“Vattenfall Heat UK are delivering social value through our partnership with Powering Futures to engaging with four schools in the Edinburgh and Midlothian areas. The Challenge Programme is a year-long elective taken by S5/S6 students in which they tackle a real-world sustainability challenge. That is introduced to S5 students in SuperSprints, a workshop where students work in teams on an innovation challenge, honing various workplace skills and discovering how the skills they utilise during the workshop relate to real-world roles”

Paul Steen, Head of Business Development Scotland and North of England, Vattenfall Heat UK

“Our objective is to identify and recruit the best young people into our industry via our early careers programme. To do this, we work with partner agencies to bridge the gap between education and full time employment, developing the young workforce to future proof our business. To further enhance this approach, we must engage with those agencies with the ability to best prepare young people and, to date, Powering Futures has significantly influenced this via a comprehensive and robust engagement programme, tailored to meet, not only our industry though the wider jobs market, whilst also providing participants with a recognised qualification. Our involvement with Powering Futures has been extremely rewarding, with the programme now recognised as best practice and the blueprint model to be adopted throughout our regional businesses as part of our schools engagement strategy”

Mark Henderson, Group Head of Social Impact, Robertson Group

“Powering Futures have identified a gap to bring together business partners and schools to provide an incredible opportunity for young people to gain a qualification and develop their skills and confidence.

The challenges they set will support the students to develop a greater understanding of the world we live in and be better equipped to meet the needs of employers now and into the future. The passion and commitment of the Powering Futures team is contagious, and we’re delighted to be working with them to support the delivery of their vision”

Sophia Goring, Head of ESG, Business Stream

"If Powering Futures didn't exist, someone would have to invent it. If we want to fully exploit Scotland's potential in renewables we need to make sure the future workforce - from lawyers to welders - have the skills they need. Powering Futures is opening up this opportunity."

Andy Maciver, Founder Director, Message Matters

The 14-week Challenge programme has allowed the apprentices to develop and connect with each other, as well as with experts throughout our organisation. This will bring benefits to them and us for years to come – and proves that sustainability-focused solutions are not just good for the planet, but for the bottom line too.

Peter Farrer, Chief Operating Officer of Scottish Water

“Scotland needs to start building the work force of the future now. That is exactly what we want to support with this programme.

We’re so proud to be part of this exciting collaboration that aims to empower and inspire young people into low carbon careers where they can really make a difference.”

Eoghan Maguire, Director of Heat Networks – Scotland at Vattenfall

“We’re delighted to be partnering with Powering Futures as this challenge aligns perfectly with both of these areas. It will support the development of our apprentices by immersing them in a world of creativity and innovation as well as giving them the opportunity to have a meaningful impact on our decarbonisation efforts.”

Gail Traynor, Learning and Development Manager at Plexus

“I would say to 16 year old me, if I was thinking about choosing this subject to definitely do it, it gives great life skills and it’s something you can always take forward.”

Amy Nelson, Alumni

“It’s a huge benefit to businesses to get people involved, kids that maybe aren’t going to go to uni and be high flyers, that middle band that’s forgotten about. I think it is perfect for them.”

Andrew Wilson, Alumni

“When I was in school, I wasn’t interested and nobody was trying to interest me in something. So if I can give back in the same way I wanted someone to give me, I’ll have accomplished something.”

Callum Gaw, Alumni

“When I was 16, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do and what the future held. Doing the Powering Futures Challenge changed the way I look at everything, the way I looked at my own skills and made me realise where my interests lay.”

Roni Louden, Alumni

“The Powering Futures programme was so uplifting and gave me what I needed to move forward in the future.”

Ali Halliday, Alumni

“From doing the Powering Futures Challenge I became more confident, so when I know what I’m speaking about, I feel much more comfortable.”

Skye Chatburn, Alumni

“The Powering Futures Challenge actually showed us how to structure our thought process to get those ideas and how to build a sufficiently strong case to get there.”

Stephan Guth Brunner, Alumni