The hackathon, long used by big organisations like Microsoft to fish for innovation, might hold the key to transforming some of ports\u2019 perennial problems.<\/p>\n
Portbase\u2019s Dennis Dortland for one has high hopes that Rotterdam’s World Port Hackathon might shake up a few long-standing issues.<\/p>\n
At first, they don\u2019t really appear to be issues \u2013 at least in the usual sense: Portbase is a successful, non-profit Dutch port community system used by a broad swathe of stakeholders. But as Mr Dortland points out, \u201cbeing an established data hub processing over 80m messages a year can mean we are blinded by information. It\u2019s hard to see beyond what we do now.”<\/p>\n
Most importantly, \u201cthe core value we build, what we have to maintain at all costs, is our position of trust\u201d. He adds it\u2019s not simply a matter of faith in the community platform\u2019s technology: more fundamental than that \u201cis trust in our neutrality\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs a result we can\u2019t be too entrepreneurial, or we would almost inevitably shift the dynamic in favour of one business or another,\u201d he says. On top of which \u201cthere\u2019s the trust that we won\u2019t share our stakeholders\u2019 data with their competitors\u201d. <\/p>\n
It makes for what he labels \u201ca double-edged sword\u201d. On one side, the system remains impartial, but on the other, it can result in stasis. It inevitably leads to a \u201cbig tension\u201d says Mr Dortland who has seen data-sharing pilots slip away because they stood to breach the carefully maintained boundaries. So, he questions: \u201cWhile we are protecting our community\u2019s short term interests, how do we innovate for the future?\u201d<\/p>\n
Throwing off shackles<\/strong><\/p>\n According to him, the Port Hackathon means \u201cthrowing off the shackles… and doing things we don\u2019t necessarily have consensus for\u201d. It\u2019s a chance to show what can be achieved and change people\u2019s minds, he adds. In fact, Mr Dortland was himself a participant in the 2016 event, and says it\u2019s a free enough environment to allow Portbase to have a presence on both sides of the table; while inside knowledge is considered a resource, it\u2019s not seen as an overwhelming advantage. “You really have to drop all your old, legacy ideas,” he says. <\/p>\n In fact, WPH founder and director L\u00e9on Gommans points out that last year\u2019s winners knew nothing about port operations before they came through the door and yet in 24 hours they had hit on giving containers blockchain passports to detect potential tampering. \u201cA fresh approach can find that silver bullet,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Certainly this fifth, 2017 event was fizzing with energy: beds, made up dormitory style in a darkened area were often ignored as teams worked through the night. One of those staying up late was, in fact, not competing, but someone who admits the experience gets under the skin.<\/p>\n Thom Knepper and Vincent Metevelis earned second place in the 2016 Hackathon with an \u2018airbnb\u2019 style layover booking for vessels. It promised to be a real boon given the hours a ship will travel to a layup to wait for loading and the team went away to bring it to commerciality. But, Knepper admits \u201cwe stumbled… and switched focus when another project came up\u201d. <\/p>\n However, a year later they\u2019re back, not as entrants, but as one of the team of experts which gave them a foot in the door of the 2017 event. \u201cThere\u2019s an explosive amount of creative energy here,\u201d he says, \u201cso when we\u2019re not actively helping other people, we\u2019re developing our own project.\u201d<\/p>\n New concepts<\/strong><\/p>\n Possibly the most revolutionary concepts to come out of WPH17 are the ones that aim to change behaviour. \u201cWe learn best by playing. Gamification is about making it fun \u2013 that way, we go further,\u201d says software engineer Alexander Chatzizacharias, introducing the event. <\/p>\n In fact, the hackers may be on the way to unpicking a few, traditionally knotty problems. <\/p>\n Take data sharing. Despite many aspirational speeches, keeping information close to the chest is still seen as a competitive advantage. Further, transparency would also put an end to agents blaming customs clearance when a shipment\u2019s been bumped from a promised slot.<\/p>\n Team QQuest\u2019s imaginative solution to the impasse is to provide a window that gathers information on a shipment \u2013 but most importantly, also shows where it\u2019s missing and allows the data to be requested with a click: \u201cIn 44% of cases, someone in the supply chain has the information,\u201d explains leader Erwin van Veldhoven. Of course, after a while it will become fairly obvious who\u2019s willing and able to co-operate and the solution could go further by allowing potential customers to see which companies are likely to give a better response.