The first edition in this format focuses on data and is seeking participants from all over Brazil

São Paulo, 6th of july 2020.
How to help SMEs get back on their feet after the crisis caused by covid-19? This was the starting point for the

first online hackathon organized by Santander Brazil. With a focus on data and analytics applied in a context of innovation and new business, the hackathon will run for 48 hours on 1 and 2 August. Registration is open until 24 July at https://www.datachallenge.com.br/.

Santander Brazil carried out its first data hackathon, exclusively for employees, in 2019. “The lessons learned from this first edition encouraged us to organize an external version with the partnership of other companies in the awards, seminars and monitoring areas. This is another initiative rolled out by the bank to provide support and solutions not only for our customers, but for all those who need help at the moment”, explained Eduardo Sasaki, executive head of Data and CRM at Santander Brazil.

As the data used in the hackathon will be public data (government, transport, business, health data, etc.), the idea is that the solutions submitted will be able to be implemented afterwards by any company, as the final product of the groups taking part will be a machine learning model that is available to interested parties.

Another difference in this edition is that it will be completely online, allowing people to take part from all over Brazil. In the week after the end of the registration period, a platform will be opened to allow participants to get to know each other and form teams. It is recommended that teams have four or five members and a multidisciplinary profile. Suggested specializations include data scientists and engineers, developers, designers, machine learning engineers and people with functional training such as marketing, business administration or economics.

The event will kick off on 31 July in a live session for registered participants, but it will also be available for anyone else interested in the subject. Participants will be able to ask for support from mentors during the process. The list already has names such as Ana Adobatti, of Social Good Brazil. Additionally, the winning employees from the previous edition run by Santander should also act as mentors in the hackathon. The best projects will be awarded study grants, language courses or electronic devices.