The City of Turku, together with Elisa, Turku Science Park and Turku Technology Properties arranges a hackathon, an innovation competition. The competition is looking for applications and application concepts for services that increase the liveliness and attractiveness of the Campus and Science Park area, interesting meeting places and/or smart mobility.
– The objective is to turn the Campus and Science Park area into a world-class hub of know-how and innovation, a showcase of smart mobility and a comfortable, lively oasis of encounters with an international atmosphere. Through the innovation competition that is arranged between September and October, we look for concrete ideas to advance these objectives, says Riitta Birkstedt, Project Manager of the Campus and Science Park spearhead project at the City of Turku.
The competition takes place in the facilities of SparkUp at ICT house from 29 September to 1 October 2017. The competition entry created during the weekend can be, for instance, an app, a concept or a business plan.
The award sum of 8000 € will be distributed between the best entries. In addition to the hackathon event, the winners will have an opportunity to present their solution at the opening of the Visitor and Innovation Centre in Turku on 7 December 2017.
– Urbanization and digitalization are global phenomena that offer great new kinds of business operation opportunities. We want to invite the businesses in the area and other parties who are interested in the development to join in creating the district of the future and new product and service ideas for the international market, says Marko Puhtila, Director of Growth and Development Services at Turku Science Park Ltd.
Ideas based on a dimensionally accurate 3D model of the city
For the competition, the City of Turku will be opening a 3D city model to be used for the purposes of the contest. In addition, all other sources of information and open data can be used, such as the interfaces of city maps and public transportation.
The contestants can also use the expertise of different parties. During the weekend, experts in urban planning, open data and GI as well as representatives of the City of Turku, the Science Park and Elisa are available.
– Making use of new opportunities created by digitalization requires courage and bold experimental culture. For years, Elisa has been innovating new digital services and products for the market in collaboration with startup businesses. The Elisa IoT product development platform used in hackathon will enable the development of new services even during the competition. This, combined with the advanced 3D model of the city of Turku allows the contestants to have a unique way of testing the functionality of new innovations without the challenges of the physical world, says Kimmo Pentikäinen, Development Manager responsible for Elisa startup collaboration and research.
Further information and registration:
#turkufuturehack