Winners of cultural and creative industries hackathon HackCreative announced

On May1-3, the cultural and creative industries hackathon HackCreative: An Industry Transformed took place online, bringing together more than 300 industry representatives and other stakeholders from 30 countries around the world. Participants developed a variety of projects that could potentially provide support to the industry during the COVID-19 crisis. During the hackathon, 26 ideas were developed, and the three most successful projects shared a cash prize fund of 10 000 euros provided by Swedbank.

See the Award Ceremony here: ej.uz/AwardCeremony

During the weekend, an online hackathon brought together more than 300 industry representatives from 30 countries around the world to work together on projects that could potentially address the challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis, which has had a significant impact on cultural and creative industries across Europe. In total, 26 ideas were created during the 48-hour hackathon. At the end of the hackathon, a jury of experts consisting of Solvita Krese, Director of Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, Dace Resele, Head of the Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture Secretariat, Uldis Zariņš, Deputy State Secretary for Cultural Policy at Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, Alex Antolino, Creative Director of Typeform, and Sebastien Toupy, Head of Relationships at The Next Web, selected the three most promising projects that performed best in a fierce competition.

1st place and a cash prize of 5000 euros were received by the team BRAINFOOD, which developed a platform where various representatives of the creative industry and artists can earn extra income by offering private lessons and masterclasses. More about the idea: ej.uz/BRAINFOOD

"I think that a hackathon is a great experience, whether the participants already came with a specific idea or it is being developed in a short period of time. The time allotted makes it necessary to gather all the skills in an organized way and focus on using them at all times. We worked in a small team of 4 people and it was easy for us to both communicate and meet the deadline. I hope that other people will also use these types of events to improve their skills,” says Elvi Kustavus, a representative of the BRAINFOOD team.

The 2nd place and a cash prize of 3000 euros for further development of the idea were received by the team #visitmuseum, which offered online registration and ticketing tools for museums, libraries, and archives, based on the database www.kulturasdati.lv. More about the idea: ej.uz/visitmuseum

The 3rd place and seed capital of 2000 euros for the further implementation of the project was awarded to team Cosimo, who presented an initiative in which business can be combined with creativity to support unique cultural projects through tax relief, which acts as a donation. More about the idea: ej.uz/Cosimo

During the online award ceremony, special prizes were presented: the team LaikaForma received a 1000 euro cash prize from the Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture (NDPC) for further development of the idea. This team developed a digital platform that includes the largest archive of contemporary art in Latvia, educational materials, and a transparent cultural heritage. More about the idea: ej.uz/LaikaForma

Another special award was presented by Make Room Global, who selected two teams that won a fully paid opportunity to visit and participate in the Innovation Lab program, which will take place in India in February of 2021. 5 people from each team will be given the opportunity to go on a very exciting knowledge trip. During the Innovation Lab program, all participants will have the opportunity to participate in a project in which 3 best teams will share a cash prize of 20 000 euros, which will help in the further development of ideas. The winners of the Make Room Global award are the 3rd place winners Cosimo and the team Business of Creativity which developed an educational online platform where the creative industry workers have the opportunity to learn the basics of business from other leaders in the creative industry who already run successful companies. More about the Business of Creativity idea: ej.uz/BusinessofCreativity

Participants had the opportunity to work with 17 different mentors who supported the teams by sharing their knowledge, experience, and useful insights. Mentors included experts such as Līna Marta Sarma, computer scientist, hackathon veteran and former Managing Director of TechHub Riga, Edgars Zvirgzdiņš, Founder of Associates, Partners et Sons, Egita Poļanska, Partnership Manager at Accelerator Startup Wise Guys, Birgitta Perssona, Head of Point of Value & Director of the Cultural Agency Olivearte, and other well-known industry representatives.

The cash prize fund worth 10 000 euros was provided by Swedbank. Swedbank is a long-standing supporter of many innovative ideas, which continues to emphasize the importance of cooperation and efforts to emerge stronger from the crisis. Swedbank has also previously supported hackathons such as HackForce and The Global Hack, which brought together members to work together to develop solutions to help fight the COVID-19 crisis.

The cultural and creative industry hackathon HackCreative: An Industry Transformed invited all creative workers, event organizers, cultural workers, as well as professionals from other fields who wanted to create solutions by encouraging cooperation between different sectors and by establishing closer contact with the audience.

Creative and Cultural Industries hackathon is organized by the Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture (NDPC) and supported by the Latvian Ministry of Culture, cooperation with Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, and Trans Europe Halles network. NDPC focuses on improving operational conditions for cultural and creative industries, bridging the gap between various sources of funding, sectors of activity, and strengthening cooperation between project owners, business communities, the public sector, and international institutions throughout the Northern Dimension. Read more about us: www.ndpculture.org. Hackathon HackCreative: An Industry Transformed is supported by Swedbank, Embassy of Sweden in Riga, Nordic Council of Ministers' Office in Latvia. Partners of the hackathon are FOLD, Loov Eesti, Latvian Literature, and Workstreams.ai.