CESAER is a European association of leading specialised and comprehensive universities of science & technology that: champion excellence in higher education, training, research and innovation; influence debate; contribute to the realisation of open knowledge societies; and, deliver significant scientific, economic, social and societal impact. CESAER was founded in 1990 and unites 52 leading universities of science & technology in 26 countries. CESAER is an acknowledged main research stakeholder organisation for the European Research Area and the Open Science Policy Platform. 

CESAER's mission is structured around five aims:

• learn from each other: share information and best practice in areas of higher education, research, innovation & governance
• influence key bodies: aid policy-makers and funders to shape European strategies, policies & funding programmes
• boost participation in European funding programmes
• promote our strengths globally: support Members in displaying their excellence & distinctiveness at European level & beyond
• advance debate on key issues: promote reflection & understanding of role of science & technology in open knowledge societies

The Bulgarian education system has been traditionally supportive of STEM, providing students with numerous opportunities to broaden their experience in the STEM fields outside the curriculum. Currently several non-government and academic organisations are responsible for the bulk of the STE(A)M initiatives in Bulgaria and most of them work closely with policymakers, trying to ensure the sustainability of their initiatives, some of which have been standing for decades and have turned into an institution of their own.

The longest standing form of extracurricular STEM activities have been the various olympiads – mathematics, informatics, information technologies, physics, chemistry, astronomy, mathematical linguistics etc. Bulgaria has been a founding member of most of the international olympiads in these fields and last year founded EJOI (European Junior Olympiad in Informatics). Bulgaria is also one of the few countries, where students receive direct support and mentorship from active researchers. Every olympiad has three rounds- school, district and national, with the more popular fields, such as mathematics and informatics also having additional national competitions. Schools are encouraged to provide extracurricular courses, preparing the students for the olympiads through various funding programmes such as the Operative programme “Science and Education for Smart Growth”.

High school research is another well-established traditional STEM activity, due to the tradition of research organizations in mentorship and access to resources to talented high school students. The High School Students Institute of Mathematics and Informatics has been functioning since 2000, initially modelling its structure and activities after the US Center for Excellence in Education and then – gradually expanding and diversifying its methods. Currently it organizes two annual high school conferences, an interview-based grant initiative supporting high achieving students to participate in international research programs, and an international summer school, which gathered 45 students from ten countries in 2017. The summer school is three week long and each participant is provided with a personal mentor and research topic in the field of mathematics, computer science, ICT or astronomy.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science's current priorities include:

• Involvement of the three interests’ parties in STEM skills intensification – kids/students, parents, school/education authorities.
• Funding for STEM education innovations and interdisciplinary projects development aimed at foster collaborations for sharing and co-creation of new knowledge among High Schools or/and Education Institutions.
• Better STEM through better STEM teachers: fostering change management in education and development of education change management strategies for each High School/education institution.
• Improvement and digitalisation of STEM infrastructure (STEM Labs), facilities, and libraries (digital STEM libraries at High Schools/education institutions).
• Overcoming the inequality and better integration through learning communities and development of STEM knowledge map and paths (STEM BUS Bulgaria).
• Pragmatism, transparency, and visibility of STEM efforts: ideas and contributions of all interest parties can be achieved through the development and sustainability of Open Data STEM portal Bulgaria. 
• Integration with the foreseen EIT community hub in Bulgaria

Innobasque, the Basque Innovation Agency, is a private non-profit association established in 2007 to co-ordinate and drive innovation in the Basque Country in all its spheres as well as to encourage entrepreneurial spirit and creativity. Innobasque is made up of agents from the Basque science, technology and innovation network (RVCTI), private businesses, Basque public institutions, association representatives of Basque workers and business people, and other organisations related to innovation.

Its vision is to turn the Basque Country into a European innovation benchmark region. For this purpose, an ambitious short, medium and long-term transformation programme has been established. The mission is to drive the process of transforming the Basque Country towards an innovating society. The agency works to understand the complexities, define priorities, forge a strong bond between public and private agents, and foster the demand and necessary stimulus in companies and society as a whole.

AEDE-France is a French association founded in 1957 to promote European Literacy and citizenship education; to develop intercultural understanding among Europeans and to work towards high quality education for all. Its members are either individual people: teachers, school-heads, inspectors, educators, researchers, experts in education and in evaluation - or schools and teacher education - university institutes and professional organisations. Since its establishment, AEDE-France has been involved in various European project within ERASMUS and, now ERASMUS+. It is currently a member of the management team of ELICIT-PLUS (European Literacy and Citizenship Education). The 23 partner organisations are now offering training courses in a dozen different EU countries to develop a better knowledge of our complex histories and cultures and to foster a common understanding of our shared future.

AEDE-France has been recognised by the French Ministry of Education as “association complémentaire de l’enseignement”, which is a national agreement to cooperate with schools on matters related to European education, including STEM, and the broader topics of skills mismatch and youth unemployment. AEDE-France joined the EU STEM Coalition in 2015.