Building The Future on Youth Island
Byline: Emma Elisabeth Vegge Kunckel Andersen / photos Lukas Bergkvist
How can we make the world a more peaceful and thriving place? And how can Quantum Science and new technologies such as AI help with this?
On UN’s International Day of Peace, young change makers from around the world gathered on Youth Island to address exactly these questions...
The wind is blowing in your hair. The air is fresh, and the smell of sea salt reaches your nose. You look across the ocean, wide open, and you realize you’re on a historical naval fortress just outside of Copenhagen, Denmark. The place is called Youth Island and will be your home for the next two days ...
On the 20-21 of September 2025, this was the reality for a group of young people from different countries and cultures. The ambitious young change makers, mainly students with various academic backgrounds, gathered for a weekend to explore how Quantum Science and today’s emerging technologies can help create a better future. During a 24-hour long hackathon, they attended teambuilding sessions, workshops and group discussions - all to present their solutions to the current world challenges.
Team building with adventure coach Paul Nicholson
Exploring the potential of AI with Michael Birkebæk Jensen
Engaging in nteractive storytelling with Bjarke Calvin
Discussing how to start a movement with Denis Rivin
A path for the Future
The theme of the hackathon was Protopia – what is that, you may ask? It’s a path to the future that lies between utopia and dystopia. With Protopia, you work steadily towards an optimistic, yet realistic future.
With this mindset, participants worked on developing meaningful solutions to today’s challenges, using technology as a creative tool. Some of them stayed up all night to prepare their presentations...
On day 2, the young change makers presented their solutions to a jury consisting of Marie C. Medeiros from PEOPLE OF 2050, Denis Rivin from Actual News, Niels Daugaard from European Climate Pact, and Sara Lund from Klimatorium, the Danish Center for Innovation and Climate Action.
Members of the jury evaluating the pitches
2nd Prize Pitch - ActBridge
3rd Prize Pitch - Breaking The Bubble
1st Prize Pitch - GreenWatch
The Winning Team was invited to present their idea at The Global Youth Climate Summit 2025
The jury's reasoning:
"Very impressed by presentation and maturity of product. A crowdsourced approach to accountability and regulative transparency in the building sector at a time of expansive city growth would be useful, tangible and valuable".
It was a tired but happy crowd that boarded the ferry back to Copenhagen, carrying new friendships, bold ideas, and the satisfaction of having built something meaningful together.
A special thanks goes to our sponsors:
MERKUR FONDEN and
EUROPEAN CLIMATE PACT-
- and the media team from Talentskolen in Næstved, who captured the spirit of the weekend and made it possible to share the experience with the world.