Tag: Microsoft

EPAM Expands Partnership with Microsoft – Becomes Globally Managed Enterprise Systems Integrator

EPAM Systems, Inc. a leading digital transformation services and product engineering company, today announced that it is now a Microsoft globally Managed Enterprise Systems Integrator (SI) partner—helping to accelerate technology innovation, growth and business impact for enterprises through end-to-end solution design and implementation in the cloud.

The newly acquired globally Managed Enterprise SI partner status marks a significant milestone in EPAM’s expanding strategic partnership with Microsoft. The elevated status positions EPAM as a proven service provider for enterprise customers undertaking complex digital transformation, modernisation and cloud migrations, and enables the Company to build cloud-native intelligent applications powered by Azure OpenAI Service.

“We’re pleased to achieve this Globally Managed Enterprise SI partner status with Microsoft,” said Elaina Shekhter, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, EPAM. “This enhanced status, coupled with our accredited proficiency in executing cloud implementations and spearheading the development of next-generation applications, empowers us to provide an even wider spectrum of capabilities to our global customers to unlock the benefits of Microsoft Azure.”

As a long-standing Microsoft partner, EPAM helps customers engineer the future using Microsoft cloud. With more than 55,000 consultants, engineers and architects operating in more than 50 countries, EPAM provides enterprise customers worldwide with specialised Microsoft expertise to optimise Microsoft Azure cloud outcomes. The enhanced Globally Managed Enterprise SI partner status will further enable EPAM to drive the growth of Microsoft certifications and specialisations and leverage Microsoft’s partner investments to accelerate results in cloud native, data and application modernisation, building intelligent solutions infused with Azure OpenAI service.

In July 2023, EPAM won the 2023 Microsoft U.S. Azure Migration Partner of the Year Award for demonstrating excellence in innovation and implementing customer solutions based on Microsoft technology. As a Microsoft Solutions Partner, EPAM owns five solution partner designations and 10 specialisations, enabling EPAM to deliver tailored solutions and accelerate business value and innovation for clients, further cementing EPAM’s position as a trusted Microsoft technology partner.

“We are thrilled that EPAM is now a Microsoft Globally Managed Enterprise Systems Integrator,” said Kelly Rogan, CVP, Global Systems Integrator and Advisory Partners at Microsoft. “Through our expanded collaboration, EPAM will deliver innovative solutions and services on the Microsoft Cloud, which will help customers realise business transformation and growth.”

Since 2004, EPAM’s collaboration with Microsoft has helped global customers accelerate their journey to Azure by planning and architecting a strategy for executing Azure migrations at scale without compromising quality.

To learn more about how EPAM uses Microsoft Azure to build next-gen enterprise solutions, visit epam.com/about/who-we-are/partners/Microsoft. 

 Learn more about how to get the most out of the cloud in EPAM Continuum’s recent report, “From Taming Cloud Complexity to Achieving Cloud Mastery.”

Microsoft Ireland pedals past €1 million milestone for LauraLynn in decade-long cycling challenge

Microsoft Ireland employees celebrated a key milestone in their decade-long fundraising challenge for LauraLynn, Ireland’s Children’s Hospice, as they pedalled past the €1million fundraising milestone this month. In total, Microsoft’s annual employee charity cycle has raised over €1,134,000 for LauraLynn, which includes more than €291,000 that was raised by way of its most recent cycle earlier this month.

The annual fundraising challenge has seen Microsoft Ireland employees cycle in excess of 4,000 kilometres since 2014, raising vital funds to support LauraLynn’s work in providing palliative care and support to children with life-limiting conditions and their families. This includes therapies such as music therapy, play therapy and bereavement support, as well as vital short stays at the hospice for families in need of respite or crisis care.

This year’s charity cycle took place along the Wild Atlantic Way. Over the course of three days in September, a group of 100 Microsoft Ireland cyclists and support crew travelled 400km along the western seaboard from Clifden, Co. Galway, to Ballina, Co. Mayo.

James O’Connor, Microsoft Ireland Site Lead and Vice President for Microsoft Global Operations Service Center, said: “We are incredibly proud of all the Microsoft Ireland team who have gone the extra mile for LauraLynn this year, helping to raise a staggering €291,000 by way of the annual cycle and, in doing so, breaking the €1 million fundraising milestone for the charity over the past decade. It is testament to the dedication and commitment of our employees and supporters that we have been able to achieve this.

