On the 12^th and 13^th of May, during the Sofia Science Festival in Sofia Tech Park the # BG10xEU Hackathon took place on the occasion of the 10 years membership of Bulgaria in the EU.

Hackathon aimed to bring together participants with technical skills, a vision of the future and creative ideas for addressing challenges in the areas of education, environmental sustainability and the future of the European Union.

49 teams with over 350 participants were registered for the hackathon, 34 of them succeeded in reaching a minimal viable product and presented the jury demos or versions of their decisions. Of these, 8 teams reached the finals: Brain Hub Lab, The Peach Door, GaidARi, 1Tree, Jam Door - Door Jam, Prizma, Education 4.0 and PCVT.

The first prize of 10 000 leva, provided by Mtel and a voucher for 10 000 leva for the presentation of Webit 2018, was won by the Prizma team. They developed a prototype application for direct translation of camera-captured text into sign language, capable of recognizing and translating into different languages. The second prize of BGN 5,000, provided by the Sofia Municipal Council, was won by the team of the start-up company BrainHUB lab. They presented an idea for the development of a real-time application for real-time gestural language translation, including an educational platform for its learning.

A kindred cheering sparked the third-placed team, one of the youngest in the competition - " Dzham Vrata – Vrata Dzham". The four 16-year-old students from the Technological School Electronic Systems at TU Sofia – Telerik Arsov, Martin Datsev, Antonio Milev and Vladislav Georgiev have developed an Internet platform for problems in the urban environment in Sofia and opportunities for solving them both by the municipality and the citizens. The young contestants received a prize of BGN 3,000, provided by the Sofia Municipal Council and another Mtel Award for best performance.

The photos are provided by www.facebook.com/SharingSofia

Top: The four 16-year-old students from the Technological School “Electronic Systems”part of the Technical University of Sofia - TelerikArsov, Martin Datsev, Antonio Milev and Vladislav Georgiev have developed an Internet platform for problems in the urban environment in Sofia and opportunities for solving them.

Below:
Sofia Mayor Mrs. Yordanka Fandakova at the hackathon opening ceremony;
Place Ranking. First prize – Prizma team; Second prize - BrainHUB Lab team; Third prize - Dzham Vrata – Vrata Dzham team.