Trailblazing Curious About Innovation festival inspires Scottish pupils to spread their wings

Rolls-Royce is a key industry partner at Glasgow Science Centre’s (GSC) Curious About Innovation online festival, which launches today (May 19) and runs until Friday, complementing GSC’s STEM Futures programme.

It is aimed especially at secondary schools, highlighting exciting science and technology while showcasing possible routes to further learning they may not previously have considered. 

The event is the second in the series, following Curious About Our Planet, GSC’s first digital science offering in February that focused on its Our World, Our Impact programme, and helping young people get to grips with the science of Climate Change. 

Curious About Innovation features live talks, interviews, online games and workshops which focus on innovation in several sectors: space, cyber security, engineering, robotics, the environment (climate change) and construction with public events in addition to those targeted at schools.

It utilises the expertise of senior business partners who include the Royal Navy, IBM, Morrison Construction (see article below), the National Oceanographic Centre, NASA, the universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow and CubeSat manufacturer Glasgow AAC Clyde Space. 

George Addison, who is head of manufacturing at Rolls-Royce at Inchinnan, Renfrewshire – the company’s second-largest civil aerospace facility in the UK behind its Derby base and which manufactures compressor aerofoils, turbines and mainline engine shafts – is enthusiastic about the event partnership. 

“I joined Rolls-Royce in 1992 as a craft apprentice and in my experience the company has always been at the forefront of attracting young people, whether through craft and technical apprenticeships or graduate schemes. 

“When I was training I had the opportunity to go to local primary schools to explain technical and scientific experiments and really get children excited about science-based activities,” he says, adding that the company made a commitment last year to inspire six million young people in STEM worldwide by 2030.

"At Curious About Innovation, the team from Rolls-Royce at Inchinnan explains how the jet engine works and looks at future innovation, while introducing its upcoming Game Changers project, which includes teaching young people how to build a Greenpower IET 24+ single seater electric racing car. 

“We are joining other blue-chip organisations operating locally – the Royal Navy, RAF, BAE systems and Thales – in this, says Addison. “And we are all aiming to get people motivated whose backgrounds have perhaps not lent themselves to pursuing those opportunities, instilling them with the confidence to progress and take up a career in the area of science and technology.

“That’s mutually beneficial in that our young people at Rolls-Royce also have the opportunity for self-development, dealing with the public and challenges on various levels while improving their own self-confidence.”  

They have an impressive heritage to draw upon, one that dates from the Merlin engines built for Spitfires during the Second World War at the company’s former plant in Hillington to manufacturing components for the engines powering the latest Civil Large Engines  airliners and what Addison describes as the most efficient airline engine on the market, the Trent XWB for Airbus  – and on to the development of electric aircraft. 

“We’ve produced a 45-minute video demonstrating all the processes in manufacturing a compressor aerofoil from raw materials coming into the factory to completion and trying to harness people’s imagination through viewing that journey,” he says. 

He believes there’s a continuing need in Scotland not just to “make things” but to be innovative on a world-beating level.  

“As someone who has spent  my entire career with Rolls-Royce I wouldn’t describe myself as a scholar while at school; however I still had the opportunity to complete  a Master’s degree at the University of Strathclyde when in my forties and working with the company I truly believe it doesn’t matter what your background or current situation is. 

“If you have the aspiration and the hunger there’s a multitude of opportunities in the aerospace and other engineering sectors out there. It’s important to follow your dreams.” 

Curious About Innovation is funded by the Inspiring Science Fund plus additional support from JP Morgan, Mathworks and the University of Strathclyde. 

• Visit curiousabout.glasgowsciencecentre.org
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Firm's sky-high ambitions

THE all-electric plane that Rolls-Royce is developing is aiming for the record books with a top speed of more than 300mph. 

Inspiring tomorrow’s scientists and engineers the ACCEL programme – Accelerating the Electrification of Flight – which is behind the Spirit of Innovation aircraft recently closed its   competition to design the helmet that test pilot and Director of Flight Operations Phill O’Dell would wear throughout flight-testing. 

