🎓This year, 800 students from 23 countries took part in the event and presented their projects on the theme of ‘Water and Land Use Planning’. The 130 international teams were supported by nearly 100 coaches specialising in various fields: entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, communication, etc.

Following the pitches to the grand jury, we are proud to announce the winners!

🥇 Team 65 - ENSGMM, Benin

🥈 Team 126 - University of Réunion, Réunion

🥉 Team 16 - AgroParisTech Montpellier campus, France

The UNESCO ICIREWARD Centre, organiser of the #W4F Student Hackathon, also congratulates its favourite projects:

❤️ Team 104 - Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland

❤️ Team 02 - École Polytech Montpellier, France

This edition is now over 🎉

Registration for the 9th edition will open in early September. In the meantime, relive the highlights by watching the aftermovie of this 8th edition… and get ready – we can’t wait to see you again!

So, are you ready to join the Water4Future adventure? 🌍💧

📧 For any questions: contact@unesco-montpellier.org

Founded at the end of 2023, the Fondations d’entreprise Groupama Méditerranée sur l’eau is entirely dedicated to water-related issues. It aims to support and promote the development of projects of public interest across the Mediterranean region. Through its work, the Foundation aims to facilitate the environmental transition and promote more sustainable development that respects resources, ecosystems and biodiversity. Supporting research, sharing knowledge, promoting careers in the sector and raising awareness of hydro-climatic risks are at the heart of its mission to give water the importance it deserves.

“We are delighted to support the UNESCO ICIREWARD International Centre for the Water4Future Students Hackathon. This project stands out for its collaborative approach and its innovative educational approach. It encourages participants to rethink their relationship with water, as future professionals in the sector. This first project supported by the Fondation de l'eau Groupama Méditerranée is particularly important to us,” says Thierry BONNERY, President of the Fondation d’entreprise Groupama Méditerranée.

Veolia manages every stage of the water cycle and addresses the wide range of challenges faced by local authorities and industry: resource management; the production and distribution of drinking water and industrial process water; the collection, treatment and recovery of wastewater from all sources and of by-products resulting from its treatment (organic matter, salts, metals, complex molecules and energy); customer relationship management, and the design and construction of treatment facilities and networks.

This extensive expertise enables Veolia to support its clients in implementing integrated and sustainable water resource management.

The Southern Region covers the departments of Aude, Aveyron, Gard, Hérault, Lozère and Pyrénées-Orientales. The operational organisation is thus divided into five entities known as ‘Territories’, located in: Narbonne, Rodez, Alès, Montpellier and Perpignan. These entities ensure, within their respective areas, the sustainable management of all the services entrusted to them.

“Banque Populaire du Sud, a regional cooperative bank, operates across its catchment area through its 250 branches. Based in the south of France, it covers seven departments: Aude, Hérault, Gard, Pyrénées-Orientales, Lozère, Ardèche and Ariège.

It offers a wide range of banking services for individuals, professionals and businesses, including solutions for financing, savings, insurance and wealth management. Thanks to its cooperative model, it involves its 225,000 members in its management, thereby promoting a responsible and participatory approach.

Deeply committed to its CSR approach, Banque Populaire du Sud is also a major player in local financing, supporting entrepreneurship and projects with a strong social and environmental impact. In 2023, it launched the ‘Banque de la Transition Energétique’ brand to support projects promoting a low-carbon economy for all its customers. Through its Sud Mer Invest investment fund, it supports the development of projects linked to the blue economy. It is also one of the main funders of start-ups in its region through its NextInnov division. This agile and distinctive model enables it to play an essential role in the economic and sustainable development of its region, such as addressing water resource issues, which will be a key focus of its commitment in the coming years. 

Rivers are essential to life. The future of all forms of life and of our societies depends on their health. Yet they are particularly vulnerable and under threat from the effects of climate change and human activities.

This is why the NGO Initiatives pour l’Avenir des Grands Fleuves (IAGF) was founded in 2015 by Erik Orsenna and the Compagnie Nationale du Rhône, with the aim of raising awareness, mobilising action on the challenges and future of rivers, and encouraging more sustainable practices.  It is urgent that we act by promoting rivers as sources of solutions, life, bonds and development. This is why IAGF shares a multidisciplinary, systemic and balanced vision of the challenges and uses of rivers.

As a collective of multidisciplinary experts, IAGF provides a space for international dialogue and the exchange of knowledge, open to stakeholders from rivers around the world.

We focus on three areas of action:

Dialogue and expertise, Awareness-raising and advocacy, Promoting solutions.

AGF is delighted to be partnering with the UNESCO ICIREWARD International Centre and to contribute to this latest edition of the Water4Future Students Hackathon. This commitment lies at the heart of our mission: to educate, inspire and support a new generation capable of devising sustainable solutions for water and rivers. This hackathon stands out for its collaborative spirit and educational innovation, which enable participants to fundamentally rethink their relationship with water as future stewards of the planet. “Erik Orsenna, President of IAGF”