The Smart Parks Hackathon, which was co-organised with the National Park Research Centre, took place on March 1-2. It formed part of the MSc E-Business and Innovation (EBIN) and saw over 30 students from this and other courses taking part, all with an interest in technology and innovation.

Juliana Sutanto, EBIN Programme Director, explained: “It is important for the students to apply what they have learned in the programme to a business challenge with close and intensive interactions with the industry experts.”

Edward Truch, Director of the National Park Research Centre, commented: “The Hackathon challenged students to work with industry experts in translating new Internet of Things (IoT) technologies into real-life solutions for national parks and city green spaces.”

Judges were Ioan Demeter (Director - Business Consulting, Huawei), Sam Ibbott (Head of Smart Cities, Environmental Industries Commission), and Liam McAleese (Head of Strategy - Lake District National Park Authority).

Ioan Demeter noted that “students applied new ways of approaching business models and creating scenarios that can be applied in the IoT world”.

Liam McAleese said: “The process was very creative and dynamic. It led to presentations at the end of the two-day event that were really quite different and provided potentially business-ready propositions.”

The winning team members were Helena Weith, Khansa Dinar Adibah, Poj Santivatr, Siyaporn Kusalopakorn, and Zheyu Gu, whose IoT solution created a more exciting and safer experience for cyclists in a national park with real-time analysis of routes and weather conditions.