Regional Development Portal

The owner of the topics of the Hackathon is the Košice self-governing region.

The minimum of 2 people including a speaker e.g. a person that will present the idea, and understands the business and the challenge; and a tech expert who is able to create a prototype or a clickable version of the application / web / product.

The goal of our hackathons isn’t to program an entire solution but to develop a comprehensive concept. It’s crucial to focus on the feasibility of the solution during its creation and presentation, as this heavily influences the jury’s decision on the winning project. Before arriving at the hackathon, define the roles within your team. Leverage each member’s strengths to save time and avoid conflicts. One person can take on multiple roles, but having clarity helps. 

• Analyst
  Thinks analytically and can quickly understand and map out processes or data structures. Often, technical problems stem from flawed processes, so it’s beneficial to outline, comprehend, and propose adjustments to these processes before suggesting a technical solution.

• Designer
  Understands the design process and knows that a picture is worth a thousand words. By creating sketches or wireframes, the designer quickly brings the proposed product to life. This makes it easier to iterate on ideas and test solutions with users. Whether you stick to sketches or refine the design, it’s an excellent way to present your product.

• IT specialist
  Has a strong grasp of technical matters. If you’re designing a software product, this could be a software architect or developer who outlines the technical architecture of the solution. While coding is a plus, it’s not the primary goal. If you decide to code, focus on components that can be completed within the timeframe and set you apart from the competition.

• Product manager
  Rozumie biznis potrebám a problémom zákazníka. Spoluprácou a spájaním informácií od ostatných členov tímu potom smeruje výsledný produkt tak, aby riešil problémy ako zákazníka, tak aj koncového používateľa a bol realizovateľný v stanovenom čase a rozpočte.

• Salesperson
  Actively communicates and represents your team during the hackathon, especially when presenting your product to the jury. They believe in the product, can highlight its strengths, address customer business problems, and emphasize the benefits for end users.

The team composition can be changed before the hackathon. However, it remains fixed during the hackathon, meaning that no new team members whose names or email addresses were not provided during registration or check-in on the event’s opening day can be added after the official registration and check-in.

As soon as you submit your application, a member of the hacknime.to team will contact you within 24 hours (either by email or by phone) with further information and the procedure.

If you register after the capacity is full or you will not match the criteria for the participating teams, you will not be chosen as the participant.

The basic scoring scale includes:

• Experience in the IT and TECH industry or

• Experience in design thinking procedures or

• Experience in the so-called sprint procedures, SCRUM master certificate or

• Experience in drawing up business plans, new businesses, creating prototypes or MVP or

• You are a high school student focused on computer technologies, economics, business or design (both product and digital) or

• You are a student of a university focused on computer technologies, economics, business or design (both product and digital)

• If you do not meet any of the above criteria, you can still prove that you have personally participated in at least two hackathons in the past (it is necessary to prove the output of these events)

If as an adept (or combined your team) meets at least two requirements from the above criteria, you have the right to participate in the hackathon. The more requirements you fulfill, you move up in the ranking.

A conflict of interest represents a situation where a personal interest motivates or could motivate a judge/mentor/organizer employee/topic owner/competitor to act against the best interests of the hackathon. Involvement of these individuals in activities where a conflict of interest occurs or may occur is not allowed. Such activities include:

• Influencing mentors and judges to gain an advantage for themselves or a close person, financially or otherwise,

• Influencing individuals working for the organizer, the ministry, or a company with a supplier or partner relationship with the organizer,

• Intentional modification of solutions by mentors or possible one-sided mentoring in favor of some participants,

• Formation of a competition team by a mentor, judge, or person working for the organizer, topic owner, or the ministry,

• and others.

If a participant identifies a conflict of interest, they are required to immediately and verifiably inform about the conflict of interest. If a participant fails to report circumstances that could lead to a conflict of interest, this fact will itself constitute a violation of these principles and may result in the disqualification of the competition team at the hackathon. The decision on disqualification is made by the organizer.

A person under 18 years of age may participate in the event only after completing and submitting a parental/legal guardian consent form to the organizer or when accompanied by a parent/legal guardian throughout the entire duration of the event.

Teams or individuals will be able to register until September 21st, 2024, or until the maximum capacity is reached.

The attendee capacity is up to 60 people.

