Water4Future Hackathon “Water and Sustainable Cities”: Now it’s the high school students’ turn to develop innovative projects!
After university students, high school students from around the world tackled the theme of "Water and Sustainable Cities" during the Water4Future Hackathon Lycéens 2023, organized on March 16 and 17 by the UNESCO International Center ICIREWARD in a hybrid format at the Cité de l'Économie et des Métiers de Demain in Montpellier. Montpellier.
The 17 international teams from France (Montpellier, Lattes, Baillargues, Nîmes, Loches, Reunion Island), Europe (Ireland), Africa (Morocco, Senegal, Ivory Coast), America (United States, Ecuador, Bolivia), and Asia (Singapore) worked simultaneously to propose technical, regulatory, and/or social solutions.
To help them finalize their projects as effectively as possible, coaches specializing in hydrology, energy, IT, entrepreneurship, marketing, communication, finance, and other fields took turns working for more than 48 hours to answer questions coming in from all over the world.
The challenge of this fourth edition was to manage time differences ranging from -6 hours to +7 hours. Challenge accepted and overcome with good humor, kindness, and a spirit of creativity!
After the semi-finals, nine teams pitched their projects to the grand jury, which included Isabelle Parrot, Vice President of the University of Montpellier responsible for science-society relations. Five projects were awarded prizes:
- 1st place: YEERI (Diourbel High School of Excellence, Senegal).
- 2nd place: Q’uma uma (French-Bolivian High School in La Paz, Bolivia).
- 3rd: Les Eau’ptimistes (Rochambeau High School – The French International School, United States).
- 1st Jury's Favorite: Electro Fall (International French School Singapore, Singapore).
- 2nd Jury's Favorite: Skywater (Dallas International School, United States).
The winning projects will soon be summarized on the Water4Future Facebook and LinkedIn pages. In the meantime, you can find an overview of the event on the UNESCO ICIREWARD website, with a report by France 3 Occitanie.