The inaugural World Engineering Day Hackathon has concluded. Over 125 entries were received from all over the world and after significant deliberation the judges, including representatives from the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO), the International Engineering Alliance (IEA), UNESCO, the International Network of Women Engineers and Scientists (INWES), the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES) and our own executive director Katie Cresswell-Maynard, the prize winners were selected. Judging criteria primarily focused on consideration of the social and environmental impacts of their engineering designs as well as how innovative they were. 

• First prize was awarded to an all female team from the Philippines for their innovative use of recycled plastic bottles to produce metal organic frameworks (MOFs) for use in treating wastewater to remove toxic pollutants.
• Second prize was awarded to a Canadian team for their mobile rainwater collection device.
• Third prize was awarded to Kenyan team ‘Hyapak’ for their creative use of the weed water hyacinth to manufacture a plastic bag alternative primarily for use in tree planting, removing plastic waste from the environment and providing nutrients for young saplings. 

You can view videos from all the final entries on the World Engineering Day Hackathon page. 

This competition allowed young engineers to get to grips with tackling significant global challenges, inspiring them for the long term. We look forward to hearing of their future successes and to the future of the initiative.