Among them is a group of students at the 13^th Primary School attended by both local Greek children as well as approximately 30 refugee boys and girls. Through the students’ creation of an app, they are learning to better engage with one another, despite language barriers.

Breaking Barriers Through Technology

Since 2015, immigration influx towards European countries, especially arrivals of refugees by sea to the borders of Greece, was increased dramatically mainly due to the ongoing Syrian Civil War. There were more than 856,000 arrivals by sea in Greece, an almost fivefold increase to the same period of 2014^*. An estimated 8% of the arrivals applied for asylum in Greece, with others hoping to find asylum in Northern European countries. Refugees’ children go to public schools and try to learn the Greek language.

Knowing that these children might feel isolated in a place where they cannot speak the local language, the students of the 13^th Primary School of Serres decided to keep their refugee classmates in mind when it came time to create their project for a coding competition hosted by Samsung Electronics Hellas and the British Council.

Using the tools of their school’s Smart Classroom, the students incorporated Kurdish and Arabic translation features to ”Help Friend”, an app that they developed to help assess students’ emotions and improve communication between students and educators. In doing so, the children aimed to promote inclusivity among the student body, and help non-Greek students feel closer and more connected to their classmates.

For their efforts, the participating students were awarded first place in the competition. But more importantly, they were empowered by being able to use their imagination and creativity to make positive contributions to their school and address issues that they had directly encountered.

Nurturing the Minds of Today’s Youth for a Better Tomorrow

Working with local governments, members of academic community and non-profit organizations around the globe, Samsung has established numerous programs – like the Smart Classrooms and the Coding Competition in Greece – designed to equip the world’s youth with the knowledge and skills they need to advance personally and professionally.

From establishing Digital classrooms in rural communities to engaging students in hands-on STEAM learning, Samsung hopes to enable every member of the global community to reach their full potential and take the initiative to pioneer innovations that will help solve the social issues of today and tomorrow.

To learn more about the students of the 13^th Primary School of Serres and their efforts to create a more inclusive school environment through technology, watch the video below.

Samsung Bulgaria is using technology to preserve precious pieces of Bulgarian history and share these digitized treasures through partnerships with Archives State Agency and Junior Achievement Bulgaria. For Samsung, this strategic project builds upon our work in the field of digital education, built around the philosophy that technology can be harnessed to significantly improve education and access to it.

The strategic partnership between Samsung Bulgaria and Archives State Agency began in 2015, with the main objective of digitizing valuable documents and archives to ensure their preservation and promotion, as part of a national cultural and historic heritage initiative.

As a result of the partnership, over 22, 000 historical documents and photos have been digitized and are now available to the general public online. The documents cover key topics including: authorities and government; Balkan wars; Photo archive; Czechs in post-liberation Bulgaria; Works of fine arts; Lists of deaths in the First World War; and Archives of the Theater and opera in Plovdiv.

Over the past few years, Samsung Bulgaria, alongside its long-time partners from Junior Achievement Bulgaria, has developed the innovative educational platform ‘Smart Classroom’, which enables students to study in an immersive, fully online environment. This three-way partnership between Samsung Bulgaria, Archives State Agency, and Junior Achievement Bulgaria has produced the first fully digital lessons in history, literature and the arts for Bulgaria, complete with the official seal of approval from the Ministry of Education and Science.

In an effort to reach an even greater number of students, these lessons are also available outside of Samsung Smart Schools, reaching more than 500 teachers and 11, 000 students across Bulgaria.

Chairman of the Archives State Agency Bulgaria, Dr. Michail Gruev, noted “Our mission is to preserve our valuable heritage for the future generations and technologies give a great support to us in this process. We are extremely proud of the achieved results so far in terms of digitization of documents and archives. Thanks to our partnership with Samsung, more and more interesting documents, photos, artifacts are now available to the general audience and everyone interested can now explore national heritage on our website.”

Through partnerships with the Archives State Agency and Junior Achievement Bulgaria, Samsung looks forward to continuing to preserve historical treasures in Bulgaria, while also ensuring digital availability for the public and fostering educational programs to engage students with their country’s rich past.

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.

As a technology company, Samsung Electronics is devoted to preparing the next generation of innovators with the digital and soft skills they need.

Samsung Electronics is just one piece of the wider global network of businesses, governments and civil society supporting teachers and working towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4: to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.

Education in Europe

In Europe, one of the biggest issues is high youth unemployment.

Following the financial crisis; too many young people are at risk of being left behind without the skills that their future jobs demand. Education systems sometimes struggle to respond to the changing needs of employers and teachers often lack the support and confidence to adapt how they teach to match the increasingly digital world.

This is why over the last three years, Samsung Electronics has partnered with over 19,000 teachers in Smart Classrooms all over Europe to equip them with the hardware, software and training they need to empower the next generation.

Therefore, on World Teacher’s Day, Samsung Electronics wants to celebrate the teachers who have broken down barriers and gone beyond expectations to use technology to change the face of education.

Erwin Oertli, Switzerland

Going from a zero-wifi school to a lighthouse of digital education, Head teacher Mr. Oertli has broken down many educational barriers!

Based on their experiences as Samsung Citizenship partner in Unteriberg, 2000 Samsung tablets were rolled out to the students and teachers across the district, but the schools still needed to train the teachers in a short space of time.  Head teacher Mr. Oertli knew, that teacher training is the keys for a successful implementation and saw an opportunity to completely switch around the school learning experience.

