From Nice to Réunion: international and territorial mobilisation

Prepared over more than two years, the “Waves of Change” Hackathon builds on the Participatory Science for the Ocean Hackathon held in Nice in June 2025, as part of the events associated with the international One Ocean Science Congress and the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference. Held from 3 to 12 June 2025, that Hackathon included a project presentation during an official side event of the Conference.

This momentum continued with the support of the Génération Mer collective, notably through the mobilisation around coral reefs in Réunion in 2025, followed by preparations for the 2026 edition with Step and Go and the NGO Objectif Sciences International.

More than 40 partners and organisations mobilised contributed to this scientific, educational, civil society, institutional and economic initiative.

Several contributions were decisive in making the Hackathon possible:

• The Departmental Council of Réunion, which generously provided the training venue free of charge.
• SUEZ, whose financial contribution through sponsorship played a decisive role in making the event possible.
• Génération Mer, for its commitment to mobilisation, networking and the continuity of ocean-related initiatives.
• The Bon Accueil association in Le Tévelave, for its material assistance, including printing.
• The many partners, experts, speakers, local supporters and volunteers, for their scientific, educational, logistical and networking contributions.

Five days to transform practices

The Hackathon provided a complete methodology for designing participatory scientific projects that empower citizens and are economically viable.

A fundamental shift in roles: citizens are no longer consumers of scientific activities or mere data collectors. They become researchers, knowledge co-producers, project leaders and agents of change. Scientists support this progression while ensuring scientific rigour.

Skills developed:

• Scientific research: genuine research questions, hypotheses, protocols, data, validation, long-term research programmes and field operations.
• Empowering education: project-based learning, discovery, advanced learning, autonomy, progressive responsibility, didactics, facilitation and assessment.
• Design and cooperation: creativity, personas, stakeholder mapping, collective intelligence, managing unexpected events, nonviolent communication, prototyping, feedback and public presentations.
• Ecological transition: nine planetary boundaries, root-cause analysis, systemic impacts and regenerative solutions.
• Regenerative tourism: environmental, social and economic triple bottom line, citizen research and territorial value creation.
• Impact entrepreneurship: B2C, B2B, B2I and B2T business models, revenue streams, budgets, philanthropy, grants, crowdfunding, impact investment and sustainability.
• Education and engagement: integration into school curricula, teacher training, youth engagement, participatory science through sport and mobilisation of diverse audiences.

Immediately reusable tools: design of research programmes and operations, educational progressions, impact assessment, competency evaluation and evidence of learning, budgeting, partnerships and funding strategies.

A new approach to cooperation: sharing skills and equipment, connecting multiple projects and organisations, developing joint scientific programmes and creating new sources of revenue and funding together.

The week concluded with public project presentations, individual and collective evaluations, mapping of learning outcomes and discussions on future commitments.