COVID-19 Hackathons
With the global outbreak of COVID-19 and the race to stop the spread of the disease, communities of tech professionals, data scientists, healthcare professionals, designers, researchers and entrepreneurs are coming together online to collaborate, innovate and quickly find solutions through hackathons. There are many hackathons taking place across Europe; below is a list of current and upcoming hackathons which we will keep updated.
If you have any updates or additions, or would like to speak to us about your hackathon please get in touch
#BuildforCOVID19 (WHO, Microsoft, Facebook, Giphy, Pinterest, Slack, TikTok, Twitter, WeChat )
30 March
Objective - The COVID-19 Global Hackathon is an opportunity for developers to build software solutions that drive social impact, with the aim of tackling some of the challenges related to the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
We’re encouraging YOU - innovators around the world - to #BuildforCOVID19 using technologies of your choice across a range of suggested themes and challenge areas - some of which have been sourced through health partners including the World Health Organization and scientists at the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub.
The hackathon welcomes locally and globally focused solutions, and is open to all developers - with support from technology companies and platforms including AWS, Facebook, Giphy, Microsoft, Pinterest, Salesforce, Slack, TikTok, Twitter and WeChat, who will be sharing resources to support participants throughout the submission period.
Outcomes: The winners can be viewed here - https://covid-global-hackathon.devpost.com/submissions. They included, amongst other: Computationally Accelerated Reverse Vaccinology; 3D Printed PAPR Mask; Frontlinehelper.org - Connect donors, volunteers, restaurants and child/elder care workers with those on the front line of COVID-19, who need help with food deliveries, child/elder care, etc; Sequoia -
An SMS-based platform made to help hospitals handle the burden of exponential patient influx by remotely connecting users to healthcare providers for triage; LiliusMed - Intuitive decision making platform where government agencies, hospitals, and suppliers can quickly and accurately gauge current supply, anticipate future case burden, and forecast upcoming needs.
#Tech4Covid (Movement tech4COVID19)
ongoing
Objective - To contribute with solutions and operations to support and streamline the fight against the pandemic.
Outcomes: 1) accomodation for relocated health professionals, 2) fundraising, 3) Technical information for MD (app), 4) personal protective equipment collection, 5) free video medical consultation, 6) trach infected people, 7) virtual triage assistant, 8) symptom tracking 9) digital learning platform, 10) Online shopping and delivery service (local commerce), 11) app to circumvent crowded stores.
CODEVID-19 (Grassroots, Dev Edmonton Society (software developers))
16 March - end of April
Objective - Build useful apps that people can use to manage and survive during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Members of the Dev Edmonton Society, a large network of local software developers, launched the hackathon, called CODEVID-19.
Teams of developers and designers compete for modest prizes each week until late April. The competition is designed to inspire programmers to solve COVID-19-related problems in fields such as health care, education, retail and emergency management.
Outcomes: CODEVID-19 launched on March 16, 2020 and has reached 1,600 collaborators worldwide. Teams working together are people from Indonesia, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, and, participants can be anyone who is a developer or designer working on an app as well as subject matter experts (SME).
Projects compete in four problem areas: supporting crisis response, understanding the pandemic, social distancing and isolation, and scarcity and the economy.
Users have created projects that include a website that helps volunteer doctors or nurses sign up to take video calls from anyone in the world who has questions about COVID-19, a real-time data update on COVID-19 stats and a website that predicts coronavirus cases over the next 30 days and displays the number of available beds in U.S. hospitals.
Corona Denktank
ongoing
Objective - The Corona Think Tank is a citizens' movement that devises and builds alternative solutions to mitigate the suffering of COVID19 and reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Soon after the Belgian lockdown, mid-March 2020, the citizen movement has grown in a few days from individuals to a network of thousands of citizens who have combined their broad expertise to build solutions. From IT professionals to seamstresses and from emergency doctors to communication specialists, everyone works together in a flexible, flexible and targeted manner.
Outomes: During the crisis, the civilian movement built a distributed factory of thousands of makers and logistics helpers who manufacture do-it-yourself products. The network has already manufactured and distributed some 200,000 personal protection products to aid workers. Within other initiatives, the network collected thousands of laptops, launched a barrier-free video conferencing system, online guides for rescuers, and tips for grief in times of need. We also built prototypes of fans, methods to hang multiple patients on one fan, thermometers, etc. We translated a lot of information into more than just our three national languages, so that information becomes accessible to everyone.
