Innovative app for farmers to increase agricultural outputs among winners at UNESCO Open Data and Science Hackathon at FOSSASIA Summit

Apps aimed at recycling domestic waste, reporting water pollution in Viet Nam and connecting farmers to valuable agricultural information were the winners at the recent UNESCO Open Data and Science Hackathon at the FOSSASIA Summit

Some 92 participants from the open source community across Asia took part in the hackathon on 24 March at the Life Long Learning Institute in Singapore.

Ten mentors supported 14 teams who had two days to develop open source applications that address the climate change and environmental challenges for sustainable development.

Teams produced a wide variety of apps, including one that used open datasets on rainfall to create flood prediction models, an application to track a user’s carbon footprint and a game aimed at boosting players’ environmental knowledge.

Three apps were selected by the hackathon jury, comprising representatives from Google Open Source Office, Ministry of Education in Singapore, Daimler AG, UNESCO, FOSSASIA as well as the founder and software architect of SUSI.AI.

Among the winning apps was the "Restro Machine", which encourages people to recycle. The app is connected to actual "Restro Machines" that can collect and sort recyclables. Members of the public who drop off recyclables into Restro Machines receive small gifts, such as tissue paper, to encourage them to recycle additional items.

The jury also recognized, “The Coconut Project”, an app to help users detect areas with polluted water in Viet Nam and provide information to authorities to take action as well as, “Kisan Seva”, which provides data, statistics and knowledge to farmers to help them increase agricultural output.

Submissions were assessed on the extent to which they leverage open data and knowledge to respond to pressing environmental issues, as well as their technical implementation; scalability and replicability in the region; benefit to society and market opportunity; usability and gender-sensitivity.

For UNESCO, the hackathon is an opportunity to raise awareness on the importance of open data, open source software and the open source community to address the ambitious goals of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.

The FOSSASIA Summit is the premier annual event for free and open-source technology community in Asia.

UNESCO and FOSSASIA share a belief in the tremendous potential of free and open source software and the open source community to share ideas, create knowledge and develop innovative solutions to advance peace and sustainable development. This aligns with UNESCO’s mandate to build inclusive knowledge societies and empower people though access to information and knowledge. 

All submissions to UNESCO Open Data and Science Hackathon are available at: https://fossasia-unesco.devpost.com/submissions