New ideas and energy flow at AngelHack Cyprus
AngelHack Cyprus demonstrates that innovation is thriving as talented teams develop great ideas during 24-hour coding marathon
The first AngelHack Cyprus Hackathon took place on July 7-8 in Limassol at the Cyprus University of Technology. It was co-hosted by Impact Tech LTD and brought together some of the island’s brightest and most talented entrepreneurs. They competed for great prizes and the chance to present their ideas at the hackathon series finale in Silicon Valley.
The AngelHack Hackathon Series travels six continents and visits over 50 cities in its quest to encourage young talent. They pool their skills to produce innovative solutions that have a positive effect on local communities and even become startups. The winners from each city can attend to a 12-week mentorship program to fast-track their idea with other winners.
‘Helptag.org’ won the Cyprus Hackathon for their self-funding community project. GuardChain won the ImpacTech Challenge and the €2000 in prize money. They used Machine Learning to create a scoring system to review cryptocurrency Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).
Every team worked around the clock from Saturday until the 13:00 “code freeze” deadline on Sunday before pitching their ideas to the judges.
In addition to co-hosting and creating a challenge, ImpacTech was also keynote sponsor and provided mentors for the event. Mentors are a vital component of every hackathon as they give advice in programming, design and pitching to help the teams and their project become reality.
The hackathon was well attended and supported by IBM, AWS and local companies RiseTech Media and CyRic who provided challenges.
The winning pitch for the ImpacTech Challenge came from a team of young people who developed GuardChain. The cryptocurrency ICO Risk Analysis Project uses Machine Learning. It scores and reviews ICOs and recognises patterns using Artificial Intelligence to determine the level of risk involved. GuardChain’s inventors received €2,000 for their efforts in winning the highly contested ImpacTech Challenge.
HELPTAB.ORG WIN ANGELHACK GRAND PRIZE
AngelHack’s grand prize went to helptab.org whose app can help communities fund projects or ideas for a common cause. The web-browser based app uses a PC’s CPU power to mine Monero cryptocurrency which then funds the common project. The team will pitch their idea internationally and compete with other hackathon winners.
Another impressive pitch came from two 15-year-olds who developed CanTeen, an ingenious app solution to eradicate long canteen queues.
CanTeen allows students to place their food orders before lunchbreak, enabling caterers to ensure meals are ready for lunchtime collection. This solution saves time, minimises the canteen’s running costs, eliminates unnecessary spending while also reducing refuse. CanTeen’s runner-up nomination for the AngelHack Challenge may give them the chance to further develop their idea abroad.
To ensure fairness and originality, every team faced the judging committee’s questions. It was the opportunity for teams to demonstrate how they could monetise their idea and how revenue streams could expand in the future. Additionally, they were asked technical questions to ensure their code was ‘fresh’ and that genuine innovation would be acknowledged.
A post-event party rounded off the hackathon on Sunday evening. Participants, organisers, judges and mentors got to relax and enjoy new friendships in the old city in Limassol.
AngelHack’s Cyprus hackathon is the first of many that will take place on the island. It’s a bridge for young entrepreneurs aiming for Silicon Valley. Organisers expect the next hackathon bigger and better in every respect and urged future participants to work on fresh ideas from now to ensure they are ready for it. Check in to our news section regularly and follow ImpacTech on social media to stay up-to-date with our news.