The past year has been extraordinary at Class Of Your Own (COYO). We’ve been working closely with Bentley Systems, Topcon Positioning Systems and Virgin Hyperloop One to develop a new curriculum focused on ‘Future Infrastructure”.
The first exciting project challenged teams from four schools to design a Hyperloop Station in their own towns, and then in a show-stopping finale, adapt their projects for a site in Singapore.
Students presented to top-class judges, including Virgin Hyperloop One’s Harj Dhaliwal, Managing Director, Middle East and India. The team chosen to represent the UK’s young engineering talent were then flown to Singapore to present at Bentley’s ‘Year In Infrastructure’ and meet real life engineers working on amazing projects around the world.
But the relationship with Virgin Hyperloop did not stop there. Last week, COYO CEO Alison Watson met again with Harj and his team to formally agree a partnership to support more young people coming into the sector through the further development of the programme to aid learning and research.
The FUTURE HYPERLOOP accredited programme will be available for schools everywhere from September 2020, just in time for the World’s greatest show on Earth… Expo 2020.
COYO CEO Alison Watson is pictured inside a VHO pod with Virgin Hyperloop One’s Harj Dhaliwal, MD Middle East and India and Sarah Iskander, Global Engagement Manager
Read the exciting press release below…
DUBAI, NOVEMBER 12TH 2019: Virgin Hyperloop One (VHO), the world’s leading hyperloop company, this week, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UK-based Class Of Your Own (COYO), who deliver an experiential learning program that seeks to animate primary and secondary school children to pursue professional design, engineering and construction careers.
Taking place at this year’s Dubai Motor Show, the agreement was signed by VHO’s Harj Dhaliwal, Managing Director, Middle East and India, and COYO’s Alison Watson, the organisation’s Founder and Chief Executive.
Speaking about the VHO partnership, Mr Dhaliwal, said, “STEM sectors offer young people so many exciting career opportunities. Yet we are struggling to see younger generations moving into those sectors. In order to get more young students passionate about our fields, we need to have business and academia team up to engage talent early on. Virgin Hyperloop One is one of the most sensational projects in our industry and we believe by providing real-life cases and by sharing practical knowledge, we can get more children interested in a professional career, thus contributing to the sector development at large.”
Equally excited about entering the partnership with the hyperloop leader, Mrs Watson, remarked, “Having young people come into our sector is critical on a global scale. We can achieve this at an early age by capturing their imaginations through an exciting curriculum and showcasing the opportunities future infrastructure can offer. We are thrilled to enter this partnership with Virgin Hyperloop One, which will be an invaluable asset for COYO. The project has already sparked massive interest amongst our young talented students, their teachers and parents.”
The partnership with COYO is the latest in a string of collaborations across the globe in which the developer has entered partnerships with leading educational institutions and organisations for young students to pursue STEM-related subjects. Only last month, VHO announced an agreement with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Sciences and Technology (KAUST) to develop the sector. Earlier this year also, the firm has entered a design and urban development partnership with Washington University in St. Louis in the United States. And in 2017, VHO welcomed bright Saudi engineering students from MiSK Foundation to its Innovation Campus in Los Angeles as part of its ongoing efforts to support STEM education.
As global populations grow, the demands for rapid, seamless travel and more efficient deliveries will continue to rise. VHO is working with a team of 200+ highly qualified in-house engineers toward transforming mobility and trade while connecting the Gulf region. Hyperloop – a 100% electric, low- emission infrastructure project – is critical for the benefit of millions of people across the region and for the realisation of many governments’ sustainability agendas.
The ground-breaking hyperloop technology promises to transport passengers between Abu Dhabi and Dubai in under 12 minutes. Whereas a similar journey from the UAE to Saudi Arabia’s capital could take just 48 minutes. Beyond Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the developer has ambitious plans to extend its network across the wider Gulf region that would also include Bahrain.
