ASSIST Software, one of Romania’s most innovative technology companies, plays a central role in transforming European education through EdTech programs such as IDEATE – the Inclusive Digital Education and Teacher Empowerment Academy.

The IDEATE project, funded by the Erasmus+ Teacher Academies program, officially launched this year in Suceava and unites leading universities, teacher training centers, and education authorities from across the continent.

As the technical partner, ASSIST Software is tasked with developing the project’s digital backbone: adaptive and gamified learning platforms that will equip teachers with cutting-edge tools to create inclusive classrooms. Built in Suceava by a team of Romanian engineers, these solutions combine technological innovation with social responsibility

Romanian innovation supporting inclusive education

IDEATE’s vision is clear: to empower educators with the skills, confidence, and resources they need to meet the diverse needs of students, particularly neurodivergent learners. ASSIST Software’s engineers are building a platform that integrates gamification, adaptive learning pathways, and digital collaboration features, ensuring that teachers can personalize their teaching while maintaining high levels of student engagement.

The technology will also incorporate artificial intelligence, enabling the platform to provide real-time feedback, suggest tailored resources, and help teachers track student progress. For neurodivergent learners, this means access to learning environments that adapt to their strengths and challenges. At the same time, it provides a powerful assistant that reduces workload and increases teaching effectiveness.

European impact: 1,700+ teachers, 180 mobilities, and a Digital Hub

The scale of IDEATE reflects its ambition. By 2027, more than 1,700 pre-service and in-service educators will complete accredited training in inclusive education. The project also predicts 180 cross-border mobilities, including workshops, summer schools, and virtual exchanges, connecting teachers from across Europe in a dynamic practice network.

ASSIST Software’s digital platform will host all these users, with elements designed to boost engagement and encourage teachers to create and share their own open educational resources (OERs). At least half of trained teachers are expected to contribute to this growing digital library, while 35% will report improved well-being and self-efficacy as a direct result of the program.

For classrooms, this means better prepared teachers, stronger inclusion of neurodivergent students, and digital tools that make teaching more active and accessible.

A consortium for change and pioneering

IDEATE brings together an international consortium of universities, teacher training institutions, and education authorities, anchored by Ștefan cel Mare University of Suceava (USV). Partners include Bielefeld University (Germany), Universitat de Lleida (Spain), the University of Patras (Greece), and the University of Perugia (Italy). Romanian partners such as the Suceava County School Inspectorate, the George Tofan Teachers’ Training Center, and Mihai Eminescu National College are also actively involved.

This diverse partnership ensures that IDEATE is a Romanian achievement as well as a truly European effort, with best practices and expertise flowing across borders.

Turning AI into teaching tools

Integrating AI into education is one of our time’s defining challenges and opportunities. While debates continue over how automation and machine learning will reshape work and society, IDEATE demonstrates a constructive and ethical application: equipping educators with intelligent tools that adapt to diverse classrooms, reduce administrative burdens, and unlock new methods of personalized teaching. 

The ASSIST AI Center is already a hub for developing trustworthy, human-centered technologies that ensure AI enhances rather than disrupts education. By advancing research in adaptive learning, gamification, and ethical AI, the center is paving the way for EdTech solutions that not only empower teachers and students but also open new career paths and growth.

Through adaptive algorithms and gamified experiences, ASSIST’s platforms will help educators address the complexity of modern classrooms, where students come with varied backgrounds, abilities, and learning styles. For policymakers and education leaders, the project offers a blueprint for how AI can be responsibly embedded into teacher training and classroom practice.

Romania’s role in Europe’s education future

For ASSIST Software, participation in IDEATE builds on a strong record of European collaboration, with over 30 EU-funded projects already in its portfolio. Certified to international standards and employing more than 400 engineers, the company continues to demonstrate that Romanian technology firms can lead on issues of global importance, from cybersecurity to digital education.

By contributing its expertise in AI, software engineering, and user-centered design, ASSIST ensures that the IDEATE project will deliver more than training courses. It will leave behind a sustainable digital ecosystem that empowers educators and enriches learning for years to come.

A shared European mission

As Europe seeks to prepare its education systems for the challenges of the 21st century, ASSIST’s role in IDEATE confirms that the future of inclusive, AI-driven learning is already taking shape and that Romania is helping to lead the way.

*This is a Press release.

On a visceral level, it feels far too common.

A week ago, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated while speaking at a college in Utah. That same day, a student opened fire at a Colorado high school, critically wounding two peers. Just two weeks earlier, a mass shooting at a Minnesota Catholic church killed two children and injured 21 others.

Once again, a series of horrific, high-profile shootings has gripped the country and brought national focus to the issue of gun violence, especially as it relates to school safety and politically motivated attacks.

NPR spoke with experts on mass shootings, political violence, and school attacks about the data, trends and context to better understand this moment.

Here’s what to know.

Are mass shootings becoming more frequent? 

