Home Global Events Climathon Climathon Bengaluru 2020

Welcome to ClimathonBLR 2020!

Inspired by EIT-Climate KIC’s Global Climathon movement, a global community of change-makers and innovators around the world are working in their communities to help humanity solve its most pressing issues through ideation and innovation. Over 150 cities across the globe are engaging stakeholders across the board to develop novel ideas on how to tackle climate-related challenges at the local level. The Climathon is a roughly 50-hour online idea marathon, where diverse minds converge to brainstorm and develop practical prototypes to combat climate change and contribute towards molding a resilient ecosystem. 

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been felt around the globe, at all levels. As the world unites to grapple with this unprecedented crisis, the role of global changemakers, innovation, and sustainability have become more pivotal than ever before. 

With support from premiere civil society organizations and our network, we have set out on an endeavor to bring an edition of the Climathon to Bengaluru, India! The ClimathonBLR will focus on urban waste management in the ‘garden’ city of Bengaluru, India. With a burgeoning population, expanding peripheries, and rapid urbanization, there is a dire need for scientific waste management in the ‘Silicon Valley of India’. 

Why have we chosen Waste Management as the theme of the ClimathonBLR? 

Despite civic bodies pushing for a house to house collection and segregation of waste in the city, disposal remains a problem and 100% recycling a dream. Furthermore, mismanagement of garbage including incineration remains rampant. This has led to contamination of the very lakes the city is celebrated for and the emission of harmful particulates into the atmosphere, which contributes directly to climate change.    

Problem Statement

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike generates around 5000 metric tonnes of waste per day. This waste on decomposition emits carbon dioxide and methane – greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and climate change. The dumpsites are spread all around Bangalore, ever-extending, and the garbage trucks travel several kilometers, consuming several liters of fuel, resulting in emissions. Bengaluru is facing problems due to existing waste disposal practices, high costs due to lack of a robust plan, and lack of proper infrastructural facilities. Open dumping in the expanding zones of the city is posing severe problems to structures constructed on the old dumps. There are issues at every level of waste management — right from the type of waste generated in different areas of the city to segregation, collection, transportation, disposal, and treatment. Environmental degradation, deteriorating groundwater quality, adverse impacts on health, emissions from the landfills are other indirect impacts that have implications for quality of life, climate, and sustainable development. The estimated maximum landfill gas flow rate for one of the landfill sites in Bangalore over a period of 20 years is reported to be 19.85 m3/min, with implications for air quality and climate change.

The Climathon Bengaluru 2020 seeks to encourage and stimulate innovative thinking for the development of strategies and solution prototypes that will address the local issue of waste management, utilization of waste, and pave the way for tackling the global issue of climate change.

Witness the Launch: Clean-Up Bengaluru

#ClimathonBLR brings together people from different segments – students, social groups, think tanks, academicians, entrepreneurs, etc. – to develop practical and efficient solution ideas to the Waste Management challenge in Bangalore, which is our chosen climate theme this year.

We’re launching the #ClimathonBLR with a themed panel discussion “Clean Up Bengaluru” with esteemed guests and experts to shed light on the topic and to unpack the challenge from a myriad of perspectives.

Why Participate

Our Climathon presents the right platform to initiate your own campaign and win an opportunity to watch your prototypes come alive. 

It is a novel way for you to help solve socio-environmental woes in urban waste management and at the same time contribute to building a climate-resilient future.

The networking potential the Climathon carries is immense. Interaction with other participants, our experts, and practitioners will broaden your perspectives and open new doors for you to develop your talent.

It is the perfect chance for you to sharpen and hone your skills in innovative thinking, entrepreneurship, interpersonal communication, and allied areas.

By participating in the Climathon, you can collaborate with like-minded Global Citizens, from a plethora of domains, be it engineering, design, civic policy, social justice reform, project management, finance, education, and many others. Solving the global challenge of climate change needs local context-specific solutions, and the process will enable you to be a part of a responsible global front.

Certificates of participation will be provided on completion of the Climathon. 

Winners of the Climathon can apply for EIT Climate-KIC Global Awards and can gain visibility once solution ideas have been uploaded to the Climathon global platform! What’s more, winners can also apply for the EIT Climate-KIC Climate Launchpads to incubate/accelerate their idea further. 

Solution Ideas: Climathon Bengaluru 2020

Here are the solution ideas of the top teams of ClimathonBLR 2020! These solution ideas have been developed as part of our 50 hour ideation marathon!

Recirculating Textile and Clothing Waste into the industry for Reuse

Team Aryabhata: Textile waste produced in the process of making clothing will be recirculated in the industry as raw material for other textile products through a dedicated e-commerce platform.

