary school students have entered science and technology projects into the exhibition since it was established in the 1960s by Dr. Tony Scott and the late Fr. Tom Burke.  It is an Irish success story that has grown into one of the world’s leading school science events, and provides a platform for participating young people to shine on both national and international stages.  Its alumni have progressed to secure EU and global awards for their ideas, launch commercial enterprises as well as using the skills to enter careers in the critical subject areas of science and technology.

Shay Walsh, Managing Director, BT Republic of Ireland said, “We’re honoured to extend our partnership with the exhibition which is a great match for a company like ours.  We need talent, as do our private and public sector customers, and this exhibition is one of the biggest stimulators of STEM engagement in schools in the world.  We have formed what we believe is without doubt one of the finest examples of like-minded organisations and individuals working together on the shared goal of driving skills and opportunities in STEM – schools, colleges, businesses, government, academia – all aligned to foster home-grown talent.”

Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O’Sullivan, TD, said, “I warmly welcome BT’s continued commitment to the Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition. The initiative continues to go from strength-to-strength with more students and schools entering each year and the very welcome expansion of the programme into the primary school sector.  As Minister for Education and Skills attending the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition is one of the highlights of the year – the innovation, creativity and great sense of fun around the event is remarkable and I am glad that this successful partnership will continue until 2018.”

BT is in its sixteenth year as organiser of the exhibition and is proud of how it has evolved under its stewardship. Highlights include:

- record number of schools entering projects (396 secondary schools for 2016 exhibition)
- financial assistance for schools with travel and accommodation costs (€600,000 since 2006)
- University bursaries for senior category winners (with seven universities in the Republic of Ireland)
- Primary Science Fair (with RDS) to stimulate a passion for STEM in primary school students
- BT business bootcamp for students with projects with commercial potential
- A festival of science wrapped around the core competition that brings science alive for visitors (more than 59,000 visited in January 2015)

Dr. Tony Scott, co-founder of the exhibition, said, “This is great news for the exhibition and for Ireland which has benefited greatly from this major global innovator’s commitment to the exhibition over 16 years.  BT has always embraced the YSE Board’s vision to engage as many people as possible in science and technology, and we are excited that we can build on this success for years to come.”

BT is the international fixed line communications and IT services company with the largest presence in Ireland.  Close to 200 of BT’s employees run the exhibition in January in the RDS in Dublin, making this partnership one of the largest corporate responsibility initiatives in this market.  BT’s valued partners for delivering the exhibition include The Department of Education and Skills in the Republic of Ireland, The Department of Education Northern Ireland, Analog Devices, Intel, Perrigo, and RTE.

For more information on the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, visit www.btyoungscientist.com or Twitter @btyste.