CQUni eco challenge puts sustainable future in young hands for Melbourne Knowledge Week

Young social innovators converged in Melbourne last week' as CQUniversity and Young Change Agents hosted an eco challenge to promote sustainable consumption.

The design-thinking challenge was a free' full-day workshop on Friday 30 April' held as part of the annual Melbourne Knowledge Week.

CQUniversity Social Innovation Program Manager Ashley Clarke said the event was fully booked' with 50 young people aged 15 to 25 years participating.

"The young people worked in teams to explore the challenge and develop solutions to the challenge' 'how might we encourage people to produce and consume resources more responsibly in the City of Melbourne?''" Ms Clarke explained.

"It was opportunity for young people to hone their problem solving' creativity and teamwork skills' while developing solutions for environmental issues' and the participants definitely stepped up to the challenge."

"Following a human-centred design process' each team created a prototype of their solution and presented to the judging panel."

The judging panel included CQUniversity Director – Social Innovation Lara Carton' Good Cycles CEO Jaison Hoernel' and Paul Whelan' Zero Carbon Operations Lead at the City of Melbourne.

The Youth Eco Design-Thinking Challenge was a part of a big sustainability program for the MKW festival' which ran from Monday 26 April to Sunday 2 May.

CQUniversity has collaborated with Melbourne Knowledge Week since 2016' hosting a range of creative and challenging social innovation events.

The ongoing participation is part of CQUniversity's role as Australia's only Changemaker University' accredited by global education network Ashoka U.

The membership reflects CQUniversity's diverse initiatives to promote social innovation and enterprise' and work with government' industry' business and community to empower students to solve real-life challenges locally and internationally.