This year, for the first time, the ERW will be held in Bosnia & Herzegovina in several cities. Zenica, Sarajevo, Kiseljak, Mostar, Tuzla, Banja Luka, Vares, Sanski Most are just some of the cities that will host LEGO and mBot robots together with Arduino kits. The main focus is to improve education in elementary schools by using robots and other education sets and to promote STEM education within our societies. During the ERW in B&H, a special attention will be given to children without parents (Workshop in Vares) and children with autism (Workshop in Zenica in coolaboration with the association "Svijet u slikama"). Special thanks for a support for organizing all events goes to IEEE member Mr. Mastilovic.

In the interview on N1 TV, Mr. Mastilovic said: "What we are doing for this ERW is just the beginning. We hope we will create a positive impact and the society will recognize the importance of the events like these. Of course, we plan to continue every year with organizing more and more events held, especially for children but also to start with more serious events in order to promote robotics in industry. IEEE is one of the organizations on the global level which represents different countries, cultures, ages, gender and is always there to support events like EU Robotics Week."

Mr. Aleksandar Mastilovic, Telecommunications Engineer at University of Novi Sad (Serbia), is currently IEEE Publications Services and Products Board member as YP Representative and a few other IEEE global committees (Industry Engagement, Young Professionals, IoT Standards Steering, etc.). Mr. Mastilovic is a volunteer in IEEE for more than 15 years.  

Maja Hadziselimovic, a national coordinator for Bosnia & Herzegovina, added: "To organize more than 15 workshops, for the first time, in more than 12 cities was not easy at all, but I'm thankfull to all our partners, teachers, directors and everyone who is supporting us and helping us to bring technology to children and improve the quality of education. For sure, this is just the beginning and we hope to have more and more support through years to come. We are establishing also a connection with regional LEGO educators, such as Mr. Alen Piljak from Belgrade, Serbia, in order to support the education of teachers in B&H. I'm sure we will make a great impact and have a lot of fun with children while programming robots!".

Speacial thanks goes also to the BH Futures Foundation, development agenices in Zenica (ZEDA) and East Sarajevo (RAIS), SPARK School Mostar and the European Union Information Centre (EUIC) in Sarajevo.

Aleksandar and Maja are both board members of the BH Futures Foundation. The Bosnia & Herzegovina Futures Foundation is determined to provide education and technology access to students studying or commencing undergraduate studies in any field of engineering, manufacturing, computer sciences or information technology. We do this by providing life-changing scholarships. The types of scholarships we provide are constantly evolving to meet the needs of students. They are not just about financial rewards, focusing instead on the different kinds of support and encouragement that individual students need. Beside undergradute students, we are supporting educational projects like EU Robotics Week, doing our best to provide STEM experiences for all young children and help students from disadvantaged backgrounds. More about the foundation you can find: https://www.bhfuturesfoundation.org/.

Watch the interview: http://ba.n1info.com/a224753/Sci-Tech/Robotika-u-BiH.html