"Jersey... we have a problem"

Friday 02 May 2014

The new group promoting the digital and tech industries in Jersey has scrapped ambitious plans to put a satellite into space as part of an initiative to get local kids excited about IT.

The plans – announced amid great fanfare in August last year – were quietly shelved by Digital Jersey executive chairman Paul Masterton after the departure of chief executive Ted Ridgway-Watt.

He said that working with young people was still a huge priority for the group, which was set up to promote the digital industry and create a community for people working in the IT and tech fields, but that they wanted to do it in a different way.

In a wide-ranging feature in this month’s Connect Magazine – available under the Connect tab on the Bailiwick Express website, or in hard copy in various locations around town – Mr Masterton said that the project had been aborted.

He said: “The objective was to create a long-lasting project that would create enthusiasm in schools.

“It has been done in the UK effectively, but in the UK it is at the university levels and the fanfare and PR behind it got way ahead of the understanding of what would be required to make that happen.

“Having reviewed that since I’ve been chief executive, my view is the objective is still there, and critically important to us but the space programme as a vehicle to deliver that objective was not one we could achieve with the resources we have.”