University of Mostar (SUM) is a higher education institution, which organizes and performs university studies, scientific and professional work. It is one of eight public Universities in B&H and the only one where Croatian is used as the official language. It consists of 10 faculties and the Academy of Fine Arts. Today, over 11000 students study at the University of Mostar. The educational process is conducted through 70 study groups at the undergraduate and 77 groups at the graduate and postgraduate level, with 1000 teachers. The University’s mission is best reflected through three basic features:

Education - based on excellence, which through the teaching and research process focuses on students in undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate studies, preparing them to be highly professional, self-motivating and productive experts in both their existing and future activities.

Scientific-research work - based on excellence and integrated in the education process at all levels in order to train new generations of researchers capable of operating and accomplishing in the international research market. The development of the community - due to educational, artistic and scientific research work, the University is the main agitator of the overall economic, cultural and social development both in the region in which it operates and at the national and international level; through its activities, the University promotes the preservation and promotion of the historical and cultural legacy of our community on regional, national and international level.

"STEAM+Albania" is a comprehensive national system of functionalities of "Barleti" University which aims to strengthen and develop the creativity of pupils, students and professionals through encouragement, incentive and motivation, to integrate the component sciences of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics), in the realization of various applied and scientific projects in function of inventions, innovation, high scholastic and professional achievements. All while also providing solutions to the most frequent problems of daily life and comprehensive global developments.

STEAM+Albania is based in 3 important key components: 1. STEAM+ALBANIA Program – Curriculum, training, implemented practical models, capacity building for all STEAM target groups, realization of lessons based on STEAM, contests, competitions, promotional campaigns, etc. 2. National STEAM Center (Steam Fab Lab+ Maker Space) physical environment for support for all categories and target groups of STEAM such as pupils, students, teachers, schools, parents, community, professionals. 3. STEAM+ ALBANIA platform as a 360° information resource center for STEAM. VISION.

Our vision is to shape STEAM education policies and practices that foster economic growth, opportunity, and well-being for all. We work to promote modern and new ways of teaching and learning based on STEAM. We want to encourage thinking differently and nurture learning with a comprehensive system of functionalities in an environment that fosters the opportunity for success. Our mission is to provide them with whatever knowledge and skills they will need in their careers to become independent thinkers and communicators who apply critical theory and creative design to collaboratively solve important issues through integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts/Humanities and Mathematics.

Salzburg is one of the nine federal provinces of Austria. It is located in the dynamic and economically strong region of Upper Italy-Southern Germany with close economic interdependences. Salzburg is one of the strongest economic regions in Europe. The economic and industry structure is highly diversified and dominated by family-run SME. The region is characterised by special service competence and fulfils headquarters functions for many large national and international service providers and trading companies (e.g. Red Bull). Salzburg has world-renowned art and cultural competencies and a diversified and growing R&D sector. The unit regional development and EU regional policy is based in the department economy, tourism and municipalities of the government office of the region. It is i.a. responsible for the active labour market policy as well as the matters of interregional cooperation on economic issues and the development and implementation of regional economic programmes. In March 2023 the new location strategy for the federal province of Salzburg was issued which sets out the economic policy and objectives for the next years. This strategy defines the objective to make Salzburg a model region for STEM in Austria. Recently, a new government has assumed its work. In the coalition contract 2023-2028 the government declares its commitment to implement the location strategy and thus to realize the goals as regards STEM.

The region of Salzburg was the first of the nine Austrian federal provinces that acknowledged the importance of concerted action related to STEM. In 2017 a network of all stakeholders active in that field throughout the region was established, comprising the chamber of commerce, the chamber of labour, the industrial association, the education sector, the research sector and many more. The federal province of Salzburg has been financing a coordination node within this network since then. The overall strategic steering of STEM Salzburg is rooted in the unit regional development and EU-regional policy. The location strategy Salzburg 2035 as mentioned above is operationalized through a dedicated labour market strategy. The policy makers in the government office together with the STEM network partners in the region are building their STEM-activities on the following principles: STEM sees itself as a cross-sectional task that supports all four thrusts of the location strategy (qualified people and education, highly attractive research and knowledge landscape, sustainable corporate development, modern business locations and profile building), STEM Salzburg promotes the interest of young people in STEM-related professional fields of activity and thus makes a contribution to the recruitment of skilled workers, STEM Salzburg promotes the improvement of extracurricular and school-based STEM education. In light of the growing importance of skills like creativity, entrepreneurship, judgement, change and data literacy, awareness for sustainability and digitalisation, successful participation in the labour market and in society, the partners of STEM Salzburg will align their STEM activities in such a way that they are not only dedicated to one goal (e.g. a certain specific career orientation), but always work towards several target dimensions (as the ones mentioned above). STEM Salzburg intends a high range as well a high quality of STEM-offers and to intensify the integration of art and creativity (STEAM). Thus, a quadruple and even quintuple approach is applied.

