Technology Tournament 2023

District 1190 has supported the Rotary GB & I Technology Tournament for many years. The competition will be held on one of 3 Fridays;10 March, 17 March or 24 March 2023 as booked locally by each area organiser.

The Rotary Technology Tournament is aimed at young people aged 11-18 with three age levels for team members; Foundation, Intermediate and Advance. The degree of complexity is increased at each age level.

In September each year District 1140 (Yorkshire) sends out the proposed project for the forthcoming Rotary year. This project is then assessed by our District Tech Team. From September through to November, the documentation is reviewed and materials required for each team to complete the project are determined. Prototypes are designed for viewing at the Area Organisers meeting in early February. 

There are 9 centres each with an area organiser that book the venues and liaise with schools in order to determine who many teams at each level will be taking part with a 10% margin. The centres in Lancashire are Accrington, Lancaster, Leyland, Lytham-St-Annes and Preston. The Cumbria centres are Barrow, Carlisle, Kendal and Workington.

Approximately 300 teams of 4 students with some teacher teams take part in teh competition each year. The competition is divided into 3 levels, Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced. The basic project is the same, but requirements within the project are added to increase the level of technical difficulty. Past projects have included building of a bridge, a pipeline mole, a space capsule and a container retrieval device.

The competition has been supported by grants from our main sponsors BAe Systems, underwritten by the District. The competition fits in with the teaching of STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and is generally considered to be a very popular day out from school by the students. We have at times had difficulty getting some schools to release a teacher to accompany the students.