Gloucestershire-based Renishaw, a global engineering company, has announced that it has renewed its long-standing sponsorship of Greenpower, an international charity that challenges young people aged nine to 25 to design, build and race electric cars. Renishaw first sponsored Greenpower’s UK Western Region Heat at the Castle Combe Circuit, Wiltshire in 2006 and continued the tradition with its sponsorship of this year’s heat on 5 September.

The structure of the event, saw teams of students building their race cars throughout term time, helped by teachers who nurtured their engineering interests. Parents and siblings also attended races to cheer on competitors and support their interests in engineering careers. Several of Renishaw’s own apprentices and graduates took part in Greenpower races when they were younger and see the event as one of the reasons they chose a career in engineering.

Rebecca Bound, Education Outreach Officer at Renishaw, said: “Greenpower is a brilliant initiative that provides the next generation of engineers an opportunity to learn practical engineering skills. The event teaches young people how to work as part of a team and gives them real-world experience in software development, electronics and mechanical engineering.”

Ms Bound continued: “Greenpower is a very inclusive event, with different age categories to create even competition. The event commonly sees an equal split between the number of girls and boys attending, especially in the younger age categories, which is positive for encouraging more women into engineering careers. Renishaw believes that being part of a competition drives innovation and this is certainly the case with Greenpower.”

Renishaw commonly runs educational activities alongside the races to provide further engineering insights and career advice to attendees. As well as this, Renishaw hosts Goblin-class racing events for primary school pupils each year at its Miskin site in South Wales and New Mills headquarters site in Gloucestershire.

Renishaw’s graduates and apprentices have also put their engineering expertise to the test in past years by entering their own successful Greenpower team, which competes in the 16 to 25-year-old category.

As part of its extensive education outreach activities, Renishaw will continue to support Greenpower in its goal to encourage the next generation of talent to find their passion for engineering. To find out more about Renishaw’s STEM education programmes, visit the website (www.renishaw.com/educationoutreach).