Breakthrough solutions created for green spaces in Czech Republic

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[PRESSWIRE] 02 July, 2021 — The team finished 2nd in the inaugural CASSINI Hackathon, where hackers created innovative solutions to Digitise Green Spaces in the Czech Republic using EU Space data & signals.

 

The 1st CASSINI Hackathon connected hundreds of hackers with geospatial information from Copernicus Earth observation data and its services and/or positioning technologies from Galileo & EGNOS. The event took place from 18-20 June across 10 European countries with the aim to develop innovative solutions that sustainably improve our green spaces in urban and rural areas. The CASSINI Hackathon Czech Republic was organised by Investment and Business Development Agency CzechInvest and its partners, which are part of the Czech space ecosystem.

 

Healthy trees are vital for Czech cities, but often the condition of trees is unknown, and this is a problem for the management of tree health. ‘Tree Count & Care’ was the winning solution in Czechia and is an innovative solution to solve this challenge. ‘Tree Count & Care’ will identify all the trees in a city and provide information for residents and municipalities regarding the condition of the trees. Thanks to this, better care can be given to trees and the quality of urban life for residents will improve.

 

Not only have the team behind ‘Tree Count & Care’ created a great solution to Digitise Green Spaces, but they also picked up a cash prize of €2,000, 20 hours of mentoring from CzechInvest, and a tailored support programme from the ESA BIC Prague team. The future of green spaces in Czechia looks bright!

 

After winning the CASSINI Hackathon Czech Republic, the ‘Tree Count & Care’ team joined the other 9 winners from each location, and on 24 June, they pitched their solution live to a jury of experts who engaged the winners in question-and-answer sessions before evaluating each team. This time the team finished 2nd, but still picked up an additional 100 hours of expert mentoring to support them with the development of their idea!

 

Here is the list of the overall winners:

 

1st Place: ‘Sportcasts’ from the Netherlands – an app that provides real-time environmental data so residents can better plan their outdoor activities.

 

2nd Place: ‘Tree Count & Care’ from the Czech Republic – a service that identifies the current condition of all trees in a city so they can be taken care of more efficiently.

 

3rd Place: ‘Sandless’ from France – a tool that analyses past satellite images of other cities to assist in the protection of rural areas for expanding cities.

 

Johanna Braun, Innovation Consultant and CASSINI Hackathon jury member, congratulated all the teams who pitched at the award ceremony. “It was fantastic to hear from so many budding entrepreneurs passionate about digitising green spaces. Hackathons are a unique opportunity to create innovative solutions in a very short time period, bringing together a diverse collection of people looking to solve important problems – and the teams clearly stepped up to the challenge! I have seen some real potential among these winners to create sustainable, commercially viable space-based products and services. Congratulations to all the teams”.

 

This is just the first step for CASSINI Hackathons. The next edition will take place from 5-7 November and will connect the Arctic with EU space technologies. More information will be available here: https://hackathons.cassini.eu

 

Contact: 

 

Jana Šmotková

jana.smotkova@czechinvest.org

+420 602 569 089

czechinvest.org

 

ENDS