“Since the first cycle back in 2014, our teams have been inspired by LauraLynn and the vital care they provide on a daily basis to children with life-limiting conditions and their families. Through the additional €291,000 raised this year, LauraLynn will continue to support increasing numbers of children across the country who are most in need of their help.”

Ray Snowdon, a member of the cycling team and Director of Microsoft Business Operations Fusion Development said: “Having grown from just 10 cyclists in 2014 to a team of over 100 this year, the charity cycle in aid of LauraLynn has brought the Microsoft community together and helped to generate much needed funds for Ireland’s only children’s hospice. We’re incredibly proud of breaking the €1m fundraising milestone this year, something we could not have achieved without the generosity of our families and supporters who have helped to propel us on the road to a million. Our collective efforts are helping LauraLynn to meet the vital needs of children in their care.”

Kerry McLaverty, CEO of LauraLynn, said: “This is an extraordinary achievement by Microsoft Ireland and its employees who have become long-term partners of LauraLynn. It is the tenth year that the team have come out in force to fundraise for LauraLynn and each year they have raised the fundraising bar to new heights. The generosity shown by the Microsoft Ireland team has made a real difference to the lives of children with life-limiting conditions and their families who rely on the care and support of LauraLynn. Partners like Microsoft are vital for us to continue to grow and provide our services. LauraLynn are now supporting more children and families than ever before, alongside our Hospice in Leopardstown the community team operating from Mallow since last year provide care to Cork, Kerry and Limerick families. We have also recently announced our community team expansion brining care into the homes of children and families in the Midlands, West & Northwest of the country.”

The Microsoft Ireland fundraising cycle is just one of the ways in which the company supports LauraLynn. Microsoft has also donated software and provided training to the charity, and Microsoft employees regularly volunteer their time to help at LauraLynn House.

To find out more about the LauraLynn Children’s Hospice, please visit https://lauralynn.ie/.

Workhuman launches recognition app for Microsoft Teams

Workhuman®, the company revolutionising the way employees celebrate, connect with and appreciate each other in the workplace, has strengthened its market-leading Social Recognition platform by launching the all-new Workhuman app for Microsoft Teams. The application, which is now available for download in the Microsoft Teams app store, gives an organisation’s employees full access to all features of Workhuman’s powerful recognition platform from directly within Microsoft Teams, where employees are working, meeting, creating, communicating, and collaborating every day. Leveraging the latest capabilities in the Microsoft Teams platform, this new application allows Workhuman to offer its clients a way to elevate the awareness of and real-time participation in their employee recognition programmes.

“In the modern workplace, no one wants to stop what they’re doing to navigate to another application. We’ve radically simplified the user experience so that employees can participate in recognition where employees already are, natively within Microsoft Teams,” said Jim Drewry, Workhuman VP, Product. “This integration enables enterprises to meet and exceed performance and culture goals by recognising the whole human at any time, from any device with Teams access. Professional contributions, service milestones, and personal achievements are all highlighted and showcased in our Teams app homepage. Ultimately, pervasive recognition creates employees who are motivated to align with company culture and goals because they feel seen and recognised as human beings. This vastly improves employee perception and sentiment, which in turn means better business outcomes.”

Building upon Workhuman’s initial Teams integration, which supports users launching the recognition nomination process within Teams chats and Teams channels, the new app offers:

  • A native welcome page that enables instant recognition and showcases an ‘always on’ awards feed, and a highlight reel of years-of-service awards and celebrations without requiring employees to log into a company intranet.
  • Award notifications within the Teams Activity tab, and the ability to add kudos and congratulations to colleagues throughout the organisation who are receiving recognition or celebrating key life and work milestones, creating a more cohesive company culture experience.
  • The ability to deliver ‘in-the-moment’ recognition within a Teams chat, channel, or even meeting (with a Microsoft Teams meeting extension)– on mobile, desktop, or web versions of Teams.
  • The ability for employees to see their own points balance as a reminder of the recognition they have received from peers, and one-click access the Workhuman Store to browse and redeem for merchandise, gift cards, charities, or Experiences.
  • Teams administrators the ability to centrally permission and deploy the application into the organisation’s Microsoft Teams environment, with granular controls and strong security options.

