The NASA Space Apps Challenge brings together hundreds of participants in Malaga as part of the national record.
Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Malaga, Bilbao, and Murcia are the six Spanish cities that participated in the world's largest STEAM hackathon, held simultaneously across the globe on October 4 and 5.
In this year's edition, Spain brought together nearly 800 participants, a record number that makes it the European country with the largest representation in the NASA Space Apps Challenge 2025.
Photo caption: In the image, Los Alpha, the winning team of the NASA Space Apps Challenge in Malaga.
Malaga, October 6, 2024. - This weekend, the NASA SpaceApps Challenge, the world's largest STEAM hackathon, took place in Malaga. An annual event organized by Space and Events—an official NASA partner—with the support of Fundación Telefónica, the City of Malaga, and the Digital Content Hub.
The event broke records, with nearly 800 participants in Spain, making it the country with the most participants in all of Europe. People passionate about science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics have worked together to solve the global challenges posed by the US space agency, with innovation as their primary tool.
The technology event, held at the 42 Málaga programming campus, promoted by the Telefónica Foundation in conjunction with the City Council, the Regional Government of Andalusia, and the Málaga Provincial Council, kicked off on Friday at a presentation event attended by Alicia Izquierdo, Councilor for Innovation, Urban Digitalization, Promotion of Technological and Business Investment, and Investment Attraction at the Málaga City Council; Antonio Quirós, Director of Innovation at the Málaga City Council; Nieves Espejo, Director of Finance and Organization at FYCMA; Luis González Quero, Director of 42 Málaga and the Telefónica Foundation, among others.
Los Alpha, the winning team from Malaga
This year's winning team in Malaga was Los Alpha, whose members developed CultivAI, an intelligent platform that helps farmers understand the condition of their soil in real time and make better decisions for their crops.
Using IoT sensors, NASA satellite data, and artificial intelligence models, CultivAI analyzes soil fertility, detects early signs of degradation, and recommends the most appropriate crops, while also optimizing the use of water and nutrients. All of this is presented in a simple and easy-to-use app, designed for farmers of any technological level.
This team will also participate in the international phase of the competition, where they will compete against the finalist teams from more than 150 countries and 50,000 participants, with the final opportunity to travel to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral (USA) to present their ideas to NASA experts.
Spain leads European participation
In this edition, a total of six Spanish cities—Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Malaga, Bilbao, and Murcia—hosted the massive event, bringing together nearly 800 participants, a record number that places Spain as the European country with the greatest representation in the NASA Space Apps Challenge 2024. For 48 hours, and simultaneously with other international cities, teams worked to find creative solutions to problems posed by NASA scientists and engineers.
19 challenges under the motto "Learn, Launch, Lead!"
The 14th edition of the competition proposed 19 challenges, aimed at people of all ages and educational levels. These included designing galactic games, creating web applications that display near-Earth objects, and developing tools to help combat current problems such as environmental impact.
The teams presented solutions in the form of mobile applications, software, hardware, data visualizations, and disruptive projects that contribute to both space exploration and improving life on Earth.
Press Contact:
AMT Comunicación - NASA Space Apps Spain
Paula Valdunciel - pvaldunciel@amtcom.es - 633 334 767
TELEFÓNICA FOUNDATION: Virginia Rojas - virginia.rojasmadrazo@telefonica.com - 660 57 30 17 and Blanca Mendiguchia - BMendiguchia@atrevia.com - 667 632 924.