ENDESA S A : The Endesa Foundation recognised technological entrepreneurship, educational innovation and steam vocations with Retotech

• Fourteen technological initiatives from schools in Madrid, Aragon, Andalusia, Extremadura, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands have been awarded in the 6th edition of the Endesa Foundation's project, RetoTech.
• The winners have successfully overcome this year's challenge: developing a technological project that includes robotics, programming and 3D printing in order to solve a real need of their surroundings.

The Endesa Foundation has awarded the 6th RetoTech Awards, an initiative in which 200 schools from Madrid, Aragon, Andalusia and, for the first time this year, Extremadura, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands have participated. With these awards, the Endesa Foundation, in collaboration with the Regional Ministries of Education of the Autonomous Communities, challenges teachers and students to develop technological initiatives aimed at solving real needs of their school or social environment, including robotics, programming and 3D printing.

Of the 14 awards, two of them are national -'Endesa Foundation Award' and 'Networks Award'- and twelve are regional, the 'Teacher Awards', and the 'Employee Awards'.

Thus, the 'Endesa Foundation Award', awarded by a jury, has gone to the project 'Catch dangerous cars (RITO)' of the school CEIP Virgen de los Ríos (Huesca), which has presented an automated device to detect offending cars and reduce the number of car accidents.

On the other hand, the 'Networks Award', which goes to the project with the most votes on its website, has been awarded to 'Hydroponics on Mars' from the school CEIP Híspalis (Seville). This initiative has recreated an orchard on Mars as an idea that could help barren areas on Earth such as deserts and polar regions.

For the first time this year, and thanks to the collaboration of IMMUNE Technology Institute, the winning schools of the 'Networks Award' and 'Endesa Foundation Award' will receive 16 scholarships to attend the Young Immuners Summer Camps. This online summer camp, sponsored by the technology training centre, will allow the young winners to have fun during the holidays while learning and creating their own technological solutions.

In the words of Javier Blanco, General Director of the Endesa Foundation, 'thanks to RetoTech, students have the opportunity to develop their technological skills and competences with a case study. Promoting entrepreneurship in this field and STEM vocations are key aspects that we want to provide to the entire educational community'.

The participating schools have presented their projects in the final events, which this year have been carried out online. To start with the creation of their projects, the teachers of the participating schools receive, with the collaboration of BQ Educación, the technological material they need, as well as advice and online training, focused on each of the three fields of the programme: robotics, mobile apps programming and 3D design and printing.

Employee Award and Professor Award

As for the local awards, the 'Employee Award' is chosen by the company's own employees during the online events and the 'Teacher Award' is chosen by the participating teachers. They have been awarded to two schools of each Autonomous Community.

In Madrid, the awards have gone to the projects 'Block it' of the Nazaret Oporto School, and 'ECOLEGIO' of the Las Tablas Valverde Development School, respectively.

In Aragon, the projects awarded were 'A Tram Named Bitbloq' of the Antonio Machado School, and 'EcoCRA' from the CRA Montearagón School.

The project 'PRIMUS CIRCUMDEDISTI ME' of the IES Pino Rueda Secondary School and 'Eat&Enjoy Pet Food Dispenser' of the CEIP San Jorge School have been the winning schools in Andalusia.

In Catalonia, the project 'Life in Colours - Eye-Heard' of the Santo Angel School and 'Technological Aids for Hearing-impaired Students' of the Pla Marcell Secondary School have received the 'Employee' and 'Teacher' awards.

'A SAFER SCHOOL' by the CEIP Santiago Ramón y Cajal School and 'ECOQUESTIONS: RESPONSE TABLE' of the CEIP Príncipe de Asturias School have received the local awards in Extremadura.

Lastly, in the Balearic Islands, the projects 'Smart Rubbish' of the IES Son Rullan Secondary School and 'LET'S ALL PLAY!' of the IES Antoni Maura High School have received the regional awards.

Learn more about the winning projects here.

This year, 339 schools signed up to participate in this great challenge of entrepreneurship and educational innovation in technology, of which 200 were selected. Since the launch of RetoTech in 2016, nearly 32,000 students and more than 2,000 teachers have exercised and improved their skills in technology entrepreneurship, thanks to this initiative.

The Endesa Foundation shows once more its commitment to the promotion of talent, technological entrepreneurship, innovation in education and STEM vocations. Retotech allows both students and teachers to explore their passion about science and technology and to detect the most creative and ingenious skills of young people, while learning to work as a team, lead a project, manage their time and make decisions.

About the Endesa Foundation

The main objective of the Endesa Foundation, chaired by Juan Sánchez-Calero, is to contribute to social development through projects based on education, employment training, the environment and culture.

The Foundation's educational projects are aimed at fostering innovation and environmental education at all levels and promoting academic excellence in the university field.

Employment training projects focus on promoting the talent of people at risk of social exclusion, young people and professionals over 50 years of age.

It also supports the conservation and promotion of biodiversity, cooperating in the fight against climate change, contributing to the maintenance of emblematic species and raising awareness about environmental sustainability.

As for its cultural projects, we must highlight the ones regarding the lighting of artistic monuments and the conservation and dissemination of the historical industrial heritage of the Spanish electricity sector.

The Endesa Foundation also develops and finances programmes and actions aimed at providing humanitarian aid in extraordinary situations of health crises, natural disasters or other similar situations.

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More information: http://www.fundacionendesa.org/