About the Hackathon

2023 EU-EaP Civic Tech Acceleration Hackathon brings together around 45 civil society activists, IT professionals and designers from the EaP and EU countries. The teams will work with mentors to enhance their existing prototypes of digital solutions addressing the needs of communities, helping citizens to better hold their governments to account and/or leading to the improvement of public services in their home countries.

The Hackathon winner(s) will receive financial and expert support from the European Union to finalise and launch their civic tech solutions.



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news and updates

Hackathon Coordinator Answers Your Questions at the Information Webinar
18 Apr, 2023
Information Webinar for Our 2023 EU-EaP Hackathon Applicants
12 Apr, 2023
Prototypes and Teams: Answering Your Questions
10 Apr, 2023
Get Ready for the 2023 EU-EaP Civic Tech Acceleration Hackathon: Eligible Solutions
07 Apr, 2023
Registration for the 2023 EU-EaP Civic Tech Acceleration Hackathon is Open!
03 Apr, 2023
Seven Ideas Nominated for 2020 Digitalisation for Civil Society Award
06 Aug, 2020
16 Ideas Selected for 2020 Online Hackathon!
29 Jun, 2020
How the 2020 Online Hackathon Will Proceed & Why I Should Apply
19 Jun, 2020
Call for Applications from IT Professionals & Designers – 2020 Re-opened
08 Jun, 2020
EaP Civil Society Hackathon Goes Online!
04 Jun, 2020
2020 EaP Civil Society Hackathon Postponed
07 Mar, 2020
Ideas, Teams, and Countries: Answering Your Questions
07 Feb, 2020
Eligible Ideas of IT Solutions for the 2020 EaP Hackathon
04 Feb, 2020
2020 EaP Civil Society Hackathon: Registration is open!
31 Jan, 2020
Call for Applications: Become a Mentor at Our 2020 Regional Ideathon in March in Chisinau!
17 Jan, 2020
PROVIDNYK Map Won 2019 Digitalisation for Civil Society Award
30 Dec, 2019
#IT4 Society: Insights from the Winners of the 2019 Hackathon
20 Jun, 2019
#IT4Society: 20 Ideas Go to 2019 EaP Civil Society Hackathon in Tbilisi
31 May, 2019
Deadline for submitting ideas of IT solutions extended until May 6
27 Apr, 2019
7 Questions You Asked About 2019 Hackathon
23 Apr, 2019
What ideas of IT solutions are eligible for the Hackathon?
22 Apr, 2019
2019 EaP Civil Society Hackathon: Registration is open!
15 Apr, 2019
Second EaP Civil Society Hackathon takes place in Minsk
02 Jul, 2018
IT professional and designers are needed for selected ICT tools ideas! Deadline: 14 May 2018
10 May, 2018
2018 EaP Hackathon: 5 reasons to apply before the deadline (30 April 2018)!
27 Apr, 2018
FAQs #2: ICT projects under implementation, application forms and portfolio
26 Apr, 2018
Submit Your Idea of IT Solution until 30 April
20 Apr, 2018
FAQs #1: Participation cost, eligibility of ICT tools, and others
12 Apr, 2018
Ideas of ICT tools: What solutions are we looking for?
05 Apr, 2018
EU supports innovative civic ideas through digital solutions in the Eastern Partner countries
02 Apr, 2018
More news

Why Participate

1.
Smart Team Members & Mentors’ Support

Find new members for your team to improve your digital solution, or join a team working on a civic tech project to solve a problem you care about. Our mentors from civic tech, IT and consulting companies have a lot of experience and can help you improve your project!

2.
New Knowledge & Useful Network

Each team will work with a dedicated mentor, in the best traditions of start-up accelerators. Master classes by interdisciplinary experts to learn something new and, hopefully, enjoy yourself in the process. Join the community of the most engaged civic tech enthusiasts from the EaP countries and the EU Member States!

3.
Get the Award

Based on the voting results, up to five prototypes of civic tech solutions will be nominated for the Digitalisation for Civil Society Award and have the opportunity to get funding for the development and launch. Our previous Hackathon winners have already launched their solutions. In 2023 it could be you!

