The Arctic Challenge was created by an innovating team, to inspire young people as well as teach them
about sustainable innovations. Together with Project Zephyrs self-development programme, we believe we
can grow a generation of people able to create robust solutions for the future that can stand the test
of time.
Project Zephyr is the programme created by the Foamblock Team that guides students toward the journey to
find their passion while offering them a unique, exciting and educationally rich experience.
The Arctic Challenge takes this experience and thrusts it to the world at large, bringing in everybody
else. It multiplies students’ opportunities by exposing them to cutting edge innovations, while
educating the public on these innovations.
The Arctic Challenge is curating a list of companies who are working on creating robust sustainable
technologies which will stand the test of time when tackling challenges such as climate change. We believe it is crucial
for as many people as possible to learn about these companies and their products/services, not only
because it helps them thrive but it helps everyone learn the best way to effectively play their part,
tailored to individual circumstances.
The climate challenge is multi-disciplinary and is not as simple as ‘CO2 emissions low = good’. We need
to approach this challenge rigorously and all at once, together.
Due to our incredible ability to adapt as human beings, we are poorly equipped to prevent slow moving
changes - it’s easier to just adapt and leave it. As scientists have shown, if we approach climate
change with this mentality, the future doesn’t look so good for many of us, as well as the other species
we share the Earth with.
We have decided to organise this event in Lapland because of its proximity to the Arctic Circle - the
region most affected by climate change due to the Arctic warming significantly faster than anywhere else
on Earth. This unfortunate state of events is also an opportunity - we want to visually show, from year
to year, event to event, how things change in the hope that we inspire people to act.
As part of our experience, we try to combine many of the sustainable technologies present at our event into the event itself and our products. One such experience is our accommodation. For those that wish to connect more with the Arctic, we will have a very limited availability of fully furnished canvas tents equipped for comfort in the winter. Together with our fire partners - MF Fire, we have designed an efficient, very low emissions stove which will run on recycled briquettes for zero emissions. Together with our own innovation of self- refilling, the stoves are able to run all night long without the need to wake up to refill them. This way, you can sleep comfortably in the depth of winter out under the northern light.
By bringing together companies from different fields, each working on a way to advance humanity into a
more sustainable future, we hope we can not only inspire students on future careers but also educate the
public on what is out there in terms of individual technologies. Many times, people feel powerless to do
anything about climate change because what is the point of paying more for an electric car if on the
other side of the planet someone is going to be burning a lot of coal. We believe sustainable
technologies should be adopted, not because they help the environment but because they are inherently
good anyway.
We want the public to learn about these technologies to help them grow, as well as help the public
better understand how to pick and choose when making an environmentally conscious decision.
We are looking for innovative, forward thinking schools to be part of the first pioneering teams. If you
think this is you, drop us a line or fill out this form. If you are already a team doing Project Zephyr,
or have accepted our invite, we will be in touch with you about participating.
For our Inaugural event, there will be only 10 teams on a ‘First Come First Serve’
basis.
Foamblock's electric car building STEAM experience. All the benefits of the scratch build, with the
efficiency of a kit build.
The Foamblock team created Project Zephyr with the goal of helping young people find an activity that
suits them, that they love and can do passionately. A person who finds this provides themselves with
sustainable living and the world with a healthy, happy, productive individual.
This programme builds on years of educational experience and research focusing on answering one of
students most important questions ‘What do I do after school?’. Project Zephyr sends students aged 12+
on a learning journey where they have the opportunity to delve deep into STEAM while also learning about
business, law, marketing, teamwork, leadership and more.
Project Zephyr splits into two parts, the practical and the social, where students, together with
teaching or guiding staff, discuss their discoveries during the practical part. Foamblock provides
institutions with its own custom-designed mapping algorithm to aid students in discovering their
individual path after school.
The entire experience is student-led and can be done anywhere an institution has the staff able to
ensure student safety when using basic DT workshop tools. Project Zephyr comes with all the hardware, as
well as all the necessary teaching materials, for institutions to put this into practice efficiently
with minimum setup time.
We, the Foamblock innovators, believe that Project Zephyr can truly change the way a student learns and
prepares for life after school.
