Samsung Electronics has announced that its Corporate Citizenship program Solve for Tomorrow is a finalist in the Youth Category of the European Commissions’ European Digital Skills Awards 2023.
The European Digital Skills Awards 2023 recognize and promote projects and initiatives that support Europeans in all areas related to digital skills. From providing basic skills to training ICT specialists in emerging technologies like AI and Big Data, there is a lively crowd of organizations, trainers and teachers that are helping Europeans grow in digital competency. The objective of the Awards is to showcase those good practices and help everyone learn from each other.
This year, more than 300 applications were received across all the categories. Samsung applied for the category Empowering Youth in Digital, which rewards projects to attract the younger public to ICT professions, media literacy initiatives for the younger public, emerging technologies courses for the younger public, hackathons, etc.
Samsung Solve for Tomorrow was recognized for providing its participants with the skills and knowledge needed to tackle emerging challenges and produce tangible innovations to help improve society in Poland and Romania.
In Poland, young people submit ideas to overcome contemporary challenges using technology in the areas of health, safety, equality, or climate. Since the first edition in 2021/2022, 1,004 students have applied. Solve for Tomorrow focuses on diversity and greater inclusivity for participants. Over half of the Polish participants in the program are girls, and 60% of entries come from mixed-gender teams. 52% of the participants come from small towns and villages. A key element of the program is dialogue with local communities, who are approached by young people during the solution development stage, in the spirit of sustainable development.
“For the past two years, Solve for Tomorrow has been attracting great interest among children and teenagers in Poland. The program effectively complements Polish curricula with design thinking, the development of many useful skills for the labor market and facilitating the mastering of new technologies. Thanks to Solve for Tomorrow, the young generation came to have an impactful voice”, says Magdalena Olborska, ESG Manager at Samsung Electronics Poland.
In Romania, Solve For Tomorrow is in its second edition (2022/2023) and is focused on high school students from all around the country, with ages between 16 and 18. They are all part of Gen Z - a generation defined by technology, fluidity, openness to change & novelty, authenticity, and activism. Thus, the competition aims to inspire them to combine education, technology, and creativity to develop innovative solutions that solve problems related to four main categories: Environment, Education, Sustainable Development, and Diversity and Social Inclusion. The second edition of Solve for Tomorrow Romania was organized in partnership with Junior Achievement Romania and a record number of 325 projects were submitted.
“Solve for Tomorrow is about involvement, determination, education, and responsibility. It is about the future we start building today, idea by idea. We are confident in the way young people see the future and proud to be able to invest in our youth and local communities – their ideas are extraordinary, and the perspective from which they choose to look at the world is limitless, full of opportunities”, says Simona Panait, Head of Marketing Romania & Bulgaria, at Samsung Electronics Romania.
Since its inception in the U.S. in 2010, Solve for Tomorrow has expanded its operation in 55 countries worldwide. It has equipped almost 2.4 million young people with skills that go far beyond technical, including critical thinking, creative thinking, communications, and collaboration skills, playing an important role in bridging the future workforce skills gap.
