Climathon 2018 will be the biggest global climate hackathon in history

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Catherine Ouvrard

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2981 Last modified by the author on 26/10/2018 - 14:39
Climathon 2018 will be the biggest global climate hackathon in history

Over 100 cities from around the world will join forces and take action on 26 October as part of EIT Climate-KIC’s Climathon – the award-winning 24-hour hackathon that unites students, entrepreneurs, big thinkers, technical experts and app developers in tackling the defining climate challenges of their cities.

Teams hosted by city authorities, universities and NGOs from 106 cites including Berlin, Rio de Janeiro and Sydney will pull all-nighters to develop innovative solutions to local climate challenges – from mobility and air pollution to waste management and disaster preparation. 

Climathon, which had its first hackathon in the run up to the historic COP21 negotiations in Paris, has since grown to be the biggest international climate change hackathon in history. In 2017, 104 cities in 44 countries across six continents hosted Climathons worldwide.

Solutions developed in previous years include a Cork-based transport app that awards citizens discounts in local stores based on their carbon savings and sustainable drainage systems to avert floods in Manchester.

Kirsten Dunlop, CEO, EIT Climate-KIC said:

“The recent IPCC report has thrown down the gauntlet to governments and cities across the world. The challenges of staying well below 2C are so immense that it is difficult to comprehend the scale and scope of collective transformation required. We have ten years to set radical changes in motion definitively across all sectors and most crucially, in our own minds and everyday choices.

Cities are the places and the spaces where the risks of climate change are aggregating and becoming increasingly felt and where the opportunities for a more sustainable version of prosperity could have the greatest and most tangible impact – better air quality, cleaner water and greener neighbourhoods leading to improved mental health and social wellbeing, less energy poverty and healthier food. Cities, working together with the people who inhabit them, can make all the difference. Climathon is designed to empower determined citizens by offering a platform to engage their cities with real ideas, and offers cities an incredible tool with which to reach out and inspire their communities. The combination of collective intelligence and action that stems from Climathon gives us hope that we can do this, if we work together.”

Mark Watts, executive director, C40, a key partner of EIT Climate-KIC said:

“For more than a decade, mayors of the world’s greatest cities have been working together to deliver the boldest possible climate action to help create the sustainable, low carbon and prosperous cities of the future. But they can’t do it alone. The solutions to the climate crisis will be forged in cities, by citizens, start-ups, community groups, families and neighbours.  It is crucial to find new and innovative ways to connect these citizens with each other and with city halls. The EIT Climate-KIC Climathon offers an innovative approach to deliver that and ensure new ideas and commitment to a better future for the next generation will be nurtured by mayors, city leaders and businesses. Only by working together, will we deliver on the highest ambitions of the Paris Climate Agreement.”   

Turin, Italy will serve as the ‘mainstage’ for this year’s Climathon, a spectacular event that connects all 106 cities participating in Climathon 2018. The event will take place across two days, under the theme of “The way we change” and will include talk shows, interviews, inspiring speeches and pitches, with special guests from the fields of entertainment, journalism, gastronomy, research, business and politics (...) Read more 

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