Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | AUGUST 2022 | 39 children panel more widely as we develop new products and services," Blazeviciute explains. This emerging range of digital educa- tional products has also opened up a new supplier market of developers who have not traditionally worked in the water and util- ity sector, and in turn introduced the sector to gami cation, digital education, and other new areas of innovation. "This has also, importantly, stimulated the thinking of our clients in the water and utility sector and channelled their creativ- ity and passion for climate action and acting sustainably," Blazeviciute says. "The use of gaming technology has also generated a huge number of spin-o• ideas for new solutions for our clients in their core activities, includ- ing training and development, induction and recruitment. The use cases are endless." While these initial developments have focused on working directly with utility com- panies, the rm has found itself increasingly engaging with other parts of the sector's eco- system – from construction and operational service providers and technology partners to increasingly direct services to schools. "We see this as part of the wider 'digital skills transition', to support skills develop- ment as part of the levelling-up agenda, to this end we have begun to extend our reach into schools, but also with housing and social housing providers, to engage more widely with local communities. This includes cross-collaboration with multiple utilities to drive integrated multi-channel engagement." Harnessing educational technology While Skewb Climate's approach is still rela- tively new both within the utilities sector and more broadly, Blazeviciute describes it as part of a fast-growing educational technol- ogy industry, energising what she describes as a "static" curriculum that doesn't yet com- prehensively cover climate challenges. "Our approach builds on a growing rec- ognition that educational gaming can stimu- late interest in children and young people in subjects which would otherwise seem hard to reach," she says. "This further builds on increasing evidence in the role that digital products play in education, for both children and adults, overcoming some of the barriers to traditional learning methods. "Children and young people are natu- rally creative, curious and love game-based learning," Blazeviciute says. "Creating inter- active gaming with teachers facilitating with the game, largely self-driven, experiential learning, is so powerful." Stuart Stone, editor, Utility Week Innovate Minecraft is a 'sandbox' virtual world, where players have almost unlimited scope to build virtual worlds of their choosing using building blocks – and within rules-based parameters - defi ned by the game.

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