On the final day of Inspirefest 2017, young and not-so-young sci-tech enthusiasts gathered at The Dock, Accenture’s creative new office space in Dublin’s Silicon Docks, for a free Family Fringe event.

Barry Heavey, Accenture’s new life sciences lead, brought his kids along to the Inspirefest Family Fringe to give them a sense of “the great potential of technology and, really, as the name suggests, inspire them to take a greater interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics [STEM] for the future”.

Indeed, Heavey’s daughter, Áine, enjoyed learning about the alternative educational style of the Trinity Walton Club “and how important it is for young people to give their ideas and try to test them, and use them”.

The event at Accenture’s The Dock played host to performances from Inspirefest speaker Dr Niamh Shaw, as well as workshops from Dr Dónal Holland’s soft robotics squad, CoderDojo DCU, Coding Grace, GameCraft Unplugged and Girls Hack Ireland.

DCU’s Dr Suzanne Little said: “DCU [Dublin City University] is always interested in outreach and encouraging people to get involved in technology and in STEM, and Girls Hack Ireland in particular is part of the Insight research centre and that, generally, has a focus of encouraging girls to think about technology as a good career choice.”

“We run a number of events throughout the year and this is the third time that we’ve been at Inspirefest, and the idea is to get people thinking about technology and how it can be used in their everyday lives.”

Meanwhile, Tog Hackerspace members showed off their creations, Arckit let participants’ imaginations run wild to build models and design buildings, and the event also offered a taste of Dublin Maker with previews of three of the many exhibitors set to take over Merrion Square on Saturday 22 July.

Inspirefest is Silicon Republic’s international event connecting sci-tech professionals passionate about the future of STEM. Ultra Early Bird Tickets for Inspirefest 2018 will be on sale soon. Sign up here to be the first to know when!