FIRST Scandinavia’s mission and objective is to ”increase children’s interest in science and technology through engaging real-life projects” , see www.firstscandinavia.org.
 
Since its start in year 2000 FIRST Scandinavia has been financed through contributions from private companies and public bodies. The organisation today employs 10 people.
 
The main project of the foundation is the science and technology tournament FIRST LEGO League (FLL). In 2008 140,000 children from 49 countries take part in the tournament (of which 12,000 in Scandinavia). In addition to increasing children’s interest in science and technology, this program also develop children’s skills in problem solving, innovation, and team building.
 
Since 2006 there has been an annual ”FLL world final” – FLL Open Championship. The first one was held in the Netherlands in 2006, the second one in 2007 was held in Norway with 650 participating children from 28 nations. In 2008 the Open Championship was held in Japan.
 
The 2008/2009 challenge is called Climate Connections and deals with climate change. With the COP15 (world climate summit) being held in Denmark in 2009, FIRST Scandinavia found it natural to host the 2009 FLL Open Championship there as well. In addition to the FLL Open Championship (Climate Connections) there will be another track (Climate Actions). Together they will form the Children’s Climate Call. We expect that 600 – 700 children and 200 – 300 grown-ups from all over the world will participate. And we strongly believe that children not only will, but also can make positive contributions to the climate challenges the world is facing today.

 
References

Since year 2000 FIRST Scandinavia has been responsible for 238 FIRST LEGO League tournaments in Scandinavia. We have also been responsible for establishing FIRST LEGO League in Iceland, Faroe Islands, and Lithuania.  We have been responsible for 6 Scandinavian finals as well as the above mentioned Open Championship in 2007. 
 
We look forward to organising the Children’s Climate Call in Denmark in 2009. We shall do our best to make it a big and rewarding experience for the participants from all over the world.

FIRST Scandinavia's sponsors are: