First ever Eucor Hackathon

Two days, eight teams, four winning projects

“A very enriching experience!” “An opportunity to meet students from other faculties.” “A climate of dialog.”
The above is what Wafaa, Anissa and Adrien have taken away from the two-day Eucor Hackathon, which took place between 17 and 19 November 2023 at the CIARUS youth hostel in Strasbourg.

Divided into eight working groups, around 50 students from the University of Strasbourg, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the University of Freiburg took on a special challenge: to prepare a cross-border project and a pitch in just 48 hours. The task was clear: Make a contribution to cross-border campus life and increase the sense of belonging to Eucor – The European Campus.

In the run-up to the event, the students were able to take part in online training courses and during the weekend they were accompanied by Théo Boucart (mobility officer for Eucor and EPICUR at the University of Strasbourg), Clément Maury (coordinator for European projects at AFPA Grand Est), Alexis Poupardin (project manager at the Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau) and Felicitas Proksch (mobility officer at KIT). The four of them were always on hand with good advice. With a wealth of project management expertise, they took on the role of coaches and supported the project development of their respective teams.

The warm atmosphere encouraged an interdisciplinary and intercultural exchange. Over the course of the two days spent together, the students from different disciplines and countries got to know each other in depth.

The teams' projects were extremely varied: from a trinational camping weekend in the Black Forest, to a trinational transcultural Olympics, a cross-border scavenger hunt, a trinational photo competition, a "Model of United Nations Eucor" simulation game, a seminar on interculturality, a competition on science popularisation and a Franco-German meeting on 3D printing.

The jury consisting of Bernd Finger, Deputy Director of Eucor – The European Campus, Frédéric Schmachtel, consultant at the Franco-German Youth Office, Anaïs Ortlieb, consultant for European cooperation at the Grand Est Region, Marton Krasznai, project manager for cross-border institutional cooperation at the Collectivité européenne d'Alsace and Daphnée Pinot, consultant for student life at the City and Eurometropolis of Strasbourg, were spoilt for choice. After two long hours of deliberation, the names of the winning projects were announced: “MUN Eucor by Eucor,”, “Eucor Lab 3D,” “Olympiades transculturelles” (transcultural Olympics) and "Vivre l'interculturalité / Interkulturalität erleben" (living interculturality).

For the four winning teams, the adventure is not over yet! Having received a project grant of €2000 and support from the Eucor team at the University of Strasbourg, they can now implement their project until June 30, 2024. So keep an eye out for the four new Eucor projects that will shape campus life!