Water and Climate Change Entrepreneurship E-Hackathon

Context

In the Framework of the World Water Day organized by the Center for Mediterranean Integration (CMI), the CMI’s Regional Knowledge Program on Water in collaboration with the Mediterranean Youth for Water Network (MedYWat) and cewas Middle East organizing the Water and Climate Change entrepreneurship e-Hackathon. The e-hackathon will serve as a platform to develop entrepreneurial solutions to tackle growing water and climate change-related issues.

 Challenges

During the e-Hackathon we aim to create entrepreneurial solutions for real-life problems and challenges in the Mediterranean Region. While we will focus on developing corresponding approaches to solve water and climate change-related issues, it is essential that the solutions are actually needed, and able to benefit a customer/beneficiary base. Therefore, we have asked members of the Mediterranean Youth for Water Network (MedYWat) to submit challenges related to water and climate change that they have witnessed.

The following three challenges have been selected to be developed during the e-Hackathon:

1. Mitigation solutions for climate change impacts on water resources and food security
2. Urban waste (water) management
3. WASH and COVID-19

The selected young entrepreneurs’ teams will be working on finding solutions to these challenges. This could include developing apps/technologies/services to trace residue of the virus in water, tracking water quality, or promote WASH awareness campaign.  The winning ideas will be developed in a one-week Bootcamp in Tunisia and the different teams will be coached and supported the month after the e-hackathon to help them to implement their ideas into an actual business.

Who is Eligible?

• MedYWat members and Water Heroes Contest Participants
• Young entrepreneurs aged 18 to 35 having ideas, enthusiasm and interest for developing innovative solutions for water and climate challenges in the Mediterranean
• Regardless of their place of residence, applicants must be nationals from one of the following Mediterranean countries: Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Montenegro, Palestinian Territories, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.
• Applications from North Africa are strongly encouraged
• Applicants may be active within public institutions, research institutes, start-ups, NGOs, or are freelancers. 
• The official languages of the contest are English

Participation

Participation could be individual or as a team. However, participants need to register individually and make sure they have shared the correct names and the e-mail addresses of all the team members.

Deliverables

Each team will receive a link to the solution board to be filled afterward by the different deliverables.

On Thursday 25th of June, all teams need to submit the solution board containing:

• A description of the idea

• A 2 min video

• Support material, such as pictures of the prototype

• Profiles and pictures of the team members

Awards

A jury composed of 6 specialists from the center for Mediterranean Integration (CMI), the World Bank and cewas, will evaluate the solutions considering the following criteria:

• The relevance of the solution to the specific challenge in the Mediterranean Region
• Potential for long term impact/sustainability
• Added value for the customer
• Financial viability
• The entrepreneurial spirit of the members of the team
• Progress achieved during the e-hackathon

The Jury will select the most promising solutions who will be announced in the award ceremony on Friday 26th of June. Impactful, sustainable entrepreneurial approaches to water and climate change-related challenges are strongly encouraged. The best teams will be invited to join us in Tunisia (Dates subject to the new travel regulations) for a one-week Bootcamp to benefit from a tailored advanced support program to develop their ideas.

Timeline

• Deadline June 12th, 2020
• Announcement of selected participants and groups: Wednesday 17th of June 2020 and the participants need to confirm until 19th of June (12:00 pm CET)
• 1st day of the hackathon: Wednesday 24th of June 2020 at 9:00 am CET
• 2nd day of the hackathon: Thursday 25th of June 2020 at 9:30 am CET and Submission of projects until 11:59 pm CET
• Announcement of the winners: Friday 26th of June 2020 and Ceremony at 6:00 pm CET