Local students gain future-ready skills through innovative AVEVA Challenge
Young people from Bedford are celebrating the completion of the AVEVA Challenge – a collaborative programme between global technology company AVEVA and social mobility charity Villiers Park – designed to equip them with vital skills for further education and future careers.
Volunteers and students celebrate the completion of the challenge
While Bedford has ambitious young people with huge potential, too many face barriers to opportunity. With lower than average progression to higher education and disadvantaged students significantly less likely to continue into STEM pathways , the programme is designed to give young people greater access to industry role models, employer experiences and STEM opportunities, helping them build confidence and explore future careers.
Working in teams alongside AVEVA volunteers, students developed digital solutions to real-world sustainability challenges in their communities. In doing so, they built key skills including teamwork, communication, problem-solving and digital creativity. Experience that will support them in their futures.
The winning projects demonstrated creative digital solutions to encourage sustainable behaviour. Revive streamlines buying and selling second-hand clothing to make sustainable fashion an effortless choice, while Go Green rewards users for walking or cycling instead of driving through points and incentives. Lady Bug engages users with nature by encouraging positive habits, offering points that can be exchanged for virtual stickers to make environmental interaction fun and rewarding.
Aarav, a Year 12 Student from Kimberley Sixth Form College said:
"I found the AVEVA challenge to be an invaluable opportunity to develop both my teamwork and communication skills while working collaboratively to design a sustainability-focused digital solution. During this project, I gained insight into the full development process, from generating and prototyping ideas to testing and presenting our final concept. The challenge also strengthened my resilience and adaptability, as regular feedback and questioning throughout the project encouraged me to critically evaluate our ideas by approaching problems from different perspectives. It was particularly rewarding to see how creative problem-solving and technology could be combined to encourage positive behavioural change."
Tim Detheridge, Principal, Kimberley Sixth-Form College said:
“Students at Kimberley Sixth Form College benefitted greatly from their engagement in the recent AVEVA challenge. The guidance and support from staff at AVEVA throughout the project was excellent. Many students are now inspired to explore employment and careers opportunities both with AVEVA and within the technology sector. The role of Villiers Park Educational Trust in developing students ideas and concept to reality cannot be underestimated. Colleagues from Villiers Park challenged student teams to develop their creativity, collaboration and presentation skills.”
Rajani Rao, R&D Partner Technologist, Agentic Engineering at AVEVA said:
“When we first met these students in November, several told us they had never considered a career in technology before. Over six months, they were guided through the software development lifecycle, researching sustainability challenges in their communities, building prototypes, running user testing and learning how to pitch their work. By April, those same students were confidently presenting real solutions to a judging panel, demonstrating their newfound skills and valuable first-hand insight into the problems technology can solve.”
Villiers Park and AVEVA hope the success of the challenge will inspire more collaborative initiatives between local employers and education charities, helping to create fairer access to opportunities and stronger pathways into education and employment for young people across Cambridge.
