Stockland, Australia’s largest diversified property group, is encouraging Australian school children to consider how technology may play a role in their future career, by giving one child the opportunity of a lifetime with a close encounter of the robot kind.

Stockland’s Robotics Challenge, which launches today, calls on school children across Australia from 8 to 15 years to submit a creative idea on how robotics technology could improve their community. The winner will be flown to the Sunshine Coast to take part in the Stockland Young Innovators Day and meet Chip*, a humanoid robot and the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

Stockland has partnered with Code Club Australia to launch the challenge and to educate kids on the importance of science, technology, engineering and maths education (STEM) – core skills required for Australia’s jobs of the future.

Stockland chief operating officer, Michael Rosmarin said: “We are excited to partner with Code Club Australia on this competition and to reinforce the importance of STEM education.

“The Stockland Robotics Challenge is about inspiring the next generation to engage  with robotics and coding in a fun way, which we hope will create ongoing interest in these core subjects.”

Today around Australia 45,000 kids are already learning to code through a coding club. Code Club Australia General Manager, Kelly Tagalan said while this was a great step forward, there was still an urgent need for kids to learn STEM skills to equip them for the jobs of the future.

“In today’s world, it’s not just enough for children to know how to use technology and enjoy it. We want kids to understand how to create with technology and to be fully equipped for the jobs we know will be required for Australia’s future.”

“We are excited to partner with Stockland to launch the Stockland Robotics Challenge and encourage more children across the country to take part in STEM subjects and coding. It’s all about opening the eyes of the future generation to the opportunities that are available.”

Last month, Stockland announced an Australian first corporate-academic partnership in social robotics with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, University of Technology Sydney and the Australian Technology Network. The ongoing partnership has seen Stockland invest in Chip, a humanoid robot which is the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Stockland Robotics Challenge is open from Monday 26 September to Friday 4 November. Entrants are required to submit an original idea on how Chip could help them, their family, school or community to http://stocklandpromo.com.au/chip#/app/2777/page/7188. Creative submissions can be written, drawn, filmed or even from coded with Scratch.

The competition winner and their parent or guardian will win return airfares and accommodation to the Sunshine Coast to attend the Stockland Young Innovators Day in December. Over $3,000 worth of educational prizes will be also available to 11 finalists including iPad minis and Little Bits Kits.

Michael Rosmarin continued, “We encourage all kids to have a go, no idea is too big or too small. Technology has come such an extraordinarily long way in the past decade, just imagine where we will be in another 10 years.”