The program starts with a 72-hour online hackathon on 10-13 December 2020 and is followed by a 6-week pre-acceleration program for 25 selected teams with a goal to turn the most promising prototypes into real products and implement them on the market.

The prize fund of the hackathon is €100 000 and growing to help really accelerate the ideas and prototypes to market readiness. 

Sounds interesting? Well, get on board then!

Who’s the program for?

We aim to engage 10,000 passionate tech-savvy and socially conscious problem solvers, 300+ mentors and 500+ community organizations across Africa and Europe. You don’t need to be a developer or engineer to join – we need experts from various fields including technology, marketing, design, business, social welfare, and so on for maximum success!

Don’t have an idea, a team or either? Don’t worry. You can either submit your idea OR register as an individual participant letting us know what your special skills and expertise are. We facilitate two matchmaking sessions prior the hackathon (on November 28 and December 5) to put together teams that are composed of both African and European participants.

What will you sign up for?

Garage48 hackathon is a bulletproof format we’ve been running for over 10 years, in 26 countries and 48 cities so far where ideas get built into prototypes by newly formed teams supported by industry-leading mentors.

The 72-hours are mainly spent with your team working on the idea hands-on. You’ll have access to mentors and the organizing team to guide you. There are 2 checkpoints each day, where mentors see the progress the teams have made in the meantime and help when needed. The goal for each team is to have a prototype developed by the end of the hackathon, that they will present as a demo video.

To sum it up, it means intense work from the kickoff on Thursday evening until 9AM Sunday morning when the deadline for the final video demo is. And it will all be worth it!

The challenges

We’re looking to tackle challenges in the 11 areas listed below, put together in collaboration with African Union and Smart Africa, aligned with the Africa-Europe Digital Economy Partnership Report and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Education | Food security | Job Security | Vulnerable Populations | Health & Wellness | Financial Services | Big Data | Cyber Security | Digital Economy | e-Governance | Smart Cities

“The post-COVID-19 era offers Africa an important opportunity to revitalize its economy under a green and smart framework that supports health and prosperity embracing new technologies. We are confident that youth shall put their creativity, innovation, and ingenuity using digital skills into providing solutions that help Africa recover better and faster,” said Dr. Amani Abou-Zeid, African Union Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, highlighting the necessity of this event.

Program timeline

• 28 November: 1st Team Formation sessions

• 5 December: 2nd Team Formation sessions

• 7 December: Announcement of the most innovative ideas joining the hackathon

• 10-13 December: 72-hour Online Hackathon

• 13 December: Finals of the hackathon

• 15 January: Post-hackathon matchmaking event to put the teams together with all the help they need to move further and bring the solution developed during the hackathon into real life

• January & February: 6-week pre-acceleration program for 25 winning teams

Find more details on our website and read the Frequently Asked Questions.

Join the #euafricathejourney

Today’s virus-driven world is unpredictable, uncertain, and dynamic. It is important to start with new and creative approaches to deal with the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has given us insight on. Build new projects. Think bigger. It is in our hands to jumpstart the economy by using decades of innovation in a supportive and inclusive way while being tough and smart, united, and disciplined.

Let’s team up and make a difference together!

REGISTER HERE and join the event on Facebook!