Launch of new West of England Digital Trailblazers App

Media Relations Team, 11 August 2021

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The University of the West of England’s Department of Engineering Design and Mathematics has today launched its new mobile app, Digital Trailblazers, as part of its work for the Digital Engineering Technology and Innovation (DETI) Skills programme.

Digital Trailblazers highlights the West's best engineering inventions of the past and present, as well as showcasing the organisations and people that create them. The West of England has a rich engineering heritage and is also home to businesses and organisations pioneering the latest in digital technologies.

With the new Digital Trailblazers app, you can now explore both historic and modern engineering landmarks, businesses, and institutions via a series of trails throughout the West of England, digitally or on foot.

The app features an interactive map of the West of England, with key engineering locations highlighted, each with its own information page, allowing users to quickly and easily explore what is on offer in their locality, as well as discovering engineering landmarks from further afield. Included on the map are the Clifton Suspension Bridge, SS Great Britain, Aerospace Bristol – home of the Concorde, and the Roman Baths (among others).

Several of the locations have been grouped into themed trails, allowing users to visit engineering attractions in person, using the mobile app to navigate through a series of locations by foot, bike or e-scooter.

Trails include the Bristol Harbourside Trail, a 5km family-friendly walk around the floating harbour, and the Bristol Brunel Loop, a longer and more challenging trail that weaves through the city centre from Temple Meads station up to the iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Designed to be a hub for all things engineering in the region, Digital Trailblazers links to other successful projects led by UWE Bristol’s EDM department, as part of the West of England Combined Authority’s DETI programme, including Curiosity Connections, Diversity Demonstrator, and Women Like Me.

It also hosts locally relevant educational resources, including the new school resource packs from UWE Bristol: The West in Minecraft, WeCount Schools and Engineering Curiosity.

These educational packs link curriculum learning to real-world projects and people in the West of England, engaging children with local engineering career opportunities. They have been developed by the DETI Inspire team at UWE Bristol with the aim of inspiring the next generation of digital engineers.

Digital Trailblazers has been developed by the DETI Inspire team at UWE Bristol’s Department of Engineering Design and Mathematics with funding from the Digital Engineering Technology & Innovation initiative (DETI). For more information, please visit https://www.digitaltrailblazers.net/about or contact engineeringourfuture@uwe.ac.uk.

DETI is a strategic programme of the West of England Combined Authority, delivered by the National Composites Centre, in partnership with the Centre for Modelling & Simulation, Digital Catapult, the University of the West of England, the University of Bristol, and the University of Bath.

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School of Engineering Innovation