What comes FIRST [Engineering Innovation]

E&T hears the iconoclastic engineer Dean Kamen\´s plans to save the world. Dean Kamen is not happy with you. The inventor of the mobile insulin pump, the Segway Transporter, and an innovative integrated water purifier for developing countries thinks you should be working harder. He might not expect you to work quite as hard as he does Kamen claims that he hasn\´t taken a holiday in 44 years but he is calling on scientists and engineers to stand up and be counted. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) began as a robotics face-off between 18 American secondary schools in 1989, and has since grown into an international competition with teams from 16,700 schools in 42 countries. "We had 84,000 engineers giving their time this year," enthuses Kamen. "FIRST has taken the sport and entertainment models. We\´ve applied it to something that has content and made it work. In a free society, you get what you celebrate. We\´ve got to change the attitude of kids really fast. The long-term fact is that it takes a full generation to train kids to be competent, to be smart, to be competitive."