InnoEnergy’s ‘Hack the Wind’ to return to WindEurope Conference

€20,000 hackathon returns to spark innovation and create new start-ups to solve industry challenges

InnoEnergy, Europe’s sustainable energy engine supported by the EIT, and WindEurope, the voice of the European wind industry, today announce that they are partnering to host a joint hackathon for a second consecutive year. Hack the Wind aims to help shape the future of wind energy by facilitating the development of innovative new technologies.

Participants in the hackathon, held at the WindEurope Conference 2018, will be split into teams – all competing for a share of a €20,000 prize. To be awarded this prize, participants will have to propose innovative and implementable solutions to the challenges promoted by the event partners. Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy will have the participants working on Blockchain applications for hybrid systems optimisation, while EDP Renewables will propose a challenge related to predictive maintenance and Operation and Maintenance optimisation.

The teams will be judged by a panel of C-level representatives of the event partners and the best innovators will get the opportunity to pitch their ideas and showcase their solutions at the Global Wind Summit.

Malgosia Bartosik, Deputy CEO at WindEurope, says:”We are always looking for ways to make our conference better, and last year”s Hack the Wind was a brilliant way of not only giving attendees something to learn from but of fostering innovations and creating new start-ups. We are tremendously excited to see this year”s event build on that success.”
Last year”s Hack the Wind was attended by more than 80 participants and saw Jungle AI and Smart Turbine Management hack their way to a €7,000 prize each. A further €5,000 was awarded to TRM Systems and Vento due to the judges” belief in their potential to convert their innovations into viable long-term businesses.

Diego Pavía, Chief Executive Officer at InnoEnergy, says: “Last year”s Hack the Wind was a real milestone on our journey to making European sustainable energy the world”s most innovative industrial sector. This year we want to go one better with challenges set around two trends that will really shape the future of our industry: improved operations and maintenance and effective integration with blockchain. We cannot wait to see what people come up with.”

The hackathon will be held throughout the first two days of the WindEurope Conference 2018, part of the Global Wind Summit, which will run from 25-28 September 2018 at the Hamburg Messe und Congress.