FLETA took part in the 4th edition of START Hack. It was organized by a team from START Global who are passionate about technology and entrepreneurship. Their student initiative also organizes the annual START Summit. Described as the most entrepreneurial Hackathon in Europe, it took place between 8–10 March 2019 at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.
Over 400 participants indulged in 35 hours of coding on one of the 10 cases. To give you an idea of how these cases can be, here are some challenges posed last year by our partners:
- SRF: In light of all the fake-news and media manipulation going on around the world, SRF challenged the coders to create a prototype which verifies social sources.
- Volvo: Volvo challenged the developers to disrupt the car sharing space by combining the technologies the hackathon is focussing on with gamification.
Sam Jeong (CTO of FLETA), Peter J (CFO of FLETA), and James Song (Senior Marketing Strategist at FLETA) were at the venue to support the teams.
Technological Focus of the Hackathon
The 2019 hackathon will focus on the four most disruptive technologies of this day and age:
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) helps in the design and use of various programs and systems that exhibit human intelligence. AI is slowly taking over various tasks in different industries and spaces. These tasks range from prediction analysis to question answering.
Augmented and Virtual Reality (VR & AR)
Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR & VR) are visual computer simulations that are displayed to viewers for entertaining, educational, medical or marketing purposes. While VR creates an immersive digital reality, AR displays digital layers on top of the real world.
Blockchain Technology
A blockchain is, in the simplest of terms, a time-stamped series of immutable record of data that is managed by a cluster of computers not owned by any single entity. Each of these blocks of data (i.e. block) are secured and bound to each other using cryptographic principles (i.e. chain). The blockchain helps in decentralized and immutable record-keeping of information.
Internet of Things (IoT)
The Internet of things refers to the concept of extending Internet connectivity beyond conventional computing platforms such as personal computers and mobile devices, and into any range of traditionally “dumb” or non-internet-enabled physical devices and everyday objects.
Hackathon Partners
FLETA is proud to be a member of START Hack’s broad and unique partner network. These partners range from corporations to NGOs and governmental institutions. Nine global companies in various industries including Microsoft, Volvo, and Bosch supported START Hack 2019 as case partners with along FLETA. Following last year’s Neo, this year, FLETA is the one and only Blockchain company.
FLETA’s Case
Out of the 400 participants, most of them expressed were interested in joining FLETA’s case due to James Song’s presentation. Ultimately, six teams chose the FLETA challenge case. Even though the participants were not completely familiar with blockchain technology they were still willing to learn the new tech. The winner of the FLETA case came up with the idea of selling pixels and putting the transactions on the blockchain. This will be used for fundraising or charity purpose since it offers full transparency and traceability of all the funds involved.
