Hack the Crisis: from idea to execution in just 6 hours

We Estonians don’t know how to just stay still and do nothing in the midst of the crisis - we act and we hack! Together with Accelerate Estonia and with the big help from the community people, we put together an online hackathon in record time to tackle the Coronavirus pandemic crisis and emerge from the crisis stronger than ever. With just 6 hours we managed to put the event together, get 96 ideas, 860+ people in the event Slack and by now, we have amazing 30 teams working!

Here is the list of the teams that took the challenge to design, test and launch moonshot ideas that will either help tackle the crisis or position Estonia well for the aftermath:

1. SafeHouse
SafeHouse is an app that allows you to regain control over your life by managing your daily routine.
2. Tutor.id

A marketplace that connects tutors and students to learn online while providing tools for tutors to build their own online schools.

3.  COVID19 Assessment Bot (CureAssist)

A mobile application which: 1) empowers the users to self assess using a symptom checker bot & access credible information regarding medical establishments, care providers, statistics, precautions, do's & don't's & advisories 2) logs in the geo-coordinates of the user showcasing positive symptoms and presents a visual map of the places visited & people contacted in the last 14 days (heat map of sorts). This enables the authorities to zero-in on the probable cases and allocates the manpower accordingly 3) incorporates a telemedicine platform that can be used by the care providers to interact with the patients remotely.

4. Corona-tracker by Velmio

A data-driven app that takes data from symptom logging and wearable devices to deliver timely health insights for users to monitor their risk and recovery.

5. Eˉlektron

People watching the theatrical piece with their own live webcams - an online "collective group" experience. 

6. Share Force One

Share Force One is a B2B platform for companies in need of workforce and companies whose workforce doesn’t have any job opportunities left.

7. Self-assessment app

In collaboration with the Health Board, we’ve made an online test based on their assessment criteria and a Cambridge research paper. The test gives people an insight into their state of health and offers them a course of action, depending on the severity of their symptoms. We give them the same guidelines and information they would get from calling the hotline, to prevent people from flooding the lines (and calling 1220).

8. Koroonakaart.ee

An application using crowdsourced data from media reports and Terviseamet press releases to clearly visualize and show the spread of the disease over time as well as the number of tests conducted.

9. Agile Employment Contract Act

The existing Employment Contract Act holds back the opportunities of modern working methods like remote working which is very important in the current situation and makes decisions that could be done by the employee, for example, decide when their work is most efficient and how to arrange their responsibilities between home and work.

10. Remote work transition for corporates

Traditional coaching is a powerful tool that supports the change. Our micro-coaching solution goes above and beyond by (a) making coaching scalable and affordable, and (b) allowing everyone to be aware of what’s going on in the company through knowledge sharing and data collection. And all this was made possible by utilizing both human-led coachings via text or chat and AI chatbot tech.

11. Corona Seasonality Forecaster

Forecasting tool to understand how seasonality/weather impacts the coronavirus spreading (based on historical data, forecasting 10 days ahead). This could be used by governments and for people to plan ahead (such as travel).

12. Coronabot

Chatbot to answer people's questions in one place 24/7 based on reliable sources. It gives info about the virus and also about crisis management to help people cope with the new reality.

13. Statebot - Virtual Assistant to e-Estonia

An automated solution to answer basic and official info in times of crisis as well as outside of it. 

14. Vanemuine - medical volunteer management database

We are building Estonian first medical volunteer management database where volunteers can sign up, describe their skillset and availability. Crisis leaders can easily locate volunteers with the right competences. They can send out a call for action to suitable volunteers. The volunteers can accept the call. Crisis leaders have a clear overview of acceptance without drowning into calls and emails. The leaders also have an up-to-date view of volunteers who have entered the field of crisis and also when they have left their position.

15. #NotAlone
NotAlone is a web platform creating an online remote community, which provides engagement, emotional support and professional guidance to those in need under quarantine.

