Data For Good: UNICC’S First Global Hackathon

Data For Good: UNICC’S First Global Hackathon

(Switzerland) Hackathons can drive innovation and bring teams together – even from a distance! Over 140 students from around the world joined together February 16-19, 2021 for the first ever Global Data Hackathon organized by the United Nations International Computing Centre (UNICC). The hackathon, managed by UNICC’s Data and Analytics programme, in alignment with the UN Secretary’s General Data Strategy, saw teams from 54 universities in 13 countries register and compete.

Participants were welcomed by UNICC’s Director, Sameer Chauhan, with the following message:

“There is a huge potential of open-source data that is out there in the public domain and can be harnessed to make an impact. We need strong data scientists to work with it and to solve the complex problems the world is facing.”

Students were presented with three challenges. The first, focused on COVID-19 and tasked students to answer various research questions related to the patterns of the pandemic. In the second challenge, students were asked to predict forced displacement. The third challenge consisted of celebrating the UN’s 75th anniversary by visualizing some of the achievements of the organization.

Students were given the opportunity to collaborate and interact with data experts, data scientists, and engineers from UNHCR, the UN Development Programme, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Google, Smarsh, and other private companies. Mentor sessions led by UNICC leaders and members were also conducted to offer guidance and advice to the students.

Teams submitted presentations for evaluation by UNICC’s Data and Analytics team members. A total of six finalists advanced and were given the opportunity to present on a global stage. Finalists were:

  • Trojan Army Team, from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore (India) 
  • Abraca-data Team from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Institute of Engineering & Management, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Silicon Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar (India) 
  • bitsbitsbits<3 Team from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain) 
  • Gear Shifters Team from Columbia University in the City of New York (USA) 
  • H.T.B (Heel of the Boot) Team from Università del Salento (Italy) 
  • QC Data Oriented Team from The City University of New York (USA)

Judges included: 

  • Nicole Henderson, Deputy Director, Business Relationship Management Service – Division of Information Systems and Telecommunications, UNHCR 
  • Kelly Mannix, Chief of the Information Management Services Section, International Criminal Court 
  • Dr Marguerite Nyhan, Associate Professor in Environmental Engineering & Future Sustainability, School of Engineering, University College Cork, Ireland; Formerly United Nations Global Pulse, Harvard University & MIT 
  • Ursula Wynhoven, United Nations Representative, International Telecommunications Union
  • Milena Grecuccio, Chief of Staff and Chief of Corporate Services (OIC), UNICC 
  • Marco Liuizzi, Chief of Operations, UNICC 
  • Anish Sethi, Chief, Clients and Projects, UNICC

Outstanding ideas and a lot of energy across the board were evident. We would like to extend our congratulations to all participants; students, mentors and judges who supported the UNICC vision to support the UN in reimagining international peace, humanitarian aid, development, security, and human rights.

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