The last weekend of October was marked by our second edition of a city-based Climate-KIC programme called Climathon. Unlike last year, we decided to incorporate this programme in many more cities, to be exact, we brought Climathon to 35 cities in Latin America.
We launched this event with our Warm-Up session on Friday the 29th, where participants were able to comprehend the structure better and receive a deeper explanation about our challenges. In 2021, Circular Influence introduced the following challenges for each city:
Challenge 1: Sustainable Mobility
Challenge 2: Develop circular management systems to avoid waste.
Day after day, large quantities of disposable packaging are left littering public places, plants and rivers, wasting raw materials and manpower in cleaning up every day.
Challenge 3: Create renewable energy districts and habits.
Challenge 4: Food, Agriculture and Land Use
Rethink the approach to our food system, starting from the basics (agriculture and livestock), through to technological innovation (new food products, for example).
The Climathon itself started early the next morning and soon after the opening ceremony, the teams were formed. First on the agenda was the Pitch Design workshop, where teams learned how to put together a successful pitch in 9 slides. During the Comprehension Phase, teams were receiving more details from our experts about the specific challenges which were then backed up by data during the Investigation Phase. At 14:30 the teams took a 45-minute break for a Mindfulness session. We returned to work more during the Ideation Phase and a Community Networking session when teams exchanged their ideas. The last three phases of the day included a Business Model Workshop, Business Refinement and a Pitch Presentation Workshop.
On Sunday, teams started early again with a Business Plan Workshop, Final Refinement and a Pitch Rehearsal. The deadline for submitting all the amazing solutions was at 14:00 which was also the start of the Festival of Ideas. All of the teams presented their pitches and answered tricky questions from the jury. And after a careful evaluation, the winners of the 2021 Climathon were known!
Circular Influence together with our sponsors activePMO, PMI, UCEMA and AGENCIAI, has put together various prizes for winners and the participants such as scholarships, courses and direct passes to events and other competitions.
Our team was very proud to see the creativity, critical thinking and pure dedication from all the teams. Their pitches demonstrated that the movement of climate action is rapidly moving forward and that no matter what the challenge, we can find solutions. Now, we can only look forward to how many more citizens get involved next year and what new solutions will come out of these communities.
