The Skills Upload Jr Challenge is an initiative of the Vodafone Foundation's European program, Skills Upload Jr. Its goal is to equip young people with the tools they need to confidently and safely navigate today's digital world, through challenges focused on current global issues.
Meet the winners from each country of the second SUJ Challenge and the SUJ European Challenge winner: CALMify AI by Greece.
Greece
CALMify AI is a student-developed smart device using AI to detect study-related stress through posture and facial expressions, automatically playing calming music to improve concentration without interrupting work.
Albania
Students designed an intelligent agricultural system using digital skills to monitor animal health, automate feeding, manage waste, and control a smart greenhouse, addressing real-world farming challenges.
Spain
Guardian of Emotions is an offline AI camera system connected to a micro:bit that recognizes children's basic emotional states and sends alerts to family members to enable early emotional support.
Portugal
Portugal's winning projects include 'VitALL', a digital storytelling concept about a sustainable planet promoting environmental responsibility, and 'Smart Note', an advanced school notebook that records lessons, offers automatic transcriptions, and provides AI-powered summaries to enhance studying and digital well-being.
Turkey
Nexus AI v5.0 is a free, camera-supported digital health assistant that monitors posture, eye condition, and body movements in real time, providing personalized alerts to foster healthier digital work habits.
Romania
An AI-powered app offers personalized emotional advice to children, providing monthly emotion summaries. A connected parent app sends notifications during difficult periods to help them stay connected.
The Netherlands
'PlaySmart Outdoors' uses a smart card and a check-in/check-out pillar at playgrounds to reward children for playing outside. Kids earn points for rewards like sports gear, and parents can track their activity, promoting a healthy digital balance and safety.
The challenge was open to students aged between 11 and 16 from Albania, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Turkey, The Netherlands, and Greece.
Participants were invited to dive into the challenges of digital wellbeing and explore how technology can strengthen our human connections, presenting their own proposals or solutions to real-world issues.
Digital resources, training, and materials were provided to teachers and students to enhance the benefits and learnings acquired throughout the process, enabling them to apply their new skills effectively.
Theme
Achieving a more balanced and conscious use of technology is essential in today’s digital world. That’s why the main theme of the 25/26 SUJ Challenge was: ‘Technology as an ally: Promoting digital wellbeing by using technology thoughtfully’.
Digital wellbeing
Artificial intelligence
Connecting through technology
This Challenge wanted to highlight how, when used thoughtfully, technology can be a great ally for wellbeing and for strengthening human bonds, even through a screen.
Listening to European Youth on Digital Wellbeing
Young people are at the forefront of digital culture, making their role crucial in shaping a healthier online environment.
As digital natives, they possess unique insights into the challenges and opportunities presented by technology.
Their involvement ensures that solutions are relevant, effective, and tailored to the needs of their generation.
Each team was supervised by a teacher, and the Vodafone Foundation was provided training to these educators to help them guide their teams in achieving the Challenge objectives.
How it works:
The methodology for this challenge was based on design-thinking.
These are the steps to follow:
The SUJ Challenge had two phases:
Local phase:
International phase:
Ways to implement
Each country chose how to address this challenge in one of the following ways…
Competition
Hackathon
The Award
The local winners had the opportunity to present their proposals or solutions in an international online final.
The international winner team had the recognition of the international jury and an international experience organised by Vodafone Foundation.
Find your Local Challenge
