Ocean plastic hackathons

The Ocean Plastic Hackathons project, with the theme: Circular Economy to free the environment of foamed polystyrene, was divided into four events – Hackathons – held between December 2020 and June 2021. This product/service development marathon was promoted by the OceanWise INTERREG Atlantic Area project and organised by Design Factory Aveiro. 

DFA was responsible for designing and implementing the hybrid events, in the format of a Hackathon aimed at the general community, to implement open innovation using Design Thinking methodologies and tools to guide the participants’ work.  
The main aim of this initiative was to challenge participants to create innovative solutions to solve problems related to the growing waste of polystyrene (EPS and XPS) in the Atlantic Ocean. 
Four Hackathons were organised, totalling 20 days of activities, with different teams, approaches and mentors, resulting in creative product and service solutions for a diverse range of contexts linked to this global problem. With around 100 participants in the four events, students from Portuguese and Brazilian HEIs, professionals and specialists were involved. This project included lecturers and researchers from the University of Aveiro, namely from the Department of Environment and Planning and the Department of Mechanical Engineering. In the end, 5 different prototypes were obtained with creative solutions applicable to a diverse range of contexts connected to this global problem. 

Project website:  
https://www.oceanwise-project.eu  
Website with resources of the Hackathons organised:  
https://www.hackathons.oceanwise-project.eu