The Evolution of Hackathons: From Offline to Online, Driving Global Frontier Technology Innovation
In the history of open-source and open technology development, Hackathons have always been a key way to drive technological innovation and incubate emerging projects. Over the past decade, DoraHacks has been committed to promoting the Hacker Movement and the open-source movement, and in the process, has not only witnessed the rapid growth and evolution of the Hackathon community, but has also become the world's leading Hackathon platform:
Online Hackathons: Before 2020, most Hackathons were still held offline, and the online model was almost unimaginable. However, the launch of DoraHacks.io has completely changed this situation. Hackers are no longer limited by geography, and developers in Africa can participate in Hackathons organized by American companies online, win prizes and funding, and thus launch their own startup projects. Today, 95% of Hackathons worldwide are held online.
Improvement of Hackathon Tools: To improve the organizational efficiency and developer experience of Hackathons, DoraHacks has continuously optimized its core products, including the brand-new BUIDL display page, a comprehensive Hackathon organizer management system, the MACI protocol that supports large-scale community privacy governance, and the Grant DAO. The DoraHacks platform has become the best platform for Hackers and early-stage projects to obtain long-term funding and growth.
Hackathons Driving the Development of Open Platform Technologies: DoraHacks has become an important driver for the development of Web3 and other open platform technologies. From Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, to the recent Aptos, Cosmos, Injective, TON, Sonic and other ecosystems, DoraHacks has helped these platforms launch flagship developer incentive programs. Since 2023, frontier technology Hackathons such as quantum computing and commercial space have also been held on DoraHacks.
Continuous, Uninterrupted Hackathons and Builds are the Trend
Building is happening all the time. If Hackathons are just short-term events 1-2 times a year, it will be difficult to continuously attract excellent Hackers and high-quality projects to join the ecosystem and drive innovation. Hackathons should be continuous and uninterrupted, becoming a long-term driving force in the developer ecosystem.
In the past, due to the high organizational costs and resource input, most emerging ecosystems could not afford the operating costs of high-frequency Hackathons, so Hackathons were usually the only grand event of the year, or even a luxury choice for some projects. This model limited the participation opportunities of developers and affected the continuous innovation capability of the ecosystem. Imagine what would happen if the ecosystem held 12 or more Hackathons a year?
Developers have a clear "BUIDL expectation": they know that this ecosystem will continue to support and fund excellent developers and projects, so they are willing to invest in the long term and contribute continuously.
Missing out is no longer a problem: even if they cannot participate in a certain Hackathon, there will be the next one soon, and the developers' willingness to participate will be higher.
Accelerated Ecosystem Innovation: High-frequency Hackathons allow developers to constantly challenge new directions, and the growth speed of the technology ecosystem is greatly improved.
In the past, high-frequency Hackathons were almost unimaginable due to cost and organizational difficulties. Only ecosystems with sufficient funds like Google and Amazon could continuously organize Hackathons. But now, DoraHacks is about to launch the BUIDL AI platform tool, making it a viable strategy to organize 12 Hackathons a year, or even further, to hold multiple themed Hackathons simultaneously, helping emerging ecosystems efficiently incentivize developers, expand technological influence, and increase excellent BUIDL (projects).
The vast majority of Builds are happening continuously and at any time, and should be timely incentivized and discovered, rather than waiting for the only annual Hackathon.
There is a saying that "he who has the developers has the world." In the highly competitive Web3 ecosystem, Hackathons are an effective way to "get the developers," and continuous Hackathons are the optimal solution. If an ecosystem wants to maintain a leading position in the competition, it must always provide developers with opportunities to participate and create.
Hackathon Challenges in the AI Era
The rise of AI has brought new opportunities to Hackathons:
1. Everyone is a Hacker: The popularization of AI tools has automated repetitive labor, greatly unleashing the innovation capabilities of individuals and teams.
2. Increased Development Efficiency: AI empowers developers, significantly increasing the speed of product exploration and development, and the potential value of Hackathons is far greater than before.
However, there are still many limitations in organizing Hackathons:
Many organizers don't know how to effectively organize Hackathons.
Organizers understand the value of Hackathons, but lack sufficient energy and resources.
Ecosystems with resources are usually only able to organize one Hackathon per year.
As a result:
The Hackathon organization process is cumbersome, constraining the development speed of the ecosystem.
The growth of the ecosystem is limited by the organizational capabilities of the DevRel team.
Many ecosystems have not been able to fully utilize Hackathons and maximize their value.
Low-frequency Hackathons have led to the idleness of developers' creativity and the lack of sufficient motivation for innovation.
BUIDL AI: Unlocking the Infinite Possibilities of Hackathons
To address the above challenges, DoraHacks has launched BUIDL AI, an AI Hackathon Co-Pilot that helps Hackathon organizers automate the management and release of Hackathons, making the organization of Hackathons in open-source ecosystems more free and efficient.
Core Functions of BUIDL AI
1. Edit and Launch: One-click Hackathon Release
On the DoraHacks platform, organizers only need to fill in basic information (such as prizes, themes, workshop arrangements, judges, etc.) to quickly release a Hackathon, without the need for cumbersome manual configuration.
2. BUIDL Review: Automated Review, 10x Efficiency
Traditional Hackathons often receive hundreds of BUIDL submissions, and the review work is extremely heavy, requiring organizers to spend hundreds of hours on screening. BUIDL AI can intelligently evaluate projects from dimensions such as completeness, originality, and theme fit, and automatically filter out low-quality submissions, improving Hackathon organization efficiency by more than 10 times.
3. Automated Marketing: Automatically Generate Hackathon Summaries
After the Hackathon, the AI can automatically generate a summary report, showcasing the highlights of the competition, the list of winners, and the project results, helping the Hackathon better spread its influence.
4. Organizer Interaction: Improve Team Collaboration Efficiency
BUIDL AI can send real-time notifications to Hackathon organizers, reminding them to review new BUIDL submissions, handle participant issues, and optimize the management process of the Hackathon.
5. Multi-Hackathon Management: Organize Multiple Hackathons Simultaneously
In the past, it was almost impossible for an organization to manage multiple Hackathons at the same time. The launch of BUIDL AI allows organizers to efficiently operate multiple Hackathons, and run Hackathons with multiple themes, greatly increasing the innovation frequency of the ecosystem.
The complete BUIDL AI Beta version will be released on April 15th. Currently, multiple BUIDL AI free features are already available on DoraHacks.io.
BUIDL AI: Driving the Golden Age of Global Open-Source Technology and Hackathon Communities
Hackathons are not only the arena for developers, but also the incubator for open-source technologies and innovative projects. The launch of BUIDL AI means that Hackathons will enter an unprecedented era of automation and intelligence, allowing more hackers, developers, and open-source organizations around the world to easily initiate and participate in Hackathons.
DoraHacks has always believed that the future of open innovation belongs to every Hacker, and BUIDL AI will become the strongest engine to drive this future.
BUIDL AI, empowering the next big explosion of the Hacker Movement!
