The teams Guide Stop and Organized Cleanliness shared the first place in BTA's hackathon on Artificial Intelligence and Smart Cities in Gabrovo on Wednesday. The competition was organized within the framework of BTA's Europe on Balkans: Cohesion Skills project.
The task of the hackathon was to develop an innovative ecological solution to improve the management of a key system in Gabrovo. The participants from six teams had 45 minutes to formulate the idea and present it to the jury. The criteria by which the projects were evaluated were applicability of the idea, innovation, impact, social acceptability and originality of presentation.
The event was attended by BTA Director General Kiril Valchev, Gabrovo Mayor Tanya Hristova and Gabrovo Technical University Rector Prof Iliya Zhelezarov, as well as business representatives, representatives of the academic community, students and guests.
Zhelezarov thanked BTA for organising the hackaton at the Gabrovo Technical University and emphasised that it is a good opportunity for the development of the university, the town of Gabrovo, Bulgaria and the Balkans. He pointed out that Europe is in the Balkans and that the university is the place where people forge knowledge.
Valchev noted that the project has two main goals, the first being to show both the contribution of the European Union to the development of Bulgaria and the other Balkan countries under various programmes, and the contribution of Bulgarians and other peoples to the European Union. "In the individual cities where we hold conferences and hackathons, we are looking for our specific contribution to the entire European community", he said.
The second important aim of the hackaton is to show that Bulgaria is the European Union, Bulgaria is Europe, Valchev stressed, adding that young people do not need to move to the other end of Europe to realize an idea, as it is absolutely possible to realize their ideas in Bulgaria.
Hristova pointed out that through the competition students will understand what it is to have the self-confidence to be part of Europe and to have the opportunity to live best and be highly competitive. She noted that everyone should try to feel whether the people of Gabrovo succeed not only in asking Europe to give, but also in trying to make the people of Gabrovo, of Bulgaria, give good ideas and make life better, so that ideas and problems can turn into opportunities.
Natalia Ilieva from the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy was part of the jury. She presented the professions threatened with extinction and new jobs created by the development of AI. “The introduction of AI inevitably introduces changes in the structure of the labor market. It is wrong to believe that its introduction will affect only those groups with lower education and qualifications. On the contrary, studies believe that highly educated people with high specialization will be most affected", she stressed. Currently, nearly BGN 400 million have been allocated for retraining and acquiring new skills in Bulgaria, with over 160,000 people in the country expected to be included in training, she said.
Iliana Georgieva, Head of the Projects Department at BTA, noted that the news agency has been implementing a project with the support of the European Commission for the third consecutive year to promote cohesion policy. "This year, our focus is on the knowledge necessary for the new reality offered by digitalization and the green transition.
/MY/
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