Future Workforce Development: What is the role of social impact investing?

This episode is the latest of our The Voctech Podcast: learning continued series, supported by the Ufi Voctech Trust.

We ask the question, what is the role of social impact investing in workforce development?

The Edtech Podcast is in conversation with an investor and an analyst tracking the future of workforce development markets.

It’s a fascinating listen, covering;

• the gig economy
• the problem of regional disparity
• and, the role of technology, including AI in helping us find jobs and thrive once we are in them.

As always, we ask how to keep the human element alive in all of this, too. This is the final recording of the VocTech Podcast for 2020. Enjoy! We look forward to bringing you more in 2021.

Join in and follow the conversation using #VocTechPodcast and #VocTech.

People

• Joe Ludlow, Impact Investment Director, Ufi Voctech Trust | Twitter: @joeludlow
• Nick Kind, Senior Director, Tyton Partners | Twitter: @nkind88
• Sophie Bailey is the Founder and Presenter of The Edtech Podcast | Twitter: @podcastedtech

References from this week’s episode

• Ufi Voctech Trust – Website, homepage
• Ufi Voctech – Twitter
• Ufi Voctech Trust – LinkedIn
• Catch up on previous episodes of the VocTech Podcast series here – The Edtech Podcast website link
• VocTech Seed Fund – Website page link (apply 21st January to 11th February 2021)
• Joe Ludlow – LinkedIn
• Joe Ludlow – Twitter
• Ufi Voctech Trust – Twitter
• Nick Kind – LinkedIn
• Nick Kind – Twitter
• Tyton Partners – Twitter
• Teach First – Website
• Big Change – Website
• Ellen MacArthur Foundation – Website
• UCL Institute of Education (IOE) – Twitter
• EDUCATE – Website
• Educate – Twitter
• NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Training Programme – Website link
• Holtzbrinck Publishing Group – Website
• Big Change: Reimagining Education Campaign – Website page link
• Nesta – Twitter
• The Employment Technology Fund – Website
• Ufi Venture Fund – Website page link
• X Prize – Twitter
• Resolution Ventures – Website page link
• The Resolution Foundation – Twitter
• The Workertech Programme at Resolution – Website page link
• Social Impact Bonds – Gov.UK guide link
• UN’s Sustainable Development Goals – Link to more info on UN website
• Lessons from Estonia: why it excels at digital learning during Covid – Guardian Article, October 2020
• prowler.io has relaunched to Secondmind – Website link
• Secondmind – Twitter
• CloudFactory – Twitter
• Daimler – Website
• Daimler and the General Works Council agreed on key points for reducing personnel costs in Germany – Website page link
• Sonic Jobs – Twitter
• Learning and Work Institute – Twitter
• Learning and Work report: Learning through lockdown – Link to report on findings from the 2020 Adult Participation in Learning Survey
• Applied – Twitter
• Gap Square – Twitter
• Temporal – Website
• Profinder – LinkedIn link
• Workfinder – Twitter
• George Floyd – Link to article on Black Lives Matter website 
• Black Lives Matter – Twitter
• A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles – Amazon book link
• Not Working: Why We Have to Stop by Josh Cohen – Amazon book link
• An Epidemic Anthology: A Fiction Collection of All Manner of Plagues, Pandemics & Disease, by Edgar Allen Poe, Daniel Defoe, Mary Shelley and Jack London – Amazon book link

Thank you to the Ufi Voctech Trust.

The Voctech Podcast Series is produced by The Edtech Podcast and supported by Ufi Voctech Trust.

Our aim is to help improve vocational skills in the UK’s workforce by funding digital solutions for vocational learning. We only fund activity that is ‘scalable’ through technology, ie projects that use digital methods to widen access to vocational learning. While digital learning solutions are potentially open to all, we are especially keen to assist digital projects which involve post-school age vocational learners that have failed to be engaged by the education system.

Tell us where you are listening in from

We’d love to hear about innovative technology or approaches you are developing or using in adult education. Leave your stories in the comments below. Alternately, record a quick free voicemail via speakpipe for inclusion in the next episode. Finally, you can post your thoughts or follow-on links via Twitter @podcastedtech or via The Edtech Podcast Facebook page.