Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa, October 8, 2010 - CSIR Meraka Institute today announced it has received a grant to participate in HP's Catalyst Initiative, a global social innovation program designed to develop more effective approaches to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education worldwide.

The main thrust of the Global Collaboratory is to engage students in collaborative problem solving and to incubate innovations in STEM education. This will be done using shared computing, data, knowledge and sensor resources as well as human and institutional networks and skills through state-of-the-art technologies enabling virtual collaboration including cloud and grid computing.

As part of the program, HP is donating $6 million to 35 educational institutions, including the CSIR, across five consortia that will use the award to explore innovations in STEM+ learning and teaching. This builds on the Obama Administration's "Educate to Innovate" coalition designed to improve national outcomes in STEM subject matters.

Program Details:
The HP Catalyst Initiative creates five global consortia in 2010, each focusing on a specific innovation theme for transforming STEM education. The five themes span: approaches to teacher preparation, online education, using technology to measure learning outcomes, and engaging students in global, collaborative learning experiences.

Member organizations were selected through an open and competitive global call for proposals. Eligibility was based on two principal criteria: status as an accredited educational institution (that is, schools, colleges, universities, as well as nonprofit or nongovernmental educational organizations) and country of location. Eligible countries for 2010 included Brazil, China, Eqypt, France, Germany, India, Kenya, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.

A new global Consortium:
Global institutions that will be leading the five HP Catalyst consortia include Carnegie Mellon University, the Sloan Consortium, FutureLab (UK), the CSIR (South Africa) and the Agastya International Foundation (India).

"As the CSIR, we see huge opportunities for the Global Collaboratory which unites the facilities, minds and skills of Cairo University, Faculty of Computers and Information (Giza, Egypt), Coventry University (Coventry, United Kingdom), Del Mar College (Corpus Christi,Texas, USA), East Carolina University (Greenville, North Carolina, USA) and Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (Kakamega, Kenya) and Stamford Public Schools (Stamford, Connecticut, USA). With the support of the HP Catalyst Initiative, the Global Collaboratory will, through research related to a few specific issues directly relevant to the quality of life on the African continent, reach into the classrooms of today, to diffuse, reinforce and improve the technologies essential to the training of tomorrow's scientists. Learning through participation of current research is one of the best ways to inculcate the passion for science, mathematics, engineering and technology essential for success in a competitive and changing world. "

Laurens Cloete, Acting Executive Director, CSIR Meraka Institute

Additional resources:

http://www.sagrid.ac.za

http://www.meraka.org.za

About HP Catalyst Initiative:

HP is building a global network of consortia that is attempting to develop more effective approaches to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. The goal is to create international collaborative "sandboxes" of innovation that will explore what the future of STEM education can look like a future where students use their technical and creative ingenuity to address urgent social challenges in their communities and around the world. More information is available at http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/socialinnovation/catalyst.html

About the CSIR:
The CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) is one of the leading R&D, technology and innovation institutions in Africa, with a track record spanning over 60 years. Structured to manage the entire research and innovation value chain, the CSIR strives for excellence in all its endeavours in order to improve the quality of life of South Africa's people and to increase the global competitiveness of South African industry. See www.csir.co.za or contact tel 012-841-2000. The CSIR - our future through science.