BE OPEN foundation has just finalized Designing Futures 2050, an international competition for students, graduates, and young professionals, part of a multiyear programme in support of the SDGs. This initiative seeks to inspire the creation of innovative solutions by young creatives for a sustainable and prosperous future, aligning with the objectives of the United Nations.
Designing Futures 2050 aimed to foster the realistic application of sustainability principles by identifying, showcasing, and promoting creative ideas that facilitate a global transition toward a sustainable and efficient future. It involved younger creatives into updating and setting the new SDGs agenda in the light of the realities of today, and encourages them to take a larger part in the actualization and implementation of the realistic sustainable actions plan.
The authors of the winning projects are awarded with money grants, access to relevant educational opportunities, and a fully paid trip to a major sustainability-related event in order to be able to present their projects to decision makers and global audiences.
The founder and inspiration behind BE OPEN’s work, its founder Elena Baturina answered a few questions for about the programme.
Why did you choose students as the focus group for BE OPEN’s philanthropic and sustainability-centred projects?
As cliché as it may sound, the future does rest on the shoulders of young people and for them to be able to address the legion of challenges ahead, we must equip them with the necessary knowledge, skills and tools, help them build a mindset that will enable to navigate through the complex challenges and to lead the change towards a healthier and more sustainable world for all.
The majority of our educational initiatives have indeed been designed specifically for students and recent graduate in that sometimes-difficult period between academia and actual employment. Because in 5-10-20 years, these young people will become experienced specialists in their fields, and helping them ensure that their professional and executive choices are rooted in sustainable principles and practices is a way to a more sustainable society.
How else, apart from financial grants, do BE OPEN’s programmes benefit that focus group?
We try to regularly get in touch with all of our student community to encourage them to join our new projects, make use of the educational and training resources we gain access to through partnerships, we offer them platform to share their experiences through social media, amplifying our message. Every year, we bring the competition winners to major international sustainability events, such as COP28, COP29, Student Energy Summits, UNECE forums, etc. to give them actual floor to pitch their initiatives and expand on the role of sustainability in their education, life and upcoming career to inspire their peers.
We continuously do whatever we can to promote and advance the winners and the top-50 by placing publications in media, pitching them to municipal bodies and industry players locally and globally.
Do you feel that educational institutions in their majority provide enough knowledge and skill-building for their student to operate on these principles in the long-term?
Sustainability in education is an absolute must, and institutions of higher education are key for the implementation of sustainability principles. The years spent at a college or a university is the time for the minds and skills to be formed. Sustainability-based curricula enables students to integrate the values, principles, skills and knowledge into their own philosophy and long-term life strategies.
We know, however, from UNESCO’s reports that almost 50% of countries have no mention, for example, of climate change in their national curricula. That is why we use this programme to also communicate with schools and advocate inclusion of sustainability aspects into all of educational courses. We see through the submissions, how much better results and engagement we can get when a school is actually involved in supporting the students’ research work, and provides them with mentorship.
