IRDR proudly celebrates the successful conclusion of the 2025 Youth Climate Action and Disaster Risk Reduction Hackathon, held in Beijing under the theme “Empowering Youth for a Healthy Planet.” Co-organized with UNESCO, the Horizon Global Youth Development Program and other partners, the event brought together over 300 young innovators from 15 countries to co-develop solutions to urgent environmental challenges.
The organizers invited experts from universities, research institutions, international organizations, and leading industry enterprises to deliver thematic lectures on digital-technologies-driven climate action and DRR implementation. The lectures reached more than 2,500 participants.
The 2025 Youth Climate Action and Disaster Risk Reduction Hackathon featured impressive innovations on three key themes: "Building Resilient Cities and Community Climate Adaptation Innovations," "AI and Big Data-Driven Climate Action and Disaster Risk Reduction," and "Balanced Development of Nature Reserves and Human Communities."
The 1st prize and the most impactful innovation from junior teams went to AreoSight, which is an AI-powered emergency coordination platform targeted for school safety, built upon meteorological big data and large language models (LLMs). By integrating artificial intelligence and big data technologies, it establishes an intelligent climate disaster early warning and response system for campus environments, enabling accurate prediction, smart decision-making, and coordinated rescue operations.
The 1st prize from youth teams went to Urban Flood Prevention Radar System, which is a smart flood-management platform using AI and blockchain to break down data barriers, cutting response times and costs while setting new standards for interagency collaboration. The system has improved 24-hour flood prediction accuracy to 92.4%, reduced material waste from 42% to below 20%, accelerated emergency team deployment by 3.4 times, and enhanced resource allocation efficiency by 17 times.
Held amid deadly floods, the event underscored the urgency of action. Prof. Shahbaz Khan (UNESCO) noted, “As Beijing faces record rainfall, this hackathon shows how youth are integrating ethical AI with climate resilience. Cross-disciplinary collaboration is no longer optional.” IRDR Executive Director Prof. Saini Yang also emphasized the importance of advancing the Hackathon solutions. She further stated, “These young innovators showed resilience not only in concept but in action. IRDR is committed to supporting the most promising projects through incubation and international collaboration.”
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2024 Youth Climate Action and DRR Hackathon
2023 Youth Climate Action and DRR Hackathon
Source from: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/lZZJUKuKTWHQgAUHSsWR_Q
