As a partner, GATE participates with the expertise of six mentors – young researchers from the Institute. Together with experts from Sofiaplan, GATE researchers will guide multidisciplinary teams on how to test their ideas for the development of Sofia in a short time, using the design thinking process to create innovations.

The hackathon will go through the process of design thinking for a two-day design sprint – from A to Z in the life of an idea. The first day is dedicated to the acquaintance with the participants and the expert mentors, as well as to the announcement of the three topics/ challenges for work. On the second day, participants need to understand the essence of the problem, generate ideas and choose a favourite idea. The third day will be dedicated to validating ideas by prototyping and testing solutions.

The best projects will have the opportunity for further development through mentoring support.