our philosophy

“Everybody should learn how to program a computer... because it teaches you how to think.”                                                     - Steve Jobs

our mission statement

Our goal is to offer kids and teenagers from all backgrounds the opportunity to discover, play and experiment with new technologies.

We want to give them the tools to understand and shape the ever increasingly technological world we live in. We want to help them     move from passive tech consumers to active players.

In short, we want to instill into them the "hacker-maker" spirit. And who knows, maybe foster life-long passions...

our offer

One-week TECH camps

• during school holidays
• fantastic projects combining several technologies
• demo to friends & family on Friday 

One-day TECH discovery workshops

• all year round
• for schools & the general public
• mobile "techies lab" full of magic tools & devices

TWO formulas

our pedagogy

project-based

• learn-by-doing, reverse engineering, testing, experimenting
• progressive & seamless acquisition of knowledge 
• peer validation and badge allocation

ADAPTED CURRICULUM

ONe shared approach

• curriculum adapted for each age group : 8-12 and 13-17
• at least 2 different educational paths per camp
• each kid to select their favourite educational path

BESPOKE coaching

ONe shared approach

• minimum of 1 coach for 5-6 participants
• multilingual coaches (at least bilingual in EN + FR and/or NL)
• with a passion for teaching & sharing knowledge
• lead coaches recognised as experts in their fields

our TEAM

Margo TInawi

• founder of Kidzeum, an educative app for kids in museums
• teacher and alumnus at                                  
• trains teachers at the European Schoolnet's  Future Lab Classroom
• extensive teaching experience in schools and camps
• worked as a Litigation Lawyer in Montreal, Canada

margo@techieslab.org

hugo herter

• Freelance Software & Data Engineer
• ex-Project Engineer at Railnova
• Python developer since 2004, member of AFPY
• Master Student in BioInformatics (ULB) & Artificial Intelligence (KUL)
• active member of the Hackerspace Brussels
• promoter of Free and Open Technologies
• activity leader for children at Jeunesses Scientifiques

Anne Collet

• founder, driver & coach of                                 Brussels coding school
• since 2015, has run 12 full-stack 9-week coding bootcamps              and 75 free workshops
• worked 10 years as a Knowledge and Information Manager
• extensively connected to the Benelux's tech and start-up community
• cub & boy scout leader (8 years)
• Rails Girls events coordinator

anne@techieslab.org

Jean-Christophe Bauduin

ARTHUR
Paquot

AlexandRe
roba

our track record

Web page

Www.techieslab.org

We have been testing different workshop formats
and have participated in several events

Here's a glimpse...

• gave three coding workshops to about 50 teens aged between 12 and 18
• feedback was extremely positive

March 28, 2017 :  Coding Workshops in a Highschool (Athénée Royal Jean Absil)

Honestly, I went reluctantly and with a very negative perception . In the end, it was awesome and it made me want to continue!

• organized screenless programming activities for kids as young as 4 y.o.
• demo of different technologies & learning tools : 3D-printing, Cubetto,  Bee-bots & robotic arm
• animated live programming tournaments for dozens of families

May 28, 2016 :  Full-Day Animation of a Stand at the

EU Commission's Open Day

• teenagers (between 15 and 17 y.o.) built their own robotic arm
• full-day workshop
• workshop involved several technologies: coding, electronics, robotics,... 
• they had quite some fun!

Nov 4, 2015 :  Robotics Workshop for Teens

• over 30 parents and kids (between 7 and 15 y.o.) learned to code a website from scratch (yep, no Wordpress!)
• workshop was 4 hours-long, with breaks and snacks :)
• feedback was, again, extremely positive: kids were sad to go, parents loved learning with their kids and nearly all participants said they wished to learn more

Oct 17, 2015 :  Kid-Parent Coding Workshop

our next step

The mobile lab

All children should have access to our workshops, no matter their location or socio-economic background.

For greater outreach, we aim at :

• developing strong partnerships with schools and local organizations (i.e. libraries, community centers, etc.) to reach children in their "natural habitat"
• reducing participation fees and the price of materials as much as possible

The mobile lab

For our discovery workshops, we are dreaming... of a mobile lab!     

• A van will allow us to pack our material (which can be pretty cumbersome - think of laptops, 3D printers, etc.) and tour Belgium's schools and collectivities

• A van is not only a means of transportation. It is also a powerful tech awareness tool. It is physical, big and visible to all. In less tech-savvy communities, it will help raise interest.

• And we foresee that as with ice-cream trucks, the arrival of the Techies Lab van will become a synonym for adventure and fun!

The mobile lab

our partners

current partnerships

corporate partners

Le Wagon Brussels

• coding bootcamp for entrepreneurs
• provides teaching expertise, a large
  community of followers

Co.Station

• accelerator and hub for Belgian start-ups
• provides modern facilities to host some of the workshops

future partnerships

YOU?

We are looking for partners to help us make our mobile lab project reality !

Interested?

Come test one of our workshops:

www.techieslab.org

Drop us a line at margo@techieslab.org
and let's book a meeting asap!

Can't wait any longer?

Call us at +32 495 15 90 36