As finalists for this year’s Technology, Design and Innovation (TDI) Challenge are announced, Made Here Now welcomes the high number of contenders which shows young people are being inspired to become engineers.
The competition has been organised by the Manufacturing Technologies Association who are one of the Phase Three sponsors for Made Here Now, a UK-wide initiative aimed at encouraging more young people to seek careers in manufacturing and pictured is one of last year's finalists, Lucy Thornton from Queen Elizabeth's High School.
Peter Marsh, founder of Made Here Now, says: “I am delighted to see the number of finalists in this year’s TDI Challenge and wish them well for the final.
“This competition, which has been running for more than a decade, enables talented young people to showcase their work and also helps them to understand the sophistication and dynamism of advanced manufacturing and I hope it will continue for many years to come,” he added.
Two age categories exist within the competition 14-16 and 17-19, with six finalists in each age group. New for 2017 is a group category which sees two teams competing in the 17-19 age group.
Laura Pickering, MTA Education and Development Co-ordinator, said “We have seen an extremely high standard of entries in this year’s competition and I am very much looking forward to the finals day when I get to see the students and their projects.
“We hope the students taking part in the final find the TDI Challenge an inspiring day. To be chosen to participate in the final this year is a huge achievement in itself with the amount of entries we received this year and quality of work on display. With government funding being cut for Design and Technology subjects in schools we felt that it was important to make a lasting contribution to the winning school.”
Prizes are up for grabs for individual and group projects with the winner in each category receiving an individual prize (including iPads, GoPro cameras, Minirig speakers and drones) as well as a £1,000 voucher for the winning school in each category to spend on D&T equipment for the classroom.
The TDI Challenge final will take place on Wednesday 5th July at MTA members Yamakazi Mazak’s headquarters in Worcester. Students submit their GCSE, A-Level or BTEC Design and Technology Course Work Projects to be judged by a panel of experts drawn from Industry.
You can watch a video of last year’s final here.
The full list of finalists are:
- Kingdown School: Jamie Easton (14-16), The Ascending Chair
- Priory Community School: Will Bailey (14-16), No Amp Speaker
- Caistor Grammar School: Jacob Lawson (14-16), Contemporary Shoe Storage and Display System
- Brighton College: Dan Kimber (14-16), Desk Lamp
- The Royal Hospital School: Peter Lawson Russell (14-16), Invictus Sail
- Sutton Grammar School for Boys: Simon Knowles (14-16), Scalextric Lap Counter and Timer
- Highgate School: Max Eskenazi (17-19), Automated Lightbulb Failure Detection
- Royal Grammar School Worcester: Myles Lydon (17-19), Bluetooth bike helmet indicators
- Forest School: Halimah Ershad (17-19), High End Chick Brooder
- Droitwich Spa High School: Beth Martin (17-19), Children’s Light for Birmingham Library
- Ipswich School: Sam Taylor-Jones (17-19), Lifeboat Search and Rescue Drone
- Bedford Modern School: Hannah Cowie (17-19), Activity Station for children
- Team Unite at Oakham School: Jacob Hardy-King (17-19), Optimizing the cooling process of alternator hubs
- Team Unite at Oakham School: Daniel Timmerman (17-19)
- Team Josephson at Harrow School: Cody Kwok (17-19), SonicScape (Binaural soundscapes for the blind)
- Team Josephson at Harrow School: Ravi Kohli (17-19)
- Team Josephson at Harrow School: Marcus Goodman (17-19)
