#hackzurich: Zurich as a vibrant tech city

Anyone who knows Zurich's somewhat sedate startup can hardly believe their eyes this weekend: day and night, developers are coding apps, brainstorming about creative ideas and discussing business models.

At Europe's largest hackathon, the HackZurich, this weekend developers from all over the world come together to develop an idea in small groups over the course of a weekend and then immediately implement it in a prototype. Various large companies and startups provide interfaces so that their data can be worked with, but many of their own ideas are also implemented.

It is fascinating and inspiring to watch how focused the developers are when coding on an idea and working through two nights with practically no sleep. This hacker spirit is incredibly good for Zurich: HackZurich impressively shows that all you need is an idea and the will to implement it. There is no need to build castles in the air, nor do you need the most modern USM furniture in the office - a seat, WiFi, electricity and some food are enough. Creativity does not come from excess, but from consciously focusing on a problem and perhaps a portion of pain. It's not particularly good to sleep on the cold stone floor, but you continue to code earlier.

It's not surprising that the usual investors, who then don't invest, aren't there, but rather a diverse group of 500 hackers with a completely different mindset have come together: They want to identify a (customer) problem, solve it with an innovative approach and then build it straight away. After just 40 hours, a prototype is ready with which you can check whether the app developed solves a customer need and works.

The hackathon is a huge enrichment for Zurich. The team around Rasmus and Jonathan also did a great job at the second edition of HackZurich and is doing a lot to create a good startup scene in Zurich. May the hacker spirit remain in Zurich even after the event!