Wealth of ideas: The first Humboldt Hackathon in Berlin

How can the Humboldt Network unfold its full potential and make a difference in civil society, the political sphere, the economy as well as science and academia? During the first Humboldt Hackathon, some 40 individuals who are being sponsored by the Foundation and come from more than 20 nations met with seven mentors in the silent green cultural space in Berlin to discuss questions like these on 30 September and 1 October.

Tapping into the knowledge already to be found in the network and bringing it to society and the political sphere is one of the Humboldt Foundation’s declared objectives; this objective provided the starting point for the Humboldt Hackathon. Over the course of the two-day event, the participating “hackies” and their mentors mapped out visions for the future and outlined possible creative solutions. These were then discussed in diverse, interdisciplinary teams. The ideas ranged from different types of impetus for the inclusive networking of women and marginalised persons in line with Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP) to a discussion paper on the continuing development of classic women’s networks in the research field all the way to ideas relating to start-up science and academic and scientific freedom.

At the end of the Hackathon, all the teams presented their ideas to a specialist jury whose members included Andrea Frank from the Stifterverband and Peter Kettner from Germany’s Federal Foreign Office. The jury was impressed by the network’s level of innovativeness and how creative the pitches were; examples include a point system for recording CO2 emissions, “speed dating” for start-up scientists and the establishment of a diversity cluster. The project idea “Humboldt Connect – Empowering the next generation of start-up scientists” submitted by Peru Bhardwaj, Vinícius Boldrini, Pallabi Das, Ilias Ftouhi, Shiva Gorjian, Opeyemi Soremekun and their mentor Matthias Rehfeld was ultimately chosen. The team will receive a cash prize of €15,000 that is earmarked for this specific purpose; it was provided by the Stifterverband, the cooperation partner for the Hackathon.
 
The ideas and impetus generated at the Hackathon along with the sponsored individuals’ collective requirements will be taken into account during the development of the Foundation’s programmes and portfolio.