JemsThe city of Zadar, together with project partners the University of Zadar, INTERA Technology Park Mostar, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center Tehnopolis from Nikšić and BIT Center Tuzla organized the 7th hackathon “My Smart City 2025”, which took place from December 2 to 3, 2025 in the Providur’s Palace in Zadar.
This year’s hackathon “My Smart City 2025”, intended for high school students and students, gathered as many as 15 teams from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, and was organized as part of the CODES project, with the aim of strengthening the IT sector in the cross-border area
On the first day of the hackathon, the mentors presented this year’s theme “Digital Innovation and Smart Entrepreneurship” to the teams, which encourages innovation, collaboration and technological progress, and the entrepreneurial skills of young people, on the basis of which the teams developed their ideas and solutions. Also, during the first day, the teams had the opportunity to listen to interesting lectures from the mentors on the given topic.
During the second day, the teams presented their developed solutions to an expert jury consisting of renowned Zadar IT experts Lovro Valčić, Igor Lončar and Josip Kalebić. After the presentations, the jury, in accordance with pre-determined criteria, selected the highest quality solutions that won awards.
First place was won by the Dabrovi team from the Vladimir Nazor Gymnasium in Zadar with the SimBEEoz project. It is an innovative application and development of a “smart beehive” intended for monitoring the condition of bee colonies, improving the development of beekeeping and preserving bees as key natural pollinators. The project is designed so that it can be applied in urban and local environments.
Second place was won by the PT team from the Zadar School of Natural Sciences and Graphics with the SkillBridge project, which represents a platform for education and professional guidance of young people through learning about finances and self-promotion, with recommendations for continuing their studies or careers.
Third place was won by the WINX team from the Vice Vlatković Vocational School in Zadar with the GRAD+ project, which represents a platform for entering, monitoring and solving current problems of the local community while validating proposals using artificial intelligence.
The teams that participated in the hackathon again this year showed an enviable variety of knowledge, creativity and innovation from which quality ideas were born. The hackathon concept is an excellent way to encourage young people to think creatively and develop new innovative solutions with the aim of improving the quality of life in local communities.
The hackathon was organized as part of the project “Cooperation for Development of Cross Border Business Environment Strengthened – CODES”, which is co-financed by the European Union through the Interreg VI-A IPA Program Croatia – Bosnia and Herzegovina – Montenegro 2021 – 2027.
