The increased influx of refugees into Europe is proving to be a major challenge to the continent’s nations.
Members of Europe’s tech and startup community see a chance to solve some aspects of this challenge by doing what we do best – looking for solutions in unexpected places and applying our substantial collective technological knowledge to building products and services which may be of help – either to the refugees themselves or to the people and organisations who are helping them.
Begun in London, #Techfugees is now a pan-European initiative. In Warsaw we are bringing together technologists, scientists and designers in a two-week hacking sprint based at University of Warsaw’s Digital Economy Lab.
The model is largely one familiar to every geek – a hackathon by ad-hoc teams – but with a few crucial differences. We will be working over a two-week period, and collaborating with other #Techfugees projects around Europe to co-ordinate efforts, maximise impact and minimise duplication.
Programme
Friday 13 November, (6:30 p.m., DELab UW, ul Dobra 56/66) : briefing, context presentations, generation of ideas and formation of teams
Week till following Friday: teams research, plan and design their solutions
Friday 20 November, (6:30 p.m., DELab UW, ul Dobra 56/66) : review, mentoring and comparing of notes
Week till following Friday : hacks away!
Friday 27 November, (6:30 p.m., DELab UW, ul Dobra 56/66) : demo day
Being based at the University, we are particularly interested in building connections between different appropriate disciplines, with particular emphasis on looking ways to find value in this influx of people, instead of merely problems to be solved.
If you are a developer, designer, economist, social scientist, in fact anyone interested in contributing your knowledge and skills, sign up!
#Techfugees is a community initiative. The University of Warsaw contributes facilities. The aim is to give of our time and brainpower. Nobody is getting paid and while we are working on getting sponsorship, any funds we receive will go directly towards making the event more impactful and more enjoyable for participants.
Contributing is its own reward.
Please join our FB group: „Techfugees Warsaw”
FB event: #Techfugees Warsaw hackathon
Contact: techfugees (at) delab.uw.edu.pl