Scientific, sustainable, ingenious and—not least—extremely creative solutions to the world’s problems will be competing with one another when DTU holds its GRØN DYST (Green Challenge) 2014 competition on Friday, 27 June.
Bricks made of plastic refuse for Indian villages, fences constructed from used bicycle tyres and fruit fields covered with solar cells—it’s all green when DTU, Technical University of Denmark, hosts the stage for 276 engineering students’ innovative solutions to the world’s problems. Altogether, the students are presenting 124 projects, and competing for DKK 245,000 of prize money.
Looking at the participants, DTU’s international profile becomes apparent: Several of the University’s international students from our European partner universities, for example École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and Technische Universität München (TUM), have also entered GRØN DYST. Even students from China and the USA are contributing green ideas, giving the Danish engineering students a run for their money.
Business professionals, politicians and academics judging
Each project is pitched for 120 seconds in front of an expert panel of judges who assess the green ideas according to criteria such as realizability, technological application, positive environmental or energy impact, innovation, creativity and communication.
The panel is made up of a list of prominent business professionals, among others CEO Lone Dybdal Nilsson from Novozymes, General Manager, Chemicals R&D Martin Østberg from Haldor Topsøe, and Executive IT-Architect & Technical Sales Manager Peter Lange from IBM.
Several politicians are also represented on the panel, for example Annette Vilhelmsen, spokeswoman on research for the Socialist People’s Party (SF), and Per Clausen, spokesman on energy and the climate for the Red-Green Alliance (E).
The event is kicked off by the Minister for Education and Science Sofie Carsten Nielsen from the Social Liberal Party (R), and concludes with a prize-giving ceremony presided over by Peter Mogensen from the Kraka Foundation.
Sustainability in engineering programmes
This is the third time that DTU is hosting the GRØN DYST competition. The University incorporates sustainability in all its study programmes, and this is completely intentional, says DTU’s Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Student Affairs, Martin E. Vigild:
“At DTU, we believe that engineers play a key role in society in relation to boosting sustainable development—irrespective of whether you studying chemical, mechanical or electrical engineering. Therefore, it is completely natural to think green when developing ideas, whatever your engineering study programme. Engineering students create concrete, sustainable solutions, which we highlight with GRØN DYST: A large conference, lots of attention and publicity and DKK 250,000 in prize money for the best ideas and projects.”