womENcourage 2021 HACKATHON challenge
Bridging communities to foster innovation
We are very excited to announce this year’s hackathon winners. We are very grateful to all teams for their amazing submissions. The winners for this year are Lavínia Peganini, Paula Rachow and Banovsha Isgandarova with their amazing project PurpleLearning, which connects young and elderly. To see their idea click here.
Hackathon is a short for hacker marathon, where teams race to create a functional prototype, which would bring a technological solution to a real-life problem.
Anyone who has an interest in technology can attend a hackathon to learn, build and share their creations in a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. You don’t have to be a programmer and you certainly don’t have to be majoring in Computer Science to run in this “invention marathon”. In case you need some help, there will also be mentors, who can provide programming support and help you build your project.
Do you want to improve your creativity, meet inspirational people, acquire knowledge and present the outcome of your team effort in front of the audience all in one day?
Join the womENcourage 2021 Hackathon challenge and show everyone your amazing creations!
JOIN HACKATHON
Theme and topic of the hackathon
Celebrate bridges built across boundaries of disciplines, boundaries between industry and academia, as well as boundaries among homogeneous communities, inviting individuals of all genders, nationalities and ages to co-create together.
What is the challenge?
This year, we are challenging you to create software solutions for connecting communities.
In more detail, the prototype you develop during the hackathon, should aim to meet one (or more) of the following goals:
- Help unite men and women and eliminates differences between them
- Reduce differences among social classes – kids education during covid
- Integrate immigrants(e.g. educated professionals are not working in their fields)
- Improve interaction between various age groups
- Eliminate barriers between abled and disabled people
- Connect people with contrasting beliefs (e.g. culture, religion, core values)
Why to join?
Meet inspirational people, acquire knowledge and present the outcome of your team effort in front of the audience all in one day.
Main prize: to be announced
Other Incentives:
- Mentoring & coaching
- Invaluable feedback from the esteemed judges
Who can join?
To honor the theme of the conference – Bridging communities to foster innovation – this year’s hackathon is open for the whole general public, students or non-students, with or without experience in IT, from any age category beyond 18.
Anyone over 18, who is attending womENcourage conference and has an interest in technology can attend the hackathon to learn, build and share their creations in a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. You don’t have to be a programmer and you certainly don’t have to be majoring in Computer Science to run in this “invention marathon”.
Important dates
| Registration (to join hackathon) opens | July 22, 2021 |
| Early registration (to join hackathon) due | August 31, 2021 |
| Late registration (to join hackathon) due | September 13, 2021 |
| Team composition published | September 15, 2021 |
| Hackathon date | September 24, 2021 |
Program
| 09:00–09:20 | Welcome to hackathon, introduction of hackathon team, Rules and expectations, Organization – making sure everyone has team |
| 09:20–09:30 | Questions |
| 09:30–17:00 | Hackathon |
| 17:15 | Deadline for presentation submission |
| 17:30–18:30 | Presentations |
| Judges consultation | |
| 18:45 | Start of closing ceremony |
| 19:15 | Hackathon results announcement |
Speakers, mentors and judges
To be announced later.
Prizes
To be announced later.
Resources
First, narrow down the problem. How can technology aid us in connecting communities? Decide what kind of issues you are going to focus on within this general theme.
Don’t forget to:
● Select your target audience, for whom you will develop your product (things to consider: their age, profession, nationality, background, skill set, disability etc.),
● Development platform for your app (Web, mobile etc.).
Second, design your solution. What features should your final product have in order to meet your goal(s)? Make sure to take into account:
● Any constraints of your audience such as accessibility of the interface or the quality of the internet connection,
● The resources you have access to (development environments, etc. ),
● The background of your team, e.g. design experience, business expertise, technical skills, educational background,
● The amount of time you have for development – the project presentations start at 17:30
Thirdly, prototype your solution. Even though solving a problem in groups can be challenging at first, encourage communication and collaboration between team members. There are great online development tools for simultaneous work on projects such as GitHub, where you can share the code with each other and keep track of what everyone is working on.
Finally, prepare your pitch. A hackathon pitch is a brief presentation that could persuade potential investors that your project can make a difference. Agree with your team on how you are going to present your project to the panel of judges. Here are some questions you may want to consider:
● What is the specific problem within the given theme, that your team is solving?
● Whom will your solution benefit?
● How does your project deal with the problem?
● What is your competitive advantage? Why is your solution better or different than others?
● What is the impact your solution can make (social, financial etc.)? Demonstrate the jury how your product works. You may also consider sharing links to the app or code in your presentation.
Rules and regulations
To participate in the hackathon:
- Register for womENcourage conference
- Register for the hackathon (early until 31.8., late until 13.9.)
- Please fill in the true information, it’s important to us for assigning the teams properly.
Rules:
- Whole project should be developed within the hackathon. Don’t use an already developed project (fully or partially).
- Let us know if anything prevents you from participating in the hackathon. Consider we have a waiting list and places on the hackathon are limited.
- Be on time.
Eligibility
- You must be at least 18 years old
- Registered to womENcourage
- To honor the theme of the conference – Bridging communities to foster innovation – this year’s hackathon is open for the whole general public, students or non-students, with or without experience in IT, from any age category beyond 18.
Deliverables
Participants will submit their presentation and all accompanying files of their project (source codes etc.) into a designated folder on Google Drive.
Judging criteria
Technology (0 – 5 points)
- Functionality – Does the solution work? Can the group show the minimum viable product?
- Theme – How well does the project conform to the topic of the Hackathon?
- Creativity – Is the idea new, original and innovative, has this solution ever been used?
- Effectivity – Is the solution optimized?
Impact (0 – 5 points)
- Economic value – Does the project spare time or money? Does it need more investment?
- Sustainability – Can you imagine that the project will be used for many years? Is it timeless?
- Use – Is it easy to use for intended users, stakeholders?
Presentation
- Attractivity – Is it attractive for investors? Do the investors feel like: That cool! We want it!!
- Presentation – Does the team present the idea interestingly? Do they speak fluently and no monotone?
- Knowledge about the project – Can the team answer the question about the idea?
What do the points mean?
| 0 – 1 point | Sufficient |
| 2 – 3 points | Good |
| 4 – 5 points | Fantastic |
Your hackathon team
We are wITches. Members of the student club formed by women studying at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at CTU in Prague. We love to teach kids and the public about the beauty of IT, programming, robots and fundamentals of electrical circuits.
If you have any questions you can contact us via email witches@fel.cvut.cz
JOIN HACKATHON
Q&A
For more questions see this document.