The Science and Education Innovation Centre implements the interest education program “Digital Production” in the Technology Co-Creation Space

On February 16, the interest education program “Digital Production” was launched, which was developed at the Science and Education Innovation Center (ZIIC) of the Liepāja Municipality Education Department. Application for learning the program was opened for educational institutions from all over Latvia from grades 5 till 12 for participation in the program, which is implemented from February till May, both online and in person. 190 students from Latvian cities such as Ogre, Cīrava parish, Jelgava and Liepāja applied for the program.

The “Digital Manufacturing” program includes five lessons – “Project Management Principles and Practices”, “2D Computer-Aided Design”, “3D Computer-Aided Design”, “Printed Circuit Board Assembly” and “Demonstrations of the Equipment”. Online “Practical Project Management” and face-to-face “2D Computer Aided Design” classes were held. The aim of the program, as well as the project, is to promote the development of knowledge and the students’ career choice in STEM fields. Promoting young people’s ability to use digital production equipment expands their horizons and the future of opportunities, showing that choosing a career in one of the STEM fields is a sustainable choice, taking into account the trends in the world and the demand for specialists in both Latvia and Europe.

In the “Project Management Principles and Practices” lesson, students have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the principles of creating a personalized website. Everyone must individually create both the design and content of their website, which goes hand in hand with the activities of the following lessons, thus students also learn documentation skills. At the end of the program, the website will serve both as a summary of the skills learned and as a tool to be further developed as a portfolio of interests, which can be useful for inclusion in one’s curriculum vitae (CV) and to give the student’s future employer an idea of the student’s skills in the field of information technology.

On the other hand, in the lesson “2D Computer-Aided Design“, students learn the logic and technological techniques of 2D design development. Namely, students project their imagination in a digital program, from which the design is cut out by computer on a specialized coating film. Then, using the functionality of the heat press, it is transferred to a cotton bag, which everyone gets in their possession. Further activities in 2D computer-aided design included laser cutting technologies, which demonstrate to students a different technique of digital fabrication, both in the context of the machine’s operational functionality and in the development of multi-layer designs.

The interest education program "Digital Production" has been developed within the project "Development of the Innovation Centre in Liepaja City" that is funded by the EEA/N grant programme "Research and Education". Its total cost is EUR 986 049.00, of which EUR 754 327.40 is co-financing of the Norwegian Financial Instrument, EUR 133 116.60 is co-financed by the State budget of Latvia and EUR 98 605.00 by Liepaja City Municipality.