Applications to participate in “Students’ Innov’Up! ”, an innovation hackathon aimed at students from any higher education establishment in Morocco, opened on 12 January 2023. The initiative is organised by the European Union in partnership with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Euromed University of Fez (UEMF) and aims to encourage young students to develop innovative entrepreneurial solutions to issues related to the environment and climate change.

Applications are open to all students currently enrolled at a public or private higher education institution in Morocco with an idea for a project on the theme of the environment and sustainable development. To take part, students must work in groups of 2 to 4 people and submit their business project idea by 5 February 2023 via the website of the European Union in Morocco. The selected teams will participate in the hackathon set to take place in March 2023 on the campus of the Euromed University of Fez.

Submit applications here: Application pack

The Hackaton will consist of three phases:

• Pre-Hackathon: during this stage, the selected teams will receive advice and support from business experts. These coaching sessions will take place over four weeks and will help applicants refine their project ideas and prepare for the competition.
• Hackathon: over the course of the 48-hour hackathon at the Euromed University of Fez, applicants will attend several short workshops and training sessions in order to complete their projects. The teams will then pitch their project idea to the jury. The three winning teams will receive a prize.
• Post-Hackathon: this stage only involves the winning teams, who will receive personalised support to help them develop their project further.

Youth is one of the key priorities of the Morocco-EU partnership. It is providing young people with the means to act independently, by helping reinforce their skills and supporting them at every stage of their development, be this studying, designing and developing a business idea, or studying abroad and gaining new experience.

With this in mind, the European Union in Morocco has launched an awareness campaign entitled #Men chabab qrab, which can be translated as “close to youth” or “we are close to youth”, which aims to inform young people of the programmes and opportunities offered by this Morocco-EU partnership and to encourage them to participate.

This competition is among the initiatives organised as part of this campaign. It is organised in partnership with the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Euromed University of Fez (UEMF) and Hit Radio.

The entry criteria are available on the European Union in Morocco competition website: Students’ Innov’Up!An innovation Hackathon for students

For further information, please email: hackathon@stantec.com