University of Geneva Hosts Final of the 2025 SDG Olympiad
October 10 @ 8:00 am - October 13 @ 5:00 pm
From 10 to 13 October 2025, the University of Geneva will host the grand final and award ceremony of the SDG Olympiad, an international student-driven competition dedicated to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
On Friday, 10 October, the 14 finalist teams, half of which are from Africa and the rest from Europe and Asia, will pitch their projects to an expert jury at the SDG Solution Space. The winning team will be announced the same day, while the weekend will be dedicated to activities, workshops, and visits designed to foster collaboration and exchange among participants.
Launched in 2024 by a network of 12 universities, the SDG Olympiad is coordinated by student teams in Geneva and Nairobi, supported by their institutions and initiatives such as the EU ALBATROSS project. This year, more than 700 students worldwide, from bachelor’s to PhD levels, have taken part.
Participants joined the Olympiad through two tracks: the SDG Innovation Events, short-term educational programs such as hackathons, summer schools, innovation labs, and courses organised by partner universities, or the Global Challenge Track, which are self-organised teams responding to challenges proposed by Global Citizen, one of the SDG Olympiad partner.
Top-performing 14 teams advanced to represent their regions in the global final. The topics covered by these reflect remarkable diversity, ranging from projects aimed at providing specific products or resources derived from food residues, such as mosquito repellents, sanitary products, biogas or high-value biogels and biofilms, to initiatives oriented to nature and environmental protection (e.g., wetland restoration, track of deforestation) or the development of a language-learning platform for the preservation of endangered languages. The complete list of 14 finalists is available on the SDG Olympiad website:
Beyond competition, the Olympiad is oriented to drive real impact. Through collaboration, mentorship, and creative problem-solving, participants have the opportunity to contribute to meaningful change on a global scale. The winning team will receive dedicated support to scale their solution to the next level.
This is the second edition of the SDG Olympiad, following its 2024 debut in Paris. In 2026, the Olympiad will move to Africa, hosted by Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Ghana.