Veon Group Holds its Third Global Hackathon for Employees

Five Beeline employees from Georgia are participating in the Veon Group global hackathon in Amsterdam. The main prize of the competition is a trip to Seoul, South Korea.

For the third year in a row, international group Veon, a telecommunications and internet service provider presented as ‘Beeline’ in Georgia, has been running an innovative competition DIGITHON for its employees from the 10 countries where Veon is represented.

DIGITHON derives from two words: "digi" from the word digital and "thon" from the word Hackathon. DIGITHON serves to create or improve already existing digital products and services. At the first stage, a local competition is held in all ten countries of Veon. The first team/winner from each country then heads to the group's global headquarters in Amsterdam for the DIGITHON.

Team building starts before arriving in Amsterdam and unlike the local competition, it already brings together not only different departments, but also representatives of different countries and cultures. Upon arriving in Amsterdam, the 10 participating teams work on a product idea and prototype for the first 24 hours and the next day must present the results.

This year, the participants are working on the creation of innovative digital services and products that rely on the new 5G technology. That's why the award for the first-place team is a trip to Seoul where, amidst the Southeast Asian innovation, 5G is most alive. The winning team is also given the opportunity to take part in organizing the next year's DIGITHON event.

In addition to DIGITHON being a great motivation for employees, Veon member companies have successfully used this platform to solve the most exciting challenges. DIGITHON's idea is to encourage innovation, creative thinking and collaboration that enables companies to foster an entrepreneurial spirit.

By Mariam Merabishvili