The 1st CASSINI Hackathon connected hundreds of hackers with geospatial information from Copernicus Earth observation data and its services and/or positioning technologies from Galileo & EGNOS. The event took place from 18-20 June across 10 European countries with the aim to develop innovative solutions that sustainably improve our green spaces in urban and rural areas. The CASSINI Hackathon Ireland was organised by the National Space Centre, Europe’s most westerly teleport and Ireland’s only commercial ground station.
In Ireland, sea swimming is increasing in popularity but there is a lack of facilities, and the safety of swimmers is of utmost importance. ‘Have Sea Will Swim’ was the winning solution in Ireland and is an innovative solution to solve this challenge. ‘Have Sea Will Swim’ uses a combination of satellite data and machine learning to detect and display the best places for sea swimming. Thanks to this, citizens will have safe access to another form of exercise, and it will assist local authorities in planning facilities.
Not only have the team behind ‘Have Sea Will Swim’ created a great solution to Digitise Green Spaces, but they also picked up a prize of €2,000 and a prize pack from Blacknight Solutions that includes the hosting of an .earth domain. The future of green spaces in Ireland looks bright!
Following this, on 24 June, the 10 winners from each location pitched their solution live to a jury of experts who engaged the winners in question-and-answer sessions before evaluating each team. The three winning teams won an additional 100 hours of expert mentoring to support them with the development of their ideas. Here are the winners:
1st Place: ‘Sportcasts’ from the Netherlands – an app that provides real-time environmental data so residents can better plan their outdoor activities.
2nd Place: ‘Tree Count & Care’ from the Czech Republic – a service that identifies the current condition of all trees in a city so they can be taken care of more efficiently.
3rd Place: ‘Sandless’ from France – a tool that analyses past satellite images of other cities to assist in the protection of rural areas for expanding cities.
Johanna Braun, Innovation Consultant and CASSINI Hackathon jury member, congratulated all the teams who pitched at the award ceremony. “It was fantastic to hear from so many budding entrepreneurs passionate about digitising green spaces. Hackathons are a unique opportunity to create innovative solutions in a very short time period, bringing together a diverse collection of people looking to solve important problems – and the teams clearly stepped up to the challenge! I have seen some real potential among these winners to create sustainable, commercially viable space-based products and services. Congratulations to all the teams”.
This is just the first step for CASSINI Hackathons. The next edition will take place from 5-7 November and will connect the Arctic with EU space technologies. More information will be available here: https://hackathons.cassini.eu
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