COVID-19 Advisory Update – Aqua Forum pivots all programming to virtual

PDF version

COVID-19 Advisory Update – Aqua Forum pivots all programming to virtual

Aqua Forum’s number one priority remains the health and safety of all our partners and staff as well as AquaHacking Challenge participants and alumni. With all the uncertainty and anxiety in the world at the moment, the best thing we can do – as an organization dedicated to freshwater – is maintain an eye on the long game, leverage our tech-agility and focus our efforts on shifting our programming to virtual platforms.

This effort is only possible when we work in close collaboration with our partners based on a common goal.  We recently experienced this with the semi-final of the AquaHacking Challenge in British Columbia. In the space of five days, the 120 in-person event was recast as an entirely virtual event – our first ever fully virtual event.  We are grateful for the efforts and commitment of all those who came together to deliver this successful event. Building on this momentum, we will adapt all of our programming to 100% virtual for the remaining 2020 AquaHacking Challenge events in Atlantic Canada, Lake Winnipeg and British Columbia. 

As we keep a close eye on the evolving situation with COVID-19, we also maintain our sights on freshwater as a critical issue for Canada and the world.  We will continue to engage the ingenuity and entrepreneurial drive of talented young Canadians, who are hard-wired for experimentation and innovation and demonstrate the value of technology-based solutions for environmental impact.   We aim to get through the current situation with a sense of hope for the future and emerge stronger, more resilient and even more committed to our goals of improved freshwater health in Canada.

We deeply appreciate all the hard work by so many individuals – regional partners, participants, judges, mentors, alumni, and staff – that has gone into preparing this year’s three AquaHacking Challenges across the country. We look forward to our continued collaboration in developing and delivering innovative approaches to producing the program virtually.

Thank you for your consideration of the above.

Kindly direct any further questions to Anne-Pascale Richardson annepascale@aquahacking.com