Our society is organized more and more in a digital way. Banks and train ticket booths are closing, social services are working from an online basis, communication occurs via mail and social media, (fake) news goes travels around the internet, etc. Community members who never felt the need to use digital tools, now face exclusion from certain services in our new, digital society.

The digital transition makes the digital gaps in society more visible than ever and presents communities and community organizations with new and difficult challenges. With this social hackathon, we want to help them in the search for innovative solutions.

A social hackathon is an event that brings together people, typically from diverse backgrounds and expertise, to collaborate on solving social issues or creating projects that positively impact society. Participants work together in teams to develop innovative solutions, often using technology, healthcare, education, poverty, environmental and sustainability challenges, and more. Social hackathons are a way to harness a community’s collective creativity and skills to drive positive change. 

Social hackathons have the potential to create a tangible and meaningful impact on society by addressing social challenges and creating solutions that can benefit communities and individuals. Hackatons are known to foster innovation and entrepreneurship, and they encourage students to think outside the box, come up with creative solutions, and experiment with new technologies. Student social hackathons can address pressing social issues in local communities and beyond. By tackling these challenges, students can make a meaningful impact and contribute to positive societal change .

The social hackathon will provide an opportunity for all participating students to work closely on selecting real social challenges and plan their transnational cross curricular e-service-learning projects in sustainable and ecologically responsible ways, addressing inclusion and diversity, and gradually moving from pilots to full-fledged e-service-learning projects.

The SLIDE Social Hackathon will take place on Wednesday 13 November 2024. It will be a full-day, hybrid event in the form of an e-service-learning project. Student teams will work together in multidisciplinary teams to solve social challenges focused on the topic of digital inclusion, proposed by communty partners from all over Europe. During the event, students connect online with community partners and other student teams, and are coached by international mentors.

The objectives of the SLIDE social hackathon are:

• to equip students with skills to participate in digital education fully, but also with skills to make connections with local communities and sensitise students towards digital inclusion and digital empowerment of community members;
• to develop intercultural understanding and international collaboration;
• to address specific challenges or problems faced by community organisations or communities connected with digitalisation and develop innovative solutions within a defined time frame which will be transferable to other organisations or communities.

Each student in the winning team will receive a €50 cash prize. A parallel cash prize will be given to the community partner that provided the winning challenge to help implementing the students’ solution.