As cities like Cambridge continue to grow, there is an increased need for better transport, infrastructure and huge opportunity for innovation. Building a “smart city” is a big challenge however; the core effort is made using sensor technology to gather and analyse information in an effort to improve the quality of life for residents. >sudo : city will bring together individuals with knowledge and expertise in the fields of transport and technology with the aim of solving critical issues proposed by experts from the smart cities industry, and key problems that we face in Cambridge.
Participants will be given an overview of smart cities today and presented with topical challenges to tackle. In teams, and with the support of expert mentors, participants will work on solutions to these challenges, from basic app ideas to new deep-tech prototypes, and present to a panel of judges on Sunday afternoon. The weekend-long event promises to produce innovative concepts with the potential to be developed further into business ideas by the teams. Thanks to the support of Allia, the 48-hour hackathon is to take place at its Future Business Centre on the weekend of 11-12 May 2019.
Making city data useful is a huge challenge - sensors collect data on everything from rush hour stats to crime rates to overall air quality but applications using this data are few and far between. There are also non-technical barriers to overcome such as educating and engaging with the public, access to infrastructure, data security and importantly privacy.
“At Alchera we design, develop and deploy a real-time data platform to make infrastructure intelligent.” Said Joned Sarwar, Technical Lead at Alchera. “A hackathon promises to stimulate new thinking in a short time frame and so by bringing together people that are passionate about solving problems we hope to generate some innovative ideas and educate about new ways to approach building a smart city.”
Keep an eye on what is going on and find out more at www.sudochallenge.com !