From April 22 to 24, powered by the Mission "Sea 2030", Riga will host an international 48-hour hackathon "City to Sea". Hackathon will promote the development of innovative and sustainable solutions. The City to Sea will foster ideas that could potentially develop novel world-class technologies and solutions for aquaculture and mobility sectors alike. Applications for hackathon are open until April 15.
Hackathon "City to Sea'' is organized by the Latvian Investment and Development Agency (LIAA), bringing together public administration, private and research sector institutions. Alongside LIAA, it is facilitated by Riga Technical University (RTU) and the innovation movement VEFRESH with the support of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) innovation community EIT Food and EIT Urban Mobility, as well as the Lithuanian digital innovation centre Agrifood.
The Baltic Sea region is home to more than 85 million people living next to one of the world's most polluted and densely trafficked seas. City to Sea hackathon will address this by aligning innovative ecosystems with leading initiatives such as New European Bauhaus and the European Green Deal.
"Our Mission "Sea 2030 " strives to gradually restore a crucial resource for the region - the Baltic Sea. It does so by creating conditions and incentives for the burgeoning of a blue and green economy. The innovations to emerge in this process will be scaled globally, enabling Latvia to not only contribute solutions, but also gain traction from global investors. Our next step is to set up an acceleration fund to provide a pipeline of development opportunities for the ideas created during hackathon and to funnel solutions towards maturity and market", explained Director General at LIAA Kaspars Rožkalns,.
The hackathon will address challenges around: Aquaculture and blue biotechnology, active and future mobility, shipping and green ports, energy and public transport, pollution reduction, and more.
Thematically, urban mobility aims to create more liveable spaces in our cities by providing climate friendly, increasingly digitised and inclusive transport solutions. Aquaculture activities are expected to foster economic growth, contributing to food supply chains, environmental protection, and digitalisation of ports.
The hackathon will gather researchers, entrepreneurs, and field experts looking to create and develop new solutions to improve the quality of life around the Baltic sea and its cities. We welcome you to join as an individual or a team, with or without an idea. The total prize budget is 9000 EUR per track. The best teams will be awarded cash prizes and have a chance to pilot solutions with the major industry players.
Major supporters, challenge providers include Riga City Council, Freeport of Riga Authority, Accenture, LMT, Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment "BIOR", Latvian Maritime Academy (LMA), Latvian Institute of Aquatic Ecology (LIAE), and more.
For more information and to register for the hackathon, click here https://www.citytosea.eu/
The hackathon is part of the mission "Sea 2030" defined in Latvia's national image strategy. The Mission's primary goal is to address issues related to climate change, pollution and the circular economy, creating the framework for the creation of innovative projects and ensuring sustainability while positioning Latvia as a country that offers solutions based on local experience. City to Sea Hackathon is organized with the support of the ERDF and Norwegian financial instruments.