Why is Technology an important part of STEM?
It is estimated that the ICT sector alone represents 4.8% of the European economy. This is because ICT plays an important role in all other work sectors. With ICT, companies can make it easier for customers, suppliers, and distributors to achieve business. It is also very important in our daily lives. Lack of appropriate information at the right time will result in low productivity, low-quality research work, wasted time pursuing information, and even doing research done in other countries. Today, ICT cannot be separated from our daily needs, and we cannot resort to the business and research methods of the past as the expectations are now much higher. This in turn is a direct result of having technology at our fingertips.
What is the EU doing to promote technology?
As explained above, Technology has become an essential part of our day to day lives. Because of this, it is important for the EU to encourage investments as well as raise awareness and interest in the ICT sector. Currently the EU has several projects which aim to do so.
The SciChallenge project focuses on creating new concepts to integrate young boys and girls in science education using a competition-based approach to self-produced digital education materials from young people for young people. Introduced in September 2015 and ending in August 2017, the EU invested a total of €1,342,844 towards this project.
Another project which the EU focused on was STEM4youth. The STEM4youth project aimed at taking the core science subjects back to the classroom but adding an element of fun, to show teenagers that science is still interesting and exciting and that it is central to many careers which they may pursue in the future. This project spanned from May 2016 till October 2018, with an investment of €1,766,936 from the EU.
The role of gender in STEM
Although we are hearing a lot more about it nowadays, there still exists a Gender Gap when it comes to STEM. According to WiD 2019 (Women in Digital, a study performed by the EU), only 34% of STEM graduates are female. This gap is further increased when looking specifically at the ICT sector. Studies show that only 17% of ICT specialists are women. However, previous studies from 2014 show that differences in the subjects taken up by males and females have long been different.
Figures showed that there had been more female graduates from subjects associated with health, humanities, the arts, social sciences, and law, with men dominating fields such as technology, science, maths, engineering, manufacturing, and construction. To help combat these figures, the European Commission has organised a Girls 4 STEM in Europe initiative as well as holding a ‘Prize for Women Innovators’, an award that acknowledges women working on innovative solutions to modern problems.
What more can the EU do?
Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, physical education had to be paused in most cases. Although this helped boost the use of technology in education, many children, especially of young age were negatively affected. Technology is meant to help in the education of children, however, when these children, their parents and/or their educators do not know how to use this technology, it does more harm than good. Therefore, the EU should not only continue focussing on informing people about the importance of STEM but should also help provide sufficient information and help about how these digital tools should be used.
With regards to projects, the ICT sector is in no way lacking. However, not many people know about all the initiatives the EU are taking. More exposure to these projects and initiatives should be considered. Exposure to initiatives alone may not be enough. The EU needs also to invest in making sure that technology is really accessible to all and that no minority is excluded.
The Future
When looking back, technology has indeed come a long way. The post-war era was the starting point for modern technology as we know it today, and it has only advanced exponentially from then. If we were to consider technology as a language, the older generation would use it as a second language. The newer generation has been born into technology and so it has become an essential part of their lives and a native language for them. Imagine the potential of technology when this newer generation becomes the leaders of tomorrow!