More than 300 girls from schools in Drachten and the wider area experienced Girls Day on Thursday 14 April 2016. A day with activities especially for girls with an interest in technology. Innovatiecluster Drachten offered the girls a special program at the locations of the high-tech companies Philips, Whisper Power and BD.
While at Whisper Power's location the girls received an Oculus Rift (virtual glasses) workshop from employees of Resato International, at Philips the girls competed for the best spot with special tasks using a vacuum cleaner and hair dryer.
Under the guidance of Photonis employees, the girls experimented with night vision goggles. Simultaneously at the same location at BD, other girls were taken to the lab by BD employees to see how the petri dishes and high tech go together to save human lives. The Innovatiecluster Drachten robot was there to play with and to control via your smartphone and to give commands with your voice.
retain talent
According to Joost Krebbekx, program manager of Innovatiecluster Drachten, much female STEM talent is lost because girls often have no idea what a technical profession entails. ,,By participating in Girls” Day with fun workshops, we let girls experience that engineering is fun and that you can be creative in it. The time that engineering was only for men who made dirty hands is really over.”