What a weekend! Twenty teams from around the world took part in the hackathon and worked intensively on 15–16 November to create digital stories about our relationship with water.

Two teams received financial prizes from the EU4Ocean Coalition, and the winning team additionally received a one-year Grammarly PRO license. First place went to the JellyFish Pro team, which collaborated remotely with mentors from Gdynia Aquarium. Congratulations to all of them!

All teams worked hard on their solutions. Twelve of them will continue developing their prototypes, which will be featured in December in online and local exhibitions hosted by the hackathon’s partner institutions.

We would like to thank all experts, mentors, partners and co-organisers for their collaboration, and we commend our participants for their courage.
It was certainly an unusual and remarkable challenge.

Hackathon Digiblue: invitation

When and where: 15-16.11.2025 / Gdynia Aquarium

We’re looking for bold, creative minds ready to craft engaging educational stories—visual, interactive, immersive, or multimedia—about aquatic ecosystems. From climate change and biodiversity loss to maritime heritage and civic engagement, your story can shift narratives and inspire action.

You’ll work in teams of 2–7 people. You can form your own team (recommended!) or join an existing one. You don’t need to be a coder—this hackathon welcomes everyone aged 15–25.

Participants will get access to the educational platform. The hackathon organisers provide support in storytelling development, content validation, and using digital tools.

This is an international competition co-organised by nine institutions.

What will we create during the hackathon?

Each team will design digital storytelling concepts (presentations) addressing local or regional issues related to ecosystem degradation, climate change, and sustainable practices.

Your project should focus on aquatic ecosystems and use at least one digital tool. The Gdynia Aquarium exhibition will serve as the backdrop for your stories. Participants may use digital and AI tools—for example, to design film concepts, interactive websites, apps, animations, or other narrative forms exploring the importance of oceans and waters.

Each participant brings their own working tools. The Gdynia Aquarium provides workspace, light refreshments, and writing materials.

Each team must submit:

• a completed submission canvas (DigiEduHack project form)
• a 3-minute pitch in English describing the idea, process, team, and goals
• optionally, a prototype (a demonstrative version of the project)

Evaluation criteria are available on the DigiEduHack challenge page:
https://digieduhack.com/challenges/hack-the-blue-digital-stories-for-a-water-wise-world

Prizes

€700 – for the best solution
€300 – for the runner-up

Participants will also receive gift packs from the local organisers.
Additionally, the best local team will be awarded a behind-the-scenes guided tour of the Gdynia Aquarium.

Hackathon schedule

Saturday, 15 November
9:30 CET / Global DigiBlue DigiEduHack Kick-off (max 15 min), led by BonoLab and Alrose Consulting.
10:00–15:00 CET / Online mentoring sessions available. Local mentoring coordinated by onsite organisers.
Local closing time decided individually.

Sunday, 16 November
9:30 CET – Global check-in (English, max 10 min; at least one team member must attend), led by BonoLab and Alrose Consulting.
10:00–12:00 CET – Online mentoring sessions available.
13:00 CET – Submission deadline.
13:15–15:30 CET – Jury deliberation (online, one shared jury for all locations).
15:30 CET – Global connection and announcement of winners (max 45 min).

How to join?

To participate, contact your local organiser – Gdynia Aquarium (NMFRI).
You’ll need to register as a hackathon participant to receive your participation certificate after the event.

Hackathon idea

Join a global creative hackathon to co-develop digital stories about oceans, rivers, and water systems.
Help us build ocean awareness using AI and digital tools to reveal the hidden value of aquatic life and ecosystems.
Oceans, seas, and inland waters are essential for life on Earth—they sustain biodiversity, regulate climate, and shape our cultural identity.
The DigiBlue project combines traditional storytelling with 21st-century digital tools to raise awareness of our deep interconnection with aquatic ecosystems.

Project partners:

Alrose Consultants Ltd (UK) – alrose.co.uk
Akwarium Gdyńskie MIR-PIB (Poland) – akwarium.gdynia.pl
Baltic Living Lab (Estonia) – balticlivinglab.com
Blue Anew (Global Skills Network, International) – blueskills.eu
BonoLab ApS (Denmark) – bonolab.com
Den Levende Fiskerihavn (Denmark) – denlevendefiskerihavn.dk
Global Skills Network – globalskillsnetwork.org
I Vandet (Denmark) – ivandet.dk
Marine Education Center in Malmö (Sweden) – smkc.se
University of Copenhagen (Denmark) – ku.dk

Polish NGOs:
Fundacja Akwarium Gdyńskiego “Otwarte Morze”
Polski Klub Ekologiczny Okręg Pomorski
Sopockie Towarzystwo Naukowe

The project ‘Digiblue DigiEduHack’ is implemented by Bonolab with the support of the EU4Ocean Coalition, funded by the European Commission.

