Wow! What an exciting 4 months! We’ve just returned from Davos in Switzerland, where we’ve been delivering the Davos Codes programme. 

Davos Codes is a Salesforce-funded initiative which is showcased at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, teaching local students coding and tech skills for social good. Working with each cohort of students for three years, they focus on sustainability and climate action, then present their range of projects to leaders during the WEF. It's a community programme that bridges youth education with global challenges, involving hands-on projects that combine physical computing, science, technology, engineering, and a large dose of creativity.

2026 marked the tenth year of Davos Codes, the ninth year of U Can Too working alongside Salesforce to deliver the project that started back in 2016, and the start of our work with the fourth Davos Codes cohort. This year, the programme expanded, not only working with Realschule students in Davos, but introducing Davos Codes to Sekundarschule students, too. The two groups worked collaboratively on two creative computing projects, resulting in some really impressive outcomes! And yes, we’re very proud of those achievements!

Previous Impacts of Davos Codes

Davos Codes is underpinned by ongoing Climate Action Labs which focus on air quality and wildlife monitoring, these key aspects are continued through each new cohort.

The impact of past projects are already being seen. Last year’s students wrote to the local government to request more bins in locations informed by an app they created. As a result a number of new bins have been installed across the town. Previous impacts include recycling bins being introduced in their school and the ban of fireworks in the town due to the study of their impact on air quality.

This Year’s Projects

This academic year, the extended U Can Too team visited Davos to work with students across multiple visits. Since September, our new cohort of students engaged in many environmental projects, from scientific and data-focused to creative and exciting, aimed at developing understanding and spreading the word:

Scientific & Data Focused Projects:

(Continuation of the existing Climate Action Lab)

• Air Quality monitoring using micro:bit and Raspberry Pi - Students learnt about particulate matter (PM) and its effect on health, then programmed a micro:bit connected to a PM sensor to detect particulate matter in the air, lighting candles to measure the air quality changes when smoke is present.
• Testing the litter app (created by the Davos Codes 2022-2025 Cohort) - Last year’s cohort built an app for users to log litter they find around Davos. The data collected could be used to identify litter hotspots and inform the placement of new bins to be installed. This year, the new cohort of students tested these apps to inform app improvements and logged additional litter for review.
• Wildlife monitoring using wildlife cameras and iNaturalist - Students also continued the existing wildlife conservation Climate Action Lab project by installing wildlife cameras in various locations around Davos, enabling them to monitor wildlife in the region through image capture.
• AI identification of animals by training a machine learning model - Students learnt about AI through training a machine learning model, and the use of an AI camera. Combined with a micro:bit and a MakeyMakey, they were able to display infographics on screen, including information they had researched and prepared about animals of Davos that they had recorded on camera.

Creative & Communicative Projects:

• Coding environmental arcade games - Students used MakeCode Arcade to build a game in which the player collects all the litter within a set time limit.  This involved designing and programming their games, which were shared at the showcase event.
• Built and programmed environmental robots (collaborating with the Sekundarschule students) - All students reviewed the global goals and worked in groups to decide how a robot could help achieve one of the goals. They then worked together to design, code and build their environmentally-themed robots.
• Coded an interactive “wishing on a star” wishing wall using JavaScript - Using P5JS, students programmed the capture of an image from a webcam of paper-based stars, which were then digitised and added to a large screen, creating a collection of wishing stars set amongst the universe. Visitors to the event could write their SDG wishes for the future on stars, then push a button to capture an image of their wish and send it like a shooting star to join other star-shaped wishes on the screen.
• Built and programmed environmental board games (collaborating with the Sekundarschule students) - Once again, Realschule students and Sekundarschule students collaborated to delve into the biggest creative project of the Davos Codes 2026 programme. They began with some comparative testing (play, test, review, ideate) of a variety of existing board games. Their observations were then used to design their own environmental games with a twist! Student teams were challenged to include technology in some way, equipping their games with electronic dice, LED strips to show progress, spinners and a variety of interactive experiences!  The results were impressive to say the least!

Showcase Event at the World Economic Forum

In January, it was time for the big event; in preparation, the U Can Too team and volunteers from Salesforce spent time in school with students in the lead-up to the big day.  Students finished off their projects and developed presentations, ready for sharing at the World Economic Forum event.

On the day of the event itself, we were lucky enough, once again, to be joined by volunteers from Salesforce who assisted with activities on the day, in Salesforce’s ‘Chalet’ venue. In addition to showcasing their work, the students participated in a range of different activities and inspirational talks from experts in the fields of business, AI and ocean science.

During their activities on the day, students used Tableau to review data collected from wildlife cameras, visualising the locations and the success of image capture. This data can then inform future decision-making on where to place the cameras.

At the end of the event, students presented their work to guests in the Chalet along with their parents and teachers before attending the evening reception, where they proudly shared their projects with visitors to the event, before eating some well-deserved birthday cake!

Marc’s Lunch 

An extra special addition to the World Economic Forum is Marc’s Lunch. Only a few students are able to attend this prestigious event hosted by Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce. The students were joined by their teacher and enjoyed meeting Marc Benioff, Will.I.Am, Sylvia Earle and many more as well as being given the opportunity to further showcase their board games.