When people think of a tech company, a hip-hop festival is probably not the first place that comes to mind. Yet this summer, HUBER+SUHNER joined forces with the Swiss industry association Swissmem and three other industrial companies to bring engineering and technology to one of Europe’s largest youth events: Openair Frauenfeld. The initiative, called tecindustry goes OAF, was created to inspire young people to explore careers in technology, engineering and manufacturing. With most festival visitors aged between 16 and 26, the event offered a unique opportunity to connect with a generation that will shape the future workforce. As industries around the world face growing competition for skilled talent, companies are increasingly looking for new ways to engage young audiences. By meeting people where they are and introducing technology in an unexpected setting, the initiative aimed to spark curiosity and start conversations about future career opportunities.
Meet our HUBER+SUHNER Racing team
The HUBER+SUHNER Racing team, mainly apprentices from different disciplines, designed and built remote-controlled electric vehicles specifically for the event. Over several months, the apprentices took responsibility for the entire development process, from brainstorming and CAD design to 3D printing, assembly and testing. The project provided hands-on experience in engineering, manufacturing, problem-solving and teamwork while giving participants ownership of a real-world challenge from concept to final product. It also demonstrated how practical learning can help develop the skills needed for future careers in technology.
Bringing technology to life
At the heart of the festival experience was the TecStage, an interactive platform designed to make technology tangible and accessible. During the event, the HUBER+SUHNER Racing team competed against vehicles developed by apprentices from the other participating companies. Festival visitors were not only spectators. They had the opportunity to take control of the vehicles themselves and race them on a specially designed track, experiencing first-hand how creativity, innovation and engineering come together in modern technical professions. The response exceeded expectations. More than 700 participants took part in over 120 races throughout the festival, generating strong engagement and creating countless opportunities to discuss technology, vocational education and career pathways with a young audience.
One of the initiative’s greatest strengths was the active involvement of apprentices. During the three-day event, 15 HUBER+SUHNER employees were on site, many of them apprentices who shared first-hand insights into their training and career journeys. These peer-to-peer conversations provided an authentic perspective on what it means to pursue a technical profession. Visitors could speak directly with young people already working with advanced technologies and contributing to meaningful projects, making technical careers more relatable and accessible.
Investing in future talent
Developing future talent is a strategic priority for HUBER+SUHNER. We provide apprenticeship, internship and development opportunities across multiple locations worldwide, supporting the next generation of engineers, technical specialists and business professionals. While recruitment is one objective, initiatives such as tecindustry goes OAF are about something broader: increasing awareness of the opportunities that exist within technology and manufacturing and helping young people discover career paths they may never have previously considered.
This is particularly important as the tech industry seeks to attract a more diverse talent pool and encourage greater participation in STEM-related fields. Creating visibility at an early stage helps young people make informed decisions about their education and future careers. Traditional career fairs and school outreach programmes remain important, but projects like tecindustry goes OAF demonstrate the value of meeting young people in environments they already enjoy and trust.
By stepping outside conventional recruitment channels, the initiative created authentic interactions and showed that technology can be creative, collaborative and exciting. It also highlighted how engineering skills contribute to solving real-world challenges and shaping the connected world around us. For HUBER+SUHNER, participating in the project was a great opportunity to demonstrate what the company stands for: connecting people, places and technologies while helping inspire the next generation of innovators. The positive response from festival visitors suggests that unconventional approaches to talent engagement can have a meaningful impact. Sometimes, the best place to discover future engineers is not in a classroom or at a career fair, but in the middle of a music festival.
