Genhack 4 - Hackathon for generative modelling

Urban areas are increasingly exposed to climate-related temperature extremes, and city dwellers are the first witnesses and victims of these impacts. The urban heat island effect—where cities experience higher temperatures than surrounding rural areas due to dense buildings, asphalt, and reduced vegetation—is intensifying heatwaves, increasing energy demand, and worsening air quality.

Given the concentration of populations and infrastructure in cities, there is an urgent need to understand, measure, and mitigate these urban heat effects and to develop new tools for planning resilient urban environments.

The consequences of urban heat islands can be seen in prolonged heat events, elevated nighttime temperatures, and higher risks of heat-related health problems, particularly affecting vulnerable populations such as the elderly and children. Understanding and addressing these effects is critical for creating livable, sustainable, and climate-resilient cities.

The challenge focuses on downscaling weather data to city-scale maps, capturing urban heat domes and enabling accurate indicators of extreme temperatures for decision-making and risk modelling.

The final objective is to evaluate and improve downscaled weather datasets for urban areas, in order to better capture the heat dome effect and provide more accurate temperature estimates in cities.

Create your team among hundreds of students among the top universities around the world!

Registration : 2025, October 6th to November 7th.

Kick-off : 2025, November 12th at 6pm ( Paris time)

Competition : November 13th to December 4th

                         November 20th: Evaluation #1

                         November 27th : Evaluation #2

                         December 4th : Evaluation #3

Deadline : 2027, November 7th

Data challenge are like marathons: Some people go to compete but most people take part to better themselves and have fun. Whatever the reason is you are at a data challenge, make sure you are upholding the spirit of data challenge by collaborating with other teams, and having fun.

1. As a participant, you must treat all team members, competitors, judges, professors, with respect and courtesy.
2. Hackathon teams will be a maximum of 5 people and a minimum of 3 people.
3. Teams have to be made exclusively of students (from undergraduate to doctoral studies).
4. All your code must be in Python and open source.
5. A monetary prize for a winning team will be shared equally between all team members.
6. Teams can of course gain advice and support from organizers, sponsors, coaches and others.
7. All members of winning teams will have to provide proof of their student status. If not the whole team will be disqualified.
8. Winning teams will have to assist to the closing event either in person or via a visio-conference system.
9. Teams can be disqualified from the competition at the organisers’ discretion. Reasons might include but are not limited to breaking the Competition Rules.
10. The agenda and the evaluation method are susceptible to change, in a fair and appropriate way, in case of unforeseen events.

Any questions ? Please send us an email to:

genhack@polytechnique.fr 

Charles-Albert Lehalle : Professor at Ecole poytechnique.

Jean Pachebat : PhD Student at Ecole polytechnique.

Marine Saux : Project Manager at Ecole polytechnique.