DreamSpace at Microsoft’s new Dublin campus is a big bet on the future of education.
Microsoft has invested €5m in a new dedicated innovation and education hub called DreamSpace, which aims to host 100,000 schoolkids and their teachers over the next four years.
DreamSpace is one component of the new €134m One Microsoft Place campus that was officially opened today (22 February) by An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, TD, and which brings nearly all of Microsoft’s employees in Ireland under one roof for the very first time.
‘With DreamSpace, we want to inspire the young people of today to build the technologies and solutions and embrace the opportunities of the future’
– CATHRIONA HALLAHAN
The building in Leopardstown in south Dublin will be home to 2,000 employees with 71 different nationalities.
The purpose of DreamSpace is to equip schoolkids and their teachers with critical digital skills, and Microsoft has devised a digital skills programme for that very purpose.
100,000-student skills target
Microsoft country manager Cathriona Hallahan told Siliconrepublic.com that education and training has been a core ethos at the software giant over the past decade.
During the recession, Microsoft introduced the New to Work programme, which enabled 13,500 young people to gain digital skills to help them enter the workforce.
Hour of Code gave 15,000 schoolchildren in Ireland vital coding skills.
“And we have also focused on giving 10,000 girls the opportunity to gain vital digital skills and learn more about the tech industry.
“This new building gives us the opportunity to build on this. We have set a target of trying to connect with over 100,000 primary and secondary students and teachers to allow them to come in and dream the ideas of the future and see how technology can be an enabler to spark creativity and innovation.
“With DreamSpace, we want to inspire the young people of today to build the technologies and solutions and enjoy the opportunities of the future,” Hallahan said.
