Andrew Jones, the Government minister and MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, is encouraging more young women to consider careers in the tech sector after visiting IntechnologyWiFi and meeting CEO Natalie Duffield.

IntechnologyWiFi is a market leader in connectivity for towns and cities and builds networks for public and private sector organisations to deliver digital change, drive the digital economy and promote digital inclusion.

Mr Jones met with Ms Duffield to discuss the company’s work at the forefront of Smart City technologies in the UK and also the need to bring new talent into the industry.

Mr Jones said: “Opportunities presented by the tech sector are fantastic and the careers of the future will all have digital elements within them.

“The sector is expanding rapidly and is creating lots of new jobs and businesses need to recruit from across the community to fulfil their growth potential.

“IntechnologyWiFi is a great example of a company in my constituency which has recruited talent from a wide base for tech roles which are flexible, commercial, creative and collaborative.”

Led by Ms Duffield, the company has rolled out the UK’s largest free public wireless network in Edinburgh and is deploying one of the nation’s first city-wide networks for the Internet of Things in Coventry, the UK’s next City of Culture.

Ms Duffield started her IT career in a junior sales role and worked her way to the top by complementing her commercial skills with an understanding of technical detail.

Ms Duffield said: “We are growing and creating new opportunities for bright and ambitious people to develop rewarding careers.

“We need to make the tech sector more appealing to women of all ages and we are working hard to do that.”

Analysis suggests that just 17 per cent of those working in technology in the UK are female, which is significantly lower than most other sectors.

Just seven per cent of students taking computer science A-level courses are female and only half of the girls who study IT and tech subjects at school enter the same field of work.

IntechnologyWiFi is rolling out new services in towns and cities in the East and West Midlands, the Lake District and East Anglia.

It holds concessions to deliver free public WiFi in Southend on Sea, Windsor and Maidenhead and Watford.