The E4C Pilot Project
February – June 2025
Before Edutainment4Care became a European project, it started as a local pilot in the Marche region of Italy. Education and entertainment were introduced as part of the care pathway for young oncology patients in the Salesi Hospital, part of the Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria delle Marche (AOU Marche) in Ancona, through the Fondazione Ospedale Salesi. Running from February to June 2025, the pilot involved a group of patients aged 10 to 12.
Funding
The pilot was funded by Lions Club International – District 108A, which raised the funds through careful district budget management and fundraising by local Lions Clubs in Marche and Abruzzo. Paediatric cancer is one of the Lions’ global priority areas, and according to district leadership, the pilot in Marche should be considered a first step toward a larger European initiative. From there, the results of the Marche pilot supported a proposal for a €400,000 European research and innovation project involving 11 international partners — the project that has since become Edutainment4Care (E4C), an Erasmus+ KA220-HED project running December 2025 to November 2028.
Partners
In the Marche pilot, the following partners were involved:
UNIVPM – LabMACS (Laboratory for Modelling, Analysis and Control of Dynamic Systems), Department of Information Engineering, Università Politecnica delle Marche — a research centre specialising in the digitisation of mechatronic systems, with a focus on underwater and educational robotics, led by Prof. David Scaradozzi.
ANcybernetics — an academic spin-off of UNIVPM based in Ancona, combining LabMACS’s two decades of robotics expertise with the input of students to develop advanced robotics solutions.
TALENT — a MIUR-accredited training organisation founded in 2015 in Osimo (Ancona), providing training for pupils, teachers and educators to support schools and organisations in renewing educational practice.
Fondazione Ospedale Salesi — established in 2004, working alongside the Salesi hospital to improve care for young patients through reception, psychological support and research projects.
Tools and Resources
Here you can find a series of useful resources that have been developed for the E4C project. These materials were designed to support engagement with and adoption of the educational and interactive activities.