On October 1 and 2, the largest hackathon in the world - NASA Space Apps Challenge - was held at Kutaisi International University. The hackathon took place in 300 cities around the world in parallel to Georgia and involved around 30,000 students.
More than 100 young people from Georgia were involved this year. The participating teams worked on real NASA data, as well as on solutions and innovations for the most topical issues of the planet and space. Hackathon participants had 48 hours to solve a problem and create their own project. During the two days, participating teams had the opportunity to attend seminars and workshops on topics such as: data science, prototyping, UI/UX design, data visualization, storytelling, astrophotography, and others.
On 2 October, the jury of the hackathon selected the 4 best projects/teams. All four teams (TON 618, IGN, Space T-Rex and How Dare You) were represented by KIU students.
Georgia-wide hackathon was won by the team “TON 618” (team members: Saba Guresashvili, Demetre Shonia, Mariam Khuskivadze, Davit Karapetyan, Elene Papava), for which they received a gift of GEL 5 000 and the opportunity to present the project at the global NASA Space Apps Challenge.
The IGN team (team members: Andria Gvaramia, Gigi Leshkasheli, Irakli Barabadze, Kote Machavariani, Saba Usanetashvili) won the second place. The IGN team received a gift of GEL 1,000.
The team “Space T-Rex” (team members: Giorgi Chapichadze and Dima Chubinidze) received a special prize from Kutaisi International University and a cash prize of GEL 2,000. The winners were awarded by KIU Rector Alexandre Tevzadze.
The Edison prize was awarded to the team “How Dare You” (team members: Juba Kikvadze, Baya Berishvili, Luca Gogichadze, Tornike Zarkua, Sandro Zarkua).
2022"NASA Space Apps Challenge was organized by the Startup Bureau and Kutaisi International University in Tbilisi and Kutaisi. The project hosted more than 100 young inventors and innovators.
The main partners of the hackathon are Orient Logic and the Tbilisi Technopark of the Georgian Agency for Innovation and Technology.
The event is supported by: Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, International Charity Foundation Cartu, Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom in the South Caucasus, Beeline, Noxton, DataFest Tbilisi, Media Lab and NEXT.on.ge.
