Ecco il progetto “EU United Against the Virus” Hackathon
POTENZA, 7 APRILE 2020 - Si pubblica la nota della Crui, relativa alla comunicazione pervenuta dal MUR, in merito al #EUnitedvsVirus - The pan European hackathon. Si tratta del primo hackathon paneuropeo per affrontare la crisi correlata a COVID-19, che la CE organizzerà dal 24 al 26 aprile. La Commissione europea ospiterà l’hackathon paneuropeo (https://euvsvirus.org/), organizzato congiuntamente con gli Stati membri, per collegare la società civile, gli innovatori, i partner e gli acquirenti in tutta Europa, al fine di sviluppare soluzioni innovative per superare la crisi legata al coronavirus.
#EUnitedvsVirus
Innovators, start-ups and makers of all sorts in Europe are working to develop innovative solutions to be deployed in the short-term to alleviate the negative consequences of the corona crisis. This work complements what researchers are doing in areas such as vaccines. There are five areas that have been identified as targets for these innovative solutions: Health & Medicine, Business Continuity, Social Cohesion, Protection of Risk Groups, and Education.
We all know that hospitals and elderly residences are having problems with supplies in health material, from respirators to masks. Business continuity is also disrupting the economy in many European Member States. Students are moving into e-learning without a transition phase. All these issues need urgent short-term solutions that only innovators and startups can provide in a fast an efficient way.
Many online hackathons have been organised across Europe since the beginning of March. There have been hackathons in Estonia, Finland, Poland, Italy, Belgium, and hackathons are also planned in the coming weeks in The Netherlands and Luxembourg. The largest hackathon has been the one organised in Germany on 20 March for 48 hours with 42869 participants who developed 800 projects.
#EUnitedvsVirus - The pan European hackathon
Together with European society, the European Commission is looking for solutions to challenges related to the coronavirus. Between 24 and 26 April, the first pan-European hackathon is organised to address the very acute problem of COVID-19. The Pan-European hackathon #EUnitedvsVirus is a joint event between the European Commission and actors from similar national initiatives from Member States on whose experiences the EU hackathon is building.
Innovators from all industries as well as committed citizens are invited to take part in this important event. Participation is possible on the dedicated website and on Twitter at #EUnitedvsVirus. The hackathon offers a common organizational and technical framework in which the participants can get involved online and develop working prototypes and solutions for technically, politically and socially relevant issues with regard to the corona crisis. It aims at commonly developing innovative solutions, e.g. high tech, low tech, hardware, software, etc., using biotech, digital tech, societal science and other innovation domains.
The event will be open to the European community of innovators, startups, makers, retailers, public and private buyers, end users etc. The overarching purpose of this event is to match-make and connect innovators, partners, buyers across Europe for the benefit of addressing imminent corona crisis issues (e.g. fast production of equipment, scaling up production capabilities, knowledge and solutions transfer from one country to another) and across various technological fields.
What after?
One of the main concerns related to the hackathons organised until now is the difficulties to follow up on the best projects stemming from the hackathon. To this aim, the pan European hackathon will provide avenues for uptake by end-users or follow-up development. The best solutions will be invited to join the European Innovation Council (EIC) Community Platform that will facilitate connections with end users (e.g. hospital) and will also provide access to investors, foundations and other funding opportunities from the EIC and other EU financial support mechanisms. It will also be a starting point of a much longer collaboration between the European Commission and the ecosystems of innovators, makers and startups across Europe in relation to the corona crisis. In addition, it will strengthen the overall ability of Europe to act together and respond to critical situations, such as the corona crisis.
Countries involved
The organisers of the national hackathons related to coronavirus are the partners of the European Commission on this pan European hackathon. They come from: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain. The European Commission expects more partners from other Member States this week.
A global hackathon “The Global Hack” will be held on 9-12 April and is organized by Garage48, an organization from Estonia.