'Your Technology of Tomorrow' is an initiative of the ELSA AI lab Northern Netherlands (ELSA-NN), a consortium of research institutes, social partners, companies, patients and citizens who together conduct research and want to contribute to the responsible development and implementation of AI in healthcare. The UMCG, as spokesperson for ELSA-NN, will flesh out the programme together with the Jantina Tammes School of the University of Groningen, the AI Hub Northern Netherlands, the municipality of Groningen and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences. By offering the programme 'Your Technology of Tomorrow' in the science truck, young people can learn about AI in a playful and interactive way and complex technology is made understandable and accessible.
Since 2005, the science truck of the Faculty of Science and Engineering of the University of Groningen has been driving around the Netherlands and Northwest Germany to interest schoolchildren in engineering and science. The truck visits 120 schools and events a year, reaching 25,000 pupils a year. With the programme 'Your Energy of Tomorrow', visitors learned about all facets of energy in recent years. Now, 'Your Technology of Tomorrow' adds a programme on artificial intelligence in the world around us to the curriculum.
Mirjam Plantinga, ELSA-NN project leader and initiator, explains, "With the 'Your Technology of Tomorrow' programme, we aim not only to increase young people's knowledge about AI, but also to actively involve them in its development and application. Our vision is to prepare a new generation for the digital future, while together with our partners we profile the North Netherlands as a hub for AI expertise and innovation. I am hugely excited by the collaboration with the science truck. Together, we can reach a large group of students."
The addition of the 'Your Technology of Tomorrow' programme to the science truck will be formally endorsed this morning during the North's AI Congress, taking place at the Groninger Forum. The truck will be on display for the first time during Zpannend Zernike, taking place this Saturday during the public afternoon at the UMCG Medical Faculty and on Sunday at the Zernike Campus.
