National STEM Competition for schools brought to Rochdale with the help of the RDA and AMPI.

Posted by on 7 Apr 2022

The Rochdale Development Agency (RDA) and the Advanced Machinery & Productivity Institute (AMPI) have partnered with Primary Engineer to bring the 2022 ‘If you were an engineer, what would you do?’ Leaders Award Competition to schools in Greater Manchester.

Primary Engineer are a not-for-profit organisation who bring engineering into the classroom, and their fully funded Leaders Award Competition is open to all school pupils from the ages of 3-19. The competition asks pupils “if you were an engineer, what would you do?” and encourages them to identify problems in the world around them and come up with innovative solutions for them, with each entry being graded by industry professionals and certificates provided to each pupil.

This is an important step in reconnecting Rochdale, where AMPI is headquartered, and the wider region to their history of innovation, infrastructure, and engineering. By bringing schools together with the organisations that are driving the region forward there is a real opportunity to inspire generations with opportunities the region offers .

AMPI, a consortium led by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), are well aware of the rising skills gap in the region and are looking to take action in order to create the engineering talent needed for the next generation.

Gareth Edwards, AMPI Programme Director said: “As the lead of the AMPI programme I am delighted to be working with Primary Engineer to bring this amazing opportunity to the wider Rochdale area. We want to help provide a platform for UK industry to develop its ideas and be a beacon of diversity and opportunity for people coming into the field, and engaging with schools is vital to achieving that.”

Primary Engineer has been running this competition for almost a decade and have seen the impact of this first hand. Nathalie Cachet-Gaujard, Head of Partnerships for the North of England at Primary Engineer, commented: “Every year the Leaders Award Competition reveals the genuine innovation and creativity of the young people who take part. Some of the innovative designs are then brought to life by our University Partners who build prototypes, some with real industry potential.  We are delighted to work with AMPI and Rochdale who will host the award ceremony and exhibition of this year’s competition in early July”.

You can see some of the previous winners, and find out how the competition helps inspire the next generation of engineers in this podcast: Episode 10: Primary Engineer MacRobert Medal interviews with winners - (leadersaward.com)