The city of Maryborough, Queensland, is possibly not perceived as a magnet for primary and secondary school STEM (science, technology, engineering & maths) students from across Australia and New Zealand. Yet last year it attracted over 1600 students to the Fraser Coast Technology Challenge.
The blue-ribbon event for the 3-day Challenge is the 24-hour HPV endurance race. The Human Powered Vehicles race around a 1.53 km street circuit with a tight hairpin corner, vision of which is streamed to an international audience.
This Tech Challenge is fantastic on so many levels; for the city image and economy, the students, encouraging innovation, stimulating interest in STEM subjects, etc.
In developing our smart region image should Rockhampton look at doing something similar.
Yes, is naturally my answer, but how do we differentiate from what Maryborough is doing and aim to gain favour with the Department of Education to enable students to work on the project as part of their curriculum.
A social innovation youth expo may be the answer.
What is social innovation? It could be described in the desire of wanting to change the world for the better. Watch the short film on the link www.thankyou.co/film to see what 3 young Australian social entrepreneurs did and are doing for their perspective on social innovation. It is inspiring material and encourages more youth to both think big and think that profit need not be the only entrepreneurial or innovation objective.
The CQUni is promoting its social innovation commitment not just within Australia but globally (also offers qualifications in the field). Thus, a potential ready-made sponsor and host for the proposed expo.
While the outcomes of the expo will not be as clearly defined as which school won the HPV race or had the fastest CO2 powered race car, it would provide students a recognised forum to discuss social issues, the entrepreneurial work being done in this field and provide a support base for those who choose to take this path.
Could Rockhampton pull this kind of event off, why not! Maryborough despite its issues and challenges has held its Tech Challenge for 15 years, growing in size each year.
Millennial’s may be perceived by older generations as self-absorbed, but this most educated demographic are interested in changing the world for the better; making Rockhampton a prominent meeting place for these conversations would be smart on so many levels.