1. What do you need to know about SDG Open Hack Singapore?

• Partnership with United Nations for Training and Research (UNITAR), Open Geneva, University of Geneva, Local University & Tertiary Education schools and universities and corporate partners in Singapore.

• The SDG Open Hack is an unconventional hackathon, no coding, and programming skillset required! SDG Open Hack promotes innovation & entrepreneurship; cultivates leadership, creativity, mobility, international competence, and teamwork abilities.

• Open to all education partners and students, it encourages cross disciplines to form teams to solve societal and/or environmental challenges, by way of learning UN 17 SDGs.

• Students can freely choose challenge topics according to their interests, form an interdisciplinary innovation team online, and work hard to develop innovative solutions within 24 hours.

• At the grand finale, the selected innovative solutions be presented to the judges and the public.

• The SDG Open Hack is a 24-hours and the challenge runs in May 2023.

2. What does a hackathon mean?

The word hackathon comes from the combination of “hacker” and “marathon”. These are moments of collective intelligence lasting a few hours, the aim is to develop practical and innovative solutions to concrete problems (challenges).
The SDG Open Hack aims to bring together tertiary university students, professionals, academics, investors, and SDG enthusiasts to turn ideas into sustainable impact.

3. When and where will Open Hack take place?

The SDG Open Hack this year will be run across our education partners campuses. Every school will hold it differently, however the 24 hours will stay the same across all schools. Selected solutions from each school will be invited to present at our Grand Finale on the 20th of May 2023.

4. When will the SDG Open Hack open for registration?

Registration is open NOW! Until Sunday, 30th of April at 12:00  Midnight (SGT). Participants will have to either create a new project with the release of the challenge statements or choose a team to join before the registration closes. You must form a team with a minimum of 3 members and no more than 5.

5. Who can participate?

Any student part of a participating education partner residing in Singapore. He/she is interested in turning innovative ideas into impact solutions by working with professional mentors. No prior knowledge of coding and/or programming required.

6. Do I have to form a team prior to joining the Open Hack? 

No, participants will be given the opportunity to come up with project solutions and allow others to join and form teams. Participants are encouraged to form a team with members from different disciplines within each school, that's what this Open Hack is all about.

7. Do I need to show up at the Open Hack with all the solutions?

No, participants are to submit their proposed project solution on Sparkboard and form a team via the same platform. Alternatively, participants can choose a project solution team to join. Participants can continue to refine their proposed solution by attending Innovative Bootcamps and working with professional mentors throughout the SDG Open Hack SG!

 

8. What are the Challenge Topics?

Please refer to the 'Hack Topics' page.

9. The steps to follow:

1. Submit your registration here.your registration though the link given to you by your participating school. 

2. Sparkboard (apart from this webpage) will be the main bulletin board for all information regards to this event.

3. Create your profile (photo, skills, LinkedIn profile, ...) on Sparkboard. A week before your SDG Open Hack SG, problem statements will be released and you can form groups.

4. Create the problem you are trying to solve and your proposed solution via Sparkboard. Your answer will be used for recruiting team members.

5. Discover all the proposed solutions on Sparkboard.

6. Join ONE team ONLY, choose your team according to the profiles and skills sought by the project. You are not required to form a team prior, you can join any project team on Sparkboard. You are strongly encouraged to form teams across schools and faculties for the optimum experience! *Each team is made up of a minimum of 3 members and no more than 5 people.*

7. A pitch video, no more than 3 minutes, should be uploaded on YouTube and you can share the link on Sparkboard under your team's project page before Sunday, May 29 at 4:00 pm (SGT) at the end of the Hack.

10. What language will be used for the Open Hack? 
English is the official language, and it will be used throughout the Open Hack. However, participants can discuss and work in their desired language(s) within their own team.

11. Are there any winners?
Yes, there will be a total of 3 winning teams. The award categories are as follow: 

1. The Most Innovative Solution

2. The Most Impactful Solution

3. The Most Investible Solution

​

In addition, 1 favourite project will be nominated by the Open Hack participants as soon as all pitches are submitted, thanks to an open voting system on the Open Hack platform. Voting will be closed on Sunday, May 29 at 8:00 pm (SGT).​

 

12. What are the prizes?

Please refer to the 'Experiential Prizes' page.

13. What is the expected deliverable at the end of the Open Hack?
Each team is required to submit a pitch video (no more than 3-minutes) to present their solution in a business plan format. The video must be uploaded on YouTube before Sunday, May 29 at 4:00 pm (SGT).  Late submission will not to be entertained.

The grand finale and prize presentation will be broadcast on GGEF Youtube channel and is accessible to the public.

14. Who can vote for the favourite project of SDG Open Hack Singapore?
All Open Hack participants will be able to vote directly on Sparkboard right after the pitch videos are uploaded on Sparkboard, on Sunday, May 29 from 4:00 pm - 8:00pm (SGT) (a “Vote” tab will appear on the platform). Participants will not be able to vote for their own project.

15. SDG Innovation Bootcamp

The 2-days Bootcamp will be carried out prior to the Open Hack by expert panels to equip participants with tools and skillsets to excel in the hackathon. Participants are strongly encouraged to attend the Bootcamp webinar series are required.

​

16. What is the allocation mechanism of mentor and forming team？
We have our mentors pre-allocated to the different SDG Hack topic i.e Problem Statement. Depending on which problem you wish to solve, your mentors will change accordingly. As for forming team, students can form their own team freely on the Sparkboard that we have sent out once the period for accepting solutions is over. You are free to look through the different solutions and form your own team.

17. Is the challenge presented in the form of a case? For example, with the development dilemma faced by a specific company as the case, and the team needs to find out the final solution?
We have a variety of problems. We have some problems that are more specific in that sense whereby companies ask for student’s solutions to aid them with a certain issue. For example, a hack topic regarding SDG #3: Good Health and Well-Being sees corporate  asking students about how they can leverage digital health innovations to empower vulnerable communities and provide inclusive offerings to these groups. On the other hand, we also have more open-ended problems on SDG #11: Sustainable Cities and Communities whereby students are asked how we can rebuild our cities with sustainable social and economic growth.

18. Does the solution need to focus on the macro direction or specific to micro areas?
Again, this depends very much on the problem that you are tackling. Some problems will call for solutions that deal with a specific group of people while others may be on a much larger scale and will require solutions that are more macro in nature.

19. Are there any formal requirements for the solution? Or is there any preference?
There are no formal requirements or preferences for the content of the solution. We are open to creative and innovative ideas that will solve any of the problems in this Open Hack. The only standardised requirement is that you will need to present your solution in the form of a 3-minutes pitch video.