Many people are experiencing anxiety and fear about COVID-19. Misinformation about the disease can add to these feelings and cause more stress. Being armed with accurate information can help to put this extraordinary health situation into perspective and ease worry. Where could a person go for trusted health information on how to recognize, prevent, and manage COVID-19?

Building, strengthening, and extending trustworthy networks within and between cities and other ecosystems would make us more resilient if a new pandemic or other future crises strike.

When kids study from home, it strains both parents and kids. Not all kids adapt to new teaching methods and not everyone has the same resources to study remotely. While edtech solutions have brought some good ideas into the remote-education world, they rely on technologies that many families do not have access to. When parents have to focus on bringing the daily bread to the table, kids often struggle on their own, which might leave them falling behind, or even worse, dropping out. Not all skills can be taught well online, and even after training the teachers on how to use online tools, the materials and curricula still have to be adjusted to fit online teaching.

It is no longer just the worry of AI killing jobs. The future of work has turned upside down and has gone in a completely new direction, becoming virtual and remote, rather than physical and local. HR departments all around the world must reassess their priorities. Critical skills are no longer synonymous with job roles: prioritizing resilience for the organization is as important as efficiency. Employers have to create new “employee journey maps” for the remote world, provide flexible work options, and rethink experience for a remote or mixed workforce. Training and personal development also require new thinking.

How will work-life balance shift when both take place at home?

These are just a few of the emerging issues that the COVID-19 crisis has brought to the foreground.

The healthcare sector is one of the most active adopters of new technology and innovation. However, the road to adoption is far from smooth, with many new developments facing strict regulations, public mistrust, and complex healthcare systems. The pandemic overwhelmed hospitals, but the reaction to the spread of COVID-19 has helped to change perceptions about the value of new health technologies and could accelerate their adoption.

Ideas and concepts such as telemedicine, open and transparent data sharing systems, and the availability of scientific research for biopharma are in the picture more than ever before.

Economic recovery will depend heavily on protecting public health.

Travelling has not ceased entirely, but it is different. How can the travel and tourism sectors provide service without putting people at risk? How can we travel without putting ourselves and others at risk?

Many accommodation and food services are using the crisis to open new online and delivery services or to change their business concepts. What kinds of solutions and opportunities will create a crisis-proof future for those sectors?

Local tourism seems to be the current rage - how can we make it resilient?

Perhaps no other sectors have been as devastated by the coronavirus pandemic as those that enrich and entertain us, from culture and the arts to sports and entertainment. Gathering together hundreds or thousands of people is now more complicated, and many venues for these activities have been closed. How will we enjoy concerts and football games in the future without putting our health at risk? Will the artist starve or find new digital ways to continue entertaining us?

Young small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) are the lifeblood of employment growth. In the United States, 78 percent of net employment growth between 2013 and 2018 was generated by companies less than five years old. Unfortunately, the crisis has meant that SMEs have fewer cash reserves to maintain employee salaries and have more trouble navigating and accessing channels of aid. How to support community businesses and rural SMEs? How could this segment benefit from digitalisation to keep offering their valuable services and products?

Any ideas you feel would boost the post-COVID economy, but can’t quite fit into

the above-mentioned categories!

I am new to a hackathon. How does it work?

Garage48 hackathon is a bulletproof 48-hour format, where ideas get built into prototypes with teamwork and mentoring support. The organizing team guides you through all the steps of the hackathon from idea submission to mentoring and final presentations to the jury for selecting winners.

Best ideas to enter the competition will be selected. Garage48 team will send a letter to all the chosen teams with complete instructions on how the hackathon process will look like. We will let everyone know about the results, even if their ideas didn't make it to the hackathon. :)

Follow sign up and idea submission:

http://bit.ly/48forthefuture 

What kind of ideas are expected?

We’re welcoming all ideas aimed to boost and strengthen the post-crisis economy. We are hoping to see lots of good ideas to shape the future of health, education, work, travel, tourism, entertainment, sports, global trusted networks and SMEs.

The intent of this hackathon is to develop ideas that are “prototypeable” in 48-hours.

Can I join if I’m not a developer, UX/UI designer or an engineer?

YES! Only with visionaries and idea owners and experts from all the various fields can we truly boost the post-crisis situation. Whether you come from healthcare, education, tourism industry or any other field - we need your ideas and your expertise!

Where can I submit my idea?
This link should be able to walk you through: http://bit.ly/48forthefuture 

Can I submit several ideas?

We strongly suggest you to choose one idea and prepare your idea submission and team as thoroughly as possible - do research, talk to people, involve additional experts to your team and make a plan for what you’re gonna build in the 48 hours.

What are the rules for team submission?

You can register for the hackathon as an individual or as a team, with or without an idea. But if you are signing up as a team, each team member still has to fill in the registration form separately! 

The minimum number of the participants in the team is 3. The maximum number of the team members is 10. While we let you sign up your idea as an individual participant, if your idea gets chosen, you have to put together a team before being able to compete at the hackathon.

The rules to submit the team are following:

Each team should consist of:

- idea owner who will take the role of the team lead (coordinating, project management)

- developers

- designer (UX/UI)

- an engineer, if an idea execution requires it (optional)

After you submit your team and your idea, the selected members of the jury and mentors will go over each application one by one. We will choose the best ideas that will enter the competition.

What if I’m missing a needed team member (eg developer or designer) for my idea submission?

We can’t stop you from submitting your idea and team with as many team members as you have. Saying that - we strongly advise you to put your and your team’s network to work and find the missing skill-set and expertise. This will greatly improve the chances of your idea getting selected!

While we let you sign up your idea as an individual participant, if your idea gets chosen, you have to put together a team before being able to compete at the hackathon.

How does team formation happen if I’m applying as a solo participant and my idea gets chosen?

If you are a solo applicant at the time of the idea submission, start working on gathering a team with needed expertise to build your idea into a prototype. Put your own, your friends & family, colleagues networks to use to gather your team. We will also have an online matchmaking event where individuals can meet the teams and idea owners meet team members.

What are the evaluation criteria for my idea?
We will check and see whether:

- the proposed problem matches with the topic is serious enough; and if not solved, could have a wide impact.

- the description of the solution is clear and solves the problem well.

- the team is formed and includes all required skills.

If my idea doesn’t get chosen, will I be able to join a selected team?

Yes, you can join the team during a matchmaking event. Also we will do some matchmaking with individual participants and different teams that are looking for extra people and specific skills in Slack.

What kind of tools will I need to use at the hackathon?

The main communication channel of the hackathon will be Slack. All the selected teams are invited to join the #48fortheFuture Slack group couple of days prior the online hackathon begins. We recommend downloading the Slack app to both - to your smartphones and computers and allow the notifications. Slack will be the place for important hackathon workflow announcements, the place for communication with your team and a good way to connect with the mentors.

Download Slack for your

• Mac

• Windows

• Android

• iPhone

Second important tool will be Zoom. We will run the webinars and checkpoints via Zoom and share the links with you over Slack.

Download Zoom for your

• Computer

• Android

• iPhone