122 young people build STEM skills at Millennium Point’s 2026 Summer Camp
Millennium Point has just hosted another hugely successful Summer Camp series at its Birmingham venue, helping 122 young people from across the West Midlands build confidence, teamwork and problem solving skills. The programme was delivered by Digital Innovators through its Summer Camps initiative and supported by Veolia UK.
Held at Millennium Point over four weeks, each running four days a week, Summer Camp combined more than 30 hands-on activities with a central project. Participants aged 11 to 16 got to grips with robotics for the first time, programming Ozobots and meeting Robert, a robotic dog brought in by CyberCY, alongside team challenges designed to build the skills that employers look for.
In the second half of the programme, participants were set real business challenges by Veolia UK, the resource management company responsible for processing Birmingham’s waste. Working in teams, young people used a design thinking approach, building a persona and empathy map for the people affected by an issue before developing their own ideas. Solutions included a smart sorting system for waste bins, an app to encourage clothing repair and reuse, and a technology proposal to help the council identify and respond to fly tipping hotspots.
Abbie Vlahakis, CEO of Millennium Point, said: “We’re committed to opening doors for young people and providing access to opportunities they may not otherwise have. Hosting Summer Camps is a powerful reflection of that commitment. Seeing participants step forward to pitch their own ideas on the final day, often for the very first time, is exactly why programmes like this are so important at Millennium Point.”
Feedback from participants was strong across the board, with teamwork and communication that were the two skills most commonly cited by young people as areas where they felt they had grown.
The programme also reached a wide catchment across the West Midlands, with participants travelling into Millennium Point from 67 schools across Birmingham, the Black Country and Coventry, alongside 10 home educated young people.
