While countries are tilting towards containment, while health services are often overwhelmed, while a whole series of shortages (masks, tests, artificial respirators) are being measured, while schools are tilting towards distance learning, communities of developers, companies, states (as in Germany) have undertaken to call upon collective intelligence to identify the main challenges and imagine solutions: in Finland, in Germany (with 40,000 participants), Colombia (Hackaton para buscar soluciones), Lithuania (HackTheCrisis) or in Belgium, this weekend.

These calls to mobilize developers and makers to imagine solutions take various forms: competitions around a well-identified thematic challenge, or more open, cross-disciplinary hackathons that explore a wide variety of challenges.

This week, WHO is taking the initiative for a global hackathon: #BuildforCOVID19

Hacking Covid-19: an online hackathon to equip healthcare professionals (France)

36 challenges have already been identified. These include

• A kind of Wikipedia covid - Interface gathering off-the-record infosses proposing effective and natural remedies from reliable sources
• Immediately detect the person if he or she is likely to have the symtoms of this virus
• Use of 3D printing for the design and production of modular, reusable and recyclable medical protection equipment.
• Database of available and willing caregivers
• Application for monitoring the progress of COVID-19, patients at home and people at risk with dashboard and multilingual
• Collect quality scientific literature on COVID-19 to adapt practices
• List and adapt in real time the medical protocols for the management of patients with COVID-19.
• Use of ARS Grand-Est data to anticipate health needs
• A volunteer hotline to assist general practitioners (GPs) not at ease with the computer tool, in the implementation and management of teleconsultation
• Patient instructions in 1 click: a tool allowing to send instructions to the patient very quickly: barrier instructions for example
• Real-time availability of Covid-19 beds
• Creativity EHPAD: Collect and disseminate creative ideas to relieve EHPAD of the isolation caused by the confinement/coronavirus. Ideas to help both the staff and the residents.
• Tracking tool for the patient who called the EMS, and did not require the dispatch of an ambulance or physician at this point.
• Chatbot to automatically answer first level questions to save caregiver time
• Ultra-simplified video tool to allow nurses of fragile people (especially seniors without smartphones) to organize a video exchange with the family
• Provide healthcare professionals with a digital tool to massively manage patients' requests for initial advice/recommendations to guide them and give them suggestions.

Référence : 1

"Hack the crisis": a hackathon in Belgium on March 27-29 

Five themes were selected: health, education, wellness and logistics.

After a first call, dozens of Belgian companies, organizations and industry leaders have already signed up to actively provide knowledge and resources.

Results will be presented during an online session on Sunday, March 29 at 6:00 p.m.

Référence : 2

France: the first projects from the Covid-19 hackathon are born

From the outset, the organizers had targeted three areas: health, education and the VSE/SME sector. Among the 700 people who joined the platform, 60 took an active part in the development of the nine selected projects, all of which met the initial specifications: services that were 100% free, online, could be prototyped in 48 hours and met a real need

The first projects have been launched, such as SOSéquipements.fr, a site that aims to simplify the connection between health care personnel and companies with stocks, or In case of dental emergency, or Urgence-dentaire, a referral tool to guide you to the right person.

Référence : 3

 Code Life Ventilator Challenge: a global challenge launched by Canadian healthcare stakeholders

It calls on designers, scientists, engineers, makers, to design a ventilation system that is " inexpensive, simple, easy to use, and easy to build that can serve COVID patients, in an emergency. It must be easy to build locally, must be easy to verify its functionality, and must meet the design requirements specified here."

Three projects will be selected and shared with the world on April 15, after selection and verification by the jury, composed of experts, ICU physicians and engineers.

Référence : 4

Germany: 40,000 participants in the "wirvsvirus" hackathon organized by the federal government, 800 courses of action and projects being evaluated

Through this hackathon, the federal government, in conjunction with several professional associations and NGOs, invited the public to imagine and implement digital tools to address a range of problems revealed by the epidemic and "challenges" to be met.

With more than 40,000 participants, capacity limits were quickly reached on the platform: participants sometimes had to be patient to exchange with each other.

