Big Bang Fair

Each year, Leonardo is proud sponsor and attend the Big Bang Fair, offering visitors to our stand the chance to discover the exciting world of engineering.

Due to the ongoing restrictions relating to Coronavirus, the 2021 edition was online. Leonardo was proud to be part of The Big Bang Digital (23-25 June 2021) – a free event designed to inspire students to redefine the future and change the world.

On Thursday 24 June, we presented a session entitled 'The Unseen World', where students learnt about clever tech being used to preserve planet Earth.

The Big Bang Fair is the largest celebration of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) for young people in the UK. It aims to show young people (primarily aged 7-19) how many exciting and rewarding opportunities there are out there for them with the right experience and qualifications.

the Big Bang Fair logo Through the Big Bang Fair and a series of regional and local events, the organisation works with partner organisations – across business and industry, government and academia – such as Leonardo, to try and give a flavour of the real scale of engineering and science in the UK.

Usually taking place at the NEC in Birmingham during mid-March, the Big Bang Fair features over 200 organisations from the public, private and voluntary sectors. It is led by EngineeringUK in partnership with the Royal Academy of Engineering, and supported by numerous sponsors from industry, academia and the public sector.

Interactive Activities for Aspiring Engineers

Amongst the interactive activities we have showcased on our stand in the past are:

Rampaging Chariots

We showcased Rampaging Chariots at the Big Bang Fair in a custom-built arena featuring a Robot Wars style assault course. Visitors had the opportunity to test their skills putting some powerful and lightweight robots through a series of challenges, using their driving skills to navigate around the assault course and learning about electronic engineering techniques that are the basis of many of the many of the most complex engineering programmes being developed across the UK. Try this next time and see if you can you beat the clock and claim the day's best time.

VR Experience

Our VR Experience lets you can interact with some of the awesome engineering and technology that we produce, from helicopters to helmets. See them as if the equipment is right there in front of you!

screenshot from Leonardo's virtual reality experience

Thermal Camera Selfies

Visitors had the opportunity to uncover hidden surroundings by viewing the Big Bang show through our latest thermal technology which has been used to capture amazing footage on several BBC nature series, including Planet Earth 2 (video), The Great British Year (video), Earth Unplugged (video), Springwatch and Big Cats. There was also the chance for visitors to take a selfie with the thermal camera, to see how cool (or warm) they really were!

Wind Table & Rotor Blade Design

Discover how helicopters really work. Using our rotary blade testing wind table, visitors could experiment with different blade designs to improve their lift. Aeronautical skills were put to the test and friends challenged each other to find out whose blades were the best, while trying to ensure the weight, aerodynamic properties and wind remained stable.

Download our rotor blade template

Sphero Challenge

The Sphero Challenge, delivered in partnership with The Smallpeice Trust, saw visitors try and navigate a table-top assault maze on their own programmed route.

In association with Smallpeice Trust.

On our stand, there was also the opportunity to chat to some of our apprentices, graduates and placement students about STEM careers, and learn about the exciting work we do around the world developing cutting-edge technology.

Visit the Big Bang Fair website