Event Spotlight: Capsule
This blog is the fifth installment of our 2020 event spotlight series, chronicling what happens at various Earth Hacks events and providing insight into the impact these events have and the outcomes they produce. To get in touch with us or learn more, visit our website at earthhacks.io.
With everything happening in 2020, it’s both unbelievable and completely believable that June is already wrapping up. As June closes out, we’re looking back on one of the events we supported this month, Capsule. Capsule was a 2-day, global online hackathon focusing on pushing forward projects that address various aspects of the climate crisis, including the intersection of climate issues and cities, education, health, energy, and food. With global partners and participants, and awesome panelists ranging from NASA scientists to folks from MIT, June 20–21 was a pretty packed weekend.
While Capsule was originally slated to take place in person in Austin, Texas, COVID-19 had other plans. Despite the unexpected twist, Capsule brought in over 350 hackers from all walks of life and all over the world. We had participants from:
Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Indonesia ,Jordan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, and the United States.
The vast majority of participants were professionals, followed closely by graduate and undergraduate students, and even a couple of high school students!
Projects spanned various categories. We had…
13 Cities projects
9 Education projects
9 Health projects
8 Energy projects
5 Food projects
In between working on projects, Earth Hacks moderated a panel with NASA scientists Dr. Tom Oda, Dr. Inia Soto Ramos, and Edil Sepulveda Carlo, all from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The scientists’ research spanned various aspects of climate science, including oceanography, carbon cycle processes, and land cover.
If you are interested in learning more, Capsule has been featured in Thrive Global, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Solutions Network Blog, Grit Daily, Disrupt Magazine, and Innovadores.
Participants will have the opportunity to keep on working on their projects through Capsule’s innovation pipeline. You can view some of the results, resources and updates from Capsule here, and follow @capsulehack on Instagram and Twitter for any new updates.