20 teams of civic tech solutions developers presented their projects in the Act to Connect hackathon competition on 25 March 2021. The competition is part of the European Union-financed “3D Project: Development Despite Disruption” implemented by the East Europe Foundation.
“We are extremely proud to be contributing to this next generation of civic tech initiatives in Ukraine. As the COVID-19 crisis persists, it is becoming increasingly clear that new solutions are needed to help mobilise citizens for the good of their communities. We envision some of these solutions to prove their durability in the post-COVID world”, – said Sinziana Poiana, Programme Officer for Civil Society Support in the EU Delegation to Ukraine.
Out of the 20, ten teams have been invited to take part in the civic tech acceleration program:
- DJEK. Control panel of city – improvement of communication in the housing and communal services sector.
- Marta – medbot eZdorovya will help simplify communication between patients and doctors.
- Gamification of education. Mriya – these developers want to gamify the educational process in the area of civic education through the computer game Minecraft.
- AxyCovUa is solving the problem of accessibility of government websites.
- The platform «All» aims to help citizens control the decision-making process for local infrastructure development.
- The digital ecosystem of the cultural heritage of an amalgamated territorial community: development through the influence – the aim of the project is to digitise cultural heritage sites.
- NOVA OSVITA. An innovative educational online space in the Zelenodolsk community (integration of all areas of education in the community on a single platform)
- Platform Re: Cult.Rivne – an online platform for the cultural life of the city.
- HELP Chornobyl aims to help Chernobyl liquidators’ represent their interests.
- Online platform CHITOO is an application for Ukrainian-language books.
The jury preferred projects aimed at effectively solving the problems caused by the pandemic, considered the innovativeness of the solution, prospects for development, took into account the interest of the team and how the project can be useful for society.
“The authors of the projects showed an incredibly high level of creativity and professionalism. So it was a difficult decision. We believe that the selected initiatives will be able to become full-fledged effective tools for solving urgent problems in society”, ‒ said Victor Liakh, President of East Europe Foundation.
The winners of the hackathon will take part in an acceleration programme which starts in April. They will develop prototypes, business plans, and MVPs. Also, they will test products and services from the user’s point of view.
Civic tech are digital tools that simplify communication between the state and the public and involve citizens in solving pressing problems of local or national importance. Civic tech solutions open up new opportunities to support citizen engagement, participation, service delivery, and initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic. The prize fund of the competition is 5 million UAH. The pool of money will be distributed at the contest’s final event. The finalist teams will present their projects, and the expert jury will select the winners at this event.
Follow the link for more details https://a2c.in.ua/
Background information:
The 3D Project (Development Despite Disruption: Resilient civil society in a time of COVID-19 and beyond) is an EU-funded project implemented by East Europe Foundation, supporting the empowerment of Ukrainian civil society to confront the effects of COVID-19. The project lasts from October 2020 to March 2022.
For additional information, please contact [email protected]
East Europe Foundation
