Activity
Sony Group Sponsors Girls Make Games
USA, UK
Since 2017, Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (SIE) has been a sponsor of Girls Make Games (GMG), a game-making experience for young girls provided by LearnDistrict Inc., a firm based in the United States. With an eye on fostering the next generation of game designers, creators, and engineers, GMG holds game-making workshops and summer camps in various locations around the U.S. Approximately 20 girls who attend the three-week camp at the SIE campus in San Mateo, California, form into teams that develop and produce their own original games. At the end of the three-week camp, GMG holds a competition for the games which have been created that year. The winner of the competition in fiscal 2018 created a game about issues that children face at school and in their daily lives. Over the past year, the winning team has worked with professional game designers to make the full game ready for publishing. In fiscal 2019, SIE supported GMG workshops to be held in the United Kingdom for the first time, and also held workshops in cooperation with local game makers.
GMG Workshop©Girls Make Games
Educational Support at the Best Buy Teen Tech Center
Sony Electronics Inc.
In 2017, Sony Electronics joined the Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos in opening the Best Buy Teen Tech Center, a dedicated space offering teens from underserved communities free afterschool programs focused on creative technology. Students use Sony technology to explore art, music, animation, scientific simulations, robotics, film and 3D modeling.
To outfit the space, Sony donated TVs, alpha cameras, camcorders, headphones, audio products, and KOOV®*1 kits for students' and teachers' use. A full music studio was recently added to the Tech Center, allowing visitors to record and produce their own music.
Over 50 Sony employee volunteers are involved in mentoring the students each year, covering topics such as photography, videography and editing. In 2019, the Center welcomed hundreds of visitors and cultivated a robust social media presence that showcases the technology, students and volunteers.
- *1KOOV® is an all-in-one coding, robotics and design kit that combines digital coding with physical building to foster the next generation of innovators.
Educational Learning Station "Hole in the Wall Project"
India
Sony India Pvt. Ltd. in cooperation with a local NGO operates the Hole in the Wall project by installing computer learning stations for children in approximately 21 impoverished and agricultural communities in India. The computer learning stations are programmed with software for learning mathematics and English so that children can learn more than what is being taught at schools. Also, Sony's BRAVIA is used for the computer learning stations, and the power is supplied by solar battery.