Task Fulfillment / Relevance / Functionality:

• Score by the jury: 1 to 35

• The solution / POC / MVP / Software relates to the theme of the hackathon and the defined challenges.

• The solution / POC / MVP / Software works and meets at least the basic user functions.

Idea / Originality, Uniqueness, Creativity

• Score by the jury: 1 to 10

• How creative is the idea behind the solution / POC / MVP / Software?

• How original is the solution / POC / MVP / Software?

• Is it something that hasn’t been done before, and unique compared to competitors?

User Experience / Added Value (or technical design for solutions without a frontend)

• Score by the jury: 1 to 15

• Is the overall user experience intuitive?

• Does the solution / POC / MVP / Software make sense from a UX perspective?

• What will be the impact (in terms of scope) and added value of the solution / POC / MVP / Software for the target audience?

Feasibility / Implementability / Viability

• Score by the jury: 1 to 35

• Does the solution / POC / MVP / Software actually work? Is the solution / POC / MVP / Software easy to scale?

• Is there potential for the solution to be realized with the resources that are realistically available?

• How relevant and applicable is the use of the solution / POC / MVP / Software for solving the given challenge?

Presentation to the Jury

• Score by the jury: 1 to 5

• Quality of the presentation, visual aspects, content, and delivery in an engaging manner.

The maximum number of points a team can earn is 100.

The organizer and owner of the hackathon theme has the motivation to bring, based on the innovative hackathon event, new solutions for our company, improvement of existing available solutions or otherwise innovate the current state. The competition team can come to the hackathon with a ready-made solution, but it must be visibly demonstrated that, thanks to the hackathon, consultations with mentors and experts, the transformation of its ready-made solution into the final form for the requirements of the Topic Owner took place.

A team may be disqualified by the organizer if caught cheating, copying solutions from other teams, making audio or video recordings, plagiarism, or any other form of copying from other teams, misusing information from other teams, illegally obtaining data from other teams, creating content with the intention of harming other participants, or otherwise violating the ethics of the competition. Anyone who witnesses unfair behavior must inform the organizer.

Suspicion of disqualification can be reported by members of the competition teams, mentors, or the theme owner’s team or the Organizer. Suspicion of unfair behavior must be reported personally to the Organizer. The team or team member who has violated the rules will be asked to leave the hacking area. To ensure the smooth progress and continuation of the hackathon, the disqualification of a team will be announced to other participants during the next break.

Teams can withdraw at any time during the hackathon. Merging of teams is not allowed after the initial check-in of the teams. A team that wishes to withdraw must notify the organizer in person.

For the physical hackathon, in-person attendance of the team is required. However, in case of need or personal circumstances, it is possible for a team member to participate and hack online.

Participation is free of charge. All costs are covered by the organizer.

Yes, participants will be allowed to continue hacking during the night.

The organizer does not provide sleeping bags, mattresses, beds, or other accommodation directly at the hackathon venue. Drinking water and showers are available throughout the entire hackathon. Each competing team is assigned one access card, allowing them to enter and exit the designated hacking area at any time during the event.

Each participant needs to bring his / her own laptop or any other hardware that he / she needs to work on challenges. Other things will be provided by the organizer such as WiFi, food for the whole day (buffets, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and drinks).

The official language is Slovak. However, some keynote lectures and workshops may also be held in English.

The hackathon organizer guarantees full meals and snacks throughout the entire event in the form of buffets. Drinks are provided as well.

Prvé tri miesta, ktoré porota vyhodnotí ako najlepšie budú ocenené prize money nasledovne:

1. Prvé miesto : 3000 Eur

2. Druhé miesto: 2000 Eur

3. Tretie miesto: 1000 Eur

Winning teams will have a chance to participate in the development and implementation of the solution in cooperation with the topic owner.

The winning teams enter into a licensing agreement for their solutions developed during the hackathon (the license applies only to what was created during the hackathon). This is a non-exclusive license that is limited to the territory of the Slovak Republic and is unlimited in time. This means, it does not limit the author at all in the dissemination of his work as part of his commercial activities. On the contrary, the owner of the topic (always a public administration institution) is authorized to distribute the license in the interest of the economy within public institutions. The author remains the owner of the work, the owner of the topic has only such a non-exclusive license. In addition, if the winning teams do not agree on the implementation of the winning solution with the Theme Owner, the winning prize money may not be returned to the Organizer.