Why now?
Wildlife conservation seems to be in its end game. Whether through habitat loss, climate change or poaching, which contributes to the world's 4th largest illicit trade, a staggering number of wild animals are being lost. Wildlife conservation is struggling; apart from pockets of public and private support, the life of an endangered orangutan in Indonesia, for example, has no place on the majority of people's agendas. Or does it?
Cecil The Lion calls for action
This summer, the world was outraged by the death of Cecil the Lion. “Why do we only seem to care about wildlife when it is dying?" asks Gautam Shah, founder of Internet Of Elephants and mastermind behind the hackathon. “Why can't we be as enthralled by Cecil when he was alive, as we were by his death?"
36-hour Hackathon for Wildlife
This question became the rallying cry to organize the 36-hour community event in Chicago, where multidisciplinary teams will combine their creative problem solving abilities to help the conservation effort. Over 109 participants are set to attend, some flying in from places as far as Nairobi and Seattle. The teams will work with cutting edge technologies provided by technology partners Gimbal, ESRI, IBEIS, BRCK, and Savannah Tracking. There will be subject matter experts on hand from the Africa Wildlife Foundation and Forest Preserve Foundation to help the participants understand the situation of conservation on the ground.
20 million people
“We want 20 million people to wake up in the morning and check their phones to see where their elephant is," says Gautam Shah. His company, Internet of Elephants, is a Kenya-based startup specializing in smart and creative applications of technology to aid wildlife conservation. “While we are applying technology with big success in areas such as health and education, no one has yet used it on a large scale in wildlife conservation, to truly create a reverse in the tragic decline that we are witnessing day by day. We need to think big and create groundbreaking new ideas that have massive and unprecedented impact on how people engage with wildlife and the consequent funding of conservation efforts. This event is as much about business model innovation as it is about tech innovation."
Hosted at Solstice Mobile's tech hub
Award-winning customer experience development firm, Solstice Mobile, is hosting and sponsoring the event in Chicago. Solstice helps industry-leading global brands evolve and capitalize on new technology by designing and engineering digital experiences. With ongoing social impact initiatives, Solstice has been active in Kenya, offering digital solutions grants for social enterprises. As it continues to expand its global impact focus, the Hackathon for Wildlife was a perfect fit.
"One of Solstice's guiding principles is to always search for new ways to use technology to 'make a difference,'" said Solstice Founder and CEO, J Schwan. “The wildlife cause desperately needs the scale that technology can provide to create an emotional connection between people and endangered wildlife thousands of miles away. Working with the Internet of Elephants provides us a unique opportunity to use our UX and engineering expertise to directly service social and environmental change. We're excited and honored to help sponsor this event."
A broader outcome
On Sunday night, a jury of experts will judge the concepts on use of tech, innovative business models and their impact on wildlife conservation. The winning teams will earn prizes, but the goal of the event is to create great ideas that can then be taken further by anyone in the position to make them a success.
Source: Internet Of Elephants
