It’s down to the public to determine a winner in the first-ever virtual hackathon put on by the University of Saskatchewan. EcoHack was an immersive, multi-day event in which 14 students collaborated to generate viable solutions to a problem that fits within the City of Saskatoon’s theme of, “The Social Impacts of Climate Change.” Solutions were submitted and a panel of judges shortlisted the solutions to three finalist. The public will select a winner through online voting that closes on November 25th. A list of the videos, access to them, and to the voting survey can be found with this story at cjwwrdio.com. The winning team receives a $1 thousand grand prize.

The three videos up for public vote are:

Saskatchewan Green Innovation Organization
Aiming to make green initiatives more accessible for vulnerable populations in the City of Saskatoon through connecting cutting-edge research happening on campus with community organizations.

Compost Kings
If food waste was its own country, it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, and it is a huge problem in our city as well since the landfill is filling up. This project proposes an adaptation to an existing compost system that uses food waste to heat homes in low-income areas in Saskatoon.

Too Confused to Reuse? SaskCycle Can Help!
Saskatonians don’t use transit for things like recycling and reusing items, and this project aims to change that. These students have developed an app to connect Saskatoon residents to various organizations that help to reuse and recycle, by giving residents easier access to information and free transit rides when they choose to reuse/recycle.

Access to the videos and voting survey can be found here.