BE OPEN’s latest competition aimed to bring the talent and creativity of the global community to focus on SDG2: Zero Hunger. Under the umbrella of zero hunger, SDG2 is not only about ending hunger, but also achieving food security and improved nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture. The competition called for innovative solutions that can contribute to how we transform our food systems to end food insecurity and create better conditions for an equitable and environmentally prosperous world.
The objective of the competition is to recognize and promote top design projects developed by the younger creative generation that are able to tackle the tasks set by the United Nations’ SDG Programme; to produce new ideas with the potential for true impact.
The competition offered five prizes overall: in addition to the First, Second and Third Prizes of €5,000, €3,000 and €2,000 accordingly, allocated by the expert jury, the winner of the Public Vote prize was selected by an online vote of the general public and the Founder’s Choice Prize awardee got selected by the Founder of BE OPEN, international businessperson and philanthropist Elena Baturina.
The last of the five prizes in the amount of €3,000 goes to Kate Diab from Canada for the BAC-CYCLE project. The solution consists in facilitating more agricultural food production in cities by building in into a sustainable self-sufficient cycle of growing, processing, distribution, consumption and then recycling food in densely populated areas. It strives to cut the costs of having to transport food waste out of cities by creating space-saving local recycling facilities that use natural bacteria to turn waste into an excellent eco fertilizer. The by-product of bacteria processing organic matter is methane which can easily be forwarded into power generation.
Elena Baturina commented on her choice and the outcome of the competition: “As an entrepreneur, I am fascinated by projects with so much added value as BAC-CYCLE, that offers us urban dwellers, new opportunities: from facilitating greener cities to sustainable power generation. Every time we run design student competition, we are deeply impressed, without fail, by the participants’ hard work, commitment and creativity. And this project is yet another confirmation that our participants have the best of humanity at heart, strive to make a real difference for us all, and therefore deserve to be applauded and celebrated in every possible way.”
This is year three of BE OPEN’s involvement with running competition programmes that collect ideas and projects to advance the United Nations’ Sustainable Goals (SDG). Previous programmes focused on SDG11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, and SDG12: Responsible Consumption and Production.