Hack Lab – activate young people and people with a distance to the labour market and prepare them for a job in the IT sector

The objective of the Hack Lab Project are:
• Support the inclusion of target groups with fewer opportunities by running the Hack Lab in San Sebastian, ES. Following the approach of Hack Lab Frl and MICA, Cebanc will try to successfully run their Hack Lab in Spain, supported by the Hack-Lab set up guide developed by Hack Lab Frl. The Hack Lab project addresses the horizontal priority ‘Social Inclusion’ as it develops inclusive ICT learning environments for youngsters inside and outside of Vocational Education (see description of the target group). Running a Hack Lab is a new approach to reducing differences between students in formal education and youth not in education (NEETs).
• Support the inclusion of target groups with fewer opportunities by expanding the Hack Lab methodology with a Hack Cave programme. Hack Lab Friesland noticed that participating in the physical activities of the Hack Lab is sometimes too challenging for the target group. To tackle this challenge, the Hack Lab project wants to set-up a virtual environment where the digital youngsters can create an avatar and virtually participate in Hack Lab activities, thus creating a first step towards participation in the physical Hack Lab programme.
• Realize innovation in VET. In Hack Labs VET is practiced in a substantially different way than that formal VET because they cooperate closely with VET colleges and triple helix stakeholder (local and regional authorities, the ICT Industry, H.E. providers, etc.) in the
region making VET education more relevant to the current and future needs of the economy and society. Hack Labs and Hack Caves offer a balanced mix of vocational skills and create work-based learning opportunities well aligned to the current and growing shortage of cyber security professionals (VET priority ‘Adapting VET to labour market needs).
The Hack Lab project will run the Hack Labs and Hack Caves and create impact stories to spread the word across Europe.