NEWS | ENGINEERING STUDENTS FROM LANCASTER UNIVERSITY MAKE IT TO THE FINAL OF THE ENGINEERS IN BUSINESS 2022 INNOVATION COMPETITION

Led by 22-year-old Mechanical Engineering student Stephanie Humphreys, a team of students from Lancaster University has secured a place in the final of the Engineers in Business Champion of Champions innovation competition, which will be hosted by TV presenter Rob Bell at the Royal Academy of Engineering on 28 October 2022.

Stephanie is joined by a seven-strong team* of fellow engineering students, who have developed Moddies, a range of collectable, customisable and programmable robot STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) toys, designed to spark a passion and enthusiasm for coding within children.

Stephanie and her team will be pitching their innovation against nine other teams of student and graduate innovators in the national final. A sum of £15,000 is up for grabs, providing vital seed money to help the winners develop their innovation. The winners will also receive mentoring from business leaders who are members of the Sainsbury Management Fellows (SMF) network, plus CV packages from PurpleCV and entrepreneurial books from Cambridge University Press.

The competition is organised by the registered charity, Engineers in Business Fellowship which champions business education for engineers and supports universities by giving them grants to award prizes to engineering students who develop ideas that can make a positive impact on society. The grants enable universities to inspire more engineering and technology students to participate in innovation and entrepreneurship, skills that they take into their careers.

Explaining the concept behind Moddies, Stephanie said, “I have always loved robots and machinery, but until recently, had always imagined that you had to be a genius to design and build them. We wanted to allow children to make their toys ‘come to life’, and in the process, develop highly sought-after skills in critical thinking, technology and innovation.

“Moddies are based on a modular design, allowing for easy attachment and removal of both aesthetic and controllable parts, which empowers children to decide not just how their Moddie looks, but what it can do. Most features of the Moddie can be coded using an intuitive, python-based interface, which has been designed to help take the frustration out of coding.”

“We strive to offer a world where coding is re-imagined, one where children can reach their coding potential with curiosity, intuition, and most importantly, have fun doing so! We want children to start projects and gain skills in technology because they want to, and to help them gain the confidence to believe that they can do something great, and then take this belief through to their career. A world where children’s hidden talents are discovered, opening the door to a career in STEM.”

The Engineers in Business competition is designed to inspire engineers to study business and innovation. Stephanie explains, “There is a lot of overlap within the business and engineering industries. Developing business skills encourages students to consider alternative options. Engineers are often creative thinkers and the type to work on personal projects in the background. Being open to a business route could encourage them to view these ideas in a different light, potentially helping to turn a great idea into a great innovation, benefitting both them and society. In addition, the team building and project management skills developed during a group business project are essential for most engineering jobs, as well as in managerial roles, which is another common career path for engineers to take.”

The dragons’ den style competition will be compered by TV presenter, Rob Bell. Competing against nine other teams, Stephanie and her team will have six minutes to convince the judges, through their presentation and Q&A session, that their team should be crowned Champion of Champions and take home a cash prize. Amongst other criteria, the judges will be assessing the how Moddies can encourage mor young people to follow STEM careers.

The members of the judging panel are:

SMF Caroline Cake, Entrepreneur in Residence at Oxford Science Enterprises

Dr Terri Holloway, Ingenuity Lab Manager, Entrepreneur in Residence, University of Nottingham

SMF Kwok Ng, Strategy Programme Manager, The Crown Estate

SMF Chris Shelley, Chief Executive Officer, SolarBotanic Trees

Commenting on reaching the Engineers in Business Champion of Champions Final, Stephanie said, “Our team has gotten through to the finals despite many of us having to work full time over the summer, juggle exam resits, and meet family commitments. Often, the gap between your vision and where you start, feels insurmountable, and it is easy to lose sight of the value of your idea. I didn’t expect that a little robot we built would have gained so much interest, but the enthusiasm of this fantastic team, has helped us come much further than any of us believed possible.”

Stephanie and her team will be competing for an Engineers in Business Champion of Champions title against nine other teams from Imperial College London, University of Oxford, University of Birmingham (two finalists), Queen’s University Belfast, University of Southampton (two finalists), University of Nottingham, and the University of Greenwich.