Business Meets Tech – WHU’s Tech Initiative, one of the student clubs at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, hosted its annual IDEAHACK - WHU's Hackathon for the third time, on the weekend of October 9-11, 2020. While the first two hackathons have been in-person events, this year’s hackathon was carried out completely digital. Within a time of 48 hours, over 200 participants from all over the world worked together in groups to solve challenges provided by sponsors of the hackathon.
Following Business Meets Tech’s goal to unite the worlds of tech and business, the hackathon serves as a platform to encourage such collaboration. “We happily observed participants studying business or computer science exchanging their knowledge and supporting each other in creating their solutions”, says Anton, Head of Marketing at Business Meets Tech. Additionally, IDEAHACK 2020 offered a great line up of mentors that help participants resolve any possible obstacles emerging.
Even though hosting an in-person event would have offered many advantages in communicating and mentoring, organizing an online event enabled the students to reach participants from all over the world. While a lot of German hacking enthusiasts participated in the event, the organizing team was delighted to see students taking part in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, India, Brazil, and Poland, just to name a few. Participants came from well-known Universities, among them Harvard, Oxford, UC Irvine, University of Washington, and Michigan.
Sponsors such as Enpal, Starmind, and Educaro provided this year’s challenges. The teams submitted astonishing solutions for the challenges. The three best projects were awarded 4.500 Euro in prize money and a 3-month mentorship by one of the mentors. WHU students that participated and were among the winners also did exceptional work.