The Spirit of Innovation will have the most power-dense battery pack ever assembled for an aircraft, providing enough energy to fly 200 miles (London to Paris) on a single charge.

The company worked with fly2help, a charity that supports its aims in engaging with young people and encouraging them to consider a possible career in aviation. There were two categories – one for ages five to 11 and one for ages 12 to 18 and the winners will have their idea jointly inspire the final design applied to the helmet. 

Rolls-Royce has recognised the importance of engaging young people to consider careers in STEM for several years, with  more than 1,400 STEM Ambassadors and partnerships with organisations such as the Scouts and Code First Girls.

It has developed downloadable materials aimed at primary school children around the ACCEL project.

rolls-royce.com

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Scottish innovations are laying the foundations for careers of the future

OF all the sectors currently confronting the need for continuous innovation, construction has experienced particular challenges.

Firstly, there’s the demand to achieve the government’s ambitious targets regarding net zero carbon emissions with accompanying best practice in project design, construction, maintenance, operation, retrofit and waste management; plus the requirement for Covid-safe workplaces which has become obvious since last year. 

Morrison Construction, part of the Galliford Try group, has delivered more than £1 billion of public and private sector projects throughout Scotland in the past five years and, operating at the leading edge of innovation in the sector, is participating as an industry partner in Glasgow Science Centre’s (GSC) Curious About Innovation festival this week, demonstrating new methods and techniques in the industry, including some of the same front-line technology involved in computer game design. 

Graduate Alistair Guthrie working on the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) project beside Glasgow International Airport 

The company delivered the extension of the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) and last year won the contract to build the flagship National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) beside Glasgow International Airport to house a fully digitalised factory, skills academy and collaboration hub.

A LaunchPad Live tailored for S3/S4/S5 tomorrow (Thursday) between 11:15 and 12:00 will give a virtual tour of a construction site to see how the latest innovation and technology can be used in building design and how to build sites with very low environmental impact.

Morrison’s Communities and Social Impact Manager Caitlin Quinn says the company’s contribution to this year’s event will be an opportunity to highlight the range of careers available to young people in a fast-evolving industry. The online content, she adds, will allow valuable follow-up and let people from throughout Scotland see the skills and expertise concerned.  

In order to meet the 2045 net carbon target, clients and statutory authorities have had to significantly redefine their briefs, shifting the focus of construction further toward low carbon imperatives, says Morrison’s Low Carbon Manager Allan Smith who adds that it is the first tier one construction company to use Passivhaus, recognised as the gold standard in energy efficiency. 

Literally meaning “passive house”, the German term refers to buildings created design standards so that they maintain an almost constant temperature, with buildings that are so well constructed, ventilated and insulated that they retain heat from the sun and the activities of the building’s occupants, requiring very little additional cooling or heating.

“We completed our first Passivhaus building in January, an early-years centre in West Lothian, and local authorities all over Scotland are now looking at the certification or similar methods in the construction of low-carbon buildings,” says Smith. 

Advanced technology which uses 3D modelling and 360-degree photography to capture buildings means that people can virtually visit them and conduct the appropriate certification checks during construction. “The Covid pandemic has really elevated the use of such digital technology, says Graduate Design Manager Samantha Sweeney.

“We use it on a daily basis, for instance in client engagement and change control and to coordinate with subcontractors. Having a model that we can employ on a day-to-day or even hour-to-hour basis is so much easier than dealing with hundreds of drawings”.

Caitlin Quinn adds that Morrison’s involvement with Curious About Innovation is also an opportunity to spotlight the variety of careers available in construction.

“These extend off-site – to writing proposals, creating animations, marketing and so on. 

“Many people don’t realise the range of traineeships and graduate pathways that are open to them and we’re passionate about getting that news out there, such as our graduate apprenticeship programme. Working with GSC will help us to do that.”

The company is also, she adds, passionate about creating a more diverse workplace in what has traditionally been a male dominated industry.   

“What we’re trying to do with this presentation is show the need for collective effort and inspire young people with the digital tools we’re using and the goal of low-carbon energy, adds Allan Smith.