On the 16th of April 2025, APRE has organised the launching event for the Podcast for kids on the circular and sustainable Bioeconomy. The event was hosted by the I.C Guicciardini school in Rome. It was held in the theatre of the school in front of students of the primary classes, teachers from kindergarten, primary and intermediate levels, parents and grandparents.
The podcast, BIO-AVVENTURES – First steps for small innovators, is dedicated to children aged 4-8, and it was produced by APRE as part of the Horizon Europe GenB project.
Bio-Adventures consists of eleven episodes, designed to convey the basic principles of bioeconomy. Each story lasts about 8-10 minutes, in line with the attention span of children of the indicated age. Each episode is a mix of scientific, economic and social information, presented in a narrative format that allows children to learn complex concepts in a natural way, while listening to engaging stories that stimulate their imagination.
The event was opened by the Director of the hosting school Ms. Simona Di Matteo that underlined the long lasting collaboration with APRE in bringing into the classrooms the bioeconomy and the sustainability through European funded projects.
Ms. Chiara Pocaterra, GenB Coordinator and APRE Head of Projects Department, presented the work done in almost three years in schools and in many other informal contexts such as large events and museums with students of all levels and young people.
Ms. Enrica Imbert, Professor of Economics at UNITELMA Sapienza Rome, introduced the bioeconomy to the audience in order to give the elements to understand the theme
Ms. Sara Silvi, Art Director in APRE, presented the process for the production of podcast from the selection of the authors, through their training in order to make them aware of the bioeconomy, the production of the stories, the selection of the actors / voices of the podcast and the design of the images. The podcast has been published on Spotify and a poster has been designed to be hung in many different contexts where children are present. A challenging activity for a high quality result.
Ms. Laura Mentini, Education Manager in APRE, presented the GenB educational model and all the available tools on line for free for teachers and educators.
Two of the authors of the podcast stories, Ms. Cristiana Pezzetta and Ms. Giorgia De Cristoforo, participated at the event and introduced their stories, while the actors Mr. Maurizio Raia and Ms. Claudia Salvatore read two excerpts from the stories of the two authors.
Ms. Chiara Pocaterra closed the event “We hope that these stories can be a companion in many different moments of a child’s life, while giving them information about the special world of the bioeconomy and its opportunities” and gifted with the poster the school Director, a representative of the Italian Society of Pediatrics, Dr. Luciana Indinnimeo and a representative of INDIRE, the National Institute for Documentation, Innovation and Educational Research of the Italian Ministry of Education, Ms. Alessia Rosa.
Thanks also to Ms. Flavia Fusconi, Project Manager in APRE, who followed the contractual aspects of the podcast production.