On this episode of The Use Case Podcast with William Tincup, Tina Zwolinski from skillsgapp talks about using the gamification of workforce development and recruitment for Gen Z applicants and employees. Listen here.

The InnoVision Awards Board of Directors is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2022 InnoVision Awards. This year’s finalists include both large and small organizations, representing an array of industries, from the upstate to the coast – a true reflection of South Carolina’s robust innovation economy.

InnoVision Awards honor South Carolina individuals and organizations for impactful innovations under development in South Carolina within the last 18 months. The annual awards are the mark of distinction for the many organizations, individuals, educators and leaders who have been honored over the 24-year history of the InnoVision Awards.

The 2022 finalists in the six competitive award categories are:

Technology Development

Foresight Data Systems LLC (Columbia)
Laminaheat LLC (Greer)
Victory ExoFibres, LLC (Central)

Community Service

South Carolina Broadband Office (Columbia)
Pickens County (Pickens)
The Sophia Institute (Charleston)

Small Enterprise

Advent Innovations (Columbia)
ASSET, LLC (Columbia)
Heartbeat Technologies (Mt Pleasant)

Education

MedEx Academy – Prisma Health System (Greenville)
skillsgapp llc (Greenville)
Sprattronics Learning Lab (Greenville)

Technology Integration

CyCrypt, LLC (West Columbia)
TTI Outdoor Power Equipment, Inc. (Anderson)
Zylo Therapeutics, Inc. (Greenville)

Sustainability

Clemson University Environmental Engineering & Earth Science Department (Clemson)
Performance Enhanced Delivery (Moore)
VBASE Oil Company (Pendleton)

Read more.

In this episode, Angela and Christi talk with Tina Zwolinski from Skillsgapp. Tina helped create a gaming app for youth that teaches various trade skills with the opportunity to see information about local companies that are hiring for those trade skills. Since so many young people are playing games on their mobile phones these days (90%), doesn’t it makes sense to target our youth with an app that can actually help them plan for their careers? This is a great way to erase the stigmas that surround the trade skills in our nation. Listen to find out how!

Tina Zwolinski is the founder and CEO of skillsgapp, a workforce gaming app company that fields mobile, engaging interactive apps that help middle and high school-aged youth achieve career awareness and pathway access for jobs in skills-based industries, including aerospace and automotive manufacturing, life sciences, cybersecurity, construction trades, and other technical industries.

The mission of skillsgapp is to connect youth to life-changing careers through game-changing play. Skillsgapp gaming apps are ideal for states and broader regions, economic development organizations, industries, and public sector agencies dedicated to building a qualified workforce pipeline. The geolocation feature of the gameplay connects the players to career and pathway opportunities right around them.

A serial entrepreneur, for 20 years Tina was also the founder and CEO of ZWO, a branding and marketing firm focused on economic and workforce development and generational consumer brands. She is a winner of Greenville’s Best & Brightest award, a graduate of Leadership Greenville’s Class 37, and has previously served stints on the boards of Langston Charter Middle School and Fostering Great Ideas, a national non-profit devoted to improving the life of youth who are in the foster care system. She currently serves on the Academic Advisory Council for the National Skilled Trades Alliance, on the South Carolina Association of Continuing Higher Education Board, and on the Board of the Greenville Professional Women’s Forum. Tina also mentors middle and high school youth. Read more.

If states, regions, and industry all want the same thing—a qualified workforce pipeline—then how can they get it? In other words, what’s it gonna take?

One way is by transforming skills development, career awareness, and job opportunities into mobile gaming technology. That’s just what Tina Zwolinski, CEO and founder of skillsgapp is doing.

“We are revolutionizing how the next generation engages in, and views, skills-based careers at an earlier age,” she says. To accomplish all this, she works with state and regional economic development agencies, K-12 and post-secondary education, and industry (Automotive Manufacturing, Aerospace Manufacturing , Cybersecurity & IT, Life Sciences & Healthcare).

“With 10,000 Baby Boomers reaching retirement age every day, attracting both middle and high schoolers today is paramount in securing our workforce and economy of tomorrow,” says Zwolinski.

