Three university teams from the Philippines have won this year’s Haquathon 2.0 (H20), an ASEAN regional hackathon for tech-based solutions to save our seas.
Team Salom of Philippine Normal University Mindanao – Agusan del Norte, Team V.O.R.T.Ex of Mapua University, and the state university Team Salain from University of the Philippines Los Banos, Aklan State University, and Capiz State University were named among the top five teams among innovators from the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia in the competition finals held on July 7, 2021.
Fifteen participating teams from Southeast Asian nations including six from the Philippines designed technological responses to marine environmental challenges, including illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing; sustainable consumption and production; climate change; and citizen engagement in the contest.
Team Salom
Team Salom composed of Philippine Normal University (PNU) Mindanao students, created a website called “SALOM: Diving Into the Waters” which is designed to educate children about marine life and conservation.
WATCH this to learn more about Team Salom:
Team V.O.R.T.Ex
Team V.O.R.T.Ex (Versatile and Off-shore Recyclable Turbine for Energy) of Mapua University is a multi-purpose energy storage device that can provide sustainable power supply and installed in off-grid remote areas in the Philippines.
WATCH this to learn more about Team V.O.R.T.Ex:
Team Salain
The state university-wide Team Salain from the University of the Philippines Los Banos, Aklan State University, and Capiz State University, won the grant with their invention of a remote-controlled and solar-powered device in the form of a mini-boat that collects oil spills in the ocean.
WATCH this to learn more about Team Salain:
The winners and runners-up of the regional marine tech design competition received seed funding grants of up to Php100,000 ($2,000) to implement their solutions.
Haquathon 2.0 was launched in February 2021 and called for applications in five countries. It was organized by Save Philippine Seas (SPS) and the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines to tackle coastal and marine sustainability-related issues.
“The issues of our ocean are complex, and we can’t solve them without innovation and technology. All the groups that participated in Haquathon 2.0 show us that crisis inspires creativity and ingenuity,” said SPS Executive Director Anna Oposa.
Between March and June this year, 15 teams joined the workshop series. They spoke with experts from the ASEAN region who discussed innovative approaches to sustainable development and fostered regional cooperation on environmental protection.
Haquathon 2.0 teams will reconvene in 2022 with updates on their projects.
Inventions by Filipinos that have won global hackathons include NASA Space Apps winner Project AEDES, a dengue case predictor mapping system developed by a multi-university Philippine team, and the Break the Fake winner Troglodyte Solution, a database that collects and analyzes connections between fake news sites for use by researchers, journalists, and ordinary citizens.
SEND CONGRATULATIONS in the comments below to Philippine teams Agusan del Norte-based Team Salom, Team Salain, and Team V.O.R.T.Ex for winning this year’s Haquathon 2.0 (H20), a regional hackathon for tech-based solutions to save our seas.
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