Desafío Aporta 2019: 42 new ideas to promote the agri-food, forestry and rural sectors using open data

The first phase of the Aporta Challenge 2019 has come to an end. The deadline to present ideas to improve the efficiency of the agri-food, forestry and rural sectors ended on May 23. Now they will be evaluated by a jury of experts in the field.

42 original ideas seek the final

For 6 weeks - from April 9 to May 23 - the participants have been presenting their proposals for the first phase of the Challenge. In this first phase participant only needed to provide a detailed description of an original idea, using at least one data set generated by national or international Public Administrations and published under open license.

The result has been 42 proposals of high quality, the result of the work of private citizens (45% of the proposals) and multidisciplinary teams (55% of the proposals) that have launched their creativity to seek innovative solutions to the proposed challenge. Although the majority of proposals come from Spain, teams from Austria or the United Kingdom have also participated.

The presented solutions show a great thematic variety. There are many ways to boost efficiency in the agri-food, forestry and rural sectors, from improving the management of crops, to fostering the active rural settlement. This is well known to the participants in the Challenge, who have proposed solutions to optimize irrigation, reduce energy expenditure, prevent floods, boost rural tourism or promote entrepreneurship in rural areas, especially in areas that face a major demographic challenge. In addition, many of the solutions combine open data with new technologies such as artificial intelligence, laser scanners (LIDAR), the use of drones or blockchain.

It should be noted that 38% of the proposals are presented by women or teams that have a woman among its members. Although an increasing number of women are involved in the data world, these data show that there is still work to be done to achieve real equality.

A first level jury to choose the finalists

All the proposals received will be evaluated by an expert jury, made up of representatives of various associations and organizations:

• Aleida Alcaide, Ministry of Finance and Public Function.

• Salvador Luis Soriano, Ministry of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda.

• Maite Ambrós, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

• José Ignacio Sánchez, Red.es.

• Rosa Gallardo, University of Córdoba.

• Antonio Ibáñez, Junta of Castilla y León.

• José Nuño, Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces.

• José Luis Miguel de Diego, Farmer and Agriculture Organisation Coordinator.

• Martín Álvarez, World Wide Web Consortium.

• Paula Sánchez, Association of Electronics, Information Technology, Telecommunications and Digital Content Companies.

• Olga Quirós, Multisector Information Association.

Each member of the jury will assign a value of 0 to 10 points to each proposals. The aspects to be assessed will be the relevance or originality of the idea, its quality and clarity, its viability, its economical and social impact, and their potential to improve life quality of women and / or young people in the rural environment.

10 finalists will fight for the € 4,000 prize

After the evaluation, 10 proposals will go to the second phase, which will begin during the month of July.

In this second phase the finalist teams will have to develop a prototype, which could be a simulation, visualization, video or multimedia solution. The period to present the prototype will be 4 months. The Aporta Challenge will culminate in the Encuentro Aporta.

All finalists will have to defend their proposal again in front of the jury, which will designate the three winners. The winner will receive € 4,000, while the second and third finalists will receive € 3,000 and € 2,000 respectively.