FAQ

A hackathon (a word created from "hack" and "marathon") is a collaborative solution development event. The goal of a hackathon is to jointly find useful, creative or entertaining solutions to given problems in a limited period of time. Participants in hackathons usually come from different areas and countries and often work on their projects in cross-functional teams.

Our e-Hackathon will take place from Wednesday 24th (9:00am CET) to Thursday 25th June (11:59pm CET) 2020. Keep in mind that if you will be joining from Algeria, Morocco, Portugal or Tunisia you must count -1 hour (so we will start at 8:00am your time). If you are in Cyprus, Greece, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine Syria or Turkey, we will start at 10:00am (count +1 hour). Together with your team, you have 40 hours to build a solution to tackle water and climate challenges in the Mediterranean region. On Friday 26th June at 7:00pm CET we will have an award ceremony and closing event

Our e-Hackathon takes place online. We provide the appropriate tools so that you can develop solutions together online. We will have a plenary room in zoom (link will be shared with selected participants) for video conferencing and live webinars. For the teams to work together, will organize private zoom rooms. Also, to keep you always informed and connected, we will also organize WhatsApp groups. Detailed technical instructions and access to the individual tools will be sent to you in time.

We are hoping to form 10 groups of 5 to 6 entrepreneurs each. So, a maximum of 60 young innovators from the Mediterranean countries will participate.

Yes. In order to participate you must be 18 to 35 years old. Regardless of your place of residence, applicants must be nationals from one of the following Mediterranean countries: Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Montenegro, Palestinian Territories, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey. There is not a specific professional background required. You can be a graduate or student, with any type of education, such as water, sanitation, business development, programming, marketing, social studies, engineering, architects, political science, etc. The most important requisites for participation are motivation, interest in solving water and climate change challenges and entrepreneurial spirit.

No, the deadline for submissions of challenge was 15th of May 2020.

First at all, thank you for submitting a challenge. We apologize if your challenge was not selected. We received many proposals and carried out a curation process to review the quality of the submissions (completeness, non-repetition, relevance to main theme) and selected the 3 most pressing, urgent and relevant challenges that covered different topics and geographical areas. Now, you need to choose one of the three challenges to develop innovative ideas to overcome it during the e-Hackathon.

No, we really need your support proposing innovate ideas to the most pressing challenges. So, we would appreciate if you could participate with other entrepreneurs developing out-of-the-box solutions. We promise, you won’t be disappointed.

No. The participation in the e-Hackathon is free of charge.

Yes, you can apply as a single person. Make sure you indicate in which challenge you want to contribute. Once we receive all applications, we will make sure to partner you up with like-minded entrepreneurs. You will know soon enough who your team members are, and we will make sure that you will have time to bond and get to know each other.

Yes, that works. Make sure you know the email addresses of all your team members before you sign up. In the application form you have the possibility to enter the names and email addresses of your team members. This will then be taken into account when putting together the teams. Please note that each team member must register individually.

Yes, sure! We are looking for innovators with ideas to develop during the e-Hackathon. In the application form you can already describe your solution/idea. We will select the 10 most promising ideas and will put together teams to develop them with the champion(s) that proposed the idea.

Yes, of course! While applying, just make sure to select in which challenge you would like to contribute and what are your main skills, so we can partner you up with your ideal team.

In principle, no. We really have to stick to having 10 teams putting their brains together developing innovative ideas for the three challenges. However, in case two (or more ideas) are similar, we will cluster the champions who proposed them into one group, so they can bring their ideas together and come up with an even better solution! So, at the end, you will probably work on the idea (or parts of it) that you proposed on the first place!

Probably no. We are expecting to welcome up to 60 participants to our e-Hackathon. So, each group will have up to 6 members. So, probably, if you and your friends are only 3 people, you will be introduced to new members of your team. Keep in mind that this is a great opportunity to enrich your solution, with a fresh perspective and a new approach. So, be open-minded and welcome your new team members!

We will make our best to bring you together with other young entrepreneurs with complementary skills and the same interests. Also, our mentors will be always available to support and guide you, setting the tone for cooperation. However, if you want to change teams, we will support you finding a new one.

The moderation, input sessions and team activities will be held in English. So, we require participants to understand and are able to communicate in English. Keep in mind that we will have participants from all over the Mediterranean Region, so not all will understand your mother tongue. However, if there is another common language in your team, the teams can also work in another national language. Although some of our mentors speak Arabic, we cannot guarantee that the experts and mentors will be able to support you in the chosen language.

Yes. Each team will be assigned a mentor, who will open the group work sessions after each input. She/he will be available, when you need her/him, but they will also let you work alone. Experts in specific topics will be available to support you with their feedback and knowledge during the entire e-Hackathon. Just ask your mentor what you need!

We will have a zoom plenary room, accessible during the time of the Hackathon. You will receive the link and will be able to access it anytime. During the group work times, break-out rooms will be organized for you to meet your coach and your team members privately. Experts will be able to join you anytime. Your mentor will also let you work on your own. From time to time, we will call all participants back to the plenary, not only for the workshop sessions, but also for energizers and get-to-know-each-other sessions.

You will be asked to submit a concept of your idea, a 2 min video and supporting documents. We will send you and your team a link to an empty virtual “solution board” that you will fill in with your team members during the time of the e-Hackathon. Once it is ready, our jury will be able to visit the “solution board” and select the most promising solutions.

The best teams will be invited to join us in Tunisia (dates to be determined and subject to travel regulations) for a one-week bootcamp! Once there, you will benefit from a tailored advanced entrepreneurial support programme alongside your peers, experts and senior trainers from all over the region. Besides in-depth training, you will receive one-on-one coaching to help you take your idea to the next level. Please note that only one member per team will be able to travel to Tunisia.

The Intellectual Property (IP) of your solution belongs to you and your team. As we are trying to propose solutions to water and climate change challenges in the Mediterranean Region through collective intelligence, we would encourage you to provide open-source information, so in case you don’t continue with the idea, some other entrepreneur in other geographic region can. On the other hand, having it online might be a great reference to find funding opportunities. In any case, in your solution board, you will let us know if we can publish it online, or not.

Our aim is that the results will be practically used after the e-Hackathon to help overcoming water and climate change challenges in the Mediterranean Region. To make sure that your prototypes become viable solutions after the hackathon, you could receive support from our start-up program. Just get in touch with us.