Hackathon Tries to Take on the most Pressing World Issues in 48h

100 teams, 300 Jedi’s & advisors, 20 societal challengers to solve

Odyssey Hackathon in Groningen is taking place in an immense and impressive former Sugar Factory, a commonplace for raves and alternative expositions. It seems a perfect fit for the most socially conscious yet disruptive hackathon that attracts a weird mixture of artists, anarchists, burning man enthusiasts, idealists, and thinkers, all acutely aware of how much the outdated socioeconomic models impair innovation.

The polymath crowd versed in technology, robotics, economics, governance, sociology, finance, biology, ecology, and much more gatherers to brainstorm and build not only technological MVPs but also initiate a broader cultural paradigm change.

Many teams from different tracks are solving similar issues around decentralized governance, novel decision-making models, scaling up familiar economies, incentivizing idea sharing, and democratizing value and access to basic human needs.

The big standouts for me this year are Giveth and Nature 2.0 because they are solving many governance issues using natural homeostasis models. Another interesting track is the Fossil Free Future that’s more product and business-oriented but still extremely useful for increasing the global sustainability of energy grids.

1. Giveth

Giveth is a Decentralized Altruistic Community (DAC) focused on changing the world for the better and building new open source governance models, non-profit donation systems, and decentralized funding models. Giveth community is using the hackathon as an opportunity to work out various angles of their proof of concept for the Commons Stack spread through 5 teams across 3 different tracks.

• Team Momentum Voting (table 1, Nature 2.0. Track) is brainstorming a new governance system based on biomimetic models of forest and mushroom communication for a fluent, continuous, and gradient, conviction voting and establishing the importance of information lists. (Jeff Emmet)
• Team Source Cred (table 7, Nature 2.0. Track) is building an attribution system for rewarding contributions automatically, adequately, and in a decentralized way. (Michael Zhargan)
• Team XS Meta Exchange (table 40, Inclusive Banking Track) is building a Common of Commons, a meta-structure for a digital resource economy. (Roberto Valenti)
• Team Morpheus Proposal Engine (table 60, Scaling Wildlife Protection) is building a ‘proposal framework’ for anyone to submit their idea and get funding from the Commons or individual donors. (Griff Green)
• Team Crowdfunding the Commons (table 75, Tokenizing Ecosystems Track) is building a decentralized funding model for community projects. (Abby Titcomb)

2. Nature 2.0

Sponsored by a smart energy grid company (Enexis) focused on sustainability and innovation, Nature 2.0 track is led by the inspirational Jan-Peter Doomernik who helps teams to think outside the box and build the Unimaginable. Nature 2.0 is perhaps the most creative and diverse challenge, often related to building models based on or inspired by nature.

Nature 2.0 is amazingly organized, with all teams featured on a youtube channel and the track’s personalized media crew covering the event and releasing a book summary later this year.

“Think beyond business models.”

Teams at Nature 2.0.

1. Momentum Voting (Giveth) — a governance system based on biomimetic models aiming to redefine society through inclusion, self-expression, and contribution.
2. Habari — is working to estimate climate change-related frost damage on the crops, to predict and estimate losses and create an efficient communication ecosystem between plants, machines, and farmers to protect our food.
3. Kryha — last year winners this time attempt to create a model of terraforming Mars to find solutions to current climate change problems.
4. SingularityNET — is creating a system that supports decision making in the Commons, at the same time identifying and incentivizing beneficial behaviors in the Commons.
5. Buffalo Network — securing a standard of living for the future, enough to satisfy everyone’s needs and tackling the growing waste
6. Pines and Electronics — is protecting forests by connecting nature, humans, and technology giving forests a voice.
7. SourceCred (Giveth) — an attribution system for recognizing the value and rewarding contributions to the community.
8. pFTW — an insect protein project aimed at positively rebranding and incentivizing consumption of the alternative protein sources and democratizing the distribution of sustainable proteins, for example, by introducing universal basic nutrition.
9. Arceus — is building an urban green city planning solution where communities and citizens feed information about the density of trees in their areas and teach the system about the emotional, emotional, and environmental value of trees while building a transparent green geomap to help design sustainable cities.
10. Oddys — is redefining the production chain and economy around food, fuel, clothing, construction, and packaging with smart farming solutions.

Personal Impressions

Both the venue and the event have an epic and cool vibe to it. From the DeLorean and pinball machines in the dining area to beamers, dimmed lights, and live music, it sometimes feels like a cross between a party and a Hogwarts dining hall. The atmosphere is that of excitement and anticipation, with creative juices running, and brainstorming session happening on every corner. Any conversation could drive teams to their breakthrough aha moment and even media crew plays a role here, bringing terror to otherwise focused teams ‘simply’ asking for one-sentence descriptions of their solutions.

You can easily get lost in the vibe, unaware of passing hours, and unable to stop working and leave the premises (even us on the media crew). When you do, the outside chill or light can make for a shocking surprise. You realize it’s still light or that it’s already morning.

Talking with crews and Jedis there is a feeling of camaraderie and equality. Despite all the work and deadlines, this event turns out to be an incredibly fun experience.