| Hackathon |
September 3, 2020
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| He happened to hear that there would be a TV program entitled "Fighting against the coronavirus with citizens' ideas". The advertisement said that there was an event in Europe that gathered citizens' ideas about how to protect against the coronavirus, as well as how to help and encourage people and companies in the coronavirus world. As he had thought that the policies in his country was just avoiding the three Cs (close contact, closed places, concentration of people) and ways to protect against the virus was just to wear masks and wash hands, he was curious and wanted to watch the program. When he started to watch the show, it revolved around an idea contest called a 'Hackathon'. 'Hackathon' had been done in the business world where some people would gather in order to make products/apps/ systems in a speedy amount of time. It started in about 2000. This time, a department within the EU announced that it would start to receive applicants of a Hackathon on April 14th, and the winners  would be announced in an event that would be held on the 24th through 26th, it was a very short time frame. Even on this short of notice, 2,164 teams (about 20,000 people) applied. There were 6 categories: Health & Life, Business Continuity, Remote Work & Education, Digital Finance, Unification of Society & Policies, and Others. Each category had awards. Originally, the Estonian government came up with the idea to hold a 'Hackathon' to go against the coronavirus. He had heard that Estonia is one of the most IT advanced countries. After Estonia's success, other European countries held a 'Hackathon', and then finally the EU itself. About a 'Hackathon': Applicants have to make a team, they compete as a team. An applicant can apply individually by posting his/her idea or skills, but needs to ask others to make a team. The organizer helps individuals to make groups. Groups are able to ask supporting staff for various help. For this 'Hackathon', 600 volunteers, including experts of various areas gathered. Each team had to submit the design of their products/apps/systems in a 2 minute video that could introduce their ideas effectively. The secretary of the department stated that the judging criteria of the "Hackathon" would look at the importance of each idea's impact and provability of realization of their ideas, and that the idea should be able to be realized in six months. The TV program broadcasted some winners. One Hungarian team, some of them joined together from other areas by remote, made a wearable gadget. One of the members asked his friend who was a nurse about the problems in the hospital that had coronavirus patients. Their gadget supported nurses who were very busy. Setting the gadget on the patient's head like a head gear, the machine would automatically get the patient's temperature, breathing, and other conditions and then send the information to the computer. Checking the monitor, nurses could judge a lot of patients' conditions easily. Another was a disinfection machine for masks, gowns, etc. by a German team. Originally they had been developing a sanitizing clothes machine. Without using chemicals, but rather with the help of ultraviolet lays and another kind of system the machine would kill and remove viruses. An Indian team thought about an app that if the person stays home, the staying home time would be counted on the app as points, and the person could use the points to buy something at certain neighborhood shops. After the event the Hungarian young team was able to make a contract with three companies. The secretary said that the EU would be supporting 120 teams' ideas after the Hackathon. Maybe this was the most important thing, he thought. Actually, the ideas introduced on TV weren't so attractive to him, but thinking about the short time of the event, each idea might not be the best idea, but the ideas could be improved and would be improved upon. To come to think of it, starting is important. The EU was thinking not only of now, but also about the future. |
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No.398
*revolved :展開する
*within :内部の
*unification :統一
*secretary :事務局長
*criteria :criterionの複数形 criterion :判断基準
*realize :実現する
*disinfection :消毒、殺菌
*sanitize :衛生的にする