California is experiencing a significant paradigm shift around water and energy, and the 2015 Water/Energy Nexus Hackathon, coming to San Francisco in mid-August, intends to bring some of the smartest minds together to help address these complex issues. This two-day event will allow students, professionals and enthusiasts to experiment, improve and unveil new methods to help manage, interact and understand the growing relationship between water and energy, which is ever more critical given the current drought situation.
With a keynote sponsorship by California American Water, the 2015 Water/Energy Nexus Hackathon takes place two days prior to the inaugural Smart H2O Summit, to be held August 17-19 at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis. The winners of the Hackathon will be presented with their awards during a special ceremony at the event. Smart H2O Summit, a co-sponsor of the Hackathon, is focused on helping municipalities and other key water stewards solve their critical infrastructure challenges through innovative technologies.
“There is great synergy between our two events as they are both focused on the positive impact technology can have on drought and energy,” stated Jane McDermott, Smart H2O Summit Event Director. “We look forward to sharing the Hackathon’s solutions with our attendees.”
“Combining an event such as this with the Smart H2O Summit allows us to showcase how innovation and collaboration can indeed help us address complex issues,” said Christopher Peacock, founder of H2.O and The Water Innovation Project, the event's curator. “This two-day Hackathon combined with the three-day SHS conference and exposition will help us unveil new ways of thinking about how we interact with technology.”
Hackathons are well known for generating creative ideas and giving individuals a place to rally around. This event, to be held at General Assembly in San Francisco, is expected to attract business and community leaders, environmental and water professionals and of course, coders and technologists with a common desire to do good.
“Events like the Water/Energy Nexus Hackathon allow us to come together as a community and explore ideas to build a more resilient society,” Peacock said. “The timing is right for such an event, and we are all excited about the potential it holds for sharing ideas and generating new possibilities!”
The World Economic Forum listed water scarcity as its number-one long-term global risk in 2015 (one to which Californians can personally attest), and as more businesses begin to grasp the impact that the global water crises will have on their businesses, the search for innovations around water conservation has become top priority for organizations of all kinds. For example, Wells Fargo and Bank of America have granted $1 million to Imagine H2O and Water.org, respectively, to aid in the development of water-saving technologies; while BASF is focusing on water solutions as part of its ongoing Creator Space tour.
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Published Jun 16, 2015 6pm EDT / 3pm PDT / 11pm BST / 12am CEST