Innovate4Europe Hackathon
Overview
SmartUp designed and delivered the Innovate4Europe Hackathon between March and June 2026 — a national programme strengthening coding, computational thinking, and problem-solving skills among primary and secondary school students. Building on SmartUp's role coordinating the regional Code Week Lead Teachers Network, the project applied SmartUp's end-to-end model: training teachers as innovation mentors, coaching student teams through project-based development, and staging a national hackathon as a public showcase.
Over four months, SmartUp trained 21 teachers, mobilised 10 school teams (51 students), and delivered a national event where students presented 10 working digital solutions to real-life challenges — with deliberate measures to bring girls and underrepresented groups into STEM. Delivered as part of the Code4Europe initiative, the methodology and resources were shared with the regional Code Week network, making the model replicable beyond the project's lifespan.
The challenge
Strengthening teachers' capacity to mentor innovation projects. Many educators required practical training, digital tools, and mentoring methodologies to effectively guide students through coding, design thinking, and project-based learning.
Providing students with practical opportunities to apply digital skills. While students had access to digital technologies, opportunities to work collaboratively on real-world problems through innovation and coding activities were limited.
Promoting inclusive participation in STEM. Encouraging girls and underrepresented groups to actively engage in coding, innovation, and technology remained an important priority.
Building sustainable collaboration between schools. Creating a replicable model that connects schools, mentors, and the wider Code Week community required structured coordination and knowledge sharing.
Activities and methods
The project trained 21 teachers as hackathon mentors through a practical workshop focused on mentoring strategies, project-based learning, engineering design, and digital tools such as App Lab, Thunkable, Scratch, and Canva AI. Following the training, mentors established 10 student teams across 10 schools, supporting 51 students in identifying real-life challenges and developing innovative digital solutions.
The national Innovate4Europe Hackathon, held on 28 May 2026, brought together students, teachers, and a professional jury to showcase 10 functional digital solutions, with 14 awards and recognitions presented for innovation, technical implementation, teamwork, inclusion, digital responsibility, and presentation skills.
Following the event, SmartUp conducted project evaluation through mentor feedback and disseminated project methodologies, templates, and learning resources to the regional Code Week Lead Teachers Network, while promoting the project through social media and media outreach.
Impact and learning
The project exceeded several of its planned targets, demonstrating an effective model for combining teacher professional development with student-centered innovation. Teachers strengthened their mentoring capacities and adopted project-based approaches that can continue to support coding and STEM education beyond the project itself.
Students improved their digital literacy, computational thinking, teamwork, creativity, communication, and presentation skills while gaining practical experience in designing technology-based solutions for real-world challenges. The project also fostered greater interest in STEM education and created an inclusive environment that actively encouraged girls and underrepresented groups to participate in technology and innovation activities.
By sharing its methodology and resources with the regional Code Week Lead Teachers network, the project established a sustainable and transferable model that can be replicated by schools and educators across North Macedonia and the wider region, contributing to the long-term objectives of EU Code Week and digital education initiatives.
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