Extreme E Partners With Royal College Of Art For Grand Challenge Initiative

The Royal College of Art (RCA) and Extreme E have announced a new partnership that will give students and researchers the ‘data and inspiration’ to develop ‘innovative’ responses to the climate crisis. 

For students, the RCA Grand Challenge is an annual initiative which sees interdisciplinary teams from across the College’s School of Design working to address some of the world’s most intractable problems by combining science with design. 

Extreme E will partner with the RCA for the 2021/22 Grand Challenge, alongside Logitech and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

The theme will be a ‘New Economic Model for the Ocean’ (NEMO), and will investigate global topics including environmental sustainability, plastic pollution, loss of marine habitat and new ocean economies. Academics from the RCA’s School of Design will travel to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, to install data-gathering equipment aboard Extreme E’s St Helena ship, which will collect data about the world’s oceans as the ship travels to the series’ forthcoming race locations, enabling students and research staff to access real world scenarios and giving them data to inform their thinking around possible solutions.

RCA Students will be encouraged to identify opportunities for strategic and system level design innovation that can stimulate cultural change around people’s values and attitudes towards the environment. Teams will be tasked with generating proposals that align with local needs through products and services that can potentially stimulate and generate economic and social transformation for communities.

“The RCA is the world’s leading art and design university so naturally we are delighted to join forces on this innovative approach to research,” said Alejandro Agag, Founder and CEO of Extreme E. 

“The St Helena has a dual purpose; to transport the championship’s cargo to each race location as sea travel is less carbon intensive than air freight, and to also act as a research hub informing the world about the impacts of the climate crisis on our oceans – it even has its own scientific laboratory onboard which will be used throughout the remainder of the year. 

“I’m looking forward to seeing the data collected by the RCA and understanding how it can help inform decisions about the climate crisis and solutions we can all be a part of.”

Dr Paul Thompson, RCA Vice-Chancellor, added: “Europe is experiencing its second hottest July ever, and over 550,000 hectares of forest across the continent have burned in wildfires already this year. 

“The latest IPCC draft report makes it clear: average temperatures in Southern Europe are due to be 20% higher than other parts of the world in the coming decades. As the St Helena moves on from Greenland towards Europe’s climate change hotspot, it will capture many terabytes of data on the Atlantic Ocean which will inform RCA staff and students as they embark upon critical research to save the world’s oceans. 

“We are honoured and thrilled to bring together the creative thinking of the RCA’s School of Design with the scientists and organisers of Extreme E.”