The wind of change blowing in Lund

During the second round of the EIT Climate-KIC Journey – a four-week intensive learning programme focused on creating sustainable change across systems – the participants taking part in the The Cruise, stopped in Lund, Sweden after exploring the vibrant start-up and innovation scene in Estonia.

The Journey was hosted by Lund University, one of EIT Climate-KIC‘s partners. The city of Lund is the most popular study location in Sweden and the University offers one of the broadest ranges of programmes and courses in Scandinavia based on cross-disciplinary and cutting-edge research – an offering the Journey participants were able to experience first-hand during their visit.

After gaining insights in climate solutions and innovation through lectures, workshops and site-visits, the second week focused on how to scale up design thinking to systems innovation in the guidance of Jessica Wadin, Researcher at Innovation Engineering, and Anders Warell, Professor at Industrial Design.

Insights from varying perspectives

Laura and Phillip, two of the Cruise Journey participants, were fascinated by the contrasting experiences gained through the diverse programme in Estonia and Sweden as well as the challenges and opportunities arising from climate adaptation and mitigation. They experienced their group of young change makers as engaging and inspiring – creating hope for their generation to lead the change we need.

The Cruise coach Şeyda Nur Güneş was impressed by the participants’ diversity, creativity and smart ideas as the coaches were trying to harvest and share the participants’ knowledge from diverse backgrounds to create systemic change. As a Journey alumni having participated in the programme 4 years ago, she felt empowered by the skills acquired during her Journey and was aiming to pass them on to this year’s participants.

https://www.facebook.com/climatekicnordic/videos/394105237973071/

Connecting the city to organic, local produce

The participants also got the opportunity to visit Mossagården, an organic farm of a second generation of farmers, focusing on the production of vegetables and hemp. The farmers at Mossagården try to connect the city to fresh, organic vegetables by offering a box subscription, delivering organic vegetables and fruit to people across the region.

In the future the farmers at Mossagården are planning to offer a platform to educate people interested in their approach to sustainable farming – thus transforming the farm into a learning and education space.

Ebba-Maria introduced the participants to their approach of sustainable farming including a circular farming system, focusing on the reuse of water from growing and harvesting the vegetables, and the production of hemp – which is one of the most climate-friendly products used for insulation, construction and nutrition.

According to Ebba-Maria, the topic of food waste has become more popular in Sweden. For example, a few years back people didn’t eat ugly shaped carrots – nowadays more people do, giving hope for a changing food culture.

In the video below Katarina, one of the Journey participants from Serbia, is talking about her experience at Mossagården.