UTK Social Innovation STEM LABS

Inspiring & teaching kids in developing countries through hands-on STEM Social Innovation projects to reduce inequality in their communities.

With the use of STEM education we plan to awaken interest in science and technology in high schoolers,  and foster the development of critical thinking, creativity and innovation. UTK´s programs are led by young university instructors that teach school students who learn from actual role models. There is no gap generation between  teacher and students and they share similar aspirations and values. The transfer of knowledge is done through the implementation of STEM labos in the schools. The technologies used have been chosen in such a way as to allow students to develop tangible prototypes from an idea to its design and manufacturing in a matter of hours. For this, the fundamental topics included are: Design and 3D printing, electronic circuits with Arduinos, programming with Python, drones and biotechnology.

One of the fundamental pillars of UTK´s STEM Labs program requires that the participating students  develop social Innovation projects in the communities of the schools and in low-income areas, using the technologies learned in the program.

The organization helps in the process  of linking schools with university students of American universities, top 5 in Science and Engineering worldwide, like University of California at Berkeley, University of Michigan, Purdue University and MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In this way, and with the support of local university students, an integrated program is deployed and allows the students to acquire knowledge in a practical way through the development of scientific and technological projects.

The beneficiaries of the program are the members of the communities linked to the thousands of schools in developing countries, mainly in Latin America. We are working in more than 30 schools so far in urban areas, and next year we have plans to intervene schools in rural areas in the Highlands and in the Amazon Jungle in Peru and Colombia.

Through the implementation of its programs, UTK inspires and trains school staff, teachers and students in digital skills that will be essential in the coming decades, and about which very few primary and secondary educational institutions are integrating them into their curricula.

The Social Innovation prototypes developed as part of the program have to address the needs fo communities related to the schools. These prototypes are then presented to private firms and individuals for fund raising, and then are impelemented to generate a direct impact in the well-being of the inhabitants, in both urban and rural communities. 

UTK SOCIAL INNOVATION STEM LABS has three main innovative components. First, it works as a platform connecting volunteers from top US and local Universities with schools in developing countries. Thus, they become mentors and role models for the schoolers. 

In second place, the curricula and teaching methodology is mostly hands-on and the participants don´t need previous STEM skills.  Therefore, it is open to anybody that has the motivation and perseverance to complete the program. 

Finally, the students have to work in groups to identify and develop a social innovation prototype to solve a real problem in their communities.

UTK Social Innovation STEM Labs curricula includes the implementation of STEM labs in the participating high schools including selected technologies that foster creativity and hands-on learning: design for 3D Printing, electronics with Arduinos, introduction to programming and drones. Furthermore, the students have to design and develop social innovation projects integrating the technologies learned at the Labs. The best projects are then funded with private firms support and implemented in the related communities.

UTK started its pilot program in two schools in Lima, Peru, in 2016. The 2017 program included twelve schools in Peru and Colombia. This year 2018 UTK will implement more than 30 schools in Peru, Colombia, Bangladesh and South Africa. We expect to expand to more high schools in Africa and Asia in the next 12 months. Furthermore, another main goal is to design and develop a software app prototype based on a collaborative cloud platform to be able to deliver our workshops and coaching/mentoring services to more kids around the world through a smartphone or tablet.

Our vision is that UTK Social Innovation STEM Labs solution evolves as a mixed experience platform, based on physical workshops + cloud teaching/coaching/mentoring to reach more kids around the world and give them the soft and hard skills they will need in the future workplace, but at the same time make them realize that they can make a real change in their communities. We foresee our program being deployed in multiple regions and multiple languages to inspire more kids to become change agents at their young age.

In the case of private schools with low resources and public schools, we look for the finincing  from private companies to cover the costs of the program, as part of their social responsibility funds. Starting 2019, the "works for taxes" model will be used in order to pass from “laboratories” to Makerspaces. That way, we will be providing services to the community in such a way that investment in infrastructure, equipment, operating expenses and management are covered. The support of the private company is fundamental.

There will be a group of 26 schools who have contacted us to start an improvement in their institution. We have created student organizations “INVENT” at the University of Michigan and the University of California Berkeley, responsible for convening, selecting and training UTK international student instructors.

In 2018, the creation of INVENT organizations is expected to expand at Purdue University, Georgia Tech and Stanford University.

In the case of developing countries, we also continue with the expansion of the networks of instructor students from the universities and institutes of each city/country, solution to ALL people who receive this program.

This is a never ending work. Technology continues growing and more and more people need to learn about its benefits and use.

In 12 months, we plan to serve double the number we do now and we expect to reach farther communities.

In Colombia, we are working establish the INVENT associations in the cities of Bogota, Medellin and Cali.

UTK is already changing lives in Latin America and other developing regions. Its contribution to the development of STEM education and Social Innovation projects has a short, medium and long term, so in 3 years we will be working on it.

With the international instructors, the network of INVENT Organizations in American Universities will be able to continue to expand in order to have a greater number of volunteers. Internationalization is one tool.

It is important to mention that UTK encourages these schools to become hubs of innovation and entrepreneurship in their respective locations, in order to inspire other schools to participate in UTK programs directly, or indirectly through technology fairs and other events. Inspiration and innovation will make an impact.

UTK's financing model is differentiated according to the type and socio economic level of the schools and their students. In the case of private schools of a socio-economic middle or upper class, the costs of the programs are paid by the administration of the same schools as an improvement project in the education service that they provide to their students.

Public schools are financed by social responsibility funds and grants from private firms. Next year we will engage in projects financed by tax returns to firms based on incentives for innovation.

We already have a partnership with MISTI MIT International Science & Technology Initiatives were we collaborate wth their GTL, GSL and Internship opportunities in Peru and Colombia. We believe that Solve could furtherly give us the opportunity to collaborate with other partners of the MIT ecosystem to be able to improve our solution and also expand to other countries. Furthermore, we would like to identify other social innovation solutions to integrate and deliver them to the communities in which we operate through our program.

Our recent experience is that we have found more opportunities than barriers to deliver value in our related communities. The combination of education, technology and social innovation projects delivered by youths for youths has driven a lot of attention and support. However, as our goal is to expand internationally and reach the most kids around the world, we will face barriers of space, time, language&culture, funding, etc. We believe that MIT Solve Ecosystem can help us to design a sound international expansion strategy, deploy a solid technology platform and relate to key partners that can collaborate with us worldwide.