A conversation with DigiEduHack National Ambassadors Maja Videnovik, Filipa Lemos Cristina, and Alexandru Capatina on six years of community, creativity, and what it means to be a catalyst for change.

The content below has been edited for clarity.

What has DigiEduHack meant to you, personally and professionally?

For Maja Videnovik, who served as National Ambassador for North Macedonia, DigiEduHack was a platform for something bigger than a role.

“It gave me the opportunity to connect global ideas on digital education with the everyday realities of teachers and students in my context. I wasn’t just observing change — I was helping spark it.”

Opening discussions, encouraging participation, making innovation feel accessible — that was the work. Professionally, it meant acting as a bridge between educators, students, and the broader European digital education community. It was a reminder of what becomes possible when a community decides not to wait for the future to arrive, but to actively shape it.

For Filipa Lemos Cristina, National Ambassador from Portugal, the experience was equally defining.

“It allowed me to see — and to help shape — how education, innovation, and community can come together with purpose.”

As someone who works at the intersection of the digital and human dimensions of education, Filipa found in DigiEduHack a lived expression of the values she advocates for: co-creation, curiosity, empathy, and inclusion. Professionally, it offered a space to connect diverse actors around a shared mission.

Why do initiatives like DigiEduHack matter?

All the ambassadors are clear on this: education cannot evolve in isolation, and good intentions are not enough. You need structure, energy, and people willing to act.

Maja puts it directly: at a time when AI is rapidly reshaping how we teach and learn, we need more than technology. We need shared understanding, critical thinking, and meaningful collaboration. DigiEduHack, she argues, turns passive observers into active contributors — people with the confidence and agency to co-create solutions rather than simply adapt to whatever arrives.

Filipa frames it in terms of translation. Abstract conversations about “digital transformation” only go so far. What DigiEduHack proved is that when you create space for experimentation, collaboration, and local ownership, education becomes a living ecosystem. It empowers people to explore technology responsibly, to think critically, and to imagine solutions that are relevant to their own contexts.

What impact did it have on your community?

In Portugal, Filipa has seen DigiEduHack bring schools, startups, and public institutions closer together — building bridges between worlds that don’t always talk to one another. It gave educators and students something important: permission to experiment, and the confidence to treat the digital world as a creative partner rather than a threat.

A moment you won’t forget

Filipa’s most memorable moment came after a hackathon she organised in 2021. A group of teachers and students told her they had “rediscovered their creativity.”

“For me, this is DigiEduHack’s essence — not just coding or ideas, but people rekindling their sense of agency.”

Her biggest takeaway is one worth carrying forward beyond this programme: innovation in education is not about tools or trends. It is about people feeling empowered to imagine, question, and build together.

What has your journey as a National Ambassador looked like in practice?

For Alexandru Capatina, National Ambassador for Romania, Professor and Vice-Dean for Research and International Affairs at Dunărea de Jos University of Galați, and a Business Innovation Coach at the European Innovation Council (European Commission), the journey has been defined by consecutive innovation challenges that bridge disciplines and continents.

“As DigiEduHack National Ambassador for Romania and host of three consecutive international innovation challenges — World Inno Cup 2023, Marketing Mavericks – Simbound Digital Marketing Hackathon 2024, and Digital Waves for Clean Lakes: Education for Freshwater Protection 2025 — I have been committed to fostering digital education innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and socially impactful learning experiences. Through these initiatives, my mission was to bring together students, educators, and innovators to co-create solutions addressing entrepreneurship, digital marketing, sustainability, and freshwater protection, while strengthening Romania’s contribution to the European digital education ecosystem and empowering participants from different continents to turn ideas into meaningful impact.” 

Maja, Filipa, and Alexandru are three of the many educators, practitioners, and community builders who made DigiEduHack what it became over six years — a space where the future of education was not just discussed but practised.

Our DigiEduHack National Ambassadors , we are so thankful for your passion and dedication, your work has been essential for bringing DigiEduHack to communities across Europe and beyond!

We hope you will join us on June 18 for the final DigiEduHack Awarding Ceremony! To find out more information and register for the event, please click here.