Green Campus Challenge Spurs Creativity, Innovation and Collaboration for Sustainable Solutions

Grand prize winner Team Green-(in)-Spire’s submission to the Green Campus Challenge photo contest

This past Thursday marked the end of the Green Campus Challenge, hosted by MIT-Denmark and the Confederation of Danish Industry (Dansk Industri).

Over 150 students signed up to participate in the Challenge and were tasked with proposing ideas to make their university campus more sustainable within the areas of architecture & community spaces, energy, and food & waste. To do this, they were required to think not only innovatively, but also cross-culturally, working in teams that included both MIT and Danish university students. MIT students joining the challenge came from a variety of class years and majors, from first-year students to PhD candidates, with interests ranging from computer science to mechanical engineering to urban planning. Danish university students came from top universities across the country, including University of Copenhagen (KU), the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Aalborg University (AAU), Copenhagen Business School (CBS) and Southern Denmark University (SDU).

In addition to guidance from challenge organizers, student teams received mentorship from campus stakeholders, experts in academia and entrepreneurship and some of Denmark’s most innovative companies. Danfoss advised students on district energy solutions, sharing the expertise not only in mentorship sessions but in an interactive webinar. Faculty and administrators from the University of Copenhagen and MIT Office of Sustainability provided information about food and waste systems. Other mentors included representatives from Rambøll, SPACE10, Blue Lobster, EcoTree and DTU Skylab.

In between mentorship and team ideation, there were workshops to help students develop innovation thinking processes, consider project stakeholders, and learn how to pitch their idea to a sustainability audience. And on top of all that, students found time for some fun as well—joining together for trivia (with questions about Denmark and MIT, of course), yoga, and online games, organized by the MIT Design for America Club.

The event culminated with six finalist teams, each with 4 or 5 student team members, presenting their pitches to a panel of judges from the US and Denmark. The jury included Dr. Franklin Carrero-Martinez (U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Math), Kinga Christensen (Dansk Industri), Susy Jones (MIT Sustainability) and Tomas Refslund Poulsen (University of Copenhagen Green Campus Initiative). Additionally, a jury from Danfoss, featuring Miha Bobič (VP of Business Development and Product Portfolio), Tom B. Jakobsen (Director of Innovation) and Mark Shu (Senior Director of Innovation and Head of the Danfoss Innovation Accelerator (DIA) in Cambridge, MA), selected a winner for the Danfoss prize for innovation within the energy track.

The winners for the Green Campus Challenge were:

Grand Prize:

Team: Green-(In)-Spire

Proposal: Campus Sustainability World Fair: A designated space on campus (and events & "world fairs" held at that space) that showcases technologies and inventions that address campus sustainability.

Team Members: Allison Lee (MIT); Anna Worning (AAU); Erik Koors (SDU); John Liu (MIT); Kiara Wahnschafft (MIT)

Runner-Up:

Team: FreeCyclers

Proposal: Freecycle Space: Allowing students to donate and pick up stuff too good to throw away such as books, kitchen equipment, clothing etc.

Team Members: Eva Smerekanych (MIT); Isabel Dolp (CBS); Niklas Ludvigsen (CBS); Melissa Møller (AAU), Shristi Rijal (SDU)

Danfoss Prize:

Team: UniGreen Farmers

Proposal: UniGreen Farms: University led urban rooftop / research facility where interdisciplinary research can take place between senior and entry level researchers and students.

Team Members: Brian Li (MIT); Federico D'Ascanio (KU); Frederik Bøllingtoft (AAU); Julia Romero (KU); Kosmas Subashi (KU)