The ITQ GmbH in collaboration with the Canary Islands Dr Stetter ITQ from the 12 to 15 March 2025 around 600 people interested in technology from the the whole world to the SMART GREEN ISLAND MAKEATHON to Gran Canaria. The MAKEATHON is the International Innovation Festival ITQ GmbH, with the aim of inspiring young people to take an interest in technology and to develop innovative, sustainable ideas for Digitalisation to promote. Whilst young students for four days together with representatives of well-known sponsors at innovative prototypes work, the younger generation can, at Technical workshops show off their skills. The SMART GREEN ISLAND MAKEATHON promotes technological literacy amongst all generations for a a sustainable future and enables, as Networking event the exchange between young talent and businesses. This makes the MAKEATHON a Recruitment event of a special kind.
This year, at the Infecar de Feria exhibition centre, 100 representatives from industry and the research and academic sectors, alongside 250 students from a wide range of disciplines. The students come from 46 universities/vocational colleges and come from 30 countries (including not only Europe but also Africa, Asia and South America). Over the course of four days, the participants will creative ideas towards a more sustainable future Prototypes implement. To this end, they will receive ‘Industry Challenges’ from the participating sponsors in the fields of Smart Green Mobility / Automation / Production / Energy and Smart Green Logistics. Working in interdisciplinary teams, they develop projects with the support of sponsors innovative solutions for environmentally friendly logistics processes, intelligent product and waste management, and recycling processes. Among other things, they can sustainable packaging made from banana fibres or modular water metering systems developing solutions for a future that conserves resources. The focus is also on challenges relating to PET recycling and reuse in industry, as well as autonomous driving for waste management logistics. In doing so, they have access to state-of-the-art technologies provided by sponsors from the fields of Robotics, Automation and Artificial Intelligence available.
The SMART GREEN ISLAND MAKEATHON is being organised not only by ITQ GmbH but also with financial, content-related and material support from 23 national and international sponsors made possible. Special thanks go to the Platinum Sponsors: Government of Gran Canaria (Cabildo de Gran Canaria),MVTec,igus and Murrelektronik. Gold-Sponsors are the Canary Islands Government Government of the Canary Islands, the The Sergio Alonso Foundation, OPTIMA, Vishay, Krones, Lorenz, MEILLER tipper. Silver Sponsors are: SPEGC, IES El Rincón, MathWorks, Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering and Organisation IAO and VDMA.
In order to A passion for technology To encourage them from as early an age as possible, the MAKEATHON also offers a wide range of activities for young children and teenagers from the Canary Islands. More than 300 pupils can build on their knowledge and enthusiasm for technology this week and take part in eight different technology workshops free of charge. The workshops are organised by the Gerda Stetter Foundation: „Technology is fun!“ as part of the EU-funded research project „EduDemoS“, the Canary Islands’ The Sergio Alonso Foundation, Dolde Engineering as well as participating German universities. The focus is on the following topics: Robotics, programming and electronics with the Focus on sustainability.
Why was Gran Canaria chosen as the venue for the festival?
With its diverse climate zones, Gran Canaria offers ideal conditions for a sustainable and self-sufficient energy supply from renewable sources. With the SMART & GREEN Projects On the island, ITQ GmbH aims to drive forward digital transformation and promote international networking. This is a crucial step towards Tackling the global skills shortage.
