Sep 5, 2016 | By Tess
Across Europe, youth unemployment has remained a rampant and serious problem, with many students or young people unable to find work because of weak markets and more often than not, lacking skills. In an effort to help curb youth unemployment in Europe and to introduce younger generations to the increasingly important field of digital technologies, Samsung Electronics Europe has teamed up with 3D printer company MakerBot to equip a number of educations institutions (including schools, colleges, and museums) with 3D printers. The recently announced initiative is hoping to inspire a new generation of makers and innovators across the continent.
According to Samsung, the first phase of their partnership program with MakerBot, which is a part of Samsung’s larger digital skills program, will be launched this year across Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and Sweden. Essentially, by investing in making 3D printers and other digital technologies accessible to students of any age through their schools, the companies are seeking to introduce coding, digital manufacturing and other technological skills to younger generations so that when they do enter the job market, they will have the skills that many businesses now require. In line with this goal, the partnership is also hoping to teach students about how a full design cycle works, to show them how from concept to end product, something, anything even, can be achieved.
As Evelyn Nicola, Sustainability & Citizenship Manager at Samsung Europe, explains: “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…Just imagine a 9 year old girl with her idea for a new design, being able to turn her idea at school into a 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.”
The new partnership program between Samsung and MakerBot will essentially expand upon Samsung’s existing network of 1,300 Smart Classrooms and 65 Digital Academies. Smart Classrooms, for those wondering, are geared towards teaching young students (between the ages of 6 and 16 years) a number of digital skills such as coding. So far, the company has launched over 1,300 of these Smart Classrooms in 20 European countries and has helped to teach both students and teachers how to approach such technologies as 3D printing. Digital Academies, for their part, are designed for a slightly older demographic (16 to 24) and are essentially centers where young adults can learn about and access a number of smart technologies, ICT training, and even employability programs which will help to ultimately bridge the gap between education and employment.
“Samsung and MakerBot share the same vision of developing new technologies that help prepare students for the jobs of the future,” explained 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.”
Posted in 3D Printer Company
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It's funny that Shillbot's answer to youth unemployment is to teach them how to swap clogged extruders. You'd think a company like Samsung wouldn't fall for these charlatans. Why not hook up with Ultimaker or Zortrax?
Andreas wrote at 9/6/2016 8:58:55 AM:
Makerbot? Seriously? The same company that just decided to move its production from the US to Asia, just to save a few $ and increase profits? They are now presenting itself as "white knight" in the fight against unemployed youth in europe? What the heck? The problem from my point of view is not just that the youth lacks skills, the problem is that the big companys move all the labour intensive jobs into the third world countrys where manpower is cheaper and regulations are not as strict. Not everyone has the mental capacity to work in high skill and highly intellectual jobs, we do need workplaces for the "less smart" in europe too...
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