ReInHerit SMART TOURISM HACKATHON at the CYENS Center of Excellence

On the weekend of January 20 and 21, the CYENS Center of Excellence hosted the innovative ReInHerit SMART TOURISM HACKATHON at its temporary premises on Dimarchos Lellou Dimitriadis Street, in the center of Nicosia within the walls.

The initiative of the European ReInHerit program, in collaboration with the DiGiNN platform, was a unique opportunity to meet and collaborate with people from programming, design, digital technologies, and cultural heritage.

The event's purpose was to encourage the development of ideas in Smart Tourism in the context of cultural heritage and to promote intercultural understanding, inclusion, and the exploration of new ideas.

In preparation for the competition portion, program mentors delivered introductory webinars to participants, offering guidance in developing ideas, applications, and business planning.

Day 1 of the Smart Tourism ReInHerit Hackathon, at the presentation: Smart Tourism, Smart Destinations, and Cultural Heritage, from Dr. Manos Vougioukas, Secretary General, European Cultural Tourism Network.

During the two-day Hackathon, CYENS welcomed six teams that developed innovative solutions on how we experience museums and cultural heritage sites after bilateral cooperation.

Participants on Day 1 of the Smart Tourism ReInHerit Hackathon are working on their ideas and projects.

Mentors and Members of Smart Tourism ReInHerit Hackathon Organization Committee on Day 1 of the event.

After the presentations of the groups, the jury a winning idea, the Nicosia Light Festival led by Yiannis Sidiropoulos, which received gifts worth 3,000 euros. The team occupied the second place, "The ultimate Hub for Cyprus museums," of Maxim Grosul, who received gifts worth 1,250 euros. At the same time, the trio of winners completed the team "Augmented Reality" by Kostas Tsagaridis, who won gifts worth 750 euros. The Archeological Odyssey team of Georgiou Athanasiadis and Daniil Georgiou received a special award of 1,000 euros from the European Cultural Tourism Council.

Styliani Petroudi, Senior Project Manager, Research Office at CYENS, at the event's closing ceremony on Day 2.

The audience and the judges during teams’ presentations of their ideas/ projects.

Judges awarding the first prize of 2500-euro to the participant Jannis Sidiropoulos.

Judge Mr. Panayiotis Korinos awarded the second prize of 1000 euros to the participant Maxim Grosul.

Mentor Prof. Marco Bertini with the third prize of 500-euro winner Kostas Tsangarides.

Judge Dr. Manos Vougioukas awarded the special award with a monetary amount of 1,000 euros from the European Cultural Tourism Council to participants Georgiou Athanasiadis and Daniil Georgiou.

The competition's website is https://reinherithackathon.cyens.org.cy/ and was the primary source of information for the public, including all the details about the Hackathon. The website was developed on WordPress and was launched on December 14, 2024.

In addition to cash prizes, the event provided participants with an essential skills-enhancing experience and showcased and highlighted the power of diverse backgrounds in driving innovation.

ReInHerit is a program funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 (no. 101004545) that aspires to disrupt the current status quo of collaboration and innovation exchange between museums and heritage sites.