Kicking off the Ctrl Alt Del journey with Caitlin Gould, TECwomen CIC founder
and creator of Ctrl Alt Del.
It might seem strange for a person who runs a women in tech non-profit to set up an accessibility and inclusion summit. You might be thinking - isn't a "women in tech" event more her thing? Or even a conference looking at diversity and inclusion within teams? Well, you wouldn't be wrong, I do care a lot about those topics. And I speak about them. A lot.
With TECwomen and TECgirls, I've worked hard to try to improve gender balance in education and in work. I am a passionate advocate for creating more inclusivity within technology, engineering, and creative industries. And one of my favorite arguments for diversity is that more diverse teams generate more exciting and inclusive innovation.
So when I started talking to the amazing Software Cornwall team about an inclusivity event as a part of the Cornwall Festival of Tech, I thought it would be nice to do something that focused less on diversity within teams and more on what truly inclusive and accessible innovation looks like. More of a focus on the outcomes and outputs, if you like.
I also really wanted a chance to geek out and celebrate the amazing things happening within the world of inclusive innovation. I love the idea of giving ground-breaking tech a stage and a platform to show what they are creating and hopefully inspire more companies to think about what they could be doing to improve. I've always found that showing how people can succeed is a strong motivator for change, so I thought Ctrl Alt Del will be an amazing way to celebrate people like Elizabeth Chandler ✨ who is challenging AI to be more inclusive. Or to shout about how Open Bionics has changed the conversations about disabilities and prosthetics. And how Elvie looked at the taboo topic of incontinence and said "we can use technology to fix that". How people like Suzanne Edwards are leading the way with new accessibility travel standards and the Adapted Category for Airbnb.
So that is what Ctrl Alt Del is. A chance for product owners, start-up founders, established tech companies, and community/advocacy groups to come together for important conversations on how technology can be used to create a more accessible and inclusive future for all.
Can't wait to see you all in Feb!
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