"The Sun Touches Everything". This is the theme chosen this year by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to launch its worldwide call for the Space Apps Challenge, the largest annual hackathon on the planet dedicated to space and science.
Italian fans of the exploration of the universe and the new opportunities generated by the Space Economy will be able to take part live in Turin: on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 October I3P, the Innovative Companies Incubator of Politecnico di Torino, will host the eighth edition of the local event in the city, funded by Regione Piemonte with resources from the European Social Fund Plus and organized in collaboration with the ESA BIC Turin incubation program managed by I3P.
The NASA International Space Apps Challenge is a collaborative event for programmers, scientists, designers, storytellers, makers, technologists and innovators from around the world to come together at one of the hundreds of local venues hosting the initiative: everyone will be able to use the open data made available by space agencies to create solutions to the challenges - not only scientific - which humanity is facing today on Earth and in the cosmos.
The international event will take place simultaneously, globally, with free participation. The hackathon is based on the choice of a challenge to be tackled as a group to produce open source solutions that could potentially be adopted for real, or that could turn into the project behind new innovative start-ups, the kind of young companies that I3P has been accompanying and supporting for 25 years.
"We are proud to once again collaborate with one of the world's leading space agencies to offer many young talents an opportunity for creative collaboration in the field of technological innovation," says Giuseppe Scellato, President of I3P and Coordinator of ESA BIC Turin. "From the ideas offered by NASA's challenges, valuable projects can emerge, with real market opportunities and the potential to evolve, one day, into start-ups: our incubator is ready to accompany the growth of the most promising entrepreneurial ideas, particularly in the space sector, thanks to the support of the ESA BIC Turin programme and the support of the innovative ecosystem of which we are a part."
Last year's Space Apps 2023 saw record participation of around 58,000 participants, through more than 400 local events in over 150 countries around the world, who realised more than 5,500 projects in response to challenges set by the Washington-based space agency, together with 13 other partner agencies.
Space Apps Turin 2024
In Turin, Space Apps 2024 will be held in person at the I3P business incubator, located on the Campus of Politecnico di Torino, starting at 2 PM on Saturday 5 October, with the reception of the registered participants and the composition or confirmation of the teams taking part in the hackathon. The competition will start at 4 PM and will continue for 24 hours, without interruption, to allow maximum time to work on the project, which must be delivered by 4 PM on Sunday 6 October.
For the participating teams will then begin the pitch phase, in which they will have to present their work in just a few minutes to all those present, including the judging panel, thus competing for the prizes, both at local level - the Local Awards offered by I3P's partner sponsors - and possibly later at international level (Global Awards). The hackathon will conclude with an awards ceremony for the most interesting and promising projects from Turin, which could continue their adventure, one day, in the form of start-ups. Locally, the Turin hackathon will be able to count on sponsors, mentors and jurors from the aerospace industry, innovative start-ups and SMEs, and prestigious bodies and associations supporting the Italian space sector.
Teamwork and complementarity of skills will be essential to tackle the challenges of preference. The hackathon is open to contributions from everyone, with no limitations related to educational background, occupation or geographical affiliation. To participate in the Turin hackathon, it is necessary to register on the dedicated webpage, after signing up with a personal profile on the official NASA Space Apps website.
