The broadcaster will give the Micro Bits – a computer similar to the Raspberry Pi – to every child in year 7 across the UK and support their use with a season of dedicated BBC programmes and online activity.
It’s also partnering with around 50 organisations, including tech giants BT and Google, to help to fill the UK’s digital skills gap.
Director-General Tony Hall positioned the initiative as the spiritual successor to the BBC Micro computer which the broadcaster launched in the 1980’s to help make computing mainstream.
Lord Hall said: “This is exactly what the BBC is all about – bringing the industry together on an unprecedented scale and making a difference to millions.
“Just as we did with the BBC Micro in the 1980s, we want to inspire the digital visionaries of the future.
“Only the BBC can bring partners together to attempt something this ambitious, this important to Britain’s future on the world stage.
“BBC Make it Digital could help digital creativity become as familiar and fundamental as writing, and I’m truly excited by what Britain, and future great Britons, can achieve.”