FAQ's

Q. Is this is a women-only hackathon?

A. Absolutely! Women power it is! Only women can participate in this – either as team members or as mentors to the team. We believe that you will come up with brilliant solutions

Q. Is there an entry fee to register for the Hackathon?

A. We believe that you bring the most precious resources to the event. We know we will get the best intention, talent and commitment which is so important to solve the issues that the pandemic has led to. Your participation in the event is the fee In itself and we don’t want you to pay money to take this head-on.

Q. Do I need to have any specific qualifications to be a participant for the Hackathon?

A. Technology is the key in finding the solution and we think there may be some amount of coding required. If you know how to code – jump right in. If you don’t know how code – beg, borrow, threaten, kidnap your best techie friends / aunts / friends aunt/ neighbor – whoever you can find to help you code and come up with a solution and partner and register.

Q. Do we need to have the entire idea fully working?

A. The problem is working and isn’t fully at its peak. We believe that the problem is unfolding on a daily basis. So the solution is also not going to be fully ready. However, the jury will need to see something that they can evaluate to establish the feasibility of the solution. Hence try to work towards a logical presentation of the solution and define the problem statement as clearly as you can. The more complete it is, the better is the data for evaluation, however, a wireframe, MVP, even a prototype (needn’t be fully functioning) can go a long way in making the decision. We also know that the 72 hours is a reasonable period for coming up with a solution / direction that you want to take, and that needn’t be fully working.

Q. How is the environment? Will your environment support any language? Will you provide any IDE and DB for us to work on ideas?

A. IBM is our technology partner for this event and we will share more details about this as we sent the details of the event once you register. As you can imagine, they will provide the best possible environment to ensure we come up with the solutions needed.

Q. Does one have to be online and available for the entire duration of the Hackathon?

A. We are giving you the flexibility of working offline/online/on the phone/collaboration software with your team members during those days. However, our tech environment will be online all the hours during the duration of the event

Q. Since there is no specific technology mentioned, are there any restrictions on how many pre-built libraries can be used?

A. The IBM environment will allow you to use several SDKs/pre-built code. There is no restriction to use any language, technology stack, or libraries. You can use any of them to create the web/mobile application.

Q. Do I need to give a demo for the product that I have built?

A. We will inform the teams once the submissions are done on the next steps and that may involve a demo. Closer to the event, we will provide you more details about how the submission will take place. Our jury is working furiously to ensure that they are also ready to handle such volume and at the same time ensure that it works best for the teams as well.

Q. A fully-developed application needs to have a solid backend for data storage like SQL, SharePoint etc. Since its online, is it accepted to show only the prototype?

A. Yes. it's absolutely fine to submit just the prototype. If you use any database like MySQL or Postgres-SQL, you can also submit a database dump along with your submission. However, you are allowed to submit just the prototype.

Q. If it is a team submission, does that mean all team members will have access to work at the same time?

A. The IBM infrastructure allows for this. We will get back on more details about the communication and collaboration channels once you register

Q. Who will own the Intellectual Property Rights to the product that I have built?

A. It is yours. You are the solution creators and you own it. You will have all rights and own the IP of the product. However, all code needs to be in the public domain (open source), so that the judges can evaluate it.

Terms & Conditions

Submission guidelines :

1. Submission name: Enter the name for your solution or team in about five words.

2. Short description: Describe your team’s solution in about ten words.

3. Long description: Write about 500 words, or around one page of text, that covers the solution in more detail. Please include the real-world problem you identified, describe the technology project you created, and explain why it’s better than any existing solution. You can supply additional documentation in your source code repository.

4. Solution roadmap: Create a document or image that shows how mature your solution is today and how you would like to improve it in the future. This can include information on the business model, funding needs, and a sustainability plan.

5. Link to publicly accessible GitHub repository (or other location such as GitLab or Box): The judges should be able to download, examine, and evaluate the source code behind the solution. You can provide additional descriptions and diagrams in the repository.

6. Link to a 3-minute demo video: Record a demo of your project, upload it to YouTube or Vimeo and share the URL. Three minutes is the maximum length. You can link to longer versions from your source code repository. Keep in mind that non-technical judges may rely on this more than technical documentation.

7. List of one or more IBM Cloud Services or IBM Systems used in the solution: Your application can use additional data sets, libraries, and externally-hosted services to complement the IBM Cloud services or IBM Systems.

8. Your email address and the email addresses of up to four additional team members: Each team member needs to be registered. You can only be part of one team of up to 5 members, and your team can only submit one application.

Judgement criteria:

Submissions will be judged equally across 4 primary criteria which evaluate whether the solution solves a real-world problem and uses technology effectively.

1. Completeness and transferability: How fully has the idea been implemented? Can it achieve an impact on the field? Can it be transferred elsewhere?

2. Effectiveness and efficiency: Does the solution address a high priority area? Does it achieve its goal effectively and efficiently? Can it scale?

3. Design and usability: How good are the design, user experience, and ease of use of the solution? How quickly can it be put to use?

4. Creativity and innovation: How unique was the approach to solving a long-standing or previously intractable problem?