“Be IT”, where the “IT” stands for Interactive Technology, is a province-wide awareness campaign purposed to develop and grow the interactive technology sector in Saskatchewan. The campaign will speak to young people considering a future in interactive technology, as well as academia, industry and government.

The campaign's key messages include:

• industry and academia are forging strong ties to strengthen growing provincial interactive media capabilities
  
• the universities are responsive to industry needs
• large companies will be attracted to the province when a strong educational base of support exists to grow the industry. Work is underway to attract more companies to the province by strengthening the availability of the future workforce from all educational institutions.
• research has proven that game-based technologies and techniques provide more interesting and effective teaching. The rise of the “Serious Games” movement within institutions of higher learning has created an even greater demand on the graduates of Computer Science departments.
• well-paying jobs will be more readily available in Saskatchewan
• the University of Saskatchewan is about to enter the leading edge of creating and using these advanced teaching technologies in several prototype projects

The launch of the Be IT Campaign occurred on July 29, 2008 at the entrance to the University of Saskatchewan's Computer Science Department and was well attended by students, faculty, media and industry.

In his welcoming address, Dr. Rick Bunt, University of Saskatchewan Associate Vice President, Information and Communications Technology, emphasized the opportunities provided by an education in interactive technology and the importance of industry input in curriculum direction.

Highlighting the launch, Department Head, Eric Neufeld announced the introduction of two new first-year eGame courses (CMPT105 and CMPT106) for this fall, to complement its upper year programs in game creation technologies and further curriculum changes that will allow students to develop software for gaming consoles and other cutting-edge technology, such as the iPhone. With the skyrocketing popularity of all AppleTM products and game-based technologies – such as the Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3 or X-Box 360 – the Department of Computer Science is excited to offer its students training for potential careers in this trendy and lucrative industry.

A 3-minute video highlighting the "new IT" was unveiled, showing a wide variety of class, lab and projects active within the Computer Science department.

Special entryway signage promoting Be IT was unveiled at the Computer Science Department. This sign emphasizes the bonding between the Department and industry that SaskInteractive represents.

Attendees took advantage of the opportunity to tour the sophisticated facilities and to play games created within the department.

Future Be IT announcements will be made as program details become available from the other educational institutions.

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