Students at Hartshill Academy became Intrepid engineers and designers on Tuesday 29th March as they took to the TeenTech Festival challenge!  

The afternoon saw them working in groups or single-handedly to 'think big' and consider engineering, design and technology solutions to global or local problems.  They immersed themselves in an afternoon of live link-ups and talks with industry professionals, which ranged from Formula One engineers to self-driving car designers and BBC reporters.  The interactive components of the event saw them asking questions of these professionals as well as taking part in real-time quizzes, design notions, and information on emerging technologies in the fields of defence, sport, artificial intelligence, self-driving vehicles, and drone transport! 

Throughout the afternoon our teams and individuals dreamed up the next big inventions of the future, considering how future technologies could improve our futures and make our lives better and more exciting.  Creativity was the keyword of the afternoon which flooded into their team names too!  After a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon of inventing the technology of the future, the "Melons", "Free Potatoes", "3 Girls", "Reggae Sharks", "2nd Hand Designers", "DJ TJ"s, Jack and "Bob the Builders", all submitted their final ideas to the group for a whole team vote.   11 were successful in winning a place on the next stage of the TeenTech Festival, where they will take part in meeting industry professionals at MIRA Technology Institute, in Nuneaton on the A5 in May. 

Well done to all those who took part, it was exhilarating to see so many students getting excited about engineering, driven by design and so talented in technology!