3/8/17 · Computer Science, Multimedia, and Telecommunications Studies

Hackers meet in Barcelona to find software solutions for social problems

HackForGood 2017 is a gathering of hackers working together to develop socially beneficial applications.

HackForGood 2017 is a gathering of hackers working together to develop socially beneficial applications.

The fifth HackForGood, organized by the Telefónica Chairs, will bring together over a hundred developers to build applications and services that use big data and have a social impact. The UPC, UOC and UPF chairs are organizing the Barcelona hackathon at the UPC's North Campus. Starting next Thursday, 9 March, when the challenges will be presented, it will continue until Saturday, 11 March. HackForGood 2017 will be held simultaneously in 14 cities around Spain and at a virtual centre.

HackForGood is a contest in which projects are developed that are aimed at responding to social problems, whether by meeting existing needs, creating new communities or developing avenues for cooperation between public institutions, private enterprises and the third sector. To help them, the participants will be advised by engineers and experts in various disciplines. The contest will award a series of prizes, totalling 6,000 euros in Barcelona alone, for the best projects related with design and mobility assistance, the best educational app, and the project with most social impact. The winning projects will compete for the global prizes, which will be awarded next September within the framework of the HackForGood Big Day.

The participating Chairs at the Barcelona centre are the following:

  • The Telefónica-UPF Chair in Social Innovation in Education

    The Telefónica-UPF Chair was relaunched in 2013 in the field of social innovation in education, commencing analysis of the social impact of MOOC courses. This Chair brings together a number of cross-cutting activities undertaken by the DTIC's research groups, such as Networking Technologies and Strategies (NeTS), coordinated by Miquel Oliver; Human-Machine Interaction, Graphics and Educational Technologies, led by the professor Davinia Hernández-Leo; and with the collaboration of the Escola Superior Politècnica (ESUP).
  • Telefónica-UPC Chair in Analysis of the Evolution and Future Trends of the Information Society

    The Telefónica-UPC Chair was formed in 2003, when it was called the Telefónica Chair in Technological Specialization and Knowledge Society. In 2009, the name was changed to align it with its current focus: to explore the emerging model of knowledge society in which the use of ICTs supports the growth of knowledge-intensive economic activities. The Chair is composed of a group of experts led by Lluís Jofre Roca. Its partners include a number of the UPC's centres, such as the Barcelona School of Telecommunications Engineering (ETSETB-UPC) and the Barcelona School of Informatics (FIB).
  • UOC-Telefónica Chair in Design and Multimedia Creation

    The UOC-Telefónica Chair in Design and Multimedia Creation was created in 2015 with the goal of fostering research, reflection and debate on design, technology and education and their impact on society. The Chair's director is Enric Mor Pera and the team includes faculty members from the UOC's Faculty of Computer Science, Multimedia and Telecommunications and Faculty of Arts and Humanities. The Chair organizes activities, lectures and workshops and also supports solvent academic projects in the fields of teaching and research, addressing the interrelation between technology and design and their innovative uses in education. It publishes its results at http://catedratelefonica.uoc.edu/

 

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