Solaride
QUICK: programme-initiative
Solaride
Country:
Estonia
Education level:
Secondary Education, Vocational Education and Training (VET), Higher Education, Lifelong Learning / Upskilling
Year start:
2020
Status:
Ongoing
Short summary:
Solaride is a project for students who want to contribute hands-on to solving our dependence on fossil fuels. To do so, the students are building a working solar car and taking it to the ultimate test run in Australia in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. The ultimate objective of Solaride is to promote engineering and its career options in Estonia.
Description and objectives:
Solaride is a project for students who want to contribute hands-on to solving our dependence on fossil fuels. To do so, the students are building a working solar car and taking it to the ultimate test run in Australia in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. The ultimate objective of Solaride is to promote engineering and its career options in Estonia.
The project gathers ambitious students from different fields, such as engineers, electronics, mechanics, software etc. from all over Estonia. The project has grown continuously into the size of an average company. Currently there are almost 70 team members. The team also has various prominent mentors from universities and companies to share their know-how with the students. Besides that, Solaride has strong support from cooperation with several Estonian universities and gives participating students the opportunity to gain practical knowledge and compete in an international competition. With this, the project promotes engineering and technology among the pupils and students.
The ultimate objective of Solaride is to promote engineering and its career options in Estonia. As a country Estonia faces a serious shortage of engineers and specialists, now and in the future. The overall aim of the project is to promote STEM career paths through hands-on experiences early on. The promotion of technology and engineering is therefore important to bring people to engineering and have the necessary workforce in the future. The programme also contributes to the development of innovation and science-based economy in Estonia. According to the analysis on the workforce needed in Estonia, in 10 to 15 years, 60% of the occupations are the kind of which we do not have today. Therefore, adapting with new and novel technology is critical.
Reach:
In the Solaride team, there are about 70 members. The project has s strong social media reach and the team participates in all big eventsin Estonia. Solaride has also organized several events on their own (mostly on the web due to the pandemic) and has reached thousands of people doing so.
Impact:
The biggest impact of Solaride is raising the general knowledge about solar energy in Estonia. With the strong social media strategy, they effectively reach the general public and students on a large scale. It is hard to measure the overall impact due to the fact that Solaride has operated for a short time period. Despite that, Solaride has successfully involved big technology companies and several sponsors. In the social media, they have collaborated with several Estonian celebrities and influencers.
Budget and funding model:
The Solaride project is mainly funded by different sponsors, that subdivide:
Private funders
Companies, that mainly are in the technology sector
Local Governments, such as Tartu City
Universities and research institutions such as Estonian University of Life Sciences, University of Tartu and Tallinn University of Technology.
Solaride - Solarcar 3d anmination
Thursday, 6 May 2021
A 3D animation of the Solar-powered car developed in the context of the Solarride programme. Solaride is a project of the SolarCar Estonia MTY foundation focused on enthusing studings for ca...
Solaride - Solaride pitch
Thursday, 22 October 2020
A fund-raising pitch (English subs) for the Solaride project.