Over 1,500 benevolent hackers will meetup in 11 cities throughout Spain for HackForGood — an initiative that looks to take on over 200 challenges facing society.
HackForGood takes place March 8 – 11 with the aim of proposing innovative technological solutions that respond to a series of social challenges posed by the general public.
The goal of the interuniversity initiative is to build a better world by taking advantage of the wave of progress that comes with being immersed in a “Digital Society.”
During the sixth edition of the hackathon, hackers will develop applications associated with social challenges in record time.
An important part of HackForGood is the evaluation of the training of “multidisciplinary” teams that include all types of backgrounds including designers, computer scientists, engineers, technicians, sociologists, and social entrepreneurs.
Participants will be able to access three prize categories: “Local,” “Global,” and “Big Day.”
The HackForGood Big Day Awards, totalling €12,000, will be granted in a special act in the fourth quarter of 2018 to those winning technological solutions of all the venues that have significance for their continuity and result from their presentation to the HackForGood until that date.
The Global HackForGood Awards, totalling €20,000, are awarded to the three best technological solutions with which they have attended at any of the participating venues during the HackForGood.
The HackForGood Local Awards, which vary from city-to-city, are granted directly at each local headquarters during the HackForGood.
The criteria for selecting the winning technological equipment and solutions are:
- CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION of the proposed solution
- DEGREE OF FINISHING achieved during the hackathon
- SOCIAL IMPACT of the proposed solution
The Spanish cities that will host this sixth edition are Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Murcia, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Valladolid, Vigo, Salamanca, Cáceres, and Ciudad-Real.
According to the HackForGood website, education has a strong correlation with the economic and social development of a country. If a few years ago the professions that emerged with the appearance of the Internet were totally unknown, today the vast majority are already part of everyday life.
Web analytics, big data or e-commerce are no longer strange terms to become habitual; and today, the Big Data architect, the Data Scientist, the SEO specialist, the Web Analytics expert, the content editor, the community manager, etc. are all postulated as the most demanding job descriptions.
Therefore, the equation to create employment goes through adding education, digitalization and entrepreneurship.
HackForGood does this with “multidisciplinary” teams, and education through the more than 20 participating universities, along with digitalization and entrepreneurship through Telefónica and the rest of the participating entities.