“I asked students from Unteriberg to do a tech savvy training for teachers to help them understand their devices”

Erwin Oertli is an early adopter and has successfully trained 200 teachers in the biggest 1:1 tablet project in Switzerland.  He is an inspiration to how flexibility and creativity can ensure students never miss out on opportunities to use learn digital skills.

Benjamin Seelisch, Germany

Transforming a school with no wifi and limited funding into a school using the latest technological innovation; this teacher has been taking Neues Gymnasium Rüsselsheim, a secondary school near Frankfurt, on a digital journey since 2011.

Benjamin Seelisch has worked tirelessly to convince the headmaster, find funding and sponsorship to develop this Lighthouse School. The school now has 350 tablets in daily use and the school has won many awards. This teacher continues to be brave and push the boundaries of education as he embarks on his latest project to use VR in the classroom.

“Students are well able to use modern devices on a basic level, only a few know how to work with tablets to increase productivity. Those skills are important for our students when they go on to universities or companies after graduation.”

Liliya Chausheva, Bulgaria

This one teacher has inspired over 300 other educators!

After receiving training from Samsung, she used her passion for expanding digital education to run 15 further trainings. Using the Samsung platform smartclassroom.bg she trained teachers how to attract students to the classroom, inspire them with the technology and embed digital education into their entire learning experience.

Her dedication to passing on her knowledge has potentially changed the learning experience for thousands of students around Bulgaria.

“Digital education is the future. Our students nowadays spend more time online than ever. As their teachers and role models we have to be prepared as well and make educational process attractive, interesting and still productive.

Samsung Electronics partners with many more teachers like these shown above. Future growth of technology in education will continue to bring to the surface these ambitious teachers. They are brave enough to move beyond traditional teaching methods of blackboards and workbooks, to bring the digital world to life for their students.

Samsung Electronics believes that technology has great potential to make lives better. Through strengths in innovation and technology, Samsung will play their part in solving some of the global challenges and to contributing to a better society.

This is why Samsung has established 1,300 Smart Classrooms, 65 Digital Academies, as well as numerous other partnership programmes across Europe. These programmes are about more than just providing physical hardware. Teachers are trained and connected to a community which inspires curriculum enrichment. Students are empowered to learn important digital skills through coding, website and app development and enhance their learning through technology.

Samsung believes in creating the classrooms of tomorrow. In Europe there is a growing digital skills gap so all Samsung citizenship programmes aim to inspire the next generation of innovators and teach them 21st century skills. This will prepare students for the jobs of the future.

Digital skills for all ages

The programmes are also designed to activate digital learning at all ages.

Samsung Smart Classrooms teach the fundamentals of digital skills during the core developmental years, 6-16 years old; whilst Samsung Digital Academies are aimed at young people aged 16-24 who need digital skills to boost their employability.

Evelyn Nicola (Sustainability & Citizenship Manager, Samsung Europe) speaking at the IFA 2016 press conference about Citizenship programmes in Europe.

One example of a Digital Academy is the Samsung Campus in Paris. France’s top IT school EPITECH and non-profit ZUP CO offer intensive training for young people not currently in education. The programme inspires young people to re-join the job market with new skills.

Christophe, 26, is about to complete his training at the Samsung Campus in fall;

“The training at Samsung Campus has allowed me to develop sought-after digital skills and I have now secured a permanent contract for after I complete my training. I can enter the job market with confidence!”

In addition to Smart Classrooms and Tech Institutes, Samsung has worked tirelessly to develop partnerships with some of the world’s leading organisations to reach more people together.

In the United Kingdom, Samsung has been working with the British Museum since 2009; sponsoring an engaging and innovative digital learning programme and education space. The Museum’s Samsung Digital Discovery Centre (SDDC) offers free digital sessions for schools, families and teens.  Since opening the SDDC has welcomed over 80,000 visitors and technology is one of the top reasons teachers choose to book a session. Students are able to discover the Museum’s unparalleled collection in creative and educational ways, using Samsung’s latest technology. Visitors have even been taken back to the Bronze Age to see objects in their original settings, using Samsung Gear VR headsets. The use of virtual reality technology has proved to very popular with the Museum’s visitors, with one participant remarking:

“It made me feel as if I was actually there and gave me a sense of how things actually were in the Bronze Age”

New MakerBot Partnership

At IFA 2016, Samsung Electronics Europe announced its latest partnership with MakerBot EMEA, a global leader in 3D printing technology.

Andreas Langfeld (General Manager of MakerBot EMEA) speaking at the IFA 2016 press conference about the Samsung and MakerBot partnership.

The programme will launch its first phase in schools, colleges and museums within five key European markets: Germany, Italy, Spain, UK & Sweden. 3D printers and a full set of solutions will be allocated within the already established network of Samsung programmes.

This partnership aims to inspire creativity by combining design and coding classes with 3D printing so students can experience the full design cycle as a way to develop ideas and innovate. This will equip the next generation of architects, engineers, product designers and innovators are needed to keep up with the fast pace of technological advancement.

The future of Citizenship

The Samsung Electronics Corporate Citizenship team will continue to partner with like-minded companies that share the same ambitions in digital education and bring something unique to our network. Next steps will be to develop a network of excellence centres who can share their content. Samsung wants young people to tell their stories, and inspire others across Europe.

In the words of Evelyn Nicola, Samsung Europe’s Sustainability & Citizenship Manager;

“Along with MakerBot, we call on other brands at IFA to join us, as we prepare the young people of today for the jobs of the future”