Research from Workhuman and Gallup explored the impact of recognition on a business. One of the main findings found that one in four employees in Gallup’s global database strongly agree that they have received recognition or praise for doing good work in the last week. However, the study also found that if this number was doubled, businesses could see a 9% improvement in productivity, as well as $91,989,474 in gained employee productivity. Additional research found that when employees experience recognition for life events and work milestones, they are three times as likely to strongly agree they feel connected to culture.

The Workhuman app for Microsoft Teams harnesses all the power of an enterprise’s human resources and employee experience strategy and delivers it to a captivated audience to spark improved employee engagement, connection, retention, and productivity at scale. The release of the Workhuman app for Microsoft Teams is the next step in Workhuman’s evolution of bringing the power of its entire platform through the digital employee experience offered by Microsoft 365; including Microsoft Teams, Viva, Outlook, SharePoint, and more. For more information about Workhuman’s integration capabilities, please visit www.workhuman.com/integrations.

First Look – Poly Voyager Surround 80 UC Premium BT Headset

The new Poly Voyager Surround 80 UC empowers employees to focus and sound their best with immersive rich audio and adaptive ANC. It is the first boomless headset certified for Microsoft Teams Open Office due to its outstanding performance in noisy environments. The Bluetooth enterprise headset offers a sleek design for complete comfort, featuring soft ear cushions and an adjustable headband for an ultralight fit. Users can stay in command with up to 21 hours of talk time, convenient on-ear controls, and smart sensors for automatic call answering and 40 mm drivers.

Now in for review we will be testing these out over the next few weeks so if you have any questions feel free to ask on any of our channels and we will answer as always, packed with features these over-ear headphones actually has 6 mics so not a word will be missed and certified for Microsoft teams and have gesture control with adaptive ANC, you can connect your mobile or laptop and for the laptop there is an adapter just in case and software to download to take more control.

Features

  • Adaptive ANC and over-the-ear design
  • 6 microphones for clear transmit audio
  • Up to 21 hours of talk time
  • Intuitive touch controls for calls and music

Stay tuned for more.

See more

Unboxing Video

 

 

 

Viatel Technology Group unveils new AI Service for Microsoft Teams

Viatel Technology Group, a leading provider of cybersecurity, cloud, communications and digital transformation solutions, today launched its latest innovation – a secure Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool designed to keep privacy-conscious organisations agile and at the forefront of technological change. Built on Microsoft’s Azure Open AI platform and integrated into existing Teams’ environments, vAI for Microsoft Teams enables organisations to harness the transformative potential of Generative AI while ensuring the highest level of data security and compliance.

At the core of vAI is a steadfast commitment to privacy and security. Damien McCann, Chief Commercial Officer with Viatel Technology Group, is enthusiastic about the new offering, “By harnessing the power of ChatGPT in a secure enterprise environment, we unlock immense potential. Security is of paramount importance. By keeping critical information within the customers own Azure subscription, our vAI solution empowers organisations to confidently embrace the AI revolution, knowing that their critical information remains protected.

“At Viatel we are committed to partnering with our customers as they navigate the ever-changing digital landscape,” Damien continues. “Our focus lies in delivering secure and scalable solutions, that help public and private sector enterprises to embrace new technologies and achieve their strategic objectives. With our extensive expertise in digital transformation, we are confident that this latest innovation will enhance our ability to help customers optimise performance through technology.”

Finian Nally, Head of Microsoft Cloud Solutions with Viatel Technology Group, elaborates on the range of benefits for organisations that leverage AI technology while safeguarding their data. “With vAI, organisations can now effectively and securely enable their employees to leverage the power of Generative AI at their fingertips. This will invariably improve efficiency and drive innovation, freeing teams from mundane tasks and empowering them to focus on strategic growth initiatives.

“vAI deployments are customised to the unique needs of each organisation and our ambitious deployment model ensures businesses can be up and running in as little as five days. As AI propels business expansion, vAI grows with each organisation, providing a fully scalable solution to maintain a competitive edge.”

Recognised for delivering innovative and industry-leading solutions in cloud, cybersecurity, communications and digital transformation, Viatel Technology Group recently announced the acquisition of Sungard Availability’s Irish cloud business, marking its eighth successful acquisition since 2020. The technology group’s commitment to excellence was recently recognised when it was named ICT Company of the Year at the Chamber Ireland InBUSINESS Awards.

To witness the capabilities and possibilities of vAI, the Viatel team invites interested parties to request a demo by contacting them at vai@viatel.com or visiting viatel.com/vai.

