What’s new
A monthly box of story magazines and mini-gadgets shows children how things work
52 %Students who avoid STEM, thinking it too hard
Service concept2022/23
Theme · 13 projects
Education & society
Schools, universities, museums, migrants, disaster relief and people with disabilities.
Highlights
All 95 projectsWhere this theme shines.
What’s new
Short digital courses, phone-call lessons and company sponsors widen access to higher education
4 in 10Latin Americans with access to higher education
Platform2019/20
What’s new
An automated station distributes food portions, goods and information after earthquakes
30 kmsome house refugees walk to an open shop
Physical product2016/17
All projects in this theme · 10
More projects in this theme.
SUGAR CompanionA Notion workspace that centralises templates, schedules and know-how for Kenyan teaching teams joining SUGAR.GIZKarlsruhe DE · Potsdam DE · Nairobi KE
Problem
Kenyan lecturers juggle heavy teaching loads while vital SUGAR templates and contacts sit scattered across Slack threads and drives. New teaching teams lose weeks hunting for basics.
What they built
The SUGAR Companion combines a Daily Dashboard, a step-by-step Task Compass, an AI-assisted Knowledge Hub and a Responsibility Map in one hub for Kenyan universities.
Impact
Onboarding becomes a guided sprint and students get better-prepared mentors. The network gains a replicable entry kit for expansion into Africa and beyond.
STEPA one-stop tool that helps international master students with applications, networking and module selection, for KIT.Karlsruhe Institute of TechnologyKarlsruhe DE · Dublin IE
Problem
How can institutions such as KIT or TCD digitally support incoming international students in English-language master's programmes with their academic goals and personal development?
What they built
STEP streamlines application management, helps students build a social network and guides them through module selection in one tool.
Impact
International students overlook nothing in the administrative process, find connections faster and align module choices with career goals.
Center PieceA platform where citizens and museums co-create courses, debates and stories from museum content.Badisches LandesmuseumKarlsruhe DE · Warsaw PL
Problem
Bring the museum and its target groups closer together and make the museum part of people's everyday life.
What they built
Center Piece lets museums and users build modules such as mini-courses, activities or debates from online catalogues, using videos or chatbots. It integrates with existing online behaviour rather than replacing it.
Impact
The museum reaches people who never visited and learns from them. Users get a place to experiment, share skills and find like-minded people.
NostaA game-based online platform where migrant students in Finland learn Finnish together.Plan InternationalDublin IE · Espoo FI
Problem
Migrant students in Finland score 25% lower than native peers, largely because of language. Remote learning during COVID-19 widened the digital divide.
What they built
Schools grant access to Nosta, where an algorithm forms dynamic peer groups supported by facilitators. Learning happens through game-based activities that build friendship alongside language.
Impact
Students expand vocabulary and gain confidence in Finnish, which improves school performance and later job prospects.
ModuleMA tool that visualises student workload across modules so lecturers can fix over-assessment.Trinity Teaching and LearningDublin IE · São Paulo BR
Problem
Students expect a modern university, while staff with high student ratios and administrative loads are wary of new tools and processes.
What they built
ModuleM gathers expected completion times, overall workload and feedback from students and lecturers and turns them into a visual course overview that reveals imbalances.
Impact
Less admin for lecturers, clearer expectations for students and fewer complaints, with over-assessment made visible.
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RESTARTA holistic reintegration concept with a printed guide for Ghanaian returnees from Germany.GIZKarlsruhe DE
Problem
Ghanaian returnees with lower education lack economic perspectives at home. Support services exist, but their offerings are not transparent.
What they built
RESTART begins in Germany once someone decides to return. A paper-based RESTART GUIDE provides inspiration, motivation and orientation on the economic reintegration journey.
Impact
Returnees get emotional accompaniment and support for training and jobs. GIZ gains trust and a blueprint for other countries of origin.
E3 Future Learning EnvironmentA smart, student-run learning environment with bookable rooms and a skill-sharing app, for Trinity's E3 Project.E3 Project TCDDublin IE · Cali CO
Problem
What will the learning environment for technology students look like in 2025? The brief sought new educational paradigms, not just an upgrade.
What they built
Students from computer science, engineering and natural sciences share smart rooms managed by student ambassadors. An E3 app books rooms, maker spaces and equipment and lets students share skills.
Impact
A single collaborative student community across three schools, graduates used to industry-like teamwork, and data that can improve how students learn.
Touch to ‘See’Software that captions images with a neural network and prints them as touchable pictures.iSoftStoneHefei CN
Problem
How to help blind people better sense the world and create a kind of visuality for them?
What they built
A Neural Image Caption Model describes arbitrary images; the caption is matched to objects in a dataset and a touchable image is printed on the team's device.
Impact
The team learned how closed the world of blind people is and aims to use technology to integrate the visually impaired better.
waytoBA smartwatch and smartphone navigation aid that lets people with intellectual disabilities travel independently, for Trinity.Trinity Centre for Practice and Healthcare InnovationDublin IE
Problem
People with intellectual disabilities cannot navigate alone and need supervision for every trip. Existing navigation tools are too complex.
What they built
An intuitive graphical language gives turn-by-turn directions on a smartwatch. A carer sets destinations, monitors progress, heart rate and battery, and both sides have a panic button.
Impact
Users reach new places on their own. Teaching a route used to take carers months; waytoB shortens this while keeping carers informed.
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Music BloxAn intuitive tool for children to play and compose music through touch, sound and movement.CarvajalCali CO · Espoo FI
Problem
How to develop creativity through experience in children aged 0 to 12? Carvajal asked for new solutions for the Latin American market.
What they built
Music Blox stimulates hearing, touch and vision as well as a sense of time and kinesthesia, the awareness of body position and movement.
Impact
An easy, fun way to make music that also supports learning to write, read, calculate and tell stories.