“A Call to Hack:” Vatican Sponsors Hackathon
The Roman Catholic Church announces that “VHacks,” the first-ever hackathon held at the Vatican City in Rome, will take place on the weekend of March 8-11, 2018. A total of 120 students from universities all around the world and with all faith-backgrounds will come together for a weekend of innovation and project creation.
VHacks seeks to use technological innovation to overcome social barriers and embrace common values. Its mission is three-fold:
- Leverage technology to address current global problems centered on hackathon themes.
- Promote collaboration among youth leaders across diverse academic, ethnic and religious backgrounds.
- Encourage values-based institutions to embrace technology to further their missions
“How wonderful would it be if the growth of scientific and technological innovation would come along with more equality and social inclusion.” – Pope Francis
VHacks participants will be the world’s brightest students with diverse academic, ethnic and religious backgrounds.
Participants are selected through a combination of partner universities providing teams and an open application where any student enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program is eligible to apply. Participants are chosen based on academic accomplishments, innovative thinking, and alignment with our mission statement.
VHacks is organized by OPTIC as well as students from Harvard University and MIT. OPTIC is an organization founded in 2012 dedicated to research and innovation regarding the ethics of new and disruptive technologies. OPTIC has organized hackathons before in both San Francisco and Paris.
