Hackathons
Powerful tool to mobilize resources and create value together
As part of its mission to strengthen the innovation ecosystem of Albania, the EU for Innovation project will organize a series of hackathons and one bootcamp to bring together Albanian universities and start-ups in solving real-life challenges from industry and society; with the help of CrazyTown/ Finland.
What is a hackathon?
A hackathon is normally a 36-hour innovation event, where teams of enthusiastic university students and staff members supported by mentors come to create solutions for the real-life needs of the challenge-owners.
These solutions can be services, products or new concepts. Jury selects the winner(s) at the end of the hackathon, who get to implement their solutions in practice.
Winning teams receive support from EU for Innovation project and its partners, including access to mentors, support and potential funding. Hackathons are facilitated by experts from Crazy Town.
Who is involved?
Each hackathon brings together curious minds from all backgrounds:
- Business and society: As challenge-owner, you can use hackathons to solve your needs, find new ideas and make societal impact. You can also join hackathon as a partner, offering your existing services, technology or mentoring for the participants to utilize.
- Participants: As ”hackers” you are the stars of the show. We are looking for entrepreneurial individuals, who want to learn and experiment new things. Participants are students, experts, researchers or university-based start-ups.
- Universities and innovation support organizations: Provide expertise and participants for the hackathons, as well as use the hackathons to launch new cooperation with business.
Coming up: iKorca Hackathon – 11-13 December 2020
iKorca hackathon is a 48-hour innovation event that brings together teams of innovators (students, university researchers & staff members, university-based startups & other talent), supported by experts to create solutions for real-life challenges.
Your solutions can be services, products, concepts, apps, software demo or new insight on how to approach the challenge. You come up with an innovative new solution or apply with your existing project.
iKorca hackathon is organized online, but for local teams based in Korca we offer additional face-to-face mentoring and support.
For more information and to join the iKorca Hackathon visit: https://hackathon.al/
Who can participate?
Hackathon is open for teams of innovators. You can be students, university researchers and teachers, university-based startups or individual talents and freelancers.
You don’t need to have ICT background to participate!
We are especially looking for teams with interest to work as entrepreneurs in the future.
Note that you don’t need to be based in Korca – hackathon is open for anyone from Albania. However, we will give preference to people living in and around Korca or that can demonstrate a special interest to found their start-ups in Korca.
What do you get?
Support and prizes from EU for Innovation for the winning teams to help implement their ideas in practice with the challenge-owners.
Potential collaboration or employment opportunities with some of the challenge-owners.
Winning teams receive support from EU for Innovation project and its partners to accelerate their solutions towards a Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
If you have an interest to work as an entrepreneur / start-up at some point, this event brings you international connections and access.
How to make Tirana the European hotspot for digital nomads? February 5-7, 2020
Tirana and its business need entrepreneurial talent to grow. The city has potential to become the location, where international knowledge workers want to come and contribute. Teams can take a narrow or broad approach when solving this challenge. These are examples – it’s up to you as participant to decide how!
i) Branding and promotion: How to reach digital nomads?
What key messages, campaigns, channels or content and events could be tested?
ii) Matchmaking: How to connect local opportunities with international talent?
What kind of communities, collaborative spaces, online market places, events and services are needed?
iii) Living in Tirana: What daily services and infrastructure digital nomads require and expect?
Teams can focus on issues such as accommodation, digital economy, banking and payments, telecommunications, family services, daycare and schools, safety, disaster resilience or health and wellbeing.
Hack the Crisis Albania 3-5 April 2020
EU for Innovation, in partnership with CrazyTown and Coolab Tirana is organizing an online hackathon where participants solve one of the biggest crises of our lifetime affecting everyone in the world – the coronavirus epidemic.
How do we help Albanian society to overcome the situation?
This event is part of the international / global ”Hack the Crisis” movement initiated by Garage48, AccelerateEstonia and the whole startup community in Estonia, in March 2020.
This is a call for action to each and every-one willing to participate in the fight.
Starting from Friday 3rd of April at 17.00 until Sunday April 5th at 18.00, during 48-hours participants will develop ideas that are prototype-able, which could help solve the crisis and help deal with the aftermath.
Ideas can be related to the themes of:
– saving lives
– saving communities
– saving businesses
Applications are open to teams and individuals.
More info on the online hackathon [including agenda, mentors and partners joining the event] can be found on Hack the Crisis Albania – website.
How to help Albanian businesses with new affordable digital solutions? 25-27 May 2020
At the third EU for Innovation Hackathon, participants [teams of enthusiastic university students & staff members, start-ups & innovators] will solve the real-life challenges presented by Albanian stakeholders.
Get introduced to challenge owners, such as:
• Albanian Commercial Union
• Albanian Manufacturers’ Union
• Young Entrepreneurs of Albania Union
• NOA financial institution/ AMA
• Kredo Finance/ AMA
Teams will receive support from EU for Innovation project and its partners. Hackathons are facilitated by experts from Crazy Town, in cooperation with ICTSLab & Oficina.
Choose which challenge your team wants to focus on. Hackathon3 will be looking for solutions that are actionable, impactful and insightful!
Challenge 1: How to help businesses to better understand and make use of e-commerce/ omnichannel solutions?
Challenge 2: How to improve HR workflows, processes and transparency with affordable digital solutions?
Challenge 3: How to make use of real-time data and technologies for better decision-making and cooperation?
June 2020
Showcases the results, provides teams access to new resources and helps them to do business model design.
For information about hackathons, contact Mikko or Valbona
