The Aveiro STEAM City project is helping to establish a digital, knowledge-based economy in Aveiro, Portugal, by teaching skills and developing resources in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM). The local economy consists 95 % of SMEs, and the city is faced with the flight of skilled labour to larger urban centres like Porto to the north and Lisbon to the south. The hoped-for result is a local economy of better-paid, more sustainable, productive and qualified jobs that produce more competitive goods and services, both nationally and globally.
- 29 July 2020
This project is a very important opportunity to support the City of Aveiro’s transition to a knowledge-based economy. We aim to compete with the stronger national economic centres, to attract and retain the necessary talents for our economy to grow and produce more added value, making Aveiro a more competitive city globally.
As training and education are central to the project, 31 tech labs will be established, along with a STEAM educational programme for primary schools. Another two labs will be opened in the city’s Municipal Citizenship House and municipal library. Other project activities will include setting up a labour observatory to help match the demand for labour with supply, a coding bootcamp, competitions for start-ups, scale-ups and R&D centres, and artistic residencies in digital art.
Education and 5G
The project is taking a two-pronged approach: making the education system more responsive to labour market needs, and using 5G technologies to connect people and encourage innovation.
The first approach is intended to ensure that institutions like the University of Aveiro produce graduates equipped with STEAM skills to match supply of, and demand for, new digital skills. This is expected to improve the economic impact of local workers. The labour observatory will determine the local economy’s skills demand, allowing for the design and implementation of short-term courses to meet these needs. Over 90 people in the current workforce, active in various sectors, will get skills retraining. Over 40 arts graduates will get short-term training in digital skills.
The second approach is for Aveiro to become a trial city for 5G/Internet of Things technologies (IoT), to develop a knowledge-based, digital economy that integrates public bodies, academia and companies. The intention behind this is to encourage development of new products and services. An IoT digital platform will be put in place to ensure better city management.
Tech bootcamp
The city and Academia de Código are holding a 28-week Java and Java Script coding bootcamp equally split between classroom and on-the-job training. The aim is to give the unemployed, students or professionals changing careers the opportunity to work as software developers at a local company. The 20 participants selected to attend the first edition paid EUR 600 for the course, with the city and local companies covering the remaining cost.
The initial group of participants was selected in January 2020, with classroom training taking place from January to April followed by on-the-job training from May to August.
Challenges
Late in 2020, the project aims to evaluate the first pilot action results of the ‘STEAM training skills programme for the local economy’ and evaluate the results of the first edition of five urban and 5G competitions.
These urban challenges and 5G challenges are intended to encourage start-ups, scale-ups and R&D centres to develop solutions and products for cities in the areas of environment, mobility, energy and technology.
The former encourages contestants to find solutions including: using augmented reality to monitor water and sanitation networks, improving biowaste collection with technology, and building a bicycle powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Winners in each category receive EUR 20 000 to turn their ideas into reality.
The 5G challenges will reward the most innovative solutions and products using 5G technology. This is part of the city’s aim to establish itself as one of the first 5G trial cities, not only in Portugal but also in Europe. The 10 finalists will have access to workshops and a network of mentors and specialists from various areas, and get the opportunity to use Aveiro’s 5G network. Three winners will be awarded EUR 25 000 each.
The Aveiro STEAM City project is a partnership between the City of Aveiro, the Instituto de Telecomunicações and Altice Labs R&D institutes; the Universidade de Aveiro and Cedes research centre, and business association Inovaria.
Funding is provided by the ERDF and Urban Innovative Actions, an EU initiative that gives cities funding for implementing inventive and cutting-edge projects.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Aveiro STEAM City – Your Urban Network of Innovation to Promote Steam Skills in a Medium Size City” is EUR 6 115 915, with the EU’s European Regional Development Fund contributing EUR 4 892 732 through the “Urban Innovative Actions” initiative for the 2014-2020 programming period. The investment falls under the priority “Sustainable and quality employment”.