Climathon 2023

LBTU student team "Green River" won the 2nd place in the hackathon "Climathon'23", dedicated to clean air and climate-friendly urban environment. The central theme of this year's hackathon was air quality monitoring and control, specifically tailored to urban environments, with the aim of reducing the impacts of climate change, promoting sustainable energy use and building more sustainable communities. 

"The Climathon is part of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology's (EIT) EIT Climate-KIC project, which brings together participants in more than 60 countries across Europe each year to tackle climate challenges and build sustainable business ideas. This year, in cooperation with Riga and the Riga Energy Agency, the main challenges were: involving citizens in air quality monitoring, air quality control and monitoring. 

The hackathon was organised by the RTU Science and Innovation Centre in collaboration with the Riga Municipality, the European Commission Representation in Latvia and several partners including Schneider Electric, Riga Forests, Tet and GEO RIGA. The prize fund amounted to EUR 5000, which motivated the teams to create innovative climate solutions. 

Team Green River demonstrated excellent interdisciplinary collaboration, combining different skills and professional competences, and thus moved one step closer to creating a sustainable and human-friendly urban environment. Among the 16 teams in the competition, the first prize winner received €2,500 and the second prize winner, Team Green River, €1,500. "Green River proposed an innovative solution combining smart traffic lights with air quality sensors to optimise traffic flow in urban areas with high CO2 emissions, thus reducing pollution and contributing to a more climate-friendly urban environment.