“By meeting Gen Z wherever they are – on their phones – through fun, mobile skills training customized to go and grow with them, we are building a more qualified workforce for years to come.”

Here, Zwolinski sat down for a long-form discussion with EdTech Digest to talk about the bigger picture and how, despite the gap, everything fits together.  Read More.

Games for Change unveils 2022 video game and XR award winners

Using mobile gaming to help young students understand existing jobs

According to research, 95% of U.S. teens have access to a smartphone. Tina Zwolinski, co-founder and CEO of skillsgapp, says there is great opportunity to introduce young students – via their phones – to career options.

“Skillsgapp is a workforce pipeline initiative and the tool that we use as part of that initiative is mobile gaming,” explains Zwolinski. “We focus on middle school and high school ages. There’s a real opportunity through career awareness to help them navigate. High schoolers have to make decisions on what they’re going to do after school. Those are really important years of influence.”

In addition to soft skills, Zwolinski says game models – which not all have launched – focus on cybersecurity, aerospace, automotive, skilled trades, advanced manufacturing, agriculture, STEM, and life sciences.

Read More:

An avatar-guided career path

South Carolina’s bustling life sciences industry is the theme for the July/August issue.

According to SCBIO’s 2022 life sciences impact report, the South Carolina’s life science sector has grown by 62% since the study, conducted in 2021, and generates a total economic output of nearly $26 billion each year.

You can read more about the reason behind that growth inside these pages.

You can also learn about innovative life sciences-related companies and cutting-edge research in this issue, including BrightMa Farms, a pioneer in the hemp industry that is eyeing the international market; SkillsGapp, which aims to connect workforce opportunities with emerging talent; and Vertical Roots, the country’s largest hydroponic container whose technology is changing how communities grow food.

You’ll also hear from James Chappell, CEO of SCBIO, Sam Konduros, CEO of Southeast Life Sciences and Susie Shannon, president and CEO of the SC Council on Competitiveness.

Skillsgapp’s Rad Lab mobile workforce development game is featured on pages 20-23.

Tina Zwolinski, the CEO and Founding Partner of Skillsgapp, along with Cynthia Jenkins the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Co-Founder joins Enterprise Radio. Skillsgapp is a host of game-changing workforce development technology.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guests Tina Zwolinski & Cynthia Jenkins discuss the following:

1. So is Skillsgapp the result of the mobile app sensation meeting the stagnation of your typical HR department?
2. Who is the target audience for Skillsgapp? What sectors would be receptive to adopting the Skillsgapp technology (for example, Skillionaire)?
3. Does the Skillsgapp Team look to foster high-skills and STEM training through gaming?
4. You both were successful marketers before starting Skillsgapp. What prompted the move and is it tough being ‘Women CEOs in tech in 2022’?
5. Where do you see Skillsgapp in the future?
   

Listen to the podcast here.

---

Tina and Cynthia are the Co-founders of Skillsgapp, the first company to offer customized, location-based gaming apps focused on helping Generation Z gain career and pathway awareness along with the middle and soft skills necessary to participate in the skills-based jobs sector that includes manufacturing and other technical industries.

The South Carolina Biotechnology Industry Organization (SCBIO) is pleased to announce the launch of its first-in-kind, next-generation life sciences workforce development mobile app, undertaken at an Executive Breakfast held at the Omni Hotel on Wednesday, June 15th.

‘Rad Lab’ is designed for middle- and high schoolers across South Carolina. It is part of a workforce and career development initiative spearheaded by SCBIO and select industry partners that seek to connect over 400,000 middle and high schoolers in the state, including underserved youth, to life-science careers via mobile gaming technology.

Geo-specific job descriptions, salaries, educational pathways, and inroads to life science companies are offered through engaging, career-simulated gameplay based on their whereabouts, proficiencies, and job preferences.

“This is a fish-where-the-fish-are strategy,” said Erin Ford, executive vice president and chief operating officer for SCBIO. “By engaging this next generation of the workforce where they are – on their phones – via their preferred form of entertainment, we now have the ability to scale awareness, while supporting regional industry needs.” Read More.