Celebrating Young Innovators at the Primary Engineer Competition

Published 11th July 2024

Our team from the Design & Technology Association had the pleasure of attending Kingston University’s Town House to celebrate the young engineers in the making from across London who had all answered the question "If you were an engineer, what would you do?" as part of Primary Engineer's annual competition. This fantastic event was just one out of 25 regional public exhibitions and award ceremonies held to recognise the inventive engineering designs from pupils aged 3 -19 that address real-world challenges."

Kingston University hosted the London award ceremony of the Primary Engineer competition, showcasing the incredible talent of over 6,500 school pupils from the region. These young engineers, aged 3 to 19, submitted innovative designs to solve real-world problems, which were then evaluated by a panel of industry experts and Kingston University staff. The winners in each age group were announced at this exciting celebration event.

Some of the standout winning designs included:

The Veggievigil: A solution to prevent food from going out of date.

The Knitfrog: A device that turns pet hair into useful items like hats and scarves.

Kingston University also unveiled brand new prototypes based on last year’s winning designs from London and Jersey, built by their dedicated staff and students. These prototypes included:

The Anti-shake Mug: Helping people with illnesses drink without spilling.

The Satio Aranea: A device to assist in planting more trees in the rainforest.

Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Computing and The Environment, Damian Chapman, presented the awards at the event. He remarked, “Celebrating innovation and creativity is so important. It’s always very special for Kingston University to host these awards.”

Throughout the day, attendees were treated to a display of creative designs from numerous pupils, including automatic car wash systems for shoes, anti-rain glasses, games controllers with built-in timers, solar-powered fans, reusable nasal filters to filter out harmful pollution and a self-watering planter system.

If you want to inspire the young minds in your life, this competition is an excellent opportunity. It showcases the limitless potential of young engineers and the amazing impact their innovative ideas can have on the world.

To learn more about the competition and how you can get involved, visit their website here.