OAL inspires at Mission Possible Peterborough careers fair
On Friday 23 June 2017, OAL inspired students at the Mission Possible careers fair organised by the Skills Service at the East of England Showground in Peterborough. The event attracted more than 3,000 young students aged 14-24 to encourage them to explore future career options. With so many industries at the event, there was certainly a lot for them to learn about and consider.
OAL’s stand showcased our latest innovations in robotics and automation for food manufacturers to widen young people’s perception of engineering and the food manufacturing industry and to encourage more young people to continue with their STEM subjects and choose engineering as their career.
To get attendees involved and thinking more about the next 10-15 years of the food industry, we ran a competition asking them a key question.
What food will you be eating when you’re 30?
And, with a Kindle Fire tablet as a prize for the best answer, it was worth really thinking about their answers!
By the end of the event, we had more than 160 entries and it was clear that all of them knew that the food industry is dynamic and will be changing dramatically over the next 10 to 15 years.
We were really impressed with the scope of responses which considered current challenges in the world such as the growing population, rising obesity and people’s busier lifestyles. Many of the answers we received aimed to solve these issues using alternative proteins, dehydrated convenience foods and pills and potions full of all the nutrients an individual needs.
The winning answer recognised world hunger as a big issue and considered not just individual eating habits but the eating habits globally:
“A small pill that has all the right nutrients in it that fills you up. It would need to be affordable so it can help to end world hunger.”