Hack Horizon – the world’s first travel-tech hackathon in the sky – is now accepting submissions for its competition on May 5 – 8, 2017.
After a three stage selection process, 32 carefully chosen finalists will take part in the 80-hour hackathon, flying from Hong Kong International Airport to Heathrow Airport, London. (Full submission details below.)
The idea stemmed from Hack Horizon’s co-founder Kostadin Kolev, who made a strong case for the ever-prevailing need to spur innovation in travel technology.
Now, Hack Horizon’s ambitions have come to life in the form of a four-day competition.
Kicking off in Hong Kong, finalists will pitch their products ideas, form teams and begin prototyping under the guidance of travel industry mentors.
Contestants will also get a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of Hong Kong International Airport prior to their flight. More importantly, they will get the opportunity to engage with real passengers in the terminal, carrying out validation and product tests before the big journey.
Once aboard British Airways’ A380, it’s up to the teams to assimilate what they’ve learned before or get some rest before touchdown. Upon landing, contestants will get yet another chance to validate their products on customers before heading to London’s TravelTech Lab to fine-tune their prototypes before the big pitch on Day Four.
For the grand finale, the hackathon will end at the London Transport Museum where all finalists will pitch their final products to an audience of travel industry experts, investors, entrepreneurs, the media and of course a judging panel!
https://youtu.be/Doh-hHMy5zY
The event is partnered with British Airways, Hong Kong International Airport, Heathrow Airport, Transport for London, MTR and SITA. WIT-Web In Travel is on board as a media partner. “We support any initiative that encourages innovation in travel, and brings fresh ideas into the industry. This is an ambitious and bold initiative,” said Yeoh Siew Hoon, founder, WIT.
The team is well aware of the magnitude of their undertaking. Co-founder Kristiyana Hart believes “there’s a reason why this hasn’t really been done at this scale and depth before – identifying true innovation champions in corporations, getting leading players across the travel verticals in the same room, and overcoming the boundaries of the hackathon model isn’t an easy feat!”
If successful, the rewards will be huge. In the words of Richard Tams (executive VP for China, British Airways), “Hack Horizon is a unique opportunity that unites and inspires Hong Kong and London start-up communities to come up with ideas that will re-define travel technology for the future.”
Submission Details
The first round simply involves building your profile on Hack Horizon, from which 250 applicants will be selected. These qualifying applicants required to submit a 60-second ‘elevator pitch’ video on why they believe they should be selected. The top 100 videos pitches will then reach the interview stage, from which 32 finalists will be selected.
The deadline is March 24, 2017.
Lead image credit: SageSolar via Flickr
