What is EU Datathon?

The sixth edition of the EU Datathon annual open data competition aims to prove the value of open data and to highlight opportunities for business models using EU institutions and national open data. Participating teams are required to develop mobile or web applications by using open datasets published by EU institutions and/or EU Member States. The EU needs the vision, engagement, and participation of all young people to build a better future that is greener, more inclusive, and digital. Data is at the heart of designing the necessary changes and EU should give incentives to younger generations to use EU data for more innovation in Europe, which is much needed for driving these changes. The EU Datathon is a key EU initiative aiming at creating new value for citizens through innovation and promoting the use of open data produced by the EU institutions. Thus, it can be a major forum for young data talents to display their ideas for shaping the future of the European Union.

EU Datathon not only gives the opportunity to people to highlight their talent and network, but also offers prizes worth EUR 200 000 in four different challenges thereby helping them to set the foundation of a start-up or boost an existing one.

The competition promotes open data as a free resource available to the wider public (not only participants) and to young people who can use it as a basis for an entrepreneurial venture.

The competition is organised by the Publications Office of the European Union.

The rules are based on the Articles 206 and 207 of the financial regulation. The competition will respect the principles of transparency and equal treatment.

• The competition is open worldwide to anyone who is interested in creating a for-profit or non-profit (social) business model through data exploration and/or in creating open data prototype products based on open and public data.
• A team can be composed of one or more individuals (up to 4), one or more companies (up to 4) or one or more other legal entities (up to 4).
• The competition is not open to staff working in the EU institutions, agencies, bodies, partnering organisations or contractors of the Publications Office.
• Teams can be composed of persons under the age of 18. If that is the case, a written consent of the parents is required.

The competition consists of four challenges. Each challenge is organised as a separate competition of equal importance (separate registration, pre-selection, selection, finalist teams, pitches, and prizes). Teams may participate in any or all of the following challenges.

Challenge 1: ‘A European Green Deal’

• Develop an app that could be used to create a greener world, to boost efficient use of resources or to restore biodiversity and reduce pollution.
• Combine at least one dataset from data.europa.eu with any other publicly available dataset(s).

Challenge 2: ‘Transparency in public procurement’

• A significant amount of public investment is spent through public procurement. Transparency in public procurement helps track how public money is spent, combat fraud and analyse economic and market trends. We invite developers to explore the mass of information available and develop an app to expose it in a transparent manner.
• Combine the TED dataset (available via http or ftp protocol) with any other publicly available dataset(s).

Challenge 3: ‘EU public procurement opportunities for young people’

• Public procurement is often perceived as a complex field, where only specialists are at ease in finding the information they need. We invite developers to propose an app that helps young people in supporting their personal, social, and professional development.
• Combine the TED dataset (available via http or ftp protocol) with any other publicly available dataset(s).

Challenge 4: ‘A Europe fit for the digital age’

• This is an open challenge. Develop a value-creating app for the digital age in any field that is not already covered by the previous challenges.
• Combine at least one dataset from data.europa.eu with any other publicly available dataset(s).

Phase 1 — Pre-selection

Pre-selection takes place after the closing date for submitting ideas to enter the competition.

During this phase, an internal jury assesses each submitted idea against the pre-selection criteria (table below) and grades all competing teams. For each challenge, the six teams having scored the highest number of points (top-6 per challenge) are pre-selected.

All participating teams will be notified via email about the pre-selection results of the challenge(s) they compete in.  

The pre-selected teams (top-6 per challenge) which will be announced on the EU Datathon website will be invited to start developing their idea into an app.

Phase 2 — Selection

Selection takes place after the closing date for submitting the full proposals.

In this phase, there are four juries per challenge, each assessing the full proposals submitted for the respective challenge. The juries may comprise experts, both internal and external to the EU institutions and agencies. The evaluation criteria and grading are the same as in the previous phase, but upon request, teams may also need to provide further information or clarifications about their proposal for the evaluation.

For each challenge, the three teams having scored the highest number of points (top-3 per challenge) will be selected.

All participating teams will be notified via email about the selection results of the challenge(s) they compete in.  

The finalist teams (top-3 per challenge) which will be announced on the EU Datathon website will be invited to develop further their proposal into an app and compete in the final phase.

The remaining three teams will receive for their efforts a consolation prize of EUR 1 000 each. The Publications Office reserves the right not to award the prize to the team(s) which would be assessed to have failed to provide the requested deliverables and/or have failed to demonstrate that sufficient effort had been made for this phase of the competition.

Phase 3 — Competition finals

The final evaluation of the selected apps takes place during the competition finals, which will be an online event. If circumstances allow, a different setup for the final event may be chosen.

On the day of the competition finals, the finalist teams (top-3 per challenge) present their developed apps. Each pitch is supported with a slide-deck presentation and followed by a Q&A session.

A dedicated jury per challenge, consisting of at least five experts from within and outside the EU institutions and agencies, evaluates the presented apps of the challenge and ranks them against one another with the final award criteria in mind. The team with the best ranking across the jury members will win the challenge.

All finalist teams (top-3 per challenge) are required to submit a feedback report: fill-in a survey about their work on reusing EU open data and provide a follow-up of their apps. This survey is a prerequisite for the payment of the prizes.

