23 applications for the Klever Birne 2024

For the second time, Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences and the city of Kleve called for entries to the “Klever Birne” ideas competition. Ideas for making the city more sustainable could be submitted from May 1 to June 30.

Lina Kersten, who is in charge of organizing the competition for the university together with Christina Martens, is delighted with the colourful mix: “We received a total of 23 applications from schools, students, individual citizens, initiatives and associations. It is particularly pleasing that the concepts are geared towards various sustainability goals. All three pillars of sustainability, i.e. the ecological, social and economic aspects, are represented in one form or another.”

Over the past few days, the preliminary jury, made up of representatives from the university and the city of Kleve, evaluated the individual applications. The criteria were a high practical benefit, feasibility, ingenuity and compliance with at least one of the 17 sustainability goals. The best ten ideas were selected for the second phase.

A brief presentation of the individual projects will follow on our website and on social media. On Thursday, September 12, 2024, the ten final teams will present their ideas to the public in the form of pitches. A pitch is nothing more than a brief presentation of the idea in order to convince the jury, which will be expanded in the second phase to include representatives from society, such as the university’s support association, clubs and educational institutions. But it is not only the jury that evaluates the performances and awards the three best ideas with the Klever Birne and a student prize. There is also an audience award: visitors can actively participate and vote for their favorite. The Klever Birne 2024 award ceremony will take place directly after the performance.

Two rounds of workshops to prepare for the presentation

The top 10 teams will now be prepared for the presentation on September 12 in two rounds of workshops. The workshops are offered free of charge by HSRW and the city and are intended as coaching for the big performance in front of the jury and audience. The finalists are given tips for their final presentation and are supported in creating a poster. They are also given the opportunity to rehearse their pitch in advance and fine-tune it.