Where play, purpose and the future come together | Nordic FLL 2025
12/12/25
Where play, purpose and the future come together
Reflections from the Nordic Finals of FIRST LEGO League 2025
By Annie Bergh, President of the Code Week Council
Last weekend, I had the honour of attending the Nordic Finals of FIRST LEGO League 2025 as President of the Code Week Council, together with a brilliant leading teacher from Sweden. Our participation was made possible thanks to Code Week, who sent us to represent the movement, strengthen our connections, and explore new opportunities for collaboration. I am deeply grateful for the trust and the chance to experience such an inspiring event on behalf of our European community.
Thanks to Coding Pirates, who invited us into their VIP group, we were welcomed into an unforgettable programme, one filled with creativity, courage, and the kind of innovation that can only come from young minds that believe the future is theirs to shape.
More event details: If you would like a fuller overview of the Nordic Final 2025, you can also read this event blog post on the Code Week website.
Why we were there
As representatives of Code Week, our purpose at the event was clear: to connect, to listen, and to explore a meaningful collaboration with Coding Pirates.
Code Week stands for digital inclusion, creativity, empowerment, and community-building across Europe. By joining forces with organisations that share these values, we can reach even more young people together, especially those who may not yet see themselves as future coders, makers, innovators, and problem-solvers.
The Nordic Finals became more than a celebration of FIRST LEGO League innovation. It became a strategic moment to explore how Code Week and Coding Pirates could collaborate to strengthen digital empowerment and creativity across borders. This was possible because of our shared vision: every young person deserves the opportunity to shape the digital world, not just consume it.
Meeting Coding Pirates
The motto of Coding Pirates, “Where play and technology meet”, perfectly captures their vision: to make technology accessible, joyful, and meaningful for all children and young people.
Coding Pirates helps young people become critical users and creators of digital tools. They work towards inclusion through technology, actively encourage more girls and women to enter the tech world, and build communities where curiosity, creativity, and experimentation are celebrated. They have 65 clubs across Denmark, reaching as many children as possible.
Their initiative #SCREENWITHPURPOSE embodies a powerful belief: screens, when used intentionally and creatively, can empower rather than limit. This spirit infused the entire VIP programme and set the tone for a day overflowing with learning and inspiration.
When community matters more than competition
As always with FIRST LEGO League, it is a celebration when teams come together like this. We met teams of students aged 10–16 from Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands. Technically, they were competing for a place at the World Finals, but you would never have guessed it from the atmosphere.
The day was filled with:
- Joy
- Collaboration
- Empathy
- Engagement
- Respect
- An extraordinary feeling of generosity
Competition took a back seat to community.
These young people lived the FIRST LEGO League core values through every interaction. They problem-solved on the spot, supported one another, showcased teamwork, and radiated confidence, curiosity, and kindness. It was a masterclass in what an inclusive learning environment should feel like.
Project ideas that shape tomorrow
Each FIRST LEGO League season challenges teams to solve a real-world problem, not by copying what exists, but by improving it or inventing something entirely new. Even when teams explored similar themes, none of their solutions looked alike. Their originality and depth of thought were remarkable.
Some of the project ideas included:
- A VR simulation that lets users explore archaeological artefacts in their prime, designed to spark interest in archaeology and show how understanding the past helps us shape the future.
- An app that places displaced artefacts back into their cultural context, telling their full story from origin to present.
- Innovative tools for underwater archaeology, making excavations safer and improving preservation of artefacts found at sea.
- Several enhanced earth scanners and robots, each uniquely designed despite the shared concept.
- The Dig Dome, a compact, inflatable structure protecting archaeological dig sites from weather and wildlife.
- AI- and robotics-supported archaeology, exploring how intelligent systems can help collect and interpret historical findings.
Many teams had contacted archaeologists, researchers, and field experts to validate their work. That is a testament to their commitment and professionalism at such a young age.
The future is not tomorrow. It is now.
What stayed with me most was the unwavering belief shining from every student: belief in their ideas, belief in their ability to make a difference, and belief that their voices matter.
They were not waiting for the future.
They were building it, with clarity, imagination, purpose, and empathy.
This is why organisations like Coding Pirates and movements like Code Week matter. They create spaces where young people are not only participants but partners. Where their ideas are not postponed but embraced. Where their voices help shape decisions today, not someday.
Leaving with hope
I left the Nordic Finals full of hope, gratitude, and admiration. It was a privilege to meet these talented young teams, witness their brilliance, and see firsthand how empowering it is when children are given room to lead, explore, question, and create.
To Coding Pirates, thank you for the extraordinary VIP programme and your unwavering commitment to empowering young digital citizens.
To Code Week, thank you for sending us, trusting us, and believing in the power of collaboration to build a stronger, more inclusive digital Europe.
To the students, keep dreaming, keep creating, keep questioning. You are not just preparing for the future. You are shaping it.
