The RocketGov Hackathon – Terms and Conditions – Participation Agreement 

NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY. A PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. 

VOID WHERE PROHIBITED 

BY PARTICIPATING, YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. 

OVERVIEW 

The 2022 RocketGov Hackathon is a call to developers and multidisciplinary profiles around the world to create a Rocket.Chat network, and create solutions to promote and leverage the Rocket.Chat usage. 

ELIGIBILITY 
In order to participate in this Hackathon, you must be 18 years of age or older. 

HACKATHON NAME 

The RocketGov Hackathon. 

 

HACKATHON OBJECTIVE 

The Hackathon will bring together talented developers, designers, coders, and multidisciplinary profiles, to compete in a virtual online hackathon to develop new features for Rocket.Chat so that more public services can rely on Rocket.Chat in their digitalisation journey. 

 

FACILITATOR, CLIENT & PRIZE PROVIDER 

The Facilitator (the “Facilitator”) of the Hackathon is Kreativdistrikt S.r.l. ​(hereafter also “KDKT”), ​registered office via F. Petrarca 22, 20123 Milano, VAT code and Fiscal Code 09829520965.  

Client (the “Client”) and Prize Provider (the “Prize Provider”): European Commission Directorate General for Informatics, DG DIGIT, Rue Belliard 28, 1000 Brussels, (hereinafter collectively the “Client”). 

 

The Client and the Sponsor may be collectively referred to as “we”.  

 

DATES AND TIMING:  

The Hackathon will start on 07 November 2022 and will end on 21 November 2022 with the Award Ceremony. Two check point sessions will be organised, on 09 November 2022 and on 11 November 2022. The Hackathon closing session will take place on 14 November 2022.  

 

PARTICIPATION IS ALLOWED TO 

  • 18 years old (or more) individuals
  • teams or individuals;

 

PARTICIPATION IS NOT ALLOWED 

to individuals resident or domiciled in any country where participation would be prohibited by applicable law or the laws of the European Union. The organisation team has the right to decline any submission that goes again the applicable law or the laws of the European Union. 

 

HACKATHON PROCESS 

  1. Register on the form that you will find on our website
  2. 2. Form a team
  3. 3. Participate in the Hackathon by completing the milestones that will be announced during the Hackathon
  4. Submit your idea
  5. 5. Win prizes

HACKATHON OUTPUT 

Hackathon Finalists must submit proposals that have a certain degree of completion in terms of code and/or documentation so that the jury can evaluate the potential and the benefits of the solution proposed. The more complete the solution it is, the higher the scoring will be. Participants are welcome to accompany their proposals with videos or recordings if that helps to better understand their proposals. 

 

CHALLENGES (Topics) 

 

  • Apps development 
  • Bot integrations 
  • Omnichannel 
  • System Integration 
  • Additional challenge: Participants are also welcome to submit their own idea for an improvement to Rocket.Chat.  

 

LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS 

Please provide your submission materials in English. Submissions in other languages won’t be accepted. 

 

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 

The RocketGov Hackathon project partners have the right to use the foreground knowledge generated during the hackathon. You agree that all submissions are considered public domain.  

 

JURY 

An evaluation panel composed of members from Rocket.Chat and European Commission will evaluate the submissions taking into account the following criteria: 

 

  1. Originality and scope of the project;  
  1. Completeness of the submission, such as documentation and a polished user experience with few bugs; Quality of all materials submitted; 
  1. Making your proposal as accessible as possible;  
  1. Sustainability in terms of code organisation and structure (well-written code); 
  1. Security of the ideas in terms of how security aspects are taken into account in the design and implementation. 

 

 

PRIZES  

  • 1st prize: €5,000 
  • 2nd prize: €3,000 
  • 3rd prize: €2,500 
  • 4th prize: €1,500 
  • 5th prize: €1,000 

 

PRIZE DISTRIBUTION 

The Sponsor will not award a Prize if there are no eligible Submissions entered in the Hackathon, or if there are no eligible Participants or Submissions for a specific Prize.  

Monetary prizes will be mailed and payable to the winning Participant’s address (as an individual).  

LIABILITY & LITIGATION 

The Sponsor is fully entitled to shorten, extend, modify or cancel the Hackathon in any manner it deems fit without incurring any liability to the Participants. The Sponsor is fully entitled to disqualify a Participant or a team that does not abide by these Terms & Conditions or acts in any way deemed inappropriate by the Sponsor. 

