February 2021

News 0 8 | Plant & Works Engineering www.pwemag.co.uk February 2021 Catapult and independent industry experts based on a selection of criteria including creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration. Shortlisted ideas will be announced on 8th March 2021. Selected participants will be supported to refine and prototype their ideas and the winner will be announced in July 2021 following a competitive pitch process. The winner will benefit from up to six months’ worth of support from Samsung and Digital Catapult to help develop their idea, as well as a £10,000 cash prize and Samsung technology. There will be further cash and product prizes for runners up. Commenting on the launch, Jessie Soohyun Park, head of corporate social responsibility at Samsung Electronics UK said: “Every young person deserves access to a future-proof education - regardless of their background, gender, or experience. But there remain inequalities which cast a shameful shadow on our society. Education is the bedrock of society. We believe it is our duty to help equip the next generation with the vital skills to thrive in a technology-driven future. “We owe young people the freedom and the right to shape their future. That’s why the education initiatives we champion are not prescriptive teaching but instead nurture creativity, empathy and problem- solving.” Geraldina Iraheta, director of business development at Digital Catapult added: “Innovation thrives when diverse voices representing different backgrounds and viewpoints come together; it’s a fundamental part of bringing out the best of ideas and creating innovative answers to age old problems. We’re thrilled to work with Samsung to launch Solve for Tomorrow in the UK for the first time, and so excited to see what ideas the imaginative, creative and resilient young people of this country will come up with.” According to Samsung’s Compassion Nation 2020 report, 90% of 18-25-year old believe that technology is key to achieving a more inclusive, fair and sustainable society. Yet, 56% feel that finding opportunities to make a positive impact on the world is a challenge right now, let alone being able to access the same education/training opportunities as before the pandemic. Originally launched in the US in 2010, Solve for Tomorrow has seen over 1.6M young people worldwide involved in the programme, creating innovative solutions, such as a low-cost fire sensors and a smart, convertible wheelchair-walker that provides the elderly with safe mobility and greater independence. UWE Bristol is the university partner for Primary Engineer’s ‘If You Were An Engineer, What Would You Do?’ competition for South West England for the fourth year and the ‘Primary Engineer Structures and Mechanisms with Basic Electrics project’ with the new initiative for Digital Engineering Technology and Innovation (DETI) for the West of England region. As both projects require engagement with engineering professionals and educationalists, the partnership with UWE Bristol provides both primary and secondary school pupils in South West England with opportunities to develop STEM skills and gain valuable insights into engineering careers. Both ‘If You Were An Engineer, What Would You Do?’ and ‘Primary Engineer Structures and Mechanisms with Basic Electrics’ provide opportunities to bridge the gap between education and engineering offering teachers and pupils meaningful opportunities to work with engineering professionals through whole-class, curriculum- aligned projects. Chris Rochester, UK director at Primary Engineer, said: “We are thrilled to have UWE Bristol continue as a University partner for ‘If You Were An Engineer, What Would You Do?’ and to also fund the ‘Primary Engineer Structures and Mechanisms with Basic Electrics project’ through DETI. Winning designs from ‘If You Were An Engineer, What Would You Do?’ will continue to be developed and built by UWE Bristol engineering students into a full- scale functioning prototype, giving the school pupils who entered the competition insight into the process behind designing and manufacturing a product as well as seeing their design brought to life.” Dr Laura Fogg-Rogers, DETI inspire leader, added: “We are really pleased to partner with Primary Engineer to support our DETI Inspire educational programme. Supporting teachers to engage with STEM activities is so important, as they are critical influences in young children’s lives. There are so many exciting careers available in engineering, and it all starts with children learning that they have the power to make a difference in the world”. The Primary Engineer Structures and Mechanisms with Basic Electrics project begins with a one-day CPD course for primary teachers which enables them to deliver the engineering projects with Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 pupils. Teachers are provided with sets of tools, consumables and online resources as part of the fully funded project and will be partnered with engineering professionals from UWE and local businesses to provide a real- world context to the learning. ‘If You Were An Engineer, What Would You Do?’ asks pupils from early years, primary schools and secondary schools to identify a problem in the world and design a solution to it. Inspired by interviewing engineering professionals from a range of roles and research engineering, pupils are encouraged to ‘find the engineer they could be’ by designing the future of engineering. Pupils are challenged to look at the world around them to find problems an engineered solution could solve. Alongside their annotated drawings, pupils write an accompanying letter to persuade the judges to select their design to be one of a number of designs to be built by UWE Bristol. Helping to inspire the next generation