MEDIA ADVISORY
26 October 2016
24 hour race to find climate change solutions
An upcoming 24 hour event co-hosted by Victoria University of Wellington and Wellington City Council aims to identify
new ways for Wellington to adapt to climate change.
Climathon, a free, annual hackathon-style event, will take place in 59 cities in 36 countries simultaneously on 28 and
29 October.
This year the Wellington event will challenge participants to come up with practical solutions for the city to adapt to
climate change issues like rising sea levels, extreme weather events and coastal erosion.
The possibility of businesses surviving or even finding value from a warming planet could prove controversial, but
Councillor David Lee from Wellington City Council says it’s crucial.
“Climate change will have significant impacts on the way we work and play in Wellington. Understanding the challenges we
face and being early to see the opportunities they present right now will give us significant advantage in not only
looking after our environment and people, but also on the world stage in the market place.”
Participants come with their ideas and develop them during the 24 hour event with the help from experts. The best ideas
from each city will be selected by a panel of local judges.
In 2015, a Wellington team was selected as one of the best in the world, and presented its idea at the United Nations
climate action conference in Paris last December as a result. Another top Wellington team won Best Building Project, and
is currently pitching its idea to investors and accelerators in Berlin and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT).
The organisation behind the global Climathon, Climate-KIC, is Europe’s largest climate change-focused public-private innovation partnership.
The Wellington Climathon event is sponsored by Victoria University and Wellington City Council and delivered by ethical
business advisory and investors MOTIF and Enspiral company EXP. Supporting partners include the Deep South National
Science Challenge, the Royal Society of New Zealand, Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association and
Viclink, Victoria’s commercialisation arm.
Top teams can win spots in Victoria University’s summer entrepreneurship accelerator, Victoria Entrepreneur Bootcamp,
valued at $7,500, supporting them to develop their idea further, or up to $5,000 in seed funding from the Deep South
National Science Challenge that deliver on their engagement objectives.
What: Climathon Wellington
When: 6pm Friday 28 October, to 6pm Saturday 29 October
Where: A secret location close to the central city, revealed 24 hours in advance.