The hackathon InnoAirChallenge: Making urban mobility smarter challenges participants to look for bold technological solutions that outline the vision of a future generation of transport services and connectivity that work for cleaner air in Sofia.

The hackathon InnoAirChallenge: Making urban mobility smarter will take place from 2 to 4 June 2021, as part of the European Green Week. It is organized by Sofia Development Association and A1 Bulgaria. The hackathon challenges participants to look for bold technological solutions that outline the vision of a future generation of transport services and connectivity that work for cleaner air in Sofia.

How do we make the public transport in Sofia more environmentally sustainable, convenient, and attractive for citizens? How do we integrate the urban mobility as a combination of different options for getting around the city - urban, shared, and active transport? How to collect feedback, submit signals, opinions, and suggestions for reducing car travel? How to spread ideas for improving air quality in the city?

Anyone with technical skills, a vision for the future, creative ideas, and the courage to defend them can answer these questions by joining a team and participating in the hackathon. For the best ideas we have prepared an impressive prize fund and special prizes!

Why?

The event is held as part of the INNOAIR project, funded by the European initiative Urban Innovative Actions. Sofia is the first Bulgarian city to be elected and become part of the community of innovative European cities. The European Commission's UIA program enables major European cities to test innovative, creative, but also risky solutions to urban challenges. INNOAIR is experimentally implementing measures in the thematic area 'air quality', in particular 'innovative mobility and green mobility solutions'.

SDA, as coordinator of the INNOAIR project on behalf of Sofia Municipality, and A1 Bulgaria, as an established company in the field of information and IT solutions, join forces to encourage and support bold technological solutions that shape the vision of a future generation of transport services working for cleaner air in Sofia. 

What are the challenges?

                • Solutions for public transport in Sofia, which make it more environmentally sustainable, convenient, and attractive to citizens;

                • Solutions for the integration of urban mobility as a combination of different options for getting around the city - urban transport, shared transport, active transport;

                • Solutions that put the user at the center, encourage their sharing of feedback, signals, opinions, and ideas to reduce car traffic in the city and improve air quality.

What are the prizes for the winners?

             
              First prize: BGN 10,000
              Second prize: BGN 5,000
              Third prize: BGN 3,000
              Additional prize: BGN 3,000
  

Prizes are provided by A1.

The additional prize is provided by Mastercard.

Special prizes:

Opportunity for an internship at A1: The company offers the opportunity to teams with visionary ideas and good theoretical training to gain practical skills in the dynamic team environment at A1, as well as realization in the field of IT - work with state-of-the-art technologies and innovative solutions in IoT.

PROGRAMME:

June 2, 2021 
18:00 - 18:30Start of the hackathon: Opening of the event and presenting additional information and details about the thematic challenges of the hackathon, organization of work, selection criteria. 

June 2, 2021 19:00 - June 4, 2021 10:00 Coding process and support by mentors through prior request of the teams.

June 4, 2021 
11:00 - 13:00 Presentation of the technological solutions
12:15 – 12:30 Awarding prizes  

JUDGES:


Kristian Krastev, Deputy Mayor for Transport, Sofia Municipality 

Dimitar Dilchev, Director, Urban Mobility Center

Vasil Neychev, Senior Manager in Information Technology and Digital Transformation, A1 Bulgaria

Ilian Dimitrov, Digital Transformation Manager, A1 Bulgaria 

Svetlana Lomeva, executive director, Sofia Development Association

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Atanas Georgiev, Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Sofia University 

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Atanas Semerdzhiev, Department of Computer Informatics, Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, Sofia University

Prof. Dr. Stanimir Kabaivanov, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Plovdiv University 

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eng. Violeta  Bozhikova, Head of the Department of Software and Internet Technologies, Technical University - Varna

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Delyan Genkov, Head of the Department of Computer Systems and Technologies, Technical University - Gabrovo 

Prof. Dr. Milen Baltov, Vice-Rector for Research and International Cooperation, Burgas Free University 

Teodora Dacheva, Deputy Director of the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria 

Ivan Nenkov, Executive Director, SoftUni 

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eng. Dimitar Nikolov, Faculty of Electronic Engineering and Technology, Technical University of Sofia

Emo Abadzhiev, software architect, founder of Tumba Solutions


MENTORS

Tsvetomil Yordanov, Developer Lead, A1 - C #, SQL, Microsoft Server, Web Services, Google Maps WEB APIs
Daniel Yordanov, Developer Lead, A1 - C #, React, Node.js, Python, Databases, Containers
Teodor Stefanov, Senior software engineer, A1 - js, react, mongodb, node js, graphql
Simeon Tomov, Senior software engineer, A1 - C #, Databases, Soap, Rest
Dicho Shukerov, Senior software engineer, A1 - C #, SQL, JavaScript
Hristo Tanev, Marketing automation expert, A1 - SQL, AMPscript, HTML, Marketing Automation, CRM, Conversational AI
Ivan Nikolov, Director of the Transport Directorate, Sofia Municipality - Transport Policies and Data
eng. Dimitar Petrov, Director of Traffic Management and Analysis Directorate, Sofia Municipality - Transport Networks, Traffic Analysis
Metodi Avramov, Director of the Directorate "Strategies, Innovations and New Technologies and International Projects", Sofia Urban Mobility Centre - Tariffing, Marketing, Intermodality, Transport Data Analysis
Denitsa Lozanova, Programme director, Sofia Development Association - Marketing
Antonia Shalamanova, Expert, Sofia Green - Integrated solutions, Awareness raising, Accessibility 
Nayden Marechkov, Product Director, Mastercard - digital payment products, platforms, solutions and innovative technological partner models

EVALUATION CRITERIA

          • Applicability of the project: To whom and in what way does this project help? Does it solve a significant problem from practice? Is the topic relevant and applicable? Does anyone really need this project? 30%

          • Content: Is it useful, interesting, and interactive, or does it duplicate existing sources? Are the texts, illustrations, and other multimedia elements of high quality and authentic? Is the content your own or copied from somewhere (unique quality content is valued more)? 20%

          • Technical implementation: Have the appropriate technologies been used in the right way? Is there a good usability, intuitive user interface and user experience? Is there a good structure, layout and navigation? 30%

          • Presentation and defense: Is the project presented attractively and convincingly during the defense? 20% 

Technical requirements:

During the hackathon, each of the projects must have a version of the code on the public repository - the GitHub platform. The latest version of the code must be uploaded by June 4, 2021 at 09:00. Laptops, software, hardware and other assets required for the project are provided by the participants. The technologies, programming languages and development tools are up to the participants. It is allowed to use open license platforms, all kinds of tools for graphic design, animation, video processing and hardware development, as well as all kinds of hardware devices: phones, tablets, microcontrollers, etc.

Gain the attention of the judges by telling/showing/demonstrating your solution within 3 minutes.

Those wishing to participate need to register in teams of a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5 people. The hackathon will be held online and each team is committed to providing a very good internet connection and the necessary equipment.

By registering, you agree and accept the General Rules for conducting the hackathon, which are published HERE.

Changes in the composition of the teams are allowed up to 12 hours after the start of the hackathon, but only after you have registered in advance. We are expecting you!

The registration is open from April 28 to May 31, 2021. 

SUPPORTED BY: