Enthusiastic visitors, an impressed jury and beaming faces amongst the finalists: the award ceremony for the Klever Birne Sustainability Prize on the evening of 10 September 2026 at Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences (HSRW) provided some moving moments.
First place – and with it a prize of 2,000 euros and personalised coaching – went to HSRW student Sophie Niegsch and Christoph Schmidl. Their competition entry, ‘HawcAI’, is a drone-based solution for detecting and removing litter from fields bordering roads. “In preparation for the awards ceremony, last week we collected 70 items of rubbish within 15 minutes along a stretch of around 100 metres on Riswicker Straße at the edge of a field, and we’ve brought them along today to illustrate our point,” said Sophie Niegsch. The drone, known as “Scouting” and equipped with a camera for rubbish detection, is ready for use. The next step will be to collect AI-supported datasets to categorise different types of rubbish.
The jury – comprising Markus Kock from the Kisters Foundation, Peter Schönrock from SOS Children’s Villages Lower Rhine, Marco Stabe from the District of Kleve, Pascale van Koeverden from the City of Kleve and Florian Gaisrucker from HSRW – awarded second prize to furniture restorer Clemens Giesen. Not only does he breathe new life into furniture, but he also guides customers in attempting simple repairs themselves. He intends to donate his prize money of 1,500 euros to RepairCafé Kleve, thereby enabling the establishment of a workshop for furniture repairs.
Eddy Nakaana is delighted to have won third prize. He has named his platform ‘TSCHÜSS’, which is designed to help all food retailers sell produce just before its use-by date. The student, who is studying on the new project-based ‘Engineering for Sustainability’ degree programme at the Faculty of Technology and Bionics at HSRW in Kleve, intends to use his prize money of 1,000 euros for further development and, as a first step, to begin a collaboration with the HSRW canteen.
The school prize is shared between the ‘Clever Climate Detectives’ from St. Antonius Hau Confessional Primary School and the pupils in the LIP (Learning through Projects) group at Kevelaer Comprehensive School. The young sustainability ambassadors will each receive 500 euros to continue their projects. In Bedburg-Hau, the Climate Detective Kit will be expanded to include further research tools such as a solar panel and a lux meter; in Kevelaer, alternative ingredients for the microplastic-free shampoo will be tested and the brand identity refined.
The Clever Climate Detectives, who in their presentation proclaimed Kleve to be a research hub for children too, were also awarded the audience prize.
“In fact, all the participants were winners. Even before the short presentations and the actual opening, people were chatting, introducing themselves and networking at the finalists’ exhibition stands,” sums up Christina Martens from HSRW. And with that, an important goal was achieved: finding supporters, motivating people and building a network not only to put the ideas into practice, but also to connect those interested in sustainability. It was no coincidence that the appeal from the school prize sponsors, FLUXANA GmbH & Co. KG and Omexom Smart Technologies GmbH, to the pupils present was: “Take it out into the world!”
The future of the Kleve pear
“Some ideas don’t just stay on paper,” noted Josef Gietemann, Deputy Mayor of the City of Kleve, in his welcoming address. Whilst he recalled competition ideas from previous years, the Kleve Zoo had already taken the first steps towards implementing this year’s competition idea, ‘Habitat instead of concrete’, regardless of whether it won a prize.
“The Kleve Pear has come into its own,” Dr Gerhard Heusipp from the HSRW also noted. “A lot has happened in recent years and the sustainability competition continues to grow – this year, for example, with the district-wide school prize.” To ensure that the ‘Klever Birne’ not only celebrates its small five-year anniversary next year but also continues beyond that, a workshop on the theme ‘Thinking ahead for the ‘Klever Birne’ – recognising and promoting sustainability’ will take place in October. Are you interested in helping to support the continuation of the Klever Birne? Please send a brief email to transregint@hochschule-rhein-waal.de.
Background
The “Klever Birne” ideas competition is a collaboration between the TransRegINT project at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences and the City of Kleve. The sustainability prize was awarded for the first time in 2023. One of the aims is to raise awareness of sustainability issues amongst people in Kleve and the surrounding area and to identify areas for innovation. Through the ‘TransRegINT – Transformation of the Lower Rhine Region: Innovation, Sustainability, Participation’ project, Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences has set itself the goal of helping to shape sustainable change in the region on a scientific basis. The project is funded by the ‘Innovative University’ programme of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. This funding initiative supports universities in finding creative solutions to the pressing challenges of our time based on research findings. ‘TransRegINT’ will receive funding totalling just under ten million euros until the end of 2027. This will enable the development of solutions to shape the region’s future in line with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
