The opening ceremony of "SAF 2022 - International STEAM Azerbaijan Festival" was held with the support of the Ministry of Science and Education.

APA reports that Minister of Science and Education Emin Amrullayev, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Ahmadov, Chairman of the State Committee on Family, Women and Children's Problems Bahar Muradova, a number of ambassadors, deputies, heads of various media organizations and guests from abroad took part in the ceremony.

Minister of Science and Education Emin Amrullayev, who opened the event with an introductory speech, spoke about the importance of the STEAM project.

He said that everything is changing in the world, and education should also change.

"The scope of STEAM is expanding every year. The main goal of teaching the program is to prepare the future generation of Azerbaijan for new challenges. It is gratifying that 40 percent of students participating in today's festival represent the regions of Azerbaijan," the minister noted.

Speaking later, the head of "STEAM Azerbaijan" project Igrar Nazarov said that currently the project covers 318 schools across the country.

"126 of these schools are located in the regions, and 192 are in Baku. There are also 22 STEAM centers. Currently, 103,000 students are involved in the project. By 2026, it is aimed to reach 280,000 people. Unlike last year, this year's festival will feature 6-10 students and universities are also represented," he added.

SAF 2022 was organized in the format of a competition in 10 categories, as well as an exhibition of innovative projects in 1 category.

In total, 1312 people from 350 teams won the right to participate in the festival.

127 of them are foreign and 442 local participants.

Foreign participants represent Turkey, Great Britain, Sweden, Estonia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

The purpose of the STEAM Festival is to promote STEAM-based education, develop 21st century skills among students, identify and network creative, digital technology-savvy students and students, as well as study international experience in innovation and digitalization.

The event will continue until December 9.