Amdaris supported the 2021 Flight Festival Tech Hackathon event in Iulius Town, Romania between 23-25 August. The three day festival united key student programmers, as well as specialists, investors and public authorities in the local tech field. Students shared new innovative ways to improve and enhance culture and tourism in Timisoara, the Romanian city which has been honoured as the European Capital of Culture 2023. With 12 team entries in total, three pioneering candidates, Mappo, Fain Tourism and Clever Eat stood out to the judges, taking home the 5,000 EURO prize.
Flight Festival Hackathon promotes social change through bringing together the most innovative technology advancements with three vertices taking precedence; smart cities, tourism and hospitality, culture and creative industries. These components are key to delivering positive social impact within the community and beyond.
Smart City:
The main objective was for participants to create smart mobility solutions for future connected cities, including software solutions, IoT, open data and smart transportation. Mappo won the track with their ambitious technology idea, providing a data-led traffic flow service, which uses existing surveillance cameras in customers’ infrastructure to generate dynamic maps. These maps identify free parking spots and access points around their housing complexes in order to improve the quality of life of Timisoara residents and visitors.
One of the winning team members from Mappo commented: “The 2021 Flight Festival Tech Hackathon is a brilliant opportunity to show creativity and innovation. As cities become smarter, technology can help to unite communities and bring positive social impact, including better accessibility and insights into the spaces around us.”
Tourism:
In this category, the judges looked for technical solutions that benefited the local hospitality industry in order to promote tourism in Timisoara. This included ways to help support the local culture and promote the authentic experiences on offer in the area.
Culture and Creativity:
Creating technical solutions for local creative businesses and cultural institutions in partnership with Timisoara City Hall was also a core focus of the festival. CleverEat won for their culture and creativity, providing proactive community support by connecting restaurants’ food surplus with the local community at big discounts. With a growing Facebook group of 3,000 members, CleverEat contributes to forward thinking social change.
The event was also praised by local volunteers, with one member, Madalina Erascu, lecturer at University of West Timisoara, stating:, “It’s very important for our community to have this kind of festival, which combines technology, music and culture. I hope the students that win the Hackathon will develop their applications and the other teams feel inspired by the event and continue to develop their ideas.”.
Glyn Blaize, Chief Operating Officer at Amdaris, added: “At Amdaris we are passionate about championing brilliant tech and encouraging knowledge sharing across generations, and the Flight Festival Tech Hackathon is a fantastic way to bring together education and innovation. The theme of this year’s Hackathon gave participants the opportunity to put community spirit at the heart of their technology, and we saw some fantastic developments as a result. I’d like to extend a big congratulations to all winners and participants of the event.”