In a keynote speech at ANE’s Nordic STEM Summit, Linda Liukas, engineer, children’s book author, illustrator, and creator of computer-themed playgrounds, challenged us to rethink what gives Europe its edge in tech, focusing on the stories we tell about science, technology, and innovation.
For Linda, competitiveness isn’t just about technical expertise, it is also about imagination, inclusion, and the narratives that shape our relationship with technology.
She shared that much of her inspiration comes from pedagogical thinkers and her presentation drew on Dan Wang’s ideas, in which she followed his cooking metaphor to approaching technology, where “Technology should be understood in three distinct forms: as processes embedded into tools (like pots, pans, and stoves); explicit instructions (like recipes); and as process knowledge, or what we can also refer to as tacit knowledge, know-how, and technical experience.” (Dan Wang)
Following Dan’s line of thinking, Linda split her presentation into the three ideas, speaking first about the tools of how we can teach engineering, with great examples of making the abstract concrete. She then turned to the explicit instructions, covering how we instruct engineers to build with technology, employing examples of different algorithms and how these can be understood and how they work in practice. The final part of the presentation focused on tacit knowledge, in which Linda reflected on a computer-themed playground she helped build, with the hope that children will be able to recall the knowledge of computers and engineering practices later on in life, creating a sort of tacit knowledge based on experiences and involvement from playing there.
Her keynote speech highlighted how storytelling and play can make STEM more accessible, especially for children.
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Whether you’re an educator, technologist, or policymaker, Linda’s keynote is an invitation to reimagine how we build Europe’s tech future, one story at a time.