Horizon 2020 “Wellbased” Project: What is it and How is Edirne Involved?

Edirne Municipality has announced that it will host a HACKATHON event within the scope of the WELLBASED project, part of the Horizon 2020 program. The theme of the event is “Improving the environmental, social, and economic living conditions of households and settlements experiencing energy poverty in Edirne.”

In their announcement, the municipality shared the following details:

The competition will start at 10:00 AM on Saturday, July 13th, at the Edirne Municipality Atatürk Cultural Center and Municipal Conservatory. It aims to improve the living conditions of households experiencing energy poverty in Edirne for a healthier life by enhancing their environment from an environmental, social, and economic perspective.

The goal is for participants to develop solutions considering the existing context.

The competition is open to anyone aged 15 and over who is knowledgeable about energy poverty, enjoys teamwork, works solution-oriented, and can generate creative ideas. Teams will consist of a maximum of 5 people. Following the formation of the teams, presentations will be made with the guidance of mentors. The winning team, as determined by a jury, will be awarded a tablet and a plaque.

What is the HORIZON 2020 and WELLBASED Project?

The WELLBASED project is a program developed to reduce energy poverty and improve public health in six pilot cities across Europe. The project aims to enhance the quality of life and equality of urban residents by developing urban health policies.

Within this scope, Edirne Municipality was the only municipality to receive a grant from the European Commission’s HORIZON 2020 program and participated in the WELLBASED project.

Former Mayor Recep Gürkan indicated that low-income volunteers participated in the project, and intervention and control groups were determined by a lottery conducted in the presence of a notary. The project aimed to reduce energy poverty and improve the health of residents by installing local heating stoves and systems in 39 homes.

What Exactly is WELLBASED?

WELLBASED, which stands for “Improving Health and Equity through Evidence-Based Urban Policies to Fight Energy Poverty,” is a four-year European Union project with a total budget of 5 million euros. The consortium consists of 17 partners, including Edirne Municipality, Demir Enerji, and the Zero Discrimination Association from Turkey. Edirne Municipality is the pilot city from Turkey.

WELLBASED aims to design, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive urban health program built on evidence-based approaches to significantly reduce energy poverty and its impacts on citizens’ health and well-being in six pilot cities: Valencia (Spain), Heerlen (Netherlands), Leeds (UK), Edirne (Turkey), Budapest (Hungary), and Jelgava (Latvia).

Thus, the project aims to:

– Develop robust policies to improve urban health
– Achieve physical and mental health improvements in urban populations
– Reduce inequalities in access to health services in cities

The WELLBASED project applications, which establish a direct link between energy poverty measures and health-related improvements, primarily target the low-income population.

Expected benefits include better home comfort and well-being for citizens, improved quality of life, reduced inequality, enhanced urban and social facilities, and reduced CO2 emissions with less money spent on health by governments.

What is a HACKATHON?

A HACKATHON, also known as a hackfest, code camp, hack day, or codefest, is a competition where teams work on a specific topic to develop not just ideas but actual programs. The code written from start to finish must be done in the environment set by the event host. The developed code is then judged by a jury.

Today, most hackathons are associated with software developers and entrepreneurs, but businesses also use hackathons to solve challenges. You might see hackathons organized to quickly create projects in various disciplines, such as music, fashion, dance, architecture, and others.

A hackathon is a type of social coding event that brings together computer programmers and other individuals with similar interests to create or improve software.