DUBAI — Virgin Hyperloop One (VHO), the world’s leading hyperloop company, this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UK-based Class Of Your Own (COYO), an experiential learning program that seeks to animate primary and secondary school children to pursue professional design, engineering and construction careers.

Taking place at this year’s Dubai Motor Show, the agreement was signed by VHO’s Harj Dhaliwal, Managing Director, Middle East and India, and COYO’s Alison Watson, the organizations Founder and Chief Executive.

Speaking about the VHO partnership, Dhaliwal said “STEM sectors offer young people so many exciting career opportunities. Yet we are struggling to see younger generations moving into those sectors. In order to get more young students passionate about our fields, we need to have business and academia team up to engage talent early on. Virgin Hyperloop One is one of the most sensational projects in our industry and we believe by providing real-life cases and by sharing practical knowledge, we can get more children interested in a professional career, thus contributing to the sector development at large.”

Equally excited about entering the partnership with the hyperloop leader, Ms. Watson said “having young people come into our sector is critical on a global scale. We can achieve this at an early age by capturing their imaginations through exciting curriculum and showcasing the opportunities future infrastructure can offer. We are thrilled to enter this partnership with Virgin Hyperloop One, which will be an invaluable asset for COYO. The project has already sparked massive interest among our young talented students, their teachers and parents.”

The partnership with COYO is the latest in a string of collaborations across the globe in which the developer has entered partnerships with leading educational institutions and organizations for young students to pursue STEM-related subjects. Only last month, VHO announced an agreement with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Sciences and Technology (KAUST) to develop the sector. Earlier this year also, the firm has entered a design and urban development partnership with Washington University in St. Louis in the United States. And in 2017, VHO welcomed bright Saudi engineering students from MiSK Foundation to its Innovation Campus in Los Angeles as part of its ongoing efforts to support STEM education.

As global populations grow, the demands for rapid, seamless travel, and more efficient deliveries will continue to rise. VHO is working with a team of 200+ highly qualified in-house engineers toward transforming mobility and trade, while connecting the Gulf region. Hyperloop - a 100% electric, low-emission infrastructure project - is critical for the benefit of millions of people across the region and for the realization of many governments’ sustainability agendas.

The ground-breaking hyperloop technology promises to transport passengers between Abu Dhabi and Dubai in under 12 minutes. Whereas a similar journey from the UAE to Saudi Arabia’s capital could take just 48 minutes. Beyond Saudi Arabia and the UAE, developer has ambitious plan to extend its network across the wider Gulf region that would also include Bahrain.

Photo shows VHO’s Harj Dhaliwal, Managing Director, Middle East and India, and COYO’s Alison Watson, the organization's Founder and Chief Executive, shake hands at the signing of agreement— SG