In April 2020, the UK government announced that UK businesses could apply for a share of up to £40 million to respond to new and urgent needs in UK and global communities during and following the Covid-19 pandemic. By fast-tracking innovation, the UK will be better placed to maintain employment levels, a competitive position in global markets and make the UK more resilient to similar disruption.
£40 million of government funding to support the UK’s next generation of innovative businesses
The Consequential Robotics team entered the competition in April and we’re delighted to announce that we have been selected as winners of the funding. Our application met the stringent criteria of demonstrating both realistic and significant benefits for society (including communities, families and individuals) or an industry that has been severely impacted and/or permanently disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The challenge - the pressing need for online learning
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a pressing need for new online learning solutions that are scaleable, engaging, and address important attainment goals in STEM subjects including maths, computing and engineering. As more teaching is conducted via the internet, there is also an urgent need to address the digital divide in home learning, with many homes lacking powerful computers with large screens, or high bandwidth connections. With a low proportion of women working in UK engineering (just 8%) it is also essential that online learning materials are inclusively designed and can appeal across genders and to other hard-to-reach groups.
MiRoCODE is currently used in universities and schools across UK and globally but will soon be accessible to any student with a web browser.
Our solution - a new e-learning platform for that is accessible to any student with a web browser
Our project will create a new e-learning environment for robotics, coding, and artificial intelligence (AI), using cloud computing, that is accessible to any student with a web browser. The environment will be low-cost and easy-to-use from home, school, college or university, and will promote STEM/digital education goals helping to prepare children, students, and people who have left full-time education, for current and future jobs in UK industry. Our project addresses the pressing need for new technologies for online/at home education created by the Covid-19 pandemic, and will help address the skills deficit in digital technologies that threatens the future success of UK industry. The UK already faces significant skills shortages in these domains, and these are likely to be amplified by long-term impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on international worker mobility.