The Fondazione Mondo Digitale has clinched a Google RISE Award, a grant provided by Google for Education to non-profit organisations around the world to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) amongst youth with fewer opportunities to access to technical-scientific subjects.
Starting in May 2016, the Phyrtual Innovation Gym will host experiential storytelling labs through coding and immersive tools for female students aged 6-16, especially from Lazio Region schools, as part of Project “BYE: Build Your Experience.”
The students will learn about storytelling techniques in conjunction with the use of computer programming, gaming and immersive tools, including 3D visors, CAVE, Ozobot, etc.
In Italy, women only represent 11% of the workforce in the ICT sector, and only 11.6% of the under-30 workforce, even though women are often more skilled than men in terms of team building, networking and mediation – key skills to bring together technology and innovation.
Developing educational programmes that bring young girls closer to STEM subjects from an early age means increasing their employment opportunities as adults, increase our journey towards equal opportunities in the Italian scientific sector and increasing the entire country’s development potential.
