GCC telecom leaders bring together innovators to tackle the sector’s biggest climate challenges head-on, from energy-hungry networks to e-waste transformation, and scaling renewables
By: Mohamed Elkholy
e&, global technology group and founding member of the GCC Sustainability Innovation Hub, joins forces with the region’s top telecom operators to launch the first GCC Sustainability Hackathon, a high-intensity challenge designed to uncover the next wave of green technology breakthroughs and rethink how regional networks are built, powered, and maintained.
The inaugural hackathon invites innovators, solution providers, and startups to compete across three high-impact tracks: AI-driven energy efficiency to create smarter networks that cut power consumption; e-waste management to transform telecom waste and discarded hardware into high-value resources; and renewable energy solutions to scale clean power for towers and data centres.
“By uniting the GCC’s strongest networks and brightest talent, we can turn prototypes into region-wide change in months, not years,” said Mohamed H Almarzooqi, Sr. Vice President/Access Network, e& international. “The ideas born here could be the catalyst to rethink how telecom networks are built and powered, helping us cut costs, slash emissions, and set new benchmarks for sustainable connectivity — making the UAE’s and the region’s net-zero ambitions a reality, faster.”
Competing for valuable prizes across the three tracks, participants will work against the clock to design and present solutions that have a measurable environmental impact. The best ideas will be presented live during a special event hosted by stc Group in Riyadh.
Registration is open until 1 September via the stc Group’s online platform. Submissions will be evaluated from September 2 to 16 by a judging panel representing all participating telcos. Finalists will present their ideas live in Riyadh from September 14 to 16, and winners will be announced at a ceremony on September 17.
Andrew Dunnett, Group Senior Vice President of Sustainability, e&, said: “Meeting net-zero targets cannot be about incremental change; it’s all about accelerating the best ideas to full-scale adoption. And this Sustainability Hackathon brings our industry together to do exactly that. It gives innovators a platform to deliver solutions that pull innovation through procurement, standardise what ‘good’ looks like, and give startups a pathway from pilot to portfolio, proving that sustainable networks are a performance advantage, not a trade-off.”
This initiative stems from the GCC Sustainability Innovation Hub – a seven-member alliance, formed in the wake of COP28 commitments, by e&, Beyon, du, Ooredoo, Omantel, stc Group, and Zain to establish region-wide procurement standards for green technology, and accelerate renewable energy adoption across 39 subsidiaries in 33 countries, guiding the GCC towards a unified net-zero framework.
The hackathon builds on the GCC Sustainability Innovation Hub’s regional track record in cutting network energy use, deploying renewables, and reducing e-waste – now aiming to harness regional talent to scale breakthroughs faster and accelerate those gains through innovation.
For e&, this event builds on a broader portfolio of sustainability initiatives, including commitments to reach net-zero emissions (Scopes 1 & 2) by 2030 in the UAE and by 2040 across all operations, the publication of e& Climate Transition Plan, a roadmap to how the group plans to meet its targets, the launch of Project Life to reduce Scope 3 emissions, the introduction of eco-friendly recycled SIM cards, and the deployment of the region’s first net-zero 5G Massive MIMO site powered entirely by renewables. e& also offers “Sustainability-as-a-Service” solutions that enable enterprises to meet their ESG goals using IoT, AI, and automation.
The GCC has the talent, the networks, and the urgency, and this hackathon is a standing invitation to turn that into impact and set a global benchmark for sustainable telecom.
