Hacking the way to smart energy solutions

On 29 September 2019, students, young professionals and entrepreneurs who are passionate about solving critical issues and creating large-scale, positive climate impact are invited to the Smart Energy Hack – a one day hackathon focused on creating new takes on smart grid solutions for specific challenges in Nairobi (Kenya) and Durban (South Africa).

As part of an EUDP – supported project, EIT Climate-KIC is organising a Smart Energy Hack in collaboration with MI Smart Grids, DTU Skylab and EUDP.

30 Danish students will have the change to work on Smart Grid related challenges for Nairobi and Durban, with the ambition that the presented ideas can develop into tangible and scalable sustainable energy solutions to be implemented by municipalities to address current issues.

The challenges

EIT Climate-KIC has partnered up with DTU Skylab through Next Generation, a programme supported by C40 and Danida. The Next Generation City Action brings together 100 young professionals from Denmark, Kenya, Columbia, Mexico, South Africa, Ethiopia and South Korea in order to inspire young, talented individuals to become drivers of future sustainable city development. 

The Danish students will have a a focus on three challenges in the Young Academics City Challenge track:

• Energy Efficiency of Buildings in Nairobi, Kenya
• Electric Mobility in Durban, South Africa and
• Electric Mobility in Nairobi Kenya

The aim of the challenge is to inspire and convince the jury of 1) how building integrated smart grid solutions and 2) how electrical vehicle smart grid solutions can be implemented in Nairobi and Durban to support a more sustainable and robust electricity network.

The hackathon

The teams will be tasked to choose their preferred challenge, to analyse the current situation in Nairobi or Durban and choose one or more existing smart grid solutions and put it into the chosen city context. The participants will consequently analyse the environmental, social and economic impacts of the new solutions while considering relevant partnerships.

An expert jury of three will evaluate the final pitches based on the teams’ overall communication skills, the innovativeness, viability and feasibility of their proposed solution, its sustainability impact as well as the identified partnerships that can accelerate implementation.

The jury members are

• Peter Bach Andersen – Senior Researcher, DTU Department of Electrical Engineering 
• Jacob Østergaard – Professor, Head of Center, DTU Department of Electrical Engineering
• Diana Lundgren – Innovation Officer, DTU Office for Innovation and Sector Services

The three winning groups of the hackathon in late September will move forward to compete on equal terms with the Next Generation programme students from the cities of Medellin, Nairobi, Durban and others that will run in Copenhagen in parallel with the C40 World Mayors Summit between 8 and 12 October.

The winners of the EUDP hackathon will be pitching on one of the VIP stages of the Mayors Summit on 11 October.

Background  

The Smart Energy Hack is an international case competition within the field of cleantech, green tech, innovation and entrepreneurship and is delivered as a dissemination assignment through Mission Innovation, led by DTU Electro. Mission Innovation consisting of 23 members – 22 countries and the European Union – is a global coalition that aims to accelerate the global transition towards a greener economy.

Interested in participating in the hackathon? You still have your chance – register now!

For more information on EIT Climate-KIC’s activities during the C40 World Mayors Summit, visit our event page.