Mid 2017 Technopolis launched the online school competition Pitch and Play. Third grade teachers and students get the opportunity to build a new interactive exhibit that will ultimately be installed at Technopolis. The concept is entirely new in the Flemish education field, as the competition is based on an online gamification platform simulating a virtual entrepreneur environment. This way Technopolis endeavours to create an online community that co-creates the science centre’s future.

Participating teams consist of 1 teacher and up to 25 students. Their challenge is to design an exhibit that reflects Technopolis’ new strategic vision in which future technologies play an important part. Essential to the competition is the online gamification platform by Venture Spirit. The participants take part in an entrepreneurial game called Venture Game, a popular game in schools as well as in a lot of major companies. Players receive a venture capital from investors in order to set up a virtual activity – in this case the creation of an exhibit. The platform enables the teams to co-operate in an efficient and constructive way: they set up business networks, ask each other questions and give feedback.

Pitch and Play will be officially launched on 27 October during a special event at Technopolis. The participants have from 6 November 2017 up to and including 23 March 2018 to finalise their design for the new exhibit. The winner will be announced on 30 March 2018 after which the exhibit will be manufactured in co-operation with the winning team. The big reveal is scheduled on 25 June 2018.