16. Ventit Breathing apparatus

We are building a cheap and easy to set-up mechanical ventilator for the hospitals to deploy in the case of a pandemic. Why? So the doctors wouldn't have to choose who lives bc there are not enough ventilators to go around.

17. Remotely

A community resource hub for unexpected remote teams, comprising of case studies from TOP companies in Estonia, process descriptions, psychological advice and a catalog of industry-leading software for remote work. A struggling company should be able to browse the site and kick start their activities quickly.

18. Kriisiabikeskus väikettevõtetele

Based on input from an SME (obtained via a questionnaire in our web application) we assess the severity of their situation and return advice in the form of actionable to-do lists. Each item on the list comes with legal & financial advice, templates and other that is needed for the SME to take action NOW. Our aim is to keep the tone of the service empathetic and psychologically comforting for the SME lead.

19. SmartID

Extremely simple and fast way how to integration worldwide secure person identification comparable to ID cards.

20. Corona Virus awareness board game for parents to gamify protection of kids

A simple board game, which teaches good hygiene. with fun interactions. We also add randomization of events for replayability value and provide a companion app for updates.

21. Zelos

We have set up a task dispatch app and helpline that allows for quarantined people who need help, to call in (or send a request via our website) and ask for what they need. The requests are posted to volunteers who have signed up in the app. Volunteers will be able to see all tasks for their area and pick the ones that suit them the best. After picking up the task, the volunteer will get in contact with the person in need, and they can start solving the problem together.

22. Viri

Encouraging people to take proactive measurements through the platform. Track virus infection interactions, self-report to anonymously notify people about being close contact with the potential infection and see how many times you have been close contact with the infection.

23. E-supermarket

A website that will deliver complete survival packages that will allow you to survive for two weeks for all budgets. Cheap, standard and premium packages. We also have flyers, and hotlines for the elderly that would want to use our services. People will also be able to donate to the poorer, or people in need.

24. Kri-assist

An all in one crisis solution where people who are cut off from supplies can find various tailored services, track the situation of crises and find other people to share their experiences with.

25. Salty bunch

AntiVirus Spray by team #salty_bunch stops the spread of viruses by utilizing safe and cheap salts.

26. Help community (abistame!)

To virtually connect those who can help with those who need help in local communities for real aid.

27. Healthnet (Kabe)

We enable location and time tracking for enrolled users. Once a user specifies that they have been infected with the virus, we match the location data from the past 5 days with all other non-infected users and inform them whats the probability of them contracting the disease. We also calculate the risk score for different areas in a city or even in a whole country. We are using fully anonymous data and we compress the location data so it will be fast to query while still being within 10m of accuracy. Furthermore, we enable full up-to-date information management and enable critical pieces of information from the government to be delivered to the user through push notifications.

28. Supervaisor 

In the event of a possible quarantine situation, it might be necessary for the government to quickly collect self-reported evidence of people staying in quarantine locations.
29. CoronaLog
CoronaLog offers a free platform where people can log interactions to increase proactive response in communicating with potentially infected interactions to increase awareness of spread and encourage self-isolation. This will help to flatten the curve through reducing your risk of spreading the virus to people unknown as it will provide clear communication to those who may need to self-isolate.
30. VidED
All schools around Estonia are in quarantine. The educational process has to inevitably be continued. For the majority of teachers, it turns out very complicated to conserve the quality of delivered education while using web services such as Skype, Zoom, Messenger or similar solutions. All this creates a real challenge for already overwhelmed teachers.

PS! Click on the product names if you want more information!

From physical products to various platforms, teams have less than 24 hours left to develop their ideas. Five best ones are selected this Sunday at 6 PM to continue under AccelerateEstonia's supportive wing. We wish the teams all the best and good luck in developing their prototypes over the course of this weekend with the help of our amazing mentors


Join the public Slack group for general discussions and updates on the ideas as they grow into working prototypes. 

About the author

mari hanikat

Mari is the CEO at Garage48. She is a very strong and mission-driven leader not afraid to go places no one has been before and help people. 🚀

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