Don’t forget your 3D pen … new hub to help children ‘hack the future’

Vision express: Cameron Ocran in glasses he made with a 3D printer (Picture: Lucy Young)

16 June 2014

A scheme launching in London this week will see disadvantaged young people across the capital given access to cutting-edge technology.

The Tech Hub will allow them to use the world’s first 3D pen and printers, “augmented reality” Space Glasses and music production equipment most adults have never heard of.

The project aims to help people from disadvantaged backgrounds learn how to use the technology to further their career chances.

Tech future: Girls inspect a 3D printing pen (Picture: Lucy Young)

James Dellow is youth and innovation manager at the Covent Garden Dragon Hall Trust, which launches the Tech Hub tomorrow as part of London Technology Week. He said: “There’s a digital elite who have access to all these wonderful developments that are revolutionising our world and a tech-underclass who do not.”

He pointed out that industries demanding high-tech skills will provide thousands of jobs. “These young people are going to discover, make and hack the future using these technologies,” he added.

The Tech Hub will see youngsters using gadgets such as Space Glasses which create holographic images in the wearer’s field of vision. They will also be able to design products with a 3D pen and then see them moulded from a 3D printer. And there will be the opportunity to learn to write code and how to make internet radio and use music production computers.

Dragon Hall has already taught some young people how to use the technology. Brian Gilciro, 17, of Chancery Lane, said it provided “an opening into the business world”. Sienna Yarbrough, 12, from Soho, said her friends were “a bit jealous that we can come here”.

Don’t forget your 3D pen … new hub to help children ‘hack the future’

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