The annual event has been going for 15 years and exists to help teachers and lecturers to promote the great work of their design & technology and engineering students and to celebrate the creativity and innovation taking place inside the curriculum.
The competition also helps industry to better understand the challenges of the education world and how we might be able to assist through collaboration.
The competition is aimed at GCSE and A-Level students, who submit their coursework projects and a panel of industry judges made up of MTA members decides on the winning projects.
The challenge is designed to encourage students to not only think about product design and manufacturing, but to consider the marketing aspect of their project and what gap it fills.
After much deliberation, the finalists for 2018 have been announced (see below).
Laura Pickering, MTA education and development manager, said, “At the MTA we do everything we can to shine a light on the opportunities a career in engineering can offer young people. Over 50% of the schools that entered this year’s TDI Challenge had not previously entered the competition, and we are really pleased to be engaging with a wider network of schools and colleges than ever before”
Two age categories exist within the competition 14-16 and 17-19, with six finalists in each age group. There is also a group category at 17-19 age group and three teams are competing for that prize.
In addition to prizes on offer for the students placing in the top three in each category, the winning school in each category will also win £2000 of credit to spend with Technology Supplies Limited on D&T equipment for the classroom. Runner-up prizes of £1000 and £500 are also available for schools in each category. Individual prizes up for grabs include an iPad, GoPro, UE Boom Speaker, a drone plus many more.
| School/College | Student | Category | Project title |
| Bromley High School for Girls | Emily Atkins | Individual 14-16 | A pop art music seat/stand and instrument storage |
| Highgate School | Shrey Shah | Individual 14-16 | Smartphone-controlled IoT Pet Feeder |
| Abingdon School | Oliver Chester | Individual 14-16 | Console Storage Device |
| Whitgift School | Daniel Martin | Individual 14-16 | Bike Storage Device |
| Sandbach High School | Emma Hocknell | Individual 14-16 | Sustainable Design – One Cup Kettle |
| Highgate School | Vivika Martini | Individual 14-16 | ECO2 Cube. Bike-mountable Wind-Powered Charger |
| Bedford Modern School | Max Noble | Individual 17-19 | Tristep barrow- a new system of transporting goods |
| Strathallan School | Robbie MacIsaac | Individual 17-19 | FLUX Blowpipe |
| Droitwich Spa High School | Daniel Plumptre | Individual 17-19 | The Braille Press |
| Solihull School | Gajan Ganeshalingam | Individual 17-19 | Bike storage Solution |
| Henrietta Barnett School | Aashi Srivastava | Individual 17-19 | Attachable Support Unit for Primary School Chairs |
| Keswick School | Harry Bolton | Individual 17-19 | Off-road Running Shoe |
| Sutton Grammar School - Project Columbus | Simon Knowles | Group 17-19 | Project Columbus - a temperature sensing wristband to monitor serious medical conditions |
Matthew Jansen, | |||
| Krtin Kanna Nithiyanandam | | ||
| Sutton Grammar School - Cyclelight | Matt Read | Group 17-19 | CycleLight - illuminated cycling clothing |
| Sam Weston | |||
| Jonathan Crook | |||
| Marko Pilipovic | |||
| Bristol Technology and Engineering Academy [UTC] | Tabitha Read | Group 17-19 | GKN Gap Management - between a composite spar and rib post bracket on an A320 wing |
| Hayden Smith | |||
| Aaron Stone | |||
| Alex Sayers | |||
| Denzel Nyamutora | |||
| Denny Thomas |
