About Build with Bits
The European Commission’s New European Bauhaus movement looks to shape future ways of living that answer today’s challenges — green, sustainable and beautiful, alongside accessible, inclusive and equitable.
Build with Bits is a Europeana Initiative mentoring programme and educational challenge (led by the Education Community) which contributes to New European Bauhaus by inviting students and educators to design beautiful and sustainable spaces online. It brings teachers, non-formal educators and students across Europe together to develop innovative and immersive spaces, incorporating the principles of the New European Bauhaus and supporting educators and students to develop new digital skills.
Through the programme, the Europeana Education community aims to build an international community of engaged educators that uses disruptive pedagogical practices to help Europe move towards new ways of thinking, creating and living together sustainably.
The programme
Imagine students not just sitting through their lessons, but virtually building the experiences they are learning about — and, in the process, contributing to a more beautiful and sustainable future for Europe.
The Build with Bits mentoring programme helps educators and teachers achieve this by combining collaborative learning experiences and digital technologies with the values of accessibility, inclusivity and sustainability central to the European Commission’s New European Bauhaus movement.
The programme is designed for teachers and educators working with students in secondary education in Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal. This online programme helps teachers to:
- Explore virtual and extended reality technologies
- Learn how to create virtual spaces
- Learn how virtual spaces can be used in collaborative processes
- Discover existing projects and examples of immersive spaces using cultural heritage to inspire students
Read on to explore previous Build with Bits editions, which were facilitated by Emma Abbate, Theodora Gkeniou, David Mingorance, Marco Neves and Daniel Llamas.
Build with Bits 1 (2021)
The winners of the first edition of Build With Bits were recognised for combining collaborative learning, digital creativity and sustainable design principles, and received opportunities to further develop their projects with expert support. You can watch the full ceremony where the winners were announced and find out more about the winners in the articles below:
- Greece: Children’s Games — a virtual space created by students at Iraklia’s Junior High School. Read more
- Italy: Anatomical Open Air Museum — a virtual museum space designed by students at Capozzi‑Galilei School to explore anatomy in an immersive environment. Read more
- Spain — a virtual space built by CODEMA students showcasing local cultural heritage and creative digital design. Read more
- Portugal: Historical Monuments of Tomar — a virtual tour in Mozilla Hubs highlighting the historic sites of Tomar, created by students at Agrupamento de Escolas Nuno de Santa Maria. Read more
- Best Europeana Project: Biodiversity Pavilion — an award‑winning immersive space designed by students from IS Leonardo da Vinci of Lanusei, Italy. Read more
Build with Bits 2 (2022)
The second edition of Build with Bits 2 demonstrated how immersive technologies can enhance learning, empower students as creators and make cultural heritage accessible, interactive and collaborative across Europe. Participants explored innovative ways to present cultural heritage, make learning more interactive and connect communities through digital creativity.
To find out more about the 2022 edition, watch the final ceremony and read about the winning projects below.
- Projects where learners designed immersive virtual environments to explore architectural heritage, bringing digitised collections to life in ways that are accessible and interactive. Read more
- Projects where students creatively reused digital collections to build virtual exhibitions and learning experiences, encouraging cross-border intercultural engagement. Read more
- Projects that connected learners with European values, environmental awareness and tourism‑linked heritage sites through immersive storytelling and student-led design. Read more
Build with Bits 3 (2023)
The 2023 edition coincided with the Spanish Presidency of the EU. Nine teams participated, building projects that ranged from virtual museums and historical storytelling to interactive media literacy environments and community‑driven cultural experiences. Watch the recording of the final event and explore what the winners taught us about how to create virtual spaces to teach media literacy and digital skills
Build with Bits 4 (2025)
Built with Bits returned for its fourth edition in spring 2025, bringing together participants worldwide to design virtual environments that address local challenges. Using a living lab methodology, institutions, educators, their students and tech enthusiasts brought their proposed projects to life in a virtual environment. Read more about the methodology and projects.
Build with Bits 5 (2026)
The fifth edition of Build with Bits is currently running! It will harness our collective imagination and encourage participants to create place-based storytelling, linked to community identity, sustainability, and future thinking. Find out more.
Find out more
Information about further editions of Build with Bits will be shared through our news! In the meantime, explore and use Europeana’s APIs or discover more opportunities to use digital cultural heritage in education.