GJU’s Program Innovation and Entrepreneurship (PIE) under the Office for Industrial Links organized a Green Ideathon. This kind of event took place for the first time in the Middle East region. It aims at helping students to gain the knowledge and entrepreneurial skills needed to implement their ideas and support the vision of the German Jordanian University (GJU) in its “Education for Employment and Entrepreneurship”. The event was part of the activities PIE is developing and organizing to support students to develop sustainable graduation projects with innovative solutions targeting specific markets.
The GJU Green Ideathon is an event where students of Engineering get together with students from other disciplines to come up with solutions to common green related issues the society faces. This event attempts to bring together innovators from all different disciplines to exchange ideas, form teams around shared interests, and build solutions to various green challenges. The definition for green wasn’t related just to the green energy but rather to green building, green environment, green business and utilize waste.
The GJU Green Ideathon took place at “The Tank” by Umniah at the King Hussein Business Park (KHBP) on Saturday the 23rd of July, 2016. It was was organized in collaboration with the GJU Students Robotics Club and implemented in partnership with EDAMA, Oasis500, Bio-Rotterdam, IBTECAR and BDC who all contributed to the success of this event.
At the beginning of the day, challenges were presented by different partners, who are working in the field of “Green”, in addition to some GJU students. Afterwards, the participants formed seven teams to solve seven challenges. In order to solve these specific challenges and to stimulate their brains to think out of the box, several ideation techniques were used during the event covering the problems identification and generating alternatives. In addition, a short session related to business model was presented to let the ideas that solve challenges become more sustainable from the business view. The physical well-being was also provided with a rich and healthy breakfast and lunch buffet in a “green” set-up.
At the end, six teams pitched their ideas within five minutes maximum, and the judges had two minutes to ask the team questions related to their project. Once the six teams finished their pitching, the four judges, who were from Oasis500, EDAMA, GJU, and Umniah, gathered in a separate room to sum up their points and decide on the winning teams.
Finally, the winners were announced, from the third place, called “Limitless Team”, to the second place, which were two teams the “Green Shelter Team” and the “SHRC Team”, and finally, the first place, called “90’s Green Generation Team”. The Judges have expressed their appreciation to the winners and to all participants for their great ideas to solve specific challenges related to green issues.
We are looking forward to many more GJU Ideathons to come and to our next Hackathon in which those ideas can be further developed!
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