Hack the New World Winners: 7 Ideas for the Post-Quarantine World

May 18, 2020

During the weekend of May 15-17, 181 participants, 24 mentors, and 16 judges united efforts to look for solutions that could help businesses in the post-quarantine period. Let’s learn about the outcomes and the winners of Hack the New World online hackathon organized by IT Arena in cooperation with the Lviv Tech Angels investor club and ELEKS

Hack the New World – is the first hackathon by IT Arena which aimed to find effective tech solutions for the post-crisis period, which will be implemented in Lviv, our country, and the world. To redouble efficiency and expertise, the event united with a previously announced hackathon The New Online Era – Collaborate for Impact organized by ELEKS: the two events united the number of mentors and judges, as well as doubled the prize fund. 

“I liked that the hackathon gathered a rather qualified audience, with participants not only professional in information technologies, but also in business and other disciplines, including specialists in psychology. Moreover, almost all the teams worked on problems that are relevant at the moment and correspond to the hackathon’s overall theme. The winners include solutions aimed at taming the pandemic (contactless temperature measurement, contactless menu) or helping those affected by the crisis. I am convinced that the time and effort spent by all participants of the hackathon – both winners and those who failed to make the cut, was a very useful experience that will help them in the future work or in their own business,” comments Michael Puzrakov, CEO & Co-Founder, Intellias, President, Lviv Tech Angels.

During 48 hours from Friday to Sunday, 22 hackathon teams worked on their creative ideas in 10 thematic areas. Here’re the hackathon’s highlights.  

The main prize, which amounts to $3000, went to a startup called Kolo.Track. Kolo.Track develops a solution that will help farmers to return to work after the crisis. The startup offers farmers corporate systems that would automate internal processes, help obtain appropriate certifications, control product quality, as well as communicate with regulatory authorities. “Since I’ve been working in the area of organic trade, I got my idea from observation. The existing system is bureaucratic, slow, and fragile due to the human factor. It’s inefficient because most standards are written in a complex foreign language. 

Most farmers and operators have never read those standards and will continue to work as they used to until someone makes a comment. Therefore, I decided to make an EPR system that will instruct operators on what they need to do on a daily basis to comply with certification requirements as well as create a unified standard for information exchange in the chain of trade of certified operators, which will speed up and simplify the process. Participating in the hackathon was useful for me. First of all, I was able to test my idea with mentors from the leading Ukrainian tech companies, and they liked the idea. Before the hackathon, I only had a chance to test the idea with the market players. Also, new contacts are what hackathons are really useful for. I hope Hack the New World will give birth to new collaborations” tells Vlasyslav Kovtun, СЕО at Kolo Agrarhandel GmbH, project Kolo.Track. 

“We at ELEKS are proud to know that quite a few teams suggested so many industry-focused useful solutions for the post-COVID world, and it’s a pleasure to know that winners found the solution for local farmers. It’s great that somebody is helping ecosystems that don’t normally benefit from a lot of technology work. The Hackathon showed that it is a powerful instrument for generating solutions, ensuring border-less collaboration and making a tremendous social impact,” commented Klaus Sonnenleiter, CTO at ELEKS.

The hackathon’s runner up is SafeMenu, the team received $2000. The idea of the startup is to finally make restaurants and cafe visits in Lviv safe, and in particular to replace all printed menus with those generated online. To see the menu, one has to scan a QR code: the chatbot will quickly generate the menu, allowing you to safely make an order.

Always carrying an antiseptic is already becoming the norm, and so is temperature measurement in public places. The third prize and $1000 went to Thermal Camera, an idea for automatic temperature measurement. Thermal Camera offers a unique tech solution that can be used with already existing temperature measurement devices in schools, museums, factories, restaurants, etc. 

Apart from the three winners, other hackathon finalists haven’t been left unnoticed. Distant.Travel wants to make online traveling unique, and every resident of the world’s most beautiful locations a tour guide. The team will display their platform at IT Arena Startup Alley, the exhibition of top Ukrainian startups, for free.

An app for tracking insulin levels in people with diabetes, BAKS, received two months of free residence at Sigma Software Labs. The startup aims to make life easier for people with diabetes. In particular, based on the collected data, it will help monitor blood sugar fluctuations and systematic changes, as well as contact a doctor if necessary. 

Limpio, a chatbot which allows instant reporting of harassment or bullying and transmits information to the police, received tickets for IT Arena for the whole team. The chatbot also offers psychological counseling to victims. 

Team Chat_bog received a 6-month free residence at Coworking Platforma. The startup offers what seems a perfect Telegram chatbot – it doesn’t bother you, but records your spontaneous thoughts and structures them in a diary. The Chat_bog’s premium version allows a unique design for your records, suggests headlines, defines your emotions, adds location, etc.

We want to thank all participants, mentors, and judges for a very productive weekend.

Partners: Lviv City CouncilN-iXSoftServeIntelliasSigma SoftwareGarage48Platforma CoworkingMinistry of Health of UkraineMinistry of Digital Transformation of UkraineLITSDOUZaxid.net.