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Allemagne : 40 000 participants au hackathon « WirvsVirus » organisé par le gouvernement fédéral, 800 pistes d'action et projets en cours d’évaluation

Les 20 et 21 mars, 42 968 personnes ont participé en Allemagne au hackathon #WirvsVirus (NousvsVirus). Il s'agissait du plus grand concours d'idées numériques organisé en Allemagne à ce jour.A travers ce hackathon, le gouvernement fédéral, en liaison avec plusieurs associations professionnelles et ONG, avait invité le public à imaginer et mettre en œuvre des outils numériques en vue de faire face à toute une série de problèmes révélés par l’épidémie et de « défis » à relever.De nombreux développeurs s’étaient inscrits pour y prendre part mais aussi des spécialistes du marketing, de la logistique, des créatifs.Au cours des jours qui précédaient le hackathon, plusieurs centaines de défis avaient été recensés sur une plateforme : livraison de nourriture, distribution du matériel médical, amélioration du processus de test, organisation des services de garde pour enfants, respect du confinement, respect de la distanciation sociale, solidarité de voisinage, lutte contre les fausses nouvelles, suivi de l'épidémie, localisation en en temps réel à l'échelle nationale des capacités hospitalières gratuites, visibilité des outils d’enseignement à distance «  improvisés , communication de crise, protection des groupes vulnérables  ou encore santé mentale en isolement.Des équipes, réunissant des compétences différentes, se sont constituées en ligne pour relever l’un de ces défis. Elles communiquaient et collaboraient via Slag et Devpost ainsi que d'autres outils en ligne. 2 900 experts (« mentors » étaient disponibles en ligne pour apporter des réponses aux participants et les conseiller.Avec plus de 40 000 participants, les limites de capacité ont été rapidement atteintes sur la plateforme : les participants devaient parfois faire preuve de patience pour échanger entre eux.Parmi les idées qui ont émergé figurent une application qui permet de vérifier si une personne est  réellement chez elle : non pas au moyen du GPS, mais en lui  demandant de prendre une photo d'un objet chez elle deux fois par jour. Grâce à l'apprentissage automatique, l'application reconnaît rapidement si la photo a vraiment été prise dans le même appartement.  un tableau de bord sur les données de distanciation sociale, où les citoyens peuvent observer en temps réel si et comment la distanciation sociale fonctionne, par exemple en utilisant des profils de mouvement agrégés. Les 800 réponses et les solutions  imaginées par les participants vont désormais être évalués par les mentors et un jury pour s’assurer qu’ils peuvent être mis en œuvre.Helge Braun, directeur de la Chancellerie fédérale, assurait à l’issue de cet événement, dimanche soir, que le gouvernement fédéral « entendait  mettre en œuvre les idées qui ont émergé ». Le projets retenus ne recevront pas de soutien financier direct mais le gouvernement a promis de favoriser leur  mise en oeuvre par d'autres moyens.Ce qui rendait #WirVsVirus vraiment unique, c'est le fait que les participants étaient tous confinés. Autre fait marquant : le nombre élevé de femmes.Cette initiative a bénéficié de l’appui de l'initiative D21, de tech4German, d’Impact HUB Berlin, du Social Entrepreneurship Netzwerk Deutschland SEND, du Project Together, Prototyp Fund et de Code for Germany. Elle était parrainée par Dorothea Bär, la commissaire du gouvernement fédéral pour le numérique et de Helge Braun, directeur de la Chancellerie fédérale..

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#Buildforcovid19: a global hackathon organized by the WHO

Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, Slack, Giphy, Pinterest, TikTok, and WeChat are partners of this event named #BuildforCOVID19 Global Online Hackathon.

They will make their resources (technical, of course) available to the participants. Seven themes have been selected:

• Health: prevention and hygiene behaviors (especially for at-risk countries and populations), support for front-line health professionals, scaling up of telemedicine, contact tracing and containment strategies, development of treatments and diagnostic tools
• Vulnerable Populations: Problems faced by groups of people who are disproportionately affected by the various health, economic, and social problems associated with the epidemic around the world, such as those with underlying health problems or no social protection.
• Businesses: the set of issues that companies face in staying afloat, collaborating effectively and moving parts of their business online.
• Community: promoting connection with friends, family and neighbors to fight social isolation; digitization of public services for local governments
• Education: alternative learning environments and tools for students, teachers and the entire educational system
• Entertainment : Alternatives to traditional forms of entertainment that preserve the health of artists and audiences alike.

The jury will gather to review the projects the week of March 30, 2020, and the results will be published on April 3, 2020. The winner will not receive any money, but their solution will be widely publicized throughout the "tech ecosystem" and by the event's partners.

Référence : 5

HackCOVID: the MyData community explores digital answers that safeguard fundamental rights and freedoms

This online meeting, named HackCOVID - Leman, on March 28, had the objective "to help people understand the problems related to COVID-19 and the virus, explain solutions, or help build them".

Références : 6 7