BE OPEN celebrates the Designing Futures 2050 winners at the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi

LUGANO, Switzerland, Dec. 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- From December 8 to 12, BE OPEN attended the 7th session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) held by the UN Environment Programme in Nairobi, Kenya. The foundation took that opportunity to reward and celebrate the winners of the Designing Futures 2050 competition finalized earlier this year. 

UNEA is the world's highest decision-making body on the environment, and it is critical for addressing the shared environmental threats. The Assembly brings together ministers, intergovernmental organizations, multilateral environmental agreements, the broader UN system, civil society groups, scientists, activists and the private sector to shape global environmental policy.

The theme of UNEA this year - Advancing sustainable solutions for a resilient planet - is in total unison with the ethos and purpose of the multiyear student competition programme BE OPEN launched in 2019. Its aim is to raise awareness among young professionals in creative and engineering fields about the urgent need for action guided by the Sustainable Development Goals – with a new goal selected as the competition focus each year.

On the occasion, Founder of BE OPEN Elena Baturina commented: "BE OPEN's approach is to raise awareness and educate about the SDGs. Through our competitions, we highlight, promote, support and celebrate the ability of young people to create positive innovative ideas. We do our best to build a platform that motivates and helps to self-educate, research, build connections with mentors and like-minded peers, develop and present solutions, and much more.

"Boosting young people's confidence and helping them realize their importance in shaping the future pays back tenfold, because every year we see consistent, thoughtful, meaningful, well-researched and innovative ideas. We get reassurance that educating and motivating young people to become leaders of sustainable change is the best way forward."

Designing Futures 2050 aimed at encouraging young creatives to reframe and update the SDGs agenda based on today's realities, to go beyond the 2030 agenda, and actively participate in developing and implementing realistic and sustainable action plans favourable for their own more distant future.

The winners of the competition who attended the sessions and events of UNEA-7 were Ajisafe Damilola Ifeoluwa with his project of Redefining Global Healthcare: adjusting the SDGs for scalable practical impact; Foday David Kamara, the founder of Ecovironment: Transforming Plastic Waste into Sustainable Construction Materials; Adnan Hasyim Wibowo, Fathan Mubani and Rani Marhyani with AGASA or Algae for Sustainable Action: blooming sustainability through algae installation; Komborero Victor Kangai and Tinotenda Chrispen Makoni with CALMs: Computer Aided Learning Management Suite; and Lucy Dain-Williams representing Tera Mira, Working with Nature to Drive Meaningful Change in Stretch Textiles.

Every year, in addition to money prizes, BE OPEN brings the winners of annual competitions to major international sustainability events, such as COPs, Student Energy Summits, UNECE forums, and now UNEA to give them an opportunity to witness the operations of the largest environmental agencies in the world, meet and connect to peers, experts, national and international officials, and other potential stakeholders in their future education and careers.

BE OPEN strongly believes that innovative creative approaches and involvement of younger people into meaningful action by offering them education and motivation are key to the shift to sustainable existence.

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