Change Starts with Us!
Station J has implemented a 3-day long EcoHack event at its offices in East Jerusalem between 11th – 13th November 2022. The EcoHack event was generously supported by the Palestine Investment Fund and the European Union.
EcoHack Jerusalem is an environmental hackathon that focuses on finding the best solutions and ideas for environmental challenges faced by the youth in Jerusalem. The event allowed young participants to address such challenges with the most efficient settings to come up with ideas for positive change on the ground leading to a healthier environment.
The hackathon event consisted of three intensive work days during which the participants have worked on four main concepts with in-depth research to find the best possible ideas and ways to implement them. The concepts and solutions were presented and pitched for the Station J panel of judges on the final day!
The twenty-five young male and female participants came from different educational and professional backgrounds, expertise and interests. Some were SDGs experts; others were students majoring in environmental or engineering studies or have worked in those fields. On the first day all participants were divided into four groups, started discussing the main environmental issues then voted for four ideas which were subsequently divided amongst each team!
The four groups spent the rest of the three days working and hacking their selected issue and theme while station J guided the group discussions with joint sessions about Water and Waste Management and the basics of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as skills for pitching ideas. The bustling groups and joint events ended up with each group having their own 5-minutes pitching slot to discuss the team’s idea with our judges aiming to be selected for the PSDF grant to initiate the detailed work plan.
The first prize winner was Ecobox team. The team was offered three-months of free hosting and incubation at Station J to further develop their idea and access to 5-10K seed investment following a second assessment at a more developed stage.
The second prize winner was Zwaya team. The team was offered one-month free hosting and incubation opportunity at Station J. In addition to an extensive mentorship session to help them develop their product and recruit additional team members.
Station J will follow up with the other teams and integrate them within its activities in order to be well prepared for future opportunities.
Station J and PIF are currently working on the implementation of the second version of the its hackathon!
Stay Tuned!