Today, 12 May 2021, the president of the FabLab association, Roberto Vdović, signed the Grant Agreement for the STEMerica project on behalf of the project consortium. 

Under the call “Strengthening the capacity of civil society organisations to popularise STEM”, the project is financed from the European Social Fund (85%) and from the State Budget of the Republic of Croatia (15%), with a total project value of HRK 2,825,482.33.

The project partners are the Bioteka association, Connect-IT, the Višnjan Astronomical Society, the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Zagreb and the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum.

The project aims to strengthen the capacity of civil society organisations to deliver interactive, innovative workshops and events at national level in the field of popularising STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) activities among children, young people and the general public. The capacities of CSOs will be strengthened through the participation of members and staff in training sessions (18), study visits (5) and public events (16 national and 8 abroad), in order to encourage cooperation, exchange knowledge and share information about good national and European practices. Workshops and public events in the field of STEM popularisation will also be organised and delivered in a number of local communities across Croatia.

STEM topics will be promoted and brought closer to the public, with science demystified and scientific facts disseminated to children, young people and the general public through 44 public events (such as the “PopUpLab” mobile centre, a travelling van in which innovative and interactive activities are carried out, and “STEM Day”), and to children and young people in particular through 20 multi-day, innovative and interactive workshops. 

After the project ends, the CSOs will have sufficient capacity and national-level networking to organise future events in local communities across Croatia, which will contribute to the sustainability of the project. With the mentoring and expert support of staff from the Faculty of Architecture and the Technical Museum, the project will also produce and install 10 interactive installations in the courtyard of the Technical Museum, at the Višnjan Astronomical Society and in the FabLab premises. These permanent displays will be available for the wider public to use.