FAQ

Individuals or teams of 2 to 5 members can apply. However, we strongly encourage forming multidisciplinary teams. Teams are preferred and have a higher chance of getting selected for the 2nd phase of the hackathon; the prototype development phase. If you are an individual looking for a team, or a team looking to complete their needed skills, we encourage you to join our Slack community to complete your teams.

Your solution has to either be relevant to one of our 5 themes: health, well-being, education, social solidarity, small business support, or another theme related to fighting COVID-19 spread and its implications. 
You can join the hackathon with an idea or a fully-fledged solution (i.e., well-thought-of concept). In all cases, you will need to develop a functional prototype during the prototype development phase. To participate in our online hackathon, you will have to sign up then fill out the application form on our website. If you are participating as a team, then only one of the team members should fill out the application form. You will be requested to provide information about the problem you are solving, your idea, the technology you are using, and information about yourself and your team.
You should be able to least provide a working prototype and pitch your product to the jury. Additionally, you’ll provide information about the technologies you used, and how your product should be developed further and ultimately implemented.

We are looking for solutions to the challenges caused by the crisis. How to help medics & hospitals to reduce mortality rate, how to organize events when you can’t physically assemble, how to replace income streams in affected fields, how to help cope with mental stress and anxiety, etc. We are also looking for solutions that will help us fight future pandemics, and all crises, for that matter, more effectively so that we never have to lockdown again. Ideas could revolve around developing more effective online health-care services, repurposing production industries to quickly and inexpensively meet unconventional needs in times of crisis, etc.

Finally, new solutions for the new world after the crisis are necessary. New possibilities in areas like work, education, media, entertainment, etc. What are the new tools that make working more effective and productive? How can we take part when we can’t physically be there? What new ways are there to effectively filter and consume media? And so on.

The team size should consist of at least 2 team members (recommended maximum of 5 people – otherwise it’ll be hard for you to manage during the prototype development phase). The team has to be able to turn the idea to a functional prototype within 5 days.  

For the coding part of the project, you have to have all the necessary skills (mobile or web development expertise, full-stack expertise, etc).

You might also need designers to help you with the user experience in addition to people who could bring your idea to the world and put it in use – marketing, sales or hustlers.

It’d be great if you could add subject-matter experts to your team. People who have deep knowledge of education, health, well-being, social solidarity, or small businesses. Those will add tremendous value to your application and to your product roadmap.

Finally, if you’re working on data analysis or visualization; it might be necessary to engage with a data analyst or data scientist and add her to the team.

No, you cannot edit your submission after you have pressed the submit button and received the confirmation message. You can chat with support though to delete your submission for you so that you redo it if necessary.
As long as you don’t press on the Submit button, you can access and edit your submission as many times as you need until the deadline. We encourage you not to submit until your application is final.

A hackathon is a technology competition. The main hackathon event consists of teams of developers, designers, and others coming together for a specific time frame to develop prototypes or full tech-based products addressing a list of challenges or requirements. An online hackathon turns the whole event into a digital experience.
Our online hackathon takes place through 3 main channels; this application platform where you fill out your application forms. Slack is where you meet your mentor(s) and work remotely with your team. Finally, Zoom, where you make video meetings with the team, mentors, and attend webinars we organize to make important announcements and onboard you on different phases of the hackathon.

You can apply in English & Arabic. The communication messages and collaborating with mentors will be based on the language you choose for writing your application form.
It’s a great opportunity for you to learn and to meet new people from different backgrounds. You’ll also get the opportunity to be mentored by some awesome experts. You’ll receive feedback on your application. You may be one of the selected teams to attend the prototype development phase and get connected to relevant opportunities. Hopefully, you will be one of the winners who receive the cash prize. But in all cases, you get to contribute to a great cause and make an impact.
You and your team own the idea you submit. Just note that there may be many similar ideas and that it’s not about the idea as much as it is about the execution. We also may decide to feature a brief description of your idea on our platform and the various marketing channels. Ideas you’d like – for any reason – to keep confidential, should not be submitted.
For the first phase of the hackathon which is the ideation phase, you are only required to fill out your application form with some information about the solution you will be building. Joining the community on Slack to find teammates and look for resources or ask the mentors is totally up to you, as well as the frequency of checking in on Slack and the amount of time you spend for each visit. 
The prototype development phase is 5 days long. You will need to be online for as long as your prototype needs to get built. Count the additional time required for working with your team and sharing updates/following-up with your mentors. Adding to that filling your application form. So, it basically depends on the amount of work you need to put in for your prototype to be ready.
Not really, you can be a subject matter expert in health, education, economy, technology, or you can have technical expertise, such as programming, front-end, back-end, data science, machine learning, web design, app design, or project management, marketing…etc. You need to have a skill that is required to build a prototype in 5 days that could, later on, be turned into a feasible, scalable, working solution relevant to the hackathon tracks.
We do not require certain backgrounds within each team, however, we encourage multidisciplinary teams, as this will help balance all aspects of the solution. Nevertheless, we expect teams of coders as the prototype development phase requires a lot of programming work.
Winners of the hackathon will be announced 3-4 days after the hackathon shortlisted teams pitch to the Dubai Future Foundation jury. We expect this to be sometime around May 10th, however, the exact dates will be announced on this hackathon platform, as well as One Million Arab Coders Facebook page.

 

Have a question you’d like to add to our FAQ; just chat with our support. They’ll give you the answer and add the question here as well if it’s frequently asked.