From challenges in coastal and marine protection to innovative solutions in just one week: from 19.09.2022 to 24.09.2022, the Transfer Center for Maritime Technologies SH hosted the hackathon “Ocean Re-CREATION Challenge”. The event took place in the context of the development of a smart KielRegion, so that the focus was on regional tasks with transfer potential. Interested programmers, designers, natural scientists, business economists and other experts came together to work on the tasks and became creative together. Every day, the teams received impulses that helped them step by step along the path from the first idea to the prototype and finally to the finished product.
Tasks are with the people of the KielRegion developed been
For about 5 months, the teams of TransMarTech and Smarten KielRegion participated in coastal and sea-related events in the districts of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, Kiel and Kreis Plön to talk to citizens and ask them about local challenges.
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Expert interviews and various workshop formats in the region provide a further basis for the challenges of the hackathon. Administration, ministries, science, business and society were all equally involved. Ultimately, seven tasks were curated for the Challenge.
Interdisciplinary cooperation of stakeholders from business, science, universities, research institutes and administration
Around 30 participants and 15 mentors with different professional backgrounds from the region registered for the hackathon. Representatives from Rostock, Lübeck and Denmark also participated in the week, so that a transfer of knowledge is also given beyond the region. Results of the hackathon will also be taken into account in the creation of a Smarte KielRegion strategy in early 2023.
The Solutions are for Researchers, Adults and children exciting
First place was won by the “Ghostnet Busters” team, which worked on identifying ghost nets using sonar. In the future, this solution, incorporating artificial intelligence, is expected to help locate and recover ghost nets more easily. Also receiving awards were sustainable aquafarming and an intelligent underwater obstacle detection system. Other exciting ideas included a trash-collecting toy catamaran, smart artificial reefs, and digital berth management for ports.
Dr. Ulf Kämpfer praised the teams’ efforts in light of the importance of coastal and marine protection for the region “We depend on the sea, not just in Kiel, but we as people. So we need solutions.”.
Prof. Dr. Katja Matthes, director of GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research and patron of last year’s hackathon, was especially pleased about the numerous participants from the institute this year. She said it’s about interdisciplinary collaboration to develop urgently needed solutions “It’s not enough that we know as much as we can about the ocean” she said, “We urgently need solutions for the ocean.”
What is the Smart KielRegion?
The Smart KielRegion is a model project Smart City funded by the Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Construction. The model project aims to secure and improve the quality of life of people in the Kiel region with smart, mostly digital solutions. Due to the geographic location of the region, coastal and marine protection is one of the main fields of action and, thanks to local expertise, offers the potential to develop a pioneering role in this area nationwide.