Mentors

IRYNA VELSKA
Key Expert at EaP Civil Society Facility, Ukraine
Volodymyr Ivanov
CTO at ActiveMedia, Ukraine
Anton Perkin
CEO at FusionWorks and Talents.Tech, Moldova
Roman Gluck
Product Manager, Startup Consultant, Pitch Trainer, Moldova
Yury Kukhalski
Founder of Saveus and Fandy, Belarus
Jane Klepa
Director of Partnerships and Innovation at SET University, Ukraine
Daryna Danylenko
CEO of Cures.Tech, Ukraine

QUOTES

Denis Romanescu
Moldova
Here I found really interesting people – both participants and mentors, and learnt a lot of new things.
Polina Pliskovskaya
Belarus
During these two days of Ideathon, communicating with mentors and other participants, I managed to fully formulate my idea, which has all chances to become a great project.
Karina Litvinova
Ukraine
We had to create the MVP in 3 days, having nothing but an idea. We’ve developed our ToR by Day 2 and… started working non-stop! We had the job done 10 minutes before the final presentation :)
Nadzeya Tsaranok
Belarus
For me, it has really become a major breakthrough in the development of a new project – I had an idea, but lacked knowledge to develop an ICT tool
Andriy Gevyuk
Ukraine
With such strong mentors, we have rethought and reworked a lot in our HelpInvest project and can now make both technical and ideological changes in our project
Mikalai Kvantaliani
Belarus
Hackathon is a good chance to answer the question: to what extent the problem you’re dealing with is relevant to the community you’re going to impact with your activities
Oksana Boyarinova
Ukraine
You helped us to realize the main value of our project and focus on the main things!

Rules and Faq

How will the 2023 EU-EaP Civic Tech Acceleration Hackathon proceed?

The Hackathon will be held from 12 May until 10 June and will consist of several compulsory activities. It will start with an online introductory meeting of the Hackathon organisers, mentors and participants, where the authors (team leads) will pitch their civic tech solutions to the Hackathon mentors and shortlisted IT professionals and designers. On the same day, the mentors will select the teams they will be working with. Then the participants will have up to 4 days to independently finalise their teams, when the IT professionals and designers may join any existing team of their choice. Afterwards, the teams will have three weeks to work with their mentors, enhance their prototypes and participate in webinars. On the final day of the Hackathon, the teams will present the enhanced prototypes of their civic tech solutions to the Hackathon organisers, mentors and other participants, who will evaluate the civic tech solutions and select the finalists of the 2023 Hackathon.

What is the final presentation?

On the last day of the Hackathon, the teams must present their enhanced civic tech solution prototypes to participants and mentors. They will need to demonstrate the maximum ready-to-go prototype of the proposed civic tech solution and a clear vision of how this digital product will work. The organisers will deliver a special webinar on the final pitches well in advance. 

How are the winners selected?

All participants will be asked to evaluate each digital solution except their own, according to five criteria: the social value of the proposed civic tech solution, its feasibility, relevance to the needs of the target group, impact and sustainability. In addition, mentors and organisers will also evaluate all presented solutions. The organisers will provide a ranking based on overall scores. Authors of up to five prototypes (the Hackathon finalists) will be nominated for the Digitalisation for Civil Society Award, a special facility to support the full-fledged development and launch of the winning solutions: the three highest-scoring civic tech solutions based on the public vote and the three highest-scoring solutions based on the mentors’ and organisers' vote. The expected average amount of support for a winner is EUR 10,000; on an exceptional basis, up to EUR 12,000 may be awarded.

I have a question I could not get answered here.

If you have questions, write to us at [email protected]. We will reply within 24 hours!

1. Description and Overall Objective

The 2023 EU-EaP Civic Tech Acceleration Hackathon brings together around 45 civil society activists, IT professionals and designers from the Eastern Partnership and EU countries to enhance existing prototypes of digital solutions that would enable civil society to contribute to improved transparency and accountability in the EaP countries, as well as to address the concrete needs of communities, and/or lead to the improvement of public services. The Hackathon is organised by the EU-funded Eastern Partnership Civil Society Facility project.

The Hackathon winner(s) will receive financial and expert support from the European Union to finalise and launch their civic tech solution(s).

