Our Story
قصتنا

Ethafa is the Arabic word for STEAM – Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math.

The Ethafa project was started to rethink how to bridge the gap in tech education and how to engage more Arabic girls in STEAM and technology disciplines.

The Ethafa formula

Cultural diversity
Teaching technology within a local cultural context engages kids in developing diversity and territorial awareness.
Future of jobs
We want to grow the next generation of active citizens, ready for the digital transformation in the future job market.
21st Century Skills
Empathy, collaboration, and communication are the fundamental skills integrating a technology learning experience.

The Team

Hichem Ferchichi

Software Engineer

Serena Cangiano

Co-Founder

Leyla Tawfik

Art director & Co-Founder

Ilaria Bottelli

Illustrator

Reda Bousbah

Software Engineer

Lorenzo Romagnoli

Senior Interaction Designer

2017


Leyla meets Serena, interaction design professor at FabLab SUPSI, and with her guidance she develops the first prototype Ethafa Kit. The Ethafa core team is founded.

2018


Ethafa travels around Switzerland and the world. We present and give workshops at fairs and festivals. We get a lot of feedback from a lovely community of makers and fablab people…

2019


We develop a new version of the kit: a tablet application becomes the digital extension of the physical kit. In the meantime, thanks to our friends at Arduino, the kit is featured in the Mouser.com series “Engineering big ideas”.

2020


Ethafa becomes an entrepreneurial initiative supported by the Gebert Ruf Foundation. We start collaborating with FabLab Bahrain to share the Ethafa formula and resources with elementary teachers challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic.

2021


We release the first prototype of the STEAMMIANS board, a hardware extension that improves the learning experience and makes the circuit making experience more unique and usable.

2022


We launch the Steammians kit to Mars...:-)


Our community of supporters

Matteo Loglio

Founder at Primo Toys

Norhan Zahran

Gamification Expert at Giza System Education Foundation

Cristina Giotto

Director at Ated Ticino

Our talks and events

Upcoming

STEAM in the city, Milan (Remote)

Upcoming

Open Education Day, Switzerland (Remote)

2020

Digital Making++, Switzerland (Remote)
Bar Arduino Worldwide, Italy (Remote)
OnUxCamp.ch, Switzerland (Remote)

2019

Maker faire Bilbao, Spain
Fab15conference, Egypt
Swiss-Korean Innovation Week, South Korea

2018

Joint Reasearch Centre (JRC), Italy
Swiss Digital Day, Switzerland
Maker Faire Rome, Italy

2017

FabLearn Europe, NTNU, Norway
Maker Faire ZH17, Switzerland