What is this about?
You are invited to an exciting intellectual competition, where we are looking for creative and feasible solutions for real burning problems in our world.
The competition will be in the form of a VETATHON. If you are not familiar with the term, this is a marathon (e.g. 24 hours) competition, where teams of 4-6 are working to solve the given challenge and create a demonstration of the solution with the available means.
Eligible teams consist of minimum 2-2 students (out of maximum 6) from the University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest and the University of Óbuda. At least one veterinary student has to come from the third year or above. One student per team can come from a third university.
(Hence the name: VETerinarymarATHON.)
Why should I participate?
The VETATHON is excellent to test your creativity, develop your team-working skills, to broaden your horizon and it has even happened that a VETATHON team became founder of a startup based on their solution.
The benefits of getting to know students from a very different university, and experts from industry, to broaden your network are not negligible factors at all from the point of view to develop your social life and career.
What is the topic of the challenge?
The central topic of this year’s competition is “New technological solutions in animal health and animal husbandry”. As we approach the day of the event, the participating students will learn about the challenges within the central theme, but more specific, embodying a real problem, from which each team can choose one. By the end of the competition in response to these challenges, the organizers expect solutions that will provide new approaches by combining the two fields (animal health and engineering/informatics), which can even be developed and utilized into an actual product or process. The solutions must therefore apply both veterinary and technical knowledge.
Based on previous similar competitions, the organizing universities expect student teams to develop unique approaches, expand areas of application, and even new research directions occur at the VETATHON, which can even result in startups or form the basis for marketizable products relevant to the sponsors.
How is the competition organized?
The competition is open to international students, therefore it is conducted in English. It means that not only the advertisements and briefings will be available in English, but at the end of the 24-hour marathon, the presentation must be prepared and presented in English. The venue for the April 21-22 competition will be provided by the University of Óbuda. Before the event, we will also organize a personal briefing, where not only useful and practical information will be shared, but we will also help to find a team for those who do not have one yet.
At the end of the VETATHON each team has to present its solution in English to all the participants and the jury. The decision about the final ranking will be decided by a jury consisting of well-known experts from academia and industry, taking into consideration the opinion of the mentors.
Will there be prizes?
The teams (and their members) who rank high at VETATHON will receive valuable prizes! Students who are interested should keep an eye on related news, the organizers will soon provide more details!
How can I apply?
Please read the Privacy Policy HERE before completing the registration form.
Please read the DECLARATION OF NON-DISCLOSURE HERE.
Please read the RULES OF THE VETATHON STUDENT INNOVATION COMPETITION HERE.
VETATHON challenges revealed!
It’s time to share the challenges with you for the VETATHON next week.
We introduce three challenges (below) of which each team can choose one. The teams will find out and elaborate a solution for these problems. The choices of the teams are independent of each other’s: you don’t have to know anything about the choices of the others. It’s only up to you to choose the one in which you’re interested in the most.
Read through the challenges below, consult with your teammates and/or convince others to join your team, even from other universities!
It’s enough to tell us your choice on 21st April, on the spot, but you’re allowed to work on your idea before the competition will be launched on 21st April.
1) Measures against food waste
Food waste is a global challenge. In developed countries household food waste represents more than 50% of the total food waste amount. Discarding leftover food is especially frequent due to 1) buying, 2) cooking, 3) serving too much food. IT-based solutions could help, for example online portion calculators that consider nutritional needs of the households. Outside the box innovations are also welcome!
2) Helping dogs “stuck” in municipal and civilian-run animal shelters to find their new owners with innovative means
In Hungary, the stray animal challenge is significant, according to estimates, there are hundreds of thousands of dogs living without human control, and the number of cats is even higher. The main challenge is that there are more animals than responsible owners. A lot of dogs are “stuck” in the shelters system for years, even 1-2 decades, due to breed, age, behaviour, colour, lack of potential responsible owners. Mixed dogs (mainly bull types), the elderly, big, black-haired dogs, and males are at a disadvantage. The behaviour of the animal does not always determine the willingness to adopt. On the part of the animal protectors, they often do not have the money, time, education or energy to find owners more effectively for them. How could dogs stuck in shelters for a long time be helped in an innovative way with little or zero financial resources?
3) Effective communication tools and methods for new generation Pet-owners
It is challenging in the big media noise to grab the attention of the new-generation pet-owners, and even if achieved to keep them engaged and motivated to do the preventative measures. As pets are life companions it is crucial that their owners are up to date with diseases and preventative treatments. What tools, platforms, messages would you recommend to stand-out from the crowd?
Don’t forget:
- See you on 21st April 3 p.m., on the campus of Óbuda University (1034 Budapest, Bécsi út 96/B).
- If you still don’t have a team, we’ll help you to form or join one on the spot.
Sponsors
