48hrs. Get ready to build an impactful solution. And have fun while at it.
oUR HackathonS overview
Our hackathons last for 48 hours and take place over a weekend, from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. The hackathons are free of charge for participants and include overnight accommodation as well as food arrangements. Each hackathon event seeks financial backing from corporate sponsors and relies on the help of volunteers and partner organizations to succeed.
Participants work in teams to solve challenges provided by our case contributors. Throughout the hackathon, all teams consult with mentors to discuss their work-in-progress in order to get feedback and to fuel new inputs for their solution development. The hackathon ends on Sunday afternoon with project presentations in front of a jury composed of a range of subject-matter experts, corporate sponsors & partner representatives and eventually with the final prize ceremony.
Solving a challenge is about finding an innovative idea, developing it to create a working prototype and eventually demonstrating how it addresses the challenge it is meant to solve.
Free of charge
Our hackathons are completely free of charge.
Photo by Eugenia Clara
Open to everyone
Participating in our hackathons is open to everyone regardless of age, profession, skillset etc. We strive to inspire people through open an exciting events and our goal is to attract a diverse audience with a large variety of skills, knowledge and ideas. We believe that these conditions provide the best possible chances to spark innovative ideas and create the best solutions.
Whether you are an experienced programmer, a sociology student who just started learning to code or are a fashion entrepreneur with a will to take on a pressing challenge - you are equally welcome to join our hachathons. We believe that building successful digital solutions to demanding challenges calls for a diverse talent crowd to make up an effective skills combination.
When registering for an Openhack hackathon, you can either register as a team or join one on site.
Photo by Dan Gold
Sleeping arrangements & food
We aim to do our best to provide you with the essentials to make your hacking time fun and comfortable. Food will be served (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and between meals you’ll find snacks and refreshments. Sleeping areas are set up on site and all you need to bring is comfortable clothing, toilet accessories and a sleeping bag/air mattress (we may be able to provide blankets).
Photo by Austin Distel
Venue & working environment
The venue is chosen to provide a comfortable environment for participants. We make sure that there are lounge areas, common areas and an office environment to balance out the need for an appropriate (intense) working environment and a playful, relaxing one.
Photo by Tim Gouw
Utilities & tools
Apart from WI-FI and power, we strive to provide you with infrastructure and tools that may help you create and deploy your solution. On site you will find whiteboards and stationary materials (papers, post-its, pencils etc.). We do not provide laptops so you are required to bring your own and any specific tools you want to use. We also provide selected premium software solutions to assist in your solution development and deployment (free servers, etc).
How it works
Friday: participants arrive at the venue and are greeted by our staff. Dinner is served ahead of the opening ceremony. During the opening ceremony we go through the schedule, expectations and practical aspects of the hackathon. Our case contributors take to the stage and give presentations of their respective challenges to the hackers. The hacking begins as soon as everyone has a team and all teams have been matched with a challenge.
From Friday evening to Sunday afternoon: once a team is formed, you are invited to pick a working spot in the event venue and get cracking on your idea. To help you blow off some steam and honour the fact that you’re also meant to have some fun, we encourage you to take breaks, mingle with other participants and attend the fun activities we have planned such as morning yoga, fuzzball/pool, competitions etc.
Sunday: the hackathon ends with project presentations and a prize ceremony. Teams present their final work to the audience and a jury consisting of a range of experts, corporate sponsors & partner representatives. The evaluation criteria include the innovation factor, complexity, potential and quality of the solution developed. Prizes will be awarded by our partners who may give your team the opportunity for further development through an acceleration or incubation programme, tools to keep the project running and other gifts.
