HackChain17

Glasgow, 6-8 October 2017


Scotland’s 1st blockchain hackathon, brought to you by Legal Hackers Scotland and Girl Geek Scotland in partnership with ScotChain17

Join the conversation: #HackChain17

Register

Event Rules + FAQ


What is a hackathon?

In a nutshell, a hackathon is a pop-up innovation lab. Teams comprising participants from diverse technical and non technical backgrounds collaborate, typically across 24 or 48 hours, to prototype and demo solutions to the challenges set.

Hackathons are a lot of fun and a great way to flex your creative muscles, learn new skills, make new friends and grow your professional network in a supportive environment. Companies recognise that hackathons attract top talent. In taking part, you have the opportunity to showcase your talent to influential people, which could lead to exciting new opportunities.

Isn’t hacking illegal?

Not this kind! However, participants should be mindful of the intellectual property rights of others and should not infringe those or any other rights protected by law.

Am I eligible?

Participants must be aged 18 years or over.

Do I have to be a developer (programmer) to participate?

No. There will be developers in the teams, however, the more diverse the team composition, the better.

Do I have to sign up as part of a team?

You can register either as a team or individually and we will be happy to help you find a great team to join.

Do I have to use any particular blockchain?

No, you are free to use any you wish. Think carefully about the properties of each one, and what will work best.

What are the team sizes?

You may compete in a team of a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 6 participants. We may increase or decrease the team sizes at our sole discretion to ensure all participants can partake in the hackathon and to foster skill set diversity within the teams.

Who owns the intellectual property (IP) in my team’s submission to the hackathon?

Unless a team agrees otherwise, the IP in a team’s submission remains the intellectual property of that team. Teams may wish to agree that their submission is Open Source or Creative Commons licensed and is therefore not subject to the proprietary rights of the team members, either individually or collectively.

A team’s submission must not contain any content that violates any law or any third party’s rights (including privacy and intellectual property rights) or contain, depict or refer to content which violates a common sense of decency.

For teams interested in entrepreneurial ventures beyond the hackathon involving solutions they created during it, we would encourage those teams to have a discussion about the ownership of any IP.

What should I bring?

Essential items:

Recommended items:

Does the venue have WiFi?

Yes, however, a backup is always useful. If you are a student or member of staff at a university, you can use eduroam (click for info). Otherwise, use the WiFi Guest network (click for info).

Will there be catering?

We are aiming to provide some food and drinks at the hackathon, however, you may wish to bring your own. Cooking facilities are not available at the venue. If you suffer from food allergies/ intolerances or have specific dietary requirements, as there is no guarantee that any catering provided will accommodate all such requirements, we would encourage you to bring your own snacks and/ or drinks.

If you do suffer from a food allergy or food intolerance which may cause an allergic response, please notify a member of the organisational team in advance of the hackathon.

Is there judging criteria?

Yes. Click here for judging criteria.

How are prizes allocated?

All prize details will be determined by us in our sole discretion. Where a prize is offered, we reserve the right to substitute a similar prize (or prize element) of comparable or greater value.

The winners shall be selected by a judging panel of industry experts. Judges’ decisions are final and not subject to appeal. The composition of the judging panel is subject to alteration at our discretion.  A judge may elect to recuse him or herself from evaluating a submission, or we may require a judge to recuse him or herself from evaluating a submission, if, in the judge’s or our discretion, it would not be appropriate for the judge to evaluate a submission because of a past or current relationship with a participant. Recusal decisions are final and not subject to appeal.

Team presentation time limits may be shortened or lengthened depending on the number of teams. We shall determine the running order of presentations.

To be eligible for a share in a prize, a winning team member must have participated in all hackathon activities, unless agreed otherwise by the team members and complied with these Event Rules, Code of Conduct and any other terms and conditions and any revisions thereof, governing participation. There are numerous free tools available to accommodate remote collaboration such as task planning tools like Trello, source code sharing and review tools like GitHub, GitLab or BitBucket, and remote team communication or screen sharing tools like Skype, Slack, Jitsi or Appear.in. In the spirit of inclusive hacking, you may wish to consider using some of these tools to accommodate requests for remote collaboration from team members. Please ensure you read the terms and conditions of use for such tools before proceeding. We assume no responsibility for any loss or damage to your property or that of others relating to or resulting from downloading materials or software in connection with the hackathon.

Winning teams are responsible for allocating prizes among team members. Cash prizes shall be distributed evenly between team members, unless agreed otherwise by the team. All taxes and other expenses, costs, or fees associated with the acceptance and/ or use of any prize are the sole responsibility of the winners.

In the event members of a winning team are unable to reach agreement on the distribution of any prize within 48 hours of being notified of their winning status (which period may be extended at our sole discretion), we and/ or the judging panel shall determine the distribution, which determination is final and not subject to appeal.

Is there a Code of Conduct?

Yes. Please ensure you familiarise yourself with the Code of Conduct prior to the start of the hackathon. You and/ or your entire team may be disqualified and asked to leave the premises for any of the following actions, with or without warning, at our sole discretion:
(i) non-compliance with these Event Rules, Code of Conduct or any other agreement entered into in connection with the hackathon; or
(ii) violating the spirit of the hackathon or acting inappropriately in any way. All disqualification decisions are final and not subject to appeal.

We reserve the right to modify, cancel or suspend the hackathon or any element of it, with or without notice in any manner and for any reason, and we are not responsible for any loss or inconvenience which may result.

Copyright 2017 Legal Hackers Scotland. All Rights Reserved.