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London students envision a greener future with Creative Hack

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The two-day hackathon supported students to develop smart business ideas to make London a cleaner and greener city.

In January, university students from across London came together to take part in Creative Hack, a two-day ‘hackathon’ run in collaboration with the London College of Fashion, Birkbeck, London South Bank University, Loughborough London University, University of East London, University College London and Washington University in St Lewis.

The hackathon is an opportunity for entrepreneurial students to network and build cross-institutional collaborations, whilst generating ideas that they may go on to submit in the annual Mayor’s Entrepreneur Competition.

There’s no shortage of inspirational initiatives taking place in the capital: from harnessing the steps of passers-by to generate electricity to making swim shorts from plastic waste found in the Thames, entrepreneurs play a key role in making London a greener place to live and work.

The Mayor’s Entrepreneur Competition aims to continue this tradition of innovation by supporting students in London to step up to the challenge of building a truly sustainable city, offering prizes for business ideas to make London cleaner and greener.

In Creative Hack, 17 teams of students and graduates across the different universities had two days to generate ideas to solve some of the biggest environmental challenges facing London today. Teams could choose from four main themes: Environment, Smart Cities, Creative Industries or Health.

Supported by experienced entrepreneurs and experts in design, pitching and team management, teams were guided through the ‘hacking’ process, from ideation through to pitching.

The two-day hackathon culminated with teams pitching their ideas to a panel of expert judges, with the winners decided through an audience vote. The winning team, Erive, pitched an innovative alternative to power charging stations, receiving £2,500 and dedicated application support for the Mayor’s Entrepreneur Competition in recognition of their innovative success.

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Hacking environmental challenges

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Birkbeck students hack their way to the top prize at Creative Hackathon hosted by six London Universities.

On Friday 25 January 2019, 70 students across six London universities kicked off a Creative Hackathon to develop innovative ideas to do something amazing and tackle some of the big environmental challenges facing London.

Among the group were 15 Birkbeck students who teamed up with their peers at University of the Arts London, University of East London, Loughborough University London, London South Bank University and UCL to form a range of teams who all pitched their ideas to a judging panel at the end of the hack on Saturday 26 January.

The event was organised by the six universities to inspire students to enter this year’s Mayor’s Entrepreneur competition, which has introduced a Creative sector category for the first time. Hosted at Loughborough University London’s campus at Here East in the Olympic Park, students heard from various speakers throughout the event including Omer El Fakir, Founding Partner at Blocks Wearables and previous competition runner up. Ryan Robinson, Co-Founder of Aeropowder joined the line up of speakers to inspire the teams while they also took part in a pitching masterclass and ideation session.

11 teams pitched their ideas to the judges with the winners, Team Cre8, taking the top prize for their sustainable start-up proposal and leaving with £2,000. Birkbeck students Sharmarke Gabayre, BSc Information Systems and Management, and Silvana Tavano, MA Digital Media Management, are part of Team Crea8 and are looking forward to entering their business idea into the Mayor’s Entrepreneur Competition next month with their teammates.

Students were able to build networks with like-minded people who are keen to make a difference, by fostering new collaborations to continue working on their innovative ideas.

Applications for the Mayor’s Entrepreneur competition close on the 17 February with finalists pitching to a judging panel in City Hall later in the year.

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