The first “SUP-Free hackathon”, part of the program “Greece Free of Single-Use Plastics”, took place on December 11-13, 2020, using collaborative tools and digital media. A collaboration of Lidl Hellas and the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation, under the auspices of the Ministry of Environment and Energy, the event was organized with the technological support […]
The first “SUP-Free hackathon”, part of the program “Greece Free of Single-Use Plastics”, took place on December 11-13, 2020, using collaborative tools and digital media. A collaboration of Lidl Hellas and the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation, under the auspices of the Ministry of Environment and Energy, the event was organized with the technological support of Crowdpolicy.
The innovation marathon started on Friday, December 11th with brief introductions by Mr. Iakovos Andreanidis, President of Lidl Hellas, Mrs. Evi Lazou, President of the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation, as well as Mrs. Anna – Michel Asimakopoulou and Mr. Nikos Androulakis, Members of the European Parliament.
The competition was attended by 34 participating teams and 34 mentors, while the contestants’ proposals were evaluated by a judging committee comprising 12 members from academia, business and the public sector. Throughout the competition, many creative ideas and proposals for solutions and applications that will contribute to an everyday life without single- use plastics were presented and discussed. Numerous mentoring sessions supported participants in designing their business models and refining their core business idea.
The “SUP Free hackathon” ended on Sunday, December 13th with the final presentations by all participating groups. The evaluation was based on the ripeness of the concept or the functional characteristics of the product, the business model and the level of technological innovation. A total of 5 teams received cash prizes, gift certificates from Lidl Hellas and AWS Cloud Services Credits, and also secured their entry into the 5-month SUP Free Innovation Lab business acceleration program.
The 5 groups that were distinguished are the following:
1st Award – “FeelTheCup”: Creation of a platform that promotes circular reusable glasses to a network of contracted coffee shops, in conjunction with a reward program.
2nd Award – “MS” (17-year-old student): Automatic cleaning service of beaches and land expanses, using artificial intelligence and “robotics” for the identification and collection of litter.
3rd Award – “ECOCup”: Creation of a mobile app that will act as an eco-friendly “lottery” system and reward users when they buy their drink in their own reusable vessel.
4th Award – “SquAthonHackD”: Create an application that will use a “lottery scheme” with “rewarding gamification” systems, in order to encourage users to use alternative products instead of disposable plastics.
5th Award – “AnalogProgrammers”: Separation and recycling of disposable plastics with the aim of creating raw material for “custom design” products through 3D printing.
