BEYOND INNOVATION 2018 TAKES ON THE STEM EDUCATION CRISIS
“Beyond Sport has been proud to be a convenor in sports and social change for 10 years. With 80% of all professions expected to require STEM skills in the next decade, pioneering new networks and approaches to increase and improve STEM education is vital. Our partnership with the 49ers on Beyond Innovation is already yielding positive results through the Sport and STEM Alliance formed last year, and we look forward to innovating strategies through sport to solve the pressing global need.” - Nick Keller, Founder & President, Beyond Sport.
Beyond Innovation, which returns to Levi’s® Stadium in California May 22-23, is shaping up to be an especially inclusive and interactive event. For the second year running, Beyond Sport and the San Francisco 49ers are convening leaders from around the world to explore how we can collectively leverage sport to improve, empower and create new approaches to STEM education. Upwards of 200 delegates encompassing sport, tech, education, entertainment, business, government and non-profit will seek to create tangible solutions and actions to help prevent the predicted shortfall of 85 million skilled jobs in the global economy by 2020.
With 2.8 million STEM jobs expected to go unfilled this year alone, the delegates will explore innovative programming ideas that will go beyond the gathering to educate, inspire and empower the next generation of STEM workers.
Even the Marvel Cinematic Universe is getting into the game! ESPN’s Angela Woods will sit down with Marvel Studio’s Danielle Costa to showcase the ‘superpowers of STEM’ - both on and off the screen - from Black Panther's young star engineer character Shuri to the cutting-edge technology that went into both that film and Avengers: Infinity War. With sport and entertainment sharing a similarly wide appeal – especially to young people –the discussion will also touch on how role model characters like Shuri can inspire girls into STEM.
And, building on the successful Beyond Innovation 2017 launch of the Sport & STEM Alliance, Alliance members will hear the initial results of an innovative research project commissioned from New York University - Beyond Innovation’s Higher Education Partner - in partnership with Chevron. The research will provide a comprehensive landscape of organizations that have a current mission and/or one or more active projects aimed at increasing interest and building skills in STEM through sports.
“Our collective efforts with Beyond Sport have generated great feedback over the past year and we’re excited to continue our work with thought-leaders in the Sport and STEM Alliance to generate youth interest in these subjects,” said Justin Prettyman, Executive Director, San Francisco 49ers Foundation
On the 22nd, 60 Bay Area high school students from the 49ers STEM Leadership Institute Program will participate in a 49ers Foundation Hackathon, in collaboration with Alliance member, Chelsea FC Foundation. The winning team will present their concept to 70 C-Suite leaders attending the evening’s ESPN Leadership Dinner.
Follow Wednesday’s discussion online via #BeyondInnovation!
Beyond Innovation extends a special thank you to STEM Leadership Partner, Verizon, STEM Champions, Challenge 22, Everfi, BOKS and AUTODESK, Higher Education Partner, NYU, International Media Sponsor, ESPN, and Official Digital Media Partner, SportTechie.
To find out more on how to become a Sport & STEM Alliance member, please contact [email protected].