Our work

SmartUp supported the operationalisation of North Macedonia's National Development Strategy 2024–2044, testing co-creation and foresight mechanisms with a focus on migrant and refugee integration. Three participatory workshops brought together 93 public servants and stakeholders from government, business and civil society, who were trained in strategic foresight. The process produced 15 policy measures, including three policy pilots presented to the National Council.

SmartUp delivered a three-year national programme (2023–2026), strengthening safe, inclusive learning in 50 schools. Through EduLab, SmartUp has trained teachers on child protection and digital skills, published 100+ resources, and reached 20,000+ students via classroom application, with nationwide webinars reaching 5,000+ education professionals.

SmartUp conceptualized and led EDUINO, North Macedonia's largest collaborative digital education platform, launched in March 2020 when COVID-19 closed schools. 2,000+ educators volunteered to record 4,700+ video lessons in Macedonian and Albanian, verified by Bureau for Development of Education advisors and broadcast nationally. SmartUp also ran 50+ webinars with 70,000+ live viewers and handed EDUINO's operation to the Bureau.

SkopjeLab, the City of Skopje Innovation Center, was the first public sector innovation centre founded within a public institution in the Balkans. Managed by SmartUp from July 2017 to February 2022, it brought city staff, citizens and partners together to redesign city services, open city data, co-design public spaces and build innovation skills in the administration.

SmartUp is a delivery partner in the second phase of Promoting a Safe School Environment (2026–2029) for Pestalozzi Children's Foundation. SmartUp will select up to 8 Resource Schools as regional peer-learning hubs, run six peer learning events for up to 50 schools, train teachers through EduLab online courses, and prepare 60 teacher-advisors, certified by the Ministry of Education and Science, to train at least 600 colleagues on the new national Standards for Safe and Participatory Schools.

As local partner to the Municipality of Sveti Nikole, SmartUp – Social Innovation Lab Skopje supported the Youth Climate Action Fund, which backed young people aged 15–24 to lead climate projects in the Ovche Pole region. SmartUp facilitated co-creation workshops, designed the visual materials and landing page, led communications and outreach, and engaged two external evaluators to support the selection of US$1,000–5,000 microgrants.

SmartUp is developing a free EduLab course for parents and educators on supporting teenagers in building resilience against bullying and peer violence, for the OSCE Mission to Skopje. SmartUp researches the needs of parents, educators, and students, then produces five short video tutorials with practical tools and a quiz after each lesson. A psychologist verifies the content, and parent testers try the course before it is released in Macedonian.

Innovate4Europe Hackathon strengthened coding, computational thinking, and problem-solving skills among students in North Macedonia. Through teacher mentor training, student project development, and a national hackathon, 21 teachers and 51 students from 10 schools developed digital solutions to real-life challenges while promoting inclusive participation in STEM.

Community Mobility Co-operatives helps community groups in Southeast Europe set up locally owned electric vehicle charging points and shared electric vehicles. SmartUp is the local partner for North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, running training, coaching and an open call for community e-mobility pilots.