Ongoing

UNICOOS is an online digital platform for teaching several STEM subjects. The platform is an initiative David Calle - YouTube teacher of 2016 by Bitácoras and amongst Top 10 top finalist in the 2016 Global Teacher Prize.

UNICOOS currently has 300k registered users and more than 1M followers and subscribers on various social networks. It is a fully functional platform which responds to an average of 500 concurrent users daily, reaching an average volume of 4,500 visits per day. Through dynamic functionalities and gamification, users of the platform "self-monitor" and enhance the contributions of other users. 

From its beginning to the present day, UNICOOS has been focused on answering to the most frequent asked questions and needs of its users. The queries are mostly related to secondary & high school courses, to which most of the content is aimed.

The demosciences conference is focused on training professors in the latest industrial- and ICT technologies. As a result, they will be able to use these technologies in the classroom during their lectures and experimental activities, with their students. Each conference is focused on a specific theme (e.g. computer science).

ICSTEng is the international Conference of Science, Technology and Engineering. It is organised each yearly for professors and industry. During the sessions, the professors and the industrial partners exchange their point of view on the development of education for industries. The conference is organised around a specific theme (e.g. energy).

The conference features presentations by industry and researchers, company visits and in-depth debates allowing teachers, industry, students, parents and decision-makers to assess the relevance of science education. 

The conference is broadcasted live on the Canal C2 website. Previous broadcasts are availabe on the UPSTI website.

The STEM Olympiads (Olympiades de sciences de l'ingénieur) is the biggest STEM competition organised in France. During 6 months, students create technological innovations. They present their innovations to a jury, who judges the innovative aspects, the engineering approach to do it, the capacity to work in group, and the scientific developments of the research. The best projects receive a grant from different industrial partners, and are sometimes patented.

On 13 May 2013, over 60 parties signed the National Technology Pact 2020 in an effort to structurally improve alignment between education and the technology job market and reduce the shortage of technically trained staff. Since the official signing of the Technology Pact, all the involved partners have made concerted and dedicated efforts to implement the necessary measures on the basis of an integrated approach entitled ‘Choosing, learning and working in technology’. The Technology Pact is characterised by a regional approach with a national support infrastructure. 

As the results clearly show, the approach has proven effective and is now being emulated at international level: in the wake of Estonia and Flanders, Denmark is also set to introduce its own Technology Pact later this year.

The Technology Pact was updated three years after its original signing in order to evolve in pace with the inevitable social changes as a result of ongoing technological developments. A new structure has been defined on the basis of twelve objectives, offering room to continue ongoing measures from the original Technology Pact and formulate relevant new goals. The overarching ambitions for the Technology Pact 2016–2020 will remain unchanged: developing a structural approach to ensure a well-trained workforce with enough smart and capable technicians for the jobs of today and tomorrow.

An English version of the document can be downloaded here.

"Rocket 69“ is an educational scientific entertaining TV contest for young people with the purpose to show that STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) can be fun and show that everyone could perform the tasks that are given during the contest, while offering excitement and new knowledge. The name of the show comes from the fact that on 1969 the first man stepped on the Moon. All students starting from age 15 can apply for the show (until university students from 1st or 2nd year of studies). 15 contestants are chosen through casting and the casting process makes up the 1st episode of the show. From 2nd to 9th episode contestants solve the assignments in 3 competitive groups and from 10th episode individually. In the end of each episode one contestant has to leave after 1:1 scientific duel. All assignments require creativity, theoretical scientific knowledge and ability to use it in practices.

In the Grand Finale 2 finalists have to solve complex assignment that will show all their abilities. In the past 3 years the assignment has been to create and build Rube Goldberg machine. There is 1 personal winner who wins a EUR 10.000 scholarship to support his/her studies. The panel of judges consists of host of the show (young scientist) and 3 main judges who are also researchers. The first 9 episodes are shot in a studio specifically built for the show. Starting from 10th episode the locations vary and include science labs and research organizations, STEM companies etc.

All assignments and solutions of the contest are explained with a voice-over, by graphical illustrations during the show and also commented by judges. In addition, the Science Editor offers deeper explanations online for each assignment that can be used as STEM teaching material at school. The show is supported by cross-media approach combining radio, newspapers, internet, Facebook and other social media channels.

