NASA Space Apps Challenge: from Yaoundé to Douala, Cameroon is continuing its space adventure
For several years, NASA Space Apps Challenge is one of the world's great scientific and technological innovation events. Held simultaneously in many cities around the world, this hackathon invites developers, engineers, scientists, designers, students and enthusiasts to turn NASA's open data into concrete solutions for Earth and space.
Over the years, the program has continued to grow. 2023, the NASA Space Apps Challenge had gathered nearly 58,000 participants in 152 countries and territories, around more than 400 local events. In 2024, the program took a new step with 93 520 participants, 15 444 teams and 485 local events in 163 countries and territories.
Cameroon in the global movement
Cameroon has gradually joined this international dynamic. The edition 2024 In particular, it was organised at the The city of Yaoundé, where participants worked around the theme The sun touches everything, using NASA's open data to develop their projects.
In 2025, the movement continued with a local edition at French overseas departments and territories, organized the 4-5 OctoberIt 's okay . The city has thus joined the global network of Local Events of the NASA Space Apps Challenge, allowing talented Cameroonians to participate directly in this international competition.
This edition was part of a particularly important year for the program: the NASA Space Apps Challenge 2025 brought together 114 094 participants, distributed in Countries and Territories, within Local EventsIt 's okay . More than 11,500 projects were submitted at the end of the hackathon.
Douala sets course for 2026
In 2026, Douala continues this adventure with a new edition of the NASA Space Apps Challenge, scheduled for 14 and 15 November.
This time, the RECA Space Agency (RSA) participates in the co-organization of the event, with the ambition to further strengthen the participation of Cameroonian talents in this global community.
The objective remains the same: to bring together different profiles around real challenges, to exploit the scientific and space data made available by NASA and its partners, and to transform these resources into prototypes, applications, tools or concepts capable of responding to concrete problems.
NASA presents its Local Leads as key players in the program: they are the ones who bring the hackathon to life at the local level, mobilize the communities and create a link between the participants and the global Space Apps community.
An adventure beyond the hackathon
From Yaoundé to Douala, the history of Space Apps in Cameroon illustrates an evolution: that of a local community that is gradually integrating into a global movement of open science, innovation and collaboration.
For RSA, co-hosting the 2026 edition represents a new step in this dynamic. It offers young talented Cameroonians a space to experiment, collaborate and above all demonstrate that innovative solutions can also emerge from Douala.
On 14 and 15 November 2026, Douala will once again be connected to this global adventure.