This Engineer's Week, teachers can gain exclusive screening rights in their classroom to 45-minute 'Cities of the Future'. The documentary challenges children to imagine stepping 50 years into the future and finding smart cities designed to be totally sustainable.
Imagine stepping into the future and discovering that renewable energy is our primary power source, space-based solar power provides solar energy 24 hours a day, everything is recycled, and you travel in individualised pods that run on little or no energy.
This isn’t science fiction. Engineers are making plans for a sustainable world right now, and it’s coming to the big screen!
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To be granted access, please follow these three steps:
• Register your interest via our dedicated registration page. • STEPS will send you a screening link the week of Tuesday, 24 February. • Please check that your network permits access to Vimeo.com.
Note: You will not receive a registration email following completion of the registration page. Please get in touch with steps@engineersireland.ie if you do not receive the link by Friday, 28 February 2025.
The Engineers Ireland STEPS programme has teamed up with the Environmental Protection Agency to launch the Engineer the City of the Future Competition that challenges primary and secondary school students to engineer how Irish cities will look by 2050.
The competition aims to introduce engineering in a fun way and encourages students to develop their problem-solving, creative and communication skills.
The year is 2050. Imagine the city of the future is powered by a circular economy: how would you design a city using renewable resources and materials we already have?
If you were an engineer, how would you build a city that is safe and healthy for people, plants and animals to live?
What materials would you use to build our city and what types of clean energy would you use to power it?
Can you take inspiration from nature to engineer clean air to breath, clean water to drink and capture carbon emissions?
Could you use materials that some people throw away?
Engineering is at the forefront of making cities better for everyone: clean air and water, sustainable food production, renewable energy, accessible public transport, and low carbon emissions. Brainstorm ideas and create innovations that show what Irish cities could look like in 2050.
There are two competition categories:
1. Watch Cities of the Future to inspire your ideas. 2. Download and complete the challenge worksheet for your age category. 3. Submit pages 3 and 4 of your completed worksheet via email or post to the addresses below. 4. We also encourage you to submit any design drawings, videos, prototypes, photographs, texts etc. that explain the functional engineering elements of your City of the Future!
Primary School Prizes
Secondary School Prizes
1st place: €250 One4All Voucher and Admission to Explorium
2nd place: €100 One4All Voucher and Admission to Explorium
3rd place: €50 One4All Voucher and Admission to Explorium
• Only one entry per student is permitted. • Entries can be submitted via post or email. Please include your name, age, school name, teacher name and school telephone number. • Entries via post to ‘City of the Future’ Engineers Ireland STEPS, 22 Clyde Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 D04 R3N2. • Entries via email must be titled “Cities of the Future” in the subject line. Send to steps@engineersireland.ie • Deadline date: all entries must be submitted by Friday, 2 May 2025.
Only winners will be contacted. Winners will be contacted in May.
The Engineers Ireland STEPS Programme is designed to open up the exciting possibilities which engineering offers to school children who want to make a real difference in the world. Engineers Week 2025 will take place from Saturday, 1 - Friday, 7 March 2025. Engineers Week has been created to introduce primary and secondary school children to the diverse world of engineering.
This year, we are working with the EPA on the Engineer the City of the Future competition, with engineers sharing how important the circular economy is for Ireland's future cities. The EPA is responsible for protecting and improving the environment as a valuable asset for the people of Ireland. They do this through regulation, scientific knowledge and working with others.