Ocean of Data Challenge
What is the Ocean of Data Challenge?
The Ocean of Data Challenge is a week-long event where participants work use one or more types of ocean data to create a diagram, a technology solution, an analysis of data, or something else, as long as it is a solution to the Challenge. To help narrow down the scope of the challenge, it is broken down into three Challenge Streams: Under the Water, On the Water, and Around the Water.
DeepSense and the Centre of Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship (COVE) decided to join forces to create an event that not only shows the importance of ocean data, but also to encourage interdisciplinary thinking! The ocean sector isn’t just for marine biologists and fishers, there are numerous opportunities for those working in oceans.
Any part-time or full-time students or recent graduates from post-secondary institutions in Atlantic Canada are welcome to join either on their own or on a team of up to 5 people. We want to encourage interdisciplinary teams, so anyone one studying Computer Science, Engineering, Biology, Sustainability, Business, or any other programs is invited to join!
Keep an eye on our social media for when we announce the next Challenge. Once announced, you will be asked to sign up for the introduction webinar where you will learn more about the Challenge theme. Afterwards, signed up participants will be emailed a registration form and the challenge is kicked off.
To ensure any student across Atlantic Canada can participate, the challenge is all virtual.
Follow us on social media to catch the next Ocean of Data Challenge!
Past Ocean of Data Challenges
The Bedford Ferry
November 2 – 9, 2021
Post-secondary students from institutions across Atlantic Canada are invited to use ocean data to explore the opportunities with the proposed Bedford Ferry and help transform the daily commute of thousands living in the Halifax Regional Municipality.
- Sue Molloy, President of Glas Ocean Electric
- Shannon Miedema, Environment and Climate Change Program Manager, Halifax Regional Municipality
- Callahan Murphy, Project Manager – New Initiatives, Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship
- Erin Burbidge, Director of Programs and Regulatory Affairs, Clean Foundation
- Patrick Farrar, Director Innovation District, Halifax Partnership
- David Greenfield, IT and Tolling Manager, Halifax Harbour Bridges
- 79 students registered
- 23 teams registered
- 10 teams participated in the final presentations, check out their ideas here
- Students participated from the following universities: Dalhousie University, University of New Brunswick, Saint Mary’s University, Mount Saint Vincent University, Acadia University, Nova Scotia Community College
- Students were in the following programs: Computer Science, Masters of Digital Information, Bachelor of Commerce Co-op, Master of Planning, PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering, BSc Biology, Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering Technology
- First Place: Sea-nic route (Shannon, Matt and Liam from Dalhousie University)
- Second Place: The Efficient Charger (Kumar from Dalhousie University)
- Best Design: ODS (Yuqing, Arjun, Chu, and Fan from Dalhousie University)
- Chu was kind enough to write a blog about his work for the challenge
- Best Technical: Ocean Mapping Group (Vishwa, Madumitha, and Madeline from University of New Brunswick)
Coastal Communities and Climate Change
February 8 – 15, 2022
The Ocean Frontier Institute joins COVE and DeepSense to help host the second Ocean of Data Challenge. Teams explored interdisciplinary ideas and concepts that would help coastal communities adapt to impacts cause by climate change.
- Barry Stevens, President, 3D Wave Design
- Anya Waite, Scientific Director and CEO, Ocean Frontier Institute
- Rex Holwell, Manager of Nunatsiavut Operations, Smart Ice
- Catherine Blewett, CSO, Ocean Frontier Institute
- Aline Kaji, Coastal Specialist, CBCL
- Rodrigo Menafra, Managing Director, MEOPAR
- Eva Parada, Director Of Infrastructure, Develop NS
- 21 students registered
- 13 teams registered
- 5 teams participated in the final presentations
- Students participated from the following universities: Dalhousie University, University of New Brunswick, Saint Mary’s University, University of Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton University, and Memorial University
- Students were in the following programs: Computer Science, Masters of Digital Information, Geomatics Engineering, Master of Applied Ocean Technology, BSc Biology, Corporate Residency MBA
- First Place: Crowdsourced BioPulse (Shannon and Matt from Dalhousie University)
- Second Place: ATLANTIC FORCE (Vishwa and Madumitha from University of New Brunswick and Fadal from Dalhousie University)
- Third Place: Virtual Whale (Hardik, Huryash, Arjun and Mihir from Dalhousie University)
- Judges Choice: No Noise (Artash, a highschool student from Ontario)
One Port City
May 2 – 20, 2022
Join the Halifax Port Authority, PSA Halifax, COVE and DeepSense for the next Ocean of Data Challenge!
PSA Halifax now owns the Fairview and the Atlantic Hub container terminals in Halifax, making our port unified like few others. The Port of Halifax now has one terminal operator, one railroad operator, and one port authority. This change helps Halifax become a One Port City and will create new opportunities for our community.
Melanie Nadeau, CEO of COVE
Captain Allan Gray, President & CEO of Port of Halifax
Kelvin Tan, Deputy CEO of PSA Halifax
Sheila Patterson, COO of COVE
Rahul Mehra, Director of Sr. Practice Lead at Intelligent SystemsIBI
Patrick Bohan, Director, Government Relations & Stakeholder Engagement at the Port of Halifax
- 70 students registered
- 7 teams competed
- 19 academic programs represented
- 7 Atlantic Canada institutions participated
- First Place:
- Pradeep Raj and Kirk from the Marine Terminal Truck Logistics (MTTL) Team
- Second Place:
- Tanmoy from the Truck Delay Visualizer Team
- Third Place:
- Theresa from Team McPhee
- Best Creative Design:
- Vanessa, Cary, Jin, and Van Cuong from H2O (Halifax to Ocean)
Interested in getting connected?
Our newsletter and online community will help you connect with like-minded people, learn about how to participate in the growing potential of AI, and discover the infinite uses of ocean data.
