Just in the present EUvsvirus Hackathon, more than 1.700 projects have been submitted by over 8.000 participants. On the basis of the latest official data, the number of hackathons in the world in 2018 reached the peak number of 5.635, with around 325.000 people involved in developing 21.000 projects. A terrific set of data, an amazing and unique collective exercise for generating innovative ideas on behalf of human beings.

INSPIRATION

Out of the total 21.000 submitted project, only a limited number will be rewarded, and will therefore be able to benefit from proper visibility and funding. But what about all the other ones, mostly valuable as well? Would they be left to their own destiny? Most likely, yes. And this would not only be a pity in terms of time, efforts and synergies that were dedicated to the creation of such ideas, but would deprive society from having access to an additional range of potential solutions in every aspect tackled by a Hackathon. So, why not give them a second chance? And, most importantly, how to do so? These were the driving forces that led us to come up with a solution.

OUR GOAL

Our goal is to promote the best projects not ranked as final winners, giving them visibility and a further chance to draw public interest and raise funds. The objective is to enlarge the pool of funded projects in each hackathon, therefore acting both as an enabler of citizen participation into the funding process, and as an awareness-raising mechanism among a wider, non-hackathon related, community. Furthermore, the additional possibility of raising funds through a popular, open and democratic tool would promote a more long-lasting cooperation between teams that form during hackathons, and incentivize them to pursue the practical implementation of their idea. In the specific context of the EUvsvirus hackathon, the integration of the CrowdFundEU platform as a follow-up opportunity would open up to society the access to a number of excellent ideas. The aim of the joint effort of over 20.000 Europeans is indeed to source and work together towards solutions to a number of issues related to the current crisis. Attracting additional funding is key to make a significant difference in terms of viable solutions that can benefit everyone, and the “wisdom of the crowd” paradigm represents a crucial aspect in this sense.

THE SOLUTION

Our platform will display selected crowdfunding projects generated the Euvsvirus Hackthon and not ranked as final winners. By implementing our platform, a lot of beneficial initiatives will get higher visibility and support from the EU Citizens. An adequate financial support will allow these projects to become reality and multiply the number of potential solutions to diverse issues related to Covid-19, hence generating a positive social impact. In practical terms, the platform would offer non-winner projects the opportunity to attract funds by running a donation and/or reward crowdfunding campaign. The choice of these models is driven by the necessity of making the CrowdFund4EU platform operations and approachable as quick as possible, in line with the urgency of solutions in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. The own nature of donations and reward crowdfunding campaigns would, in fact, avoid the legal and bureaucratical procedures that financial platforms (equity and lending) must deal with, when trying to first launch their operations. Furthermore, the currently fragmented legal landscape for lending and equity crowdfunding in Europe would greatly restrict the fundraising possibilities for projects and investors to the Member state in which the platform has obtained a license, therefore making this mechanism less effective in the current situation. Finally, the financial nature of equity and lending might prove an obstacle for citizens in the current context, while donation and reward crowdfunding are more approachable both in terms of contribution levels (starting from 1 EUR) and in terms of relationship with the supported project (no expectation of financial return, but also absence of binding contracts that are typical when performing a lending or equity investment). With specific reference to the EUvsvirus hackathon, a quick survey run in 5 hours shows that out of #73 participants, 89% is confirming its interest for a crowdfunding solution, with funding needs that range from €1.000 up to € 300.000.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR CrowdFund4EU

This platform is designed with the aim to face and tackle any future issue that might occur within EU Countries, and will not be limited solely to the current Covid-19 emergency. It is a dynamic platform, capable to attract and aggregate all the future initiatives linked to a specific social theme and a Hackathon, and will therefore be able to become self-sustainable relatively soon.
As shown from the financial projections, initial investment and operating expenses will be limited, with a business model flexible enough to promote a large number of projects.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION

In order to select which of the non-winning project might be hosted on the CrowdFundEU platform, a crowdfunding readiness index will be designed and implemented by adopting the following criteria:

1. Social impact – public utility
2. Business plan
3. Technology (existing, new, enhancements)
4. Technical complexity
5. Time to market
6. Environmental impact
7. Prototype completion
8. € Funding required (low, medium, high).

KEY FEATURES

In order to be an effectively pan-European crowdfunding platform, CrowdFundEU will include the following features, which will allow it to adapt to a number of diverse contexts and needs:

1) Multilanguage platform with main languages (Italian, English, French, German, Spanish) 2) Each project displayed in 2 languages, English and local. 3) Access to reward and donation solutions 4) Secured payment method for donations (Mangopay/Lemon Way) 5) Sorting by country, sector and crowdfunding model (donation/reward) 6) Crowdfunding campaign performance status

ADVISORY BOARD

In order to ensure that the crowdfunding readiness index is properly adopted in assessing the potential projects to be hosted on the platform, an Advisory Board composed by the following professional figures will be put in place:

1) Consultancy firms 2) Business angels 3) National Stakeholder 4) Professionals 5) Business incubators

Our project is supported by Strategic Management Partners, an Italian major consulting firm, which will allow us to rely on a broad professional and institutional network.

BUSINESS PLAN

1) Required Capex is estimated to be €10.000,00 for developing a website, to be depreciated in 5 years period of time.

2) Revenues will be generated via two channels: Annual subscription flat fee €200,00 for each project. #100 projects estimated for FY2021, #150 projects planned for FY22,FY23,FY24. 5% commissions applied on donations and rewards cashed by the platform on behalf of Subscribers. Estimated amount of donations and rewards for FY2021 is €500.000; €750.000 planned for FY22,FY23,FY24.

3) Operating Expenses related to Software yearly maintenance (€ 2.000); Software 5 years depreciation (€ 2.000); Digital Marketing campaigns (€ 4.000 for the first 2 years, then € 2.000); 2 FTE for admin and communication (€ 50.000/year).

For more details and overview on the Business Plan, please go to: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sHJcNbxHO6kb-2IzMQcROsklA1I5YYSm/view

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