The second Circular Economy Hackathon took place on 5 and 6 of October at Unit.City Innovation Park (Kyiv).

The goal of the event was to develop innovative solutions based on the principles of circular economy.

The hackathon was organized by ReThink company. At the Circular Economy Hackathon participants had the opportunity to present their ideas, creative solutions and new business models that will slow down the generation of new waste and reduce mineral resources use.

After the competitive selection, TENOR team – Towards circular EcoNOmy in faRming (Alla Kucherova, Oleksii Kozhushko, Volodymyr Besediuk, Thea Camille-Maxime) participated in the hackathon, and introduced the AQUA CIRCUM prototype, based on innovations that allow to reuse the water, nutrients and thermal energy in artificial agro-ecosystems.

The team's work with mentors who shared their experience of achieving their own projects, start-ups and ideas in the sphere of circular economy became fascinating. The mentors who worked with the team were: Kim Poldner, Circular Fashion Lab founder, Chantal Engelen, Kromkommer co-founder, Roman Zinchenko, Greencubator co-founder, Rodion Moroziv, Head of Eco Department (Ukrgasbank), Iryna Verbytska, Chief Ecologist (DTEK), Yuriy Petruk, AgTech Ukraine founder, Els Leclercq, Urbanist, PhD. Design as Politics, TUDelft (Delft University of Technology).

Assisted by mentors' advices, the participants worked on their presentations, creating business plans for their ideas. This gave the means to professionally present their projects to the jury.

TENOR team had the opportunity to present their prototype in an interview with TRС Ukraine and other media.

Article by Alla Kucherova