Elhuyar Science Fair brings 640 young people together in the Arenal of Bilbao

2025/05/28 STEAM-Hezkuntza (Elhuyar Zientzia)

• STEAM-hezkuntza
• Elhuyarren berriak

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The Elhuyar Science Fair 2025 is underway. It starts at 11:00 a.m. with the official opening. The event was attended by the sponsors of the initiative, along with the agents of the Basque science and technology network that support the initiative, including: Eider Inunciaga Serna, Councilor Delegate of the Departments of Basque, Citizen Attention and Participation, 2030 Agenda and International Affairs of the Bilbao City Council; Isabel Sarrionandia-Ibarra Fernández, Head of the Business Promotion Service of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia; Eneko Elorriaga Astigarraga, Director of Innovation and co-founder of Erabi; and Jon Abril Huelyar, General Coordinator of Huelyar.

During the four days of the fair, more than 160 STEAM projects carried out during the course will be exhibited by young people aged 12-18 years. A total of 640 young people will participate in this year’s fair. In addition to the young people from the schools of the Basque Country, the winners of national and international fairs will also be with us: Another 9 teams will come from Vila-realdi (Comunidad Valenciana), Catalonia, Burgos, Galicia and Italy.

The 160 projects that will be presented have been aligned by young people with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as Health and Well-being, Responsible Production and Consumption, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure and finally Climate Action. They reflect on global challenges and propose solutions from their immediate environment. This approach has allowed students not only to delve into the contents of the curriculum, but also to become aware of the role they can play in building a fairer and more sustainable future.

We will also have researchers evaluating youth projects in El Arenal. With all the data collected, the award ceremony will take place on Saturday 31 May at 1:00 p.m. The awards ceremony will bring together the winners during the fair, as well as authorities and representatives of institutions such as the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, the Basque Government, the City Council of Bilbao and Elhuy. The laureates will win scholarships and trips to national and international fairs. The presenters will be the actress Joanes Echeveste Dernet and the researcher Sara Alicante Martínez, the last of whom will carry out scientific experiments. In addition, there will be a daily raffle of stays for collaborating research centers.

The Elhuyar Science Fair is attended not only by young students, but also by research centres and universities in the Basque Country. It is also worth mentioning the commitment that all of them show each year with respect to this project: at the beginning of the academic year, 94 researchers (among them 51 women) from universities and technology centers registered to work with students, and during the days of the fair 73 researchers (among them 45 women) have worked as evaluators.

The Clean Challenge

The Elhuyar Science Fair has obtained the IHOBE Clean Challenge seal. Events that apply a methodology called the Clean Challenge achieve the seal. The objective of this methodology is to mitigate the negative environmental impacts that occur when events are organized and to raise awareness among the participants of the event.

Therefore, Elhuyar has set several objectives: reducing greenhouse gas emissions; reducing energy consumption and deriving energy consumed from renewable sources; reducing the environmental impact of purchases and leased infrastructure; and reducing the impact of waste. To this end, the use of public transport or renewable energies, the hiring of local suppliers and the selective collection of waste will be promoted, among other actions. After the fair, the indicators will be collected and the environmental impact of the Elhuyar Science Fair will be measured.

Elhuyar Science Fair throughout the year

The aim of the Elhuyar Science Fair is to offer young people scientific experiences and to promote and disseminate scientific culture, not only at this fair held in El Arenal, but also throughout the year.

Since its first edition in 2013, almost 4,000 young people between the ages of 12 and 18 have presented their projects at the Elhuyar Science Fair, which is organized in Bilbao. In total, more than 1,000 research or technological projects have been submitted.

The Elhuyar Science Fair initiative, organized by Elhuyar, is supported by the Department of Science, Universities and Innovation of the Basque Government, FECYT (Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology), the City Council of Bilbao, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, the Government of Navarre and Erabi.