Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

The International Cooperation Service of the AMB has publicly announced a new edition of the Social Ideas Contest to give a new use to the materials from life vests stacked on the Island of Lesbos. The contest targets students enrolled at industrial design and technical engineering schools and universities during the 2018-2019 academic-year.

A new feature of the 2019 edition is that the projects can include limited use of plastic bags and other recyclable elements.

It is important to remember that the first edition was a complete success in terms of participation. 22 projects were evaluated based on factors such as the originality and authenticity of the proposal, the creativity, manufacturing and commercial viability, environmental considerations and the visibility of the initial challenge (social value, visibility of the life vests...). The two winning projects were "Life vest keychain", designed by Álvaro Insenser and Roger Vendrell, and "Brave to Emigrate", by Iliamite Bonfil.

On the one hand, the competition responds to the necessity of continuing with the task of raising awareness about the situation of refugees in the Mediterranean and, on the other hand, contributing to environmental protection. It must be remembered that nearly half a million life vests used by people in search of safety have accumulated at different points of the Island of Lesbos from 2015 to the present day.

Experimental design projects

The competition is included in the Recycling in Lesbos: a strategy to guarantee the rights of refugees and environmental rights project that the organisation Lesvos Solidarity  Lesvos Solidarity is carrying out with the support of the AMB.

When the competition guidelines were announced, some design schools and universities incorporated this challenge in their experimental design projects courses and encouraged participation as a formational tool and for increasing awareness about Mediterranean issues.

This competition offers students the opportunity to develop a project based on a real need with an aim of increasing solidarity and making it possible since the winning proposals will be produced in the Safe Passage workshop of Lesvos Solidarity Safe Passage de Lesvos Solidarity and, at the same time, to be aware of the situation for refugees and migrants in the eastern Mediterranean.  

Participation form, guidelines, awards and deadlines