Engineering Curiosity Cards

Our Digital Strategy Director, Mark Probert, has been immortalised as an Engineering Curiosity Card! 

The programme evolved from an idea by UWE and was developed through workshops partnered with My Future Choice with support from DETI. 

These fantastic, illustrative cards were created by KS2 and KS3 stage pupils to celebrate the brilliant engineers in our region on #WorldEngineeringDay.  

Highlighting the diversity and vibrancy of engineers in the South West, the cards were featured as a part of British Science Week and ‘Engineering Curiosity’s Big Beam In’ which aimed to connect and inspire children working remotely. 

All 52 of the cards pay tribute to a real-life engineer. You can spot Mark within the ‘Computer’ pack – although Mark would have been just as at home in the ‘Designer’ pack – along-side a short video explaining his design engineering journey. If you’d like to know more about DETI we recommended that you read about their mission to accelerate digital skills.

It was a real privilege to be selected to be part of this fantastic initiative. I left school at 16 and forged a path in design and later moved into the technology space, so I have a real passion for sharing my journey and experience with the next generation. I am a huge believer in inspiring young people to be brave and have the confidence to ideate. No ideas are bad ideas, so I hope these cards can help engage with young people to make a difference to their lives; and who knows, we might find the next James Dyson or Elon Musk amongst them; all it takes is a little inspiration and encouragement!

Newicon has been collaborating with UWE and DETI since DETI formed a little over two years ago. Mark attended initial ideation workshops to help shape DETI and wrote a letter of support – along with a host of other well-known organisations in the region such as Airbus, Siemens, the University of the West of England (UWE) and the National Composite Centre – to the Government to help WECA with the fundraising bid. The relationship formed with UWE through DETI saw Newicon go on to embed its Innovation Toolkit within UWE’s exciting new Engineering curriculum; more on that here.

You can view the cards and even download them so you play a real game of Top Trumps with them!

What do you think? Should we all be tuning in to our own childhood curiosities to help generate fresh ideas?