The participants in the Ocean Hackathon 2020 begin to investigate the challenges of this scientific event that is held in the facilities of the Free Zone
The delegate of the Consortium, Fran González, has welcomed the participants in the inaugural session held today in the Heracles building of the interior enclosure
The challenges have cross-cutting themes linked to the blue economy such as pollution and marine litter, blue tourism, blue education or saving fuel in navigation
Cadiz, October 9, 2020
The delegate of the Free Zone of Cádiz, Fran González, has welcomed the participants in the Ocean Hackathon 2020 in the inaugural session that has been held today in the Heracles building of the interior enclosure. Fran González thanked all the collaborators and participants for their trust and effort in carrying out this international event and wished them "a fruitful weekend and good luck to all the participants".
During his speech at the opening session, which could also be followed via streaming, the delegate added that with actions such as today's, "from the Cadiz 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 engines of the economy in the coming years”, within the framework of the Incubazul high-tech incubator of the Base Zone project that has European FEDER 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 Cadiz's potential in the marine field and the importance of the blue economy for the province, of which the UCA is referent.
José David Sánchez, coordinator of Incubazul and the organization of the Ocean Hackathon, also participated in the opening act.
Today's day has been one of intense activity in the Melkart and Heracles buildings. The 57 participants have begun to arrive at the Zona Franca facilities shortly after noon to attend the opening session and the presentation of the nine selected challenges, which has subsequently given way to the formation of the teams.
In the early afternoon, the nine teams made up of 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 working 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 On Sunday, the investigations will take place in the morning and the award ceremony and closing ceremony will take place at 4:00 p.m.
The Ocean Hackathon is being held for the first time in Spain -in Cadiz 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, the quality of the product 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 the participating challenges with a free incubation period in the high-tech incubator that will allow them to mature and give a business run to the ideas presented, being able to promote and boost all their potential around the Blue Economy.
In fact, the Ocean Hackathon® 2020 is the first internationalization action of this incubator that is subsidized with funds granted by the Spanish Feder 2014-2020 Pluriregional Operational Program “A way to make Europe” and managed by the Incyde Foundation.
