UNDP IICPSD’s SDG AI Lab, UNDP Egypt and Samsung Electronics Egypt held the “Hack4ClimateAction” -  a four- day Global Virtual Hackathon from the 16^th -19^th of December 2022. The Hackathon leveraged  Samsung’s continuous efforts in deploying youths’ capabilities, based on the company’s belief that youth are the future changemakers.Nearly 180 youth participants  from across the world were welcomed to participate and share their innovative contributions for a more sustainable world.

This year’s hackathon is tackling six different themes of environmental challenges, including climate change, green energy, clean water, smart city, healthy life, and sustainability. The Hackathon’s programme included several networking events and mentoring meetings in addition to fruitful broadcasts and webinars building climate change expertise but also technological knowledge, SDGs, and entrepreneurship and soft skills,.

The “Hack4ClimateAction” follows UNDP and Samsung  side event held  during the 27th edition of the United Nations Climate Change Conference’s (COP27) where the  3 partners shared their  beliefs and quests to preserve the environment and improve youths’ skills.

“We are committed to continuously defying barriers, harnessing the latest technologies, and safeguarding people’s hard-gained trust in all the projects we are involved in. That’s why we are keen to find solutions that align with Samsung’s main vision “Tackling the challenges of Today for a Better Tomorrow”, said Mr. Ahmed Ali Gaafar, Chief Marketing Officer in Samsung Electronics Egypt. “One of our main objectives in the hackathon was to enable youths to acquire technical knowledge that helps them lead with the 4^th and 5^th industrial revolutions. We believe that through involving and including  young people, better sustainable results serving the world’s problems can be reached.”

From his side, Mr. Sylvain Merlen, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative, said: “At UNDP, we believe a lot of the solutions for climate action will come from youth, including from their mastery of and creativity with technology. In this Hackathon we witnessed youth connecting digital technologies with innovative solutions for climate mitigation and climate adaptation.”

Several experts and previous Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC) alumni were among the mentors guiding and supporting the participants throughout the 4-day event  in the fields of coding, programming, and artificial intelligence.

At the end of the hackathon,  The jury was composed of  a representative from  each of the three  partners and selected 3 winning teams. 10 participants were shortlisted to showcase their innovative projects to the juries who evaluated the projects and announced the winners. Top-3 projects responded to different climate change related issues varying from green energy, efficient transport system and smart cities