On 14 November, students from different European universities came together to work on-site on one of the ECIU University challenges organised by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

The Big Data & Climate Change in Barcelona nano-challenge consisted in finding solutions to make Barcelona one of the most sustainable cities in the world thanks to the use of Big Data. The proposed solutions will help Barcelona reach its Clima 2030 and Superilles Barcelona objectives, offering more efficient operations and what is more important, improving the quality of life of people.

Twelve students from the University of Trento (Italy), the University of Twente (the Netherlands), the University of Stavanger (Norway) and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona had the chance to meet and get to know each other better while they learned about Barcelona's Superblocks and spoke with different agents involved in the project.

The welcoming session took place at the Fàbrica del Sol, a municipal building offering environmental education belonging to the Area of Ecology, Urbanism and Mibility of the Barcelona City Council which was renovated with environmental measures and solutions. students were able to meet with the organisers of the challenge: The Solucions Socials Sostenibles cooperative, a non-profit entity working to transform the economy into an activity with positive social effects, more sustainable and more respectful with the environment.

The students also visited the Area of Ecology, Urbanism and Mobility of the Barcelona City Council, where they were presented with the Superilla Barcelona project and, finally, were able to visit the city's different Superblocks to find inspiration and propose a solution for the challenge they were working on.

After the meeting and with all the information collected from their fieldwork on 14 November, the students will now have to work in teams to find a solution to the problem posed and present it to the organisers of the challenge.

The ECIU University challenges for the Spring semester of 2023 are coming soon, stay tuned!

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