EPAM helps its customers engineer the future with Microsoft Enterprise Skilling Initiative

A long-standing Microsoft customer and partner, EPAM Systems (EPAM) helps its clients engineer the future using Microsoft cloud solutions. The company, repeatedly awarded for its strong learning culture, nurtures employee cloud competencies through participation in the Enterprise Skilling Initiative (ESI). Available in a variety of formats, the program has already provided over 2,500 engineers with more than 5,500 Microsoft Cloud certifications. Equipped with future-oriented skills, EPAM employees can feel more empowered in their roles and better serve the increasing digital needs of their clients.

EPAM, a leading digital transformation services and product engineering company, invests in its people and award-winning learning culture by offering mentoring programs and unlimited upskilling and development opportunities. “Our client works with us because we deliver results,” starts Dmitry Tikhomirov, Vice President, Head of Cloud Technology and Delivery, EMEA & APAC at EPAM. “And we are able to do that because we invest in our people — from technology and platforms to learning and education.”

A learning culture is deeply embedded in EPAM’s business strategy, providing an outlet for employees to grow and stay engaged. “We work to understand the business objectives of each department and map corporate learning solutions to those objectives,” reveals Irina Kureichyk, Director of Learning & Development at EPAM. “This way, we can offer our clients the most up-to-date, high-quality skills and services.” Seeing the demand for advanced digital and cloud technology expertise, EPAM decided to participate in Microsoft ESI, which provides hands-on interactive courses and certification in Microsoft Cloud technologies for Microsoft customers.

Cultivating an engaging learning environment

EPAM’s certification journey with ESI started in 2019 when the first 250 engineers signed up for training across Microsoft Cloud technologies (Azure, Security, Power Platform). Initially, on-site certification events and in-class experiences were planned, but the pandemic forced a rapid switch online. Yet, the transition occurred with no disruption. “We had a learning platform where we built a learning path, integrating courses from Microsoft,” explains Kureichyk.

By combining our strengths with Microsoft, we can help our clients achieve their digital transformation goals, increase their technological agility and deliver game-changing digital experiences to their customers.

Dmitry Tikhomirov: VP, Head of Cloud Technology and Delivery, EMEA & APAC.

All certification paths are role-based but open to anyone meeting the course requirements. “We offer all learning formats provided by Microsoft, from self-paced courses and virtual classes to expert advice provided by colleagues. That flexibility makes learning easier to accommodate for our employees and keeps them motivated,” continues Kureichyk. To distinguish and engage learners, EPAM also uses gamification and badges.

Certified to make an impact

Commitment to skilling brings resiliency to EPAM. “In spite of global challenges, we continued to make skilling initiatives our top priority.” recalls Kureichyk.

To date, over 2,500 engineers across 14 countries in Central and Eastern Europe have obtained more than 5,500 certificates, the biggest Microsoft certification initiative in the region. For EPAM, this achievement confirms the company’s outstanding cloud expertise. For its employees, certificates provide a chance to elevate or recalibrate their career. “We’ve seen people move from engineering or development roles into UX roles or change their career path from testing to software development,” says Kureichyk.  “This allows us to retain valuable talent.”

The drive for continuous learning is not purely employer-driven; EPAMers are hungry to build their skills to respond to the changing market demands. Apart from the Enterprise Skilling program, the company participates in Cloud Skills Challenge, Microsoft Training Days, and other joint learning initiatives. “The technology landscape is changing every three to four years, so we need to keep our skills current continuously,” comments Tikhomirov. “Through our combined efforts with Microsoft, we can help our clients on multiple fronts, from achieving digital transformation goals and increasing agility to delivering innovative solutions,” he says. “Equipped with cloud competencies, our engineers can continue to support our clients in navigating market shifts and disruption, providing them with strategic resiliency and the innovation to thrive.”

Version 1 awarded exclusive Global Microsoft Partner of the Year Award for delivery of National Highways app driving safety on England’s roads

IT service provider Version 1 has been awarded a prestigious accolade by Microsoft for its work with the UK’s National Highways to improve safety across the road network across England.

Dublin-founded Version 1 was named the global winner in the Modernising Applications 2023 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards, beating off stiff competition from an international field.

The Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards recognise Microsoft partners which have developed and delivered outstanding Microsoft-based applications, services, and devices during the past year. Awards were classified in various categories, with those honoured chosen from a set of more than 4,200 submitted nominations across 100 countries worldwide.

