The initiative of organising an international hackathon for students came from the predilection for coding and solution finding that Liga AC, Banat IT and their volunteers genuinely share. We wanted to help students improve their programming skills and, at the same time, raise awareness about the problems we are dealing with in our society, so we fulfilled these goals through UniHack.
The first edition of UniHack took place between 17-19 May 2019 in Timișoara, gathering over 200 students from all over the country who focused their IT passion into developing remarkable hardware & software projects.
The participants started with a pitching session and, after forming the perfect team, they had 48 hours to implement their ideas. They were given the opportunity to learn new technologies through Git & Docker beginner-level workshops and got help from mentors whenever they got stuck. The chill zone was also there for them when they needed a break.
Their projects were meant to solve civic problems or improve everyday life through technology, and the participants came up with some amazing ideas. Who wouldn’t want to control their dashboard through hand motions or pay for all kinds of public transport using a universal ticketing system?
The best project was Parlamentarul meu - an online platform which connects citizens with elected politicians and shares information about their activity and achievements. It impressed the jury & the public, winning the grand prize, goodies worth over 1000 €.