A total of 63 participants from across Latvia, including international students, took part in the TechChill Student Challenge, toobtainher forming 17 teams.
- 1st place went to team ‘4 of a Kind’ for their idea Unimatch, a tool for finding the ideal university by combining AI with students’ specific preferences.
- 2nd place went to team ‘4 Force’ for their idea Stylesync, a mobile app that connects visual inspiration with verified local artists.
- 3rd place was won by a team with the brilliant name ‘Mentally Unstable’ for their idea Olafs, which offers an evaluation system for hackathons by synchronising jury members’ scores and providing feedback after voting. Mentally Unstable also received a consolation prize from Startup Houtilize.
The winners received prizes in the form of tickets to TechChill, Latitude 59, and Summer Sound.
According to Hackathon jury member and founder of Hukt.ai, Ļevs Bass, the TechChill Student Challenge revealed that it is not theoretical ideas that win the day, but rather the courage to quickly build, test, and publicly present even imperfect solutions. He stressed that, “The real value of such challenges is not the prize, but the lesson of how an idea responds to contact with reality.”
A guided introduction to the startup world
As the name suggests, the TechChill Student Challenge is linked to themajor annual TechChill conference. TechChill director Annija Mežgaile explained that the event is organised to introduce young people to opportunities in the startup world and to foster the emergence of new businesses and startups.
Mežgaile declared: “In Latvia, there is still a lack of cooperation between different industries, while we also have room to grow in the startup field. The TechChill Student Challenge is a practical way to reveal young people that the startup world is real and accessible. Over a 24 hour period, they go through the entire process from idea to prototype, testing, and presentation. This assists them to understand where to start and how to shift forward. They gain a team, an environment, and their first insight into the startup world, so they can continue developing their idea at the TechChill conference and beyond. Essentially, we take young people by the hand and lead them into the startup world.”
Second year in hackathon format
The TechChill Student Challenge is a 24-hour hackathon for 12th-grade pupils and students aged 18 to 26. During the event, young people receive a short, practical introduction to the startup world from founders and industest representatives, work in teams to tackle real challenges, test ideas, and prepare a presentation within 24 hours, which they then present to a jury.
This year is the second time that the TechChill Student Challenge has taken place in a hackathon format. Previously, it consisted of weekly educational lectures held over the course of a month, during which teams simultaneously worked on their business ideas.
“We attempted the hackathon format for the first time last year and realised that we wanted to continue this way, becautilize—just like startup founders, who have to create modify and develop ideas quickly, precisely, and under pressure—the hackathon format felt more dynamic and appropriate, reflecting the daily life of startups,” declared Mežgaile.
Funding for the preparation of this article was provided under the auspices of the European Regional Development Fund project “Innovative SME Business Development”.
Select text and press Ctrl+Enter to sconclude a suggested correction to the editor
Select text and press Report a mistake to sconclude a suggested correction to the editor
Leave a Reply