›Food Security and Resilience - Copernicus Hackathon

Calling all coders, researchers, scientists, designers, storytellers, problem-solvers, and anyone enthusiastic about addressing challenges faced by us all. The Food Security and Resilience Copernicus Hackathon is coming to Leicester for the first time. The Hackathon takes place at the Leicester Innovation Hub on 19 and 20 September 2019.

Over an exciting 48 hours, teams will work collaboratively using Copernicus data “coding experience” practically to develop solutions to address global and local needs applicable to us all based on specific food security challenges.

The Benefit of Participation. Approximately 60 participants will take part in the free to attend “Copernicus Hackathon” to identify and ideally implement innovative solutions by exploiting Copernicus data and services collaboratively. Ideally the direct benefit of participation will be the development and commercialisation of new products and services through either the creation of new business entities or collaborative projects/partnerships with the university. The indirect benefit will be solutions identified in support of a common goal of food and water security, community cohesiveness and greater awareness of critical societal issues and challenges.

To optimise the benefits the University will also deliver a free training weekend, ahead of the 2-day hackathon, for developers, designers, researchers and industry participants on Agile and Rapid MVP (Minimal Viable Product) developments and their specific requirements. In addition, a prize will be awarded, and follow-up support offered to the winning team at the end of the hackathon to help progress the idea.

The theme. Food/Water Security, and its Resilience within a Changing Climate is a United Nations sustainable development goal (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org). Participants can choose any theme to work on during the Hackathon which could include:

Use of logistics, supply chain and block chain for food/water security;
Smart agriculture;
New services/technologies (e.g. smart insurance)
Resource mapping/stock taking;
Any societal or technical challenge relevant to the theme.