Smart Cities Hackathon by Plug and Play Morocco, in partnership with SADV (OCP Group subsidiary) and Enactus Morocco.

The Smart Cities Hackathon by Plug and Play Morocco will take place on the first weekend of June 2021: June 4,5 and 6th. The two and a half days of competition will be held in StartGate, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University’s innovation hub.

About the Hackathon

The Smart Cities Hackathon addresses three challenges set by SADV, the green city planning and development company, building the new city of Ben Guerir. SADV (Green Planning and Development Company) holds the vision of creating a bridge between the city of Ben Guerir, its population and the green city centred around the Mohamed VI Polytechnic University and OCP Group’s multiple experimental sites. The SADV has identified three main challenges, which require the use of innovative thinking and bold conceptualisation. Plug and Play Morocco acts as SADV’s partner in innovation by inviting students and entrepreneurs from multiple backgrounds to join a two days intensive idea generation competition, a hackathon.

Plug and Play brings in their expertise in organising such events and sourcing the right talent to procure exploitable solutions to their partner, thus allowing them to implement innovative technologies to their operations.

Participating teams will present a solution to one of the three following challenges:

1.Green Mobility: Integrated urban means of transporting people and goods. Problem Statement: How to make Ben Guerir a city of pedestrians and sustainable mobility?

2.Real Estate and Construction: Sustainable and efficient residential and commercial building infrastructure. Problem Statement: How to build and manage a modern real estate and commercial park for a population with modest incomes? Variables include construction costs, energy efficiency and optimisation.

3.New sustainable watering techniques: scarce resource management and resource utilisation optimisation. Problem Statement: How to transform Ben Guerir into a city model of water retention and management?

Who can participate

Any individual holding at least a high school diploma and with knowledge in either of these areas: coding, business strategy, architecture, urban planning, water management, sustainable construction, energy efficiency and resource management, marketing, finance, entrepreneurship, design thinking, and pricing strategies.

Any team of maximum 3 teammates with complementary skill sets.

Executives and "porteurs de projet" with solutions for one of the pre-set challenges.

PhD students from any Moroccan university with knowledge in one of the pre-set areas of interest (challenges set by SADV).

Rewards

The winning team(s) will be awarded a place in the very exclusive acceleration program by Plug and Play Morocco batch 2, which will be held in StartGate from September 3rd until December 10th. The award also includes a full sized testing of the winning team’s solution for one of the pre-set challenges. SADV engages itself to follow up with a pilot project, guiding the winning team through the product/service testing phase and implementation. This process can eventually lead to a commercial agreement after the startup (winning team) goes through an incubation period by Plug and Play Morocco.

Partners