NOMATECH CHALLENGE 2026

Problem to Prototype Bootcamp • Mongolia

Application Form
Mongolian Undergraduate, High School Student Edition
Deadline: July 25th, 2026

Program Summary: An intensive hybrid innovation residency bridging climate theory with rapid prototyping, hosted at the GERLAB Engineering Workshop in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (August 10–17, 2026) in partnership with the National University of Mongolia and UNCCD COP17. Program fees, meals, and local transport are fully covered. Mongolian university students who need accommodation can stay in an official NUM student dormitory.

Full Name:

___Narantsatsralt_____________________________________________________________

Gender:

Academic Year:

[   ] Male      [  x ] Female      [   ] Prefer not to say      

|      Year:  [  2015 ] -  [2027   ] B2   [   ] B3   [   ] B4

Date of Birth (YYYY/MM/DD):

_2009/09/09_______________________________________________________________

Nationality:

_Saikhan soum, Bulgan province_______________________________________________________________

Registration Number:

_GZ09290901_________________________________________________________

Email Address:

_narantsatsralt90@gmail.com_______________________________________________________________

Phone Number:

+976 88608701________________________________________________________________

Major / Department (University):

School name (High School):

__Student_______________________________________________________________

Saikhan soum Secondary school 12th grade________________________________________________________

"Restoring our land, restoring our hope: Building a climate-resilient future through innovation."

                           We have lived far too long under the shadow of fear that doom is approaching. In our efforts to restore the degraded, desertified soil, we must find not fear, but a renewed faith and hope for our future. The bridge that stops the narrative of destruction and begins the conversation about creation lies in our new ideas and advanced innovations. This alone will lead us toward a resilient future capable of standing against climate change.

Desertification has swept across most of Mongolia’s land, and pastures are severely degraded. It is the same in our sum (soum). Traditionally, Mongolians refrained from over-breeding horses in a single area, yet due to market demands, our sum recently celebrated reaching 50,000 horses. I believe the greatest impact I can make right now as a citizen is to advocate for allocating a reasonable portion of the income generated from horses, goats, and other livestock toward protecting natural springs and creating long-term, sustainable income sources for residents. Furthermore, I aim to foster a psychological environment for establishing cooperatives and partnerships, secure the necessary legal framework and key stakeholders, and initiate active collaboration between myself and the local self-governing bodies of our sum.

Given that nomadic traditions—living in harmony with nature—have been practiced for thousands of years in Mongolia, I believe educational and awareness-raising activities aimed at encouraging herders to protect pastures by reducing their horse and goat herds will succeed if supported by trainers and facilitators. However, to compensate for lost income and successfully implement national and provincial policies through cooperatives, support from experienced teams is essential. We also carry out advocacy work within our school and have even launched a small project to put our ideas into action. Ultimately, raising public awareness about desertification, keeping our native lands vibrant, planting the seeds of pride in our homeland, and continuously nurturing those seeds—while keeping our actions in the public eye—is a responsibility that we, the youth, can take on right away.

I saw inspiring examples from the presentation of the "Shambala 2056" project in Erdene sum, Dornogovi province, where AI (Artificial Intelligence) is used to monitor tree growth and development and send updates to the owners. They also utilized AI for wildlife protection and self-monitoring automated irrigation wells. My goal would be to leverage AI to direct public attention, especially that of children and youth, toward environmental degradation. For instance, we could create an AI version of the endangered Mazaalai (Gobi bear) that speaks about its own plight—much like the Labubu toy phenomenon that recently took off and remains popular.

If environmental protection and nature awareness become a trend among youth, there would be no greater support or engagement. Just as we define ourselves through summer fun and events like Playtime, if we can turn environmental care and honest labor into trends across families, sums, aimags, schools, youth, and digital spaces—focusing on desertification, green zones, apple farming, household economies, livestock feed, and intensive farming—I believe this will open opportunities for every household to develop tourism, showcasing and taking pride in our nomadic civilization. In our sum, quite a few families operate small cabins and tourist camps. I feel they lack the mindset to turn minimal living into a trend and to market the true meaning and pride of living simply.

As I mentioned before, if protecting nature becomes a trend, we can solve most of our problems. First, we must focus on the quality of education. Only a person who is honest with themselves can love and dedicate themselves to something greater than self. I believe Mongolian domestic upbringing and traditions carry an immense heritage of loving nature. I once read a quote by Professor S. Dulam: "In the past, there was a Ministry of Environment in the heart of every Mongolian."

When students, graduates, and citizens internalize this awareness, they will treat water as the "Precious Gem" (Chandmani Erdene) just as our ancestors did. If leading eco-youth can go to mining sites and river basins where licenses were issued and water is heavily consumed for extraction to draw public attention, demand accountability, and launch movements to enforce laws and regulations, this will not only stand at the top of our priorities but also set the real foundation for solving these issues through actionable water conservation. For a people who traditionally wouldn't drop a single spot of milk into a river, to now be washing cars in rivers and excavating riverbeds is truly heartbreaking.

I wish to create a movement and community of young people who dream of preserving the land and independence handed down through the intellectual and material culture of our ancestors—consulting and agreeing with one another to leave it intact not just for ourselves, but for generations to come.

                                                                                                                                                         G.Narantsatsralt

___________________________________________________

2026/07/24_________________________________

Handwritten or Digital Signature of Applicant

Date (YYYY / MM / DD)