On Friday 26th April 2024, Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) Chief Executive, Paula Claytonsmith and LCRIG Board member for Skills, Dwayne Lowe were invited to attend Primary Engineer’s head office to take part in the regional judging process for a national competition, along with a group of Engineers and individuals whose work supports the Engineering industry.
Companies included Manufacturing Industries, Design Engineers, Banking, Recruitment and LCRIG. LCRIG joined the judging panel as part of our partnership with Primary Engineer to inspire young generations, which you can read more about here. You can also find out why our Chief Executive is passionate about the new partnership in her recent View from the Top.
The competition “If you were Engineer, what would you do?” was developed by Primary Engineer over ten years ago. In 2023 the competition celebrated its tenth anniversary with over 257,000 pupils pupils having taken part over the years. To mark the occasion, Primary Engineer commissioned a report on the impact it has had over the decade and published a book celebrating some of the touching, hilarious and brilliant ideas they have seen over the years.
LCRIG’s Chief Executive says about the book “I have loved this book since the moment I bought it. It is amazing how many ideas produced by children make you think of how creative young minds can be!”
The report of the ten years of competition, which you can find in full on Primary Engineer’s website, explores the effect the competition has had on learners, teachers, schools and engineers since its launch, drawing on historical evaluation data and reports, as well as new data collected for the competition’s tenth anniversary. It explores these impacts and outlines the legacy of support the Leaders Award competition has offered to schools and learners across the UK. It closes with an examination of how these benefits can continue to be offered and developed further through the work of Primary Engineer.
During the judging, lots of ideas were presented by children trying to solve an Engineering problem and ideas that we often forget about, given from a child’s perspective. Dwayne Lowe said of the judging: “I was honoured to be asked to judge and also very aware of the responsibility of reviewing designs and engineering solutions submitted by our future generation of engineers. I found the whole day very rewarding and the sheer scope of engineering solutions submitted within the broad context of ‘If you were Engineer, what would you do?’ ensured that we received a range of submissions from suitcases, to robots, to cups.
“We assessed submissions across a range of age groups from ages 6 – 11 and serious debate was generated during the judging process, to ensure that our favoured submissions were understood and taken forward to the final stages. At the end of the day I left exhausted, but hugely encouraged by the imagination and innovation of our future engineers and am looking forward to meeting some of them at the awards, where I can discuss their ideas in more detail.
“The relationship with Primary Engineer is an important one for LCRIG and I am really pleased that we have the opportunity to work with such a successful and impactful organisation.”
As part of the judging, each judge receives an “Inspirer 2024” certificate and an invitation to the awards ceremony in June. This is a great opportunity to meet parents and children who entered the competition and LCRIG’s Chief Executive will be attending as part of our ongoing relationship with Primary Engineer.
Finally, we are looking carefully at how we can bring ideas from the competition into our sector. One of the early ways in which we will do this is by bringing the public exhibition on ideas and winners to this year’s Innovation and Learning Festival along with other ideas that we’ll launch at this year’s Strictly Highways.
If you would like to find out more about the work we are going to be doing with Primary Engineer, please contact us.