Samsung Electronics has been teaching young people to code in over 1,300 Smart Classrooms across Europe since 2013. Since these citizenship programs began, 400,000 young people from around the region have participated and learned more about coding.

Our company is in a unique position to understand just how quickly technology is advancing, connecting and changing the world we live in. This technology is inspiring an ambitious generation of young people who are growing up in a world without barriers to innovation.

Unfortunately this generation is also at risk of being left behind.

Teachers often do not have the right skills or confidence to keep up with the speed of technology development and too many young people are leaving school without the digital and soft skills that their future jobs demand.

European Code Week

Coding is the framework behind the entire digital world, from mobile apps, computer games and online web platforms to automated systems and robots. That is why coding is one of the most important skills to teach the innovators of tomorrow.

“Coding is a cultural technique of our time. This gives children and young people additional opportunities to become producers of their own digital content and media. Coding strengthens digital competencies as well as problem solving and encourages logical thinking,” said Martin Bauer, Head of IT Didactics and Digital Media at the Austrian Ministry of Education.

During Code Week (Oct. 15-23), the European Commission, Samsung Electronics and other businesses joined together to celebrate coding. Together, they presented young people around Europe with coding-related events, to inspire and teach them these crucial digital skills for the future.

Here are some highlights from Samsung Electronics:

Poland

As one of the most ambitious coding nations, Poland is fifth in Europe for the number of Code Week events relative to its population size.

Kindergartens, schools, libraries, museums and offices all took part in Coding Masters across Poland. Significant cultural institutes also took part, including the Copernicus Science Centre and the Ministry of Digital Affairs, and even the Samsung Service Warsaw Spire.

Austria

In the two months leading up to European Code Week, children in Austria worked on developing over 2,000 apps.

The Samsung Mobile Classroom – which was housed in a large yellow bus –  travelled through the country for nine weeks, conducting 217 hours of coding workshops for children. Attendees to the Mobile Classroom learned how to produce games and other apps directly on their own mobile phones, as well as how to control robots, connecting abstract commands with concrete results.

“It was fascinating learning how I could really create my own computer game!” commented one student.

“It’s cool to use your phone for more than just talking and playing games, learning how to code a new game on it,” said another.

Germany

Coding projects worth 75,000 euros truly demonstrated the value of teaching children to code and innovate.

In recognition of this achievement, 100 children, teenagers, parents and instructors were invited to the Samsung Code Week Award ceremony and workshop, where the location was turned into a creative space.

Through eight workshops, children and young people were taught to design and program computer games and microcontrollers, and to code their own little robots. Those robots later competed against each other in an arena.

United Kingdom

Pioneering new creative ways of teaching coding, the UK announced a partnership with the new Micro:bit Educational Foundation during Code Week.

The Foundation is a nonprofit, independent organization that builds on the huge success of the BBC micro:bit program, aiming to lower barriers to technology invention for young people, creators and developers globally. Focusing first on Europe, the organization will enable teachers, governments and educational organizations to fulfil their digital educational goals and help improve digital skills across the globe.

Samsung Electronics Europe today announces that it is joining forces with MakerBot, a global leader in the desktop 3D printing industry, to inspire the next generation of innovators by bringing 3D printers to classrooms across Europe.

Samsung and MakerBot are equipping schools, colleges and museums with 3D printers as part of Samsung’s digital skills programme so that students at any grade level can both code and create. The planned first phase launches in Germany, Italy, Spain, UK and Sweden this year and builds on Samsung’s network of 1,300 Smart Classrooms and 65 Digital Academies.

The vision behind the partnership is to combine design and coding classes with 3D printing so students can experience the full design cycle as a way to develop ideas and innovate. With MakerBot, educators and students have access to a full set of solutions and services that enables them to tackle real-world problems.

“In response to the alarming skills gap and high levels of youth unemployment in 2013, we backed the European Commission’s Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs with a pledge to engage 400,000 young people across Europe by 2019. We will achieve our goal 3 years early so we can now invest further in educating thousands of young people in the latest digital skills.” says Evelyn Nicola, Sustainability & Citizenship Manager, Samsung Europe.

“Our partnership with MakerBot will support a network of ‘Lighthouse Schools’ – centres of excellence for digital learning across Europe – to teach technology skills and encourage design and manufacture. Just imagine a 9 year old girl with her idea for a new design, being able to turn her idea at school into reality and take home. Experiencing the entire creation journey, from idea to digital concept to physical object represents the future of learning and R&D.”

“Samsung and MakerBot share the same vision of developing new technologies that help prepare students for the jobs of the future,” said Andreas Langfeld, General Manager of MakerBot EMEA. “3D printing can help teach many of the 21st century skills that employers are looking for and applying knowledge to the real world. We’re excited to partner with Samsung to help even more educators and students discover the power of 3D printing.”

