Hacking Norðurland 2021
Hacking Norðurland is a hackathon which took place over the days 15.- 18. April 2021 in Northern part of Iceland. The main subject of the hackathon was the FEW nexus (interaction between food, energy and water) and sustainable utilization of the resources in the area. The goal of the hackathon was to boost entrepreneurship and creativity in north Iceland and in the same time promote new business opportunities and projects. The hackathon was carried out in collaboration with Hacking Hekla, Eimur, Nordic Food in Tourism, SSNE, SSNV and Nýsköpun í norðri. The event was sponsored by Íslandsbanki.
The hackathon mostly took place online through the co-creation platform Hugmyndaþorp which is developed by the company East of Moon in cooperation with Hacking Hekla. The hackathon started with a webinar called Hugsaður stórt, hugsaðu grænt (e. Think big , think green) where speakers discussed different sides of the FEW-nexus. After the webinar the hackathon was formally set and participants stared to form teams. The next days the teams worked on their ideas and shaped their project. In between working sessions participants could seek inspiration from lectures related to the topic of the hackathon. Along side the lectures the the teams could also seek advice from a experienced mentors.
On the last day of the hackathon the teams presented their projects for a jury and the jury picked the winner of the event.
The winner of the event was Grænlamb - Keldhverfskt kjöt af algrónu landi, but the aim of the project is to make a brand for farmers in Kelduhverfi (area in NE-Iceland) that certifies that the sheep is breed on a well-vegetated and sustainable land. Along side giving consumers the possibility to buy a carbon neutral Icelandic protein source.
The project Geothermal ginger received an award for the most original project. The focus of the project is to grow ginger and process it into products as well as opening the eyes of the public for growing crops that are previously imported.
The most popular project of the event was the project Automated container farms for fresh and healthy vegetables. The project is based on developing a fully automated crop units that fit into transport containers.
Amber Monroe received an award for the most active participant but she ran the project Ísponica. Emphasis of the project is to intertwine aquaculture and aquaponics.
A list of the other projects of the hackathon can be found here.
