The TeenTech Hampshire Festival marked its 10th anniversary in Basingstoke with an inspiring event bringing science, technology, and engineering to the forefront for more than 300 students from Hampshire and surrounding areas.

Hosted at the Hampshire Court Hotel in Chineham on Wednesday, October 11, the festival provided a unique platform for young minds to interact with industry leaders and explore the endless possibilities within STEM fields.

The event was a grand celebration of TeenTech’s commitment to fostering innovation and encouraging youth involvement in science and technology.

The Hampshire Court Hotel was abuzz with activity as primary and secondary students from 25 schools in Hampshire delved into the world of science, technology, and engineering.

READ MORE: More than 300 teens get a look inside the world of technology

One of the festival's primary goals was to bring students face to face with local and national companies, allowing them to engage in hands-on activities that exposed them to the exciting opportunities within these fields.

An impressive lineup of companies, including Viasat, BAE Systems, Network Rail, Fujitsu, Stannah, Atkins, AWS, BT, Bletchley Park, Nuance, Microsoft, JP Morgan, NHS Medical Engineering, University of Portsmouth, and many more, eagerly participated in the event.

LeadaMarket also lent its support to make the day even more impactful.

A significant highlight of the festival was the 30-minute challenge zone session on assistive technology, led by Alex Lewis and his colleagues from the Alex Lewis Trust.

Alex's journey is nothing short of remarkable, having overcome a rare Strep A infection that left him a quadruple amputee in 2013.

His work with universities and small companies to pioneer assistive technology has allowed him and others to lead fulfilling lives, an inspiration to all in attendance.

Throughout the day, students spent meaningful time with company representatives, engaging in tasks and challenges that provided them and their teachers with valuable insights into various industry sectors.

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A dedicated innovation session encouraged students to develop their own ideas, with a focus on health innovation, making life smarter, simpler, safer, and more enjoyable.

These ideas could then be submitted for the annual TeenTech Awards, which celebrate the best young innovators across the UK.

Maggie Philbin OBE, TeenTech CEO and co-founder, said: " The main aim of this event is to help young people understand the wide range of opportunities in tech and other areas. But most importantly, to make them believe that they would enjoy working in those areas.

“We have got an innovation zone where all the kids have done some upfront thinking around the future of health. They have developed their own solutions to what they think would improve the healthcare through tech.

 “The next zone has 20 different companies engaging with the kids. They have got different activities. There’s lot of interactions and engagements with students. Kids are really interested in what they are being shown.

“This year, we also ran a virtual event beforehand to help young people think about different aspects of healthcare. So the students then chose the students who would most benefit from this event and who has most potential. We also got a couple of SEN schools because we want students from SEN schools to understand the opportunity in the tech sector.”