In 2015, the United Nations put forward seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit, clearly stating that from 2015 to 2030, the international community should address the three dimensions of development - social, economic and environmental - with a unified standard and strive for a common global shift toward sustainable development.

The Sustainability Innovation follows the UN Sustainable Development Goals and encourages students to contribute to global sustainable environmental issues raised by SDGs.

"Sustainable development has become an important agenda for universities since the Brundtland Report, so it is up to universities to ensure that they produce hundreds of graduates who fully understand sustainable development and its role in society, and do what they can."

——Hilligje van't Land

Secretary General of the International Association of Universities

Executive Director of the International Universities Bureau

Among the top 50 universities in the QS World University Rankings, 80% of universities have formulated sustainable development strategies, plans and operations.

"I would especially advise students to try the innovation activities, which is a very helpful project to improve the self-competence. As long as we want to do this, we will discover inspiration from our surroundings and come up with different solutions. Stepping out of your comfort zone is the only way to give yourself a new chance."

Sustainability Innovation is dedicated to training future green leaders by providing students with the opportunity to solve sustainable development issues, helping them integrate their practical skills and problem-solving abilities with sustainable development theories, and contribute to the global sustainable development through practical actions.

In 2016, the Harvard Graduate School of Education released a report titled "Turning the Tide: Inspiring Concern for Others and the Common Good through College Admission" which pointed to a shift in admissions requirements for applicants to top universities - the youth should focus less on personal achievements and more on caring for others and the common good. Sense of community service has long been an important indicator in applications to global top universities.

Sustainability Innovation encourages students to care about their surroundings and contribute to the change of neighboring communities. Their sense of community responsibility and community care will be demonstrated during the process of envisioning and implementing the Sustainability Innovation program.

Harvard University, Stanford University, MIT, Yale University, Princeton University, Oxford University, Cambridge University, Cornell University and other well-known universities have established the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development Management. Harvard University, MIT and Cambridge University have also established their sustainability websites to publish information and news about their activities to enhance students' awareness of sustainable development.

As the global leader in high technology with a history of more than 100 years in sustainability, Honeywell announced in April 2021 its commitment to achieve carbon neutrality goals for all business operations and facilities by 2035.

Approximately 50 percent of Honeywell's new product development starts with improving the environmental performance and social benefits. In addition, Honeywell's low-carbon products and energy-saving solutions for buildings are widely used in airports, office buildings, factories, shopping centers, hospitals and many other fields.

More and more examples show us that sustainable development is becoming an inevitable choice for global development, and that sustainability is becoming a new frontier for innovation.

Sustainability Innovation Program requires students to develop their own innovation project report by identifying sustainability issues in their local community and designing reasonable solutions. SI provides students with the opportunity to identify and solve sustainability issues around them through teamwork and research, helping them to combine their practical and problem-solving skills with sustainable development, and to contribute to the world's sustainable development through their actions.

It is a project based on concern for sustainability issues in the local community, where students will engage in an in-depth sustainability learning experience through Sustainability Innovation. This project-based learning is a student-led learning method, which allows students to acquire new knowledge and skills through research, inquiry and commitment to solving problems and challenges with an innovative approach.

• A full-length Sustainability Innovation report
• Certificate of participation and awards in Sustainability Innovation
• Improving problem-solving skills and design thinking skills
• Passion and skills demonstrated in the Sustainability Innovation would be a good story students can tell to the college admission officers.
• Opportunity to attend the Sustainability Innovation annual presentation

Sustainability Innovation will provide participants with design thinking courses of the Institute of Design at Stanford University. The courses will help participants master the design thinking skills and in turn learn to design solutions for Sustainability Innovation.

What is design thinking? Design thinking is essentially a human-centred approach to problem solving. It is the process of problem identification and problem solving, which breaks down limitations to continually derive the nature of the problem.

As innovation becomes the core competency in all industries, design thinking is becoming more widely popular, and it is practised effectively in business, literature, science, education and other fields. Design Thinking helps students develop analytical skills, problem-solving abilities and helps them integrate the different parts into a system.

One Rip Away From Saving the Marine: More Sustainable Approach to Deal with Disposable Medical Masks

——BASIS International School Guangzhou

In order to improve the current situation of the overuse of disposable medical masks due to COVID-19, the team of BASIS International School Guangzhou developed multiple solutions. After reading academic essays, visiting research institutes, analyzing survey about public awareness on the mask situation, and interviewing specialists from related industries, they developed solutions on various aspects: technological, managerial, and promotional.

It is worth mentioning that they advocate "Break It" action, which has a three-step procedure for disposing medical disposable masks in a more environmentally friendly way. Step one: pull the ear loops of the mask off; step two: tear and rip the masks apart; step three: throw the fractured mask away.

Judge Comments

"Congrats on exploring a very timely topic. I commend the team on a thorough use of references and citations while you have summarized the issue. I also really appreciated that the team thought about a large and complex issue, but then broke it down to what is practical as a school student as part of your criteria with 'capability'. I also applaud the teams action plan as well as the many efforts they did on the ground to move their ideas – this type of passion behind action will serve you all well in the future! Congrats!"

An Arena for Dialogue Among Students of Engineering, Humanities, The Natural Sciences and The Social Sciences.

Science, Technology & Society(STS) is one of almost forty Interdisciplinary Programs at Stanford.

