Reimagining Maritime Services Join the 2040 Hackathon Challenge!

Would you enjoy rethinking how government covers use of nautical services and come up with innovative and sustainable solutions for 2040? Sign up for the 2040 Hackathon!

Commissioned by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, University College Twente is organising a Hackathon on Monday, September 9 and Tuesday, September 10 on Campus!

For this event we are looking for students, from all programmes (undergraduate and graduate), disciplines and study years, that are interested in rethinking and redesigning the way use of nautical services currently work.

The best team will be rewarded with the opportunity to present their ideas at discussion within Ministry on proposal to Government, and the opportunity to be aboard of the Rijksrederij ship.

Background information & assignment

Public organisations have all kinds of tasks and provide many different services on seas, lakes, rivers and canals. Examples are the Coast Guard helping people in need and The Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate providing inspections of marine traffic and pollution.

All these government services are provided by a fleet of approximately 100 ships, managed by the Rijksrederij and deployed by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Defence, the Tax and Customs Agency and Rijkswaterstaat amongst others.

57 of these ships need to be replaced in the coming years.

The question is: what would be the optimal solution to replace these ships? Considering, socio-technical advances and concerns, what are other innovative and more sustainable ways to provide the same services that are now provided by these ships? Can they be done in public-private partnership?

Some subjects we need you to think about are:

• Innovation
  • Sustainability
  • Available technology
• Different points of view related to (future) trends
  • Are all these nautical services still needed in the future?
  • Climate change and rising sea levels
  • Job market
• Short-term flexibility instead of long-term commitment by purchasing new ships
  • Sharing ships and finding synergies in tasks
  • Sharing charging infrastructure
• Financial solutions
  • Extend the lifetime/refurbish existing technology
• Social solutions
  • Other sectors which could provide inspiration
• Governance
  • The challenge of decision making across multiple domains and Ministries
  • Are these all necessarily public sector services?

Do you find it challenging to contribute to how nautical services by Dutch Government will be organized in the future, sign up for the Hackathon! We look forward to welcoming you on September 9 and 10 at the Drienerburght!

Programme