Last weekend Europe’s biggest Hackathon #EUvsVirus took place. Approximately 21.000 participants, more than 2.400 mentors, 380 volunteers and 800 partners joined forces to battle the Corona–crisis. More than 2000 projects have been handed in. The best solutions will be awarded 30 April. Afterwards the European Innovation Council (EIC) guarantes a rapid implementation as the hackathon was organised by the European Commission. The event was hold from 24 to 26 April. As others before the hackathon brought together stakeholders from the civil society, innovators, partners, private and public institutions and investors to develop innovative solutions to tackle the current crisis.
In Germany the event was initiated and organised by the Mannheim–based start–up The Hackathon Company. The event followed national hackathons. The highest number of projects came from Germany (389), then Italy (320) and Spain (315). Many participating teams were before involved in the federal German hackathon #WirVsVirus and so were able to scale their ideas on a European level.
"The next steps are now decisive and our focus lays on the implementation of projects. In that regard the hackathon is just about to become kind of a matchathon.“ explained Isidro Laso afterwards, responsible from the side of the EU and Deputy Head of Innovation Ecosystems in the European Commission.
The best projects will be awarded 30 April at 11 a.m. within an online–awarding. The ceremony can be streamed live via their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/EUvsVirus/. Evaluation is performed by an international jury of different backgrounds. Winners will benefit from the implementation capacities and resources of the European Innovation Council (EIC). Furthermore, the matchathon aspect of the award matches winners with investors, foundations and service providers from the health sector.
The Hackathon Company from Mannheim delivered the fully–automatic infrastructure for the online event which was a key element for enablping all participants to work hand in hand. Moreover, the startup was as a national curator responsible for building up an ecosystem for the event. “My Team and I have worked day and night for the last four weeks voluntarily on this project. Finally we were able to provide a solid basis to further aid in the fight against Corona, although our company is also in a difficult economic situation. That is what makes us really proud being able to deliver in this unique situation of historical dimensions.” commented Oliver Brümmer, founder and CEO of The Hackathon Company.
