From February 24 to 28, 2026, the SMART GREEN ISLAND INNOVATION FESTIVAL organized by ITQ GmbH and the Spanish Dr. Stetter ITQ S.L.U. took place on Gran Canaria. During the MAKEATHON, 334 young talents, professors and company representatives worked in interdisciplinary teams on Industry Challenges in the fields of AI, Smart Automation and Circular Economy. At the same time, 150 researchers presented current scientific topics at the international EUROCAST conference, including fields such as Quantum Mechanics, Robotics and AI. In addition, more than 350 school students gained their first hands-on experience with Robotics, Programming and Electronics in practice-oriented technology workshops. At the technical museum “Museo Elder” in Las Palmas, a shared innovation space emerged where research, industrial application and talent development worked together directly. Students, professors and company representatives developed functional demonstrators and networked in a format that systematically combines innovation development, talent promotion and scientific exchange.
CirQmind in Practice: From Smart Recycling to Smart Automation
Under the central theme “CirQmind – Circular Economy through Circular Society”, 18 teams worked on real Industry Challenges. Together with MVTec, they developed AI-based image processing for automated waste and object detection. With Beckhoff, they created PLC-controlled sorting systems for precise material separation. In collaboration with Lorenz, prototypes for smart circular transport boxes for water meters with tracking and condition monitoring were developed. For MEILLER-Kipper, the teams designed an autonomously controlled model vehicle with hooklift function that can independently approach, pick up and position swap containers.
Impressions of the SMART GREEN ISLAND MAKEATHON 2026
Innovation emerges through Experimentation
The MAKEATHON demonstrates that innovation capability does not arise in theory, but through practical application under real conditions. Students and trainees work on concrete industrial problems, systematically training creative thinking, technical implementation and responsible decision-making.
At the same time, the format represents an alternative model for talent recruitment: companies experience talents not in job interviews, but within project work. Skills become visible immediately, and young professionals develop the ability early on to actively drive innovative solutions in their later professional careers.
Short Impression Movie of the SMART GREEN ISLAND MAKEATHON 2026
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More InformationThe SMART GREEN ISLAND MAKEATHON was made possible through the financial, conceptual and material support of 24 national and international Sponsors.
Special thanks go to the following Sponsors:
Platinum Sponsor: MVTec
Gold Sponsors are technology companies: Beckhoff, MEILLER-Kipper, Lorenz, as well as local institutions: the Canary Islands Government Gobierno de Canarias, the Government of Gran Canaria Cabildo de Gran Canaria, the foundation Fundación Sergio Alonso, and Museo Elder,
Silver Sponsors are: igus, MathWorks, Quanderland of the Fraunhofer Institute, IES El Rincón, Algorithmics, Protect the Planet – Dorothea Sick-Thies.
Additional long-standing supporters of the MAKEATHON and Silver Sponsors include the Karl-Peter-Obermaier School Passau and the Vocational Schools Wilhelmshaven, which support us with motivated trainees in designing and supervising the workshops as well as organizing the event and catering. For them, the MAKEATHON is a real training project in which event planning, logistics and teamwork are practiced under real conditions instead of in the classroom.
Inspiring Interest in Technology Already at School Age
Parallel to the MAKEATHON, 350 school students from the island took part in free Educational Technology Workshops. Robotics, Programming and electronics with a focus on Sustainability were at the center. The workshops were offered by German universities, the Gerda Stetter Foundation “Technik macht Spaß!” with the EU-funded Research Project “EduDemoS”, as well as the Canarian Foundation Fundación Sergio Alonso. The universities view the MAKEATHON as a practice-oriented extension of their educational concepts: research, industrial challenges and project-based learning are combined, and technological competencies are systematically developed already at school age.
Science in Dialogue
At the same time as the MAKEATHON, the international EUROCAST conference took place at the museum with around 150 researchers from 20 universities. Several professors were not only active at the conference but also participated in the MAKEATHON together with their students. As a result, current research knowledge flowed directly into the team’s project work, and science and practical technology development interacted directly.