Published on 24 January 2019

2018/2019 Solidarity FabLabs Challenge: and the winners are...

The 3 #Imake4MyCity challenge prizes were presented on Thursday 24 January during a festive evening at La Recyclerie in Paris. The projects by the Poland Solidarity FabLab, the Tunisia Youth and Science Solidarity FabLab and the Lisungi Solidarity FabLab in the Democratic Republic of Congo each received a prize of €10,000. They will also receive coaching from Orange experts. Created in the Solidarity FabLabs by young, unskilled people, these projects are digital solutions focused on sustainable development in daily life. 16 teams of young people across 8 countries took part in this 3rd edition of the international Solidarity FabLabs Challenge.

 

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The Web Users’ Prize

From 20 December 2018 to 23 January 2019, almost 23,000 of you voted in support of the different projects on fondationorange.com. In the end, the web users’ prize went to the Youth and Science Solidarity FabLab in Tunisia for its "Homegrown fruits and vegetables" project. This project, which received significant online support, is a solution for creating a small smart farm at home: Blockly Farm. Blocks of compost are connected and can be set up inside or outdoors. These connected boxes allow you to control the humidity and temperature of each block, so the plants are grown in the best possible conditions using recycled domestic waste.

The Jury’s Prize

Awarded by a jury of six people, this prize went to the Lisungi FabLab for their smart washbasin project. The jury acknowledged the usefulness of this project which corresponds to a real need in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The purpose of this prototype, which runs on solar power, is to reduce the risk of spreading diseases due to poor hygiene while also reducing water consumption.

The "coup de cœur" prize

This year, the "coup de cœur" prize was awarded to the Solidarity FabLab powered by Orange in Poland, for its innovative application to encourage recycling. The user path is particularly well thought through and shows that it is simple for ordinary people to recycle a great variety of packaging!

 

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With digital manufacturing and the new collaborative teaching method typical of FabLabs, all young people, even those failing at school, can create, regain confidence, and envisage a new professional future. The Orange Foundation now supports 88 Solidarity FabLabs in 16 countries to reinstate equal opportunities.