New Edition of the Aporta Challenge 2019

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May 23 2019

A new edition of the Aporta Challenge is already underway. As the previous edition, new ideas and prototypes based on open data are sought to help improve the efficiency of a specific sector. In this case, the agri-food, forestry and rural sector have been chosen, due to its fundamental role in the creation of wealth and employment.

Why is the agri-food, forestry and rural sector important?

Currently, this sector is facing a series of challenges that affect all us and, ultimately, the future of humanity, such as climate change, food security, population growth or depopulation in rural areas. Generating a higher amount of food to support the whole population, in a safe way and respectful with the environment, looking for alternatives to the concentration of population into urban areas, driving the development of rural environment, as well as protecting and preserving the forests for future generations, are demanding and urgent tasks.

To these global problems, we must add the specific challenges of Spain. Depopulation, aging, desertification, digital divide, masculinization, deficit and dispersion of services ... are some of the concepts that usually come to mind when we think about the rural environment in our country.

A paradigm shift is necessary to face these challenges.

How can open data help to improve this situation?

The digital transformation can help to change the bases of agri-food operations, promoting the rural environment, in many different ways; for example, through the smart agriculture that combines technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence with public and private data management, to maximize crop yields, increase productivity and improve their sustainability. In this context, open data has a fundamental role.

What is Aporta Challenge 2019?

Aporta Challenge seeks to promote talent, technical competence and creativity in the reuse of open data, with the aim of devising solutions that help promote improvements in the agri-food, forestry and rural sector.

The ideas and prototypes presented must use at least one source of open data generated by Public Administrations, whether national or international, and published under an open license. These data sets may be combined with others from various sources, both public or private, and national or international.

The contest will be developed in 2 phases:

Phase I: Ideas competition. Participants must provide a detailed description of an original idea that can be used to create or enrich a service, study, web or mobile application, which leads to improvements for the agri-food, forestry and rural sector. All the ideas will be evaluated according to criteria such as: their innovative character, their economic and social impact, and their contribution to improving the life quality of young people and women, two fundamental groups for the sector survival. After the evaluation process, the 10 best ideas will be selected and their authors will go to Phase II.
Phase II: Prototype development and face-to-face exposition. During Phase II, the authors of the 10 selected ideas will elaborate a prototype that may consist of simulations, visualizations, videos or multimedia solutions. The 3 best prototypes will be selected according to criteria such as ease-of-use or technical quality.

During the following months, dissemination and follow-up will be carried out.

Who can participate?

The Aporta Challenge is aimed at individuals and legal entities of the European Union.

Those interested in participating must register in this form.

What are the prizes?

The three best prototypes presented will opt for three monetary prizes according to the following amounts: