Students of the Department of Public Administration and Business Management Won the Lviv Open Data Hackathon

A team of students from the Department of Public Administration and Business Management of the Faculty of Finance and Business Management of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv won the Lviv Open Data Hackathon with the project ‘Impact of Transport on Air Quality in Lviv: Data, Analysis, Solutions’.
The Lviv Open Data Hackathon is a landmark event that combines data, ecology, analytics, and academic thinking. The main idea of the hackathon was the practical application of open data to solve the city’s current environmental problems. As the event organisers noted: ‘Open data alone does not change reality. They only gain value when they start working for decision-making.’
In today’s world, open data skills are becoming critically important for professionals in various fields. Analytical thinking, the ability to build hypotheses and test them based on real data – these competencies are in high demand in the labour market. The victory of our students confirms the high level of training of higher education students at the Department of Public Administration and Business Management.
For two weeks, the team analysed open environmental data to study the impact of transport on air pollution in Lviv. The students built hypotheses, tested them and proposed solutions that could form the basis for an effective environmental policy for the city.

The Lviv Open Data Hackathon was an opportunity for students not only to deepen their knowledge and skills in working with data, but also to work in teams on current environmental challenges. A total of 19 students from Lviv’s leading universities – Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Lviv State University of Internal Affairs, and Lviv Polytechnic – took part in the event. The participants worked in interdisciplinary teams, where future managers, economists, financiers, environmentalists and lawyers were able to share their experience and generate innovative ideas.
The high professional level of the mentors and jury members made the event particularly valuable. Among the experts who shared their experience with the participants were: Pavlo Tkachenko, co-founder of SaveDnipro NGO and developer of the SaveEcoBot platform; Denys Hubashov, leading expert in information audit and data journalism; Maryna Ostrenska, state expert on open data development at the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine; Nazariy Kolachynskyi, expert in medical and environmental monitoring; and Bohdan Khobzey, specialist in medical data analysis.
The reputable jury included: Oleksandr Kulepin, CDTO of Lviv Regional State Administration; Olenka Gunko, CDTO of Lviv City Council; Yuriy Ivashchenko, open data specialist; Nazar Soroka, Head of EIA and CEO of the Department of Ecology and Natural Resources of Lviv Regional State Administration; Zvenyslava Mamchur, Head of the Department of Ecology of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv.

The victory of our team at this prestigious hackathon confirmed that students of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv have not only the necessary competencies, but also the desire to change their city for the better using modern approaches and data analysis tools.
We are grateful to the organisers, experts and mentors for their support and valuable experience! We would also like to thank Maksym Stoliarchuk, a lecturer at the Department of Public Administration and Business Management.