Digisheds INspace | regional bootcamp and incubator hubs providing disadvantaged and excluded communities access to digital skills.
Who are we?
We are TIN Smart Social. A digital skills and talent consulting agency built in 2015 as a response to market failures in the delivery of sustainable and scalable digital literacy and employability routes to in-demand jobs, especially for excluded and disadvantaged groups.
What do we do?
We develop digitality in young people – combining digital skills development with a specialist wraparound well-being approach for personal development. We give young people the confidence to showcase their talent and potential. We align with employers looking for digital talent to accelerate growth, a ready to go workforce with the right skills, understanding of work relationships and resilience to meet the challenges of the new world. They just need bringing together.
We know we can change the way work works. Our industry inspired curriculums and inclusive employability programmes discover skill, upskill and cross-skill, build BrandMe™ profiles to fit key roles and provide a digital MatchFit™ platform with employers.
Our outcomes are Smart People, Smart Places and Smart Business. Our impact is Social – improving social mobility and driving social change (the Smart and Social bits of our name, just in case you were wondering…).
Digital is here…
One of the things we’ll learn from 2020 is how important digital really is. Because it’s about basic human need. People and connection. If we can play a part in connecting people, talent, ideas and resources to build a region of choice that hosts diverse, creative digital pipelines for a new generation of people to learn, work, connect and have fun in their first jobs, new jobs or different jobs in digital, then we will have done our job.
Help us solve our next BIG challenge…
We think innovation. Comfortable with the unknown, we ask ourselves If we could do exactly what we thought was needed here, to reimagine how digital talent could transform business, what would we do? And then we do it. In a new way.
So together lets develop:
- scalable and ‘frictionless’ employer-led digital skills hubs
- which can attract, assess, and accredit a diverse talent pipeline
- to impact the local, national and global skills gap after Covid-19
How big is the problem?
There have been much-publicised market failures in the delivery of sustainable and scalable digital literacy and employability routes to in-demand jobs, for excluded and disadvantaged groups. Access to skilled workers is already a key factor that sets successful companies apart from failing ones. In an increasingly data-driven future – the European Commission believes there could be as many as 756,000 unfilled jobs in the European ICT sector by 2020.
Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and other emerging technologies are happening in ever shorter cycles, changing the very nature of the jobs that need to be done – and the skills needed to do them – faster than ever before. COVID-19 will only make this situation of greater urgency alongside Brexit.
We have a proven solution…
The Digisheds INspace community hubs will provide modern facilities within reclaimed low-use, abandoned, or voided spaces which can host digital and creative skills masterclasses and learning modules, as well as incubate social impact start-ups and scale-ups.
Our social employability and digital skills pathways have been proven in urban ‘jobcentre’ settings, and are being rolled out across a large UK metropolitan region in the West Midlands targeting 5000 unemployed 16-30 year olds. Here’s a video which explains a bit more…
Why we need your support?
Young people, especially those from disadvantaged and low engagement areas in society, desperately want and deserve, that ‘in’ to companies. But they’re often overlooked because they don’t fit into traditional recruitment models. So we’ve hacked the model.
The Digisheds INspace is a collection of sector-ready studios (actual, pop-up, and virtual) that deliver learning experiences to transform raw digital talent into marketable propositions.
We support people to develop, position and promote their skills within a relevant business context. Active learning. Creating the fit. From potential to professional.
What impact will we make together?
We will roll-out the Digisheds INspace hubs in places and spaces which are most in need of digital skills, and your investment will enable us to achieve real and measurable impact by:
- Enhancing the regional skills ecosystem with our proven ‘Digisheds Sector-Ready Studio’ model for local communities.
- Developing purpose-built future-proofed spaces which can provide equitable access to employer-led digital ‘finishing schools’ in those places most in need after the impact of Covid-19.
- Enabling local young people access to in-demand employer-led training and certifications usually not available to disadvantaged groups because of the need for degrees or high grades as part of the entry criteria.
So what exactly will your investment pay for?
It’s essential we provide technology which simulates and recreates for participants the right set of verified skills to give them the best opportunity of sustainable employment in the digital workplace now and in the future.
The Digisheds INspace community hubs will provide modern facilities within reclaimed low-use, abandoned, or voided spaces which can host digital and creative skills masterclasses and learning modules, as well as incubate social impact start-ups and scale-ups.
We know money is hard to part with at a time like this, so we will put your money to work to make work work better for the disadvantaged and most deserving of an ‘in’ by:
- designing and building physical Digisheds INspace hub spaces which adhere to the most up-to-date green standards for retrofit and offsite advanced methods of construction,
- sourcing recyclable materials which align to net zero sustainability targets.
- using 5G enabled connectivity to develop purpose-built immersive Learn, Think, Show, and Observatory spaces
- integrating our bespoke social learning curriculum modules which embed the development of critical digital skills that make the difference for employability.
“Digital skills are in short supply, but will be essential if the West Midlands is to innovate and access new market opportunities to recover and grow its businesses.
TIN Smart Social’s work with the most disadvantaged, excluded, and vulnerable groups will both create a new pipeline of essential digital talent and ensure that the growth enabled meets the Region’s aspiration to be inclusive.”