Circular City Labs-Tirana 33 Hours Hackathon began on June 26th at Destil Creative Hub.
The kickoff session included welcome remarks from Mrs. Esmerina Hidri, CCL-Tirana Coordinator; Mrs. Angelina Schreiner, Advisor on Circular Economy at CCL global project; Mr. Michael Oos, Project Manager at EU4Innovation and Mrs. Julinda Dhame, Director General of Environment and Sustainable Development at the Municipality of Tirana. They highlighted the positive impact circular projects and reusable packaging systems could have on the local economy.
The Crazy Town – hackathon facilitators, shared with the participants insights on the event structure. They were also introduced to the pool of coaches and experts. Additionally, Oriol Segarra – founder of Bumerang shared the inspiring story of his company, which aims to create systemic change and inspire reusable packaging systems solutions to tackle the environmental crisis.
The first day of the Hackathon was about activation, mapping the participants/ actors involved in the reuse system, their services and needs. The end goal was to facilitate encounters that could finalize partnerships and collaborations. The afternoon session featured a workshop under the theme “Love the problem, not the solution”. The hackathon participants explored market needs and opportunities, supported by mentors and coaches.
CCL Tirana Hackathon – Day 2
The second day of the Circular City Labs-Tirana 33 Hours Hackathon was about designing the solutions and pitching and presenting them to the audience and the jury.
During the morning session, the hackathon participants continued working at the premises of Destil Creative Hub. They formulated the idea, built partnerships and solutions, and designed the pitch including support materials such as data and visuals.
“Pitch the Solution,” the afternoon session, was a blast! Start-ups and established businesses of various sectors such as Event Management, vendors of Cosmetics, Food and beverage, Clothing, Wholesale vendors and Supermarket chains, Eco-washing, Reusable Bags/ Paper Producers, and System Operators, presented amazing solutions for the hackathon challenge. They had 3 minutes to pitch their idea and plans for the next steps.
Oriol Segarra – founder of Bumerang, Ms. Angelina Schreiner from CCL Global, Ms. Jona Haxhialiu – EU4CELC, Ms. Merita Toska – Local Consortia, and Ms. Valbona Koci – EU4I comprised the jury. They followed each pitch with a short Q&A session.
We will announce the results by next week, and the winning teams will have the opportunity to benefit from the CCL Tirana Accelerator.
Circular City Labs-Tirana is a joint effort of the European Union and Germany via (1) Circular City Labs Project (2) EU for Circular Economy and Livable Cities (3) EU4Innovation programmes, in partnership with the Municipality of Tirana.
