EU Election Hackathons
With the EU elections on the horizon in 2024, the Evens Foundation is exploring different ways to engage more young people with voting as a fundamental part of the contemporary democratic process. The objective is to find new ways to engage with young audiences, explore the potential of both emerging and existing technologies, and empower youth activists.
Traditionally, most digital material focused on elections and voting is designed top-down. To flip this approach, the Foundation will engage with two hackathon projects, exploring the concept of the hackathon as an avenue for generating new ideas for young people, by young people. In 2023, there will be one event in Poland and one event in Belgium, each with a different focus and reach.
This project involves close collaboration with experts in various fields, from technology to design, as well as engaging with existing audiences around hackathons across Europe. The objective is to generate a number of 'minimally viable products' that specifically target increasing youth engagement in the European Elections 2024, built by interdisciplinary teams. The winners of the various challenges within these hackathons will be those who present innovative, scalable ideas that can be presented to potential investors and developers.
Hack4Votes – the Belgian hackathon
The Evens Foundation has teamed up with Hack Belgium Labs to launch Hack4Votes, an experimental hackathon that will take place in Brussels this December.
The 2024 EU elections are a unique opportunity for young people to have their voices heard, yet they are among the least likely to vote. By not exercising this right, they miss out on a chance to influence policy – from climate change to equality, financial security to housing – even though they will be the most affected in the long term. Hack4Votes is the first Brussels-based hackathon to directly tackle the issue of youth representation in EU politics by focusing on voting at the EU elections.
Taking place at the BeCentral Digital Campus in the heart of Europe’s political capital, the hackathon will run over two days from 2 to 3 December. Participants will be invited to tackle one of four challenges in multidisciplinary teams.
The event is guided by principles of inclusion and diversity and is open to participants from all backgrounds, skill sets and knowledge areas. Coding experience is not essential.
Find out more about Hack4Votes and how to get involved at Hack4Votes.eu.
The HackYeah! challenge – the Poland hackathon
In September 2023, the Evens Foundation partnered with HackYeah! in Poland – one of Europe’s largest hackathon platforms – inviting thousands of participants to develop creative digital solutions for increasing youth voter turnout.
HackYeah! is an annual event in Poland and attracts more than 4000 participants, who take on different ‘tasks’ in teams coached by mentors.
The Evens Foundation’s “Empower the Youth” task offered a prize of 10,000 PLN and potential further support for development and deployment. It asked participants to “design and implement innovative digital tools to significantly increase youth voter turnout in the June 2024 European elections, with a primary focus on Poland. These tools should be creative, engaging, politically neutral, and scalable to address the broader European context”.
The winner was announced during the event and will be published online in October 2023.
With the EU elections on the horizon in 2024, the Evens Foundation is exploring different ways to engage more young people with voting as a fundamental part of the contemporary democratic process. The objective is to find new ways to engage with young audiences, explore the potential of both emerging and existing technologies, and empower youth activists.
Traditionally, most digital material focused on elections and voting is designed top-down. To flip this approach, the Foundation will engage with two hackathon projects, exploring the concept of the hackathon as an avenue for generating new ideas for young people, by young people. In 2023, there will be one event in Poland and one event in Belgium, each with a different focus and reach.
This project involves close collaboration with experts in various fields, from technology to design, as well as engaging with existing audiences around hackathons across Europe. The objective is to generate a number of 'minimally viable products' that specifically target increasing youth engagement in the European Elections 2024, built by interdisciplinary teams. The winners of the various challenges within these hackathons will be those who present innovative, scalable ideas that can be presented to potential investors and developers.
Hack4Votes – the Belgian hackathon
The Evens Foundation has teamed up with Hack Belgium Labs to launch Hack4Votes, an experimental hackathon that will take place in Brussels this December.
The 2024 EU elections are a unique opportunity for young people to have their voices heard, yet they are among the least likely to vote. By not exercising this right, they miss out on a chance to influence policy – from climate change to equality, financial security to housing – even though they will be the most affected in the long term. Hack4Votes is the first Brussels-based hackathon to directly tackle the issue of youth representation in EU politics by focusing on voting at the EU elections.
Taking place at the BeCentral Digital Campus in the heart of Europe’s political capital, the hackathon will run over two days from 2 to 3 December. Participants will be invited to tackle one of four challenges in multidisciplinary teams.
The event is guided by principles of inclusion and diversity and is open to participants from all backgrounds, skill sets and knowledge areas. Coding experience is not essential.
Find out more about Hack4Votes and how to get involved at Hack4Votes.eu.
The HackYeah! challenge – the Poland hackathon
In September 2023, the Evens Foundation partnered with HackYeah! in Poland – one of Europe’s largest hackathon platforms – inviting thousands of participants to develop creative digital solutions for increasing youth voter turnout.
HackYeah! is an annual event in Poland and attracts more than 4000 participants, who take on different ‘tasks’ in teams coached by mentors.
The Evens Foundation’s “Empower the Youth” task offered a prize of 10,000 PLN and potential further support for development and deployment. It asked participants to “design and implement innovative digital tools to significantly increase youth voter turnout in the June 2024 European elections, with a primary focus on Poland. These tools should be creative, engaging, politically neutral, and scalable to address the broader European context”.
The winner was announced during the event and will be published online in October 2023.