“ŠKODA is firmly committed to establishing new digital business segments alongside traditional automotive production. We are also seeking dialogues with creative minds outside the company,” says Andre Wehner, ŠKODA’s Chief Digital Officer. “At the Hackathon for Smart Mobility solutions, the participants presented many interesting ideas for smart cities. The work presented illustrates the extent to which connectivity and digital services will shape and facilitate our mobility in the future. Now I am looking forward to working with the winners at the DigiLab to develop more ideas.”
How can urban pollution be reduced? What will be the role of electric vehicles? And how can charging technology as well as network expansion make this technology even more attractive for active large cities? Might autonomous vehicles provide further incentives? And how do passengers pass the time when they are no longer steering the wheel themselves? These and other questions were addressed by the participants at the ‘International Smart Mobility Hackathon’ in Prague.
20 teams from 13 nations developed creative concepts for smart cities, green mobility and connectivity at the four-day event from 16 to 19 March 2017. Each group consisted of a creative director, a designer and a programmer. After the trio had got to know each other and a topic had been selected, the 48-hour creative marathon began on Friday. First, the group’s visionary thought up possible solutions to the respective problem in consultation with the teammates. The designer assessed the technical feasibility and drew up illustrative examples. The programmer took care of the final implementation. After two days of hard thinking, keyboard tapping and rapid development, the Hackathon teams presented their results to a renowned jury. These ranged from product prototypes and beta systems to almost fully rolled-out smartphone apps. The most innovative idea came from team RED, which consisted of students at the Technical University in Prague. The creative team presented their solution for the effective use of public transport.
The winning team takes home prize money of 5,000 euros from the organizer CEE Hacks Insane Business Ideas. The Czech manufacturer is also planning future cooperation with the ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab in the development of specific new projects.
The mayor of Prague, Adriana Krnáčová, was the patron of the ‘International Smart Mobility Hackathon’. As the official partner, ŠKODA opened the event on 16 March at its DigiLab in the Czech capital. The think tank is conceptualised as a responsive information-technology start-up to analyse and develop new business models, solutions and products. The manufacturer also works intensively with external creative minds. At www.skodadigilab.com, developers, programmers and others can present promising projects, which lend themselves to cooperation with ŠKODA.