Science, Technology and Society (STS) is one of almost forty interdisciplinary programs at Stanford. A common ground where ideas that transcend the divisions between fields are not merely envisioned, but practiced: the Program in Science, Technology and Society is a dynamic interdisciplinary major that provides students with a liberal arts education for the 21st century.

It is a trend not only at Stanford University but also at top universities in the world to offer interdisciplinary programs.

The interdisciplinary arts and sciences education crosses the boundaries between traditional disciplines to tackle problems that require a diverse set of methods and concepts. It is designed for highly motivated students who want a well-rounded and challenging education in the arts, social and natural sciences to prepare themselves for the ever-changing world of work in the 21st century. The Interdisciplinary Arts and Science program offers valuable experience and research skills for issues of personal and public concern.

In Sustainability Innovation program, we provide students with an interdisciplinary learning experience in which they can acquire and apply knowledge in the engineering, environmental science, biology, physics, chemistry, computer science and geography, while acquiring technical skills along with an understanding of the history of science as well as the values and economic forces that guide technological change.

By participating in the Sustainability Innovation program, you will work with your team members to solve sustainable development issues in an investigative way. Your practical, problem-solving skills are combined with the concept of sustainable development to contribute to the world's sustainable development in a practical way.

Therefore, you will have more stories and material to tell college admission officers：

• The interdisciplinary ability and experience you gain from SI
• Your ability to solve real-world problems
• Your potential to grow into the future green leader
• Your interest in and contribution to your community

The Sustainability Innovation ProjectGuide system will guide students in developing a project plan to solving the sustainable issues in line with the professional framework.

You will learn to:

• Develop a deep understanding of sustainability and the root cause of issues
• Choose a viable plan to address sustainable development issues
• Analyze the sustainability and availability of your selected solution
• Design the prototype of solution and develop an iterative solution

Unde the guidance of SI, you will gain the sustainable mindset and perspective and get academic advising from professional tutors, which will help you to achieve sustainable academic development and improve your problem-solving skills.

Harvard’s Sustainability Plan, adopted in 2014, was created in partnership with faculty, students, and staff to align the University around a holistic vision and five-year roadmap for enhancing the well-being of the campus community. In addtion, Harvard University has articulated a climate sustainable action plan of achieving "Fossil Fuel-Neutral" in the short term by 2026 and "Fossil Fuel-Free" in the long term by 2050. Harvard University has tested promising innovation solutions that move the world away from fossil fuels.

Harvard University's experience of sustainable innovation demonstrates that sustainability innovation requires clarity about your sustainable development goals and developing a detailed and implementable program to achieve them.

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is a learning strategy that encourages students to solve real problems organized in working groups. In PBL, the problem or project is the milestone of the whole learning process. The project is the way in which students learn different skills.

Sustainability Innovation prepares students for academic, personal, study achievements through PBL and readies young students to rise to the challenges of their lives and the world they will inherit. Students work on a project over a period of time that engages them in solving a real-world problem or answering a complex question.

In Sustainability Innovation program, students make connections with the real world through in-depth project research, they can get their own unique project experiences and stories. They also demonstrate their knowledge and skills by developing a innovative solution to sustainable development issues and gain the ability to solve problems and continuously improve themselves.

The framework adopted by SI is Design Thinking, which guides how students should complete the process of the SI project step by step and what methods they should use to complete it.

The framework corresponds highly to the methodology so that students can build a set of knowledge and skill that can be applied in practice, and develop the mindset of problem-solving.

Based on these results, SI unifies framework, process and methodology so that students can intuitively follow the framework to complete the project step by step and solve the problem in a certain way of thinking based on the guidance of the methodology during the process, making it possible to generate a global strategy for continuous improvement.

In this sense, the SI framework = the SI process = the SI methodology.

A Systematic Solution for Rainfall Management and Utilization: Active, Beautiful and Clean Sponge Community

——Nanjing Foreign Language School

In recent years, Nanjing's economy has grown rapidly, and it is facing the problem of water shortage. In order to ensure the healthy and sustainable development of Nanjing, how to solve the effective use of urban rainwater has become an important issue in development.

The integration of rainwater gathering and utilization, rainwater management, and environmental landscape of communities is a complex project. The team of Nanjing Foreign Language School assessed solutions from construction cost, economic benefit, environmental benefit, ecological benefit, and public acceptance, finally determining the action plan of constructing sponge communities. They put forward strategies of rainwater utilization fit for residential areas in Nanjing according to raining characteristics, soil traits, current management of rainfall in communities, and concepts of sponge cities. In order to alleviate waterlogging, they called for increasing amount of natural infiltration of rainwater. Gathering and reusing rainwater resources in communities can not only contribute to existing water problems, but also conform to concept of ecological sustainable development.

The 3D graph of the comprehensive sponge facilities in the community

Judge Comments

"It is great to see the team explore a challenging urban planning topic – integrated stormwater management in this case. As the team identified in the document, it is hard to fathom how a place with abundant rainfall can at the same time have water shortage.

I appreciate that the team has properly set the context for this work, including through identification of rainfall of other weather characteristics of Nanjing. I also appreciate how the sections have been adequately referenced when the information has come from external sources. The efforts taken to be context specific and to identify what works and would not work within any community is also commendable......"