Version 1 was recognised for providing outstanding solutions and services in Modernising Applications for its innovative transformation of a critical application for National Highways’ Incident Liaison Officers (NILOs). The NILO team are responsible for coordinating information on major incidents – multi-vehicle collisions, severe weather, and freight spillages – over 4,500 miles of England’s strategic road network and are vital to the 254 billion passenger and freight vehicle miles travelled across England every year.

The solution has meant the NILO team has increased the speed at which major traffic incidents are reported by 150%, incident closure efficiency by 82% and incident creation by 50%. It replaces a legacy system and is a key enabler of National Highways £27.4 billion Digital Roads Strategy aimed at revolutionizing how the strategic road network is designed, built, operated and used.

The app significantly improves user productivity and incident handling through easier, faster logging, reporting, and information sharing. This has facilitated smoother coordination of emergency services, dissemination of media updates for the public, and enhanced incident management and road network operation.

Crucially, for road users, this means a safer, easier journey and improved journey times, bolstering England’s reputation for having the safest roads globally. It also helps National Highways deliver on its commitment to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on its roads by 50% by 2025.

The project was delivered using Version 1’s collection of quick-start delivery accelerators, known as Foundations, which uses prebuilt solutions which incorporate industry best practices and utilise best-of-breed open source and cloud-native technologies. Foundations enables a reduced time to market, reduced delivery risk, increased alignment to standards and improved security.

Tom O’Connor, Chief Executive Officer of Version 1, said: “We are delighted to have been named as the global winner in the Modernising Applications 2023 Microsoft Partner of the Year Award. The award cements our reputation as a trusted partner of choice to major organisations in the transformation of critical digital infrastructure and we are pleased to have been recognised by Microsoft.

“The National Highways project is a great example of the transformational projects that Version 1 can deliver which significantly improves efficiency and efficacy for our clients. We are particularly proud to have helped National Highways to make England’s roads safer and thank them for partnering with us.”

Nicole Dezen, Corporate Vice President of Global Partner Solutions at Microsoft, said: “Congratulations to the winners and finalists of the 2023 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards! The innovative new solutions and services that positively impact customers and enable digital transformation from this year’s winners demonstrate the best of what’s possible with the Microsoft Cloud.”

Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards are announced annually prior to the company’s global partner conference, Microsoft Inspire, which will take place on July 18-19 this year.

Codec named Microsoft Country Partner of the Year for Ireland 2023

Codec, one of Ireland’s leading cloud solutions consultancy companies, today announced it has won the prestigious Microsoft Partner of the Year Award for 2023. The company was honoured among a global field of top Microsoft partners for demonstrating excellence in innovation and implementation of customer solutions based on Microsoft technology.

The achievement comes following a recent expansion programme launched by Codec. The expansion will create 65 new jobs in Ireland and saw the opening of a new office in London.

The Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards recognise Microsoft partners that have developed and delivered outstanding Microsoft-based applications, services, and devices during the past year. Awards were classified in various categories, with honourees chosen from a set of more than 4,200 submitted nominations from more than 100 countries worldwide. Codec was recognised for providing outstanding solutions and services in Ireland.

Commenting on the achievement, Ronan Stafford, CEO, Codec, said: “I am delighted to accept the Microsoft Ireland 2023 Country Partner of the Year award on behalf of our exceptional team at Codec. Their dedication, innovation, and unwavering commitment have driven transformative digital projects for our clients in the Public Sector and Healthcare Sector. This recognition is a testament to their remarkable achievements and the positive impact they have made. Together, we will continue pushing boundaries and shaping a brighter future.”

Speaking about the award win, Martina Naughton, Global Partner Sales Director, Microsoft Ireland, added: “We are delighted to announce Codec as Microsoft Ireland’s Country Partner of the Year for 2023. Codec’s exceptional drive for innovation, their dedication to customer success, and collaborative approach truly set them apart. Their unwavering commitment to assuring delivery of Microsoft’s cloud solutions has been instrumental in enabling their customers to thrive and embrace digital transformation. We look forward to continuing our partnership, developing innovative solutions, now and into the future, as Codec continues to exemplify excellence in leveraging Microsoft technology.”

