Hewlett Packard (HP) is committed to helping solve the challenges that face our society on a global level. Through the company’s global reach and uniquely wide array of products and services—plus the invaluable expertise of its employees—HP supports programs that need assistance as part of good corporate citizenship.
The HP Social Innovation office focused on the issue of Education, investing more than $6 million in grants to 35 educational institutions across 11 countries. Education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is one of the keys to social progress and economic competitiveness, and HP is dedicated to helping encourage STEM students to learn and apply their knowledge and creativity to solve real-world problems.
Here are a few of the ways in which HP supports STEM education:
This fall, HP launched the Catalyst Initiative, a group of five international consortia that will each explore a specific area for making STEM education more effective and relevant. Each consortium receives more than $1 million in technology, cash and professional services. The consortia focus on five themes:
• Multi-versity, led by the Sloan Consortium, investigates and demonstrates the new and best practices in online education for STEM students and the professional development of instructional faculty.
• Pedagogy 3.0, led by Futurelab, creates new models of teacher preparation to introduce powerful 21st century learning experiences for students.
• Global Collaboratory, led by the CSIR Meraka Institute, builds on the HP/UNESCIA Brain Gain project in Africa to employ the power of collaborative grid computing to address urgent social challenges.
• The New Learner, led by the Agastya International Foundation, engages both formal and informal education institutions to build a network of learning opportunities for students, including student-driven STEM learning models.
• Measuring Learning, led by Carnegie Mellon University, seeks ways to measure STEM competencies that are not often assessed in school.
Another of HP’s educational efforts that aims to inspire STEM students through hands-on learning is a partnership with National Lab Day. Scientists, teachers and students come together to enhance learning experiences all over the country. A “lab” is defined as more than test tubes and beakers—it’s a place to explore, experiment and get your hands dirty. That could mean working on a laptop to learn software design, climbing a mountain to study geology, or visiting a factory floor to research industrial engineering.
HP also committed $1 million to Donors Choose in 2009, and encouraged employees to donate a $500 gift card to the charity or classroom of their choice. Donors Choose helps public school teachers all over the US post classroom project requests that need funding or assistance. Need pencils for a math unit, violins for a recital, microscope slides for biology class, or just a new classroom rug for reading time? Donors Choose can make it happen.
Education is a huge part of HP’s Social Innovation efforts, and over the past five years, those efforts have included more than $236 million in cash, technology and service investments, which have supported over 1,100 projects in 45 countries.
