Bring together data from a curated list of reputable sources worldwide to match innovators, entrepreneurs, and everyday users with the science and technology they need to build a sustainable world.
Innovators, entrepreneurs and everyday users worldwide need easy access to science and technology knowledge to promote the required transformations towards a sustainable development path.
However, relevant and reliable knowledge is difficult to find, and sometimes people may not even know what they are looking for. They know the problem that they need to solve, but not the relevant science, technology and innovation knowledge that already exist to solve them.
The partnership that makes up the United Nations initiative #SciTechMatcher challenges you to build a search and recommendation engine which matches people looking for solutions to impact the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with openly-accessible knowledge on science, technology and innovations that delivers them. Sustainable development requires change through the dissemination and adoption of science, technology and innovation, and we want everyone in the world to get a fair access to STI to be able to contribute to achieving the SDGs.
Your search engine should be able to provide individualized recommendations.
What is the task?
Part 1: Aggregate data from the sources below.
Example 1: create crawl scripts that continuously index new content or update existing content.
Example 2: write queries which call on multiple APIs to conduct simultaneous queries to various websites on the fly.
Part 2: Make Data Searchable
Create a search page where the user can browse and filter results using facets and filters.
Example: search for "energy efficient lighting" then filter the results to see only patents, publications, or courses. Also filter the results to get content only from a certain datasource.
Part 3: Create Recommendations for Users
Allow users to (a) save their queries, (b) select a checklist of topics of interests, and (c) paste a long text describing their need. Based on these user inputs have your system recommend content to the user.
Winners, finalists and special recognitions will be given to individuals and teams in these 2 categories:
- Free and Open Source Software solutions
- Proprietary Software solutions
The winners and selected finalists will:
- Present solutions at the UN global meeting to discuss the Science Technology & Innovation Online Platform in Shanghai, China in December 2017. (The presentation might be in-person if there is time to make travel arrangements or by video-conference).
- Be featured on United Nations websites.
- Have the opportunity to have an advisory role in the further development of the submitted solution.
Get invited to an information session and discuss your solution directly with UN personnel by: Posting your preliminary idea today!
The last day for submissions is November 25, 2017