LUGANO, Switzerland, June 10, 2025
-- BE OPEN has identified the winners of the First, Second and Third prizes for Designing Futures 2050, its sixth international competition for students, graduates, and young professionals. This initiative seeks to inspire the creation of innovative solutions by young creatives for a sustainable and prosperous future, aligning with the objectives of the United Nations Sustainable Development Programme.
In 2019, BE OPEN established the competition programme to raise awareness among young professionals in creative and engineering fields about the urgent need for action regarding the Sustainable Development Goals. Prior to this one, BE OPEN has held 5 competitions and covered SDGs 2, 7, 11, 12, and 13.
Elena Baturina, Founder of BE OPEN told about the project: "For the past six years, we at BE OPEN have worked to support the Sustainable Development Goals by running international student design competitions. Every year we collect a plethora of outstanding, well-researched creative projects from young people all over the world. Every year we get reassurance that educating and motivating young people to become leaders of sustainable change is the best way forward. Our vision is to create a foundation of knowledge and encouragement for young people to navigate the challenges ahead. By providing opportunities for creative expression, collaboration, and learning, we hope to inspire them to take ownership of shaping the future."
Designing Futures 2050 competition aimed to foster the realistic application of sustainability principles by identifying, showcasing, and promoting creative ideas that facilitate a global transition toward a sustainable and efficient future. It involved younger creatives into updating the SDG agenda in the light of the realities of today, and encourages them to take a larger part in the actualization and implementation of the realistic sustainable actions plan.
The evaluations for the main three prizes were done by an international jury panel comprised of the Futures studies experts and academia, such as Professor Jennifer Gidley, PhD, former President of the WFSF, a Futures Researcher on the Forbes "World's Top 50 Female Futurists" list; Victor Vahidi Motti, a co-founder and President of the Alternative Planetary Futures Institute, and the Executive Director of the WFSF; Ashton Moseley, an industrial designer and full-time Lecturer at the University of Johannesburg, who previously served on the World Design Organisation's Young Designers Circle Committee; Grace Young, Student Energy's Events and Strategy Manager, one of Canada's Top 25 Environmentalists Under 25 list; Michelle Aljure Duque, a designer and a member of the Corporation for Social and Sustainable Entrepreneurship (CORPDES); Darcy Rincon, a microbiologist and a co-founder of Inspira System, a lecturer at Universidad de los Andes and a contributor to the Emphasis in Biodesign course.
By the amount of scores assigned, the winners list goes as follows:
- First Prize Winner: a 5000 euro grant goes to Redefining Global Healthcare: adjusting the SDGs for scalable practical impact by Ajisafe Damilola Ifeoluwa, Nigeria.
- Second Prize Winner 1: a 2500 euro grant goes to Ecovironment: Transforming Plastic Waste into Sustainable Construction Materials by Foday David Kamara, Rwanda.
- Second Prize Winner 2*: a 2500 euro grant goes to AGASA or Algae for Sustainable Action: blooming sustainability through algae installation by Adnan Hasyim Wibowo, Indonesia.
*Ecovironment and AGASA received equal scores from the jury.
The winners of the Public Vote and the Founder's Choice prize which gets selected by BE OPEN's founder Elena Baturina, will be announced later this month.
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