Robot competition held by the joint initiative Innovation for the Future (ZdI)

(sf) The fascination of natural sciences and technology was demonstrated on 19th June not only on the D UAS Stand at the nationwide Day of Technology, but also directly in the facilities of the university: Over 250 pupils in 34 teams lined up for the NRW final of the zdi robot competition.
The winners of the 2009 robot competition run by the joint initiative Innovation for the Future come from Rheine, Wilnsdorf and Münster. The pupils of the Kopernikus Grammar School in Rheine won through against the best teams from all over North Rhine-Westphalia in the category up to 16-years old in the regional final on 20th June 2009 in Düsseldorf. First place in the over 17-year old category was won by the team from Wilnsdorf Grammar School. The robot performance category was won by the pupils of Geistschule in Münster.
"All teams demonstrated know-how, creativity and team spirit. The robot competition shows how exciting technology can be," declared Minister for Innovation Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart when awarding the prizes in the Audimax complex.
Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Krause, Rector of D UAS, also praised the potential and enthusiasm demonstrated by the up-and-coming researchers: "The main thing is to be able to discover and research the fun underlying technical or natural sciences, only then can such good results be obtained at the end."
The joint initiative aims to encourage as many school pupils as possible to take up further education in engineering and natural sciences by means of on-going campaigns. To this end, the joint initiative sponsored by the Ministry of Innovation brings together schools, universities, business and politics in the region. 25 zdi centres offering technology courses for a district or a town with the most up-to-date equipment are to be established by 2010. zdi centres currently exist in Bochum, the Bergische Städtedreieck region, Oelde, Rheinbach, the Mettmann district, Gladbeck, the Aachen/Düren region, the Unna district, Lippstadt/Soest, the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district, Marl, Mülheim-on-the-Ruhr, Frechen/Rhein-Erft and Bonn/Rhein-Sieg.