During a 16-day Hackathon, sixty-five students of Utrecht University came up with innovative and sustainable solutions to improve living in the Utrecht neighborhood of Kanaleneiland.
Within the hackathon ChangeU, students had to find influential solutions using open data collected within the European IRIS project. Several juries, including one composed of Kanaleneiland residents, handed out awards for Best Pitch, Residents’ Favorite, and Overall Winner during the Grand Finale on March 3. The winner of the Audience Award was announced on March 10.
From February 15 to March 3, 2021, thirteen teams of five students each came up with interesting solutions in the areas of inclusiveness, labor, public space, the energy transition, and smart mobility. These five topics were chosen in cooperation with Utrecht University and the Municipality of Utrecht, as they are important for the Kanaleneiland neighborhood and have a strong link to the European IRIS project.
Prize winning ideas
During the hackathon, thirteen teams worked out their ideas under guidance of experts. Especially the topics of inclusiveness, labor, and public space were popular among the students. Students presented the final solution to two juries. Next to a jury of entrepreneurship and data experts, a jury with residents of the Kanaleneiland neighborhood was also involved.
Among the ideas were the “Babbelbank”, a bench in the park where residents can have a chat with people in the neighborhood they don’t yet know, and “Start Young”, a program during which students from the secondary school are linked to local companies to gain experience at an early stage in their lives.
There were several Awards to be won. The Best Pitch Award for most convincing pitch and the Audience Award were won by the team behind the “Room for Living” idea: a portable living room for outdoors. “Plezy” was the Residents’ Favorite. Their idea links students and children in the neighborhood by connecting them along the lines of their hobbies and interests. The Overall Winner was won by team “Groenbesparing”. They want to create an app for tenants that can help them make sustainable choices when their building is being renovated.
Future startups
UtrechtInc Students is part of incubator UtrechtInc. The latter organization is affiliated with Utrecht University, and offers startups a network and guidance to start and grow a business. The next step of ChangeU is to see which teams will be invited to the UtrechtInc start-up program, where their ideas will be validated. The ChangeU organization also wants to ensure that ideas that do not directly fit within the startup program can be supported in other ways.
31 Mar 2021