As Made Here Now moves into Phase Three which will see the UK-wide initiative create special educational packages aimed at teachers and manufacturers, six new sponsors have agreed funding towards this work.
Manufacturers Harwin, Plessey Semiconductors and Gripple, trade organisation the Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA), charity Comino Foundation, and Santander Bank all sponsored Phase Two of the project and have now agreed funding for Phase Three.
Phase Two saw a new website launched full of compelling photographs, videos and stories about manufacturing and the new stage of the UK-wide initiative is now starting.
David Perry, trustee at the Comino Foundation, said: “With the school curriculum diminishing pupils' involvement in technical and creative subjects the Comino Foundation is as determined as ever to support youngsters' insights into manufacturing industry and to encourage them to consider careers in the field. Made Here Now helps give those insights and is valuably up to date.”
Michael LeGoff, CEO of Plessey Semiconductors said: “The Made Here Now project forms part of our pledge to promote engineering and manufacturing as an exciting career path for talented young people from a variety of backgrounds. In addition to encouraging innovation in the sector. Plessey strongly believes that raising the profile of the technology and manufacturing sector, the UK will remain a globally competitive nation."
Thomas Lane PR & Communications Manager at MTA said: “We are proud supporters of the Made Here Now Project. We feel it is important to get the message out about all the great innovation coming out of the UK and Made Here Now are in the right position to champion these technological advances.”
Andrew McQuilken, Managing Director at Harwin, said: “As a manufacturing company with the vast majority of our production and development resources located here in the UK, we are keen to attract the best engineering talent in order to help drive ongoing innovation.
“That is why we are putting our full support behind Made Here Now and the core aims of this initiative to encourage more young people into the sector by making them aware of the many exciting career opportunities it offers and providing them with the education pathways they need to realise their full potential,” he added.
Peter Marsh, founder of Made Here Now, says: “Our research shows that teachers and students want more, better presented information on the types of career available and the educational pathways that can be used to get there.
“We want to improve how much existing material can be used by teachers in the classroom and by manufacturers as they engage with local educational establishments. Accordingly we are creating a series of special packages (comprising text, video and illustrations) aimed at two sets of people - manufacturers and teachers - to make it easier for them to use information available on our website and elsewhere.
“That is why I am delighted to have these sponsors on board as we move into this exciting next step aimed at addressing the predicted shortage of engineers in the future as seen in the recent Uff report.
“This report says ‘Engineering underpins the UK economy to the tune of £1.2 trillion per annum and requires a doubling of the number of engineering graduates and technicians over the next ten years. Despite significant investment the future supply of engineers would not meet this demand under current arrangements’.
“The support of these sponsors is much appreciated and shows how our initiative has grabbed the attention of many organisations involved with UK manufacturing.
“With the support of our sponsors, we can now work to ensure youngsters are inspired both at school and by developing closer links with manufacturers to seek careers in engineering,” he added.
If anyone is interested in finding out about sponsoring Made Here Now, please email [email protected]