 

The Sponsor shall not be responsible, and assume no liability, for (i) lost, misdirected, or late submissions; (ii) electronic transmission errors; (iii) theft, destruction, change of, or unauthorized, access to submissions; (iv) technical problems, malfunctions or errors in the operation of any hardware or software which is necessary for the transmission of submissions or for the procedure of the Hackathon, including computer viruses and 

bugs, or for manipulations, unauthorized access, scams, overload of the Internet or a website or any combinations of these, nor for other causes not subject to the inspection by the Sponsor and the respective subsidiaries and branches of the Sponsor. In case any of the above should occur, the Sponsor retains the right, in its sole discretion, to adjust, change, postpone or cancel the Hackathon in any manner it deems fit, or to take any other action it deems appropriate, including, without limitation, disqualifying any Participant who wrongfully causes any of the above to occur. The Sponsor reserves all rights to recover damages and to take any resources that may be available to it against any such Participant. 

 

Participants who are employees of a corporation, government agency, or academic institution are responsible for ensuring that their participation complies with any policies their respective corporation, agency or institution may have regarding participation in Hackathons such as the Hackathon. If the Sponsor has reason to believe that a Participant violated any such internal policies, the Sponsor reserves the right to prohibit the Participant from participating in the Hackathon or receiving a prize at any time. The Sponsor assumes no liability and is not responsible for any disputes arising between a Participant and his/her employer with respect to participation in the Hackathon. 

 

This Agreement shall be governed by, performed, and interpreted according to the law of Italy, without regard to choice of law or conflict of law rules. The parties establish that for any future disputes relating to the interpretation, execution, or resolution of this agreement, the Court of Milan will have exclusive jurisdiction. It is understood that before undertaking legal action, the parties undertake to carry out the mediation attempt pursuant to Legislative Decree no. 28 of 4 March 2010. 

 

All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation, and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of the Participants and the Sponsor in connection with the Hackathon, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with, the laws of the Court of Milan – Italy. 

 

PRIVACY 

When participating in this Hackathon, you accept and agree to our Privacy Policy located here https://rocketgov-hackathon.eu/privacy-policy/

 

GENERAL 

The Sponsor reserves the right to verify the validity of submissions, as well as their compliance with these Terms and Conditions, and to disqualify any Participant who interferes in any way with the entry process or who submits an entry that is not in accordance with these Terms and Conditions. The Sponsor will not accept any late or misdirected submission. The Sponsor reserves the right to cancel the Hackathon and/or cancel or amend the awards if it deems in its sole discretion that there is an insufficient number of Participants. 

 

Disqualification of any Participant who the Sponsor has reason to believe has breached any of these Terms and Conditions or has engaged in any unlawful or other improper conduct shall be at the Sponsor’s sole discretion. The Sponsor’s decision in relation to any and all aspects of the Hackathon is final and binding on every Participant and there shall be no appeal or review process for any such decision. 

 

The Sponsor is not responsible for (i) any problems or technical malfunctions of any telephone network or lines, computer or online systems, servers, providers, computer equipment, software, or any technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or any website, delay or error in postal service, or any combination thereof; (ii) any incorrect or inaccurate information caused by any equipment or programming associated with, or used in, this Hackathon, or any technical error, including any omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, mobile or satellite network failure, theft, destruction, unauthorized access or alteration of entries, or any combination thereof.  

 

The Sponsor assumes no liability and is not responsible for any injury or damage to a Participant’s or any other person’s electronic device resulting from participation in this Hackathon or downloading any Data as part thereof. In the Hackathon of war, terrorism, economic sanctions, riots, fires, natural disaster, or any other state of emergency or act of God, the Sponsor reserves the right to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Hackathon or take any other action it deems fit with respect to the Hackathon without any liability. 

 

CONTACT 

info@kreativdistrikt.com  

  

WINNER’S LIST 

The results of the Hackathon will be showcased during the Award Ceremony, on 21 November 2022 at 16:00 CET. 

 

CHANGE OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS 

The organiser reserves the right to change these Terms and Conditions and to add and/or remove any provisions from these Terms and Conditions at any time (including before and during the Hackathon), for any reason and in any manner it deems fit.