HackNation is Poland's first implementation-oriented hackathon (coding marathon) organized by and for public administration - and the biggest event of the kind in Europe. In its course, participants set out to develop best-working digital solutions that address challenges proposed by the country's ministries, public institutions, and state-owned companies. The best programs will receive awards, and selected projects may be implemented in practice.
This year marks the debut edition of this original event, which began on Saturday at noon. HackNation 2025 is organized by Poland's Ministry of Digital Affairs in cooperation with the Bydgoszcz City Hall - and the official opening ceremony was attended by Digital Affairs Deputy Ministers - Paweł Olszewski and Rafał Rosiński, as well as Deputy Minister of Finance and Head of the National Revenue Administration, Marcin Łoboda. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Radosław Sikorski was unveiled on Saturday as another guest of honour, set to visit the event on Sunday.
Participants were given 15 tasks to choose from - developed by, among others, Poland's Ministry of Digital Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Social Insurance Institution, the State Fire Service, the Central Communication Port, and PKO Bank Polski. The general ideas behind the challenges to be solved were presented some weeks before the event, and the details were unveiled just before the coding started.
The tasks include tracking real-time adapting services to legislative changes, synchronizing distributed data in financial planning, futureproofing systems through predicting global change scenarios, identifying the lost items' owners, improving firefighter safety during rescue operations, and many others.
The competition registration was open to students, PhD candidates, startup teams, and young professionals. Participants can partake individually or in teams of two to six, and the total prize pool exceeds €100,000. The competitors have access to 200 mentors - experts in specific fields, representing various ministries, institutions, universities, research centers, and companies. A conference for public administration representatives was also organized as part of the event, focusing on the practical applications of Big Data and artificial intelligence in their domains.
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Source: PAP, IAR