SYNTHETIC computer gel skin and a device that absorbs polluted air were just two inventions on children’s minds when they predicted what the future could hold.

Pupils from Hardwick Primary School, in Sedgefield, County Durham, were asked to write their inventive insights on letters as part of a competition to send their ideas to future generations.

Five winning letters were chosen and sealed in a time capsule before being buried inside the steelwork of the new £7.6m NETPark Explorer buildings currently in development at the North East Technology Park (NETPark), in Sedgefield.

Nicole Jenkinson, a class teacher, said: “The children have loved this challenge and have been so confident in what they’ve designed.

“They love thinking outside of the box and they’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.”

The overall winner, Phoebe Wright, won for her vision of a suction capsule which took in polluted air and emitted fresh air.

The nine-year-old was invited to sign the steelwork and saw her work framed as part of the prize.

The competition was organised by NETPark and Interserve, the international support services and construction group that is building the Explorer development, providing laboratory, clean room and office space for world class science and technology companies.

David Dixon, project manager with Interserve, who gave a talk on health and safety to the youngsters, said: “It was fabulous to welcome the children from Hardwick Primary to the project.

“Their excitement on placing the time capsule was great to see and will be a long-term memento of their visit.”

The other winners were ten-year-olds Charlie Townes, who came up with an auto drive car to allow blind or disabled people to drive, Eleanor Savage, who designed an injectable neuron nano bots to tackle motor neurone disease, Jake Robinson, who predicted wide angle glasses for children with fitted cameras to increase road safety and help parents know where there children are, and Lochlan Allan, whose idea was a synthetic computer gel skin which reads DNA and gives pre warnings of diseases.

Janet Todd, manager at NETPark for Business Durham, which runs the science park on behalf of Durham County Council, said: “The children have come up with some brilliant inventions and it’s great to see NETPark inspiring the scientists and high-tech workers of the future.”