THE BALKAN HACKATHON WILL BEGIN on June 27 at 9:30 at Sofia Tech Park's Experimentarium.

The Balkan Hackathon is organized by the Representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria, Sofia Municipality, the State e-Government Agency, Sofia Development Association and Webit Foundation, and is hosted by Sofia Tech Park.

The event is under the official patronage of European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Ms Mariya Gabriel.

The Balkan Hackathon will last 24 hours, kicked off by the Mayor of Sofia Ms Yordanka Fandakova, EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Ms Mariya Gabriel, Deputy Chairman of the State e-Government Agency, Mr. Alexander Yolovski, Assoc. Prof. Teodor Sedlarski, Member of the Board of Sofia Tech Park, Ms Iliana Zaharieva of A1, and Ms Svetlana Lomeva from the Sofia Development Association.

The main challenge at the hackathon is the digital divide: making sure no European citizens are left behind in the digital age. Just 1 month after the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Sofia and as part of the program of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, teams of coders from the Balkans will present their own vision of a connected Europe. The Hackathon welcomes the registration of 30 teams representing different companies, universities, technology parks, and innovators from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia, and Turkey.

The participants will be competing for an award pool of 10 000 euro and multiple special prizes. The winning team will also receive an official invitation from Commissioner Mariya Gabriel to participate in Europe Code Week 2018 in Brussels.

For more information, visit www.balkanhackathon.eu