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1. New technologies in support of creativity and innovation

2. Facilitating access to culture through new technologies

New technologies in support of creativity and innovation

There is no information on a specific policy or national programme for using new technologies to empower young people’s creativity and capacity for innovation.

Due to the crisis imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the national education web platform eduino.gov.mk was introduced. This platform features video lectures, resources, games and various activities to support the educational process. Eduino aims to grow into a collective platform on which, together with students, teachers and parents, new resources and materials will be created, reviewed and published, building the first national library of digital educational materials in the country. The video lessons on the platform are prepared by teachers across the country, they are content approved by the advisors of the Bureau for Development of Education and are checked by the technical team of EDUINO. The videos are intended to cover the curricula for elementary and general secondary school. They are divided per school year, semester and subject. However, most of the sections that cover the subjects: arts, music, Business and entrepreneurship do not feature any videos.

One of the key projects in the previous National Strategy for Development of E-Content 2010-2015 (Национална стратегија за развој на е-содржини 2010-2015), was “Computer for Every Child”, launched in 2006 and implemented in all primary and secondary public schools in the country. The project foresaw purchase, installation and maintenance of technological equipment, as well as development of an adequate environment for creating and using e-content. In many schools there were not enough computers, and where they were, they were not used at all or were used for entertainment instead of education or innovation. There are indications that in some schools the computers were stolen, and in part of them completely destroyed. It was never revealed exactly how much money the project cost the state.  

The Ministry of Education and Science is preparing the successor of the project "Computer for Every Child". This was announced by the Deputy Minister of Education and Science who says that there is a need for digitization of the curriculum in order to enable students to learn from modern aids. In addition to the announced digitalization, no specific measures have been taken yet.

In order to foster the creative and innovative potential of young people in primary and secondary schools, the Innovation and Technology Development Fund together with the Ministry of Education announced a public call in 2017 to fund research projects "Challenges for young researchers". For the most successful researchers, rewards were provided as an incentive for further successful scientific work. The fund kept this practice and in 2021, 19 primary and secondary schools across the country realized green projects for preservation and promotion of the environment and biodiversity within the public call "Challenge for Young Researchers 4 – green projects".

 Occasionally, the Innovation and Technology Development Fund organizes other similar competitions, designed primarily for students in primary and secondary schools, in order to develop their creativity and stimulate innovation.

In October 2018, the Innovation and Technological Development Fund started a new initiative ‘Friday for Youth’ (‘Петок за млади’). In order to encourage creative skills and innovation among young people, regular innovative thematic workshops with primary and secondary school students were planned.

Facilitating access to culture through new technologies

In September 2019, as part of the manifestation European Days of Cultural Heritage, the municipality of Prilep organized at the Institute and Museum in Prilep, organized an archeological exhibition and educational-visual workshop for children with special needs. The children were part of the educational workshop and through their multidimensional video applications they became acquainted with the world cultural heritage.

Since 2018, the Ministry of Information Society and Administration, the Ministry of Education and Science and in collaboration with the Metamorphosis Foundation for Internet and Society, have been actively supporting the European Code week, held each year in October at various locations in European countries and beyond. 

As part of the European Code Week 2019, the Metamorphosis Foundation has announced a call for grants of 300 euros from the Meet and Code program for a total of 40 events / projects that can be applied by CSOs and schools. The purpose of Meet and Code is to introduce children and young people between the ages of 8 and 24 to the world of technology and programming. The events are organized to show young people how interesting and fun programming can be and how it can help revive ideas. They need to learn how technology works and how IT affects everyday life.

There are some projects implemented by non-governmental actors that tackle the question of new technologies and cultural heritage.

Makedonika Foundation is the founder of the project “Makedonika” ("Македоника"), an Android application and web page for reading e-books in Macedonian language. The application includes free online picture books, which makes it unique in the world. This project targets everyone who understands the Macedonian language. Another platform like this, is the Samoglas platform, which offers access to audiobooks and audio publications in Macedonian language.