IUCN NL partner of ZooHackaton 2020

On the November 6-8, the Freespirit foundation and the US Embassy France will be hosting the ZooHackaton 2020, a virtual hackathon that offers IT professionals and students the opportunity to use their talents in the fight against wildlife crime. IUCN NL is one of the partners of the event. IUCN NL experts will support the participating teams as a mentor and our Senior Expert Environmental Justice Antoinette Sprenger will be speaking at the opening of the event.

The Zoohackaton is designed to raise awareness, spur innovation, and educate and empower participants. It aims to increase regional cooperation on environment, science, and technology, and to confront shared global challenges. The 48-hour event will bring teams of university students, software professionals, and wildlife enthusiasts together virtually across Europe. 

IUCN NL is pleased to support the Zoohackaton 2020. Antoinette Sprenger says: ‘Wildlife crime poses a major threat to the survival of various unique species. It is one of the largest forms of transnational organized crime. With innovation and technological solutions like those coming out of the Zoohackaton we can fight this crime.’

About the Zoohackaton

During the hackathon, the participating teams create solutions to help detect traffickers, change consumer behavior, and educate the public through websites, mobile apps, website extensions, online databases, and software. Throughout the competition, teams tackle one “problem statement” linked to wildlife trafficking. At the conclusion of the event, the European judging panel will select the three top winning teams who will thereafter virtually present their solutions and compete for the global prize at the final global presentation in the weekend of November 13-15.

The Zoohackathon 2020 is part of the IT for the PLANET initiative.