1st Y4PT Global Transport Hackathon Montreal 2017

12-14 May 2017 | Montréal, Québec (Canada, North America)

62nd UITP Global Public Transport Summit Montreal 2017

The world’s first ever global transport hackathon in the framework of the world’s oldest and largest sustainable mobility event

With increasing digitalization, globalization and new players entering the sector, in times of rapid change, we must play with the new constraints and we cannot afford to stand on the sidelines. We must play an active role and “LEAD the TRANSITion”!

The Youth For Public Transport (Y4PT) Foundation (https://www.y4pt.org/), with the support of the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) (https://www.uitp.org/), its members and other stakeholders, and following a long-standing tradition of Y4PT Youth Lab series, is promoting the organization of local transport hackathons around the world, by combining the best of boundless human creativity and the benefits of current information and communications technologies (ICTs) in collaborative environments, with the aim of advancing transport sector towards sustainability.

Winners from each local transport hackathon and several international enthusiasts will join other Canada-based hackers at the 1st Y4PT Global Transport Hackathon Montreal 2017 (https://www.y4pt.org/projects/youth-meeting/montreal-2017/) in the framework of the 62nd UITP Global Public Transport Summit Montreal 2017 (https://www.uitpsummit.org/) – the world’s oldest and largest sustainable transport event – to contest in a final round for unveiling the world’s best ground-breaking transport solutions.

20 cities around the world hosted the first local transport hackathons during the 2016-2017 season: Almaty (Kazakhstan), Bogotá (Colombia), Brescia (Italy), Brussels (Belgium), Cambridge (England), Cape Town (South Africa), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Eindhoven (Netherlands), Ghent (Belgium), Kampala (Uganda), Lisbon (Portugal), Madrid (Spain), Manchester (England), Medellín (Colombia), Prague (Czech Republic), Santiago de Chile (Chile), Skopje (Macedonia-FYROM), São Paulo (Brazil), Stockholm (Sweden), Zagreb (Croatia) among others.

Different stakeholders such as universities, youth groups, ICT companies, transport operators, authorities, start-up mentors, innovation centers and hackers are called to collaborate with Y4PT and to be part of the world’s first ever global transport hackathon.

Everyone is invited to get on board. This is a one-off opportunity to show to your audience and users how important is for you to support this kind of event where innovation and creativity is putting forward new ICT-related solutions to boost both the private sector business performance and the public sector policy efficacy, and thus to unlock new opportunities to expand, diversify and renew your organization’s portfolio of products and services.

What is a Hackathon?

A Hackathon is an event, typically lasting several days, where a number of skilled people meet to engage in software programming and hardware prototyping, with the aim of ingeniously solving specific issues in a collaborative and cooperative environment. Hackathon outcomes usually lead to the inception of startup projects and trigger other innovation processes in different ICT-intensive fields such as the transport sector.

Overview

Most of the cities are going through a gradually-increasing integration with the outer world that has meant new and disruptive socio-economic conditions which market and its players are yet striving to adapt well. For instance immigration, climate change and security are three core pending issues on both the local and global agendas.

Furthermore, emerging concepts such as sharing economy are not anymore a matter of the future. They are already here, being present now among all of us somehow. And they are fostering a fast change at all levels in different sectors, forcing all existing approaches to be re-thought.

For years the transport field has served as the right testing ground for new technological developments and results have been later replicated in other sectors.

In the light of the above, several stakeholders, with the Roads and Transport Authority of the Emirate of Dubai (RTA Dubai) (https://www.rta.ae/) and Ferrovie Nord Milano (FNM) S.p.A. (https://www.fnmgroup.it/) as the Honorary Founding Members of the Y4PT Foundation, have joined forces along with UITP, to organize the world’s first ever transport hackathon, an open and collaborative space where people are called to contribute to solving major transport-related challenges while employing ICTs in an ingenious way.

Transport Challenges

Hackathon projects should contribute somehow to a ultimate goal, doubling public transport’s market share worldwide (PTx2): UITP estimates that it would save around 170m tons of oil and 550m tons of CO2 equivalent; reduce urban traffic fatalities by 15%; double the number of jobs in public transport operators as well as reduce the risk of obesity and heart disease by 50% thanks to the greater role of walking, cycling and public transport.

Moreover all projects should be in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially the one addressing sustainable transport (Target 11.2): “By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons”.

A wide range of current and critical challenges faced by the transport sector as a whole will be addressed during the Hackathon, with public transport as the cornerstone of multimodal mobility solutions, in line with the Y4PT’s holistic point of view on sustainable transport.

Congestion
Urban Sprawl
Shared mobility
Road Safety
Active Travel
Urban Pollution (Air-related and others)
Security
Accessibility for Persons with Reduced Mobility
Combination of Passenger and Freight Transport
Intermodalilty
Health and Transport
Long-Haul Transport
Payment and Pricing
Weather Forecast and Climate Change
Electrification of Transport (Zero Emissions)

Open Data

Currently different organizations in both public and private sectors have released a wide range of sets of databases, freely accessible to the general public, without restrictions on use.

