ITQ GmbH is organizing the SMART GREEN ISLAND MAKEATHON innovation festival for the fifth time. From March 4-7, 2020, Young Talents and companies from all over the world will meet in Gran Canaria to network and to develop creative, technical projects together. Currently, 500 participants and company representatives have registered.
More than 35 companies support this make-marathon as sponsors and submit project ideas to the participants – so-called Industry Challenges – that deal with the topics “Smart” and “Green”. The first prototypes will be created in just four days to promote the idea of a Smart Green Island – i.e. a climate-neutral island of Gran Canaria – with the topics of sustainable technologies as well as environmental and climate protection.
This year’s Makeathon, like the earlier ones, is a unique industry event with a particularly large international character: The currently 300 registered Young Talents study at over 70 different universities and come from 25 countries around the world. The fifth Makeathon will receive substantial financial support from German and Spanish Sponsors.
The Platinum Sponsors are Beckhoff Automation GmbH & Co. KG, B&R Industrial Automation GmbH, igus GmbH und The MathWorks GmbH.
Further Gold Sponsors are Honda R&D Europe, WAGO Kontakttechnik GmbH & Co.KG, Q-loud GmbH, Infineon Technologies AG, Murr Elektronik GmbH, Sioux Group B.V., Fundacion Sergio Alonso, Coca Cola, Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Spegc, Gobierno de Canarias, Ayuntamiento des Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
This year, the Sponsors Beckhoff and B&R are offering the Industry Challenges “Smart Green Plastic Detection” and “Smart Green Garbage Sorting Machine”. MathWorks awaits innovative students for the “Wildfire Detection” Challenge, while igus wants to promote “Smart Vertical Farming”. The Young Talents can also develop their own ideas and design the first smart prototypes.
In addition to technical know-how, the participants also need innovation and flexibility. That is the only way to successfully implement such projects in international teams with different working methods and cultures in an extremely short time. At the end of the four-day long MAKEATHON, the teams must also demonstrate their soft skills and present themselves and their prototypes to the Sponsor Jury and the audience.
We would like to thank our Platinum/Gold/Silver/Bronze Sponsors and our partners for their support.
We are really looking forward to a productive and innovative MAKEATHON and to the new innovative smart ideas of our participants!
Silver and Bronze Sponsors: Trumpf, Multivac, MVTec, Böllhoff, Optima, Dolde Engineering, SIGMATEK, German Robotics, Software Factory, iT Engineering Software Innovations, Hyundai, RTVC Canaria, Consejo Insular Energia