BSH is the largest home appliance manufacturer in Europe with a high commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Its sustainability strategy includes “acting prudently and responsibly for the benefit of society and the environment.” In line with the UN’s 2030 Quality Education, Decent Work, and Economic Growth, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure and Reduced Inequalities goals, BSH Turkey started “Makers of Tomorrow (MoT),” one of the most extensive digital literacy and coding skills development programs in the region, in 2017. The program aims to equip future generations with the skills and knowledge they need in our rapidly changing world. Computational literacy is an excellent tool for youth to improve problem-solving skills, bridge the knowledge gap between advantaged and disadvantaged communities, and create decent employment opportunities for the next generations. So, Makers of Tomorrow trains children, especially girls, ages 8-18 in coding, electronics, robotics, application design & development.

The first creative aspect of MoT was starting with building the first maker lab in a factory campus in Turkey: We built a big Maker Lab within the BSH Çerkezköy Campus and equipped it with high-speed internet, 3D printer, Arduinos, m-bots, laptops, and many other tools.

The second noble approach was building formal partnerships with the education authorities to bring public school students and their teachers to our Lab every week and integrate our curriculum into schools. Thanks to these partnerships, every year around 1,000 primary and secondary school children as well as their teachers participate in the classes.

Finally, we provide transferable skills to everyday situations with a long-term curriculum, multidisciplinary approach, and quality trainers: Our own engineers and Kodluyoruz trainers provide the training. Children work with real engineers on coding challenges and new technologies. For instance, a group of our students designed a fridge for the blind.

We pursued a form of snowball strategy that started with a small group of pupils and their teachers in our community. Training teachers along with students helped education continue at school. We then expanded to other regional schools that showed an interest in the partnership. After Covid-19, we innovated by developing the first project-based online coding and algorithm education platform for children in Turkey to keep our momentum. To increase engagement in online education, we again entered partnerships with schools - but this time the schools were from all over the country! Within only 10 months of launch, we partnered with 39 sister schools around 24 cities of Turkey to train thousands of teachers and students.

Our target audience is the public school students ages 8-18 and their teachers. We prioritize girls, disadvantaged regions, and students who have an interest in technology. Academic success is not among the criteria of

Our courses are taught in three age groups: Primary school (8-10), Middle school (11-14), and High school (15-18). Once a group completes their training, they join the Maker Lab again in the following semester to receive more advanced content-ensuring a sustainable way of learning.

In the first group, we aim to raise awareness about the fundamentals of computer literacy, algorithms, coding, and electronics in an 8-hour training. The second group has two sub-groups: fundamentals and advanced training in algorithms, coding, electronics, 3D design, and robotics. Fundamental training takes 16 hours to complete, and the students who want to further their education continue to advanced training, which takes another 24 hours. The high school students take a more extended and advanced training in similar topics and in mobile application design, which takes 32 hours. This curriculum is now supported with our online platform that is free and open for all.