Global engineering firm reaffirms support of UK-based engineering charitySupport to 2020 will help Greenpower’s growing international reach
Greenpower’s first ever International Final at Goodwood on Sunday, Oct 12
Engineering and electronics giant, Siemens, has extended its partnership with Greenpower Education Trust (www.greenpower.co.uk) for another five years, until at least 2020.
The move will help ensure that Greenpower’s work with schools, colleges and universities to engage more young people in engineering from an early age continues not just in the UK, but internationally.
Siemens has been supporting Greenpower with sponsorship and volunteers since 2009 as part of its education programme to inspire and encourage more students to consider engineering as a career. Since then, Greenpower has seen its number of participants grow to 500 schools in the UK, while its number of international participants has increased, with teams from America, South Africa and Europe.
This Sunday (Oct 12), Greenpower will run its first ever International Final, at Goodwood Motor Circuit, which will host more than 100 competing teams from across the UK, the USA, South Africa, Poland, Portugal and Ireland.
Greenpower CEO, Jeremy Way, said: “Siemens is one of our oldest, biggest and most important partners. They truly understand what we are trying to do at Greenpower Education Trust at a base level – the UK is in dire need of an influx of new, young engineers and there is nothing in the current school curriculum that will deliver it.
“We are trying to plug that gap, with the help of companies like Siemens, by providing students and young people with a project-based learning activity that gives them the hands-on, practical experience they will need, as well as the inspiration to choose a career in engineering that they might otherwise not have selected.”
The UK engineering industry needs 1.86 million new people with the requisite skills between 2010 and 2020, meaning that the number of engineering-related apprentices and graduates needs to double.
The Greenpower initiative is open to students of all ages, from primary school level to university undergraduates. The charity runs three race championships – Goblins (9-11 year olds), IET Formula 24 (11-16 year olds) and IET Formula 24+ (16-25 year olds) – in which students design and build all-electric race cars for the series.
The International Final will feature the finale of the IET Formula 24 and IET Formula 24+ seasons, as well as the Greenpower Corporate Challenge, which features teams from businesses including Jaguar Land Rover, Prodrive and Lockheed Martin.
Siemens is developing a Global Technology Partnership with Greenpower to support the global expansion of the initiative, with recent progress in several new territories – a delegation of teachers from Belgium and China is expected to attend the International Final in order to see first-hand how they might set up the Greenpower Challenge in their own countries.
Meanwhile, students from the Mandela School of Science & Technology from Mvezo, South Africa, which is also supported by Siemens, will be competing; it will be the first time that any of the students have travelled outside of South Africa.
Siemens support of Greenpower is part of the Company’s investment to bring science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to life for students around the world. Its recently-launched Curiosity Project is a three-year engagement programme which includes a presence at five major science and related festivals across the UK.
For more information about Greenpower or the International Final, which is free to enter, please visit www.greenpower.co.uk.
