San Jose, California, is informally known as the capital of Silicon Valley.Image courtesy Visit San Jose California (www.sanjose.org)

A second-year Computer Science student at the University of Sussex is flying out to Silicon Valley today (Friday 2 June) after being awarded a prestigious scholarship by technology giants Apple. 

Peter Lloyd is one of just 350 people around the world picked this year by Apple to attend its annual developers conference in San Jose, California. Registration, flights and accommodation are included in the prize. 

The 21-year-old, who built his first computer aged 12, will spend the next week rubbing shoulders with the world’s best app developers and innovators. 

He secured his place after impressing judges with his coding ability using the programming language Swift. Entrants were invited to create a ‘visually interactive scene’. 

Peter said: “I’ve never been to America before, and I’m really excited to visit Silicon Valley, the centre of app development and innovation.  

“I’m hoping to meet lots of different app developers and entrepreneurs, and learn new technologies and their creative process.” 

Peter is no stranger to using technology to solve problems. In his first year at Sussex, he co-founded a start-up company called TRIM-IT, which is a barber appointment booking app. It has been released in London and Brighton and has won many awards, including the University’s and Sussex Innovation’s flagship entrepreneurship contest StartUp Sussex. 

Alongside his studies in the School of Engineering and Informatics, Peter is a freelance iOS (Apple’s operating system) developer and in the future hopes to move into a more entrepreneurial or managerial position.