October 2024
Moving the Cities is an international immersive experience that has been reoccurring annually since 2018. It unites students, professors, industry representatives and universities from all over the world. The goal of Moving the Cities is to examine regional challenges derived from the UN SDGs that cities face from an international perspective.
Moving the Cities develops students’ innovation and entrepreneurial skills while immersed in a collaborative multicultural experience. Students in cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary teams will practice design thinking methods to formulate innovative solutions addressing the current challenges of their cities, regions, or ecosystems. These challenges are drawn from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Expert coaches and mentors will guide the students through a “digital accelerator” using lean methodologies to help conceptualize and develop their ideas. Teams comprised of students from more than 6 countries including Austria, Brazil, Chile, England, Germany and the United States work together to o design a solution, create a business plan, organize a pitch deck of slides, and prepare a pitch presentation. The concept should be region based but able to be applied globally. At the end of the week, the teams will pitch their proposal to the international jury.
The University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering is proud to host Moving the Cities for October 2024!
Students from partner schools, please reach out to your individual school contacts for more information on how to join this exciting program!
Zealan Hoover
Senior Advisor to the Administration & Director of Implementation
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation Keynote Speaker Event
Tuesday, October 29th
Zealan Hoover is a Senior Advisor to the EPA Administrator. For the past three years he has led EPA's implementation of more than $100 billion in programs authorized under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. Prior to that, he worked in the private sector advising organizations on a wide range of strategic and operational matters with an emphasis on decarbonization and managing climate risk. From 2013-2017 he worked at the White House first on the Domestic Policy Council and then in the Office of the Chief of Staff. In those positions he supported President Obama’s domestic and international climate agenda including the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Hoover graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a Morehead-Cain Scholar.
Check out the Grand Finale event videos from prior Moving the Cities events!
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