Climate Innovation Challenge Wraps Up with 18 Team Submissions
Weekend hackathon sees cross-faculty teams pitch ideas for campus sustainability and urban food systems.
The inaugural Breaking Ground: Climate Innovation Challenge concluded on Sunday after a weekend of intensive teamwork, mentoring, and pitching at the Innovation Hub.
Eighteen teams comprising 74 students from across six faculties participated, tackling briefs on campus energy efficiency, urban food systems, and waste reduction. The winning team, a mix of Environmental Science and Business students, proposed a composting network linking campus food outlets with community gardens in the surrounding neighbourhood.
"We weren't expecting the turnout to be this strong for a first-year event," said organiser Dr. Emily Green, Sustainability Director. "The quality of the pitches shows that students genuinely care about these issues."
Runners-up included a project to install solar-powered phone charging stations around campus and a proposal for a reusable container scheme at campus cafés. The winning team receives $2,000 in seed funding to pilot their idea on campus.
