The registration period for the EU Datathon 2021 is now open

Open Data Day was the date chosen for the launch of the EU Datathon 2021, an event that is now in its fifth edition. Organized by the Publications Office of the European Union within the framework of the EU Open Data Days, seeks to highlight the value of open data and show the opportunities of business models based on it.

Participating teams must create a mobile or web application that responds to challenges related to the priorities of the European Commission, using open data sets.

3 challenges to solve

The available challenges are:

• Challenge 1: ‘A European Green Deal’. The European Green Deal it is the blueprint to drive a modern, sustainable and competitive European economy. Those who choose this challenge will need to develop applications or services aimed at creating a greener Europe, for example by promoting efficient use of resources or reducing pollution.
• Challenge 2: ‘An economy that works for people’. In this case, applications or services aimed at companies, public administrations or citizens in general are sought in order to create a fairer economic and monetary union, which allows the growth of the economies of the member countries together with the reduction of poverty and inequality. This category would include, for example, a solution to boost youth job creation.
• Challenge 3: ‘A Europe fit for the digital age’. The EU aspires to a digital transformation that works for people and businesses. Therefore, this challenge encourages the creation of applications or services that improve data competencies, increase connectivity or make data more understandable for everyone, based on the European Data Strategy.

Each challenge is organized as a separate competition of equal importance.

The solutions presented must combine at least one data set of data.europa.eu (EU Open Data Portal o European Data Portal) with any other publicly available data set.

Who can participate?

It is aimed at citizens around the world who are interested in prototyping products based on public open data and even creating new business models for profit or not for profit through the exploration of such data.

Participation is open to individuals or legal entities, integrated in teams of between one and four members.

Staff working in the institutions, agencies, bodies, partner organizations or contractors of the EU Publications Office cannot register.

How does the competition develop?

Los equipos participantes deben registrar su propuesta siguiendo este formulario antes del 21 de mayo de 2021 a las 23:59 CET (hora central europea). A partir de entonces la competición se desarrollará en 2 fase:

1. Preselection

All proposals will be evaluated by the jury, made up of experts from within and outside the EU institutions and agencies based on a series of criteria such as the relevance of the selected challenge or the potential and creativity of the proposed solution.

For each challenge, a maximum of three teams that have obtained the highest number of points will be shortlisted. All participating teams will receive notification of the results before June 11, 2021.

Shortlisted teams (three per challenge) will be invited to convert their proposals into applications. In addition, each shortlisted team must produce a 60-second video, in which they present their application and the team working on it, before August 1, 2021.

The final of the competition will take place on November 25. The applications presented in each challenge will be evaluated by a jury made up of at least five experts. In addition to the relevance of the proposal, the open data used (economic and social potential, interoperability with other data sources, etc.) and the adequacy of the objective (product maturity, benefits offered, etc.) will be taken into account.