An App to book customized waste collection

Team Climate Crew: An app that not only facilitates segregated waste collection but also offers lucrative discounts to end-users and outsources waste management to interested parties.

Waste Scrapping with Wastech

Team Wastech: A plastic waste collection initiative through an online platform that connects the scrap dealer with the consumer.

Developing an automatic solar-powered electric composting machine

Team OrGcompost: Developing an automatic solar-powered electric composting machine for residential communities, helping in the quick decomposition of organic wastes.

Who can participate in the ClimathonBLR?

The Climathon is open to participation for people of all ages, across all sectors and demographics. What do we seek from participants?

  • A strong passion and investment in the theme of ‘Urban Waste Management’ and the motivation to engage pro-actively throughout the event
  • A genuine interest in re-imagining Bengaluru as a cleaner, greener city well equipped to combat the growing effects of acute climate change
  • Ability to work in an interdisciplinary team from different domains
  • Motivation to extensively ideate throughout the Climathon and work in an agile ‘hackathon-like’ environment
  • Commitment to take the idea to completion and remain engaged with the cause post the Climathon

How to Participate? 

Registration to the Climathon happens on an individual basis. Once you have registered for the Climathon, on the first day, you will be asked to form an inter-disciplinary team with the other registrants.

Schedule

Organizers

Judges

Meet the esteemed judges and panelists of Climathon Bengaluru 2020!

Meet the Mentors of Climathon Bengaluru 2020!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Climathon? 

The Climathon serves as a power-packed session of a specialized version of an Ideathon, specifically meant to raise issues pertaining to climate change. The approx. 50 hour-long event is filled with interaction, deliberation, creation, and fruition of disruptive ideas. For more information on the genesis of the Climathon movement worldwide, visit here! 

How do I participate? Should I pay fees in order to register? 

To register for the ClimathonBLR, you may click here. We do not charge any fees for registration/participation. Please refer to the ‘Who can participate’ section for more details. 

When is the Climathon scheduled for?

5-7 November 2020. There are limited slots for participation, so hurry and apply now!

Is the participation on an individual basis, or do I need to form teams?

Registration to the Climathon happens on an individual basis. Once you have registered for the Climathon, on the first day, you will be asked to form an inter-disciplinary team with the other registrants. The idea is to facilitate collaboration, cross-functional teamwork, and build strong communication skills.

How are teams formed? 

The teams form in the early hours of the Climathon (see ‘schedule’ section to learn more). The organizers will publish a list of participants and their skills. Then, participants will be invited to join using the Slack platform, using pre-established channels based on issues and ideas. The participants will go to their corresponding groups. Ideally, teams should be interdisciplinary to encourage diversity of perspectives during the process. Participants must choose a definitive team to work with by the end of Day 1.

How do I prepare myself for the event? 

More than anything, we ask that you bring your motivation to the event! Additionally, you can familiarize yourself with tools like Slack, Zoom, Gmail, Miro online white-boards, video editing, graphic design, and YouTube among other online collaboration tools. 

What kind of prototypes are built during the Climathon?

Participants are welcome to develop anything from digital to physical products, services, movements, art projects, therapeutic products, anything that creates value to communities while keeping in mind the theme of the Climathon: Building solutions to address Urban Waste Management. The solutions at the end of the Climathon should be at least a low or medium-fidelity prototype. This means that participants have tangible constructions of the idea they were working on.

What are low/medium-fidelity prototypes? 

Low-fidelity prototypes may include rough sketches, paper models, simple storyboards, or rough paper prototypes of digital interfaces. You would base your choice of the type of prototype on the type of solution you are seeking to create. Medium fidelity – slightly more detailed, still rough but closer to the solution. Read this article to learn more.

What happens to the prototypes post the event? 

The adjudged winners will be given the opportunity to apply for grants with suited organizations to work further on their prototypes. All solutions built during the Climathon will be documented, so anyone can move the idea up further by continuing the collaboration. Participants can implement the solution as part of our #100Acts of Global Citizenship or continue to tackle it together in a project team. Best ideas and prototypes to come out of the Climathon will be showcased on our blogs, website, and social media channels, as well as on the Climathon global platform.

Who chooses the winners? When will results be announced? 

A panel of judges will be in charge of evaluating the projects. The winning groups will be chosen according to the degree of innovation of the proposal, the level of the presentation, and the degree of the tangibility of the implementation. Results will be declared in the weeks after the Climathon based on  popular poll and judges evaluation.

More questions?

Write to us at: climathon.bengaluru(at)gmail.com

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