100 girls from across the world are invited to create sustainable solutions for their communities during a week-long challenge
Solvay and the NGO greenlight for girls (g4g) kick off their sustainability hackathon today in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Across the world, from May 16-20, 100 young women of around 16 years of age will tackle environmental protection challenges relating to the themes of green food and water conservation using the power of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). The hackathon will encourage them to apply an eco-conscious mindset to learning about open innovation, while also exploring the importance of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Three days of the week will be dedicated to live interactive sessions, where students will engage with mentors and scientists from Solvay to learn how they can reinvent progress towards a circular economy. The students will also complete independent learning tasks that will help them to link design-thinking with sustainability, diversity, equity and inclusion, and innovation. The creators of the best solutions to the challenge will be recognized as “g4g and Solvay Future Sustainable Solvers” at an awards ceremony in June.
“We believe that to develop the best STEM researchers of tomorrow we must begin by introducing STEM advocacy initiatives to young people today,” said Solvay’s Corporate Citizenship Manager, Sonsoles Llopis Garcia. “By introducing science early, we plant the seed of curiosity and creativity, which will foster innovation and design-thinking. We’ve partnered with greenlight for girls to make this a reality, by introducing three projects to advance STEM education for young STEM adventurers across the globe.”
"Our goal is to inspire more girls and children around the world to take up STEM subjects, and we need great partners, such as Solvay, to do this,” said Melissa Rancourt, Founder and Chairman of greenlight for girls. “This enables us to engage with the future generation of STEM leaders and show them examples of innovative companies and aspiring role-model professionals. With these common projects, they’ll have a playground to ask questions, be critical and find unconventional ways of solving problems."
Solvay and g4g have been working together to inspire young women to pursue STEM education since 2019, reaching more than 4,000 students around the world so far. In 2022, they deepened their global partnership to create impactful learning, inspiration and reach through three main projects:
- The Innovator’s Hub, a virtual STEM module-learning platform that consists of educational and fun guided STEM activities for young students;
- The g4g fellowship programme in India that supports ten college-bound young women to pursue their education and arms them with a formal degree and equal access to the best opportunities for their future careers;
- The aforementioned Global Hackathon.
Solvay’s partnership with g4g is part of the Group’s corporate citizenship program which aims to address worldwide societal challenges by supporting projects in three distinct areas: STEM education, innovation and sustainability. In particular, the program aims to encourage the development and improvement of scientific knowledge, investing in extraordinary projects that go beyond and pursue ideas that are outside the box.
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Pooja Khati
Solvay is a science company whose technologies bring benefits to many aspects of daily life. With more than 21,000 employees in 63 countries, Solvay bonds people, ideas and elements to reinvent progress. The Group seeks to create sustainable shared value for all, notably through its Solvay One Planet roadmap crafted around three pillars: protecting the climate, preserving resources and fostering a better life. The Group’s innovative solutions contribute to safer, cleaner, and more sustainable products found in homes, food and consumer goods, planes, cars, batteries, smart devices, health care applications, water and air purification systems. Founded in 1863, Solvay today ranks among the world’s top three companies for the vast majority of its activities and delivered net sales of €10.1 billion in 2021. Solvay is listed on Euronext Brussels and Paris (SOLB). Learn more at www.solvay.com.
Greenlight for girls is an international non-profit organization headquartered in both Brussels, Belgium (as an international organization registered asbl) and in the US (as a registered 501c3) dedicated to inspiring girls (and boys) of all ages and backgrounds to pursue STEM subjects by introducing them to the world of science, technology, engineering & mathematics in fun and exciting hands-on learning. Together with our long-standing Board members, global partnerships, inspirational leaders and a vast growing network of dedicated team members and volunteers, we are making a difference to inspire future scientists, engineers, inventors, and innovators around the world. Since our inception in 2010, we have now reached over 58,000 STEM adventurers of all ages & backgrounds with more than 350 engaging events on 6 continents, 34 countries, and 103 cities with the help of a network of 8,500 role models and mentors. For press inquiries, please contact info@greenlightforgirls.org.
