October 30, 2019, marked the first of Impacthub’s groundbreaking two-day event: The Impact Hackathon, ImpactHub Manila’s attempt to organize the world’s largest hackathon and break the highly-coveted Guinness World Record. At the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, the event aimed to bring together hackers and innovators from different regions in the Philippines.
As part of the Impact 2050 initiative, the event also aimed “to catalyze the impact entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Asia Pacific”, which also worked towards promoting the development of state-of-the-art digital solutions. The Impact Hackathon, was also the second event in the 2019-2020 leg of the program. The first part was the Elevate Roadshow which took place last July to August 2019. After the hackathon, 2050fest, which will provide funding, valuable networking and coaching sessions to startups with potential, will be held in November 2019, and the Incubation, a startup-support initiative for the entire 2020.
With an estimated 7000 participants in Manila alone, together with over 70 renowned figures and leaders in tech as mentors, speakers, and members of the jury board, the event aimed to promote the booming industry of coding and technology in the country. Many potential startups were pitched during the hackathon, and 27 winners were recognized during the event for the brilliance of their ideas. One of the event’s objectives was also to connect different locations in the Philippines: from Vigan and Pampanga in Luzon, to Bacolod and Cebu in Visayas, to Davao and Iligan in Mindanao.
The event was also divided into three: Students, Professionals, and Scale-Up Startups. The last of which had different judging details and criteria from the rest. The problems were first presented along with the available technology that could be utilized to formulate a solution. Workshops were then conducted to improve solution-making, followed by 24-hour hacking and mentorship time. The different pitch presentations were then done, followed by the awarding proper.
During the event, participants were divided into teams of two to five members and their pitches were judged through the following criteria: (1) technical viability/difficulty, which counted for 30% and judged the contestants based on problem complexity and incorporation of different technologies (interface, AI, etc.), (2) business viability, which comprised 30% and determined how pragmatic the prototype was for business applications, (3) social index, which was 25% and determined if the team was able to actualize their solution and communicate their message to the audience, and lastly, (4) design and learning stretch, which accounted 15% and measured how far the teams ventured to learn something new from their comfort zones.
Through these criteria, the best pitch presentations were awarded and given opportunities to further improve and enhance their ideas into pragmatic applications. Impact2050 was truly an avenue for many aspiring individuals with pioneering ideas that were not only innovative but also applicable in the present world.
Pictures from Impact Hackathon were obtained from Impact 2050’s facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/impact2050/ (More information regarding the event and its winners could be found through the link)
More information regarding the hackathon and future events of Impact 2050 can be found through the link: https://www.impact2050.com/
WiTech 