Projects focused on emotional health, marine sustainability, inclusion and fire prevention have been awarded the Fundación Endesa Awards at national level.
RetoTech, the major innovation, technology and STEM promotion challenge for young people in Spain and Portugal promoted by Fundación Endesa, has presented a total of 28 awards this year.
In its eleventh edition, the project has involved more than 11,000 students and teachers from Primary and Secondary Education from 285 schools in Madrid, Aragon, Andalusia, Extremadura, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, and Lisbon, Portugal.
Since its launch in 2016, this educational project has already involved more than 70,000 students and 1,700 schools.
The 11th edition of RetoTech, the major technology challenge promoted by Fundación Endesa to foster STEM vocations among young people, has come to an end following the various regional festivals held in Spain and Portugal, where hundreds of students and teachers have shared their technology projects developed during the school year.
In this 11th edition, more than 11,000 students and teachers from 285 educational centres in the Autonomous Communities of Madrid, Aragon, Andalusia, Extremadura, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, as well as Lisbon, Portugal, took part. Over the past few weeks, the various RetoTech regional festivals have recognised some of the most innovative initiatives developed in classrooms, combining technology, creativity and solutions aimed at addressing social and environmental challenges.
In total, 28 awards were presented to the best projects submitted in Spain and Portugal. Four of them correspond to the ‘Fundación Endesa Awards’, three at national level and one for Portugal, selected by an Endesa jury and including licences granting access to Bitbloq’s technological learning pathways. In addition, 16 ‘Teacher Awards’ were presented at regional level, selected by the teachers attending the festivals -two for each participating region- and eight ‘Special Mention Awards’, one for each territory, which include a licence granting access to SmaBooqs digital books.
RetoTech: more than a decade bringing technology into the classroom
Through RetoTech, Fundación Endesa seeks to bring and promote technological entrepreneurship and the study of STEM careers (science, technology, engineering and mathematics education) among Primary and Secondary Education students, fostering teamwork, creativity and the resolution of real-world problems from an early age.
The programme is developed throughout the school year in different phases, including teacher training, the delivery of technology kits and practical work in the classroom. Students design and develop their own technology projects before presenting them at the end of the school year at the festivals held in each autonomous community.
Since its launch in 2016, RetoTech has established itself as a leading educational initiative in Spain and Portugal. Throughout its more than ten-year history, it has involved more than 70,000 students from 1,763 educational centres.
Ana Berengena, Project Director at Fundación Endesa, highlighted that “as part of our purpose of contributing to a fair and sustainable energy transition, with RetoTech we want to prepare new generations to face the technological and energy challenges of the future, and contribute to the development of STEM skills, which are key to employability and social progress”. “We see the future in you: a more innovative, more human and more committed future,” she concluded.
Fundación Endesa Awards from the 11th Edition of RetoTech
The Andalusian school IES Pedro Antonio de Alarcón in Granada has been one of the winners of the Fundación Endesa Awards for its project Milumi! Emotions Stand on End!, an initiative featuring a hedgehog named Milumi to work on self-regulation techniques during moments of stress. The figure raises its spines in environments with loud noises or intense light. When it is taken to its safe place, it activates its relaxation mechanism and lowers its spines again.
The French International School of Gran Canaria has been another of the educational centres awarded at national level, thanks to its project The Ocean as a Carbon Sink, which proposes solutions to environmental challenges such as CO₂ emissions, ocean acidification and plastic pollution through different sustainable technologies linked to the blue economy and the fight against climate change.
The Sant Josep Obrer I school in Palma de Mallorca has also received the national award for its project Technology with Heart at Sant Josep Obrer: Designing the Sensory Garden of the Future. This initiative transforms a school garden into an intelligent and inclusive sensory space to enhance students' motor, cognitive and emotional abilities through technology, especially for those with special educational needs.
For its part, the Agrupamento de Escolas Quinta de Marrocos school in Lisbon has received the national award in Portugal for its initiative Robots Against Fire, a project featuring a robot prototype capable of detecting and extinguishing flames with the aim of helping prevent forest fires.
Teacher Awards and Special Mentions
Andalusia
The award for a Secondary Education centre went to IES Alminar in Seville, for its initiative The Park, a robotic model of what could be a sustainable, energy-self-sufficient park, based on raising public awareness of energy consumption, as well as environmental care.
For its part, CEIP San Andrés in Granada won the award for the best project from a Primary Education school for its project Improving Our Bike Parking, a proposal aimed at promoting sustainable mobility and improving the centre's infrastructure through technological solutions.
The special mention went to CEIP Virgen de Gracia in Huelva, for its project Riegotech, an intelligent irrigation system for vegetable gardens based on programming and automation.
Aragon
CEIP Ramón y Cajal - La Joyosa, in Zaragoza, received the Primary Education award for its project Tradition with Tech-Energy, a proposal that combines technological innovation and sustainability in which the municipality's patron saint festivities come to life thanks to energy generated from renewable sources, showing how local traditions can coexist with a cleaner and more environmentally friendly energy model.
