Thousands of young people flock to Swindon Science Festival

27th February 2020

Organisers of the inaugural Swindon Science Festival have declared it a runaway success, with thousands of youngsters passing through the doors of STEAM over the course of last weekend.

“I don’t think a lot of kids growing up here in Swindon realise that they can work in the space industry.” said Festival organiser Rod Hebden.

“A lot of great things that Swindon has are not visible; they are not shouted about. The role of the science festival was to inspire young people and present them with options and I think we achieved just that.”

Oxford University, The James Dyson Foundation and Intel were among the top name exhibitors that dazzled Swindon’s youngsters with their hands-on demonstrations and real-life science experiments.

However, the free to attend festival was not just a fun day out according to Ian Larrard, Director of Swindon & Wiltshire Initiative at Business West – the event’s main sponsors.

“The Science Festival provided a platform to help raise aspirations and awareness of STEM career pathways amongst young people to help support the local economy”, adding “getting young people engaged and excited by science, technology and engineering is a first step toward furthering the STEM agenda here in Swindon.”

The success of the Festival comes as Government has identified Swindon as one of 12 towns and cities across the UK that will become home to an Institute of Technology.  Due to open their doors in 2021, Institutes of Technology will offer a distinct, technical educational offering at further and higher levels (levels 4-7), working in partnership with local employers to meet their skills requirements.

Whilst there has been no confirmation from the organisers on the festival returning in 2021, the level of interest generated this time around demonstrates the huge appetite among Swindon’s young people for continuing the event.

Do you want to join the conversation?

Sign up here
  • Swindon & Wiltshire Initiative

    Sitting at the very heart of the local business community providing representation, information and networking to its members.

  • Join us

    Want to know more about the benefits of being an Inititiative member and who can join? Simply click the button below.