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Two Edinburgh students have won an international social enterprise competition to find innovative solutions to global issues.
They were part of the winning team of Social Storm, a unique 24-hour contest that involved more than 250 students from 22 universities.
Students from around the world joined forces to develop ideas for products and services to help improve global food security and sustainable housing.
Competitors at Edinburgh took part alongside students from universities in the UK, Argentina, India, Ghana, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Finland.
Winning idea
Pierre-Andre Belle, a first year Mechanical Engineer, and Euan Briggs, a second year History and Politics student, were part of the winning team.
They worked with students from the Universities of Aston and East Anglia to come up with the idea of using hemp grown in Kenya as a viable building material to replace concrete.
This was a great opportunity to push myself and find out where my limits are. I learnt so much from seeing how people think very differently from me and taking that on board. I would definitely join Social Storm again.
Pierre-Andre Belle
Social Storm helped me understand that I am very mission-driven and analytical but also way more creative than I thought. Academic work doesn’t necessarily give you the opportunity to find this out about yourself.
Euan Briggs
Hands-on experience
The Careers Service and LAUNCH.ed took part in Social Storm for the first time this year in response to student demand for more opportunities to develop hands-on social enterprise and employability skills.
We are delighted that we had the third largest number of students signed up across the competition. It was a great achievement for our first ever Social Storm.
Ruth Donnelly, Assistant Director, Careers Service
Further Information
