Announcing the winners from 2017 TechCrunch Shanghai hackathon
From over 300 participants and 66 teams of the adult division of the TechCrunch Shanghai hackathon, emerged 10 outstanding teams that have impressed the judges with their creativity. Relive the 24 hours of TechCrunch Shanghai hackathon at our live blog.
The top 10 placing teams are as below:
1st – Reboot Rebels
2nd – Super Blockchain
3rd – Smart
4th – hey克sen
5th – MF
6th – 19260817
7th – Bug Squasher
8th – 信信 (Xingxing)
9th – GeekMeFive
10th – Geek-pie
Recognition was also given to teams who won the challenges posed by sponsors BMW and CITIC. They are as below:
BMW Challenge – Intermodal Transportation Planner
1st – Geekpa
2nd – JN507
3rd – GeekMeFive
CITIC Challenge A – IoT and O2O based universal big data solution
hey克sen
CITIC Challenge B – Map-based CITIC service
Reboot Rebels
After the awards ceremony, we caught up with Team Super Blockchain, who won 2nd place overall. Team leader Tang Feihu has also participated in previous TechCrunch hackathons. At the Shenzhen hackathon, Tang’s then team placed 3rd.
“I’ve been so close to winning first place three times now!” Tang joked. The team this time consisted of colleagues and new friends met at other hackathons.
Tang and teammates think that blockchain is a new technology that is more “talk” than “walk”. Many people use it without really giving much thought to the key advantages of blockchain. If you have used blockchain structure in your application, for something that can be done with a normal database to the same effect, then it’s not really something innovative.
Team Super Blockchain proposed a blockchain-based map application for CITIC which also incorporated a social element where users can leave reviews and comments.
Of course, we also spoke to the overall winner, Reboot Rebels. The team put in a lot of hard work, including staying overnight to furiously code and design their solution. They didn’t even nap for a little bit.
“We’re colleagues at SAP,” Team member Drew Bates told TechNode. Affectionately called the “Little Laowai” by his team members, Bates helped to round up colleagues for the hackathon and described the experience as squeezing 2 weeks of his work into 24 hours.
The team was also drawn to the blockchain aspect of CITIC challenge B and was excited about incorporating social and gaming aspects into their solutions.
“I know the first intuition is to read the challenge brief carefully and word-by-word,” Bates said when asked for advice for future potential hackathon participants. “So it’s easy to come with pre-conceived ideas. But I say come with an open mind.”
We mustn’t forget about our teen hackers either. For the first time this year, the TechCrunch hackathon in China has created a division, especially for talented youths: 8-16-year-olds.
Workshops from Le Wagon, Future City, TinkerCAD and First Code Academy provided the basic skills needed and the young hackers had 4 hours on Sunday to come up with solutions to make the world a better place.
9 teams presented their solutions to their peers and the adult hackathon participants, as well as the general public. And we were impressed! From devices that help arthritis patients, to solutions that help reduce pollution, there was no shortage of creative ideas.
Congratulations to 灰不拉拉拉 (Huibulalala is her pseudonym), who was the overall winner of the teen hackathon division!
To cap off, some stats from the 2017 TechCrunch Shanghai hackathon:
Adult division
– 500 sign-ups, 300+ onsite participants
– 75 teams
– 66 team showcases
Teen division
– 100+ sign-ups, 120+ participants over the course of the weekend
– 9 team showcases
We hope to see you at the next TechCrunch hackathon!