Green Penguin receives the European Entrepreneurship Award

Iskraemeco's and Klappir's Green Penguin project received the first prize in the category of supporting the sustainable transition at the European Entrepreneurship Award Ceremony held at the European Commission's Annual Assembly for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Portorož. This year, more than 450 projects applied for national competitions in 28 EU countries, from which the European Commission selected finalists by individual categories.

The idea of the Green Penguin (Grænskjáir in Icelandic) is using our digital ecosystem, the Sustainability platform to teach and reinforce environmental literacy. The Green Penguin brings positive environmental and social impacts to communities, combining smart technologies and gamification to build environmental and digital literacy, starting with the younger generations and gradually expanding to all age groups, businesses, urban infrastructure. The project engages people in activities that help reduce the carbon footprint and develop new habits.

The Green Penguin project will be implemented in elementary schools in Reykjavík through a program called Green Flag (Grænfáninn) run by Landvernd, the Icelandic Environment Association. Other partners in the project in Iceland are Reykjavíkurborg, Faxaflóahafnir, Sorpa and Origo.

The first step of implementing the Green Penguin program is to install information screens in elementary schools in Reykjavík. The project is named Green Screens (ISL: Grænskjáir) and displays information about the schools energy and waste data, knowledge and education on environmental issues.

Students and teachers will gain access to statistics and data to enhance their knowledge and understanding of environmental issues. Hopefully to spur them on to take action to further reduce the schools carbon footprint. The energy and waste data collected into the Sustainability Platform will be demonstrated in an understandable and fun user interface, for students to work and interact with. Preparations for the implementation have already begun and Laugalækjarskóli will lead the way in implementing Green Screens into their school environment.

"Protecting the environment and ensuring a sustainable future for mankind is the greatest challenge of our times. Only by educating future generations and equipping them with the tools they need can we hope to achieve these goals. The Green Penguin combines the digital revolution with the green momentum and builds environmental literacy in younger generations with tools fit for the 21st century." Þorsteinn Jónsson, CPO and Co-Founder of Klappir

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