24 hours, six challenges, over 100 registrations. Krefeld's fourth major hackathon event impressed not only the organizers SWK, the university and Fressnapf, but also IT experts.
"Sandwiches", "Smartwerke Krefeld", "IoTiger". Crazy? No, KReathon. The smart applications, technical solutions and digital processes used by the teams at Krefeld's fourth major hackathon under the umbrella of The Hochschule Niederrhein were as creative as the surnames they chose to master the tasks aimed at sustainability. 24 hours, six challenges, over 100 registrations.
In the end, Team CO-You won over the jury with a smart solution for the task "My CO2 footprint" and took home prize money of 3000 euros.
The aim was to make the world more comfortable and, above all, more sustainable. Including the world of work. Technology fans, web designers, programmers and other digital experts came to Krefeld from all over Germany to take on tricky tasks from the day-to-day business of the organizers SWK, the university and Fressnapf in the programming competition. "I am really impressed by the results, but also by the atmosphere in which everyone worked together to find very practical solutions to complicated challenges," said a happy but also exhausted SWK IT boss Philipp Sacherow. He and some of his team had worked through the night together with the participants. "We are always on the lookout for new bright minds for SWK-IT, which is why we like to be close to them."
From the challenge catalog: SWK, for example, was looking for new ideas on how to use the data collected by SmartCity, such as filling levels of waste containers or groundwater levels, or wanted to enable customers* to find out how big their carbon footprint is. With its challenge, the university was looking for sustainable solutions for smart homes. Fressnapf wanted to ensure that it could reliably show customers at a glance how sustainable the respective Fressnapf product is and how the sustainability of packaging can be assessed in the best and smartest way.
Paulina Meier, Employer Branding Expert at Fressnapf Holding SE, drew an enthusiastic conclusion: "It was a great pleasure for us to take part in this year's KReathon for the first time. In addition to great contacts with SWK and The Hochschule Niederrhein, we were able to make valuable contacts with people interested in IT. This target group is highly sought after on the job market and we hope to be perceived as an attractive employer by them. With the KReathon, we provide practical insights into how you can realize your professional potential at Fressnapf's company headquarters." The KReathon is one hundred percent in line with our employer claim "Come, we make the future." And Prof. Jürgen Quade from the university was pleased "that we are creating a unique selling point here by appealing to the maker scene."
The Hochschule Niederrhein's university chancellor Dr. Fabienne Köller-Marek and other professors from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the Executive Board of SWK - Kerstin Abraham and Carsten Liedtke - and Jerome McGraw, Vice President IT at Fressnapf, did not have an easy job. But in the end, three worthy winning teams. Zwinker came second behind Co-You (prize money 2000 euros) and Belegte Brötchen third (1000 euros). The special prize went to Umweltfreundinnen, two 10- and 13-year-old girls for their remarkable courage and great performance. It was one of the key emotional moments of an all-round successful event.
