Survival of the Fittest at Schools Challenge
1 min read
Teenagers from across Merseyside gained an insight into the high-tech world of life-saving survival equipment when they took part in the Survitec Group Make it Enterprising Schools Challenge held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Liverpool.
The 90 13 and 14 year-old boys and girls established their own mini-manufacturing businesses and created new survival products for use on land, sea or air ranging from inflatable tents for disaster zones to immersion suits for oil-rig workers. Throughout the course of the day each team completed a series of key tasks as set by the Survitec Group, a global manufacturing business with locations across the world including the RFD Beaufort site in Birkenhead.
The team (two of whose members are pictured) from St Edward's College in West Derby took the title with their survival pod that could be used to assist flood victims or as a safety device on cruise liners. The team impressed the Survitec 'Dragons' with their ideas for parachuting the pods into affected areas and a strong marketing campaign.
The event was part of The Manufacturing Institute's Make It in Manufacturing campaign (www.makeit.org.uk) to attract talented young people into industry, an initiative that has being expanded thanks to support from the Northwest Regional Development Agency and European Regional Development Fund.
