Silicon Vilstal
Silicon Vilstal is a grassroots initiative aimed at playfully fostering the innovative potential of rural areas and bringing people from urban and rural areas together on a par. We have four formats. The Ideas Workshop offers creative STEM workshops for children, adolescents and adults. Our virtual makerspace approach uses the available production capacities of local firms combined with age-appropriate learning software. In our non-sector-specific start-up programme Farmer seeks start-up, hosts provide rooms to live and work free of charge for a limited period and start-ups can conduct reality tests with local firms, institutions and the general public. The Creative Space format enables the development of temporary projects with artists and creatives. These three components are combined with, among others, sustainable mobility, cultural offerings and, workshops during our annual Experience Festival, which has been selected as an ESER Event by the European Commission in 2019-2021. Our activities are possible thanks to a broad societal network.