Estonian Maritime Academy

In the fall of 2024, TalTech's Estonian Maritime Academy organized a maritime hackathon for the fourth time in order to find sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions for the future.

The date of the Vol4 hackathon was September 13, 2024, and this time the theme was GREEN CORRIDOR. The focus was on the Tallinn - Helsinki and Muuga - Vuosaari corridors.

Hackathon is intended for Estonian Maritime Academy and TalTech students, lecturers, researchers, top experts and developers. Challenges are expected from maritime companies, partners, visionaries and engineers.

Companies have the opportunity to share industry bottlenecks and specific problems with the teams participating in the hackathon, who will begin to solve challenges in collaboration with researchers, visionaries, top business experts and industry representatives. It is a unique opportunity to reach from the idea phase to the creation of an MVP within 12 hours and to enter into cooperation to fulfill the priority goals of the company.

This time, the challenges of the green corridor were solved and both new business ideas and research topics were found!

TalTech and the Port of Tallinn are in close cooperation to find solutions to the problems standing in the way of the development of the Tallinn-Helsinki green corridor. We have collectively identified eight bottlenecks that TalTech students and researchers could alleviate by joining forces. As a result of joint thinking, the teams reach to practical results, create companies around the ideas and/or use the experience gained as an input for planning research topics.

The brainstorming culminated with the MarineHäkk hackathon on September 13, where all formed teams gathered at the Estonian Marine Academy for 12 hours to reach a solution to the challenge with the help of mentors and experts. The solutions were developed by technicians using on-site equipment, experienced business mentors and experts from the maritime sector. Representatives of the Port of Tallinn as the main partner of this year's MarineHäk were also present. The best teams received funding to develop their solution!

The selected challenges were:

1. Popularization of the use of light transport vehicles. Keywords: waiting pavilions, charging stations for vehicles, traffic flow management, marketing campaign.
2. Motivating waste sorting. Keywords: drawing attention to sorting, creating a good sorting system, cup circulation, smokestacks.
3. Creation of unified data exchange system for companies using the port. Keywords: new system, single window, just in time, data protection, interface, user comfort.
4. Air quality measurement in ships and ports. Keywords: sensors, dashboard, CO2, CO, nitrogen, humidity, sulfur, wind direction.
5. Creating a marina booking and payment solution. Keywords: marina access, user comfort, booking a place at the quay, payment solution.
6. Increasing the durability of quay materials. Keywords: erosion, life of materials.