KSIH-Trained Developers Emerge as the Winners of the 2019 NASA Space Apps Challenge, Port Harcourt

The NASA’s International Space Apps Challenge is a 48-hour event that has become the world’s largest global hackathon, engaging thousands of citizens across the globe to use NASA’s open data to build innovative solutions to challenges we face on Earth and in space. Space Apps inspires local communities to come together, think intensely, and create solutions to important problems.

Space Apps has evolved to become an international hackathon for coders, scientists, designers, storytellers, makers, builders, technologists, and others in cities around the world. Space Apps 2019, being the 8th edition, included over 29,000 participants at more than 230 events in 80 countries. Space Apps is a NASA-led initiative organized in collaboration with Booz Allen Hamilton, Mindgrub and SecondMuse.

The Port Harcourt edition held from the 18 to the 20th of October 2019 at the Renaissance Innovation Labs, Eliozu, Rivers State. It started with a data bootcamp on the 18th of October and the 19 and 20, October were geared towards the challenge

On the 19th of October, there was a short lecture on ‘Climate Change, Agriculture and Data’. Chibuike Emmanuel Burxymoore, laid the foundations of understanding how climate change affects our world relating it to agriculture, backing up his fact with data and then explaining that “data is needed to better understand the problems we face, if we would have a chance at solving them”. As this event has to do with solving problems, Richard Tamunotonye who was our second speaker talked about design thinking, taking them through the design process and highlighting the importance or empathy at every point in the design process.

Two teams took up the challenge- Knight (who took up the “Spot-The-Fire” challenge. They created an app which detects fire in real-time through live videos and pictures whilst sending distress signals to the respective government agencies responsible) & Urban Dev Games, which comprises of developers from the KSIH (they took the “Build-A-Planet” challenge and built an edu.tional Virtual Reality game which helps people get information about planets with the capabilities of creating their own planets).

At the end of the event on the 20th of October, using impact, use of data, completeness of the projects and its relevance to the world as the parameters, the judges declared Urban Dev Games the winner of the challenge. Their idea has been sent to the global stage to compete with other ideas around the world.

We are super duper proud!!

Information & Pictures from NASA Space Apps Port Harcourt Team