Participants in the Ocean Hackathon 2020 begin to investigate the challenges of this scientific event held in the facilities of the Free Zone
The delegate of the Consortium, Fran González, welcomed the participants in the opening session held today in the Heracles building of the interior venue
The challenges have transversal themes linked to the blue economy such as pollution and marine litter, blue tourism, blue education or fuel savings in navigation.
Cadiz, October 9, 2020
The delegate of the Cádiz Free Trade Zone, Fran González, welcomed the participants in the Ocean Hackathon 2020 in the inaugural session that was held today in the Heracles building in the interior venue. Fran González thanked all the collaborators and participants for their trust and effort in carrying out this international event and wished them “a profitable weekend and good luck to all the participants.”
During his speech at the inaugural session, which could also be followed by streaming, the delegate added that with actions like today's "from the Cádiz Free Trade Zone we want to promote the potential of our province at an international level in the field of research." and marine innovation as drivers of the economy in the coming years”, within the framework of the Incubazul high-tech incubator of the Base Zone project that has European ERDF funds.
Fran González has been accompanied by José Manuel Sánchez, from the University of Cádiz and mentor in the work sessions, who has also highlighted Cádiz's potential in the marine field and the importance of the blue economy for the province, of which the UCA It is a reference.
José David Sánchez, coordinator of Incubazul and the organization of the Ocean Hackathon, also participated in the opening event.
Today has been one of intense activity in the Melkart and Heracles buildings. The 57 participants began arriving at the Zona Franca facilities shortly after noon to attend the opening session and the presentation of the nine selected challenges, which then gave way to the formation of the teams.
In the early afternoon, the nine teams formed by the 57 participating researchers were already working, work that lasted until midnight, both in person and online, with a break for dinner. In fact, the online modality is used by some of the researchers to continue during the night after closing time.
The work days of this scientific event, organized by Zona Franca in collaboration with the UCA and CEEI Bahía de Cádiz, will continue tomorrow, Saturday, from 9 in the morning until 12 at night, with breaks for lunch and dinner, while the Sunday the investigations will take place in the morning and the awards ceremony and closing will take place at 4:00 p.m.
The Ocean Hackathon is being held for the first time in Spain - in Cádiz and Cartagena - and simultaneously in 16 other maritime cities around the world, which this weekend are a true ideation laboratory for the participating teams that have to develop, through technology and different variables and scientific data, the challenges of interest for the protection of the oceans, especially valuing the environmental and social dimension, the business model, product quality and the use of data, among others. The winner will participate in the final to be held in the city of Brest.
It should be noted that the Free Trade Zone will also reward all participating challenges with a free incubation period in the high-tech incubator that will allow them to promote maturation and give a business path to the ideas presented, being able to promote and boost their entire potential around the Blue Economy.
In fact, the Ocean Hackathon® 2020 is the first internationalization action of this incubator, which is subsidized with funds granted by the Pluriregional Operational Program of Spain Feder 2014-2020 “A way of making Europe” and managed by the Incyde Foundation.