Contract

Dev Clever Holdings plc

("Dev Clever" or "the Company")

Educate Partnership: WorldSkills UK (WSUK)

Dev Clever, a leading developer of career development and virtual reality careers guidance platforms, is pleased to announce its partnership with WorldSkills UK.

WorldSkills UK (WSUK) is a not for profit organisation that helps young people go further, faster in their training, careers and life. WSUK is actively changing the national conversation around skills and apprenticeships and helping raise the standards and prestige of this sector. They champion technical education and apprenticeships, both by increasing young people's awareness of what is on offer and by raising standards through skills competitions and the application of world-class standards. They achieve this by bringing government, educational institutions, employers and the skills sector together nationally across the UK.

This partnership is a collaboration between Dev Clever's innovative careers guidance platforms Launchpad & VICTAR and WorldSkills LIVE, the UK's largest annual apprenticeships, skills development and careers showcase event, attracting over 70,000 young people and education professionals. The show encourages young people to discover what career and course opportunities are available to them and offers first-hand experience across a huge range of skills and invaluable careers advice. Launchpad will be featured on the WorldSkills official website as the careers guidance platform of WorldSkills LIVE. It will be sent to every secondary school to use with their pupils, prior to attending the show, to identify what career is best matched to them and to guide them to relevant educational institutions, apprenticeship providers and employers that can offer the next step in their future. Launchpad and VICTAR will also be featured at the event and used by the National Careers Service to engage with young people about their future career across the four days.

Key Partnership Highlights:

·; WorldSkills UK is a not for profit organisation that brings government, employers and the skills sector together.

·; This partnership will provide an invaluable tool in helping young people identify the next steps in their development, whilst providing national exposure for both Launchpad and VICTAR across government, education, employers and the UK skills and careers sectors.

·; Launchpad will be delivered as part of the WorldSkills tool kit to every secondary school and college in the UK, as well as through a direct link from their official website.

·; Young people will be encouraged to create a Launchpad profile to identify their ideal career and then be signposted to relevant employers, training and apprenticeship providers, and educational institutions that provide the next step in their career pathway.

·; This partnership will involve a close working relationship with the National Careers Service.

·; This partnership positions both Launchpad and VICTAR at the heart of the UK skills and careers sectors.

Chris Jeffries, CEO at Dev Clever said:

This is a huge partnership for Dev Clever and a testament to the innovation both Launchpad and VICTAR bring to the careers, education and UK skills sectors. WorldSkills is a benchmark organisation in the recruitment and development of skills and careers across the UK and a foundation in the reshaping of the national reformed skills sector. This partnership demonstrates the level of excitement around our platforms and through the association with the WorldSkills LIVE event in November, Launchpad and VICTAR will be positioned as the careers guidance tool across the UK education sector.

About VICTAR & Launchpad

VICTAR (Virtual Interactive Careers Training & Apprenticeship Robot) is the world's first interactive, virtual reality careers guidance experience, designed specifically to engage with school children and immerse them in impartial careers information as part of a school's careers guidance programme. 

VICTAR has been developed in parallel with Launchpad (Launchyourcareer.com), our online careers platform that brings refreshing innovation to the careers education sector. Developed in conjunction with key partners and utilising credible resources, such as government backed Labour Market Information (LMI), VICTAR takes the young person through an immersive, guided virtual reality journey to discover their personality and interests. The user can then explore, through full 360-degree environments, the careers and training opportunities that suit them the most. Once they arrive at their chosen career, they can see statistics and information about the career such as how much they could earn, the predicted growth by region as well as video content of people in the role with insights into their work environments. 

The careers output from VICTAR is automatically synchronised with Launchpad and the user is given a login to their personal careers dashboard where their selections are stored. The young person can then review these with their career's advisor and parents. They can see the colleges, universities, apprenticeship providers and employers that offer the next step in their chosen career path. The personal dashboard allows the young person to keep up to date with information relating to their chosen career at the same time as allowing the school to keep a record of each individual pupil's future choices, ensuring they remain focused on their career goal.

Launchpad for Employers

The Launchpad for Employers platform is a mobile optimised, internal learning and development, training and communications platform for employees and team members. The platform is designed to train and develop the skills of each individual remotely across multiple locations, as well as providing a centralised hub for internal communications. The platform incorporates Dev Clever's Engage gamification engine to incentivise users, through the use of instant win rewards, to complete their training modules and advance their business knowledge and skillsets. 

Launchpad & VICTAR have been in development for the past three and a half years, working in collaboration with students, schools, educational institutions, training providers and employers. This step change platform is aimed at tackling the critical national issue of bridging the skills gap, which the government estimates will cost the UK taxpayer £90bn per year by 2024. Our platforms are provided on a SaaS basis to our customers.