20 Gold Coast Schools Celebrate Advanced Manufacturing Future Skills Schools Program

Teams of school students representing 20 schools across primary, junior secondary, and senior secondary came together at Elanora State School last Friday to compete in the STEM-Advanced Manufacturing Future Skills showcase and showcase their winning manufacturing-inspired designs.

This project supports skills development in the Queensland Advanced Manufacturing industry and is a collaboration between the Queensland Government’s Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water, the Gold Coast Manufacturing Hub and Makers Empire.

Following on from a successful project in 2022, the 2023 Advanced Manufacturing SE Queensland STEM-Advanced Manufacturing Future Skills program comprised three separate programs for the following primary, junior secondary, and senior secondary schools:

Primary schools: The Southport School, Coomera State School, Josiah College, Merrimac State School, St Vincent’s Primary School, Guardian Angels Primary School, Hillcrest Christian College, and Worongary State School.
Junior secondary schools: Elanora State High School, Merrimac State High School, Trinity Lutheran College, Josiah College, St Andrews Lutheran College, Coombabah State High School, Benowa State High School, Flagstone State Community College, and Tamborine Mountain College.
Secondary schools: Australian Industry Trade College, The Busy Schools Southport, Elanora State High School, Merrimac State High School, Palm Beach Currumbin State High School, Trinity Lutheran College, and St Andrews Lutheran College.

Depending on which programs schools participated in, the programs included:

Professional development days and site tours with expert guest speakers
Students become familiar with the advanced manufacturing industry
Industry immersion and future skills and career awareness days
Students complete a custom manufacturing and careers challenge course
Students use design thinking processes to solve a school or community-based problem using 3D technologies
Students use appropriate technologies and manufacturing skills to develop prototypes and products
Students identify and solve a manufacturing problem, develop a business case and present it to an industry judging panel.

During a lively expo-style showcase last Friday, students shared their winning designs with each other, provided feedback on designs and voted on each other’s projects (peer prizes)

Student also presented their winning designs to guest judges and invited industry representatives who decided on the industry-awarded prizes including a ‘shark tank’ style pitching contest.

Invited industry judges included senior representatives from Gilmour Space, Neumann Contractor, Telwater BRP, Engineers Australia, Superior Jetties, Northrup Grumman, Feline, Tafe Gold Coast, Burchills Engineering, ADaPT/Griffith University and The Gold Coast Titans.

At the showcase, there was speeches and award presentations from the Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water’s Acting Director General, Bernadette Zerba and Acting Director South East Queensland, Jody McAully. They also spoke about the importance of Advanced Manufacturing industry, which is one of the largest in the Gold Coast.

Winning Schools

Congratulations to the winning schools, and thank you to our guest speakers, guest judges and industry representatives:

Georgi Tomlison, Project Officer – Schools at the Gold Coast Manufacturing Hub, Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water posted the following on LinkedIn:

Makers Empire co-founder, Lap Leung, says, “Advanced manufacturing is one of the largest and most important industries on the Gold Coast.

“This program is committed to supporting the development of the pipeline of future workers through developing problem-solving skills and creating awareness of exciting career opportunities for young people in the region in advanced manufacturing. Fantastic industry engagement has been a vital cornerstone of the program,” he added.