Innovation for smart cities at Digital Kalaka Hackathon 2025 with the IT superheroes of the year. Innovative concepts for smart cities—that’s what this year’s Digital Kalaka was all about. The 3-day hackathon took place in Odorehiu Secuiesc (Székelyudvarhely) on March 21-23, with 9 teams participating. We, at SOFTECH are proud of our colleagues and students who made it through the event with minimal sleep, coding day and night—some of them winning the second place with an application created for rescue teams.
Innovation For Smart Cities: 48 hours of Programming
Dozens of IT professionals and students – or, as the organizers defined them, “IT superheroes” – participated in this year’s Digital Kalaka, the traditional hackathon organized by IT Plus Cluster, U-Hub and Harghita Business Center in Odorheiu Secuiesc, bringing their creative and innovative ideas that could contribute to the development of a smart city concept in the future. From the detailed tracking of contributions to community projects, to the digitization of the local cemetery database, to a fun app for exploring the city, to an accurate signal for rescue teams that doesn’t require a mobile or internet connection during mass events, many promising projects were launched in just 48 hours.
Life-Saving Project Proposed by Our Colleagues
SOFTECH colleagues and their student mentees contributed to three projects:
- L.I.F.E. (Location-based Immediate First-aid & Evacuation): This mobile application helps rescue teams to locate and evacuate people in need offline during mass events, when mobile and internet signal may be poor. With some really creative ideas, they were able to develop this app to find the fastest route and alert everyone around to be on the lookout. This initiative won second prize in the competition, developed by our colleagues Adolf, Kristóf and Hunor, among others.
- The Graveyard Navigator project allows users to upload, organize, and locate information from gravestones in a cemetery based on coordinates.
- The Heritage of the Jewish Community in Odorheiu Secuiesc – Udvarhely project provides an up-to-date inventory of the representatives of a given social group and the historical data related to them, facilitating the work of historians researching the subject through downloadable images and text documents.
The first prize was awarded to the group “Teveklub“, which found a crypto-based solution that promotes social participation in various actions, and also makes volunteer work verifiable and honorable, even by companies and the municipality.
The third prize was won by an application called XPlore Udvarhely, designed for tourists and locals interested in the city’s culture. The app makes sightseeing more fun and can also give vouchers for local businesses.
Developing Skills in A Different Way
At SOFTECH, we are always proud of our colleagues and students who participate in all kinds of community events and challenges, especially when they sacrifice their weekend to bring outstanding projects to life. Participating in a hackathon and accepting the challenge of coding for 48 hours with minimal sleep is indeed a demonstration of perseverance and extra effort to cultivate professional skills in a different way. In addition to professional skills, these IT-related events provide excellent opportunities for networking, socializing with like-minded people, and gaining new inspiration.
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