An incredible milestone in the history of MyMachine! Friday, November 11th, marked the official opening of a dedicated MyMachine House in the city of Óbidos.

Enchanting Óbidos is one of Portugal’s most beautiful destinations and one of Europe’s best-preserved medieval villages or walled towns. Everywhere you turn is a postcard view, and that has inevitably made it one of the country’s most visited sites. It is known as one of the seven wonders of Portugal and attracts 2 million visitors a year. In addition, Óbidos is known in Portugal as an innovation hub in different fields, and it hosts several festivals each year, including Folio, the largest literature festival in Portugal.

Óbidos also hosts the headquarters of MyMachine Portugal. Ana-Sofia Godinho and her team started MyMachine Portugal in Óbidos in collaboration with the Óbidos Technology Park (Miguel Silvestre) many years ago. Since then, they have been able to grow MyMachine in the country, with schools participating from the North (Vila Nova de Famalicão), Center, and South (Campo Maior) of Portugal.

As if that doesn’t make us proud enough, our team in Portugal have topped this success by establishing a MyMachine House. A permanent MyMachine space reaching out to local stakeholders and the millions of visitors in Óbidos each year.

“The construction of education is done in the community, it involves all of us,” said Margarida Reis, councillor responsible for Education, at the official opening ceremony of the Espaço MyMachine Portugal at the Casa do Centro (former municipal library), in Óbidos.

According to the mayor, “MyMachine has been working in schools, but it is too good to stay just there, and therefore, this space will serve to open MyMachine to all stakeholders of the community. We will offer programs for students, professionals, and companies, from various parts of the country”.

Ana Sofia Godinho, the national coordinator of MyMachine Portugal, explained that “the beauty of MyMachine is the communication between everyone, between children, students from technical schools and students from universities. In Óbidos itself, MyMachine unites the Municipality of Óbidos, the Josefa de Óbidos School Grouping, the Óbidos Technological Park, the Superior School of Arts and Design of Caldas da Rainha, the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, CENFIM – nucleus of Caldas da Rainha, Rainha and the Rainha D. Leonor Special Education Center, in Caldas da Rainha. A new protocol was also signed with the Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro School Group, in Caldas da Rainha.”

The MyMachine House intends to be a multidisciplinary and transversal nucleus, guaranteeing an educational and training approach, based on the three phases of the methodology: Idea, Design and Construction. The MyMachine House will reach out to different age groups, different audiences and dynamics, with several components. It will be adopted for different audiences (from pre-school to university education), for education technicians, teachers, non-teachers, business leaders and families. A space for debating, sharing and building ideas and projects through skills development. The MyMachine House will simulate a trip to space (using the famous Jump-To-The-Moon-Machine), and Mission Earth, challenging visitors to reflect and rethink their contribution to a better community and planet.

Here’s a Portugues news article about the official opening event.

Thank you so much to our wonderful team at MyMachine Portugal! This is undoubtedly an incredible milestone in the history of MyMachine. We take a deep bow.

And of course, you are all invited! We hope to see you there!