We inspire education through space

Umbilical Design is passionate about inspiring kids and teens by using space as tool. Space is a great source of inspiration, perhaps the most inspiring of them all. We want to encourage kids, teens and schools to work in a more cross-disciplinary manner just like in space. The purpose is also to inspire young people to become interested of working in the space sector and contributing to a sustainable society in the future.

Space & Education cases:

CEMS Block Seminar – Stockholm School of Economics

In August 2016 Umbilical Design co-hosted the CEMS Block Seminar at the Stockholm School of Economics. ESA is an official partner of CEMS (Global Alliance in Management Education), and invited us to be part of organizing the annual CEMS event - but this time with a space theme. 60 top students at master level from all over the world participated in the one week event, solving cases for companies from the Swedish space sector. The Swedish companies that participated were Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), ÅAC Microtec and Svenska Aerogel. The outcome was successful and the space theme will be continued at this annual activity.

Space Kids – Primary schools in Stockholm

Umbilical Design’s initiative Space Kids was started in 2011 through lectures for 8 years-old school pupils. The lectures were highly appreciated by the teachers, and not the least among the pupils. With the aim to turn the Space Kids concept into a programme for schools, Umbilical Design started collaboration with the French School in Stockholm.

The collaboration was on going during 2014-2015. The purpose with Space Kids is to encourage schools and its pupils of mixed age to work in a cross-disciplinary manner with space as a tool. At the French School space was included in all kinds of subjects ranging from the physical education classes to physics. The aim is to inspire and educate children about space. In a long-term perspective the hope is that the seeds planted today inspire these children and young people to in the future work for a world where knowledge about space contributes to a more sustainable society.

Space & Migration – Linnaeus University

As an assignment for the masters programme “Innovation through Business, Engineering and Design” at Linnaeus University, Umbilical Design did a pilot activity with the students to further develop the ideas that emerged at ESA's Space and Migration workshop. The activity was held in March 2016 and 19 students from 9 countries participated. The activity was based on an internal ESA brainstorming activity named "Jam session", initiated by the Director General of ESA. ESA had held a Jam session and a workshop centred on space and migration during 2015 when critical amount of immigrants came to Europe. Umbilical Design's ambition is to take the outcomes of the Jam session and inspire students, to come up with ideas based on space solutions that have potential of becoming innovations. The outcome of this two-day activity was outstanding. The students were inspired and generated ideas such as self-sufficient refugee camps and online platforms to support refugees through their challenging journey.