English
An international 48-hour hackathon "City to Sea" will take place in Riga from April 22 to 24 to promote the development of innovative and sustainable solutions in the framework of the “Jūra 2030” mission. The hackathon participants will have to generate ideas that could potentially develop new world-class technologies in the fields of mobility, logistics and aquaculture. The Freeport of Riga Authority is also participating in the hackathon with the aim to find new solutions to handle various environmental and mobility challenges.
“We are developing the Freeport of Riga as a modern Northern European port open for cooperation, business and innovation. Participation in various creative events, where science, ideas, investments and business meet, provides an input into the development of both the port and the Latvian economy. The port is actually a platform for testing new solutions, and even more - we are the “first client” to implement these solutions, providing our business and technological competence, assisting new projects in developing feasible scenarios for further development,” said Viesturs Zeps, the Freeport of Riga Board Chairman.
“In recent years, we have already tested a number of new technologies developed in the framework of both hackathons and other scientific and business projects, e.g., new methods for collecting historical water area pollution, various drones for water area research and assessment of berth technical condition, as well as mathematical models of Daugava water flow monitoring. Taking part in the hackathon "City to Sea" this year we are looking for solutions to technological problems in the field of environmental protection, process automation and improvement of various information systems, “continued V. Zeps.
The Freeport of Riga Authority has launched a comprehensive set of activities for the digital transformation of the port processes with the aim to increasingly implement the principles of a smart port on a daily basis, as well as integrate a number of information systems enhancing fast information exchange and supporting the port’s function of a multimodal transport hub. The digitalization of the port will not only make the operation of the port and the cluster of the port companies more efficient, but also provide data to new solutions for connection with the city, urban transport and other services.
The Freeport of Riga Authority is a participant in a number of international platforms, such as the Copernicus Marine Service or the Common Information Sharing Environment.
Several mentors from the Freeport of Riga Authority and the “Rīgas Brīvostas Flote” will take part in the hackathon – these are port specialists, who will lead the activities to handle the following eight important challenges the Freeport of Riga is facing:
- Development of innovative and ecological solutions for reducing emissions (for example, dual fuel, catalyst systems and alternative fuel solutions, etc.) for fuel-powered technical vessels of the “Rīgas Brīvostas Flote” – such as pilot vessels, hydrographic vessels, icebreakers;
- Improving the efficiency of air quality monitoring control;
- Development of alternative refueling infrastructure in the port of Riga;
- Introduction of self-propelled vehicles in the port of Riga;
- Introduction of 5G, improvement of the speed and quality of large-scale data transmission in the port - for efficient operation in the field of depth measurements (ship / drone - shore);
- The most accurate tools for water pollution detection - sensors, air drones, water drones;
- Smart pollution collection solutions for the port water area;
- Research of intelligent solutions for the VTS (Vessel Traffic System) in the port of Riga.
Hackathon "City to Sea'' is organized by the Latvian Investment and Development Agency (LIAA), bringing together public administration, private and research sector institutions. Alongside LIAA, it is facilitated by Riga Technical University (RTU) and the innovation movement “VEFRESH” with the support of the innovation communities EIT Food and EIT Urban Mobility of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), as well as the Lithuanian digital innovation center “Agrifood”.
Major hackathon partners include Riga City Council, the Freeport of Riga Authority, Accenture, LMT, Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment "BIOR", Latvian Maritime Academy (LMA), Latvian Institute of Aquatic Ecology (LIAE).
Information for media
- liene.ozola [at] rop.lv, +371 670 308 53
- Freeport of Riga Authority
- 12 Kalpaka blvd, Riga, Latvia, LV-1010
