Innovative Donegal student Laura Farry has been named the 2022 goIT Global Innovator of the Year by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
Laura, who is in her third year at St Columba’s College Stranorlar, was named the overall winner in the competition which had 40,000 entries.
Laura’s prize-winning concept titled ‘Educate Ukraine’, is based on the development of an app that would provide services for Ukrainian refugees in the community in which they are now living, featuring translation guides, the history of their new community, tourist attractions, shopping and food options, information on school systems, and available support groups.
She created the app as part of a programme called goIT (Go Innovate Together), which prepares students with the skills, confidence, and mindsets to pursue STEM careers.
Laura Farry, goIT Global Innovator of the Year 2022/2023, Roisin McHugh, Teacher at St Columba’s College, Chelsea Gallagher, Gerry Farry, David Farry, Fiona Farry, and Tom Rowan, Principal St Columba’s College pictured at the prize giving celebration at TCS Global Delivery Centre, Letterkenny. Photo Clive Wasson.
Laura Farry, goIT Global Innovator of the Year 2022/2023, pictured at the prize giving celebration at TCS Global Delivery Centre, Letterkenny. Photo Clive Wasson.
During the program, students work to design tech-for-good solutions to address global problems aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With a global footprint of 42 countries and more than 135,000 student participants, goIT is uniquely positioned to find, inspire, and activate the world’s top, young innovators ready to design solutions to all 17 of the United Nations SDGs.
Since being named Global Innovator of the Year, Laura has visited the TCS Global Delivery Centre in Letterkenny to receive her prize of €500 cash. As part of her prize €500 was also donated to the Donegal Intercultural Platform on Laura’s behalf. She will be the face of the TCS goIT programme for 2023 and will be invited as a guest to TCS events throughout the year.
Empathy and an eagerness to learn and support those in need are characteristics TCS holds close as a company and Laura has truly embodied this in her winning concept.
Commenting on the decision to award Laura as the goIT Global Innovator of the Year, Chris Lynch, senior leadership executive at TCS said “We are so proud that Laura from Donegal was successful out of thousands of app innovation entries and named Global Innovator of the year; her compassion for her target audience and her confidence was truly remarkable, a worthy winner of the competition.”
Balaji Ganapathy, Global Head of CSR and Chief Social Responsibility Officer, TCS, Laura Farry, goIT Global Innovator of the Year 2022/2023 and Brian Kelly, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at TCS. Photo Clive Wasson.
John DiChiara, Global Head of TCS’ goIT program, said, “TCS’ objective with goIT is to demystify computer science and motivate students to pursue STEM education and become tomorrow’s technology leaders. As a first-year participant in goIT, with no explicit experience in design or computer science, Laura has captured the true essence of the program, designing a tech-based solution that directly impacts a need in her local community. Like Laura, students around the world are discovering their passion to learn about technology and apply their learnings to improve their community. We could not be prouder of what Laura has accomplished and we look forward to continuing to work with her to bring her concept to life.”
Last year, a group of transition year students from Rosses Community School, Dungloe in Co. Donegal became the first Irish school to be selected as a monthly winner of the goIT Monthly Challenge.
Tags: