Citython Kosice Re-Imagines Urban Mobility Through a Hackathon
After the successful first edition in Zilina, Citython 2022 brought the second edition of its annual event to Kosice (Slovakia) on 1-3 July. An urban mobility hackathon focused on urban data, smart mobility, urban planning and crisis management, gathered participants with expertise in urban planning, engineering, data science, transport, IT and business creation from all around Europe split into teams that competed against each other to drive innovation to address the key challenges the city of Kosice faces.
Co-funded by the EIT Urban Mobility, a European initiative to improve mobility to make cities more liveable places supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), and organised in a hybrid manner by KAJO and CARNET in partnership with the Technical University of Kosice, Citython Kosice was launched on 1 July in a public ceremony to introduce the agenda, challenges, and welcome participants.
Martin Mudrak, Plenipotentiary of the City of Košice for Innovation & Economic Development, gave a welcome speech along with the rector of the Technical University of Kosice, Stanislav Kmeť. Inspirational tech pills were given by prominent figures, such as Martin Tuchyna, GEOICT & Environmental Infrastructure Coordinator for the Ministry of Environment of Slovakia.
The hackathon started after the speeches, on the evening of 1 July and covered two days of hard work, with participants working on their best solutions in a hybrid environment, both online and in person. Throughout the event, expert mentors such as Daniel Sagath, International Cooperation Manager of the Slovak Space Office, and Miloslav Michalko, Geospatial Data Consultant for the World Bank, were available to support and challenge the teams on their ideas (2 and 3 July).
Participating teams developed their proposals until 3 July, and submitted their ideas later that day. A panel of judges composed of Martin Mudrák, Plenipotentiary of the City of Kosice for Innovation & Economic Development, Lenka Tkacova, PR and Event Manager at the Slovak Space Office, Viliam Podhorský, Senior State Counsellor of the Electric Communication Department of the Ministry of Transport and Construction of Slovakia, Anna Pastorekova, Consultant and Accelerator at CIVITTA, Frantisek Jakab, Head Director at TECHNICOM, Miroslav Binas, Department of Computer and Informatics at the Technical University of Kosice, Miloslav Michalko, Geospatial Data Consultant for the World Bank, and Daniel Sagath, International Cooperation Manager of the Slovak Space Office, evaluated the quality and feasibility of the submissions and decided the winners of the hackathon.
The winning teams for the proposed challenges are:
Winning team 1 – Challenge 1 | Team The Pedals – Group 18 (Jakub Kinlovič, Tomáš Lapšanský, Bianka Rujáková)
Winning team 2 – Challenge 2 | StorePredictore – Group 3 (Ales Jandera, Janci Svantner, Roman Dadulak, Kristina Hoblakova)
Winning team 3 – Challenge 3 | Vychodne pobrezie – Group 19 (Verana Dobal, Ludka Žoldakova, Miso Hudak)
The winners of each challenge shared 3,000 € in prizes plus an e-scooter, bike sharing vouchers, and various GARMIN gifts.
More information about the project: https://www.citython.eu/