There’s no universal definition for a mass shooting, so data can vary based on the number of victims killed or injured, where the shooting took place, and whether it was related to gang activity or terrorism.

For example, the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium at the Rockefeller Institute of Government, a nonpartisan think tank, only tracks shootings that occur in public or populated places, involve at least two victims (injured or killed), and excludes incidents related to gang violence or terrorist activity. By their definition, there have been 12 mass shootings in 2025.

Meanwhile, the Gun Violence Archive — which counts all instances in which four or more people were shot (injuries and deaths), not including the shooter, and regardless of location — reported over 300 mass shootings this year.

Still, by most standards, mass shootings are more frequent now than they were 50 years ago, according to Garen Wintemute, director of the  Centers for Violence Prevention at the University of California, Davis. At the same time, mass shooting deaths represent only a tiny fraction of people killed by gun violence. Wintemute said that most also don’t resemble the attacks that dominate national headlines.

“ Most mass shootings are not events that generate a lot of publicity,” he said. “ Most mass shootings have some connection to domestic violence.”

Everytown for Gun Safety, an advocacy group that uses data from the Gun Violence Archive, found that in 46% of mass shootings from 2015 through 2022, “the perpetrator shot a current or former intimate partner or family member.”

What about school shootings?

Gun-related incidents on school grounds have surged since the pandemic, according to David Riedman, a researcher who tracks all cases in which a gun is fired, brandished or in which a bullet hits K-12 school property. His K-12 School Shooting Database shows that there have been more than 160 incidents so far this year.

Before 2021, the number of instances had not surpassed 124. But by 2023, that figure climbed to 351. While the recent attack at Evergreen High School in Colorado is front of mind, Riedman said most shootings are the result of an escalated dispute.

“ That really escalated in the late 2010s and then became an even bigger problem post-COVID during the return of both students and community members to the campuses,” he said.

At large, only a small share of K-12 schools report gun-related instances each year, according to Riedman. Among school incidents, part of the issue is that some students live in homes where firearms are easily accessible or not properly secured, he said.

“There are students arrested with guns at schools just about every single day, and they don’t have a plan to shoot anyone,” Riedman said. “They just carry the gun with them often for either the prestige of having it or for protection because they themselves fear being victimized.”

Are politically motivated attacks becoming a bigger threat in the U.S.?

Political violence has been rising over the past decade, according to terrorism and gun violence experts. Joshua Horwitz, the co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, said while the issue has existed throughout American history, the recent surge is significant.

“Just in the last 12 months we’ve seen terrible, terrible examples of political violence,” he said. “ We’ve just seen a lot more intimidation lately.”

There are a few ways to measure this, but one indicator comes from the U.S. Capitol Police. In 2024, the agency investigated over 9,400 “concerning statements and direct threats” against members of Congress — more than twice the number in 2017.

In a study published on Monday, Wintemute of UC Davis found that while most Americans reject political violence, those who hold harmful beliefs — such as racism, hostile sexism, homonegativity, transphobia, xenophobia, antisemitism, or Islamophobia — are also more likely than others to believe that political violence is justifiable. Support for political violence was even higher among individuals who harbored multiple hateful phobias, according to his survey of over 9,300 adults.

But Wintemute’s research also suggests there are small steps that can help curb political violence. In a survey conducted last year, a small number of respondents said they would participate if a civil war broke out. Yet, of that group, about 45% said they would abandon that position if urged by family members.

“  We just need to make sure that those of us who reject it speak as loudly as do those who support it,” he added.

How widespread is the issue of gun violence? 

More than 46,000 people died from gun-related injuries in 2023, according to an analysis by Pew Research Center using the latest available data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Gun homicides have declined since 2021, while suicides continue to make up a majority of gun deaths, Pew Research found. But for many Americans, gun violence may hit closer to home than many people expect.

In 2023, Liz Hamel and her team at KFF, a health research group, conducted a survey of more than 1,200 adults across the country about their experiences with gun-related incidents. The survey found that 1 in 5 respondents said they have personally been threatened with a gun, while nearly 1 in 6 said they have personally witnessed a person get shot. Worries about gun violence also affected Black and Hispanic respondents disproportionately.

“We often see national attention to the issue of gun violence in the wake of high-profile events,” Hamel said. “What our polling really shows is that experiences with gun-related incidents are more common than you might think among the U.S. population.”

In the survey, 84% of all participants said they have taken at least one precaution to protect themselves against gun violence. The most common step was speaking to loved ones about gun safety. But about a third said they have avoided large crowds or big events. Meanwhile, 3 out of 10 said they have purchased a firearm to protect themselves or their family from gun violence.

Of the people who have a gun in their home, nearly half of participants said a firearm was stored in an unlocked location and more than one-third said a gun was stored loaded. More than half said at least one gun is stored in the same location as the ammunition. Those results suggest the need for more efforts to teach the public about safe gun storage practices, according to Hamel.

