Beiruting News

Under the patronage of the President of the Council of Ministers His Excellency Mr. Saad Hariri, a press conference was held today at the French Institute in Lebanon - Beirut to launch the first Urb-Hackathon in Lebanon. Organized by e-EcoSolutions and IPT Energy Center (IPTEC), with the strategic support of Berytech, the Order of Engineers and Architects of Beirut, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Lebanon, and the Global Compact Network Lebanon (GCNL), Saint Joseph University of Beirut (USJ) and the French Institute in Lebanon.

The event will take place on March 1st, 2nd and 3rd 2018, under the theme of: "Data-urbanism: Reducing City Air Pollution from Transport".

The press conference featured the words of the Urb-Hackathon organizers and key partners, and a show of the video ad which is currently on LBCI with the aim of recruiting candidates.


Dr. Toni Issa, IPTEC President
"IPTEC has long believed in the partnership between governmental and non-governmental organizations, and between the private sector and civil society to implement collaborative projects in the field of sustainable energy and reduce damages. Urb-Hackathon is considered a complementing part to the national campaign to reduce air pollution in the transport sector that we are implementing since 2014. And with the collaboration of our partners, we are happy to present the opportunity to university students and entrepreneurs to showcase their innovations and turn them into viable projects serving the country and helping to find practical solutions to the air pollution problem in traffic-congested cities. And in this occasion, I would like to thank the President of the Council of Ministers His Excellency Mr. Saad Hariri, who supported this initiative for its national importance impacting the sectors of environment, energy, transport and youth."


Mr. Gilbert Tegho, e-EcoSolutions CEO
"e-EcoSolutions was able to catch the interest of La Cité Des Sciences et De L'Industrie team in Paris to bring this international event to Lebanon after being organized in France and Korea, and to address a problematic that is of high interest to our communities, requiring vital innovative solutions and constructive actions. The participants in the Urb-Hackathon will be allowed to bring their innovative project ideas to life, as well as receive an international certificate that will enrich their portfolios and resumes."
Mr. Ramy Boujawdeh, Berytech Deputy General Manager
"Over the past fifteen years, Berytech has been providing a dynamic environment for the creation and development of startups fostering innovation, technology and entrepreneurship. In this regard, what better way to continue in supporting the ecosystem than by partnering with IPT Energy Center and e-EcoSolutions to make the first Urb-Hackathon in Lebanon a success? We are very proud to be part of this endeavor and look forward to the amazing ideas which will see the light during the event, and become an even bigger reality through the use of Berytech's Fab Lab facility."



Dr. Dima Jamali, Global Compact Network Lebanon National Representative
"At GCNL, we are very excited to partner with EcoSolutions on this important Hakathon which falls in line with the principles of Global Compact Network Lebanon, particularly the principles that touch on environmental stewardship and responsibility. We hope this Hakathon will also help develop awareness around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Lebanon and the need to make progress, particularly in relation to those Environment-related SDGs, including Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6), Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7), Climate Action (SDG 13), Life Below Water (SDG 14), and Life on Land (SDG 15)".


Mr. Luciano Rispoli, Deputy Cultural Counselor at the French Institute in Lebanon "The French Institute in Lebanon is fully committed to support digital initiatives."
Mrs. Patricia Pizzorno Sardena, Head of Projects of the Experimental Laboratory and Workshops, Department of Scientific Mediation and Education (DSME), Universcience,
La Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie.


"The main missions of Universcience are to develop and to export the technical and industrial scientific culture. In this context, the Universcience's DSME is participating in the organization of the first Urb-Hackathon in Lebanon with the following objectives: making the pooling of knowledge and experiences available to everyone; bringing out new modes of social, societal and economic organization; using innovative concepts to think, build and manage changes in the living environment; developing digital technologies in the economic, social, political and scientific fields; and thinking about new ways of living that are more ecological, mutual, united, and about sharing good social and societal practices in order to transmit their know-how in the field of mediation."


e-EcoSolutions and IPT Energy Center (IPTEC) highly thanked the Urb-Hackathon key supporters for their important engagement and contributions to the event success: Berytech, the Order of Engineers and Architects of Beirut, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Lebanon, the Global Compact Network Lebanon (GCNL), Saint Joseph University of Beirut (USJ) and the French Institute in Lebanon.They also thanked the sponsors Bank Audi, Raidy Printing, Bioland, and M Social Catering, and their official media partner LBCI.



What is "Urb-Hackathon"?
This Urb-Hackathon is a sprint like event in which passionate university students, entrepreneurs and professionals form groups and meet to work on resolving problems and finding innovative solutions under the supervision of French Experts from La Cité Des Sciences et De L'Industrie in Paris, and with access to the Berytech Fab Lab - the first certified digital fabrication laboratory in Lebanon, offering a vast array of resources to create, fabricate and transform their ideas into working prototypes and innovative products.

The Urb-Hackathon will take place over three consecutive days from March 1st to March 3rd, 2018 at the Berytech Innovation Park in Mar Roukoz and will conclude with an award distribution ceremony, covered by Media on March 3rd at USJ Science and Technology Campus.

Interested students and professionals from different fields may participate in the event (engineers, architects, designers, coders, programmers, urban planners, environmentalists etc.), and are invited to register online on: www.UrbHackathon.org before February 15th, 2018.