More information:

https://digieduhack.com/challenges/hack-the-blue-digital-stories-for-a-water-wise-world

For the approaching time, we wish you a slowdown, rays of sun, and many peaceful breaths.

Our Easter bunny this year is the lumpfish, which is called “marine bunny” in Polish.

A fish known for its balanced lifestyle and jumping along the bottoms of cold seas.

We hope to meet with you on Easter Monday, and you can see the lumpfish on April 20th during opening of our new exhibition

When: 1-11.06
Where: online

During the “Ocean of Changes” event, we invite participants to explore, experience and discover information about the marine environment. We have only one ocean that provides food, jobs and supports the economies of countries, is a source of inspiration, recreation and discovery, and an important element in the heritage of many cultures. So we invite you to play the municipal game prepared by science-related institutions from all over the Tri-City! The game is played online.

What is it about?

In the game “The Science Agency: In Defense of Truth”, you can visit 15 different Institutions, which will allow you to face a different set of tasks to be solved. It is worth visiting every point, because for each correct solution your position in the Science Agency will increase! As a reward for your progress, you will be given the chance to advance through the ranks of the Science Agency, finally putting your environmental knowledge to the test and earning the title of Doubter’s Fear! More information about the game can be found on the website of the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

The ocean is a beautiful and rich world, so it must be protected!

On 1-11.06, the combined virtual, city and exhibition space of the Gdynia Aquarium will offer scientific issues as well as those that affect the human imagination. We will discover the stories of the Baltic Sea, show the species diversity of organisms with a typically marine origin and trace the impact of humans on aquatic ecosystems.

Wanted alive

If you wander into the Gdynia Aquarium, find 12 animals marked with posters WANTED ALIVE. You will find information that will help to answer the questions of the Science Agency. You have a chance to personally meet the organisms, which are discussed in the marine adventure. However, if you would like to here about them only online, take part in the game or visit our education section.

LISTEN ABOUT THE MARINE ANIMALS…

PLAY THE GAME:

SELECT THE ROUTE OF THE GDYNIA AQUARIUM:

Gdynia Aquarium Education Center invites organized groups to participate in ONLINE CLASSES.

The topics of the classes and their scenarios were prepared on the basis of over 20 years of experience in conducting active marine education by the Gdynia Aquarium and in cooperation with teachers and school groups who helped us test online solutions. Both the enthusiasm of the students and the results of the questionnaire filled in by the group supervisors turned out to be very successful, and therefore we invite you to sign up for online educational classes from the NMFRI Gdynia Aquarium Education Center.

The regular price is PLN 100 per group (up to 30 people).

If you are interested please contact us at akwarium.edukacja@mir.gdynia.pl or phone at  690 119 184.

The regulations of the classes in polish

Topics

As in case of the regular classes, the offer is adapted to the age of the participants:

Colorful Life on the Coral Reef (age 4-6)
We live at the Baltic (age 4-6)
The Baltic Sea at large (1-4 class of primary school)
Inhabitants of the Coral Reef (1-4 class of primary school)
Fauna and flora of the Baltic (>4 class of primary school)
Great Barrier Reef (>4 class of primary school)
Let’s meet sharks (>4 class of primary school)
The animals of the Gdynia Aquarium.

Why should you use this offer now?

Year 2021 has officialy begun the Decade for Oceans.
Despite the restrictions related to the pandemic and the difficult situation in schools, neither the natural world nor the sensitivity shaped in young people stand still.

Online classes conducted by the Gdynia Aquarium Education Center are an opportunity to learn about the inhabitants of the underwater world from specialists and without geographical limitations.

Technical requirements

Internet connection speed requirements ensuring smooth connection during online classes are 5 Mb / s data download and 1 Mb / s data upload. With a slower connection, there may be problems with the display of the image and the sound transmission.

Sign up today!

By many of us, the Baltic Sea is treated as a lifeless underwater desert, while in fact, the bottom zone is rich in flora and fauna. We will focus on zoobenthos, which includes organisms that dwell on the seabed regardless of whether they bury in sediments, walk on the bottom or simply just lie/sit on it. We will meet members of a few groups living in the Baltic – oligochaetes, polychaetes, molluscs and crustaceans. It is true however, that, due to periodic or permanent oxygen deficits, lifeless areas occur on the Baltic seabed. Oxygen depletion is mainly caused by eutrophication. Another significant environmental problems involve remnants after World War II that pollute the sea water. Will the pollution deprive the Baltic Sea of life? You will receive the answer during a webinar with educators from the Gdynia Aquarium.

