This international event is being held for the first time in Spain, within the activities of Zona Base, the incubator linked to the blue economy launched with Feder Funds through the INCYDE Foundation
Zona Franca, in collaboration with CEEI and the UCA, is the host of this challenge in innovation in the field of the sea
In October, the city of Cádiz will host the Ocean Hackathon® 2020, an important international scientific event that brings together projects related to the sea. The fifth edition of this forum is being held for the first time in Spain within the activities promoted by Zona Base Cádiz, the business incubator related to the blue economy that is being developed, 80% subsidized by the FEDER Funds within the framework of the Program Spanish Pluriregional Operation ERDF 2014-2020 “A way of making Europe” through the INCYDE Foundation of the Chambers of Commerce.
Zona Franca, in collaboration with the University of Cádiz and the CEEI, are the hosts of this important and innovative international scientific forum that will be held simultaneously in all participating cities from October 9 to 11. For 48 hours in a row, these Hackathon venues will become an ideation laboratory for the participating teams that will have to develop, through technology and different variables and scientific data, those proposals and challenges of greatest interest for the protection of the oceans.
To advance the organization of this international scientific event, the special delegate for the Cádiz Free Trade Zone, Victoria Rodríguez, and the rector of the University of Cádiz, Francisco Piniella, held a meeting today in the offices of the Cádiz tax precinct. The UCA is an international reference in marine and maritime studies in all areas of knowledge and has led the strategy to strengthen the Blue Economy from southern Europe as a basis for intelligent, sustainable and integrative growth focused on the sea and its potential. . Since 2011, the University of Cádiz has coordinated the Campus of Global International Excellence of the Sea (CEI·Mar) and, since June of last year, the European University of the Seas (SEA-EU), a consortium in which six universities from the European continent participate. located in prominent places in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. The UCA scientific community, distributed among its four campuses, develops intense research activity in a wide diversity of fields linked to knowledge of the sea, which is why the call for the Ocean Hackathon® 2020 is in tune with its projects and research areas.
The participation of the 18 maritime cities of the world has the objective of creating tools for the improvement of the oceans, one of the activities included by the United Nations for the decade of marine sciences for a sustainable ocean. Thus, along with Cádiz, this year Cartagena in Spain will participate, in addition to Mexico, Deshaies, Rimouski, Cardiff, St Malo, Le Havre, Boulogne, Champs, Tolulon, Sète, St Jean de la Luz, La Rochelle, Brest, Nantes, Ancona and Split).
This is an important activity for the city, which will be a world reference center since the participants will consider looking for technological solutions, such as tools for the early detection of invasive species, something very important in our province, especially in the Campo of Gibraltar.
It must be remembered that the highly innovative incubator included in Zona Base Cádiz is a pioneer in Andalusia and is proposed as an instrument for the promotion of innovation and technology transfer specialized in the blue economy sector, using, among other tools, actions such as holding forums and events such as the Ocean Hackathon®.
The geographical location of Cádiz offers a series of very close resources for the development of projects linked to the blue economy and provides the opportunity for Cádiz and the Zona Base incubator to be a benchmark in this sector.
STATEMENT OF CHALLENGES
All natural and legal persons, public administration, research groups, universities, technology centers, etc. can participate in this scientific event, presenting a challenge.
The objective is to create and/or develop a new product or service or even create a company, clarify an innovative concept or share knowledge about the seas and oceans.
And challenge It can come from a simple idea or a need around the sectors associated with the sea. It may also be a more mature project that needs a special push or experimentation.
And challenge at Ocean Hackathon® is based on the use of available digital data.
The nature of this data can be very varied: nautical charts, photos, nature of the seabed, legal aspects and maritime safety, location of cables, wrecks, buoys, maritime markers, tides, water levels, oceanographic forecasts, biology, pollution, ecology, physical chemistry, coastline, maritime activities, etc.
The fields of application of the straight They are varied and often in line with the specificities and environment of the cities organizing the Ocean Hackathon®.
The form to submit a challenge to the Cádiz edition is available at the following link:
https://campusmer.typeform.com/to/c2FH7q
Deadline for submitting challenges: June 30, 2020