Azerbaijan’s online #TekkieHeroes Hackathon attracts over 600 applicants from 40+ countries to come up with technical solutions to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic

18.04.2020 / Conferences, assemblies

Top three hackathon prizes awarded to teams from Poland, Azerbaijan and Brazil
Baku, 13 April 2020 - Azerbaijan’s first global virtual hackathon was held this weekend, organised by the country’s Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies together with UNDP and SUP.VC, bringing together over 600 applicants from over 40 countries across the world to come up with ideas and solutions to help people cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The participants were grouped into 25 teams and worked together on the following solutions
The jury, composed of international and national innovation experts and practitioners, had a difficult task selecting the winning applications.

 After careful deliberation they decided to award:
The first prize (5,000 USD) to Team #11 “Crisis Heroes’ from Poland for developing a virtual marketplace matching people and organizations which can help each other during the pandemic crisis.

The second prize (3,000 USD) to Team #6 ‘Javid-19’ from Azerbaijan for their idea to help support SMEs through a voucher scheme allowing people in isolation to buy goods and services in advance at a discount.

And the third prize (2,000 USD) to Team #3 ‘Zebrafish’ from Brazil for their work on a rapid kit that speeds up the detection of COVID-19 antigens with the help of zebrafish.
Over the coming weeks, the three winning teams will be working together with mentors to bring their ideas and solutions to life.
Numerous national partners and sponsors joined the hackathon, including Pasha Bank, Socar AQS, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Education, the Women’s Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs, ABAD, Azerbaijan Tourism Board and State Tourism Agency, the Public Health and Reforms Center of the Ministry of Health, AzCloud and AzInTelecom, and Data Processing Center.

International partners and sponsors included Amazon WES, European Startup Network, Startup Grind, Hackquarters, Tekwill, Astana Hub, Fongogo, Silicon Valley In Your Pocket, Start-IST, MeOut and Startup Weekend.