EU Datathon 2022 teams behind the apps: Meet CROZ renEUwable
_‘The teams behind the apps’ is a series of videos made by the EU
Datathon [https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eudatathon] finalists. Get to
know this year’s teams and their apps over 12 episodes, twice per
week, in the run-up to the competition finals. On 20 October, the
teams will pitch their apps to the jury that will select the winners.
The audience will also have a chance to support their favorite team in
the Public Choice Award vote. Register now to follow the finals
online!
[https://scic.ec.europa.eu/ew/register/dgscic/EU_Datathon_2022/e/lk/g/43770/k/]_

 

The CROZ renEUwable team is competing in Challenge 1: ‘A European
Green Deal’. Their app ‘renEUwable’ combines environmental,
social and economic data analysis to offer specific, personal
recommendations for sustainable energy use. The team behind this
app – Darko Benšic, Marina Bednjanec, Petar Matic and Vinko
Puškar – joined us for a short interview during which we talked
about the app, the idea that led to its creation and why they decided
to participate in the EU Datathon. 

 

HOW ARE YOU DOING WITH THE APP? WHAT’S THE STATUS? 

Currently, the app is in the active development phase. Our focus is on
having all back-end workflow up and running for the finals. At the
moment we are working to define and test data architecture and machine
learning algorithms. We already have defined data structures, which
were created in the data warehouse. Also, we are working on building
automated/reproducible dataflow pipelines to obtain and merge data.
Through thorough research, we identified various useful open data
sources. As for the front end, we are working on dashboard creation
and overall user interface / user experience design. From a
technical standpoint, in general, we are building an architecture that
can handle all data issues from ingestion to processing regardless of
the scale of usage. So far, the development process has proved to be
both challenging and exciting. 

 

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE IDEA FOR THIS APP?

Being a part of CROZ, we have an inherent inclination for open-source
technology and projects. Last year we applied to the EU Datathon, but
our project wasn’t selected. Nevertheless, we liked the whole
Datathon idea and, since we are data enthusiasts, we decided to
participate again this year. Taking advantage of our previous
experience, we analysed our last project and decided to go with a
narrower focus this year. We chose the project on the basis of several
criteria that we recognised as important. We wanted to try to address
something big, a critical problem. We wanted to contribute to the
solution in our way, by providing a free app that can facilitate
action and the sharing of information on really important issues such
as the environmental crisis. As our EU Datathon app shows, persistence
does pay off, so we won’t give up that easily on saving the planet.

 

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO TAKE PART IN THE EU DATATHON? 

We hope that our app will become a handy tool for anyone interested in
environmental issues and renewable energy sources. The goal of the app
is to serve as a first-hand consultant in building a more sustainable
world. What sets the renEUwable app apart from the rest is that it
considers each use case to be unique. On the basis of personal
preferences and information from the user, the app generates concrete
recommendations that help the user switch to more sustainable energy
alternatives, giving them estimates on financial and energy savings
and potential investments. Also, the app is not just some sort of
advanced calculator, it was conceived to act as a friend on your
journey to living more sustainably. It will ask for daily, weekly or
monthly follow-ups, register and evaluate the advancement of your
journey, and provide feedback and useful tips and tricks. 

 

To find out more about the CROZ renEUwable team, watch this 1-minute
video [https://youtu.be/lYiuDfq64-Y]. 

Curious to learn more? Discover the teams and the apps on the EU
Datathon website [https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eudatathon], watch their
videos on YouTube
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jokN2NcsxCA&list=PLT5rARDev_rnik8jF6E8k5AjN5zeJmqXG]
and follow their updates on Twitter [https://twitter.com/EU_opendata],
Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/data.europa.eu] and LinkedIn
[https://www.linkedin.com/company/publications-office-of-the-european-union/]
or via our newsletter [https://data.europa.eu/en/newsletter]. 

Publication Date/Time
2022-09-08T08:00:00+00:00
Combining open data to facilitate sustainable energy use