We were delighted to participate in the Universal Postal Union’s hackathon held in Bern, Switzerland on June 24 and 25. The goal of the hackathon was ‘unlocking the value of postal data’ and the event had five major objectives:

1. Enable postal operators to seize the value of their data.

2. Foster development of data-based solutions and insights to enhance international postal network efficiencies.

3. Encourage data-driven innovation in the postal sector.

4. Facilitate collaboration to advance data-enabled innovation.

5. Advance work on UN Sustainable Development Goals 9, 12, 13 and 17.

Our hackathon team enjoyed meeting participants from over 20 countries, exchanging ideas and grappling with the challenges. It was a great opportunity for them to showcase their expertise in a collaborative, competitive and fun environment. We look forward to seeing the results and being part of future events.

Thank you to the UPU for inviting us and to its partners; La Poste Groupe, Eurora, EPFL, International Telecommunication Union, Opendata.ch, International Civil Aviation Authority and the United Nations Statistics Division for supporting and facilitating the event.