Programmers will gather in Sofia in June for the first Balkan Hackathon, aimed at developing digital solutions and software prototypes to boost progress in the region.
Organised by the European Commission in Bulgaria, the Sofia Development Association of the capital’s municipality and the Webit Foundation, the event hopes to inspire programmers to seek solutions in a number of fields.
These include improving public electronic services, providing quality and affordable digital education, female inclusion in the sector, as well as ensuring accessibility and safety on the web.
The organisers are appealing to developers, designers, students, IT professionals and entire start-up companies to participate. There are no age restrictions.
“Last year, our youngest participant was 16 years old and the oldest one was 67,” Svetlana Lomeva, the director of the Sofia Development Association, told BIRN.
Lomova said that it is important to improve connectivity in the Balkans.
“We trade and work with other continents, but don’t know much about our neighbours. With this initiative we seek to show the importance of connectivity for the region,” she explained.
Despite not achieving any concrete political goals on the EU enlargement process at the recent EU-Western Balkans Summit in Sofia, Bulgaria pushed digital connectivity within the region in the summit’s outcome document.
Its appendix featured promises to launch a Digital Agenda for the Western Balkans, including a roadmap to facilitate lowering the cost of roaming and the introduction of a technical assistance package for the identification of potential digital investments through the Western Balkans Investment Framework or the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance.
For more read the full of article at The Balkaninsight
