News

JA students compete at STEMEduHack “Product of the Future” with Johnson&Johnson

During the European Commission's 2021 DigiEduHack, JA Europe, INJAZ Al-Arab and Johnson&Johnson partnered to bring together in a virtual Innovation Camp “STEMEduHack” 10 student teams from Europe, 9 student teams from the MENA region and one student team from Africa.

The participating students were mixed into 10 international teams allowing students to work in an international environment to create innovative solutions for the personal care product of the future.

The STEMEduHack promotes STEM education and STEM-related career opportunities to young Europeans and gives them an opportunity to come up with new and creative solutions to a specific issue. The challenge was to design a future consumer product taking into account sustainability, consumer experience, personalisation and digitalization. The overall event focused on female empowerment and raising girls’ interest in STEM, demonstrated by the fact that 59% of the STEMEduHack participants were female.

The STEMEduHack directly involved 70 JA students from Spain, Romania, Hungary, Georgia, Luxembourg, Russia, Slovakia, Serbia, Albania, Germany, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Bahrain, Morocco and Palestine. The students were mentored and assisted by Johnson&Johnson employees, whose expertise in the field allowed the students to learn not only by doing but also from the actual professionals leading the industry of consumer care industry. The Jury panel consisted of distinguished professionals in various fields such as Marko Curavić, Head of Unit, EU Research Executive Agency (REA); Lilisha Burris, Education Lead at EIT Health; Jan Liessens, Vice President Global Consumer Manufacturing Sciences & Technology, J&J; Hakan Ergen, Head of Turkey, Levant and North West Africa Cross Sector- Consumer Health, Pharma, Medical Device, J&J; Jackie Fila – Information Technology VP, EMEA, J&J.

The team INNOVISION composed of students from Bahrain and Luxembourg won the STEMEduHack 2021 Online Innovation camp with an app called ADDIS that helps consumers monitor the health of their teeth through scans. The app is connected to a self-brushing personalisable toothbrush and toothpaste and will provide advice and recommendations based on the scans. A great demonstration of the relevance of STEM skills and their use in our everyday life!

The Top 3 winners are going to be registered on DigiEduHack website to be assessed by the DigiEduHack steering group. It would allow the winners of this Innovation Camp to compete for the DigiEduHack 2021 Global Award.

Congratulations to all JA students who participated in the 2021 STEMEduHack and we look forward to seeing you at #Gen_E!

About JA Europe

JA Europe is the largest non-profit in Europe dedicated to preparing young people for employment and entrepreneurship. JA Europe is a member of JA Worldwide® which for 100 years has delivered hands on, experiential learning in entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy. JA creates pathways for employability, job creation and financial success. Last school year, the JA network in Europe reached almost 4 million young people across 40 countries with the support of nearly 100,000 business volunteers and over 140,000 teachers/educators.

For further information, please contact: Minna Melleri, Director Advocacy and Growth, JA Europe:

Minna Melleri - minna@jaeurope.org