The idea of using Earth Observation data for soil optimization and fighting inefficient farming or soil quality degradation has won this year’s hackathon on innovation in agriculture.
The winning Earth Observation Soil project brought together the students of Faculty of Science, Charles University, people from the Research Institute for Soil and Water Conservation, and the World from Space startup. Their reward includes a support by ESA BIC Prague, an opportunity to visit EUMETSAT, an internship at Space Systems Finland and a smart watch.
Four teams from the whole Czech Republic took part in the event. Under direction of experts in climatology, Earth Observation data and business, they were in quest of the best innovation idea in agriculture. After 24 hours of non-stop working, each team had 7 minutes to convince the expert jury that their solution was the best one.
The twenty-four-hour hackathon took place in the CZU Round Hall from Friday to Saturday on 13 to 14 October. Participation was subject to usage of GIS data and satellite technologies. The event was organized by the ESA BIC Prague space agency together with the ČZU Point One CZU business incubator. Members of the jury were Martin Havlíček (Ministry of Agriculture), Jacek Kujawa (Omnilogy), Jáchym Čepický (GISMentors), Marek Aldorf (ESA BIC Prague) and Zdeněk Rudolský (Impact Hub). “We are happy to be able to contribute to organizing such an event, and thus encourage young talents to be active in agriculture, the flagship theme of CZU in Prague. Agriculture starts to be an attractive topic again and we do hope that this event is going to become a tradition with a growing interest in participation,” says Gabriela Koláčková, manager at the Point One CZU business incubator.