Honoured in the Final: ZEW Teams Take 1st and 2nd Place in YES! High School Competition
Dates and NewsSustainable strategies for green cities and public investment won the vote for the best solutions
Happy faces and a full house in Hamburg: On a sunny day, the best school teams from all over Germany came together at Bucerius Law School from 23 to 25 September for the national final of the YES! high school competition to compete against each other with innovative ideas for how to solve pressing future issues. The two teams supported by ZEW emerged victorious, defeating ten other school teams.
The young students from Albertus-Magnus Gymnasium in Stuttgart presented a compelling concept on how to promote the greening of urban areas more easily and took 1st place in the final. Their digital platform “Grünstelle” (green spot) provides a simplified approach for greening projects in cities and makes them accessible to everyone (private individuals, companies, municipalities). The idea is founded on the topic “GreenCity?! – What can cities do to fight climate change?” developed by Dr. Anna Straubinger and Dr. Oliver Schenker, both researchers in ZEW’s “Environmental and Climate Economics” Unit.
The Internatsschule Schloss Hansenberg from Geisenheim, which came in at 2nd place, was successful with its “Investment Radar”, a platform creating a bridge between citizens, local authorities and research. With its many features, the platform informs users about current investments, gives local authorities direct feedback on their work and offers the option of reporting missing investments. The idea for the platform is based on the research topic “Public investment – A sustainable strategy instead of short-term spending?” under the guidance of ZEW researchers Jan Kemper and Paul Steger from the “Corporate Taxation and Public Finance” Research Unit.
The 3rd place and also the jury’s award for the best scientific paper went to Graf-Stauffenberg-Gymnasium in Osnabrück for the “Cringe or Cuisine?” challenge – a school cooking competition for the 5th and 6th grades that aims to promote awareness of healthy eating.
The awards were presented at a ceremony by Dr. Dagmar Balve-Hauff from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, the long-standing patron of the YES! competition. ZEW has been a successful partner since 2017 and is pleased to accompany young people on their journey.
About YES!
The YES! – Young Economic Solutions competition is a joint project of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics and the Joachim Herz Stiftung in Hamburg. YES! is one of the biggest high school competitions in Germany looking at issues affecting the future of our world. Over the course of a six-month mentoring programme, student teams tackle pressing issues facing future generations. The students come up with their own solutions to global economic, ecological and social problems and present them in English to other students as part of the YES! – Young Economic Solutions conference. Researchers from various Leibniz institutions support the students by providing their scientific expertise.
