24 students from 8 universities gathered in Tallinn this August at the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) for the Green Transformer Student Challenge. The five-day program was hosted by the Transform4Europe (T4EU) alliance together with EKA.
The event invited participants to explore how creativity and collaboration can address pressing sustainability issues through lectures, workshops, field visits and hands-on prototyping in interdisciplinary teams.
Over the week, six groups approached sustainability from different perspectives, showing how challenges in this area demand solutions that cut across disciplines. Some examined the social impacts of digital technology, looking for ways to support healthier habits and reduce overuse. Others focused on circular economy approaches, experimenting with how waste materials and textiles could be repurposed. Education also featured strongly, with projects designed to engage children in sustainability through creative workshops. Community-building was another focus, with participants testing design-driven initiatives to strengthen social connections. Transport and mobility were also on the agenda, with one group developing ideas to reduce reliance on private cars and encourage shared solutions.
The variety of themes reflected the students’ diverse academic and cultural backgrounds. Engineers, anthropologists, graphic designers and others brought different expertise into cross-disciplinary conversations that went beyond traditional classroom learning. This diversity was one of the event’s greatest strengths, ensuring that sustainability was seen not only as a technical challenge, but also as a social, cultural and behavioral one.
On the final day, teams presented their concepts to a jury of experts, who evaluated them on relevance, originality, feasibility and communication.
- First place (shared):
- Child Mode – promoting digital wellbeing and healthier technology use.
- Bag it, Build it – repurposing waste materials through creative workshops.
- Second place:
- Poolio – a carpooling concept aimed at reducing emissions and promoting sustainable mobility.
While not every project was ready for immediate implementation, the jury emphasized the value of the process itself: students had shown how quickly fresh ideas can emerge when people from different disciplines collaborate under shared goals. Their feedback also stressed the importance of refining concepts with user needs, accessibility and long-term viability in mind.
The T4EU Green Transformer Student Challenge ultimately showed that sustainability is not the domain of any single discipline. By bringing together students from across the Transform4Europe alliance, the program highlighted the role of collaboration, creativity and critical thinking in shaping innovative and realistic solutions.
EKA’s “Creative Circularity” summer school took place as part of T4EU Summer School 2025 and are organised as ERASMUS+ BIPs. There were two courses: “Green Transformer Student Challenge” and “Recrafted: A Workshop for Shoe & Bag Upcycling”. This year’s program focused on sustainability and the upcycling of design materials, offering practical workshops and creative challenges.
For more details about both workshops.
Photos: Kristi Laanemäe (EKA)