The prizes are funded by the Digital Europe Programme and the European Parliament Preparatory Action on Transparency in Public Procurement.

The total award fund for the competition amounts to EUR 200 000 (EUR 50 000 for each challenge) and will be split in the following order for each challenge. The pre-selected teams that did not make it to the finals will receive EUR 1 000 each according to the provisions for the phase 2 (above).

• Choose a short, meaningful, and catchy name for your team.
• The organisers can support participants in choosing the right challenge.
• Consider creating a Twitter account for your team.
• For the teasers, a briefing note with more info will be provided to the selected teams. Images and footage from early stages, such as team building or brainstorming can be of excellent value for your team’s teaser.
• Check out the finals of previous editions, teasers, and testimonials on YouTube to be inspired.
• Take harmonised, high-quality photos of your team members for the website.
• The organisers can help you find the right challenge for your idea if you are unsure.

Clarifications

Participants may request any clarification up to five (5) working days before the closing date for submitting proposals. Requests for clarification should be submitted in writing to the following email address: op-datathon@publications.europa.eu.

Payment of awards

The payments of awards are subject to the registration of the winners in the legal entity form and bank account file database of the European Commission. For this purpose, teams are required to provide, at the latest three weeks after having been pre-selected, all the necessary supporting documents, duly signed and stamped as necessary. The team must also decide to whom the prize money shall be transferred. Additional information as well as the templates for the creation of legal entity and bank account forms can be downloaded here. The Publications Office and its partners take no responsibility regarding the distribution of the awards within the teams. Finalist teams which do not deliver the full proposal and/or the developed application, will not be entitled to continue participating in the competition finals. Thus, they cannot claim any prize award.

Cancellation of the competition

The Publications Office reserves the right to cancel the competition before the competition finals without any obligation to indemnify the teams.

Intellectual property and copyright

In case teams use pre-existing material (such as open source) for their applications, they must guarantee that they have obtained all the necessary authorisations for such material to be used according to the rules described above. The one-page proposal submitted for the pre-selection will remain the property of the teams (authors) and will not be made public (or disclosed), but will be accessible to the jury. The final products delivered for the final selection will remain the property of the authors but will be accessible to the jury and to all teams at the competition finals. The EU institutions, agencies and bodies will be allowed to mention, describe, and promote on their channels (websites, social media, press releases, etc.) the winning applications with due reference to the authors without any further compensation.

Publicity

The winning applications may be featured in the ‘Use cases’ section on data.europa.eu. Where appropriate, the name and copyright of the authors will be mentioned.

Processing of personal data

All personal data contained in the entry shall be processed in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons regarding the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices, and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39). Such data shall be processed by the Publications Office solely in connection with the implementation and follow-up of the entry of the winner, without prejudice to a transmission to the bodies in charge of a monitoring or inspection task in accordance with European Union legislation.

Teams may, upon written request, gain access to their personal data and correct any information that is inaccurate or incomplete. They should address any questions regarding the processing of their personal data to the Publications Office via the contact e-mail announced in the rules of the competition. The teams may, at any time, lodge a complaint against the processing of their personal data with the European Data Protection Supervisor. On the competition website the Publications Office will publish the name of the winning teams and of their members, their locality, the prize amount and the nature and purpose of their applications. Participants may request that the Publications Office waive such a publication if disclosure risks threatening their security and safety or if it could harm their commercial interest.

Sole liability of the teams

Neither the Publications Office nor the partners may be held responsible for any claim relating to the activities carried out by teams in the framework of the competition. Neither the Publications Office nor the partners shall be held liable for any damages caused or sustained by any of the teams, including any damages caused to third parties because of or during the implementation of the activities related to the competition.

Applicable law and competent jurisdiction

By submitting the project description teams declare that they are not in one of the situations mentioned in Article 136(1) of the Financial Regulation. Teams who are in any of those situations or fall into other categories indicated in Article 141 of the Financial Regulation shall be rejected from participating and from being awarded a prize under the present competition. The rejection shall be without prejudice to the decision of exclusion from participating in award procedures governed by the Financial Regulation and application of financial penalties (Articles 136-140 of the Financial Regulation).

Exclusion criteria and administrative sanctions

By submitting the project description teams declare that they are not in one of the situations mentioned in Article 136(1) of the Financial Regulation. Teams who are in any of those situations or fall into other categories indicated in Article 141 of the Financial Regulation shall be rejected from participating and from being awarded a prize under the present competition. The rejection shall be without prejudice to the decision of exclusion from participating in award procedures governed by the Financial Regulation and application of financial penalties (Articles 136-140 of the Financial Regulation).

Early Detection and Exclusion System

In case the participants are in one of the exclusion situations as stated above, personal data on them may be registered in the Early Detection and Exclusion System (EDES) in line with the Articles 135, 142, 143 and 144 of the Financial Regulation. For more information, see the privacy statement for EDES.

Suspension of the competition, cancellation of the award and reduction of prize

Where the award procedure has been subject to irregularities or fraud, the Publications Office applies the measures referred to in Article 131 of the Financial Regulation.

Checks, audits, and investigations

The winning teams accept checks, audits and investigations by the European Commission, the European Anti-Fraud Office, the Court of Auditors, and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in relation to the competition and the prize received.

Launch announcement