The Sustainability Champions Challenge is a spin-off initiative launched in the framework of the ESPERANTO project to enable its 13 Doctoral Candidates to explore, in collaboration with leading companies across various sectors, the opportunities offered by a sustainable approach to industrial production.
The challenge, launched in April 2025, will come to a close in June 2026 with a final workshop and an award ceremony for the best project, taking place June 11th in Lausanne, once again hosted at the EPFL CAMPUS.
Which team will the selection panel deem to be the best?
WORKSHOP AGENDA
| TIME SLOT | PROGRAMME |
|---|---|
| 9:00 | Welcome coffee and introduction by prof. Yves Leterrier and prof. Roberta Bongiovanni + Marie Curie 30th anniversary celebrations video |
| 9:30 - 9:55 | 25 ' Final presentations from group 1: "Development of sustainable custom earphones" - LOGITECH GROUP (Anthony Hoogmartens - Muhammad Ghifari - Mirac Dizman - Sándor Tilajka) Mentors: Hank Han for Logitech + Céline Croutxe-Barghorn for UHA |
| 20' Q&A from mentors and supervisors | |
| 10:15 - 10:40 | 25 ' Final presentations from group 2: "Development of Biobased Energy Curable Ink" - SICPA GROUP (Talha Mumtaz - Saverio Aliberti - Zizheng Zhang - John Vincent Tumaneng ) Mentors: Jessica Repp for SICPA + Sandra Schlogl and Thomas Griesser for PCCL |
| 20' Q&A from mentors and supervisors | |
| 11:00 - 11:25 | 25 ' Final presentations from group 3: "Photocatalytic-based self-cleaning paints for wood substrate" - KAYALAR GROUP (Samet Dalga - Szymon Gaca - Michele Bonacina - Thi Nhung Vu - Talha Genç ) Mentors: Ebru Erguven for KAYALAR + Yves Leterrier for EPFL |
| 20' Q&A from mentors and supervisors | |
11:45 - 12:30 | Evaluation committee meeting (students are free) |
| 12:30 - 14:00 | LUNCH BREAK |
14:00 - 15:00 | LECTURE - Prof. Martyn Wakeman ( LPAC ), invited speaker: " DYNAMIC MODELLING OF EMISSIONS, MASS FLOWS, AND CAPEX IN THE CARBON FIBER INDUSTRY IN THE TRANSITION TO NETZERO 2050 " |
| 15:00 - 16:00 | Sustainability Champions award ceremony and closure |
ABOUT THE INITIATIVE
Esperanto students have been working in 3 teams of 4 or 5 students on an industrial product, under the supervision of one industrial partner and one academic partner in the ESPERANTO project:
The objective for ESPERANTO DCs was to imagine, design and analyze those products according to sustainability metrics and identify actions to improve its sustainability. The initiative would enable DCs to get involved and apply the basics of circular economy, life cycle costing, LCA, product development and commercialization learnt during ESPERANTO training events.