2. Implementation

The 2023 EU-EaP Civic Tech Acceleration Hackathon will be held online, from 12 May until 10 June 2023. The working language of the Hackathon is English.

The Hackathon participants will work in teams consisting of three or more experts. As a minimum, each team shall include:

  • the author of the respective digital solution prototype (a civil society representative and a subject-matter expert) who will act as the team lead of his/her team and be fully responsible for the development process and the outcome,
  • two or more IT professionals (developers, designers, data experts, etc.), including at least one developer (depending on the technical aspects of the proposed solution).

Considering its objective, applications to the 2023 EU-EaP Civic Tech Acceleration Hackathon are accepted only from teams with an existing prototype of a civic tech solution and with a minimum set of technical skills to work on its enhancement. Whenever possible, these teams will be complemented with technical experts (developers, designers, data experts, QA experts, product owners, business analysts, etc.) selected within this Call for Applications. Such technical experts may join any existing team of their choice.

Participation in the 2023 EU-EaP Civic Tech Acceleration Hackathon is open to all citizens of EaP countries with a strong civil position and real experience of civic work, regardless of their experience in working for a CSO.

On the final day of the 2023 EU-EaP Civic Tech Acceleration Hackathon, the teams will present their improved prototypes to the Hackathon organisers, mentors and other participants, who will evaluate the digital solutions. Up to 5 top-scoring prototypes (3 by the participants’ vote and 2 by the mentors' and organisers’ vote) – the Hackathon finalists – will be nominated for the Digitalisation for Civil Society Award, a special facility to support the full-fledged development and launch of the best solution(s) proposed by the 2023 Acceleration Hackathon participants.

3. Cost of Participation

The cost of participation in the 2023 EU-EaP Civic Tech Acceleration Hackathon will be covered by the European Union.

4. Eligibility of Participants

Participation in the 2023 EU-EaP Civic Tech Acceleration Hackathon is open to citizens and CSOs from the EaP countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Applications from grassroots activists and young IT professionals from across the region are encouraged.

In addition, nationals of EU Member States may join the 2023 EU-EaP Civic Tech Acceleration Hackathon as independent IT professionals and/or graphic designers working with the teams of the selected civic tech solutions.

5. How to Apply

To apply for participation in the 2023 EU-EaP Civic Tech Acceleration Hackathon, the applicants need to fill in the online application form at the website and submit it before 23.00 (CET) on 24 April 2023, if applying with a prototype of a civic tech solution, or before 23.00 (CET) on 1 May 2023, if the applicants are IT professionals or graphic designers.

  1. Applying with a prototype of a civic tech solution. Applications for the 2023 EU-EaP Civic Tech Acceleration Hackathon are accepted only from teams that possess minimum technical skills for enhancing the prototype of the proposed digital solution and consist of at least one subject-matter-expert (team lead) and two technical experts (including at least one developer) responsible for the technical implementation of the proposed changes to the prototype. There is no limit on the maximum number of team members.
  2. Applying as an independent IT professional and/or graphic designer. IT professionals and graphic designers may apply for the 2023 EU-EaP Civic Tech Acceleration Hackathon individually, to provide additional support to selected teams of their choice.

Applying with the prototype of the civic tech solution to be enhanced within the 2023 EU-EaP Civic Tech Acceleration Hackathon, applicants need to provide the link to the existing prototype and describe the proposed solution in brief, indicating:

  • the specific problem(s) to be addressed and how the proposed IT solution will help solving it/them;
  • how the proposed IT solution addresses the needs of the targeted community(-ies), helps citizens to better hold their governments to account and/or leads to the improvement of public services in their home country and the EaP region;
  • the main users of the proposed solution and how they will benefit from its launch;
  • other IT products that tackle the same problem (if exist) and the differences with the proposed solution;
  • how the proposed IT solution will be maintained and updated in the future;
  • the team proposed for participating in the Hackathon, and team members’ expertise.

The organisers will seek to inform the applicants about the selection results no later than 5 May 2023.

6. More Information

For more details, please download and read Guidelines for Applicants. Questions to organisers may be sent by e-mail ([email protected]) no later than one working day before the application deadline.

Contacts: