What does “For Good” mean?
The aim of this hackathon is to prototype data-driven solutions for societal problems. For Good means that the solutions we aim for are beneficial for society. Challenge owners want to cocreate these solutions. The work after the hackathon could lead to commercial products and services, but the results of the hackathon are preferably open source and actively shared.
I am not a coder, can I still join?
Certainly. Good teams represent a variety of skills and experiences. Business development, UX design, marketing are just as useful as data science and coding. If you sign up as an individual, we will help you join or set up a team.
How many days is the actual hackathon?
3 days or 48 hours. We start on Friday the 27th of November at 4PM and will announce the winner on Sunday at 4PM. The supporting programme began on November 2nd, but everyone will get access to the training material and exercises after registration and selection.
Are the results of the hackathon open source?
Yes, they are, unless explicitly communicated differently.
Should we pitch our idea to a jury and if so how?
It’s not a shark tank, but there will be a jury with a variety of experts. We have two pitching rounds. The first round is with the challenge owners and you will compete with other teams working on the same challenge. The second and final round will be run to determine the winner and runner up.
If I win, can I give my price to charity and if so, do you have a good tip?
You are free to do what you like with your price. There is no need to invest it in the follow up of the prototype, although we do stimulate people to try to take the next step. If you decide to go from “for good” to “feel good”, our charity of choice would be https://www.rainforesttrust.org/.
I am quite competitive and like to win, what are the criteria of the jury?
Creativity, Feasibility, Problem/Solution fit, Presentation & Mastering technology. So a well presented, out of the box solution, with beautiful code and instant satisfaction for the problem owner, after just a couple of more tweaks, will have a very good chance to win.