rules

• "Prizes": refers to the prizes awarded to the 3 selected projects at the end of the geekathon'23.
• "Research Grant": refers to the Open-Source grant powered by xgeeks that will be attributed, if applicable, to one of the projects presented by one of the teams of geekathon'23.
• "Overview": refers to the specifications determined by the Organization, which may include deadlines, prizes, guidelines and themes to be complied with by all contributions by participants.
• "Challenge": refers to the challenge that is the subject of the Rules, as organized by the Organizers.
• "Participant": refers to any person registered in accordance with the Rules who takes part in the present hackathon.
• "Rules": refers to these terms, which apply to the Challenge.
• "Intellectual Property Rights": means all the following ownership legal rights, worldwide, whether registrable or unregistrable, and whether registered or unregistered, with respect to any designs, trade secrets, copyright, works of authorship, neighbouring rights, mask works, know-how, software and all industrial rights, such as trademarks, industrial designs or patents.
• "Projects": refers to the Teams and to all submissions, original ideas, documents, or other materials (such as presentations, videos, etc.) uploaded to a specific repository on GitHub by Participants as a solution to the present edition to Geekathon.
• "Registration": refers to the registration of a Participant in accordance with the Rules.
• "Team": refers to the team of innovators (2 to 3 people per team), registered on the website to take part in the event.
• "Winner" or "Winners": refers to the members of the Project(s) that are rewarded according to the evaluation metrics and categories.
• "Code of Conduct": refers to the document published on the Geekathon page aiming at creating a safe, comfortable, and harassment-free space for all the parties involved in the hackathon, and with which all persons involved in the hackathon must abide.

The Hackathon is open to all people of legal age worldwide, who are interested in creating a technological project to solve the challenges proposed. Team members should all be based in Leiria between the 10th and 12th of November of 2023. A team must be technologically multidisciplinary and can be composed of a minimum of 2 people and a maximum of 3. Individual registrations are allowed, but participation is only possible if the participant is a member of a team.

There are no rigid categories to this hackathon. If you come across any suggestion and respective category, those are merely an indication of the path each team can take. ⚠️ These are just guidelines; your project doesn't need to necessarily fit a category. Each Team's project can select more than one category to compete in with its only project submission. If it fits the theme of the hackathon, you can feel free to perceive the challenge as you prefer!

All participants must register exclusively on the event website to enroll for the event, following the instructions available on the website, selecting a ticket, getting a confirmation email and, finally, purchase your ticket.

Registration is only complete after the purchase of your ticket and receiving a confirmation email. Registrations that do not comply with the Rules will be disregarded.

The expected deliverables should follow the following format:

• Running Application, by submitting your project in a public repository, including a read.me file with relevant information (small description of the application, problem and solution proposed)
• Nice to have: each team can also present a 2-minute demo.

Any of the deliverables should address a need, a solution or a problem under the scope of the challenge of “The future of Development powered by AI tools”.

In the event of difficulty or failure to read the deliverable, the Participants responsible for that Project will be notified and are responsible for re-submitting before the challenge deadline. If the deadline has expired, the Project concerned will be disqualified from the Challenge.

geekathon'23 will be held as a two-day hackathon.

The event will officially start after the Opening Ceremony, on the 10th of November, to highlight all the rules, timelines and provide further instructions for the present hackathon. Nevertheless, teams can start working on their projects as soon as the check-in is successfully completed.

By the 12th of November, all submitted projects will be reviewed by evaluated by an internal evaluation panel. After this analysis, the top 5 projects will proceed with the respective presentations, which can take up 10 minutes per team (including demo, if applicable). Upon these presentations, the panel of judges, the audience and the main sponsor will reward the best projects.

All submitted projects will be analysed through ChatGPT which selects the top 5 projects based on the functionality of the prototype (running application). These top 5 projects will be presenting their projects.

There will be a jury constituted of 3 members.

The main criterias that the jury will be looking for when analysing your project are the following:

• Functionality - If the presented application is functional and “works”
• Technical Relevance - Projects should be technically relevant to cloud-native computing, containerization, orchestration, and related areas.
• Innovation - Evaluate the level of innovation and uniqueness that the project brings to the current landscape.
• Roadmap and Governance - Projects should have a clear development roadmap that should be added in the respective .read.me files submitted by the teams.
• Pitch - the quality of the team performance and submitted output.

The team and project should be compliant with all terms and conditions of the event and specific grant eligibility criteria. This grant is independent to the winning projects selected in the 3 categories of prizes.

The eligibility criteria for this grant is the following:

Criteria

• Alignment with CNCF Mission: Ensure that the proposed research projects are aligned with the CNCF's mission, which focuses on making cloud-native technologies and practices widespread.
• Technical Relevance: Projects should be technically relevant to cloud-native computing, containerization, orchestration, and related areas.
• Open Source: Projects should be open source and have a commitment to open governance and community participation.
• Compatibility and Interoperability: Projects should demonstrate compatibility and interoperability with other CNCF projects and industry standards.
• Innovation: Evaluate the level of innovation and uniqueness that the project brings to the CNCF landscape. It should address current challenges or provide improvements over existing solutions.
• Use Cases: Assess the practical use cases for the project. It should address real-world problems and provide tangible benefits to users.
• Sustainability: Consider the long-term sustainability of the project. It should have a clear roadmap and plans for continued development and maintenance.
• Ecosystem Impact: Examine the potential impact the project could have on the broader cloud-native ecosystem. Will it fill a gap or address a pressing need?
• Licensing: Ensure that the project's licensing is compatible with CNCF's licensing policies, such as using permissive open-source licenses.
• Scalability: Consider the project's ability to scale and accommodate a growing user and contributor base.
• Documentation: Verify that the project has comprehensive documentation for those who want to replicate the project and explore.
• Roadmap and Governance: Projects should have a clear development roadmap and transparent governance model that encourages community involvement.
• Educational Value: Consider the educational value of the project in terms of helping users learn about cloud-native technologies and best practices.

By establishing these criteria, geekathon'23 organization can ensure that the Open-Source Grant supports projects that are well-suited for inclusion in the CNCF landscape, promoting the foundation's mission and the growth of the cloud-native ecosystem.

This up to 10k€ grant sponsored by xgeeks translates into services provided by xgeeks, from technical guidance to development support and tools. All of these to be discussed with the winning team and project, if applicable. xgeeks has the right to not deliver this Open-Source Grant, even if part of the criteria is met. xgeeks also has the right to only provide a part of the total amount of this grant.

• The delivery of Projects is in line with the quality standards and comply with the evaluation criteria;
• Participants comply with the Code of Conduct;
• The prizes can only be awarded to the Winning Teams if they meet all rules and conditions and comply in full of these Rules output;
• Only Project Teams registered in the event website will be eligible to be declared the Winning Teams and receive Prizes
• Every Participant acknowledges and accepts that the Organization is responsible for awarding prizes to the 3 Winning Teams only, according to the categories defined.

The Judges' decisions are final.

The organization reserves the right to terminate, cancel or delay the competition at any time without any obligation to indemnify the teams.