As set out above, the STEM platform is active since 2017 and has been growing since then. Salzburg was the first region in Austria to establish a STEM-network. Other regions are now starting to follow this example. Recently, the federal state has launched an initiative to grant a STEM-label to regions that fulfil certain quality criteria as regards STEM-platforms. Salzburg is most advanced and with the flagship project to become a STEM-model region the region will keep up its pioneer role vs other federal provinces. The unit regional policy and EU- regional development is closely cooperating with the federal ministries as well as the other federal provinces, involved in cross-border Interreg programmes, is managing the Interreg Alpine Space programme covering all alpine countries and active member in several work groups (one dealing with labour market and STEM) of the Strategy for the Alps – EUSALP. By using these platforms and above all the EU STEM-coalition Salzburg wants to reach out to European partners, learn from others, share best practices and step up its efforts as regards STEM.

The European Institute for Technologies, Education and Digitalisation (EITED) was founded on August 2, 2019, in Bulgaria. EITED’s Objectives are:

• Encourage and promote the implementation and dissemination of modern educational programs and projects in accordance with the best practices, standards and technologies.

• Encourage and promote the active participation of groups and communities in activities related to the modernization of education.

•  Organize and promote initiatives in the field of innovations in education, technologies and digitalisation in the domain of Industry, Business and the Public Sector.

•  Design and conduct training and do scientific research and innovation activity.

•  Support the creation of active and transparent partnerships and networks of organizations working in the fields of technologies, education and digitization.

•   Initiate, develop and participate in activities and projects towards creating, transforming, data mining and sharing knowledge.

•   Participate and encourage the involvement of civil society in the creation of innovations and interdisciplinary projects related to technologies, education, digitalisation, science, culture, art and sports.

EITED organize the National conference “SMART STEM education and innovations”. In 2021, the participants were more than 30, and the authors were nearly 50. The reports and presentations from the conference in 2022 were more than 50. The conference proceeding 2021 volume was 244 pages, and the 2022 volume was 379 pages. These volumes included research papers and presentations by speakers, teachers, and participants from educational organizations, as well as student STEAM works and STEM poems. During SMART STEM 2023, more than 250 participants joined the event onsite and online. The conference keynote speakers came from the USA, India, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia, and Germany. EITED is a Publisher, since 2019, of the STEM scientific journal "STEM Education, Innovations and Knowledge" ISSN 2815-2883. The journal is the first scientific periodical in the field of STEM in Bulgaria. Up till now, 17 issues have been published including 1057 pages, 194 authors, and 141 scientific, scientific, and practical publications. We, EITED, plan to work on novelty STEM projects in the EU to foster STEM advancement at each educational level. We plan to collaborate in networking events focused on STEM knowledge sharing, knowledge building, and project demonstrations among schools and universities. One of our priority areas is STEM School museum development and digital performance, as well as STEMS, where S stands for Sport, due to the fact that sports impact academic advancements.

For the last several years, Bulgaria has had an enormous advancement in STEM. There is a high potential for STEM practices in Bulgaria based on the intensive development during the last years of IT academies, robotics clubs, and open spaces for collaboration. Moreover, the growing number of events focused on STEM skills development is adding value to the positive trends. These events are hackathons, codethons, technology contests, and others, that stimulate on the one hand generation of new “fresh” ideas and on the other hand boost collaboration among the STEM community. The National STEM contest in High Schools, named “Who is SUPER STEM in your school?”, was held for the first time in 2017, and in 2022 the contest gathered more than 1300 participants – teachers, students, and parents. The Ministry of Education Youth and Science (MEYS) has many activities, stimulating STEM development in Bulgaria. For example, during the 2023/2024 school year, the high school students in professional classes are expected to be 39,319, and those in profiled classes – 25,664. A total of 1,477 STEM classes are planned for the academic year 2023/2024. Of these, 953 will be professional, and 524 will be profiled. There are many STEM trainings organized for teachers, that are certified by MEYS. The National STEM Center at the Ministry of Education and Science is a major provider of professional development for teachers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The center coordinates supports, and consults the construction and development of a STEM environment in every Bulgarian school, creating a model for learning, qualification, and working with research methods and tools. The activities of the Center aim to bring Bulgarian education into the international rankings for education and achievements in STEM and to give all young people the opportunity for motivation and career development in the field.