The hackathon, held at the Bydgoszcz Trade and Exhibition Center, invited students, startups, and young professionals to create digital solutions to 16 challenges posed by ministries and state-owned institutions. The event was hailed as a success by Deputy Prime Ministers Krzysztof Gawkowski and Radosław Sikorski.
“This is a major event for Poland,” said Gawkowski, who also serves as minister for digital affairs. “For the first time, we created something on this scale that connected talent, youth, and government.”
Each winning solution—developed individually or in teams—received a prize of PLN 25,000 (EUR 5,900). The challenges included tasks like predicting global change scenarios, syncing decentralized financial planning data, and improving firefighter safety.
Organized by the Ministry of Digital Affairs in cooperation with the Finance Ministry’s tax agency and the City of Bydgoszcz, HackNation aimed to find real, deployable solutions for public administration.
Sikorski, who also serves as foreign minister, said he was proud that the event took place in his hometown. “What was invented in Bydgoszcz, succeeded in Bydgoszcz, and must stay in Bydgoszcz,” he said.
Organizers announced a second edition will be held in Bydgoszcz next year.
Participants had access to 200 mentors from various ministries, academic institutions, and companies. Organizers said the best ideas would be implemented in practice.
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Source: PAP