As a continuation of the learning journey initiated during the ECoGREEN Bootcamp on Circular Entrepreneurship, the Erasmus+ ECoGREEN Consortium successfully organized a three-day Student Hackathon on Local Sustainability Challenge from 4 to 6 December 2024 at Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, Jakarta. Designed as an experiential learning platform, the hackathon challenged students to collaboratively develop innovative and feasible solutions to real-world sustainability problems faced by local micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).  

The hackathon brought together students, lecturers, and MSME representatives in transdisciplinary teams, creating a collaborative environment where academic knowledge, practical business realities, and entrepreneurial creativity intersected. Each team worked directly with a participating MSME—ranging from sustainable fashion enterprises to agricultural businesses such as duck farming—to understand real sustainability challenges and co-create actionable solutions with measurable impact.  

To guide the innovation process, the hackathon adopted the Double Diamond Model developed by the Design Council, a globally recognized design thinking framework that moves participants through four stages: Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver. This structured methodology encouraged participants to deeply understand stakeholder needs, frame sustainability challenges critically, explore broad solution possibilities, and refine their ideas into impactful business concepts ready for presentation.  

Throughout the three-day program, participants engaged in a series of immersive workshops and collaborative exercises, including photovoice reflection activities, stakeholder analysis, value mapping, creative ideation sessions, critical risk analysis, Golden Circle business reflection, storytelling workshops, and poster-based pitching preparation. Unlike conventional business competitions, participants were challenged to communicate their ideas not through slide presentations, but through visually compelling storytelling posters, encouraging stronger narrative development, creative communication, and human-centered problem framing.  

The final day culminated in a pitching session before an internal and external jury panel, where each team presented its sustainability concept using the poster they had developed throughout the hackathon. All participating teams showcased highly creative, thoughtful, and practical ideas, demonstrating not only entrepreneurial mindset development but also a deeper understanding of sustainability as a systems challenge requiring interdisciplinary collaboration. Winners were selected using the ECoGREEN assessment framework, developed specifically to evaluate green entrepreneurial innovation within the project.  

Feedback from participants reflected the success of the initiative, with students highlighting the value of cross-disciplinary collaboration, exposure to practical sustainability challenges, and the opportunity to apply entrepreneurial thinking in a real-world context. The hackathon also created meaningful engagement between universities and MSMEs, reinforcing ECoGREEN’s commitment to connecting sustainability education with societal and economic impact.  

By transforming sustainability learning into hands-on entrepreneurial action, the Student Hackathon on Local Sustainability Challenge marked a significant milestone in ECoGREEN’s mission to empower future changemakers—equipping students with the mindset, tools, and collaborative experience needed to build innovative solutions for a more sustainable future.