For its part, the award for the best Secondary Education project went to Colegio Antonio Machado, in Zaragoza, for its project Machado's Path, which seeks to bring students closer to the poet's life and legacy.
CEIP Santo Domingo, in Zaragoza, received the special mention for its project The Value of Every Drop of Water, a project focused on raising awareness and promoting the efficient management of water resources.
Balearic Islands
The Primary Education award went to CEIP Escola Graduada, in Mallorca, for its project Escola Graduada Square, which aims to improve safety and mobility around the school through a square with interactive games powered by robotics.
The Secondary Education award went to IES Alcúdia, in Mallorca, for the project IES Alcúdia Tech-Environmental, aimed at improving the centre's environmental surroundings through sensors and automated systems applied to spaces such as the vegetable garden, greenhouse and nesting boxes.
IES Balàfia, in Ibiza, received the special mention for its project Innovating with an Engineer: Cleaning Up the Coast, an initiative aimed at cleaning and preserving the marine and terrestrial environment through sustainable technological solutions.
Canary Islands
The first Secondary Education award went to IES Puerto del Rosario, in Fuerteventura, for its initiative Automated Chicken Coop, which helps care for chickens through robotics and automation.
For its part, IES Carrizal, in Gran Canaria, won the second Secondary Education award for its initiative Smart Irrigation Channel. A Window into Our Heritage, Our Identity, a project that uses technology to bring the educational community closer to hydraulic heritage through an interactive model that recreates how an irrigation channel works and highlights the historical importance of the crops that drove its development.
The special mention went to IES Guía in Gran Canaria for Solar Tracker, a system designed to optimise solar energy capture through the automated tracking of photovoltaic panels.
Catalonia
La Mercè, in Barcelona, received the Primary Education award for its project revIA, a virtual assistant for identifying waste and a micro:bit that controls a motorised ramp to sort it. The system is 100% inclusive: it opens using ultrasound alone, features voice guidance and a large LED screen to help people with disabilities or those who have questions.
The Institut Manuel de Pedrolo in Lleida won the Secondary Education award with Weight Comparator, a project designed to raise awareness of the weight of students' backpacks so that they do not exceed 10% of their body weight.
The Col·legi Santa Anna, in Lleida, received a special mention for its project Self-Sufficient Home Greenhouse, a self-sufficient greenhouse designed to promote sustainable and efficient cultivation in domestic environments.
Community of Madrid
The Primary Education award went to Eurocolegio Casvi Boadilla, which presented its project Casvi Things, which consists of designing and building an interactive model inspired by the Stranger Things universe, whose aim is to simulate an intelligent system for preventing and responding quickly to natural disasters.
The Secondary Education award went to Eurocolegio Casvi - Castillo de Villaviciosa, for its project The Colour of Inclusion, an automated paint-mixing dispenser created to ensure accessibility and inclusion in art, aimed especially at people with colour blindness and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
The special mention went to CEIP San Isidro, for its project Smart Vehicles, focused on designing sustainable mobility solutions through intelligent vehicles capable of moving efficiently, avoiding obstacles and facilitating travel in urban environments.
Extremadura
The first prize for Primary Education went to CEIP Ortega y Gasset in Badajoz for its project Clean Orbit Mission, focusing on cleaning up space junk using a space sweeper to move it into the atmosphere where it disintegrates.
Meanwhile, CRA Montellano in Cáceres won the second prize for Primary Education with its initiative FireTech Geopark, which aims to help prevent and minimise damage from potential forest fires, thereby addressing an issue that has wreaked havoc in the area in recent years.
CEIP San José de Calasanz in Badajoz received the special mention for Sustainable automated classroom, a project seeking to reduce unnecessary energy consumption in classrooms through an automated system capable of detecting when the space is not in use and controlling elements such as lighting.
Lisbon
EB dos Castanheiros in Caneças took home one of the local prizes for its project SchoolTraffic, a system that automatically counts people, detects queues, and displays in real time via LEDs and screens whether a school space is free, moderately busy, or crowded.
Furthermore, EBS da Cidadela in Cascais also won a local prize for its Snoezelen room prototype (multisensory environment), a safe space designed to promote wellbeing, equipped with sensors to further personalise the user experience.
Agrupamento de Escolas Luís de Sttau Monteiro in Loures received the special mention for RUBI 1.0 Project, an initiative seeking to improve the autonomy of students with reduced mobility by developing a robot designed to facilitate their interaction and support within the school environment.
About Endesa Foundation
Endesa Foundation was established in 1998 as an expression of Endesa's social commitment to responding to the needs of the environment in which it operates and working towards social development.
Its purpose is to support a just and sustainable energy transition, improving the lives of people and the surrounding environment. To this end, Endesa Foundation develops projects that promote high-quality education in line with current challenges, encouraging STEM vocations and training in energy transition. It also provides training and employment opportunities to the most vulnerable in the green sectors of the economy; promotes culture and the arts in Spain, and helps build a more sustainable world by protecting biodiversity and the ecosystems in which we live.
More information at: www.fundacionendesa.org