Andreas Hamann, Head of Human Resources Europe at the Schaeffler Group and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Schaeffler FAG Foundation, presents the certificates from the award-winning schools. Due to the corona protective measures, the awards did not take place on site this year either.

Four high schools in Bavaria received awards

Prizes for tomorrow's developers

The foundation has been awarding prizes for educational support for 20 years

The Schaeffler FAG Foundation has awarded four Bavarian schools the Innovation Award 2020 for educational support. The award supports schools that are particularly committed to arousing enthusiasm for mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology (MINT subjects) in young people.

“Getting children and young people enthusiastic about technology and research at an early age is crucial in order to sustainably strengthen the innovative strength of the economy. The outstanding work of the award-winning schools is essential for this, ”says Andreas Hamann, Head of Human Resources Europe at the Schaeffler Group and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Schaeffler FAG Foundation.

The individual school projects cover a wide range of MINT subjects, which are the basis for technical and engineering courses. "These diverse projects make people want to try new things and are already promoting tomorrow's engineers today," says Hamann.

Electrified beer crate mobiles and drones for rural areas

The first prize, endowed with 2,000 euros, goes to the Egbert-Gymnasium Münsterschwarzach. Participants in the “Student Car Workshop” working group have built “beer crate mobiles”. These are vehicles that are not much larger than a crate of beer. Specifically, the students use it to research the electric drive and compare it with combustion engines. To do this, they carry out various test runs with different drives. The results and developed examples should also be used for future generations of schoolchildren to explain electromobility.

Second place is shared by the Armin-Knab-Gymnasium Kitzingen and the Rh?n-Gymnasium Bad Neustadt - each endowed with 1,500 euros.

As part of the physics project seminar "Digitization of the rural area using drones", the students from Kitzingen dealt with the design of a landing pad for a delivery drone. Due to technical and legal hurdles and the acceptance and feasibility, especially the safety of the use of drones, the students concentrated only on the technical and organizational area.

Sensors in the beehive and augmented reality in class

The inventors' club “Die Allesforscher” of the Rh?n-Gymnasium has made a mobile “Augmented Reality Sandbox”. The aim is to model mountains, valleys, volcanoes and other things out of sand and then digitize them with a 3D camera. The resulting images are then processed with special software so that contour lines and other geographic characteristics can be projected onto the sand in real time using a projector. This sandbox is to be used primarily for the subjects of computer science, physics, geography and art.

Third place and 1,000 euros go to the high school in H?chstadt an der Aisch. The students there have equipped a beehive with modern sensors. The data collected by measuring sensors will in future be transmitted via live stream to the auditorium of the grammar school and can be used in a wide variety of natural science subjects in lessons. This is to create enthusiasm for technology and species protection.

Schaeffler FAG Foundation as a motor for knowledge transfer

Since it was founded in 1983, the foundation has distributed more than one million euros in funding. 20 years ago, in addition to university and science funding, “school funding” was also launched. The foundation honors scientific and technical projects in schools. Due to the Corona crisis, the planned celebrations had to be dispensed with this year as well.

“The foundation is the engine for knowledge, knowledge transfer and the development of potential. It is an expression of corporate and social responsibility, ”explains Andreas Hamann.