Last week, a panel of leading experts in design, climate action and entrepreneurship met in Amsterdam for two days of evaluations to determine the winners of the Redesign Everything Challenge. Working from a shortlist of 33 nominees, they had the difficult task of selecting the most promising projects from the entire competition, which was launched by What Design Can Do and IKEA Foundation.
In the jury this year were a mix of new and returning collaborators from our global network, including partners like René van Geer (SECRID), Aidee Olmos (HSBC) and Marieke Rodenhuis (Dutch Postcode Lottery). We were also joined by Viveca Chan (HK Design Center), Kigge Mai Hvid (INDEX Award) and Sunny Dolat (The Nest Collective), who bring with them many decades of experience in facilitating and supporting creative entrepreneurs. Designers Emy Bensdorp (Claybens), Daniel Freitag (FREITAG) and Pepijn Zurburg (WDCD) were on hand to share their take on circular innovation, while environmentalist Henrique Bezerra (Global Methane Hub) provided key insights about climate urgencies around the world.
The judging process was extremely collaborative and took place over several sessions of lively group discussions. Four official criteria were used to evaluate every nominee: impact, design and creativity, feasibility and scalability, and the strength of their team and network. Besides this, the jury also raised their own questions or considerations, for example about the importance of working with nature, or the value of community-led projects. In the end, no stone was left unturned, and a total of 11 creative climate solutions were selected for the top prize — which includes funding as well as access to an accelerator programme and the chance to present at WDCD Live Amsterdam 2024.
While we wait for the final list of winners to be revealed on 28 May, here’s a sneak peek at a few impressions and takeaways from the Redesign Everything Jury Days!
“It has been really nice to see the effort that everyone put into their applications, and it has been really fun to be on the other side of the judging process this time.” — Emy Bensdorp, previous winner
“What I’ve seen in the projects is that people are more willing to experiment, and to come up with new ideas that are a little bit out of the ordinary, in many different sectors. For example in material design and innovation. I think it is also interesting that there were so many social and Indigenous ideas, where the focus is on solving local problems.” — Viveca Chan
“My favourite part of the judging process has been the learning. I think, being forced to look at so many different aspects of life with the angle of sustainability, that’s just a great learning experience for myself. Just to dive into all these different design challenges… it’s very inspiring.” — Daniel Freitag
“I’ve really enjoyed the discussions. Because with some projects, I had an opinion when we started, but then you hear from the other judges, who have a completely different vision — and the process is very surprising.” — René van Geer
“The nominees were so different — and that’s actually what I like to see — the variety of topics and solutions. It’s really inspiring to see so many people trying to make the world a better place by doing what they do.” — Marieke Rodenhuis
All photos: Anisa Xhomaqi.