Since launching earlier this year, the DigiBlue DigiEduHack hackathon 2025 has been gaining exciting momentum. We’re now entering the next phase of the project—and we’re thrilled to share some key updates from behind the scenes.
DigiBlue is all about empowering young people, educators, and creatives to co-create digital stories that champion ocean and freshwater sustainability across Europe. With the support of the EU4Ocean Coalition, this initiative brings storytelling, civic engagement, and science together in powerful and participatory ways.
Where We Are Now
Over the past weeks, the DigiBlue team has:
- Formed partnerships with schools, research institutions and businesses
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Developed and launched a comprehensive onboarding course to help participants and mentors prepare for the hackathon
📚 Explore it here: https://bonolab.com/courses/digiblue-hackathon-2025/ -
Recruited an inspiring group of mentors and jury members
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Welcomed participants from 13+ countries—each bringing diverse experiences and perspectives
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Prepared to support both pre-formed teams and individuals looking to join forces with others
This phase sets the stage for a highly collaborative hackathon experience focused on storytelling, digital creativity, and civic action.
Meet the Mentors
Our diverse group of mentors bring deep expertise in marine science, creative communication, youth engagement, and more. Their role is to support teams throughout the hackathon, provide feedback, and help shape the most promising story prototypes.
We are excited to present our mentors: Jamileh Javidpour, Christine Nikander, Hira Wajahat Malik, Marie Helene Birk, Tove Holm, Débora Filipa Nobre Carmo, Anu Printsmann, Elin McCallum, Joel Lindholm, Sakina Sarjan, Dr Savita Sharma, Karadoulama Evdoxia, Michael Magee, Izabela Kotyńska-Zielińska, Dhairya Samirkumar Pandya, Lucie Mockova, Louise Cox, James Ackroys, and Mohammed Naushad Khumri.
The teams can book the mentors for a 20-minute feedback session, and we will share the mentor bios via our onboarding course, so that the teams can choose the experts as per their needs.
Jury
We are also very happy to introduce our selected jury:
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Bjarke Calvin Winding – Storytelling entrepreneur and founder of Duckling
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Helen Orav-Kotta – Marine biologist and ocean literacy advocate
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Simon Enderby – Cinematographer and environmental documentary producer
🤝 For Participants and Future Storytellers
Whether you’ve already signed up or are just discovering the DigiBlue project, here’s what you need to know:
🗓️ Participant Get-Together – 27 October 2025, 16:00 CET
We’ll be hosting a virtual meet-up for participants to connect, share ideas, and get ready for the hackathon. Some of the mentors will also be able to join and say hi. 👉 Register here: https://tally.so/r/3xeK6E
📘 Take the Onboarding Course
Head over to our online course to get started with materials on storytelling, sustainability, and the hackathon format.
🌐 Still forming a team?
No problem. We’ll help connect you with others based on your interests and strengths. This is a collaborative space where diverse backgrounds are encouraged.
🌐 In one of these locations: Tejn, Rødvig, Gdynia, Malmö, Tallinn?
Feel free to connect with the local organisers to hear what they have planned for the in-person hackathon activity.
Tallinn – Estonian Business School, Julia Bulgakova (julija.bulgakova@ebs.ee)
Tejn – iVandet
Malmö – Marine Education Centre in Malmö, Elinor Hermansson (elinor.hermansson@smkc.se) and Fredrik Winqvist (fredrik.winqvist@smkc.se)
Rødvig – Den Levende Fiskerihavn
Gdynia – Gdynia Aquarium, Weronika Podlesińska (wpodlesinska@mir.gdynia.pl)
In case you have any questions, feel free to reach out to piret@bonolab.com.
New to DigiBlue?
Read our earlier blog post with an in-depth description of the project, partners, goals and desired outcomes We’ve Been Funded! | BonoLab
The project ‘Digiblue DigiEduHack’ is implemented by Bonolab with the support of the EU4Ocean Coalition, funded by the European Commission.
Our dear collaborators are Den Levende Fiskerihavn, ivandet, Baltic Living Lab.org, Estonian Business School, Københavns Universitet – University of Copenhagen, Edu Tech Impact, Gdynia Aquarium, Marine Education Center in Malmö, and others.
DigiEduHack #EU4Ocean #Youth4Ocean EUDigitalEducation FutureOfLearning WeRedefineLearning BlueCitizenship DEAP