An IT festival for everyone

A certain newspaper recently claimed that Zurich was transforming from a financial centre into a Silicon Valley. That might sound a little over the top – but it is certainly true that ICT has become an important mainstay of the economy in the greater Zurich area.

Behind the scenes

On 3 and 4 June, the people of Switzerland can get up close and personal with IT. More than 70 companies and organisations from the ICT sector will be offering an insight into the world of information and communication technology as part of the external pageInformatiktage 2016call_made. They will explain how and where digitalisation is having an impact, and show which exciting careers and fields of work are on offer in IT.

On both days, people of all ages can take part in a varied programme at a range of locations – including at ETH Zurich.

Tortoises that learn how to run

"We want to be there when IT is given a face. At ETH, it is our responsibility to ensure the broader population has access to our researchers' knowledge," says Sandra Herkle, Communication Manager in the Department of Computer Science and member of the "Informatiktage" organisation committee. "That's why our programme is extremely varied – there's something for everyone."

At ETH, even children of preschool age can program a bee robot in an open studio. With the push of a button, they can move the cute bee-bots in a pre-set direction. A separate workshop will be run in conjunction with the Kinderlabor in Küsnacht to show nursery and primary school teachers how the bee-bot can be integrated into their lessons.

Meanwhile, a challenging task awaits the eight to fifteen-year-olds: they can use the programming language Logo to program a digital tortoise; the older the children, the tougher the task.

Students will also be reporting firsthand what it means to study Computer Science at ETH Zurich, and young IT entrepreneurs will recount their experiences building their own companies.

ETH partner Disney Research Zurich will be presenting developments that have found their way from Zurich to Hollywood, such as the snow in the animated film Frozen.

And in the Game Lab Lounge, students will be showcasing computer games, all of which they developed from scratch. Finally, ETH computer scientists will take the stage to offer visitors tips on how to successfully navigate the digital world.

Experience IT across the whole canton

Other programme highlights outside ETH: the Houdini cinema and the Tages-Anzeiger media group will be offering guided tours; Noser Young Professionals, a centre for vocational IT training, will be running a workshop called 'Popcorn – selbst programmiert' (Popcorn – program it yourself) for high school students; and Social Media Gipfel will be running 'Insta was? Social Media' (Insta-what? Social media), during which teenagers will explain to their parents how they use social media.

The Informatiktage have been designed to show people the significance of information and communication technology for the canton of Zurich. The organisation responsible for the event is eZürich, a collaborative network coordinated by the city and canton of Zurich that counts ETH Zurich and more than 100 companies among its members. Industry, science, non-profit organisations, politics and state – all should work more closely together. eZürich is also hoping to use the Informatiktage to recruit new talent to the ICT sector.