The Interview: Dr René Lydiksen, MD of LEGO Education Europe

12 Jun 2014

Dr René Lydiksen, managing director of LEGO Education Europe

In our continuing interview series, Siliconrepublic.com spoke to Dr René Lydiksen, managing director of LEGO Education Europe, about how the organisation is trying to encourage the next generation of coders and engineers.

Lydiksen spoke and presented at last month’s EXCITED digital learning festival in Dublin.

He is a relatively new appointment at the legendary toy company, having been appointed to his role in 2013, but he has been at the forefront of the Danish company’s transition from the familiar building blocks that make up most children’s toy sets to encouraging skills in the digital world in areas such as design, coding and engineering.

Holding a PhD from the University of Southern Denmark and sponsored by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Lydiksen has previously spoken about his passion for utilising technology to improve education opportunities and enabling students to develop the hands-on skills needed for a lifetime of creation, problem solving and contributing to society.

We were delighted to get the chance to catch up with Lydiksen at EXCITED and began by asking him how exactly LEGO is trying to encourage more children into a future digital or technical career.

The Interview: Dr René Lydiksen, managing director of LEGO Education Europe 

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com