More than 250 students and teachers from across the county gathered in Maidstone this week for a one-day digital conference.

Aspiration Digital was hosted by county town agency Reflect Digital and held at Maidstone Grammar School for Girls.

The second annual event, it was designed to inspire and educate young people about career opportunities in the digital industry.

Guest speakers included representatives from AM Marketing, Redsprout and Yoyo as well as Dovetail Games.

Earlier this year, Reflect Digital carried out a survey which found 63% of students across the UK believe more needs to be done at schools, colleges and universities to educate them about the number of careers in the digital world.

The study also revealed that 90% would benefit from learning about digital marketing/coding in their place of education.

According to the government, the tech sector in the UK is growing at 50% faster than the rest of the UK economy.

Becky Simms, CEO at Reflect Digital, said: “Aspiration Digital was a huge success this year.

“We did everything we set out to do, we widened the student's imagination, gave them an opportunity to connect with industry professionals and we sparked action.

“Within hours of the event, I had students connecting with me on LinkedIn with messages of how inspiring the day had been and how they learnt about roles they did not know existed and now have an idea of the pathway they wish to take.

“It fills me with so much pride and joy to see such amazing professionals in our industry willing to give their time freely to inspire our next generation."

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