The movement has resulted in production of: 1) guidelines for DIY face masks, 2) praatbox.be - easy to use videochat, 3) Elke Leerling Online - platform to exchange laptops for kids that don't have a computer at home, allowing them to home school, 4) ver-bon-den.be - platform to buy giftcards from your favorite local merchants
#HackCorona (Data Natives)
20 -22 March - closed
Objective - Identifying the main pain points in the current health crisis situation. Coming up with solutions for: Protecting the elderly and medical workers; Offloading the healthcare system with faster diagnosis options and medical equipment delivery and/or assembly; Assisting with daily responsibilities for the ones who need it the most (e.g childcare, grocery shopping and medication etc.)
Outcomes:
Winners: 1) Distrik5- a community currency to incentivize people to volunteer and help the elderly with their needs by rewarding their time via digital currency, 2) Homenauts - platform with ideas on how to better cope with isolation where users can submit useful resources, 3) DIY ventilator scout - chatbot to help engineers build a DIY ventilator by giving instructions and data regarding the availability of components needed to build a ventilator, 4) Covid encounters - mobile app for tracking exposure and alerting citizens without compromising their privacy, 5) HacKIT-19 - easy-to-use app to help individuals, families, and decision-makers to make better decisions based on self-reported symptoms and real-time data, 6) Quantum Drug Screening - algorithm for drug screening using quantum calculations to describe the drug molecules that have been already approved and can be adopted in therapy faster, 7) BioReactors - small data AI-powered tool for the optimization of bioreactor settings and nutrition mixtures to scale the vaccine production much faster than usual, 8) "Our Team" - creating prediction models for Covid-19 outbreak based on a machine learning algorithm with an option to change the parameters and view results.
#WirVsVirus (Bundesregierung)
20-22 March
Objective - Working prototypes and solutions - digital and non-digital - are developed for socially relevant issues related to the corona crisis
Outcomes:
After the hackathon, 20 initiatives were selected, which will be developed further and will become available open-source: 1) 'Sicher Test': app to register COVID-19 related symptoms and to see in which triage centre they can have a test.
2) ‘Das Digitale Wartezimmer’: questionnaire on COVID-19 symptoms. If necessary, you can make an appointment to perform a test.
3) Small Business Hero’: app to connect local merchants with local consumers
4) ‘Wir sind Remedy’: app that helps with the distribution of stuff that people or companies want to make available to help against the crisis.
5) ‘Machbarschaft’: through this app, local residents can offer themselves to do something for other people in the neighbourhood: Shopping, small jobs, collecting medicines. Special attention to the elderly and people with no internet connection: the app calls them by phone and a AI-driven bot processes their wishes.
6) ‘Meinegemeinde.digital’: the app offers several options to maintain an (online) religious meeting
7) ‘Jobs Around You’ – JAY: app to connect unemployed people with companies that urgently need aid
8) ‘Colivery’: the app allows people unable to go shopping to make an online wishlist. People that can go shopping can use the app to check if they can bring anything for one of their neighbours.
9) I.R.I.S. – Infection Response Information System: connection of healthcare professionals, to allow information exchange on therapy, care and diagnosics.
10) U:Do: App that gives information on the reduction of working hours (rights, which documents are needed, …)
11) Print4Life: The app aims to map "bottlenecks" in crucial production chains and thus support the production of necessary products, such as PPEs (mouth masks, etc.)
12) Coronav – Infektionsübermittlung: This app aims to simplify the triage of sick people
13) DEalog: app to inform citizens on the COVID-19 pandemic.
14) #liquidebleiben: Via the app, companies can use their profile to test if they are eligible for certain financial aid programs
15) Call vs. Corona: This hotline was developed for illiterate people and people who do not have access to the internet. Via low-tech voice technology, callers can consult an FAQ to obtain information about the new corona virus.
16) IDA – Informationsplattform für Deutsche im Ausland: The app was developed to connect Germans abroad with information from the German embassy
17) OpenLogistics: The app aims to make logistics chains more transparent, so that all companies within a chain are better aware of the current transport processes.
18) Fastbordercrossing.org: People that have to travel across internal borders can register the reasons for travelling. This facilitates the border controls.
19) Videobesuch: app to make video call easier. Family member can plan a video call, which will start automatically at the given hour.
20) WirFürUns: the apps makes it easier to shop for someone else.
CodeVSCOVID19 (ETH Zürich / ACK Zürich)
27 March
Objective - Develop open-source prototypes
Outcomes: 306 project here: https://codevscovid19.devpost.com/submissions
You can still vote for your favorite projects
Corona Emergency hackathon
13 March- ongoing
Objective - Actionable ideas on how science and technology can help: (1) An App for real-time geoinformation about outbreaks, (2) Rapid scale up of domestic production of protective gear, (3) Identification of further challenges.