The Sustainable Development Programme is a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. Adopted by all the UN member states, it is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.

The ambition of that level takes effort and commitment from all of society: that is why it is so important to raise awareness of the sustainable development programme with the public in general, and with younger generations in particular, as the future of the planet lies in their hands.

Launching the SDG programme, former UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon encouraged young people to take action: “Be a global citizen. Act with passion and compassion. Help us make this world safer and more sustainable today and for the generations that will follow us.”

Concordantly, BE OPEN and Cumulus too strongly believe in the creative potential of younger people and their ability to look at the world with fresh eyes and to come up with ideas no one has found before.

Students of arts, design and architecture-related university courses were encouraged to submit works that are to demonstrate a creative, design-oriented take on the problems of sustainability, wiser production and consumption formulated by the United Nations’ SDG12.
Elena Baturina, BE OPEN Founder explains the purpose of the competition: “It’s vital to give younger creative minds all the support they need to bring their ideas to fruition, because it is the originality of thought that is required to make any breakthrough, and younger people possess that originality. BE OPEN’s whole aim is to support, promote and help realize ideas that will actually change the world for the better. At the same time, we are looking to support the people who are capable of producing these ideas and giving them the inspiration and confidence to progress them.”

The three winners have been selected out of a total of 683 submissions from 44 countries that were accepted to compete for the main prizes earlier this year. Now they will receive the prizes of €5,000, €3,000, €2,000 from each BE OPEN and Cumulus.

BE OPEN and Cumulus are proud to announce that the first prize goes to Valerio Di Giannantonio, a Master’s student at Iceland University of the Arts for his FiloSkin, a speculative product made of H. Pluvialis, a microalga that is capable of producing oxygen, filtering CO2 from the air and responding to changes in the environment by taking on different colours. By enabling textiles to interact with our bodies through a symbiotic relationship with the skin, Filoskin might serve to mitigate environmental problems while adapting humans to pollution conditions in the future.

The second prize goes to Natalie Ferry and Stefano Pagani, BFA students in Product Design at Parsons School of Design, The New School in New York, for their Bloom, a network of eye-pleasing bio-reactors. Through a series of home accessories, including window shades and sculptures, Bloom yields bio-reactors composed of an algae-based, 3D-printed structure. Enough algae is produced to reduce the gap in the production between fossil fuels and biofuels, making algae-based biofuel a reality.

The third prize has been awarded to Frida van der Drift Breivik and Frøya Thue, Master’s Students at The Oslo School of Architecture and Design in Norway, for the concept of DYPP. It explores the future potential of seaweed as bioplastic through strategic use of design. The project envisions future concepts to inspire and challenge the emerging seaweed industry, from introducing a new biomaterial to challenging packaging as we see it today.

In addition to the three winners, the judges selected 50 honorable mentions, out of which two more winners of ‘Second Life of Things in Design’ will be named: one selected by the founder of BE OPEN Elena Baturina, and one selected by an open online vote that will shortly be launched at the competition website. Both of the winning entries will receive the prize of €2,000.

Mariana Amatullo, Cumulus President, adds: “We are thrilled that the students behind the 50 honorable projects will now have the opportunity to be recognized with two important additional prizes. At this time of mostly difficult news in the context of the COVID-19 global pandemic, it is critical for associations such as Cumulus to come together with partners such as BE OPEN to support the UN and shine the spotlight on the talent of our next generation of design leaders who are imagining a more sustainable world.”

Because of the coronavirus situation, the awards ceremony has been postponed, and will take place later as part of Cumulus’s 30th Anniversary assembly and educational conference. The ceremony may celebrate two sets of winners, as later this year, BE OPEN and Cumulus are launching a second edition of the UN SDGs-focused competition of a greater scale with wider outreach to students and graduates of creative disciplines all over the world.