STEMLab is a programme promoted by Leonardo for the digital education of young students in secondary schools throughout Italy. The teaching material is provided free of charge to teachers to allow them to enrich educational paths with lessons on STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and stimulate the interest of girls and boys in scientific education and professional paths.
Since its launch, STEMLab has involved several tens of thousands of students, who have used the teaching resources provided by Leonardo to deepen their knowledge of the most advanced technologies and their development prospects in an increasingly digitalised workplace.
The Digital Education teaching platform, reserved for teachers, hosts laboratory guides, live talks and contests. It has been enriched this year with new resources: "Space for Sustainability" that illustrates the Space technologies useful for finding solutions for protecting Earth and "Global CyberSec" that, within the Cybersecurity section, delves into Leonardo’s SOC Leonardo in Chieti (Italy). Both are in addition to those already available on Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, 3D printing and Space robotics. During the 2024-2025 school year, new resources are being added, starting with the one dedicated to Quantum Technologies.
In the 2023-2024 school year, “In volo con Leonardo” also entered into full operation, the PCTO-Percorso per le Competenze Trasversali e Orientamento - Pathway for Transversal Skills and Orientation (replacing the former "alternanza scuola lavoro” - school-work alternation - programmes) whose first edition was launched in the middle of the previous school year. In the 2023-2024 school year, 2,416 students completed the PCTO course, for a total of almost 4,500 units in the two editions held in over 420 schools, representative of the entire Italian territory.
The PCTO is a teaching methodology that integrates classroom training, supports the creation of training experiences and the transfer of curricular knowledge and skills to students in the last three years of high school. From airport services to the world of drones, from electrification to vertical flight, there are numerous themes with which the PCTO “In volo con Leonardo” introduces the student to the topics of flight, through a training path consisting of presentations, documents, video lessons and podcasts that guide students through the world of Leonardo, teaching them about its products and the skills required to work in this sector.
STEMLab and the PCTO “In volo con Leonardo” are part of Leonardo's initiatives aimed at achieving the UN 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and, in particular, the 4th SDG - dedicated to the dissemination of quality education - and the 9th SDG that promotes technological capabilities in industry, encouraging innovation to attract people and resources to Research and Development.