Blue Bio Techpreneurs Nordic Hackathons (Europe)

Each BBT Hackathon is a 48-hour event where students have a unique opportunity to collaborate in teams, developing creative ideas and solutions for real-life challenges in the blue biotech industry. The challenges are presented by startups, companies and institutions who are looking for brilliant ideas (or brilliant minds!).

In doing so, BBT provides the opportunity to search and find a match. The private sector will get access to young talents and focus on solving relevant challenges with innovative approaches, which will, in turn, train participants to apply and further develop transversal skills, problem-solving and design thinking.

BBT Nordic Hackathon 2024

They kindly invite you to the first event of this series: Nordic Hackathon 2024 – a three-day event held in Odense, Denmark, from 27th to 29th September 2024. The BBT Nordic Hackathon will be hosted at a modern research station in Southern Denmark (Svanninge), offering an ideal setting for collaboration and innovation.

Join as a student participant!

• What to expect from a BBT hackathon?
  • During this intense and fulfilling weekend, you will have the opportunity to meet experts and mentors from various fields, including business, finance, marketing, and research, to tackle blue biotech challenges.
  • You’ll collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of young minds. With 48 hours at your disposal, you’ll generate solutions for a real regional challenge alongside a mentor from the industry. The teams and challenge topics will be assigned later, tailored to your interests, and based on the topics submitted by companies and institutions. Your team may even stand a chance to win attractive prizes for exceptional presentations and pitches of inspiring solutions.
  • Note that registration is individual, and teams will be assigned later to ensure diverse and multidisciplinary groups, ready to take on the challenge.
  • Stay tuned for more details on the program structure, which will be released later this year.
• What is in it for you?
  • By participating, you’ll have the chance to win exciting prizes, gain exposure, mentorship, and inspiration from various startup companies and industries in the Blue Biotechnology sector, with potential future opportunities.
  • Registering and participating in the Hackathon 2024 is completely free of charge for students. Accommodation and meals will also be provided over the course of the event:
    • 27th September (Dinner and accommodation)
    • 28th September (Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and accommodation)
    • 29th September (Breakfast, lunch; no overnight accommodation provided for the night of 29th)
  • They would like to support the cost of your travel to Odense, Denmark, for the event. Depending on your location and the budget, they hope to cover either the full or partial amount of your travel expenses (please specify the estimated amount you may need in the application form).
• Who can participate?
  • Designed especially for students and young graduates like you, who are ready to tackle the real and serious challenges of the Blue Bioeconomy and propel us into a sustainable future. The hackathon is open to graduate students (Master, PhD, recent graduates with a graduation date of December 2023 or later) enrolled in European universities, irrespective of their nationality. Participants can come from various disciplines such as marine or natural sciences, as well as environmental economics, design, technology, programming, business or biology, and more. All applicants who are interested in working in the blue biotech sector or want to find out if they have potential are invited to apply.
  • From navigating market access and the complexity of aquaculture products to pioneering new technology for marine sectors, these challenges are real and serious issues that need your inspiration and ideas to become reality!

Call for Challenges: Are you a startup, a company or an institution with a challenge?

• They are eager for your ideas! Join us for the Nordic Hackathon, a three-day event in Odense, Denmark, from September 27th to 29th, 2024. This event will bring together the Blue Bioeconomy industries with 30 master’s and PhD students, as well as recent graduates from Europe. Student participants will support you in solving your challenges and turn them into innovative solutions.
• The BBT Nordic Hackathon is designed for startups, companies, and higher education institutions in blue biotechnology, which have real-life challenges to solve. You benefit from the ideas and inspiration of young talents who will hack your solution with innovative approaches. You get access to the blue talent of tomorrow and contribute to supporting young innovators in their development to access the blue biotech job market equipped with your experience in transversal skills, problem-solving, and design thinking. They appreciate your challenges in shaping a sustainable future for the blue bioeconomy.
• What is a challenge?
  • The challenge must be a real challenge (EU related) faced by your industry and could span social, marketing, and economic domains, presenting opportunities for solution-oriented devices, applications, harvesting methods, and more. The challenge can also be a project under development for which you need new expertise and knowledge or that is worth examining from a different perspective.
  • Some examples of relevant challenges that could be explore (but are not limited to):
    • How can they sustain aquaculture industries, such as developing algae production for high-value products
    • Create an interactive digital tool/application to match global ocean challenges with concrete innovations and solutions.
    • Develop an interactive data visualisation platform that can handle large ecology imagine and quantitative datasets and represent them in a visually appealing and intuitive way.
• What’s in it for you?
  • The BBT hackathons are not just events; they are catalysts for change and connection. Whether it is discovering new, exciting, and innovative solutions, these 48-hour events are your chance to find the next generation of blue biotech innovators for your team. Master students and young graduates from different disciplines will sooner than later look for a job, and your startup, company, or department could be their choice.
• Innovative Solutions & Matchmaking
  • The main intention of the hackathon is to tackle real-world challenges. and to match you with young talents.
  • The BBT Hackathons try to close the gap between academia and the real things going on in the blue bio markets. By providing your challenge, you’ll have the opportunity to end up with a tangible product or service. Or even if a final solution isn’t reached, you’ll gain valuable insights and new perspectives from these future-oriented innovators.
• Who can submit a challenge, and what would your participation look like at the event?
  • Challenge owners should send one representative (referred to as a mentor) to the event. The mentor’s role is to provide expertise and knowledge for the challenges when required. Please note that mentors are not allowed to participate in the pitch or presentation. Accommodation (for two nights) and food will be provided near Svanninge Bjerge. They hope to cover either the full or partial amount of your travel expenses for the event.

For more information, visit Blue Bio Techpreneurs.