HARTING Research Award 2025: Technology – child's play!

Work, tinker, marvel: At KiTec - children discover technology - the toolbox becomes a treasure chest and the school desk becomes a research laboratory. Once again, the motto was "Hammer, drill, glue and get set, go!" under the motto: "The power of the elements". The best constructions have now been honoured with the annual HARTING Research Prize - for the 14th time.

"I can't do my homework today, I have an important appointment at HARTING!" - a plausible reason given by Romina Wedhorn to her teacher Benjamin Yilmaz for skipping homework for once. The pupil from the Auewald primary school was almost bursting with anticipation for the day, as she had been invited to this year's HARTING Research Award ceremony as a KiTec participant. With this award, the technology group encourages young inventors from the fourth classes of Espelkamp's primary schools to boldly try things out and have fun realising their own inspirations. Whether bridge builder, vehicle designer or rocket engineer of tomorrow - KiTec is open to all young technology fans who have big ideas and even bigger questions.

"Technology is not witchcraft, but child's play - in the very best sense," confirmed jury member and Deputy Chairwoman of the HARTING Executive Board Maresa Harting-Hertz. "We want children not only to discover the world of technology, but also to learn how it works. In this way, we inspire them at an early age in a playful way for manual activities and create the basis for innovation and progress in this generation."

Especially through the theme "The Power of the Elements", where the children once again bubbled over with curiosity, creativity and team spirit. Over the past weeks and months, this has resulted in a wide variety of structures such as wind turbines, hot air balloons, aeroplanes and much more. This year's winners once again proved that they can bring technology to life.

• First place went to Rogasch Farho, Finn Jorzik, Johanna Sartison, Camille Schrage, Levin Warkentin and Louisa Warkentin from Mittwald School with their "Catapult" structure.

• Second place went to Amelie Ahlers, Kartal Deniz Erkmen, Lenny Gehrlicher, Marleen Ludwig, Mats Müller and Oskar Finn Skrodzki with their construction "The Elements Camp". They are pupils from the Espelkamp-Süd primary school group, sub-site: Benkhausen.

• Third place went to the children from Johannes-Daniel-Falk-Schule: the "Luftikus" building is a joint project by Mathea Buller, Judith Funk, Josiana Warda and Lisa Warkentin.

Finally, a prize is always awarded for the best documentation, in which the idea and construction progress are neatly recorded in writing. Daniel Gnoevoj, Maximilian Meier, Hannes Peithmann, Vito Plett and Jonas Pollert from the Espelkamp-Süd primary school group, Frotheim section, accepted this prize.

Numerous guests of honour attended this year's HARTING Research Award ceremony. Dr Henning Vieker, Mayor of Espelkamp and KiTec patron in Espelkamp, expressed his admiration and congratulations to the children, as did Juliane Meister from the Wissensfabrik in Ludwigshafen and Sepp Heckmann, member of the "KiWiZ - Kinder - Wissen - Zukunft e.V." association from Hanover.

After the end of the official part of the event, parents and siblings were invited to visit the NAZHA under the motto "KiTec for the curious: for adults and children". Here, the basic idea behind KiTec was taken even further for the "grown-ups", as the focus was on technical professions, training, student internships and dual study programmes. The "little ones" enjoyed themselves at the play and craft stations, which were supervised by the trainees on site.

About KiTec - Children discover technology:

KiTec is a nationwide educational project organised by the business initiative "Wissensfabrik - Unternehmen für Deutschland e.V.". Pupils of primary school age are introduced to technical issues in a playful way. They build their own technical models using child-friendly tools and materials. The Knowledge Factory celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2025. In OWL, HARTING is still the only company actively involved in KiTec, providing the materials and awarding the HARTING Researcher Prize. The project is an integral part of the curriculum at all primary schools in Espelkamp.