Santiago will host for the first time the global competition Ocean Hackathon 2021

Learn more about the relevance of participating in the Ocean Hackathon, from the CEO of Inria Chile, Nayat Sánchez-Pi, and the Counselor for Cooperation and Cultural Action of the French Embassy in Chile and director of the French Institute of Chile, Christian Estrade.

For the first time, Chile will host the international scientific event Ocean Hackathon, an official event of the "United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development" (#OceanDecade) now in its sixth edition. Organized by the Campus Mondial de la Mer in France, the initiative annually invites individuals, institutions, and companies to present challenges related to climate change and marine and oceanic issues. These innovation challenges will then be taken up by teams that, using science and technology, will seek to solve them.

A simple idea that addresses the needs of ocean users, a complex project that requires support, or specialized advice - all initiatives are welcome to participate in the Ocean Hackathon, which will take place in Santiago, co-organized by the Embassy of France in Chile, the French Institute of Chile, and Inria Chile.

Currently, 18 countries are part of this scientific and technological challenge, which, since its inception in 2016, had never taken place in South America. In other words, Chile is the first nation in the subcontinent to participate in this competition, organized from Santiago, and participants from across the country are invited to take part.

Chile ranks tenth worldwide in terms of maritime territory and is the first in Latin America in terms of sea area. The Chilean ocean is constantly threatened due to global problems associated with climate change, which can be studied and monitored. That is why we are seeking challenges that can serve this purpose and, in the future, find a way to mitigate or reverse the damage.

The goal is to involve the Chilean innovation ecosystem and young people in ocean protection, strengthen Franco-Chilean cooperation in digital sciences, and generate networks for exchanging oceanic data.

Therefore, the first call is for all interested individuals, institutions, or companies to submit their challenge proposals by filling out this form. Registration will remain open until June 13, due to an extended deadline.

Once the five challenges related to ocean protection and knowledge in Chile are selected, the necessary data will be collected so that from November 5 to 7, various interdisciplinary teams composed of students and professionals can gather for 48 hours to create a prototype that helps address one of the challenges.

As an example of the types of challenges that could be solved, in the 2020 edition of the Ocean Hackathon, the first place came from Italy with the challenge: "How do invasive species spread? Bringing data to life to communicate the stories of invasions." During the activity, the team managed to reconstruct over 100 years of maritime invasions collected by scientists and visualize the extent of these changes in coastal ecosystems with predictive applications.

The second place was taken by Mexico with the solution: "Carbon, oh no!" which demonstrated how seagrass meadows play a crucial role in carbon fixation and sequestration. In just 48 hours, the Mexicans developed an automated code based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) capable of estimating the carbon sequestration of seagrass meadows in a specific area to estimate their economic value associated with carbon reduction.

Finally, the third notable project from Croatia was: "Mobile Application for Maritime Navigation with GPS Coordinates," which involved the development of a hardware prototype and a web application to map possible spaces for mooring boats, yachts, and sailboats, among others. It allows users to view reserved and available locations at the final destination to improve navigation efficiency.

Participating in the Ocean Hackathon® is an opportunity to:

• Develop useful and innovative technological tools that provide solutions to ocean issues.
• Work in a team with people from different disciplines in a studious and relaxed environment.
• Test ideas and have access to a diversity of data related to seas and oceans.
• Get advice in different areas (data science, information technology, marine science, entrepreneurship, etc.).

Natural or legal persons (institutions, organizations, companies...) who have:

• a simple idea that responds to the needs of sea users.
• a more complex project that needs to be promoted and/or specialized advice.

• The team selected at the end of the 48-hour hackathon will be eligible to participate in the grand final in December 2021.
• The 3 winning teams of the grand final will share a prize of €18,000.

• Challenge proposals: until June 13, 2021 by filling out this form.
• Selection of the challenges: June 2021.
• 48 hours hackathon: from November 5 to 7, 2021.
• Grand final to be held in the city of Brest (France) or virtually: December 2021.