The challenge, presented by Carmen Morales from the University of Cádiz, will represent Cádiz in the final to be held in Brest at the end of the year
The delegate Fran González, who was part of the jury, presented the award and thanked the researchers
Throughout the 48 hours of research, teamwork and synergies between challenges with similar themes have meant that three of the challenges have been merged, leaving six in the final competition
El reto “Quantification of ocean litter using images (I-LITTER)”, Quantification of ocean trash through images, presented by Carmen Morales from the University of Cádiz, has been the winner of the Ocean Hackathon 2020 that was held in the interior of the Free Trade Zone of Cádiz this weekend and which brought together 57 researchers around the six challenges, of the initial nine, who competed in the final.
The winning team was made up of 9 people, 5 researchers in person and the rest online. Among its members is the promoter of challenge 7, Elena Ortega, who merged with this team due to sharing common themes and interests.
In second place was challenge 8 presented by Esther Puertas, also from the University of Cádiz, called “Mobile APP to promote a new blue tourism model. More inclusive amd sustainable”, a mobile application to promote a new model of blue tourism. more inclusive and sustainable.
As the third winner, David Gómez-Ullate from the Department of Computer Engineering at the University of Cádiz, who has participated in the challenge “Route optimization for vessels in the ocean”, to optimize navigation routes, with the consequent fuel savings above all. for merchants.
As has happened in the winning team, which was joined by challenge 7 for sharing a common goal such as raising awareness that “garbage” is the enemy of seas and oceans, it so happens that two other challenges were have merged into another with a similar theme, highlighting the importance of teamwork and cooperation to create synergies to benefit the final result.
The closing ceremony was chaired by the delegate of the Free Zone, Fran González, who presented the prize to the winner, accompanied by José Manuel Sánchez, from the University of Cádiz, and Miguel Sánchez Cossio from the CEEI Bahía de Cádiz, in addition to the coordinator of Incubazul, José David Sánchez de Medina, who was in charge of presenting the event.
The interest and quality of the participating researchers has been evident during the 48 hours that they have been working on the challenges, during the meetings with the mentors and in the final presentation of projects, fulfilling the expectation of the Ocean Hackathon: the creation of tools for the improvement of the oceans, one of the activities collected by the United Nations for the decade of marine sciences for a sustainable ocean.
During the 48 hours of scientific event, in addition to the intense activity around the teams, speed learning, consultations and sessions with mentors and research in general, colorful notes have been revealed that must be highlighted and that highlights the level of excellence and internationalization of the Ocean Hackathon.
One of the teams, specifically number 8, on blue tourism, had among its members a Brazilian researcher, who was simultaneously working remotely from her country. Another fact that she has highlighted at the event is the high female participation. In fact, of the promoters of the 9 initial challenges, 6 are women, as well as almost 50% of the total participants.
The teams have worked on topics ranging from the development of an app that allows evaluating the pollution of garbage in the sea, another app for blue tourism, the assessment of garbage in the sea through drones, the use of marine litter in the production of school supplies for blue education or the development of a logarithm for fuel savings and pollution reduction on the maritime transport route. All were selected meeting criteria of connection with the sea, use and availability of data, innovation and originality and conservation of the oceans.
In addition to the prizes for the first three winners, all participating challenges also receive a free stay in the Incubazul blue economy incubator, which the Cádiz Free Trade Zone is developing in the Cádiz Base Zone and which has a subsidy of funds granted by the Spanish Pluriregional Operational Program Feder 2014-2020 “A way of making Europe” and managed by the Incyde Foundation. In fact, the celebration of the Ocean Hackathon 2020 is part of the actions of this incubator and kicks off the journey of Incubazul.