Established in 1985 and headquartered in Ireland, Codec is a high-growth, leading technology company with offices in Dublin, London, Belfast, and Malta. With a team of over 300 dedicated professionals, they are committed to delivering innovative solutions based on the Microsoft low-code platform. As a four-time recipient of the Microsoft Country Partner of the Year award, Codec specialises in providing business applications, artificial intelligence, and cloud infrastructure on the low-code Microsoft platform to organisations in the Public and Healthcare sectors. Beyond technology Codec actively supports sustainability and our chosen charities, Ruhama and Flourish.

Microsoft Ireland Hosts Inaugural Microsoft Dream Space Showcase

Over 300 students from 13 schools and seven clubs in rural Ireland gathered in Microsoft Ireland’s campus in Leopardstown, Dublin, for the inaugural Microsoft Dream Space Showcase to demonstrate the many ways in which their digital skills can help to solve some of today’s sustainability challenges.

The first-of-its-kind event saw 320 students from across Counties Longford, Tipperary and Kildare travel to One Microsoft Place to showcase their STEM-based projects. The innovative projects presented by the students addressed various challenges related to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These include wearable tech for improving young people’s wellbeing, inclusive and accessible voting systems, initiatives to clean the ocean and prevent illegal dumping, as well as measures to reduce water wastage and so much more.

The collaboration between Microsoft Dream Space, Microsoft Ireland’s STEM innovation and education programme, OurKidsCode and the Department of Rural and Community Development, as well as the participating schools and clubs, began back in September 2022, when the Microsoft Dream Space education team visited Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) in Counties Longford and Tipperary to conduct hands-on STEM education sessions as part of the do your :bit challenge.

This engagement led to schools participating in a further 10-week Dream Space programme, which empowered the students to explore the world of STEM and computer science through various curriculum subjects like geography, P.E., visual arts, and more. They also harnessed the power of the micro:bit, a pocket-sized computer, to foster computational thinking, problem-solving skills, and critical thinking.

The Showcase event provided students with an opportunity to present their STEM-based projects with a number of schools/students being recognised on the day for the outstanding technology solutions they developed. This included Drum National School in Templemore, Co. Tipperary for the project ‘Weaving Wellbeing’ which uses technology to weave wellbeing in the lives of young people and Lackamore National School, Newport, Co. Tipperary which was recognised for its project on collecting plastic rubbish in the ocean.

James O’Connor, Microsoft Ireland Site Lead and Vice President for Microsoft Global Operations Service Center, said: “Today is a very exciting day for Microsoft Ireland as we hold the inaugural Microsoft Dream Space Showcase at One Microsoft Place. Last year, we announced our intention to invest a further €3m in the expansion of our immersive Microsoft Dream Space STEM experience to ensure that every student across the island of Ireland has the opportunity to develop the skills needed to succeed in a digital economy. Today’s showcase is an important step on the road towards making that ambition a reality as well as a step forward in helping to close the digital skills gap that often exists between rural and urban communities.

“It also marks the culmination of many months of hard work by primary school students and clubs from Counties Longford and Tipperary as they sought to create innovative solutions to today’s major sustainability challenges. I’d like to congratulate all the students who are showcasing their work at this inaugural event and hope they will continue to nurture an interest in technology and innovation as they further their education.”

Bella Ryan, 6th class student, Drom National School said: “I’m very excited to be here today as part of Microsoft’s Dream Space Showcase. Dream Space has really opened my eyes to the endless possibilities presented by technology and the ways in which it can be used to solve so many of today’s problems. It has been the best memory of my eight years at Drom National School. After months of working on our projects, it feels great to be able to show them off today and hear what people think about our solutions to today’s challenges.”

Amadean Moore Walsh, Principal of Drom National School, Templemore, Co. Tipperary said: “It is such an honour to be here at One Microsoft Place as we celebrate our students’ hard work and dedication to creating digital solutions for today’s sustainability challenges. We’re so grateful to Microsoft Ireland and the Dream Space team for not only sparking an interest in STEM among the students, who often have limited access to digital opportunities, and giving them an opportunity to showcase their efforts here today, but also for supporting us as teachers to develop the digital skills needed to continue to nurture this interest in the classroom.”

As evidence of the programme’s impact, in March, Longford County Council secured funding under the Public Service Innovation Fund 2023 to become the first county in Ireland with Computer Science as a Leaving Certificate option in all nine secondary schools. The grant recognised the contributions made by Microsoft Dream Space in Longford to date. Numerous locations in County Tipperary have also been nominated for the prestigious .IE Digital Town Awards 2023, further highlighting the project’s local success.