From April 3-5, the Swiss-wide virtual hackathon #VersusVirus invited participants to develop fresh ideas and solutions for fighting against the new coronavirus, and its associated disease COVID-19.
During the 48-hour hackathon, 4,500 registered hackers from all over the world with a variety of backgrounds formed 600 teams. They all collaborated to find solutions to 190 hackathon challenges on a wide range of topics, including data and fake news, economic impacts, mental health, education, arts and culture, healthcare and more.
Hackers were supported by 500 mentors and frequent “how to” sessions that were streamed live via Zoom and Youtube. One of the highlights of #VersusVirus was a live-interview with the Federal Council Alain Berset, who highlighted the importance of innovation and collaboration in current times.
Following the hackathon, 42 out of 263 submitted projects were selected by a jury for special recognition.
Read more about the initiative at versusvirus.ch.
