Teams from Air Canada recently took home two top honours at a major international data hackathon held in Toronto.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) ONE Record hackathon took place from Oct. 21-23 in Toronto, co-hosted by Air Canada Cargo and IBM. Air Canada is the first airline to host this hackathon and it was the first IATA ONE Record Hackathon taking place outside of Europe.
Participants from around the world gathered in Toronto for the three-day event that brought developers and designers together to compete and innovate to find solutions that address industry challenges related to air freight. Competitors use data collected from the IATA program called ONE Record, a standardization for data sharing amongst the cargo and logistics industry.
Each team was tasked of addressing a challenge related to warehouse management, safety and security and/or cargo payment, or an open challenge to address any cargo or logistics related issue.
Both Air Canada squads decided to tackle the security, customs and warehouse challenges.
One group won took home the ONE Record prize, awarded to the solution that made the best use of the ONE Record API in terms of innovation and creativity.
“The solution they came up with is one that can be executed and launched today as it improves on security inefficiencies in the business,” said Sebastien Podgorski, Senior Manager, Pricing, Interline and Distribution at Air Canada Cargo.
The second Air Canada Cargo team was the ONE Record prize for its category.
“The Borderless solution is more for tomorrow and is where the business should be moving towards,” Podgorski added.
Also recognized were teams from Lufthansa and the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, who won the Developer prize for exceptional coding skills and the PayCargo prize for use of the PayCargo API. The Air Canada Cargo prize was awarded to a team of young women currently completing their studies in Toronto.
“The future of air cargo is bright and we are absolutely thrilled with the talent and creativity on display! Air Canada Cargo was honoured to host this event and we look forward to how our industry can become even more efficient with forward-thinking and cutting-edge collaboration,” said Jason Berry, Vice President, Cargo at Air Canada.”
“It was a pleasure to collaborate with Air Canada on making this event such a success and I look forward to improving the digital cargo world together,” said Arnaud Lambert, ONE Record Engagement Manager at IATA.