The 7th European CASSINI hackathon generates 10 projects to help facilitate sustainability and green transition

The CASSINI hackathon, an initiative of the European Commission to promote entrepreneurship in the space sector, ended last Sunday in Catalonia in its 7th edition, which this year focused on sustainability and green transition. The Catalan edition of the hackathon registered ten projects oriented to this topic and gathered 49 participants. 

The competition was held from 13 to 15 September simultaneously in ten cities in European countries such as Italy, Croatia, Norway and Poland. Catalonia was chosen for the third consecutive time as one of these locations, the only one in Spain. Specifically, the CASSINI hackathon was held at the School of Telecommunications and Aerospace Engineering (EETAC) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech (UPC), located in the Mediterranean Technology Park – PMT in Castelldefels.

The CASSINI hackathon aims to create innovative solutions to address different global challenges using Earth Observation data, satellite positioning technologies and satellite communications. This time the teams, formed by people from various professional and academic backgrounds, oriented their proposals towards three main challenges: emissions and carbon footprint reporting; sustainable living and climate change mitigation. 

The Catalan edition of the hackathon was jointly organised by the Knowledge Innovation Market Private Foundation (KIMbcn), the Institute of Spatial Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (ICGC) and the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce. It has also received the support of the Mediterranean Technology Park – PMT, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech, the INCIBE Chair and the Universitat de Girona (UdG).

Space technology, an ally for the green transition

As a basis for developing their idea, participants had access to data from satellites of the European space programs Copernicus and Galileo, which they used to respond to one of the three challenges of the hackathon. Projects could address a wide range of topics, from monitoring pollutant emissions and creating indicators for green cities and more sustainable urban environments to monitoring sea level and coastal erosion, among others.

Among all the proposals submitted, the jury selected two as the best of the hackathon. They came up with solutions to collect data and improve Earth Observation with satellite images, and to monitor pollutant emissions from the shipping industry.

The two winning teams received cash prizes (€1.000 first prize and €500 second prize) handed by Josep Colomé, director of the Area for the Promotion of the Space Sector of Catalonia (APEC) at the IEEC and Verónica Tercero, coordinator of the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia of the Generalitat de Catalunya. The prize also includes 30 hours of technical, legal and business advice to boost the winning projects. In addition, the first prize will compete on a European scale with the winning projects in each of the locations involved in the hackathon. The top three winners will additionally share up to €9,000 in prize money and will also receive mentoring from experts for six months.

The jury in charge of evaluating the projects was formed by Vicente Atienza, Head of Innovation, Sustainability and Entrepreneurship at the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce; Pere Galimany, Head of Innovation and Transfer at KIMbcn; Eduard Garcia-Villegas, Deputy Director of Promotion of Studies and New Students at EETAC-UPC; Verónica Tercero; and Albert Nicolás, Manager for the internationalisation of the Catalan space sector within the IEEC.

Winning projects of the 7th CASSINI hackathon in Catalonia

Press release produced in collaboration with the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, the KIMbcn Foundation and the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia.

Image gallery