5G Smart Railway Hackathon25-27 June
Are you eager to try out 5G in real life? Put your brainpower to work and join a team to make event navigation a breeze when visiting a foreign colourful and tourist-packed city such as Barcelona.
5G Smart Railway Hackathon
5G for the future of Event Commute Experience / Railway Lab & Hackathon
5G will become an inevitable part of the future. Therefore, debunking some of the myths around it and allowing people to experience its performance first hand in a controlled manner is a great opportunity. The 5G Smart Railway Lab will be situated in the part of Barcelona concentrated with popular event venues. A selected area around key train stations will be transformed into a complete user-train-commute-experience of a new generation. In order to generate ideas and co-create the best train journey, Mobile World Capital, Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya and WorldStartup Lab invite you to join forces in a business design hackathon.
The goal of the 5G Smart Railway Hackathon is to provide awareness about the specifications, advantages and limitations of the new technology as well as to improve and bring a new life to a well established transportation system such as the railway. It aims to promote more sustainable public means of transportation while accommodating it to the current changing safety and comfort standards.
Our collaboration strives to be part of programmes working towards impact in areas of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). We, at WorldStartup Lab and our partners, believe in the power of co-creation between governments, organizations, businesses and the public to accelerate innovation and transition to a more sustainable future. Our practice at WorldStartup Lab is to provide opportunities and insights through workshops and guidance to create viable business products and services, within a supportive problem-solution-fit ecosystem.
What better way to keep the train transportation up to date?
Why does the future of 5G technology and railway transportation matter?
5G is both useful and fun. We hope that the ideas from the hackathon can add an extra layer of perception of the quirky city of Barcelona and all its hidden gems and events. The hackathon will give access to an online playground area for teams to envision and try out different ways of incorporating 5G.
However, controversial at first sight, the 5G technology offers a new safer and faster exchange of data. It can drastically contribute to time- and resource-savings for both railway transportation users and management. Depending on the solution direction, we see possibilities for real time information on the best travel options. Other possible directions of the challenge can build upon a more trustworthy stream of information on the tech influences or build upon bigger exposure to local cultural and educational events (SDG 4). Last but not least important, is the movement towards facilitation of the usage of more sustainable group means of transportation by public transport (GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) which can in return offer additional support to local businesses and artists alongside selected travel routes.
5G Smart Railway Hackathon / Who should participate?
What is in it for you?
Anyone with a curiosity for innovation, transportation, 5G technology and user experience is welcome to join. Good teams represent a variety of skills and experiences: business development, UX design, marketing, engineering, etc. If you sign up as an individual, we will help you join or set up a team. If you are registering as a team, a team leader should input information about all of the members as well as agree together on a cool name. Startups are also encouraged to join and register as a team. Entering this fast lane for startups can open more follow up opportunities for your business.
This hackathon can be a fun opportunity to meet new professionals or to work together with your dream team on an innovative 5G railway idea. Learn more about 5G and practice with proven design thinking techniques that boost your success for innovation.
But, of course, you will also get to compete in a pitch event for the hackathon money prize: 2000 euro.
The best idea will have the chance to be supported by Mobile World Capital, Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya and WorldStartup in becoming reality.
Registration closed
What is the programme?
What is the challenge all about?
5G Smart railway offers you a hackathon 48h weekend and a support preparation program. The hackathon support programme contains 4 weeks of business design exercises and inspiration materials provided to you by WorldStartup Lab, using an online collaboration platform - Miro. It will start on the 31st of May and each week will take you one step further the business design process.
This programme will equip you with tips and tricks on how to “Analyse” efficiently, “Ideate” even in a strict time-frame, “Conceptualize” the key aspects of your solution and “Convince” the jury that you can build a positive impact. Taking the extra time beforehand allows for the creative juices to start flowing in sync with your teammates. The support program is optional but highly recommended to make you the winning team as well as to enrich your professional skills. The core of the hackathon will be a 48h programme over the last weekend of June. Starting with an opening event on the 25th of June at 16:00 and celebrating the winners of the pitches on Sunday afternoon.
