Auckland technology firm Orion Healthcare has launched an initiative aimed at changing the perception of computer science in schools and building the pool of talent the ICT industry needs.
Named Codeworx, the initiative gathers industry experts, teachers and secondary school students in an online forum where "tools and incentives" aim to encourage students to take on the subject, the company announced yesterday.
Orion Health chief executive Ian McRae said coding was the platform that teaches interactive computer science.
"We believe if more students are bitten by the coding bug then they will ultimately become the engine room of a revitalised New Zealand economy and Codeworx is an enabler for this," McRae said.
Codeworx will be kick-started by the 2013 Codeworx Challenge, which runs from the end of this month until late September. The competition will require entrants to come up with an innovative programming solution using a Raspberry Pi computer, a credit-card sized computer that plugs into a television.
