Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow programme, designed to increase youth interest and proficiency in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, has reached South African shores.

Partnering with the State Information Technology Agency, Samsung South Africa is piloting the programme at 52 preselected township and rural schools across the country.

The programme aims to encourage grade 10 and 11 learners to solve social issues in their communities through its STEM competition, where the youth apply STEM principles to find creative solutions to address challenges faced in their local communities.

Samsung Electronics Africa chief marketing officer Dudu Mokholo tells Engineering News & Mining Weekly that, launched globally in 2010, the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow programme currently operates in 30 countries, and had reached over 1.5-million contestants worldwide by 2020.

“It is really meant to be guide and get young minds interested in the STEM subjects,” she says, noting that it encourages innovative and critical thinking, creative problem- solving and teamwork to nurture social innovation ideas that address the community’s most pressing problems.

It also aims to get more youth interested in STEM subjects and open up opportunities for them.

Each selected school will identify ten pupils who will, working in teams, find challenges within their communities and, using STEM, develop potential solutions which they will then submit through an online application on Samsung’s website, starting in January.

Of the 52 submissions, ten will be picked by a judging panel.

These ten teams will be given six months to develop their solutions to prototype stage, with Samsung funding the research and development of the protype and providing mentors who will guide each team through the project and enable access to experts and specialists where needed.

The judging will evaluate the projects and select the top three.

The top-ranked school will receive R100 000, while those ranked second and third will receive R50 000 and R30 000 respectively.

The participating students will receive Samsung devices.