October 19, 2023 Deloitte Expands Smart Factory Believers Program

Deloitte convenes top tech, education companies to advance STEM education for students.

Deloitte today announced that it has assembled an ecosystem of changemakers to bring science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to middle and high school students in underserved communities across the U.S. through a new program, Smart Factory Believers. Together with AWS, Ballmer Group, Elenco Electronics, National Math & Science Initiative (NMSI), Siemens Digital Industries Software and Wichita State University (WSU), Deloitte aims to create high-quality STEM education programs for students in diverse and underserved communities.

Smart Factory Believers is the purpose-driven education and skills program created for The Smart Factory @ Wichita, Deloitte’s U.S. immersive experience center and proving ground for next-generation, digitally-driven manufacturing — located on WSU’s Innovation Campus. The program is designed to help remove systemic barriers that prevent students from accessing STEM learning and empower teachers with the skills needed to provide education for students that help them visualize and achieve jobs in the manufacturing industry. The Smart Factory Believers program is an extension of Deloitte’s own purpose to build pathways of opportunity and create an equitable workforce of the future.

Why this matters: Talent, instructional and access gaps

There is a critical gap between the technology and manufacturing jobs that need to be filled and the talent pool able to fill them. According to a “Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute” report, this skills gap may leave 2.4 million manufacturing jobs unfilled between 2018 and 2028. At the same time, Deloitte research shows that only 10% of the manufacturing workforce identifies as a minority, and the National Science Foundation reports that less than one-quarter of the Black (18%) and Hispanic (20%) workforce have careers in a STEM field. Further, according to America Succeeds, financially disadvantaged and minority students are less likely to have access to high-quality STEM resources.

Smart Factory Believers: Diversity in the workforce starts in the classroom

The Believers program provides students and teachers in Title I-eligible schools with hands-on resources, including Smart Rover kits, a customized version of Elenco’s popular Snap Circuits® R/C Snap Rover educational vehicle building kit, a culturally responsive curriculum and robust educator training to give students a hands-on way to learn how to build, code and operate a fully functioning mobile robot. Once students build the Smart Rover, they can follow guided project challenges and lessons from the NMSI curriculum to power it using electrical circuits. The curriculum also helps them apply Python coding language to program their robot to complete various tasks, including autonomous driving and image detection. The program provides schools with math and science materials aligned to Common Core standards, teacher lesson plans, student guides, video modules and all the technology accessories required for the projects.

The Believers program is active in 75+ middle and high schools in Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington, D.C. and will continue to expand in 2023. Since it was established, the Believers program has distributed over 2,250 Rover kits, which have impacted over 10,000 students to date, 83% of whom are eligible for free or reduced-cost lunches, and 89% of whom identify as Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Asian. The initial results as of June 2023 show that the Believers program has:

• Increased student interest in STEM: Students in the Believers program reported they enjoyed engaging in hands-on learning (70%), programming (60%), and working with technology (60%).
• Encouraged new paths for student leadership and peer engagement: As a result of the program, more than half (53%) of teachers report that their students have become more autonomous and collaborative.
• Helped 100% of educators trained via the program achieve STEM Common Core standards in a new way.

“When we built The Smart Factory @ Wichita, we wanted to use The Factory floor production line to make a product with purpose — thus the inception of the Smart Factory Believers program. Like The Smart Factory itself, the Believers program is made up of a community of top organizations to make meaningful progress in creating new pathways to STEM education and equity, while igniting a passion for areas that students may have not yet explored. We hope that the Believers program will make a lasting impact that matters: I personally cannot wait for the moment when I meet a person in the manufacturing workforce that is there because the Believers program sparked new areas of creativity and interest for them,” said Michael Gretzcko, Smart Factory Believers program executive sponsor, and principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP.

An ecosystem of changemakers

The Believers program is convened, led and funded by Deloitte and powered by a collaboration of world-leading organizations including: AWS sponsors shipping, warehousing, logistics and last-mile delivery of the Smart Rover kits; Ballmer Group has stepped forward as a community and funding partner to launch the program in Southeast Michigan; Elenco Electronics, whose commercially available Snap Circuits® R/C Snap Rover kit is the foundation for the Smart Rover kit produced at The Smart Factory @ Wichita; The National Math + Science Initiative designed the program’s curriculum, school activation materials and provides educators with ongoing professional development opportunities; Siemens Digital Industries Software offers career engagement for participating students; and Wichita State University translates curriculum materials into Spanish and WSU students are helping innovate upgrades to the Smart Rover.

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