Bringing to Madrid the biggest hackathon on the planet

NASA SpaceApps is the biggest hackathon on Earth, with more than 29,000 participants from 71 countries and 225 cities. It aims for participants to solve a challenge proposed by the agency in a 2-day sprint.

Designing and executing the NASA SpaceApps hackathon in the city of Madrid, Spain, offered the participant teams the space and the tools they needed to ignite their talent and capabilities.

We designed a journey with different key moments with the participants in mind, creating toolkits and providing mentoring to boost their creativity and reach the best solution for each challenge. We partnered with great companies like WeWork, AWS, Airbus, P&G, and the PowerMBA. They imparted their knowledge and talent to the challenge and judged the best ideas, which would then be sent to NASA.

NASA SpaceApps happens simultaneously all over the world, and we wanted to provide the participants in Madrid with an exclusive experience that would allow them to thrive and give their best during the sprint.

From the space where the hackathon was to be held to the knowledge of industry experts, we partnered with companies that could help boost the team’s capabilities, understand the specific barriers of each challenge, and make the best use of the latest technologies. From aeronautical engineers, data analysts and scientists, as well as IT experts, along with the Propelland team, we delivered a great overall experience.

In the height of the hackathon rush, participants not only need discipline and focus, but also the right tools to keep track of their ideas and bring them to life. To that effect, we provided the participants with the design tools they needed to stay on track throughout the weekend.

The 85 participants came up with 16 solutions to the different challenges. The NASA jury made the last call and picked the Mnemosys team to take their micro electro-mechanical memory saver to the Finals.