Zurich – After four days full of inspiration and creativity, the 6th Digital Festival and 8th HackZurich concluded on the evening of Sunday 26th September 2021. The implementation of the two events was a huge success and enabled the urgently needed exchange, new contacts and the launch of new projects.
Zurich as a digital and technical point of contact
The attraction of the 6th Digital Festival and the 8th HackZurich has been great this year: more than 2,500 policy-makers, decision-makers and developers have made Zurich the meeting place of technology and digital in the past four days. Hence, the two formats again make an important contribution to the innovative capacity of the Swiss economy and technology landscape.
Global and national leaders in the digital festival
Digital Festival 2021 relied on a tried and tested mix of international and national CEOs and experts. They considered their lectures and interviews on future topics, inspiring and stimulating reflection and exchange. Without exception, they delighted the guests with their lectures and took a lot of time for individual exchange with the local community.
Concrete advice and practical guidelines for immediate use in practice have been very popular. Labs, sessions, and lectures on topics such as product management in a high-tech environment, language-based applications, or management principles in today’s fast-paced world have provided practical insights for use in small and medium businesses. In addition to inspiring and practice-oriented lectures, varied sessions, concerts, immersive worlds or a legendary barbecue evening offered many unforgettable experiences and moments.
New records and more than 150 innovative models at HackZurich
The 8th HackZurich competition was held at Technopark Zurich from Friday to Sunday. From a large number of international applications, more than 1,500 programmers and developers were selected, who developed more than 150 innovative and technical models in teams within 40 hours. In addition to the 420 site participants, more than 600 participants from nearly all over the world took part. Not only were the results diverse and high quality, but also the way teams from over 90 countries worked together almost as well as on site in Zurich. The winner was the “Thunderstroke” team, which allows online meetings with friends. Thunderstroke is an application of real-time image processing algorithms and artificial intelligence to hold a congestion session in a live 3D broadcast over a distance in order to smooth out dry online meetings with music. The laptop is enough to play along. Using simple gestures, not only the well-known air guitar can be played, but other instruments such as air drums or even the air triangle can also be played.
Community and partner support as a critical success factor
“We are pleased with the successful implementation of the Digital Festival and HackZurich 2021,” says Co-Founder and Managing Director Jonathan Eisinring. “In addition to the team’s passion, this is primarily due to the loyalty of our community and the support of our partners. We look forward to remaining as one of the largest and most inspiring meeting places for Makers and CEOs through our platforms. We certainly stay true to our mission and DNA.”
The Digital Festival thanks Presenting Partner Swisscom, Lead Partner Die Post, supporting partners SRF and Innosuisse, and contributing partners ETH Zurich, Sanitas Foundation, Netcentric, Hexagon, PMI Science, Zuora and Inventify. (Digital Festival/mc/ps)
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