In the case of the public sector, access to open data is one of the key principles of transparency and good governance, necessary for the control exercised by citizens on results of the performance of leaders and civil servants, as well as the effectiveness of public policy in different areas.

On the web there are different open data libraries and Y4PT is collecting data from different cities all over the world, by using the OpenDataSoft cloud service (https://y4pt.opendatasoft.com).

NOTE: If you are a transport authority or a transport operator or a transport supply industry company or any other transport stakeholder, we invite you to provide your own open data in order to share as many data as possible with participating hackers, and thus, to enable the development of hackathon projects based on your cities. This is a one-off opportunity to get innovative solutions for your unsolved and most challenging local transport issues, with the ingenious collaboration of a select group of hackers from all over the world. For further information, please contact: alessandra.gorini@uitp.org .

Hackers are advised to download in advance databases and to storage them in hard drives (or removable discs) to be used during the Hackathon.

Hacker’s Profile and Teaming-Up

The Hackathon is an event open to the general public (people over 18 only).

Hackers must demonstrate knowledge and/or experience in the transport field, as well as being capable to play roles such as:

Algorithm designers
Software programmers
User interface designers
Project managers (business development)
Marketers / Communicators

Each team will be made of up to five (5) members, ideally corresponding to each of the profiles above mentioned.
Hackers are free to choose if they want to run a project individually, or on the contrary, they want to teamed up with others.

English language must be the working language during the Hackathon.

Registration

Any person who is willing to participate as a hacker must fill out the online registration form in advance:

Those hackers who initially registered individually but would like to set up a team, on the first day of the Hackathon they can meet other hackers in the same situation.

Hackers must bring a valid official photo ID to enter to the Hackathon venue.

What should Hackers bring to the Hackathon?

The Hackathon venue will be provided with High-speed Internet access, tables, chairs, electric sockets, audiovisual equipment and other basic resources.

It is up to hackers to bring whatever they might need to develop their projects on-site.

Checklist might include the following tools:

Laptops and peripherals
Smartphone
Tablet
Smartwatch
Multi-socket extension
Ethernet Cables
Desktop Software
Digital camera
Video recording camera
Portable storage devices (e.g. USB flash memory)
Set of databases

Prize

To be confirmed. (Hint: Best project will take part of the next edition of the Y4PT Global Transport Hackathon!)

Judging Criteria and Jury Panel

The winning project will be chosen by a select jury panel with extensive experience and knowledge in transport subjects.

Each submitted Hackathon project must be brand-new, unpublished (not having been showcased at past events) and in its entirety as well as each component, must be comprised of the team’s original work (third parties’ intellectual property must be properly credited according to the legal terms of these parties’ works).

Hackathon projects must clearly include an approximation of at least:

Algorithm
Code
Graphic interface
Business model

Program – Date and Time

The Hackathon will take place from Friday the 12th until Sunday the 14th of May 2017.

Venue

The Hackathon will be held in the Montréal, Québec (Canada, North America).

Other Y4PT-related activities during the UITP Summit

Apart from the Hackathon, there will be other Y4PT-related activities during the 6th Y4PT World Youth Meeting Montreal 2017 in the framework of the UITP Summit. Take a look!

(Sun 14 May; 04:00 P.M.) Y4PT Hackathon Wrap-Up during the Opening Ceremony of the UITP Summit: https://www.uitpsummit.org/programme/#/day/1?session=8222
(Mon 15 May; 01:30 P.M.) Poster Presentation on Y4PT Breathable Cities World Campaign in the Health-related Session of the UITP Summit: https://www.uitpsummit.org/programme/#/day/2?session=12975
(Wed 17 May; 04:00 P.M.) Y4PT Young Leadership Award Montreal 2017: https://www.uitpsummit.org/awards/
(15-17 May, all-day) Y4PT Hackathon Fair at the UITP Summit: https://www.uitpsummit.org/y4pt-global-transport-hackathon/
(15-17 May, all-day) Y4PT Spot at the UITP’s Exhibition Stand: https://www.uitpsummit.org/exhibitors/uitp/

Further information at https://www.y4pt.org/projects/youth-meeting/montreal-2017/ .

Organizers

The Hackathon has brought together the most important actors in the transport sector worldwide:

Roads and Transport Authority of the Emirate of Dubai (RTA Dubai) (https://www.rta.ae/): One of the most acknowledged and respected transport authorities in the world, RTA Dubai is the local government entity that regulates urban mobility in the whole Emirate.
Ferrovie Nord Milano (FNM Milan) S.p.A. (https://www.fnmgroup.it/): The second largest rail transport operator in the country, FNM Milan provides mobility services in the northern region of Italy.
International Association of Public Transport (UITP) (https://www.uitp.org/): With over 130 years of history, UITP is the only spokesperson for the public transport sector worldwide, representing the interests of all stakeholders, including authorities, operators, supply industry, and academic-research centers.
Youth For Public Transport (Y4PT) Foundation (https://www.y4pt.org/): Established more than 10 years ago by the UITP, Y4PT is the leading global youth network on sustainable transport.