A Tribute to Our Digital Creators: Three Years of Corporate Citizenship in Europe

Samsung Electronics introduces “Our Digital Creators: An overview of Samsung’s Corporate Citizenship Programme in Europe 2016.” The brochure is full of stories drawn from Samsung’s most influential and inspiring educational projects, and contains quotes from educational partners, teachers and students across each of the 17 markets that hosted Samsung’s initiatives.

Samsung’s goal over the last three years has been simple: to use technology to transform the educational experience and empower young people to become the innovators of tomorrow. The results of these experiences, and the critical role Samsung has played in incorporating technology into education, are reflected in the observations of participating educators like Jacqueline Willer, Head Teacher at London’s Henwick Primary School.

“I can remember walking past a classroom and seeing the children completely and utterly focused, heads down, completely immersed in their learning,” she recalls. “It was such a marked difference from how I’d seen that class learning the year before.”

A Commitment to Digital Education

This is a time of unprecedented change, and it is Samsung’s belief that technology is a driving force behind this transformation. When used in the right way – generously, and with good intentions – technology can be a powerful force for good.

Samsung’s vision has always been to create shared value, especially through our corporate citizenship programs, where our ambition is: “To devote our human resources and technology to create superior products and services, thereby contributing to a greater global society.”

As outlined throughout the brochure, this commitment has been expressed through years of initiatives spanning employment, digital creation, connected classrooms, museum partnerships and issues of social awareness.

Addressing regional problems with locally relevant technological solutions is the backbone and strength of our citizenship programs. This strategy has enabled us to reach nearly 400,000 direct beneficiaries through over 1,600 Smart Classroom and 80 Digital Classroom programs. In just three years, we have advanced a movement for technology in education with initiatives such as Samsung Campus, Beat the Street and Coding Masters Junior.

Coding Masters Junior has effected changes in the Polish education system that will ultimately help more students develop valuable digital skills. As a result of that project, beginning in September 2017, programming courses will be included in students’ core curriculums from the first grade of primary school on.

Samsung Campus, another enriching initiative, is a free, two-year course open to 18- to 25-year-olds who have a passion for technology but may not have received opportunities to pursue it. The program focuses on developing programming skills to help students secure employment, and welcomed its inaugural class in September of 2014. Since graduation, 68 percent have found employment, and the remaining 32 percent have elected to pursue further training.

In July, in collaboration with German publishing house Cornelsen, Samsung organized a roundtable for developers and educators to discuss integrating VR technology into the classroom. Interactive VR apps were designed and presented, with the winning concepts tested at six select schools. The project yielded the first-ever VR app designed specifically for classroom use, and established prototypes with which to design immersive lessons to cover a variety of school subjects and reach as many students as possible.

With OFF4ADAY, Samsung, in partnership with Moige (the Italian Parents Movement) and the Italian State Police, established the country’s first helpline to support victims of cyberbullying – an issue affecting a third of Italian teenagers. OFF4ADAY has so far helped more than 2,000 teens, and taken measures to raise awareness in schools that have seen cyberbullying-related web searches increase by 60 percent.

Finally, in the Netherlands, where 18 percent of traffic accidents involving youngsters are caused by distractions from smartphones, Samsung teamed up with traffic safety organization Veilig Verkeer Nederland (VVN) to create the ‘Beat the Street’ virtual reality game. The game, which provides crucial lessons on traffic safety and the dangers of distracted smartphone use via immersive VR, has so far reached some 4.5 million citizens.

A New Chapter of Influence

Technology is an ever-evolving field, and Samsung’s citizenship activities are no different. We’re currently on track to meet our pledge, made to the European Commission’s Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs, to reach 400,000 people by December 2016, and we’re now shifting our focus to the future. This brochure closes one chapter of our citizenship story, focused on quantity, and initiates a new vision focused on quality, innovation and partnerships.

Samsung will focus resources on a network of lighthouse schools that will serve as shining examples of the future of education, and enhance its technology and education partnerships by bringing 3D printing and VR technology into more classrooms.

The stories found in the pages of this brochure pay tribute to the countless people – spanning local NGOs, governments and experts in education – who are as passionate and committed to making a difference as we are.

When we work together with shared ambitions and focus, we truly can achieve the incredible. The “Our Digital Creators” report is available in its entirety via the attachment below.