Taiwan is to participate in the NASA International Space Apps Challenge for the first time this year, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said yesterday.
The marathon programming event, one of the largest in the world, is to provide NASA’s open data to participants in 110 cities worldwide for them to create hardware, software and innovative solutions to global challenges such as water resource management and natural disaster response, AIT said.
“With unique vantage points in air and in space, NASA collects high-quality data covering all parts of the planet, which tells us more about the world we live in,” the institute said in a news release.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The theme for this year’s hackathon is “The Earth,” the AIT said.
“It is especially meaningful to hold this event in April, when we celebrate Earth Day,” AIT Public Diplomacy Section Chief Joseph Bookbinder was quoted as saying in the news release.
Registration is now open for the Taiwan part of the hackathon, which is to be held from April 29 to April 30 at National Taiwan University (NTU), the AIT said.
Participants must register before April 17 in teams of three to five members, according to the official International Space Apps Challenge Web site.
Prizes for the three top teams in Taiwan will be NT$80,000, NT$60,000 and NT$40,000, the Web site said.
The event will be hosted jointly by the AIT, the Ministry of Science and Technology, NTU and the Taipei Department of Information Technology, the AIT said.
The hackathon is held over the course of 48 hours and invites the participation of students, scientists, designers, technologists and anyone enthusiastic about addressing global challenges, it said.
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