Presenting the winners at the Expo are: Mr Bob Tladi, Chief Director, Education Development and Support: Free State Department of Education (left), Prof. Alfred Ngowi, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Engagement (right) and some of the Regional Science Fair winners.

The 4^th Industrial Revolution has taken the world by storm; presenting complex and challenging problems that require a skilled workforce in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) field.

The Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) and Eskom Expo co-hosted the Eskom Regional Science Fair from 25-27 July 2019 in response to these challenges.  The two entities entered into a partnership with Expo for Young Scientists to encourage participation of young inquisitive minds in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Innovation ("STEMI") activities within the province. This expo is one of the 35 regional expos held annually in all provinces across the country.

The purpose of this fair is to empower the brightest and young scientists from schools in the disadvantaged communities to take part in the fair in pursuit to improve and unearth their technical and research skills in STEM fields.  For CUT, this expo emanates from the need to build and consolidate its institutional capacity to ensure that structures and systems are in place to effectively offer pre-university programmes to learners in these scarce programmes.

The project strongly supports CUT’s vision of engaging with the communities it serves in order to improve their quality of life. The university took all the secondary school learners on a tour of the facilities that CUT has to offer, thereby exposing these students with their bright futures to all the facets of a successful career. Learners were expected to develop an inquiring mind-set, to improve their scientific, technical and research skills and take a keen interest in interest in STEM subjects and careers.

About 265 learners from the region participated in the competition to showcase their innovative science and engineering investigations. Judges consisting of educators, subject specialists, university students and Eskom Expo enthusiasts assessed the 217 exhibited projects, and a total of 51 learners received bronze medals, 60 received silver, and 35 received gold. Learners from Primêre Meisieskool Oranje received the greatest number of gold medals and medals overall. A total of 23 projects were chosen for a shortlist that will be judged again by professionals and from the 23 projects, 11 will be chosen to represent Bloemfontein at the International Science Fair in September.

Eskom Expo Executive Director, Parthy Chetty, says: “Now in its 40^th year of existence, Eskom Expo continues to provide a unique platform for the thousands of bright young minds in our country to showcase their talent, which would otherwise, have been lost in the system. The potential of our country is dependent on these bright minds, to be groomed to be future scientists and innovators”.

The Eskom Special Award winners are:

Best Energy Project: Micayla Mc Mahon – Eunice Primary

Best Innovation Project: Phakiso Thinane - Senankwagwedi Secondary School

Best Female: Michelle Britz & Chrismarie van der Walt – Primêre Meisieskool Oranje

Best Development: Abigail Bloem – Eunice Secondary School