In a digitally networked world in which personal data is constantly being collected, we face major challenges in terms of transparency and fairness. While growing digitalization offers immense opportunities for more efficient and sustainable living spaces, the potential of connecting smart homes and smart cities often remains untapped. Citizens are often unclear about the use of their data and do not benefit appropriately from the business models based on this data. As a result, trust in digital platforms is increasingly eroding due to data protection breaches and the exploitation of dominant market positions.

The Dortmund Hackathon 2025 addresses this issue and aims to develop innovative solutions that are not only technologically advanced but also ethically responsible. We are building on swarm knowledge and want to work on smart solutions together with business, science and civil society. That's why we're inviting developers, creatives, innovators and data experts to the Opt-IN Hackathon in Dortmund - the event that will shape the smart home and smart city ecosystem of the future!

The hackathon is your chance to dive deep into the topics of data protection, digital self-determination and smart city development. You will not only put your technical knowledge and creativity to the test, but also make valuable contacts with experts from industry and science and expand your network. In interdisciplinary teams, you will work on real challenges and develop solutions that can have a real impact.

Spend a part of your weekend in one of the most exciting cities in the Ruhr region and work in interdisciplinary teams. We are looking for IT nerds as well as designers - whether students, citizens or professionals. The aim is to involve a broad and diverse group of people in the discourse and to break new ground together. Therefore, the hackathon will be held mainly in English to give international participants the opportunity to actively participate.

As part of the project "Optimizing informational sustainability for citizens in data ecosystems" (Opt-IN), our research team is working on developing a data protection-compliant ecosystem. This should enable citizens to actively exercise their fundamental right to informational self-determination. The project team is investigating practical use cases in the context of smart homes and smart cities. Based on the latest technologies, we are developing initial business applications, integrating additional hardware components and designing a best-practice toolkit for platform services. The three-year project is a joint research project between the Technical University of Dortmund, the start-up VREEDA GmbH, PARAX, fior Home, the IT company logarithmo GmbH & Co. KG, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering (ISST). As an interdisciplinary research team, we attach great importance to combining our expertise and experience in the fields of innovation, digitalization, data protection and IoT solutions to develop intelligent solutions for smart home and smart city environments. Find out more about the project partners on our Opt-IN website.

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