- The Hackathon lasted 18 days.
- Over 400 participants spread across 59 teams worked on the 3 set challenges.
- The first place winning team will have the opportunity to scale their project with funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Panama City, 1 July 2026. The CopernicusLAC Panama Centre and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) have brought their third online Hackathon to a close, which focused on food security using Earth observation data.
Since 21 May, 405 participants spread across 59 teams worked on the three set challenges: fostering the resilience of smallholder farmers, achieving national food security, and improving the yields of large-scale producers. The event was held in three languages: Spanish, English, and Portuguese.
During the Hackathon, participants were supported by experts through specialised webinars. In addition, they received individualised business mentoring to tackle the challenges, refine their ideas, and improve their proposals.
Finally, on 11 June, the winning teams were announced:
- First place: Sistema Esmeralda (Nicaragua). [More information here]
- Second place: PALLÁS (Brazil). [More information here]
- Third place: Harvverse Sentinel (Honduras). [More information here]
Congratulations!
In this edition, the IDB will award up to $50,000 in funding to scale the first place winning project.
We would like to thank the judging panel, comprising Fernando Vargas (IDB), Alice Alcantara (Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture – IICA), and Jorge Cabrera (delegate from the EU Space Programme Support Office in Latin America), for their outstanding work in evaluating proposals of exceptional quality.
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About CopernicusLAC Panama
The activities of the CopernicusLAC Panama Centre fall within the overall context of the EU-LAC Digital Alliance, which is a strategic framework to promote cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region on digital and space issues under the umbrella of the EU Global Gateway strategy. In this context, the European Space Agency (ESA) coordinates the implementation of the Centre on the basis of a Contribution Agreement with the Directorate General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) of the European Commission, and in close collaboration with the Government of Panama, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MIRE) and the SENACYT (National Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation).
About Inter-American Development Bank
The IDB is the main source of financing for social, economic, and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Founded in 1959, its goal is to reduce poverty, combat climate change, and promote sustainable growth in its 26 borrowing member countries.