The Brunel Foundation’s successful partnership with Tech Playgrounds
In 2018, the Brunel Foundation partnered with this inspiring initiative and today supports projects such as Precious Plastic and First Lego League. The successful partnership brings together the Brunel Foundation’s two focal points – people and planet – and dovetails perfectly with our mission: to help create a better future for professionals and a better planet for future professionals.
Numerous regions and communities within the Brunel Foundation organise initiatives to generate local impact for a cleaner planet and a more accessible labour market where talent can unlock its full potential. To maximise this impact, the foundation focuses on specific interests in each region and stimulates local partnerships that align with its own commitment to people and the planet. One excellent example is our partnership with Tech Playgrounds in the Netherlands.
The Brunel Foundation first partnered with this inspiring initiative in 2018. Tech Playgrounds is a workshop where (neurodivergent) teenagers and coaches on the periphery of the labour market come together, interact on a social level and create great things.
Together with Tech Playgrounds, we organised the Volvo Ocean Race Kids Day in Scheveningen in 2018: a fun day filled with water activities, sports and tech for children at the Volvo Ocean Race finish line in The Hague.
Since 2019, the Brunel Foundation has also supported one very special project at Tech Playgrounds: Precious Plastic. This is an open source community which builds processing stations to convert plastic waste back into useful products. Tech Playgrounds builds these recycling stations with the help of Brunel specialists, (neurodivergent) teenagers and their coaches.
Since our very first activities, the Brunel Foundation has supported us with tremendous energy and enthusiasm. They have helped us both financially and with the knowledge and expertise of Brunellers. Thanks to our long-term partnership, the Brunel Foundation is now getting increasingly involved in our projects. Together we are having an impact and making a difference in the lives of more and more people.
Fleur Besters
Recently, the Brunel Foundation had the privilege of supporting the First Lego League regional final in the Dutch city of Eindhoven, working together with both Tech Playgrounds and our global partner OffshoreWind4Kids on this project. During the event, these organisations hosted their new indoor wind4kids workshop.
Almost 300 kids aged 9 to 15 years were able to gain insights into how to measure generated wind power by building wind turbines with a built-in display. The participants had the chance to play with wind turbines’ pitch angles and see for themselves the effect of different ventilator speeds.
The workshop perfectly matched the theme of this year’s challenge: SUPERPOWERED, in which the First Lego League teams were challenged to learn more about energy sources, energy distribution, storage and usage. All the kids who took part enjoyed a thrilling experience of how to work together and innovate for a better future with green energy.
Our partnership with Tech Playgrounds is a blueprint for how the Brunel Foundation always seeks to work with local partners: making the knowledge and expertise of Brunel specialists available in combination with financial support and the opportunity to strengthen each other.
It combines Brunel Foundation’s dual focus on people and the planet and dovetails perfectly with our mission: to help create a better future for professionals and a better planet for future professionals.