Here are the five finalists of “Pitch your project 2023”

Under the motto “Your Alps! Your Future! Your project!” young people from all Alpine regions were invited to submit innovative project ideas for a sustainable development of the Alpine region. This year again we could count on the creativity and motivation of the young people to propose projects for the future of the Alpine region. Here are more details on the 5 projects that will pitch their ideas at the competition final on November 21, 2023 in Strasbourg.

Two projects from France, two from Italy and one project from Slovenia made it into the top 5 of “Pitch Your Project 2023”:

The first project, from Italy, is called Poste Alpe. The POST ALPE project seeks to rejuvenate fading traditional rural practices within alpine communities. It repositions manual labor as a collective endeavor and fosters community participation. Central to the project are intergenerational co-design workshops that reintegrate crafts into society through engagement with public spaces.

Through extensive research, the project delves into the community’s relationship with handicrafts, emphasizing the cultural significance of traditional artifacts in rural life. Artisans and younger generations collaborate to explore these narratives, providing diverse perspectives on the crafts’ meaning and potential applications. This initiative cultivates a collective sense of reappropriation through participatory crafting experiences, resulting in collaboratively designed artifacts.

The second project is called From Trash to Treasure and come from Slovenia. The project “T2T – from trash to treasure” focuses on the introduction of the circular economy concept in the Alpine regions of Slovenia. The circular economy emphasizes the sustainable use of resources, waste reduction and support for the local economy. As part of the project, we will develop an innovative application that will enable easy tracking and management of resources in alpine areas, thus connecting local craftsmen and farms. The application will feature a map displaying all participating craft workshops and farms and will also be accessible to local population and tourists. Introducing the concept of a circular economy will contribute to maintaining a clean environment, promoting local businesses and improving the quality of life in Alpine communities. 

The third project ,called CO2 Reduction Ascent, is also coming from France. The launch of the project to create a fully mechanical CO2eq counter signifies a pivotal and resolute step in the unwavering commitment of the team to preserving our precious planet. As passionate mountaineers and future engineers with a profound appreciation for nature, this project carries profound personal significance for the group of young Alpine Citizens. It underscores the undeniable urgency of reducing CO2emissions to safeguard our environment’s delicate balance.

Our fourth finalist is Circ’Conference on Climate. Since 2018, the Solfasirc association, which promotes circus arts through various actions, has been supporting a group of young people each year to create and disseminate a circus show. This group of around ten young artists, aged between 10 and 18, has given itself the company name “Cirkaêtre”. From the outset, the young people, supported by Solfasirc artists and volunteers, chose to create a poignant, poetic show to share a subject that concerns them: global warming.
Climate change is an issue of growing concern to everyone, and to young people in particular. Tackling this complex subject through a circus conference makes it more accessible to the public, and gives the troupe’s artists a framework for taking on the subject, feeling that they can make a positive contribution to this serious social problem. It’s a creative way of tackling the issues of climate change, and stimulating an exchange with the public, from age 5 to 99.

The last finalist of this edition is the project called “CRCL”. The project’s objective is to provide young people with experiences in the Alpine world that are consistent in terms of sustainability, starting from the clothing they wear when approaching the mountains and extending to their enjoyment of the same. It aims to enable young people to experience the mountains in a soft and “slow-paced” manner, allowing them to get to know not only nature but also the typical productions of the Alpine environment through a genuine immersion in it. By moving away from mass tourism and the commercialization of the mountains, and by creating a clothing line specifically for young people, the project seeks to instill in them an appreciation for the values associated with going to the mountains: simplicity, sharing, and effort.

The “Pitch Your Project” competition is organized for the sixth time in 2023 thanks to the support of the Region Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and the Interreg Alpine Space Programme in the framework of the “Support EUSALP” project.

“Pitch your project” was launched in the course of the Tyrolean EUSALP Presidency 2018 and is part of the initiative of involving youth in the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region. In addition to Pitch your project, the project includes an EUSALP Youth Council, summer activities, and various online communication tools.