The webinars are in English.

More information about the event >>

More information about the cycle of webinars “I live by the sea – summer school” >>

If you plan to visit the Gdynia Aquarium during your vacation, we encourage you to familiarize yourself with our new holiday regulations. From July 10, we modified the rules for ticket sales and sightseeing.

• We strongly encourage you to buy tickets online at: https://sklep.akwarium.gdynia.pl/
  An online ticket can be purchased even on the day of your visit to the Gdynia Aquarium. It does not require printing. Please just make sure that the code from the attachment in the e-mail is displayed correctly on your phone.
• If you buy tickets at the Aquarium ticket office, we recommend card payment.
  Please do not exceed the designated lines when making the purchase.
• The limit of people who can be in the building at the same time will now be 450. We will no longer limit the sale of tickets for specific hours.
  In the entire building of the Gdynia Aquarium, it is mandatory to cover the nose and mouth. It does not apply only to children under 4 years of age. Please also show concern for yourself and others and keep social distance.
• For the duration of restrictions related to the threat of coronavirus infection, we suspend the possibility of visiting the Gdynia Aquarium by organized groups. By organized group, we mean persons who jointly participate in an organized trip, e.g. by school and educational facilities, school and care facilities, travel agencies, workplaces, organizations, etc., constituting one entity for the service provider.
• After entering the Gdynia Aquarium, you should disinfect your hands with fluid that is at the entrance gates.
• Please do not touch the display elements including the aquaria, and refrain from placing your hands in open display tanks.
• We are temporarily suspending the “Happy Hours” offer.

Thank you for your understanding and see you at the Gdynia Aquarium!

We are pleased to announce that from Friday, May 22, the Gdynia Aquarium can be visited again by external guests.

At May 22, we are coming back to present the beauty of the underwater world. At the same time, we want to ensure the safety of all guests, employees of companies we work with, as well as our team. Therefore, we had to modify the rules of visiting and buying tickets.

Due to the epidemic situation, admission to the exhibition takes place at designated hours: 9:00 am; 9:45; 10:30; 11:15; 24:00; 12:45; 13:30; 14:15; 15:00; 15:45; 16:30; 17:15; 18:00; 18:45. A ticket purchased for one of the above dates authorizes access to the facility within 30 minutes of the selected admission time. Due to the above restrictions, in the event of greater interest in visiting the Gdynia Aquarium, the waiting time for entering the facility may be extended.

The rules for visiting and selling tickets change from July 1.The limit of people staying at the same time is increased to 350, while the limited sale of tickets for specific hours is lifted.

• We recommend buying tickets online. Tickets can be purchased at sklep.akwarium.gdynia.pl 30 days in advance, choosing a specific time to enter the exhibition. Internet tickets are available no later than the day before the scheduled visit. This means that if you would like to visit the aquarium on the day you decide to do so, you will be able to buy tickets only at the ticket office of the Aquarium. In this case, one should be aware of the fact that they may simply be missing.

• If you buy tickets at the Aquarium ticket office, we recommend card payment. Please do not exceed the designated lines when making the purchase.

• A maximum of 200 people can be at the exhibits at one time. Some rooms, elevators and toilets are subject to specific limits that must also be followed.
• For the duration of restrictions related to the threat of coronavirus infection, we suspend the possibility of visiting the Gdynia Aquarium by organized groups. By organized group, we mean persons who jointly participate in an organized trip, e.g. by educational and care facilities, school and care facilities, travel agencies, workplaces, organizations, etc., constituting one entity for the service provider. 
  
• In the entire building of the Gdynia Aquarium, it is mandatory to cover the nose and mouth.It does not apply only to children under 4 years of age. Persons who will not comply with this provision will not be able to enter the AG. By covering your mouth and nose, we protect others. Please show care for your fellow visitors. Exposing the mouth and nose during the tour will result in asking to leave the Aquarium building (not applicable to the food court on the Aquarium terrace).

• After entering the Gdynia Aquarium, you should disinfect your hands with fluid that is available at the entrance gates.
• Please do not touch the display elements, including the tank windows, and refrain from placing your hands in open display tanks
  For the sake of others and ourselves, let’s keep at least a 2-meter social distance.

We encourage you to read the full tour regulations, which are available here (updated on June 04,2020).

VISITING RULES

Thank you for your understanding and see you at the Gdynia Aquarium!

In the interests of our guests, due to the threat of coronavirus, we decided to close the exhibition of the Gdynia Aquarium until farther notice.

We wish you health.

Greetings,

Gdynia Aquarium Team