Three teams from Cleveland are finalists in ErieHack, a competition to promote technological innovation in environmental solutions with a business twist. The first-place winner of the competition, which is sponsored by the Cleveland Water Alliance, will receive $50,000 in cash and in-kind assistance.
Competitors had to submit innovative ideas to improve the environmental health of Lake Erie and surrounding communities. Preliminary competitions in several cities have come to a close, and the top ten finalists will compete during a water summit in Cleveland on May 2 and 3.
The three advancing Cleveland teams include:
WaterWarriors: Tackling algal blooms. This University of Akron team has proposed using middle and high school students to create an open-source data map of nutrient loading around the lake. Students would be sent to collect water samples from the lake or watershed, which, when put in a spectrometer, would create colored readings on phosphorus and nitrogen levels. These readings would be uploaded to the map.
Hydrosense: also tackling algal blooms. The Hydrosense team wants to construct a wireless, solar-powered buoy that will collect data for algal bloom forecasting. The buoys will be able to connect to an
To lean more about the finalists and final competition,
