Hackathon 2023

WTUN Climate Action Hackathon 2023

The climate crisis represents one of the greatest existential threats of our time. Now is the time to work together, across borders and boundaries to innovate and find solutions to create a cleaner, greener and more equitable, resilient future.

Collaborate & Innovate To Tackle The Climate Crisis

Working in teams, you will have 48 hours to work with students across the world to create a new product or service to solve a climate change issue. You will share knowledge, learn something new, create friendships, and nurture innovation and entrepreneurship skills and mindsets.
Throughout the Hackathon you will have a number of tasks alongside a schedule of masterclasses to help you develop your idea and enhance your skills. This will culminate in a final pitch presentation to a panel of experts.

Your university is part of the World Technology Universities Network and along with students from 19 other WTUN universities across 15 countries, you can participate in this event for free. The Hackathon is a 48 hour event, where passionate students work together in teams, share ideas, and help each other build innovative solutions. It’s a fantastic opportunity to meet new people, learn something new, create something new and have fun.

Prizes will be awarded to the winning team.

How do I get involved?

Register for the pre-event DEADLINE: 10 November 2023 (follow this link or register below)
Attend the pre-event on Wednesday 15 November 2023, 11-12.30pm GMT. This is where you will hear more about the Hackathon and we will start allocating teams!
Virtually meet your team and get to know each other before the Hackathon.
Come with your team to the Hackathon beginning on 28 November 2023– you will be sent a Zoom link before the event.

FAQs

What is a Hackathon?

Hacking is creative problem solving. (It does not have to involve technology.)
A hackathon is any event of any duration where people come together to solve problems.
Groups of about 2-5 individuals, take out their laptops (if the event is technology themed), and dive into problems. Training workshops are provided as a parallel track (especially for newcomers but also for all participants).

The WTUN Hackathon will be a 48 hour sprint event. Participants will each address an issue related to the theme and SDG 13, ‘Climate Action’.

Teams will have to decide on a part of the climate change problems and come up with a new product or service to solve this issue either locally, nationally or internationally. Over the 48 hours you will be given a number of tasks alongside a schedule of masterclasses to help you develop your product/service, enhance your skills and complete the tasks. This will guide you into creating a final pitch presentation which you and your team will give at the end of the 48 hours to our panel of experts who will pick a winner.

But why join a Hackathon?

Some of the many benefits of participating in a hackathon are:

Meeting new people
Collaboration and Team Work – important life skills, at university and for future careers!
Developing entrepreneurial and innovation mindsets and skills
Innovation; Problem solving environments encourage the development of new ideas. You work with people that come from different fields, with different ideas and interest, all working together to solve the same problem, each one adding their own input. The fact that we are restricted with time increases adrenaline and makes it much more productive.
Personal Satisfaction! Having fun and building new things is quite rewarding. They gain the respect of others for the job that is done, and you participate in the advancement of technology.

Who will I be working with?

Once you have registered for the event, we will assign you to international teams with students from other universities. You will then have some time to get to know them before the event starts on 28 November.

Do I have to attend all 48 hours?

The event will be live and continuous over the 48 hour period but we understand it is hard to stay awake for that long! As you will have teams based around the world, you can split up some of the more difficult hours depending on timezones. However remember this is a collaboration event so you should all be working together as much as possible. Facilitators will be checking in on your progress in your breakout rooms and there will be new lectures, information and tips posted all throughout the event – you don’t want to miss anything!

Looking for some inspiration while you wait?

You can find videos of lectures and previous WTUN events, including the 2021 Hackathon below on our YouTube channel and see here for the announcement of the 2021 winners.

If you have any questions please get in touch with us at wtun@bradford.ac.uk.

Good luck!