TOM TITS EXPERIMENT AB

Their core work

Tom Tits Experiment is a Swedish hands-on science center based in Södertälje that specializes in informal science education — the kind that happens in museums, makerspaces, and community settings rather than classrooms. Their core work involves designing and running interactive science experiences for children and young people, with a strong emphasis on learning by doing. In EU projects they function as an outreach and implementation partner, bringing a physical visitor-facing venue and an established educator network that research consortia typically lack. Their recent expansion into maker education, FabLabs, and service design reflects an evolution from exhibiting science to actively engaging communities in creating and experimenting.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their H2020 trajectory began with a broad framing of science education outside the classroom (SySTEM 2020, 2018), then sharpened considerably toward maker culture, open fabrication, and participatory civic science in the next project (Make it Open, 2020). The keyword expansion — from a single term to nine — suggests that the second project reflected genuine programmatic growth rather than just topic drift. The addition of service design and design thinking alongside FabLab points toward a center that is increasingly positioning itself as a co-creation space, not merely an exhibition venue.

Tom Tits is moving toward open, participatory making — FabLabs, citizen science, co-design — suggesting they would be a strong match for future projects that need a physical testbed where communities actively build and experiment rather than passively observe.

How they like to work

Tom Tits has participated exclusively as a third party across both projects, meaning they are brought in by a main consortium partner rather than holding a formal beneficiary seat. This is a common pattern for science centers: they provide the physical space, educator networks, and public audiences that academic partners need for real-world validation. Their consortium footprint — 32 partners across 22 countries from just two projects — suggests they work inside large, well-networked consortia where their role is clearly scoped and specialist in nature.

Despite only two projects, they are connected to 32 unique partners spanning 22 countries — an unusually broad network for a small Swedish NGO, likely reflecting the large pan-European consortia typical of informal science education initiatives under Horizon 2020.

What sets them apart

Tom Tits occupies a niche that very few EU project partners can fill: a functioning public science center with daily visitor traffic, established educator relationships, and hands-on fabrication infrastructure. For a consortium that needs a real-world outreach site rather than a theoretical framework for public engagement, a partner like Tom Tits offers immediate implementation capacity. Their Swedish SME status also adds geographic and organizational diversity to consortia dominated by universities and large research institutes.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SySTEM 2020
  A flagship Horizon 2020 initiative connecting science learning ecosystems across Europe, this project established Tom Tits as a recognized node in the European informal science education network.
• Make it Open
  The richest signal of Tom Tits' capabilities — nine distinct keywords covering maker education, FabLab, citizen science, and service design — indicating this project fully expressed the breadth of their program offer.