Secondary Education students are given the opportunity to transform their school into a Sustainable Green Building and/or transform an existing area of their city into a smart and sustainable one by participating in the “Think Smart, Create Green” contest.

The contest theme centers around Smart Cities: sustainable, self-sufficient, environmentally friendly, and technologically intelligent urban environments. Today’s strategies for urban development revolve around the adoption of renewable energy sources, reduced consumption of natural resources, ecosystem regeneration, and minimizing waste and pollution. Both smart buildings and green buildings are committed to efficient energy management. Green buildings specifically emphasize optimizing energy consumption and reducing carbon emissions. The concept of smart energy promotes a comprehensive approach that integrates green, sustainable, and renewable energy sources.

The contest is implemented by the EU-CONEXUS European University for Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability. Frederick University, a full member of EU-CONEXUS, coordinates the competition’s national jury.

Students aged 12-14 and their teachers are invited to transform their school into a Sustainable Green Building by creating a 3D model project (using sustainable and biodegradable materials, e.g. clay, paper, cork and related products, cotton, bamboo etc.) and show all the specificities of the proposal as if to be presented to a construction company. Students aged 14-16 are invited to create a computer-designed model on how to transform an existing area of their city into a smart and sustainable one. The contest offers a fascinating experience through which participants can develop useful skills (creativity, digital skills, team building skills and more) and raise awareness about environmental sustainability.

The national winners will receive EU-CONEXUS sustainable goodies and will present virtually their projects to the international jury. The teams who achieve 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in the international competition will receive prizes for a total value of 1000 euros, 750 euros and 500 euros respectively.

This is the second time the EU-CONEXUS School Contest is implemented in Cyprus. During last year’s contest, a school team from Cyprus made it to the international final: The Green Team of Fotis Pittas High School in Kokkinohoria won 3rd place in the 14-16 category and travelled to Bucharest, Romania where the were given the opportunity to expand their knowledge on the sustainability of coastal urban areas and bring innovative solutions to real-life problems. The pupils took part in a workshop on how to build nZEB buildings (nearly zero energy buildings) especially designed for them by the Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest (UTCB). They also visited sites of interest among which EFdeN Sustainable City, the first prototype of a sustainable city in Romania and participated in various workshops.
For this year’s contest, deadline of teams’ registration is January 27th, 2023 and project submission deadline is March 10th, 2023.

For more information and to register follow the link: https://www.eu-conexus.eu/en/think-smart-create-green/. Schools, students and teachers interested can also contact Frederick University, coordinator of the contest’s national jury, at: 22394394 (Nicosia) and 25730975 (Limassol).

EU-CONEXUS is part of the European Universities initiative, a flagship program of the European Commision created to strengthen strategic partnerships across Europe and build a European Education Area. EU-CONEXUS focuses on Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability and aims to develop innovative educational methods and cross disciplinary based approaches in the areas of Blue Growth, circular economy and sustainability.

EU-CONEXUS partner institutions are La Rochelle Université (France), Agricultural University of Athens (Greece), Klaipeda University (Lithuania), La Universidad Catolica de Valencia (Spain), University of Zadar (Croatia), Frederick University (Cyprus), South East Technological University (Ireland) and the University of Rostock (Germany). On July 27th 2022, the EU-CONEXUS European University Alliance was selected and secured funding by the European Commission to pursue its development for the next 4 years.