Arkki’s global community has long been engaged in international competitions and received numerous awards over the years. Active citizenship lies at the core of Arkki’s educational philosophy. Arkki’s main mission is to continuously aim to empower creative education around the globe; to equip children and youth with the tools and opportunities for a positive change within their communities and society through active engagement and participation.
Below we provide a glimpse of outstanding performances, remarkable collaboration initiatives and social innovation projects from around the world.
• Arkki & Love Wildlife Foundation – Filmmaking Collaboration
Arkki Thailand and Love Wildlife Foundation collaborate to design creative camps that educate children about the importance of wildlife and their connection to the world we all live in. This non-profit Foundation is registered in Thailand and dedicated to the protection of Southeast Asian wildlife through research, education and outreach. A collaboration of immense importance, in order to discourage the illegal trade of protected animal species in Thailand such as the Slow Loris. The children, used and shared their design thinking skills to come up with creative perspectives and solutions for wildlife conservation.
• Arkki & Marimekko – Fashion Design Collaboration
The Fashion Design Camp collaborated with the Finnish Design House Marimekko and visited the flagship store in Bangkok. The children learned that fashion in not only confined in clothing, bags and fashion accessories and understood the essence of the thinking and philosophy behind various iconic designs. By participating in the whole process of thinking, designing and creating techniques, it was a holistic learning journey on how industries engage to truly bring 21st century creative education to Arkki students.
• Sustain-A-City Competition
More than 400 young innovators from over 18 countries took part in the open competition Sustain-A-City facilitated by Arkki Singapore and commissioned by the Temasek Foundation in April and May 2023. The urban innovation challenge was open to all students between 18-25 years old around the world. The winners were unveiled on 8 June as part of the #Ecosperity Week 2023!
The competition was organised by Temasek Ecosperity’s platform, in partnership with Arkki Singapore. Participants attended 3 virtual design workshops and 1-on-1 coaching sessions in spring 2023. Arkki Singapore was in charge of the competition arrangements and facilitating the students´ innovation process and coaching the teams to develop their sustainable city ideas throughout the competition through various workshops on design thinking, prototyping, and storytelling.
The results were amazing winning innovations that tackle the challenges in the urban environment. The range of ideas was vast, from smart urban water and waste management solutions to an efficient cooling system for solar panels.
• Arkki Vietnam – CFCI 2019 Inspire Award by UNICEF
Arkki carried out a participatory urban design project in collaboration with UNICEF in Ho Chi Minh City in 2018. 297 local children and youth were part of the project. Collaborating partners in the process were International Unicef Vietnam, Saigon Innovation Hub, Ho Chi Minh City Planning Department and Arkki International.
The aim of the project was to provide children with knowledge and understanding about urban planning as well as tools to express their ideas. The main purpose was also to promote more inclusive and participatory decision making and planning processes. Urban planning will change radically in the future and it is now time to engage the future citizens, children on how they see the future of the city.
Arkki was awarded the CFCI 2019 Inspire Award by UNICEF for the project.
• Arkki & Design for Sustainable Sea
Arkki Thailand in Collaboration with PTT Global Chemical Public Company Limited and Amazon Web Services organized a product design course in 2020 where students tackled marine plastic pollution problems through design thinking. Pupils learned about design, circular economy, waste management, new technologies, like 3D printing and AI, and came up with their own ideas and designs that addressed the real-life marine plastic challenges.
• Arkki & New European Bauhaus
The New European Bauhaus in 2021 was a creative and interdisciplinary initiative launched by the European Commission, inviting all European citizens to participate. Arkki International joined the initiative with a project enabling the voices and ideas of children and youth to be heard among the adult opinions. Arkki International invited 500 children across Europe to ideate and innovate solutions for beautiful, sustainable and inclusive living in Future Europe. The project was led by Jere Keskinen in collaboration with local Arkki Schools in Finland, Prague, Croatia, Greece, and Turkey. During the project children between ages 4 to 14 came up with innovative ideas and solutions about new technologies, sustainability, nature preservation, integration, renovations recycling and sustainable building. Among the ideas were e.g green living ideas new energy resources, new lighting solutions and bubble cities.
