English Section

Europe’s largest hackathon underway in Warsaw

15.09.2019 09:30
The largest hackathon in Europe is in full swing in the Polish capital, bringing together around 3,000 participants from Poland and countries such as the United States, Great Britain, Czech Republic and Hungary.
Hackyeah programming marathon
Hackyeah programming marathonPAP/Mateusz Marek

Now in its third year, HackYeah is a two-day programming marathon, encompassing IT conferences, workshops and presentations. The event is held at the Ptak Warsaw Expo in the town of Nadarzyn, located near the Polish capital.

Each year, the programming festival attracts more and more students, computer graphic designers, cyber security experts, data analysts and game designers. They carry out their tasks in three open categories: communication, environmental protection and security.

Maciej Ryś from Proidea, the organiser of the event, said: “People connected with new technologies meet with representatives of social organizations, business, state and local administration, science and media to solve important problems of the modern world.” He added: “We create a space for joint work, exchange of ideas and networking.”

The prize in each open category is PLN 10,000 (EUR 2,304, USD 2,556), amounting to PLN 445,000 in total.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who attended the event, said he was glad that hackathons are becoming a nationwide and international grassroots civic movement. He dubbed it “the creative problem-solving movement," which tackles challenges in areas such as “railways, mobility, transport, the quality of railway services, financial problems, water shortages.”

He told the participants of the festival: “I am convinced that through your imagination and your knowledge the world will be better.”

He reminded that when he headed the ministry of finance, the ministry also used solutions proposed by programmers.

(aba)

Source: Business Insider Polska, PAP