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I was really pleased to read Raspberry Pi swaps production back to the UK in today’s FT. The Pi is to be built by the UK’s Premier Farnell’s Element 14 in the Sony factory in Wales.
There is undoubtedly a growing trend both here and in the US for ‘on-shoring’ as costs in the previously lowcost production centres in China and elsewhere have grown and as the exchange rate move against imports.
I’m also delighted at the success of the Rasberry Pi which encourages youngsters (and everyone who likes coding) to get involved in understanding how computers work. I, myself, have funded an after-school computer club at a comprehensive school. My donation equipped them with many Raspberry Pis (and other stuff). At the Prince’s Trust, the Will.i.am £500,000 donation is being used to encourage similar interest amongst the disadvantaged young people that we help.
Also today Brian Cox has started a campaign to get youngsters interested in engineering. See Daily Telegraph Engineering is the foundation of our economy. "Almost £500b is the gross value add where engineering is an important component. Yet there is a shortage of engineers - we need 1m by 2020".
"If you say to children, what do you want to be when you grow up? Would you like to design mobile phones and build apps? They all go, yeah. Once you put it in those terms, you've got a roomful of youngsters who want to be engineers..."
Seems like Good News all round!
