The Young for the Climate

This five week training and workshop program is a proposal for students, doctoral students, scientists and young entrepreneurs interested in the issue of climate change. The idea behind it is an international and interdisciplinary collaboration of young scientists and business environments.

This year’s edition of ”The Journey” was coordinated by Wrocław Research Center EIT+, and one of its final parts took place at the University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wrocław. Over 300 participants from 40 countries, including 9 from Poland, attended the training courses. The participants formed international teams of specialists from different disciplines. Their collaboration resulted in setting up different projects aimed at conducting activities preventing climatic changes and propagating the idea of balanced and low carbon economy. The main goal of the teams was to define problems and suggest innovations to help solve them.

“Our team tried to find a simple and cheap solution to such global problems as lack of drinking water and lack of sufficient food,” said Agnieszka Bocheńska, a doctoral student from the University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wrocław. ”You can find different solutions in the market but they are often very complex and expensive,” she added. The solution suggested by the project team is a water filter, using the special abilities of algae to absorb nitrogen, phosphorus and heavy metals from water and using the germicidal effect of clay.

Among the participants of the program there was also Hanna Starostecka, a graduate of Biotechnology at the University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wrocław. Her team’s project was aimed at the formation of a network for exchanging and spreading seeds of forgotten species of fruit and vegetables , in order to enhance local biodiversity. ”We were mostly interested in spreading forgotten species, easily adapting to the local climate and environment,” said Starostecka. ”The project is also aiming at the gradual decrease of importing goods and giving our society an opportunity to have more contact with healthy, local food products,” she summed up. The desired outcome of the work on the project was to design a product consisting of a series of surprise boxes with seeds inside. The integral part of the project was to establish a social network internet platform, whose members would share their knowledge about forgotten species of fruit and vegetables and popularize the idea of urban gardening.

To have an idea is not enough – during the workshops the main emphasis was put on the approach of forming the concept, completing the idea and implementing the project. The participants were outdoing one another in forming ideas for an ecological business, which would contribute to lowering carbon dioxide emission. The main object of the program was to present a ready project and business model in front of an interdisciplinary jury. The best ideas were awarded.

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