Brussels NGO La Scientothèque's AI4InclusiveEducation, under Erasmus+ SteamCity, teaches disadvantaged 10-18-year-olds to question data privacy and algorithmic bias via local case studies. UNESCO named it a 2025 ICT Prize laureate reaching 6,000+ learners and 300 teachers.
6,000+ learners
Learners reached (n/a)
300+ teachers
Teachers reached (n/a)
86 entries (4 laureates, 50+ countries)
UNESCO King Hamad Prize entries considered (2025)
Details
Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
La Scientothèque ASBL (Erasmus+ SteamCity consortium)
Period
Erasmus+ SteamCity project; recognized by UNESCO 2025
Region (NUTS)
BE10
Keywords
AI literacy, civic education, inclusion, STEAM
Context
AI4InclusiveEducation is a civic-education programme run by La Scientothèque, a Brussels-based non-profit (ASBL) hosted at ULB's Physics Experimentarium, whose mission is to reduce social inequality through STEAM outreach. Developed within the EU-funded Erasmus+ SteamCity consortium, the programme brings AI education to young people aged 10 to 18 from disadvantaged communities.
Activities
Rather than teaching AI as a purely technical subject, the curriculum anchors concepts such as data privacy, algorithmic bias and misinformation in local civic issues — governance and mobility among them — and is distributed as open-access learning modules in French and Dutch, with supporting materials published openly on GitHub.
Results
UNESCO named AI4InclusiveEducation one of four 2025 King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize laureates, selected from 86 entries across more than 50 countries, crediting the programme with reaching over 6,000 learners and 300 teachers.
Conclusions
As with the other laureates, these are participation figures rather than an independent learning-outcomes evaluation, and continuity depends on further Erasmus+ or follow-on EU funding beyond the current project cycle.
Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Funded through the Erasmus+ SteamCity consortium grant; no separate budget figure specific to AI4InclusiveEducation was found.
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years) — Delivered within the Erasmus+ SteamCity project cycle; recognised by UNESCO in 2025.
Staffing & skills
La Scientothèque ASBL (Brussels non-profit, hosted at ULB's Physics Experimentarium), Erasmus+ SteamCity consortium partners, Participating teachers delivering open-access modules
Conditions for success
Anchoring abstract AI-ethics concepts (data privacy, algorithmic bias, misinformation) in concrete local civic issues learners already recognise.
Open-access modules in the learners' own languages (French and Dutch), published openly on GitHub.
EU consortium funding (Erasmus+ SteamCity) providing initial development resources.
Common failure modes
Continuity depends on further Erasmus+ or follow-on EU funding beyond the current project cycle, with no confirmed funding secured past it.
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