Young inventors engineer their future

In their second year hosting the Made In The Midlands Young Inventors Panel, Central College Nottingham are sending two of their young engineers to the annual MIM awards event in October.

Brightson Xaviour Kalavilasam and Joseph Fitch were two of five students to take part in this year’s event, where they presented individual projects to a panel of manufacturing experts on 21 April. Both students delivered robotic themed products and managed to impress the judges with their imagination and design, amongst other skills, earning them a place at the awards event.

Each year, Made In The Midlands holds a series of panelled presentations across local colleges in the Midlands. The aim of these presentations is to encourage young engineers to showcase their abilities and gain valuable feedback from a panel of local manufacturing directors. The winner of each college is then shortlisted for the Made In The Midlands Young Inventor Award.

John Wright, Engineering Lecturer at Central, said “We are really proud of all of our students who took part. Working with professional organisations such as MIM, who are keen to put talented students and real managers together to show that they really have a bright future, is a great way to introduce them to industry.”

The other three students to take part in the event were Jalil Mohammed Zadeh, Bashir Elier and Maxwell Leech, who presented a mix of robotic and machining projects to the judges. All the students are on a BTEC Diploma in Engineering at Central.

Last year’s Young Inventor award saw Central College Nottingham claim top spot, with their young engineer going on to take an apprenticeship at R A Labone, one of the panellists at the time.

Both panels presented a vast pool of expertise from a range of engineering backgrounds, providing a rich source of feedback for the students to absorb.

MWS Ltd has recently moved into its own purpose built factory in Birstall-Leicester, where they manufacture and service Industrial Weighing scales. Andrew Clarke, director of MWS and one of the panellists at the Young Inventor, said. “It was great meeting the engineers of tomorrow, I’m sure that they all have a bright future ahead of them.”

Charles Addison, Director of Made in the Midlands overseeing the judging process commented; “We were very pleased with this year’s entrants from Central, as always the judging process is very difficult due to the high quality of the students. It’s fascinating to see the manufacturers apply real world logic and views to the presentations which provides valuable insight to the College and students alike.”

The two finalists from Central will progress to compete with finalists from other colleges in the Midlands, culminating in the presentation of the final Award in Birmingham in October, presented by MHA Macintyre Hudson.

To find out more about Engineering courses or apprenticeships at Central College Nottingham call 0115 914 6414.