#WirvsVirus: we support as mentors the largest hackathon in Germany in the fight against the corona crisis, initiated by the German government
"The invitation comes from the very top: Chancellery Minister Helge Braun, Digital Minister of State Dorothee Bär and government spokesman Steffen Seibert called on the Germans via Twitter on Wednesday to take part in a hackathon against the corona virus. It is already scheduled to take place this weekend.
Hackathons are competitions of ideas in which teams from different disciplines come together to develop innovative solutions to a specific problem under time pressure.
Under the motto "We vs. Virus", the German government wants to find and promote "creative solutions for the corona crisis" for 48 hours in an online hackathon. Programmers, designers, creative people and anyone who wants to become involved as a problem solver are in demand. In addition, mentors are being sought who can support with their expertise," says the Business Insider.
The nationwide hackathon #WirvsVirus is a joint event of the German government and seven social initiatives. Invited are problem solvers from the tech and creative industries, but also socially committed citizens. Under #WirvsVirus, the hackathon offers a joint organisational and technical framework in which participants can get involved online and develop functioning prototypes and approaches - digital and analogue - for socially relevant issues with regard to the corona crisis.
Especially in the current situation, digitisation can offer new opportunities for digital participation. The Hackathon can send an important signal in this respect. But the event should also be a starting point for joint commitment, with which long-term challenges as a society can be solved for society.
Within just one week, the team of 17 volunteers and supporters did their best to design and implement this hackathon. The first 1,000 registrations were already a great joy - now there are officially 42,968 participants! From the more than 1,900 challenges submitted, the best 588 were worked out in a crazy night shift with more than 30 volunteers and these are now grouped into at least 48 challenges that will be worked on until Sunday evening (and beyond). The teams will work remotely via SLACK and DEVPOST - for this purpose, they will work for 48 hours.
CLP will be present with Dr. Geertje Tutschka, PCC as a mentor for the legal industry, who also supported the moderations today with her experience in leading volunteer teams: "The Friday preparation has just ended: 42,000 participants in the largest hackathon are working on solutions for the corona crisis in the next 48 hours. "Swarm intelligence" - What an inspiring energy! I'm really curious about the questions the teams will be asking me in legal terms. Exciting, of course, especially for our many clients: lawyers and law firms from all over Germany!"
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