Abstract

Engineering and in general STEM education and practice is expensive, can drain precious resources and can be very time consuming.

That is why numerical modelling is steadily gaining ground in a range of STEM related fields. Numerical modelling allows for quick and inexpensive testing without needing to build physical devices, gives insight and understanding into different phenomena, can be used to design products/solutions and can be used to optimize processes.

Furthermore, in order to create real world solutions and to transform the education, the technical training needs to be coupled with business training. PYTHAGORAS addresses those needs and will provide a total of 8 educational modules (physical and online) covering topics from numerical modelling and design to entrepreneurship and business skills. Those modules can stand alone and can be used to update and modernize existing curricula. The education will be applied for solving real life problems with (3 expected) case studies specified from Egypt and Tunisia and with the students presenting a business case on the solutions they developed. The training will be for the next generation of innovators: University graduate and undergraduate students and professionals (target is over 200) and for professors who will be shaping the next generation of students (target 20).

The activities also include setting up of interconnected labs and engaging the labour market. The impact will be on increase of the skill set of the participants, improvement of employment prospects, development of an engineering innovation culture where modernized knowledge (based on advanced numerical and digital methods) is applied and taken to the market.