POWAR STEAM Wins 3rd Prize at the EU Green Skills Award 2025

POWAR STEAM has won third prize at the Green Skills Award 2025, presented by the European Training Foundation (ETF), an EU agency. The recognition places a Barcelona-born project among the best in Europe for educational innovation in the green transition.

An award with a European track record

The Green Skills Award launched in 2021 and, over five editions, has received more than 1,350 entries from over 60 countries, with 57,000 public votes cast. In the 2025 edition, a project from North Macedonia took first place, Türkiye's Solar School Project came second, and POWAR STEAM placed third, among just five finalists selected from more than 250 entries across 50+ countries.

According to coverage by Catalan outlet RAB, the jury highlighted "the project's ability to bring climate change into practical territory, with tools that allow measuring, simulating and interpreting real environmental data."

"We're not just building devices, we're building understanding." — Pablo Zuloaga Betancourt, on POWAR STEAM's official ETF profile

Official recognition from Catalonia

Beyond ETF itself, the award received direct institutional coverage: the European Commission Representation in Barcelona published it via the Government of Catalonia's foreign action portal, and Catalan and Spanish outlets such as RAB and Europe Direct Castelló covered the recognition as a milestone for education innovation born in Catalonia.

What the jury actually evaluated

ETF's official profile describes POWAR STEAM as an initiative combining digital skills, sustainability education, and hands-on experimentation, aligned with the EU Green Skills Framework (GreenComp) and UNESCO's greening curriculum guidance. At the time of the award, the project already counted pilots in 8 schools (Catalonia and Croatia), more than 350 students, and 50 teachers involved.

"We want students to become inventors, not just consumers." — Pablo Zuloaga Betancourt

Further coverage

• Green Skills Award 2025 finalists (ETF)
• Government of Catalonia — Foreign Action
• RAB — "A Catalan project on the European podium for green skills"