New partnership opens up the defense and security market to dual-use companies
The need for new solutions in defense and public safety is growing rapidly. At the same time, many of these innovations originate outside the sector. A new partnership…
2024-10-16
Successful hackathon with space data and sustainability in focus
In early October, the NASA International Space Apps Challenge hackathon was organized in a number of locations around the world. In Gothenburg, 65 participants gathered to solve various challenges using open data from NASA. Innovatum Science Park was a partner to the event and provided mentorship and inspiration to the participants.
- There was an incredible commitment among the participants and it was amazing to see how much they were able to accomplish in just two days, says Sammie Chimusuro, business coach at Innovatum Science Park's incubator responsible for ESA-BIC and space-related startups.
Sustainability in focus for many
The Gothenburg participants, who ranged from coders and designers to innovators and story-tellers, had a total of 21 different challenges to choose from. Several of these were about developing solutions for a sustainable society.
One example was the 'Gender and climate' challenge, which focused on modeling the relationship between climate change and gender inequality and proposing a solution that promotes both gender equality and climate action. Another was 'Community Mapping', which aimed to create a map that combines open research data with geographical information systems (GIS) to analyze how a local problem is affected by the physical environment.
Sammie Chimusoro, a business coach at our incubator, gave a talk to the participants with the aim of inspiring them to consider an entrepreneurial path while giving them an insight into the region's innovation support system. He was also available as a sounding board and mentor.
Global winners to be announced in January
On the last day of the hackathon, participants gave presentations showcasing their projects. Once the event had ended in all time zones, the judging phase began. Local judges ranked the projects and two of the teams from the Gothenburg event will be selected at the end of October to go on to be judged by NASA experts during two global judging rounds.
In total, 10 global winners will be crowned during an awards ceremony at the NASA facility in January.
The NASA International Space Apps Challenge is a hackathon for coders, scientists, designers, storytellers, creators, technologists and innovators from around the world who come together to use open data from NASA and its space agency partners. Together, they create solutions to challenges we face both on Earth and in space.