During the program, participants will form multidisciplinary teams and tackle the challenge shared by Mobile World Capital & FGC (Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya):
“How can we help the visitors to experience a more pleasant and inspiring customer train journey from Plaza España to Europa Fira by creating a 5G continuous interaction utilizing both public and private devices inside and outside of stations and trains on the way to the venue when they are searching for information on updates on the agenda of events or for educative tourist information about the city instead of relying on their own research proactivity?”
What is the network around the 5G Railway Lab? / Who are the organizers?
The 5G smart railway hackathon is a collaboration between Mobile World Capital, Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya and WorldStartup Collective, represented by the Lab unit. We believe in the value of co-creation, sustainable methodologies and we want to envision the future of train transportation and 5G.
Mobile World Capital, as the organiser of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona ( MWC Barcelona ) It is the world’s most influential exhibition for the connectivity industry. In 2019, up to 2,400 exhibitors, 8,000 CEOs and 59% of the industries’ most important decision makers were gathered under one roof. MWC Barcelona 2021 is all about Connected Impact, the key theme for this event which encompasses the most ground-breaking technology of today – and explores how it can shape the way we live tomorrow. The event hosts live talks, exhibition pavilions, startup programmes, awards and much more.
The Catalonian railway company aspires to be a pioneer in implementing 5G technology. They are activists for sustainability, quality service, research and innovation, technology, punctuality and attention to detail. FGC is more than a railway company: it is a sustainable mobility operator. They have been connecting Catalan territory and running rail and mountain tourism services for 40 years, and have become an international benchmark as technical and strategic consultants in rail transport and tourism management. They have offered their wagon and station facilities as part of the lab location.
WorldStartup is a global entrepreneurship platform, aiming to accelerate the global transition to sustainable and equitable societies by enabling purpose-driven innovators to create successful ventures.
The collective helps governments, NGOs and businesses with entrepreneurial innovation, preferably in cooperation with startups. WorldStartup Lab, as part of the collective, brings to you the hackathon programme and facilitation as well as business design resources and network.
Take a glimpse at the brochure of the 5G Smart Railway Lab.
5G Smart Railway Hackathon / Contact
WorldStartup Lab Program Leads:
Daniël Steginga [email protected]
Milena Ninova [email protected]
WorldStartup Lab Team manager:
Svitlana Khrystenko [email protected]
FAQ
What will be the used language in all of the hackathon activities? The main spoken language is English.
What is the time zone of the hackathon? The time zone of all of the activities is (CEST).
Do I need to go to Barcelona? No, the programme will be facilitated 100% online.
When does registration open and close? Registration opens on the 3rd of May and closes on the 13th of June at 23:59 (CEST)
How many days is the actual hackathon? 48 hours spread over 3 days (mandatory programme). We start on Friday the 25th of June at 16:00 (CEST) and the winner will be announced on Sunday the 27th of June at 16:00 (CEST)./ The support programme (optional) will begin earlier on the 31st of May. Everyone will get access to the training material and exercises after registration and selection as long as it is before the registration deadline on the 13th of June. You may use the support programme activities in your own time.
What if my team wins the prize? The winner will receive a prize of 2000 euros and will be financially supported by MWC and FGC to pilot your solution within the Railway Lab in Barcelona. A validated pilot solution will be encouraged to present at the Mobile World Congress 2022 in February.
Find out here the answers to more detailed questions over the Support programme, Hackathon and Post- hackathon information.
More FAQ
The winner Nife Labs
The 5G Smart Railway Hackathon has selected the winning team Nife Labs. Nida Sahar, Bjas Murthy and Afzal Jan have presented a smart tourism business solution using AR. Augmented Reality is an emerging technology finding its way into various industries, and soon hopefully supporting train commuting tourists and event visitors in Barcelona. The solution makes use of multiple sensors from the railway infrastructure which are combined with data from events in and around Barcelona. The results are displayed in multiple ways using the high speed 5G network of Vodafone. Nife Labs team stood out by sharing the most promising vision of displaying events on AR- enabled train windows and by being able to channel their creativity and adaptability to the Barcelona challenge context.
Partners