CTEK welcomes women engineers of the future

CTEK welcomed 30 very special guests to its Norrköping site on March 28. The visitors were all schoolgirls interested in finding out about a career in engineering. 

The visit was organised on Sweden’s IGE Day (Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day), an initiative that aims to inspire girls between the ages of 12 and 19 by exploring the engineering profession through spending a day at a company.  

During the day the participants got to try various engineering-related tasks and learn more about what it means to be an engineer. The goal is to increase interest in technology and engineering professions among girls and contribute to a gender-equal engineering industry in the future. 

CTEK’s visitors were welcomed first with a tour of the Norrköping site and an introduction to CTEK and the products its designs and makes for the charging of vehicle batteries. Four female CTEK engineers guided the girls throughout the day. 

The girls were then briefed on how CTEK uses software and were shown how to program a microcontroller connected to a sensor. They also explored designing a prototype product and how to 3D print the design. 

The day concluded with the opportunity to ask CTEK’s female engineers questions about how they started and furthered their careers. 

CTEK development manager Martin Johansson, who organised the day’s activities, said: “What a fantastic day we all had. It was a real pleasure to welcome such an enthusiastic group of girls and let them try out life as an engineer for a day. 

“The technology sector, including automotive, has traditionally been very male dominated, but that is changing for the better. CTEK has some amazing female engineers, and we hope our IGE Day visitors left us inspired by meeting them and by a career in engineering.” 

15-year-old Emma from Tranås was one of the participants and said: "I had no idea that working as an engineer was so creative. The coolest thing was when we got to design and print our own prototypes in the 3D printer." 

IGE Day is organised by the Womengineer Foundation which believes the lack of female engineers means innovation is suffering without the diversity of ideas and perspectives that women bring.