Abu Dhabi-based developer Masdar’s Youth 4 Sustainability (Y4S) platform has announced “Re.” as the winning team of its Ecothon Innovation Challenge.
Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khalid bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Youth 4 Sustainability (Y4S), a Masdar outreach initiative, invests and actively supports the development of youth, with the objective of enabling them to become the sustainability leaders of tomorrow.
Hosted in collaboration with Nestlé, Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi and the Authority of Social Contribution – Ma’an, the challenge tasked the competing teams with developing a new & recyclable materials for packaging, production and design.
They could also produce an innovation that could enable society, governments and corporations to encourage responsible behavior toward a single-use plastic-free future.
The Re. team were selected as the winners for their innovative water bottles that aim to redesign and reimagine the future of drinking water, while tackling the issue of plastic pollution.
Masdar’s executive director of brand and strategic initiatives Dr Lamya Nawaf Fawwaz said: “I would like to congratulate all the teams who competed in the Ecothon Innovation Challenge and created innovative solutions to tackle some of the world’s most difficult waste problems using circular economy principles.
“The Ecothon aims to develop participants’ skills and knowledge to enable them to become future business leaders and innovators, and the ideas presented highlight the important role that youth can play in supporting the global sustainability agenda.”
“Masdar is proud to be taking a leading role in preparing the youth to become future sustainability leaders under the Youth 4 Sustainability platform.”
More than 45 Future Sustainability Leaders, in eight separate teams, participated in the Ecothon, receiving approximately 22 hours of mentoring and training on design thinking and insights for innovation, ideation, prototyping and pitching to develop and refine their innovative ideas in the circular economy.
The winning team will be connected with potential incubators for mentorship and to help them advance their idea.