A young entrepreneur has launched a new digital youth club in Newport to help inspire primary and secondary school pupils to make the most of new technologies available to them.

Around 50 youngsters gathered at The Project Space, in Commercial Street, Newport the first Digital Youth Club, where they took part in guided exploration of 3D Printing and programmable drones.

The founder, Nick Theodorou, 23, decided to set up the club after hearing appeals from the Renewport Taskforce, who were looking for innovative ideas to help regenerate and inspire communities in Newport.

The youth club is an after-school technology club that isn’t tied to an academic curriculum and has been made possible thanks to funding from the Welsh Government, and a number of private companies including Acorn.

Budding young entrepreneurs attending the day enjoyed getting to grips with the quadcopter, donated by leading UK-wide recruitment and training company Acorn, to support the club’s activities. An emerging technology, the quadcopter can assist numerous activities from monitoring crops to delivering sushi.

Nick Theodorou said: “When I was a secondary school student a decade ago, the only computing I ever experienced was Microsoft Office and despite the huge advance in technology since then, things seem to be the same. In fact there are very few, if any, opportunities for young people to recognise the whole range of free technologies and tools out there which they can access, making it possible for them to turn their ideas into a reality more easily and cheaply than ever before.

“I’m determined there should be a space where young people with an interest in technology and different skill levels can come together to share ideas and see how exciting technology is. My hope is that it’ll inspire young people by showing them what IT and STEM can help them to achieve.

“I’m extremely grateful to all our supporters, including Acorn, Roger Hiscott, a freelance commercial consultant, Professor Simon Gibson, and Tom Evans of BID & The Project Space, for everything they have invested in the project, because without their buy-in, the Youth Club would not have been possible.”

Dave Sadler, manager of Acorn’s IT Division, said: “Clubs like these are proactively helping to address emerging skills shortages in the IT sector and are equally important for recruiting emerging talent. They provide a platform for young people to explore and develop specialist skills, which is only going to enhance our future workforce as the global IT age grows.”

Following its successful launch, there are now plans to roll the youth club out across Wales.

Anyone interested in finding out more information, or even get in touch about sponsoring the club, can visit http://newportmakers.com/