<\/p>\n So, what about the age-old problem of a log-jammed city? Well, there\u2019s an app for that. The \u2018Care Bears\u2019 answer incentivises responsible travel, returning a route that might not be the fastest but will minimise CO2 and congestion with different options for tourists, lorry drivers and commuters. <\/p>\n The app gives continuous feedback on how the journey\u2019s going, and after completion, it awards points and shows how many people the choice has assisted. As a reduction of just 10% in traffic volume will significantly decrease rush-hour jams, the authorities might be tempted to offer a points reward of, for example an hour\u2019s free public transport or parking.<\/p>\n Another hack focused on workboats, scoring tug operations for fuel and emissions efficiency based on AIS information \u2013 although the Searoutes team admitted development will require tidal data it could also be extended to other regular users including watertaxis, pilot boats, even bunker barges. As a result, not only would skippers become more aware of their impact and fuel bill, an open points system would create a \u2018green\u2019 competition.<\/p>\n Looking ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n Other ideas had a touch of the crystal ball. For example one solution predicts where accidents will occur based on recognisable patterns \u2013 saving an average 6.5 minutes on the response time by clever repositioning of officers, according to the Biggetjes hacking team. <\/p>\n Another mitigated the effect of disruption on the city\u2019s main highway: melding datasets from road, rail, gas, water, communications and power infrastructure enables traffic to be rerouted before it gets to be a major headache. It should also mean more effective, better co-ordinated maintenance schedules, says Hagai Rossman of N^2, leaving behind the days when no sooner has a section of road been reopened after gas main works than a telecoms gang start their own dig. <\/p>\n Finally the \u2018silver bullet\u2019 from the winner, Dock Tech, is aimed at forecasting silt formation. This tool collects simple, low-res depth measurements from the numerous harbour boats transiting the port, which then get transformed by a Google \u2018super resolution\u2019 algorithm into a high res picture. A sequence will reveal sediment movement over time so, as Uri Yoselevich explains, a port could plan where dredging work will be needed \u201cmonths ahead of schedule\u201d.<\/p>\n BRINGING DREAMS INTO REALITY<\/strong><\/p>\n Dispelling the notion that hackathons are just gimmicks is a pretty simple business: just look at what happens after the event. Teqplay is a good example.<\/p>\n Launched from winning the 2014 World Port Hackathon, it\u2019s reaching a practical audience: Teqplay\u2019s Nautical Efficiency Indicator ties together existing data sets from maritime, meteorological and logistics sources to furnish a group of port users with intuitive, real-time views of specific calls \u2013 with the option of scrolling back and even forward to planned events. <\/p>\n More, the company\u2019s Riverguide app for inland skippers is designed to calculate how long a journey will take, using dynamic information on currents etc and giving the clearances and operating times of any locks and bridges along the route. It\u2019s already in use at Rotterdam, and now a number of other ports such as Zeeland, Groningen, Amsterdam and Moerdijk (as well as regional and water authorities) are co-operating to broaden its application. <\/p>\n Would Teqplay have sprung into being anyway? Probably not, says Mr Gommans. In his view, \u201cthe magic of hackathons is that they bring the talent, the industry, and the problem into the same room\u201d. Hackathons are one of the few places ideas can be pitted against solid experience, giving developers an idea of what will (and what won\u2019t) work at inception. <\/p>\n It also shortcuts the perennial issue of trying to find a port interested enough to help tailor a product: sometimes this just means adding the necessary realism but it could also reveal potential collaborators. Certainly, teams formed at the event may go on to work successfully together, but even more fundamentally, it might show up people willing to get behind an idea: Mr Gommans himself crossed the desk after WPH14 to join Teqplay\u2019s original team of two, helping the start-up to blossom into a company of ten.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From gimmick to reality, hackathons have come of age. Stevie Knight reports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":11203,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-11202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bulk-handling"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11202"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=11202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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