IEEC, partner of the hackathon Act in Space 2020 in the national edition organised by the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce

2020-11-11 15:15:00

On 13 and 14 November 2020, the Hackathon Act in Space 2020 will take place, an international innovation competition promoted by the French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) and supported by the European Space Agency (ESA), the ESA Business Incubation Centre Barcelona network (ESA BIC Barcelona) and the ESA brokers, a network of institutions and technology transfer centres that offers support to the space industry through the identification and exploitation of new business opportunities.

Interdisciplinary teams meet to work for 24 hours in this event on a series of proposed challenges, together with business mentors and technical experts. They have to imagine and design innovative services and products for everyday use, taking advantage of technologies or data developed in space environments. The event is aimed at entrepreneurs, students from all disciplines, developers and creatives from all over the world.

This year, the national edition of this event is organised by the Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona, with the support of the KIMbcn Foundation and the institutional support of the Department of Digital Policies and Public Administration of the Catalan Government (Generalitat de Catalunya), and will be held in virtual format. The Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC — Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya) collaborates as a partner and its director, Dr. Ignasi Ribas, will participate as a member of the jury for the evaluation of the projects that will take place on 14 November 2020.

Leading organisations from all over the world have proposed more than 90 technological challenges related to their activity in order to solve them through the application of space technologies. Participants from all over the world must work on creating business prospects for the proposed challenges by using patents, technologies and satellite data made available by CNES, ESA, Airbus and all Act In Space partners to create new companies. The challenges are based on high-level technologies that are, however, easy to reuse because they have been selected for their potential for commercial applications.

At regional level, the winners are rewarded with access to the international final as well as an entrepreneur support package from the Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona, adapted to the circumstances of the winning team. At international level, the winners will be awarded surprising prizes, the first prize being a parabolic flight of a zero gravity Airbus A310.

Participants must register here. The virtual hackathon can be accessed from all around the world and Barcelona must be indicated as the location to participate in the regional phase.