We celebrate the winners of the First, Second and Third Prizes in DESIGN EQUALITY with Innovation Competition

Lilia Valieva

Dear contestants and supporters,

BE OPEN thanks everyone who submitted their initiatives and thus contributed to this programme in an array of meaningful, innovative and passionate ways. We also thank everyone who has taken time and effort to review the submissions and cast their votes in the public vote section.

Thanks to hard and elaborate work by our amazing jury panel, and to the precious votes of the public, we are now able to announce the winners of the First, Second and Third prizes, as well as the Public Vote prize.

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Last day of the open Public Vote in Design Equality competition – choose your winner!

Lilia Valieva

Here are the top 50 entries in the Design Equality competition short-listed for the Public Vote based on such criteria as viability, feasibility and desirability of the design, evidence of a rigorous research process informing the solution proposed, and its creative value. The international jury panel will now review the top 50 entries to name the winners of the First, Second and Third prizes.
Meanwhile all those passionate about sustainability and creativity can cast their own vote in favour of the most promising projects.

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BE OPEN celebrates the jury for Design Equality with Innovation: a competition for students dedicated to the UN Sustainable Development Programme

Lilia Valieva

According to the UN Department of Economic and Social Development, empowering women and girls plays a critical role in accelerating economic growth and social development. BE OPEN advocates that by dedicating the 2025/2026 competition to SDG#5, thus promoting the solutions that advance gender equality, meet the needs of women and girls, and promote women as innovators and entrepreneurs.

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BE OPEN Regional Art competition congratulates the Northeastern Africa winners

Lilia Valieva

BE OPEN Art, an online gallery set up by Elena Baturina’s humanitarian think-tank BE OPEN, continues to run BE OPEN Regional Art for the fourth year in 2026. The regional competition for emerging artists aims to support those whose art best represents their regional, cultural and ethnic identities, for the third year now.

For the purpose, the BE OPEN expert community selects those artists who best represent the artistic tradition of a certain region to feature in the BE OPEN Art gallery and offer them greater visibility. Thus, artworks by 20 new emerging artists appear in the online gallery every month, and a public vote selects the Regional Artist of the Month. At the end of the stage, one of the monthly winners gets the title of the Artist of the Region and a grant based on the amount of votes by the public and the BE OPEN art community members.

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BE OPEN Regional Art steps into the second region of 2026 to support emerging artists of Central Europe

Lilia Valieva

BE OPEN Art, an online gallery set up by Elena Baturina’s humanitarian think-tank BE OPEN, continues to run BE OPEN Regional Art for the fourth year in 2026. The regional competition for emerging artists aims to support those whose art best represents their regional, cultural and ethnic identities, for the third year now.

For the purpose, the BE OPEN expert community selects those artists who best represent the artistic tradition of a certain region to feature in the BE OPEN Art gallery and offer them greater visibility. Thus, artworks by 20 new emerging artists appear in the online gallery every month, and a public vote selects the Regional Artist of the Month. At the end of the stage, one of the monthly winners gets the title of the Artist of the Region and a grant based on the amount of votes by the public and the BE OPEN art community members.

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BE OPEN will advance the role of young people for the sustainable shift during the World Sustainable Energy Days

Lilia Valieva

BE OPEN will present its sustainability-focused competition programme during the Young Energy Researchers Conference and other events of the World Sustainable Energy Days (WSED) that will start on February 24 in Wels, Austria.

The WSED presents policies, technologies and business models which increase competitiveness and make energy more affordable. The event is a leading annual conference on the energy transition and climate neutrality with participants from more than 60 countries.

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BE OPEN supports the International Student Energy Summit in the heart of Amazonian Rainforest

Lilia Valieva

The International Student Energy Summit (SES), the world’s biggest and most diverse youth energy event, starts today in Manaus, Brazil, in the heart of Amazonia, hosted by the Federal University of Amazonas in collaboration with Student Energy.

BE OPEN is proud to be a partner in this internationally significant event. BE OPEN and SES are united by the ambition to harness the power of youth-led change to impact communities worldwide. The event brings together young changemakers from across the globe to accelerate the just transition, and creates space for young leaders, industry experts, government officials, policymakers, and private sector representatives to share knowledge and collaborate on solutions to the critical energy issues affecting by vulnerable communities worldwide.

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BE OPEN Regional Art steps into year four to support emerging artists of Northeastern Africa

Lilia Valieva

BE OPEN continues to run BE OPEN Regional Art for the fourth year in 2026. The regional competition for emerging artists aims to support those whose art best represents their regional, cultural and ethnic identities, for the third year now. For the purpose, the BE OPEN expert community selects those artists who best represent the artistic tradition of a certain region to feature in the BE OPEN Art gallery and offer them greater visibility.

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