Last week The Park Hamnen was the base for the Ericsson Sustainability Challenge. The Hack for Earth team ran the hybrid hackathon from our premises in Stockholm’s new harbour district, bringing together 600 students from 20 universities across the Middle East.
Mikael Ahlström, founder of The Park and board member of the Hack for Earth Foundation, gave a presentation at the opening ceremony. His presentation, 37 minutes into the recording, can be watched on YouTube.
The Ericsson Sustainability Challenge was launched by Ericsson and Hack for Earth in August 2026. It invites university students, startups and young innovators aged 18 and over in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain to develop solutions for sustainable digital transformation and climate action, using AI, IoT and next-generation connectivity. Winning teams join Build for Earth, a six-month accelerator programme, and present their ideas at Ericsson’s stand at GITEX GLOBAL.
For a week, students in the Gulf and the Hack for Earth team in Stockholm, Secretary General Ann Molin, Love Dager and Carolina Emanuelson, worked on the same challenge, with The Park Hamnen as the shared base. It is the kind of collaboration The Park was built for: people and organisations from different places growing together around real problems.
“We are very happy to have had the whole Hack for Earth team with us at The Park Hamnen last week,” says Mikael Ahlström, founder of The Park.
The week builds on earlier work. Ericsson and Hack for Earth worked together on the Hack for Earth at COP28 hackathon in 2023, and in January 2026 The Park invited its community to Spirit of Action, a global online hackathon by Hack for Earth and unDavos. The collaboration continues on 18 November, when Hack for Earth joins The Park at Slush 2026 in Helsinki.
Read more about the challenge on the Hack for Earth website.
About The Park
The Park is a community for companies and organisations, with offices, meeting space and events at The Park Hamnen in Stockholm’s new harbour district and The Park Manor at Älvsjö gård. Its mission is Growing Together.