Europe has particularly high youth unemployment. Many young people leave education without the digital and soft skills that their future jobs demand. At the same time education systems are struggling to respond to the changing needs of employers. Some teachers also lack the support and confidence to adapt how they teach to match the increasingly digital world. To address these challenges, Samsung focused its European citizenship programmes on digital education and employability. It helps young people to experience how digital skills can open new doors to their future through two core programmes:

• Firstly, Smart Classrooms create new learning opportunities for 6 – 16 year olds. Since 2013, over 1,300 Smart Classrooms have opened across 20 countries in Europe. Samsung not only provide technology, but also offer educational content and teach digital skills, such as coding to students and teachers.
• The second programme, Digital Academies is Samsung’s targeted contribution to tackling the digital skills gap.  There are over 65 across Europe.  In these learning centres, 16 – 24 year olds can access smart technology, ICT training and employability programmes to help their transition from education to employment.

About MakerBot

MakerBot, a subsidiary of Stratasys Ltd. (Nasdaq: SSYS), believes there’s an innovator in everyone, and sets the standard in reliability and ease of use. As a global leader in the desktop 3D printing industry, MakerBot offers a set of solutions that illuminate and guide every stage of the 3D printing process, making it easy to go from idea to end result. Founded in 2009, MakerBot has one of the largest installed bases in the industry with more than 100,000 MakerBot Desktop 3D Printers sold to date. MakerBot also runs Thingiverse, the largest 3D printing community in the world. The company’s industry-leading customers include designers, educators, engineers, and consumers. To learn more about MakerBot, visit makerbot.com.

On March , Samsung Electronics became a board member of CSR Europe, Europe’s leading business network for Corporate Social Responsibility. Samsung has long been active in helping with the societal issues facing people across Europe—in education, employment, health and the environment—and with the election to the board of CSR Europe, Samsung is looking forward to becoming an even bigger contributor to European society.

To find out more about Samsung’s plans for the future with CSR Europe, we talked with Wouter Van Tol, Director of Sustainability and Citizenship, Europe for Samsung Electronics and Samsung’s representative to CSR Europe.

Wouter Van Tol, Director of Sustainability and Citizenship, Europe for Samsung Electronics, is talking with children during an education program.

Q. Samsung Electronics was just elected to the board of CSR Europe for the first time. Why was Samsung selected?

Over the past few years Samsung Electronics has had a meaningful impact in Europe, with hundreds of Smart Classrooms and Tech Institutes reaching more than 100,000 young people. This is a great fit with CSR Europe’s focus on youth employment and skills, and it is prime example of the sort of partnerships that the “Pact4Youth” initiative promotes.

So, I think we were selected because Samsung has shown a commitment to European society and many of Samsung’s corporate citizenship activities align with European society.

Q. What kind of activities does CSR Europe focus on and what has CSR Europe achieved?

CSR Europe has excellent links with responsible corporations as well as European governmental institutions. This gives CSR Europe “convening power”: they can bring together the right organizations to try to solve some of Europe’s most pressing problems together. We call this “Creating Shared Value”. The current “Pact4Youth” campaign is a great example of trying to bring together many societal groups to improve youth employment. CSR Europe also focuses on other important areas, like human rights and sustainable cities (which of course is relevant for Samsung’s IoT business).

Q. As a CSR Europe board member, what kind of CSR activities is Samsung Electronics planning to focus on?

Among Samsung’s range of CSR activities, we plan on focusing on Smart Classrooms and Tech Institutes, and have already started talking with other CSR Europe members about co-investing. Imagine stepping into a classroom which is five years ahead of today. Where teachers and school children use coding, VR, 3D printing and other tools to learn and create. We can’t do this alone, but being on the board of CSR Europe gives us the position to attract the best partners and make it happen.

Secondly, being on the Board will give us more and better opportunities to communicate about Samsung’s many activities in the areas of citizenship, the environment and sustainability. Through this, we will be able to better hear the opinions of others, and ensure our CSR activities are as effective as possible.

Q. Can you introduce the CSR activities that Samsung Electronics is carrying out in Europe?

Youth unemployment is an ongoing issue in Europe: according to the European Commission, about 5 million young people are unemployed, which is equal to the number of people who live in Norway. But, at the same time, there are almost 1 million ICT vacancies in Europe, and employers are desperate to hire young people with relevant digital skills.

This is where Samsung is making a difference: through more than 600 Smart Classrooms and more than 48 Tech Institutes we have so far improved the digital skills of more than 100,000 young people and 9,000 teachers. Our commitment is to have reached 400,000 young people by 2020.  To find out more about Samsung’s CSR activities in Europe, please see the attached brochure.