Coolest IT geeks seek solutions to smart transport in region

BUSINESS Coolest IT geeks seek solutions to smart transport in region Hackers, experts, and IT specialists from all over the region met at Impact HUB Ostrava. The first weekend of June was dedicated to the Open Data Hackathon, whose attendants spent 48 hours on non-stop coding, using data supplied by regional authorities. The very first Moravian-Silesian Open Data Hackathon was held as part of the project “Smart Idea” under the auspices of the Moravian-Silesian Regional Government. „Hackathons“ are inspiring meetings of IT experts, graphic designers, and programmers who are given a limited period of time to achieve stated objectives. The “HUB for Change” society, who organized the project for the region, provided the background to over 30 hackers who were to create solutions clearly defined by the title of the hackathon: “Transport 4.0”. Other entities dealing with the issue of traffic data were the Ostrava Transport Company, IT4I, the Moravian-Silesian Innovation Centre, Liftago, Keboola and T-mobile. “As far as I know, we are the very first public institution in the Czech Republic to organize a hackathon. The final presentations clearly showed that it makes a lot of sense. The local hackers have shown us ideas about MSK Hackathon how we can work with the data we own, and what public transport can look like in ten years when we retender vehicles”, says Jakub Unucka, Deputy Governor for Transport and Smart Region. The final presentation introduced actual solutions to topical issues in accessibility and transport. The new trends in the region may include using taxis together with public buses, shared lines, traffic optimization according to the weather trends or passenger moods or enhanced night-time connections. The Moravian-Silesian Region is going to organize more hackathons in the years to come: another hackathon for secondary school students is taking place in autumn and a hackathon for hackers from all the Czech Republic next year. Text a foto: Moravskoslezský kraj Náměstek hejtmana J. Unucka POSITIV ǀ 2/2018 21