More than 200 schoolchildren from the Basque Country program with ITP Aero and Code.org in the ‘1st Super Coder Programming Contest’

Increasing global connectivity and digital transformation have increased the need for technology professionals. The importance of programming is highlighted as a fundamental skill that drives innovation and problem solving in almost all sectors.  In this context, ITP Aero is once again bringing the computer language to the new generations, this time with an edition centred on a programming competition. The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, in collaboration with Code.org, hosted the first ITP Aero coding competition, entitled “Super coder”, which brought together more than 200 2nd, 3rd and 4th year ESO students from different schools in the Basque Country to learn how programming is the key to solving current sustainability problems.

ITP Aero develops the technology to drive the transformation of the aerospace sector towards sustainable mobility, with the aim of achieving the decarbonisation of aviation. This action is a priority to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, in line with the United Nations’ Race to Zero programme, in which the company is participating. For all these reasons, it organised a tournament in which the 200 participating students from Bizkaia schools had to propose a breakthrough solution to make mobility more sustainable and to take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects.

Teams of 6 to 8 participants, who had to have previous knowledge of programming taught in school, took part. Each of these schools was assigned one or more ITP Aero mentors, whose role was to resolve doubts and support the process of developing the proposals. In order for the students to understand the real impact of programming, they had to use only the lines of code strictly necessary to provide the solution to the challenge. Reducing the number of lines of code also reduces energy consumption and helps to combat climate change.

These projects had to be created using the CODE.org project template. They also had to include specific programming elements mentioned in the competition rules.

The final took place today at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, with 5 finalist schools: Berrio-Otxoa Ikastola, Lauro Ikastola, Urdaneta School, CPI Pagasarribide IPI and San Jose de Calasanz School, of which Urdaneta School, Lauro Ikastola and Berrio-Otxoa Ikastola were the winners. As part of their prize, the three winning schools will have the opportunity to visit the Zamudio plant with ITP Aero staff and see how programming is used in the aerospace sector.

The awards ceremony was attended by a jury of experts from ITP Aero, Code.org and Innobasque. Sandra Lorido, Head of Project Engineering Trent XWB, represented ITP Aero on the jury, while Elena Gorostiza, EMEA International Partnerships, and Amanda Martínez, Specialist in Computer Science and Robotics Education, represented Code.org, and Itziar Uribe, STEAM Projects Coordinator, represented Innobasque.

Following the success of previous editions, which have included talks and workshops on programming, ITP Aero and Code.Org are launching this innovative competition, supported by Innobasque and the Basque Government. The event is part of an alliance that ITP Aero and Code.org have been maintaining for more than 4 years, which has led them to promote different initiatives to promote STEM careers (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and, in particular, programming. To carry out this work, they have the support of social, economic and political leaders, as well as some prominent companies such as Telefónica and Asti Robotics in Spain, or Facebook, Amazon, Dropbox and Microsoft in the United States. It should be noted that ITP Aero was the first industrial company in Spain to join this global movement, as part of its commitment to promoting careers and technical disciplines.

Contact:

Louis Trollope            

Communication Manager                     

M: (+34) 610 267 334                          

louisjon.trollope@itpaero.com                         

www.itpaero.com