Pacific Datathon region 2024: 50 young Colombians transforming data into solutions

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In the context of the current challenges facing food, land and water systems in Colombia, the power of data has become a fundamental tool to generate innovative and sustainable solutions. The Pacific Datathon is framed within this urgent need to harness information to address critical issues related to biodiversity, climate change and food security. This event brought together young minds from the region to work in teams, using data to propose effective responses to challenges that put our natural resources and the health of our communities at risk.

This year, the National Policies and Strategies initiative joined the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente and Pro-Pacífico¹ in organizing the second version of the ‘Datathon del Pacífico’, a joint initiative that combines efforts to address the challenges of southwestern Colombia through innovation and data analysis. Last Thursday, August 1, the final of the Pacific Datathon 2024 was held at the campus of the Bioversity Alliance and CIAT.

The teams, made up of students from different career fields, worked hard for months, combining their individual strengths to achieve their common goal: a tool that, using databases, would offer the best solution to one of the challenges of the competition. During the day, participants demonstrated their creativity and technical skills through a series of activities and competitions designed to foster innovation and collaboration. They faced complex problems that required ingenious and unusual solutions.

The activity ranged from analyzing large volumes of data to creating predictive models and visualizing results, allowing participants to apply a wide range of techniques and tools.

”We appreciate all the help and participation in these events, and we are convinced to participate again to contribute to improve our region, provide solutions and live this experience inspires us to continue creating and improving with the help of data”.

Laura Hoyos, Universidad Autónoma de Occidente student

Among the proposals and ideas that were presented, several innovative approaches were highlighted:

• Biodiversity analysis: use of biodiversity databases to identify patterns of species loss in areas at the Colombian national territory level.
• Predictive models of climate change: Development of models that predict the impact of climate change on vulnerable communities.
• Sustainable food systems: Creation of heat maps that identify areas with the greatest need for intervention in terms of food security.

‘’After this Datathon of the Pacific, we hope that young people continue to develop and mature all their ideas, and why not, turn them into real projects that respond to the challenges of the territories. We hope to continue contributing to more events like these, because we know that they undoubtedly bring together great ideas and thinkers”.

Sara Rankin, Food Environment and Consumer Behavior researcher.

1st place Team: Aurum Platform: Gaia Theme: Biodiversity	2nd place Team: JEDS-Team Platform: Pacific Data Analytics Theme: Climate Change	3rd place Team: Terri Innova Theme: Biodiversity

The Pacific Datathon is an example of the power of academic collaboration and research to generate innovative solutions. By tackling global challenges with local, creative approaches and advanced techniques.

The impact of their participation goes beyond the immediate solutions they offered; their ability to tackle complex problems is proof of the potential of youth to drive change.

Thank you to all the young people who participated in this event, your enthusiasm, dedication and creativity were essential to the success of the Pacific Datathon.

Finally, in the following video you will find an audiovisual recap of the day’s events:

^{1. ProPacífico: a private non-profit foundation that, through alliances with the public, private and community sectors, promotes high-impact projects and initiatives that contribute to the integral and sustainable development of Cali, Valle del Cauca and the Colombian Pacific region.↩}

Authors:

Angélica Urbano, PlaSA Colombia Communications, Bioversity Alliance – CIAT, Colombia

Sara Rankin, Senior Researcher, Bioversity Alliance – CIAT, Colombia

Daniela Salas, Communications NPS initiative, Bioversity Alliance – CIAT, Colombia

This work is part of the CGIAR Research Initiative on National Policies and Strategies (NPS). CGIAR launched NPS with national and international partners to build policy coherence, respond to policy demands and crises, and integrate policy tools at national and subnational levels in countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. CGIAR centers participating in NPS are The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (Alliance Bioversity-CIAT), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), International Water Management Institute (IWMI), International Potato Center (CIP), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and WorldFish. We would like to thank all funders who supported this research through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund.