The E4C Pilot Project
From local experimentation to European scale-up
Before becoming a European project, Edutainment4Care was developed and tested through a local pilot programme at the Salesi Children’s Hospital in Ancona, Italy. The Marche Pilot evolved through two consecutive phases, allowing the partnership to progressively test, refine and expand the educational and technological approach in a real hospital environment. The experience generated locally laid the foundations for the European Edutainment4Care project, funded under Erasmus+.
Phase 1 – First experimentation
February – June 2025 | Supported by Lions Club International – District 108A
The first phase introduced Edutainment4Care activities within the care pathway of young oncology patients at the Salesi Children’s Hospital, part of the Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria delle Marche (AOU Marche). Young patients took part in educational and recreational activities combining educational robotics, STEAM learning, digital tools and ethical artificial intelligence. This first experimentation allowed the team to test the methodology in a real hospital environment, gather initial feedback from patients and professionals, and identify areas for further technological and educational development.
Phase 2 – Validation and enhancement
From late 2025 | Supported by Crédit Agricole Italia
Building on the first experimentation, Edutainment4Care entered a second phase of validation and enhancement with the support of Crédit Agricole Italia. The educational and technological framework was further developed on the basis of the experience gathered during Phase 1: the kit and its educational resources were improved, new content and additional activities were introduced, and the integration of AI-based solutions was strengthened.
The initiative was also extended beyond paediatric oncology to other departments of the Salesi Children’s Hospital and enriched with music therapy, broadening the range of children and hospital contexts in which the approach could be tested. This second phase focuses on validating the methodology in practice, collecting structured feedback and generating evidence to guide the future development of Edutainment4Care.
From the Marche Pilot to Europe
The experience developed in the Marche region provided the starting point for a broader European initiative. In December 2025, Edutainment4Care became an Erasmus+ KA220-HED European cooperation project, bringing together 11 partners from five European countries to further develop, validate and transfer the methodology across educational and healthcare settings. The European project builds on the experience generated at the Salesi Children’s Hospital while expanding the work internationally through the joint contribution of universities, healthcare organisations, technology providers and educational partners.
The Marche Pilot was made possible by:
PHASE 1
Lions Club International – District 108A
Supporting the first experimentation in 2025
PHASE 2
Crédit Agricole Italia
Supporting the validation, enhancement and expansion of the programme
Our Partners
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.