Visitor Economy focused hackathon to develop tech solutions to bring more people to our island and improve their experience.
A weekend-long hackathon competition that will unite industry experts, developers, entrepreneurs, government officials and students to develop innovative solutions and Apps to improve Puerto Rico’s destination experience and boost the local economy organized by Foundation for Puerto Rico and Link Puerto Rico.
Hackathon Agenda:
| Time | Item |
| 7:30 AM | Production & Volunteer Staff Meeting |
| 7:45 AM | Seating, Internet & Electric Walkthrough |
| 8:00 AM | Registration & Continental Breakfast Table Setup |
| 8:30 AM | Hacker Registration & Continental Breakfast Begin |
| 9:15 AM | Introduction |
| 9:30 AM | Official Challenges Presentation |
| 9:45 AM | Mentor Introduction & API Orientation |
| 10:00 AM | Team Building Exercise |
| 11:00 AM | Official Hacking Begins |
| 11:30 AM | Technical API, DataSet and Framework Training |
| 12:00 AM | Mentor Session 1 |
| 12:30 PM | Lunch Served |
| 1:30 PM | Hacking, Mentorship and Technical Training Continues |
| 3:00 PM | Coffee & Snacks |
| 5:00pm -5:30pm | Stretch & Yoga basics |
| 6:00 PM | Dinner Served |
| 6:30 PM | Guest Barista & Biscotti |
| 7:00pm-9:00pm | Mentor Session II |
| 9:00-10:00pm | Karaoke or Games |
| 11:00pm-12:00am | Pizza Served |
| 2:00 AM | Ice Cream & Cookies |
| 3:00am-6:00am | Continue Hacking or Take a Nap |
| 6:30-7am | Sun Salutations and Morning Stretch |
| 7-8am | Warm Breakfast |
| 9:00am-10:30am | Mentor Session III |
| 12:15am | Hackathon Ends - Hackers should submit all presentation and project materials |
| 12:30pm | Lunch Boxes Served |
| 2:00pm-3:15pm | Hacker Presentations to Judges Begin (3 minutes each) |
| 3:15 PM | Judges convene to discuss results and select winners |
| 3:30 PM | Award Ceremony (Ceremonial Gift Certificate to Winners) |
| 4:00-5:30pm | Beer, Wine & Tapas Celebration Reception |
Prizes
$14,200 in prizes
First Place
$1,500
+ Luxury Hotel - 3 days and 2 nights
+ 4 Sunny Planet Certificates
+ Toro Verde Adventure – Sal Si Puedes + Mounstro for 4 people
+ 4 Colaboratorio Day Passes
+ Centro para Emprendedores Scholarship + 3 Business Coaching Sessions + $500 in Gustazos
*All prizes need to be claimed before November 2, 2018 otherwise you will forfeit your claim.
Second Place
$1000 +
4 Sunny Planet Certificates
+ Toro Verde Adventure – Zip Line + Mounstro for 4 people
+ 4 Colaboratorio Day Passes
+ 2 Business Coaching Sessions
+ $400 in Gustazos credits
*All prizes need to be claimed before November 2, 2018 otherwise you will forfeit your claim.
Third Place
$800
+ Toro Verde Adventure – La Bestia for 4 people
+ 4 Colaboratorio Day Passes
+ 2 Business Coaching Sessions
+ $400 in Gustazos credits
*All prizes need to be claimed before November 2, 2018 otherwise you will forfeit your claim.
VIEWPR API Revolution
Use VIEWPR API to develop your solution to qualify for an additional $500 dollar prize + $500 in Gustazos credits. *All prizes need to be claimed before November 2, 2018 otherwise you will forfeit your claim.
Rising Star
Kich Media – Kich media experts will create with you awareness about your solutions or companies, via business and marketing coaching sessions + $200 in Gustazos Credit
*All prizes need to be claimed before November 2, 2018 otherwise you will forfeit your claim.
Eligibility
Participants:
- To participate you must register for free in eventbrite and be physically in the Colaboratorio location. No remote participation will be allowed for this year's event.
- Team size can range from 2-4 people.
- Participants must develop solutions that focus on the visitor economy/tourism only. Any unrelated submissions will not be considered.
Requirements
The table below shows the suggested Visitor Economy challenges you can work on:
- To ensure you qualify, please refer to the Challenges on the table below
| Challenge Title | Challenge Description |
| Visitor Economy Open | Develop an innovative solution that transforms Puerto Rico into a Destination for the world. Solutions have to solve either visitor or stakeholder pains to qualify. |
| Digital Presence Management | Business owners have trouble keeping their information updated in multiple travel platforms. For example, when a business wants to change its regular opening hours it has to do so in Facebook, Google , TripAdvisor , their own website, Yelp, etc. Aditionally, when many of the venues close the business owner does not report them closed. Develop a solution that facilitates the way business owners update their information simultaneously, preferably from one single place. You can use VIEWPR as the centralize datahub. |
| Visitor Activity Transparency | Puerto Rico as a destination does not have habit or an entity to keep track of our visitors and their profile. Historically the only data available was compiled in the visitor survey, and the last survey took place in 2012. The lack of information on our visitor’s profiles and activity impacts our ability to create the right products and design marketing strategies. We want to know what visitors do before, during and after they visit PR? Where do they stay? Which places they visit? How much do they spend? What are their profiles? The information is out there in multiple platforms and gov. agencies. How can we compile it? Can we improve the way we survey our visitors? Can we get more insights from traveler’s reviews to generate destination intelligence? Can be solved through technology? |
| Improve the Visitor Experience | Our community can thrive if more visitors explore our more authentic experiences, but how can they do it with the most correct, inspiring and smart information. Travelers around the world use their phone and internet to dream, plan, explore and share. Help them find what more appealing to them, guide them through the process, connect them to their providers or the community. Develop a solution that improves the way travelers navigate, explore and discover Puerto Rico. This can be done through an App, gamification, AR and VR tools. The only restriction is your imagination. |
| Content Distribution | We need to spread awareness that our island is open for visitors. How can we improve PR's image abroad? How can we let people know what our travel offer is and inspire them to explore it? How can we automatize this process? |
| Visitor Economy Open | Develop an innovative solution that transforms Puerto Rico as a Destination for the world. Solutions have to solve either visitor or stakeholder pains to qualify. |
How to enter
You can register for free in the following eventbrite link or search for Destino Hack:
Judges
Damaris Ocasio
VIEWPR Lead and CFO at Foundation for PR
Ben Gundersen
Senior Software Engineer at TripAdvisor
Fabian Velez
President and CEO at Link Puerto Rico
Felix Lugo
Country Manager at C&W Buisness
Luis Torres
Co-Founder at Engine 4
Judging Criteria
-
Visitor Economy Focused (25%)
Solution must be related to the Visitor Economy focused. To learn more about what the term Visitor Economy means please go to the following link: https://www.foundationforpuertorico.org/visitoreconomy/ -
API Usage (+5%)
Can you improve the discoverability and digital presence of our travel assets with the API's provided? How many data sets did you include? *You may only receive +5% for the integration regardless of the quantity. -
Functionality and Operability (25%)
Does your MVP work? -
Presentation Quality (10%)
Can you explain clearly and efficiently what your solution is? -
Originality, creativity, innovation y proficiency (20%)
How original, creative and innovative is your solution compared to others? -
Project difficulty and complexity (20%)
How complex is your project compared to others?