The Universitat de València, CIFRE of Torrent, InnDEA Valencia/Las Naves, El Caleidoscopio (start up of the Miguel Hernández University) and nearly fifty city councils of Valencia province have fired the starting gun to la ‘Feria Aérea’ (The Aerial Festival), a project for educational innovation whose objective is that young people between 12 and 18 years old learn to build drones with social or environmental purposes and a positive impact for their environment.

The Universitat de València participates in the project through the School of Engineering (ETSE-UV), which will host the Feria Aérea in May 2017, and the collaboration of the Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+i). In the project will meet around 3.000 students of Valencia province from more than 65 institutes that have confirmed their attendance. The project has already begun with the training of the teachers that will make it possible.

The Feria Aérea is a proposal that aims to encourage technological vocations, as well as the technological empowerment of secondary school students using the building of a drone and the reflection about technology on the whole, as a powerful tool for improving human environment and not just as a consumption object. It also intends to imagine the aerial future through the extension of knowledge and skills in an inclusive and cooperative space for learning and creation for adolescents.

This project is also useful in order to bridge the gaps and stimulate communication between public administration, scholar community, innovation centres, Universities and the different social agents involved in the problematics that are intended to be solved with predesigned drones, allowing generating educative innovation networks at local and provincial level.

The first stage of the project, the training of about 150 registered teachers, developed in collaboration with CEFIRE of Torrent, is already underway and will end in January 2017. With the aim of reaching the whole geographical area, the localities of Almussafes, Xàtiva, Paterna, Benetússer, Algemessí, Buñol, Museros, Alzira and Valencia (Las Naves) have been established as the places in which the different training courses for the teaching staff will be imparted.

Once the process of training of the involved teaching staff is completed, these teachers will be in charge of guiding their students in the development of a project that will begin with a historical review of the relationship models between technology and society. It will continue with an introduction to flight theory and finally will focus on the design and construction of a drone, which should perform activities of common benefit to the local environment.

As a culmination, in mid-May 2017 all participating centres will be called to present their works at the Feria Aérea, an event that will take place at the School of Engineering of the University of Valencia. Here the participants will have to design and build the stands where they will show the other participants the social and artistic benefits of their flying devices, and will give a presentation explaining how they have managed the project. The event will end with a flight exhibit of all the drones presented at the Feria.

The design, structure and implementation of the Feria Aérea is carried out by the dissemination company specialized in science and innovation El Caleidoscopio, and has been possible thanks to the collaboration of Lot Amorós and the Flone project, which inspired this project.

In the project participate the city councils of l’Alcúdia, Algemesí, Almussafes, Anna, Alzira, Bellreguard, Benetússer, Benigànim, Benifaió, Bétera, Buñol, Canals, Carcaixent, Càrcer, Catadau, l’Eliana, Enguera, Foios, Guadassuar, Massanassa, Montserrat, Museros, Ontinyent, l’Olleria, Paiporta, Paterna, Picassent, la Pobla de Farnals, la Pobla de Vallbona, Puçol, el Puig de Santa Maria, Rafelbunyol, Riba-roja de Túria, Sagunt, Sedaví, Tavernes Blanques, Utiel, Valencia and Xàtiva, which, from their respective Departments of Education have supported it, strengthening their commitment to motivate and promote scientific-technic knowledge among young people.