Rocket 69 is initiated by the Estonian Research Council in co-operation with Estonian National Broadcasting. The TV contest has been runnning for 10 seasons and will continue its course at least 2 more seasons (until 2022). The ultimate objective of the TV contest is to raise young people's interest in STEM education, professions and career in these fields. The aim of the show is also to engage parents, teachers and public in general (secondary target groups). There are no direct means for measuring the achievement of the objectives though indirect indication is evaluated based on the statistics of popularity of STEM specialties among the students enrolling universities, vocational schools and hobby education. Additionally, feedback from career specialists and consultants is gathered regarding the of (young) people’s interest towards STEM specialties.

The TV contest is produced within the science communication program “TeaMe+” that is developed based on the Estonian Research and Development and Innovation Strategy 2014-2020 “Knowledge-based Estonia”.

To meet changing job requirements, government and private sector in the Netherlands have joined forces to accelerate change and invest in conversion of the workforce through the Centres of Expertise (higher education) and Centres of Innovative Craftsmanship (vocational education). The Centres are powerful action-oriented partnerships between educational institutions, companies, goverments and other public organisations. The network of Centres started in 2011 with a few pilots, and has expanded to over 150 fully operational public-private partnerships (Centres) in 2016. The main objectives of the Centres are:

• Creating an excellent link between edcation and the labour market
• Educating innovative and skilled professionals, craftsman or craftswoman
• Promoting 'life-long learning and timely retraining
• Accelerating and enhancing the innovation capacity of companies

Each Centre focuses on a specific sector (High Tech Systems & Materials, Horticulture, Life Sciences & Health, Agri & Food, Water, Energy, Chemicals, Logistics, Creative industry, ICT, Construction or Culture, Living & Welfare). On average, each centre involves 35 companies from the sector that take part in research and development projects, providing imput in the curriculum, join innovation teams and provide guest lectures. More information about the centres and methodology can be found in the English brochure.  

The MakersTown is a fair held to showcase makers across Europe. Makers are a new wave of entrepreneurs and Do-It-Yourself experts empowered by Web 3.0 tools, technology and crowdfunding. From 3D printing to robotics, from wearable technology to new ICT, from food to fashion, they are today’s Robert Bosch, Enzo Ferrari or Arthur Guinness.

MakersTown takes place yearly in Brussels, Belgium and is organised by ThinkYoung in collaboration with the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies and various partners from industry, including Google, Intel, ABInBev and Coca Cola. The event is supported by the European Commission and Startup Europe.

Makerstown is the first event of its kind in Brussels bringing together Makers, business leaders and European policy-makers to showcase, share and succeed!

Europe’s manufacturing tradition is getting an update, come to #Makerstown to experience it first-hand!

StarT is the flagship programme of the LUMA Centre Finland (Finnish STEM platform). Launched in 2016, the programme's main objective is to bring science, mathematics and technology closer to children and youngsters through interdisciplinary, project-based collaborative learning. The programme is implemented by LUMA Centre Finland (network between 13 regional STEM education centre within Finnish universities) through 'learning communities', supported by collaboration partners including the Finnish National Agency for Education and companies in the field of science and technology like IBM.

The StarT programme is implemented on three levels:|
 

1. Local level: kindergartens, primary schools, high schools, and extracurricular activity groups participating in StarT
    
2. Regional level: StarT festivals organized all around Finland by the LUMA centers together with local partners (does not apply to non-Finnish participants)
    
3. National / International level: the LUMA Centre Finland organizes the StarT Gala, where teams chosen by the StarT jury – also non-Finnish teams – are awarded
    

In these levels, the StarT programme supports project-based learning in the local learning communities, StarT festivals and a national/international StarT gala.

The VO-HO Netwerken (Secondary-Higher Education Networks) were set up in 2004 as part of the Deltaplan Bèta Techniek (Dutch national STEM strategy). The main goals of the networks are the professional development of secondary education teachers and principals, the continual innovation of courses and curricula and the improvement of the connection between secondary education (VO) and higher education (HO). The networks offer a wide pallet of activities for students, teachers, technical teacher assistants and heads of schools with a focus on STEM education. Currently there are are ten regional networks that consist of universities,  higher education institutions, (pre-univeristy) secondary schools and business and societal institutions. The specific objectives are set by each regional network independently, in alignment with the regional context and objectives.