Development in Central Europe
Since 2001 our association HANDS on TECHNOLOGY e.V. has been organising the FIRST LEGO League Challenge (formerly FIRST LEGO League). We started with a pilot tournament in Germany with 16 teams. Over the years we have also established FIRST LEGO League Challenge in Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. With the help of our tournament partners and our volunteers, we offer regional Challenge tournaments to the teams every year - and our network of locations is constantly expanding.
| Year | Teams | Regions/Countries | Participants in total | Girls (share) | Boys (share) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 1.105 | 81 (A, CH, CZ, D, H, PL, SK) | 7.708 | 19 % | 81 % |
| 2018 | 1.096 | 77 (A, CH, CZ, D, H, PL, SK) | 7.614 | 18 % | 82 % |
| 2017 | 1.022 | 72 (A, CH, CZ, D, H, PL, SK) | 7.038 | 17 % | 83 % |
| 2016 | 955 | 67 (A, CH, CZ, D, H, PL, SK) | 6.585 | 16 % | 84 % |
| 2015 | 884 | 63 (A, CH, CZ, D, H, PL, SK) | 6.334 | 16 % | 84 % |
| 2014 | 835 | 57 (A, CH, CZ, D, H, PL, SK) | 5.937 | 17 % | 83 % |
| 2013 | 811 | 57 (A, BG, CH, CZ, D, H PL, SK) | 6.112 | 20 % | 80 % |
| 2012 | 846 | 54 (A, BG, CH, CZ, D, H PL, SK) | 5.578 | 21 % | 79 % |
| 2011 | 813 | 55 (A, BG, CH, CZ, D, H PL, SK) | 5.979 | 19 % | 81 % |
| 2010 | 740 | 52 (A, CH, CZ, D, H, PL, SK) | 5.380 | 17 % | 83 % |
| 2009 | 668 | 42 (A, CH, CZ, D, H, PL, SK) | 4.858 | 18 % | 82 % |
| 2008 | 614 | 42 (A, CH, CZ, D, H, PL, SK) | 4.490 | 22 % | 78 % |
| 2007 | 460 | 32 (A, CH, CZ, D, H, PL) | 3.220 | 20 % | 80 % |
| 2006 | 359 | 26 (A, CH, CZ, D, H) | 2.658 | 20 % | 80 % |
| 2005 | 281 | 21 (A, CH, D, H) | 2.127 | 19 % | 81 % |
| 2004 | 171 | 12 (A, CH, D) | 1.259 | 19 % | 81 % |
| 2003 | 104 | 8 (A, D) | 588 | 12 % | 88 % |
| 2002 | 39 | 6 (D) | 278 | 15 % | 85 % |
| 2001 | 16 | pilot tournament (D) | 78 | 35 % | 65 % |
Global Development
The FIRST LEGO League Challenge (formerly FIRST LEGO League) program was created in 1998 as a result of a collaboration between LEGO® Company and the FIRST® Foundation (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in the USA.
The founder of FIRST, Dean Kamen, initiated the first tournaments in the USA. He summed up the idea behind the creation of FIRST LEGO League as follows: "We have to show children that it can be more fun to create and construct a video game or robot than to play with it".
In the course of more than 20 years, the program has established itself in over 100 countries. Our non-profit association HANDS on TECHNOLOGY e.V. is one of the many partners in the global FIRST LEGO League Challenge community.