“  We do see opportunities for improved awareness around gun safety,” she said.

When I first suggested knocking on strangers’ doors and offering to write a poem for them, for nothing, on any subject of their choosing, the responses weren’t exactly enthusiastic. I’m from Heaton in Newcastle upon Tyne, where the project began. One day, I happened to mention it to a taxi driver as I travelled through Byker, near Newcastle city centre. “It would never work round here,” he said, pointing out of the window.

The building he was pointing to was the Byker Wall, an estate near where I live – I’ll admit it’s not the first place you’d visit on the hunt for a bard. When I told my friends and colleagues that I was planning to try Door-to-Door Poetry here, they all made exactly the same sound – a Marge Simpson-esque expression of unease. I mentioned it to a trainee police officer who lived close to me. “Take some pepper spray and don’t carry any valuables,” she advised soberly. Having grown up on a council estate myself, I wasn’t as apprehensive as I might have been. But warnings like this still did a lot to rattle my nerves.

When I arrived at the Byker Wall, the first person to answer was a man called Carl. He had bright blue eyes, a peaked baseball cap, and was wearing a Newcastle shirt. I performed an introductory poem for him while he stared back at me, completely expressionless. When I got to the end, I explained I could write him a poem about anything he wanted.

“So what is important to you?” I asked. “Getting wrecked,” Carl replied. I could tell from the off that this was a “testing the boundaries” thing. I told Carl I would be more than happy to write a poem for him about getting wrecked. Whatever was important to him, really.

Something in his face changed. “Will you write me one about how much I love my girlfriend?” he said. The conversation had gone from hardcore to sentimental in about three seconds.

I wrote a poem for Carl about his and his partner’s first date. He told me he really enjoyed it. He was one of seven people who asked for a poem in the Byker Wall estate. And it was this hugely positive experience that set me off on a journey, one that would introduce me to a great many more residents in social housing and council estates across the land.

In Boston, Lincolnshire, which has been dubbed England’s “most divided” town, I met five people on a street called Taverner Road. One of them was a woman named Pauline, who asked for a poem about “banger racing”, a sport that involves souping up secondhand cars and then crashing them into each other at great speed. I didn’t know anything about banger racing until that point, so the next day I went to watch some at Skegness Raceway before writing Pauline’s poem.

On an estate in Moss Side, Manchester, I met a man who asked to be referred to as “the specialist”. I showed him my introductory poem and he shook my hand. “You’ve come to the right place,” he said. He told me what I was doing was freestyle, in the true sense of the word, before explaining that I resembled an 18th-century time traveller. I wrote him a poem about that.

I visited estates across the country, and the response was always the same. Whether people were existing fans of poetry or not, so many of them stopped to listen, to chat about their lives and to gratefully receive the resulting poem.

Towards the end of my adventures, in Jaywick, Essex – often described as the “most deprived town” in England – I met Sarah, a woman with red hair and tattoos on her arms. She lamented the fact that the media only seemed to visit Jaywick to write a terrible story about it, and asked for a poem about its best side instead. This request led me to discover the beautiful beaches, as well as a fantastic fish and chip shop called Ozzy’s.

The whole experience got me thinking about why we write poetry and who it is really for. In a world in which poetry is still seen by many as opaque and inaccessible, we discuss innovative ways to engage people with it. But it seems to me that another, more important issue is who we imagine will read the poem when it is finished. And how we want them to feel once they have.

Trying my Door-to-Door Poetry on a range of estates forced me to question some of my own preconceptions. It invited me to consider the fact that, in any given place, there is always a wide variety of people; that when we take the time to get to know someone, especially someone who lives their life differently to us, we are often embarking on a journey of self-discovery too. In a world that can feel increasingly divided and polarised, I am grateful to have had the chance to learn this – from house to house, poem to poem and door to door.

On Visiting Jaywick

Yes, Jaywick, I’ll confess my reservations.
Your name I’d heard, your headlines I had read.
I took the bus, explained my destination,
The driver fixed me with a look of dread.

But on that evening, walking on your beach,
The sky was clear, the sun bobbed on the waves,
The soft and golden sand was at my feet,
Dog walkers smiled and went about their day.

And honestly? It took me by surprise,
Your natural beauty shook away my blues,
I couldn’t help but pause and wonder why
This scene had never featured on the news.

For certain as each summer fades to brown,
The tabloids yearly come here for a snap
Of what they’ve dubbed a run-down, worthless town
(Though who’s in charge of it, they never ask).

They hunt for weeds and windows that need fixed,
They hover round like poachers in the road,
But do they stay for views as grand as this
Before they pen their articles of woe?

Because I know you have your problems, Jaywick.
But people here are welcoming and kind.
And Ozzy’s does the perfect fish and chips,
Next to a pub that’s called Never Say Die.

But that won’t make the front page, nor the sea
As it glitters here above your coastal shelf,
When papers only deal in misery,
I’m pleased I found the truth out for myself.