Dear CHOOSE Members, Please note the following announcement for a Hackathon taking place in Lugano in 2 weeks. CHOOSE members do not pay any registration fee. On behalf of the CHOOSE executive board, ML *** ************************************************ *** USI Hackathon 2019 >>> Making data alive *** ************************************************ Lugano, Aula Magna USI, November 15-17, 2019 *** In a Nutshell The USI Hackathon is an open competition for students and professionals, in developing prototypes and analyzing data. It represents a first experiment in Lugano of an open data approach to share city-related data, with a total prize cachet of 10,000 CHF and the opportunity to have a real impact in future city decisions. Find out more details and register here: https://hackathon.usi.ch/ *** Topic Digitalization makes data modeling & processing a key activity. More and more data is available to citizens and organizations, facilitating their decision making process based on real data instead of feelings or perceptions. Compared to a traditional hackathon, the USI Hackathon 2019 called “Making Data Alive" has a more dynamic approach focusing on the area of "data analysis", a relevant topic both for beginners and experts in the field of information technology. *** Organizers The USI Hackathon 2019 is organised by CodeLounge (https://codelounge.si.usi.ch), the R & D Centre of the Software Institute (SI; https://si.usi.ch) of the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI; https://ww.usi.ch), with the participation of experts of different areas of research and development in the field of information technology. The event is designed in collaboration with the Lugano Living Lab of the City of Lugano (https://luganolivinglab.ch) and with Ated4Kids (https://www.ated.ch/progetto_ated4kids.php), having thus educational, societal, and territorial impact. *** Structure of the event The USI Hackathon is structured into two tracks: 1. Coding Track: Teams work for 2 days on the creation and development of prototypes and/or applications leveraging the data provided; 2. Data Analysis Track: Teams compete in the production of the most insightful analysis of the data provided. *** Participants of the Hackathon The event is aimed at students, professionals, and families. Participants will be provided, for a mere 20 CHF participation fee, 2 days of hosting and food and the chance to win prizes for a grand total of 10'000 CHF. The main theme of the event “data analysis” makes the participation open and attractive not only to software developers and IT professionals but also to analysts and data scientists. For families is intended the age group 10–15 for the initiative “mini-hackathon” promoted by Ated4Kids. For this initiative there will be a special competition dedicated to children with its dedicated jury and an award ceremony at the end of the event. *** Evaluation of the outcomes At the end of the two-day "marathon", a jury composed of companies (including sponsors and data providers), organizations, and experts from various fields will evaluate and award the best teams which have: 1. Made the most interesting prototype/application; 2. Proposed the most relevant data analysis; 3. Created the most original "junior project" (age group 10-15). *** Sources of data Lugano Living Lab, an initiative promoted by the City of Lugano and USI, aims at offering a real life lab experience in an urban context by making available data related to the territory for the production of meaningful digital services/products for citizens and tourists. The City of Lugano and partner organizations provide to the participants of the hackathon anonymised (when applicable) relevant data, such as: - Demographics of the residents of the City of Lugano, provided by the statistics department of the City of Lugano. - Bike sharing flows through the City of Lugano. - Transaction data from the city of Lugano shops. - Public transport data from TPL - Data from electric car recharging stations - Usage of boat transportation on the Lugano lake from Società di Navigazione del Lago di Lugano - Other sources are being evaluated (Swisscom data, hotel occupancy information, historical meteo data) *** Contact For any inquiry please check https://hackathon.usi.ch and or contact us at hackathon2019(a)usi.ch CodeLounge @ Software Institute Università della Svizzera italiana (USI)