The project aims to develop Innovation Centres in the thirteen Regional Directorates of Education in Greece. These Centres constitute a knowledge ecosystem that integrates and interconnects schools, research institutions, universities, local communities, and European education and innovation networks.

The Innovation Centres are purpose-built, high-quality learning environments that serve multiple functions. Acting as hubs of pedagogical and technological innovation, they incorporate cutting-edge technologies into the learning process. Their overarching goal is to enhance creativity, experiential learning, 21st-century skills, and interdisciplinary learning in Primary and Secondary Education, thereby reinforcing the role of the school in the emerging digital era.

The Innovation Centres operate based on a pre-scheduled visit program and implement educational scenarios tailored to students’ age and cognitive levels, offering them access to cutting-edge equipment and state-of-the-art learning spaces. Both students and educators engage with the infrastructure and become acquainted with emerging technologies in areas such as:

• Extended Reality (XR)
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• Artificial Intelligence
• Robotics
• Fabrication

The establishment of Innovation Centres is expected to contribute to the further development of students’ skills, them to explore and pursue future academic and career paths in STE(A)M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics). In doing so, the project strengthens the country’s human capital and its competitiveness in science and technological advancement.

The implementation of the project includes training of personnel, the production of educational material, and support for the pilot operation of the Innovation Centers, thereby ensuring their functionality and long-term utilization by the educational community. At the same time, a central infrastructure has been created to support the Centres, as well as remote schools and hard-to-reach areas. The Virtual Innovation Centre provides access to digital resources and educational scenarios, while also allowing remote control of some of the equipment!