We need you at the Swiss Permafrost Hackathon

The mountains are changing: permafrost is receding, rockslides can be the result.

Microsoft Switzerland is proud to announce an important project on permafrost using AI for Good. Together with our partner ETH Zurich we are running a hackathon. Data scientists from all over the country will meet to analyze data in order to better understand the recession of permafrost and the rockslides that can result from it. The event will take place from the 28^th – 30^th November 2019 at ETH Zurich.

The basis of the project is a high-quality amount of image data as well as a data set that is including seismic signals, which have been registered at 29 locations on the Matterhorn over the last 10 years, unique in the world. The project called “Alpine Laboratory” wants to show how AI can be used to understand the changes in the mountain world in high alpine regions and to find solutions for dealing with them.

Procedure at the hackathon:

1. Interactive introduction to the project and the data set. Analysis and preparation of the data in order to use learning-based methods.
2. Individual development ranging from learning-based procedures to the automated analysis of data.
3. Interpretation and presentation of results.

The thawing permafrost and the accumulation of rockslides will lead to changes in the mountain world in high alpine regions. The “Alpine Laboratory” wants to show how artificial intelligence can be used to find solutions that are important for people and the living and economic environment.

Anyone who enjoys programming and for whom data science, cognitive services and image recognition are no unknowns can take part, for example, students from ETH, universities or technical colleges as well as IT apprentices. Partners from the ecosystems of ETH and Microsoft will also participate.

Are you in?