Colombian students find a creative way to reduce air pollution.
Encouraging women to pursue technology education can transform their lives and society.
Young women from Germany envision a new, scenario-based learning method for children.
Gifted with the pleasant weather, Medellin is Colombia’s second-largest city named the City of Eternal Spring. Despite the warm temperatures, air quality is a problem that Medellin faces, like many other cities around the world. “In Colombia, more than 1,000 tons of coals are consumed annually, and its combustion emits CO2. Air pollution affects not only us in Medellin but the Earth as a whole,” a group of students from Medellin said in chorus.
Ana García, Santiago, Juan, and Camilo are students from the public school Loyola for Science and Innovation of Medellin who recognize coal as the leading cause of air pollution. The four inspired students discovered ways to create an eco-friendly biofuel through the use of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
“Colombia is the third-largest producer of coffee in the world. Our idea was to create briquettes made of coffee residue,” said Ana. “Coffee dregs have excellent characteristics as biofuel, with the energy of 18 megajoules per kilogram - while the coals’ average is around 18 to 25 megajoules.” Named the “Ciscombustible” project, the students put extensive efforts into research and development, starting from background research and selecting materials for the briquette to prototype designing, development, and testing. The team even made a 3D device made of steel to shape the briquette in an ideal form. After many trials and errors, Ciscombustible created a coffee-based eco fuel.
“According to studies for the year 2030, coals will produce 60% of the CO2 emissions worldwide. We believe our briquettes can alleviate the pollution by reducing around 10% of CO2,” said Juan. While offering a friendly alternative to the environment, the briquettes can also create a new source of income for Colombia’s coffee families. When their idea was submitted to Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, the Ciscombustible project received their well-deserved win. The students were recognized for their problem-solving skills and STEM knowledge. Even after the big win, the members of Ciscombustible say they will stay motivated and drive themselves forward until the project is widely used.
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In Spain, women make up only 12% of the labor force in the field of engineering and technology. Although there is a great demand for professionals in this field, the gender gap remains high. Breaking the barriers through technology education can improve the employability of young women and spur economic growth.Rocío is one of the participants who signed up for Samsung Innovation Campus. This course provides AI and software education for women who are interested in learning more about the field and, perhaps, become professionals in the Information and Communication Technology sector. Originally a fine arts specialist, Rocío devoted her whole working life to arts but decided to step outside her comfort zone. “I have always loved art, science, and technology. I chose Samsung Innovation Campus, knowing that it would deepen my knowledge in other fields.”
Along with her teammates, Rocío attended a 240-hour training in statistics, programming, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. The fact that the program did not require previous knowledge or formal training requirements opened up the opportunity for students like her.
“As we advanced, it became more difficult,” said Rocío. “I had to get on my feet, do research, and refer to official sources where everything related to programming languages was updated. This was the most interesting part for me - knowing where to go.” During the training, Rocío focused on full-stack web development, artificial intelligence, and big data. Applying her knowledge into practice, she has joined the X-COV project at the Complutense University of Madrid, where a team of investigators and researchers detect diseases via artificial intelligence. Today, Rocío is developing tools for analyzing X-rays with AI to detect COVID-19.
Samsung Innovation Campus brought a substantial change in Rocío’s life. To enable this life change for other women, she has recently become a teacher for one of the course modules at the next batch of the program. She has decided to take part in the initiative to help close the gender gap in the industry. “Samsung Innovation Campus has given me a strong foundation to learn on my own and I am extremely grateful,” Rocío admits that if she could have signed up earlier to the program, she would have without a doubt. To Rocío and all other participants, Samsung Innovation Campus has formed the groundwork for them to embark on the road to new opportunities. “As a woman, we have all experienced some time in our lives, that what you say and what you do are undermined just because you are a woman. Now, we are out of our comfort zone, in a golden moment to grow in this field. Samsung Innovation Campus will help us open many doors.”
Children have a natural fascination for their environment: their spirit for discovery motivates them to explore the unknown world. The desire to know how things work is in their innate character. But often at school, they rarely have the chance to gain real-world experience or share what they've learned with others. Anna and Franziska are two young women from Germany who envisioned revolutionizing the way children learn at school. They asked themselves: How can a new, interdisciplinary, and collaborative learning culture emerge; one that not only makes knowledge tangible but also creates entirely new digital learning potential? This is how “Heartucate” came to life.
Their goal was to foster the collaborative and future-thinking abilities of young students. To make this work, the duo started designing an educational solution that encourages students to interact with different stories and have hands-on experience of what they learn through augmented and mixed reality.
“The basic idea for Heartucate had already existed for a while, but our decision to compete for Samsung Solve for Tomorrow ultimately provided the initial spark to finally get started,” said Franziska. “We thought to ourselves, we have all these ideas and vision. Let’s try it!” commented Anna. Together, they designed Heartucate as an educational solution that integrates current mixed reality technologies into the classroom alongside 5G. Heartucate creates thematical complexes that combine different subjects ranging from mathematical and scientific skills to languages and simultaneously encourages students to interact with the stories. With Heartucate, children become time travelers in a treasure hunting adventure. They explore the world through mixed reality technologies and work towards a shared goal.
“Through Solve for Tomorrow, we got exactly the support, learnings, and insights that really helped us move forward in our development. It helped us a lot to take the next step,” said Anna and Franziska. The participants could not only expand their entrepreneurial knowledge but make their dream come true. Within the one-year time frame of Solve for Tomorrow, Heartucate made enough progress to establish their own business. The team also qualified for the EXIST Business Start-up Grant, a renowned support program of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The incredible story of Heartucate shows what can be achieved with real commitment, an unswerving belief in one’s own idea, and the right mentors. Samsung will continue to inspire many more young innovators to implement unique ideas that can make a difference and help the next generation successfully prepare for the future.
