With the goal of inspiring young entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean to actively engage in finding solutions for water provision and sanitation challenges in informal settlements, the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) launched a series of virtual hackathons.
The e-Hackathon embodies a process of co-creation and open innovation, aiming to generate fresh solutions for the complex issue of delivering water and sanitation services to individuals residing in Latin American informal settlements known as barrios, favelas, villas, ranchos, callampas, and others. Upon presenting their ideas, participating teams face evaluation by an expert jury tasked with selecting the most innovative solutions, ultimately awarding a winner for the water challenge and another winner for the sanitation challenge. As a reward, these winners gain guaranteed entry into the Latin American Edition of the Young Water Fellowship.
The first edition occurred on September 11 and 12, 2020, attracting a total of 115 young entrepreneurs hailing from various countries across Latin America and the Caribbean, forming 29 teams. Subsequently, the second edition unfolded on March 4th and 6th, 2022, with 120 young participants organized into 30 teams.
Following the incubation program, previous winners of the IDB Hackathons have transitioned into flourishing entrepreneurial ventures, such as BrixSan and Wayru from Peru, and Ver-o-Fruto from Brazil.
For more information, visit: Hackathon 2020 and Hackathon 2022 (both websites are in Spanish)