The ‘Empowering the Youth in STEM through the Arts’ project, which started in October 2020, with a funding of around € 133,000 from the European Union as part of the Erasmus + program, has come to an end.
In Malta, this project was run by the interactive scientific center, Explora, with the aim of helping young people learn to use technology in various fields, including art.
This initiative has been led by three interactive science centers including the Explora and the foreign science centers NEMO Science Center and CosmoCaixa Barcelona, in collaboration with Inizjamed and the Youth Agency working directly with young people. Thus, the main goal of this project, which could involve young people between the ages of 16 and 24, in activities that offer informal STEM education and that bring more knowledge about science, could be achieved. The central theme was technology, including aspects of artificial intelligence and robotics. In addition, training was provided by Inizjamed during the activities.
“It is crucial to nurture our young people to implement technology in different areas, including the arts.” He stressed the importance of investing in young people because they are part of the success of our country’s future. He concluded that, “I will see that in our country we offer more opportunities such as this initiative to expose our young people to the implementation of technology in various social fields.”
Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds Chris Bonett expressed satisfaction that European funds continued to be used in such an Erasmus + project to create more opportunities for young people in the fields of education, science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“The interactive center of local science, Explora, makes use of funds offered by the European Union to create opportunities to further incentivize projects that translate into more opportunities for young people by also driving innovation.” explained Parliamentary Secretary Bonett.
The Executive Chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Technology Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando said, “Our vision for Explora is to cultivate a culture of scientific curiosity and creativity. In fact, it has been our priority from the very beginning to live our mission by attracting visitors from all walks of life and of different ages. ” He added: “Apart from developing activities aimed at children, families and the general public, we are actively engaged in a learning journey to better understand the needs and desires of young people and together we have developed related activities with our partners ”.
