TDI Challenge 2018 entries now open

The Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) has launched the 2018 edition of its flagship competition for D&T and engineering students: the Technology Design and Innovation (TDI) Challenge, sponsored by Close Brothers.

The annual competition for schools and colleges has grown in prominence over the past decade to becoming one of the leading extracurricular school competitions in the UK.

To promote this year’s Challenge, the MTA has produced a series of short clips and interviews to be shared on social media and inspire this year’s entrants. The videos focus on last year’s finalists and some of the imaginative designs that led to their well-deserved place in the final.

Previous winners and participants have used the competition as a springboard into the industry, with last year’s winner in the 17-19 age category, Halimah Ershad of Forest School in London, receiving an undergraduate scholarship to the Dyson School of Engineering.

The TDI Challenge has four categories and is open to anyone in the UK who has created an impressive design & technology or engineering project within school.

• Individual student aged 14-16 (GCSE/KS4/BTEC L2)


• Individual student aged 17-19 (A-Level/BTEC L3)


• Student group (3- 6 members) aged 14-16 (GCSE/KS4/BTEC L2)


• Student group (3-6 members) aged 17-19 (A-Level/BTEC L3)

Laura Pickering, education and development manager at the MTA, said: “This year the TDI Challenge is even more important, as we are in the Year of Engineering. We want to use this opportunity to inspire the next generation of engineers, and to help widen the diversity of employees within the industry. Students from all backgrounds should be aware that there are many rewarding and interesting careers in engineering available to them, accessible via apprenticeships and further/higher education.”

The closing date for entries is 11^th May 2018, and the competition is limited to only one application per student or group.

The final itself will be held at the European Headquarters of MTA member Yamazaki Mazak at its facility in Worcester on 4^th July 2018.

MTA www.mta.org.uk