Business West confirms science festival sponsorship for second year

A festival to inspire the scientists, tech entrepreneurs, engineers and mathematicians of tomorrow has received repeat backing from business support organisation Business West.

Last year, thousands of young people flocked to Swindon’s STEAM museum to get hands-on with cutting edge technologies and witness real-life science experiments courtesy of some of Swindon’s top science, technology and engineering businesses, including Intel, BMW and the UK Space Agency.

This year, due to coronavirus restrictions, the Festival of Tomorrow will be an online affair.

Festival organiser Dr Rod Hebden said: “The Festival of Tomorrow provides a valuable platform to help raise aspirations and awareness of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) career pathways amongst young people in a way that is interesting and engaging by dispelling the myth that scientists are geniuses in white coats, which young people can’t relate to.

And we put the Arts back in to make STEAM, to show that creativity is at the absolute heart of what scientists and engineers do.

“The festival also helps to showcase the vast array of engineering, science and technology businesses that we have here in Swindon, something which is often overlooked by people both within the town and the outside world.

“Because of the STEM ecosystem that we have locally, with UK Research and Innovation, The Science Museum and the UK Space Agency on our doorstep, we are lucky enough to be able to fill the festival programme with top drawer exhibitors. That being so, I have every confidence that our exhibitors will be able to recreate the magic of last year’s event in a virtual format.”

A key champion and backer of the Festival of Tomorrow, Ian Larrard, director of Swindon & Wiltshire Initiative at Business West, said: “Getting young people interested in and excited by science, technology and engineering is an important first step toward furthering the STEM agenda here in Swindon.

“We fully support the aims of the Festival of Tomorrow and hope that it can build a legacy in terms of encouraging our young people to consider STEM career pathways.

“Swindon employers are at the forefront of tackling some of our greatest challenges and opportunities, from climate change to technology in vehicles and medicines of the future.

“Therefore, we are hopeful in the longer-term that the Festival of Tomorrow will help empower Swindon’s young people to build upon the town’s impressive reputation for pioneering science, technology and engineering and make it prosper.”

For more information visit: https://www.scienceswindon.com/festival-of-tomorrow