The New Yorker has written – Estonia has great potential to beat COVID-19 virus fast and be back much stronger – but only if we move ultra fast. This time we are relying on youth, the ones who are experiencing a major part of the consequences of the quarantine, to make their contribution and voice their opinion.

During conventional hackathons people get together and form physical teams, but our hackathon will happen in a different way: we will be communicating through video calls and co-working online tools.

We want to offer youth a brainstorming opportunity that adults had a couple of weeks ago, namely “Hack the Crisis”. That idea was born instantly – Minister of Foreign Trade and Information Technology of Estonia Kaimar Karu’s call for enterprises to act was enough to put Garage48’s team to work. The event had around a thousand participants from 20 different countries. By now that event has become the example followed by various groups that have been organizing similar events around the world. All those events are supported by the initial organizers from Garage48 and Accelerate Estonia. Besides, some of the solutions produced during that hackathon have already been put to use.

Now it is the turn for youth to get to participate in the world-wide movement and develop their own ideas, and maybe even bring them to life!

We are inviting the students of your school to take part in the hackathon that is going to take place on 6th-9th of April, 2020, on your computer, in your phone – everywhere! Register now here 

During the hackathon students will form teams, come up with their ideas and develop a real prototype of their solution or a whole product! The solution could, for example, ease the burdens of distance learning or provide a new way of spending free time, anything that could make our world better right now – this is all up to our young changemakers. There are awards for the teams – and winner get 2000 eur in cash!

Throughout the event international and experienced mentors, professionals from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and the Ministry of Education and Research will be assisting the participants. The primary working languages are going to be English, Estonian and Russian.

Schedule

Monday, the 6th of April
16.00-18.00 Welcoming words and introduction
18.00-19.00 Hacking, stage 1: Research
19.00-20.00 Hacking, stage 2: Customer development
20:00 Inspiration hour
Tuesday , the 7th April
kl 16.00-17.00 Meeting with nannies
kl 17.00-18.00 Hacking, stage 3: Idea generation
kl 18.00-19.00 Selection of solution
kl 19.00-20.00 Hacking, stage 4: Sketching & storyboarding

Wednesday, the 8th of April
kl 16.00-17.00 Meeting with nannies
kl 17.00-18.00 Hacking, stage 5: prototyping
kl 18.00-19.00 Pitching training
kl 19.00-20.00 Meeting with nannies and Inspirational Boom

Thursday, the 9th of April
kl 16.00-16.30 Meeting with nannies and meeting with mentors
kl 16.30-17.00 Pitch finalizing, submission
kl 17:00-18.00 Reflection
kl 18.00-19.00 TOP10 presentation and awards ceremony
Organizers and partners: Ministry of the Education and Science, HITSA, Garage48, Startup Estonia, Swedbank, Noored kooli, Prototron, Edukoht, Tech Heroes Club, Narva  Incubator OBJEKT.