Hackathon Stuttgart history and growth
Since 2012 we are providing the concept of the Hackathon Stuttgart. We started with nearly 30 Hackers and in 2018 we can afford 200 Hackers to join this phenomenal event!
Thanks to our sponsors who make it possible to stem this format every year 50 more Hackers could join the event. We started in our office in Römerkastell and now nearly overfill the Phoenixhalle with this capacity! WOW!
But nevertheless, to handle the event and all of the 200 hackers, we need to select. On friday, during a brainstorming phase using the sponsors’s inputs the hackers can get creative and will have enough time to find and pitch their first ideas. Here you can get an overview of our agenda 2018:
Single hackers will have the opportunity to join existing teams or have the chance to form totally new groups and to get to know people with the same interests.
Out of 200 hackers more or less 40 teams can be built. That’s an enormous number and big potential for innovative ideas and projects where hackers can combine the finance world with the industrial world! We recommend a minimum teamsize of 3 hackers. But with 5 members including a frontend developer, a backend developer, a designer, a presentor and an idea generator, just like in an average software project, during the 48 hours the on maximum efficiency should be retrieved. A bigger teamsize is more difficult to handle. So it’s up to you!
But what’s about the final pitches?
How can be handled around 40 teams during 48 hours without losing too much time for the presentations? That’s a good question and we’ve been discussing a lot. So for us the work in teams, learning new technologies, the exchange with the sponsors and the networking are a big thing during our event! That’s what the teams benefit from our event. Regarding the final pitches on sunday therefore we decided to have a selection process and divide the jury decisions into 2 levels. Given that our Hackathon Stuttgart is aligned technically the first level is to check the code respectively the implementation and the use of the different sponsor’s inputs.
Level 1: first Jury round on sunday 9:30am
On sunday 9:30am the jury will be divided ino 2 groups and has time till 12am to check all of our teams given technical criteria, like :
- System Complexity: how much different platforms and systems are connected, how complex is the integration
- Code Completeness: was the application implemented completely or is code mocked/faked
- Craftsmanship: how creative is the team regarding hardware, is there a lot of handicraft work/soldered or resorted to standard components. This also includes the creativity of the use of the components.
- Gadget Use: have different gadgets been connected and used in an intelligent way or not.
And additionally (regarding our cooperation with Stuttgart Financial) we added one criteria:
- relevant financial use case.
Level 2: selecting 3 winner teams out of 20
After this first level 1 round the jury has time till 13:45 pm to discuss their impressions and to select 20 of the existing teams. Those 20 teams at 14pm have the chance to present their projects in front of the jury and an external audience. 3 of those 20 teams at the end have the chance to win the price for the best idea, the best pitch or the best implementation.
All of the remaining teams that didn’t get the chance to pitch their projects get the chance to present their projects to the audience. Next to the audience’s area we will prepare tables for those teams to present their laptop, posters or other technical stuff which they were implementing during the Hackathon Stuttgart. After the final pitches of the 20 chosen teams the jury again has time to deliberate on the teams. During this time the audience has time to talk to the remaining teams and to get an impression about their projects. After that these teams have the chance to win the audience price.
Last but not least all of our Hackathon Stuttgart teams will have the chance to win the sponsor’s prices. That means that every sponsor can choose one team that performed the best using their input. Doesn’t matter if it’s an API, a platform or a product.
