Last weekend, from 26 to 28 November 2021, the final of the fourth edition of the Hackathon for Good took place, where participants from all over the world developed innovative technological solutions for eight challenges using data. The hackathon was hosted by the municipality of The Hague and broadcast from the studio of The Hague Tech by Holland Park Media and presented by Bobby Bahov. The 100+ participants in the hackathon came from no less than four different continents from countries such as the United States, India, Indonesia and the Netherlands.

During the hackathon, the teams tackled societal issues such as disinformation and deep fakes, wastage in the food chain and flooding due to climate change. The winner of the Hackathon for Good 2021 was the New Designers team, who have developed an application that signals potential abuses in the rental market to foreign students and an associated platform that guides them in finding a pleasant and affordable living environment.

The challenges were submitted by the Ministry of Justice and Security, Public Prosecution Service, Ministry of Defence, Greenport West-Holland, Rotterdam The Hague Innovation Airport, DECK 180, startup Invisible Foods, Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, startup Find Out Why, Climate Action Center and 4TU. In their search for innovative technological solutions to the challenges, the teams were able to use data and tools made available by, among others, ESRI and UbiObs.

In addition, the teams were assisted by dozens of mentors and jury members with different knowledge and expertise from companies and governments. The Hackathon for Good 2021 was organised by The Hague Tech and World Startup in collaboration with the Hague innovation ecosystem consisting of clusters such as The Security Delta, The Hague Humanity Hub, The Hague Legal Tech Alliance, ImpactCity and innovative creative organisations such as Miles, RONT and Cittamap.

Credits: Holland Park Media

The Hackathon for Good 2021 was once again made possible (in part) by the municipality of The Hague. The Hague is a city that wants to make an impact. The municipality is hosting the Hackathon for Good because it wants to work with its social partners on the most urgent challenges known to the world and is committed to co-creation. The Hague believes that technology and innovation can contribute to positive change in the world.

Hosting the Hackathon for Good increases the appeal of The Hague for (new) IT talent. Digitisation brings opportunities but also challenges. Employers in the The Hague region are currently unable to attract and retain qualified personnel with the right competencies. There is an urgent need for training more IT talent, retraining non-IT professionals, lifelong learning and retaining scarce IT talent. The Hackathon for Good can fulfil a stimulating function in the field of knowledge development, entrepreneurship and education in the field of IT. This makes the hackathon a good fit with the Human Capital Agenda that was signed in 2019 by 66 parties from the business community, education and government. Together, these parties commit themselves to objectives regarding (re)training of personnel, guiding employees from work to work and attracting international talent. With the Human Capital Agreement, South Holland wants to become nationally and internationally competitive thanks to a labor market that makes optimal use of the talent of workers.