Over 1,200 Developers from 64 Countries Gathered For World’s First Mendix ‘Low-Code for Good’ Hackathon

Mendix, a Siemens business and global leader in modern enterprise application development, held its first ‘MxHacks 2022: Low-Code for Good,’ the biggest low-code hackathon in the world. The global event saw over 1200 developers from 64 countries gathering online and in person to build solutions to help people in need of access to education, integrate in a new country, or find shelter and get a chance to rebuild their lives.

MxHacks 2022 invited developers to work on a challenge for three hand-picked nonprofit organizations:

• Project Alianza (Americas), an organization that aims to bridge the learning gap for rural school-aged children in Central America by leveraging technology and existing community networks;
• The Welcome App Foundation (EMEA) that helps newcomers to feel at home in the Netherlands;
• New Hope Community Services (APAC), an organization that helps to eradicate homelessness in Singapore through many programmes that provide shelter and job support.

In just 36 hours of coding, hackers built over 90 solutions. More than 50 judges selected the winners, taking into consideration business value, originality, user experience, innovation, and completeness of the solution. These solutions are evidence that low-code has the power to transform the world and make it a better place.

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Overview of the hackathon winners

MxHacks 2022 was an opportunity for developers to share their passion for creating, learning, and showcasing how low-code technology can be used by anyone to help improve lives.

In EMEA, developers had a challenge from the Welcome App Foundation, an organization that aims to make a difference by acting as a one-stop shop that connects immigrants with providers, companies, municipalities, and locals to facilitate their integration into their new country. The task for competitors was to use low-code solutions to respond much faster and effectively to the specific needs of different groups, especially in times of emergency – when it counts the most.

EMEA winners, “Hacky Sacks” from AuraQ, re-imagined the Welcome App’s solution, based around building and supporting a community of people that have similar interests but don’t share a common language. The winners delivered a solution that stood out on various points such as the UX which was stunning and even made use of animations. The ingenious gamification of the current Welcome App’s platform inspired the “Hacky Sacks” to make their new solution more fun. Lastly, the team impressed the judges with their enthusiasm.

Welcome App director and founder, Julius Weise commented on the chosen winners: “It was an unforgettable weekend and truly inspiring to see the power of bringing people and ideas together. ‘Hacky Sacks’ showcased an impressive level of technological and UX skills. The power of low-code combined with enthusiastic developers was impressive to watch. We can’t wait to take this further and make an impact for thousands of refugees in Europe.”

In the Americas, developers worked on a solution for Project Alianza. The goal was to find an innovative low-code solution that can increase engagement in education at the household level and/or provide access to learning activities while children are at home or working.

Americas winners, “Mendix Without Borders” from Brook Trout Partners and Bain & Company, worked with user experience in mind to develop the student-first mobile app for Project Alianza. The app was designed to provide a meaningful connection between organizers, educators and students and gave ready access to educational resources, as well as providing games and challenges to engage every student.

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Commenting on the Americas winners, Kristin Van Busum, CEO and founder of Project Alianza, stated: “It wasn’t an easy choice but ‘Mendix Without Borders’ came up with an app that would be easy and convenient for the children and educational staff who would use it. The app also allowed our teacher network to share ideas and impact while teaching. As we work in rural areas, improving communication with limited connectivity is a key priority for us to stay efficient and nimble. Well done, team!”

In APAC, developers worked on a solution for New Hope Community Services, an organization that serves displaced and disadvantaged people regardless of race, religion, or background. NHCS empowers people with opportunities to better their own lives. The goal was to create an innovative, low-code solution that could help effectively streamline their processes by replacing the manual workflow with an app, as well as digitizing data collection from the registration of interest to final feedback and evaluation of programs.

The winners of the APAC region, “Orangeleaf” from Orangeleaf Consulting, created a simple app for internal and external use that could serve as a digital foundation for all NHCS services. It gives social workers more visibility into all the data they have and allows people in need to have easier access to all the activities and programs offered by the organization. In the future, NHCS can also add new features such as volunteer management, a marketplace for people to put their handcrafted goods up for sale, or WhatsApp integration.

On the winners, Andrew Khoo, CEO and founder of NHCS commented: “Orangeleaf’s solution clearly stood out from the competitors. Beyond the unique look and feel of their app, the team came up with a function that will help members of the NHCS team to engage with our beneficiaries and motivate and nurture them to become volunteers in the future. It’s one of the key next steps that our social workers hope to achieve. It was clear that the team had done their detailed research on our organization and this added to their use case.”

“Developers from all around the world gathered to exchange their experience, compete, and make a meaningful change in society,” said Tim Srock, CEO of Mendix. “It was amazing to see the Mendix community share the potential of low-code with the world and come up with solutions that can make a real life-changing impact. The energy at MxHacks 2022 was unforgettable. We hope that we will have an even bigger event next time.”

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