Water4Future Hackathon “Water and Sustainable Cities”: Now It’s the High School Students’ Turn to Launch Innovative Projects!
Following in the footsteps of college students, high school students from around the world tackled the theme “Water and Sustainable Cities” during the 2023 Water4Future High School Hackathon, 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, Montpellier.
The 17 international teams from France (Montpellier, Lattes, Baillargues, Nîmes, Loches, Réunion Island), Europe (Ireland), Africa (Morocco, Senegal, Ivory Coast), the Americas (United States, Ecuador, Bolivia), and Asia (Singapore) worked simultaneously to propose technical, regulatory, and/or social solutions.
To help them bring their projects to the best possible conclusion, coaches specializing in hydrology, energy, IT, entrepreneurship, marketing, communications, finance, and more took turns for over 48 hours answering questions pouring in from all corners of the world.
The challenge of this fourth edition was to manage time differences ranging from -6 hours to +7 hours. We accepted the challenge and rose to it with good humor, kindness, and a creative spirit!
After the semifinals, nine teams had the opportunity to pitch their projects to the grand jury, which included Isabelle Parrot, Vice President of the University of Montpellier in charge of Science-Society Relations. Five projects were awarded prizes:
- 1st place: YEERI (Diourbel High School for Scientific Excellence, Senegal).
- 2nd place: Q’uma uma (French-Bolivian High School in La Paz, Bolivia).
- 3rd place: Les Eau’ptimistes (Lycée Rochambeau – The French International School, United States).
- Jury's First Choice: Electro Fall (International French School Singapore, Singapore).
- The jury's second favorite: Skywater (Dallas International School, United States).
The winning projects will soon be featured on Water4Future’s Facebook and LinkedIn pages. In the meantime, you can find a recap of the event—including a report by France 3 Occitanie—on the UNESCO ICIREWARD Center’s website.