Professions like lawyer, banker or doctor were historically associated with a successful career, high quality of life and social status and were synonymous with success. It was therefore normal for parents to pursue these for their children. Today, we see more and more that these professions have more candidates than the market demands.
Because the demand for these profiles is much higher than the supply, there are a lot of "bottleneck occupations". STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) occupations almost all fall into this category. As a result, companies cannot find the necessary expertise and competences and have to delocalise certain activities abroad. This weakens our economy and creates a dependency that we could avoid.
Our society has also evolved. In our tertiary economy (an economy that offers more services than goods), we are encountering fewer and fewer occupations that are not necessarily performed all day in offices behind a screen.
However, as children we participated in a lot of activities that made us who we later became as adults. Just think of team sports like football, the scouts camps, building all kinds of things with lego and meccano, or driving races with friends in video games.
Greenpower brings everything together: with friends, in class, building and competing in races. Learning physics, maths, electricity while playing, drawing and building a super beautiful body, participating in the championship, and who knows, winning !!!
The Greenpower challenge originated in the United Kingdom and has now been in existence for 22 years and has been a huge success with more than 1,000 participating teams now present in several countries. Thanks to the project, we want to inspire young people for a career in a STEM direction.
Greenpower believes that young people who have a better idea of the study possibilities and the concrete opportunities that can arise from these studies can make a better choice for their future.
The project consists of two major parts: drawing and building the car (as part of the school programme or as part of an association) and the championship events, during which the different teams compete against each other.
The teachers and their groups will receive the necessary support for the first part, both thanks to a didactic programme, and thanks to the companies that, as sponsors, provide the car to the teams.
Because no one can explain better what STEM careers entail, we want Belgian companies to get involved in the Greenpower initiative. They are at the heart of our job market and the experience they can share with future generations of talent is very valuable. We want this exchange of experience and expertise to lead to a strong network that brings together supply and demand for STEM jobs.
As for the organisation of the events, we count on the support of volunteers during the events, as well as parents and grandparents who want to contribute with time and/or resources. From helping check all the cars before the start to "waving" a flag along the race track or making a financial contribution, all help is welcome!
Contributing financially to the project as an individual can start from €50 a year. And you are immediately a member. And we will keep you informed of everything that is moving at Greenpower! Discover here what benefits are associated with this.