This past weekend, a group of more than 30 Esade students, design students form the European Design Institute (IED) and engineering students from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) worked together in interdisciplinary teams to devise solutions to help improve air quality in the Barcelona metropolitan area. The Climathon – an initiative organised by Esade and Accenture – took place at Fusion Point on Esade’s Rambla of Innovation. The event was organised in collaboration with Bacardi and Climate Kick, an innovation and knowledge community working to accelerate the transition to a zero-carbon economy.

Rafael Sardá, Lecturer in the Department of Operations, Innovation and Data Sciences at Esade, commented: “The Climathon is a unique opportunity to find solutions for such an important issue – improving air quality in Barcelona – through creativity and teamwork, while also raising awareness about the urgent need for anti-pollution measures in our cities.”

Prototypes against climate change

Participants worked nonstop from Saturday to Sunday to find the best solution to combat the effects of climate change in Barcelona. They pooled their knowledge and experiences, applied technical tools provided by Esade’s Fusion Point and analysed climate data from the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB). The objective of each team was to develop a functional prototype and a viable business plan to combat pollution. They were assisted in their work by faculty from the participating schools – Esade, IED and UPC – as well as climate experts and Accenture consultants. The winning projects included Greenlight, which offers door-to-door smart transport; O-Zone, a buyback service that promotes environmentally friendly decision-making; and LiBo, a line of air-purifying ionisation devices. 

Francisco Mas de Xaxàs, Managing Director of Accenture, commented: “Corporate contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals are not delivering the expected results, according to The Decade to Deliver: A Call to Business Action, the most important study to date on the subject of corporate sustainability, which was conducted by Accenture and the United Nations Global Compact. One of the main conclusions of the report is that just 21% of CEOs feel that business is currently playing a critical role in contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals. And less than half of the CEOs surveyed (48%) said they were integrating sustainability into their operations. This Climathon is a small example of how we can improve the corporate culture while trying to improve air quality in Barcelona.”

The Climathon is the third hackathon organised by Esade’s Fusion Pont and Accenture, with the participation of IED and UPC, to find solutions to social challenges. The first hackathon focused on the development of solutions based on smart tissues, while the second promoted ideas for improving people’s health in their everyday lives.