Global Hackathon: Seoul has been cancelled amidst the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in Asia, a life-threatening virus that has already claimed lives. Global Hackathon was to be held in Seoul, South Korea on July 29th, 2015, and it was slated to be the greatest hackathon to date until things started to fall apart.
According to the cancellation notice (sent via e-mail), sponsors pulled out, plus the government of Seoul agreed that it was best to cancel the event. Hackathons are nothing without their sponsors, as most of them are funded almost exclusively by sponsorship. This news will surely be disappointing for the winners of MHacks and other hackathons, which were awarded a trip to Global Hackathon, as well as the organizers who spent months preparing for the event.
According to the e-mail:
‘These have been an exhausting few weeks for us, and as the situation failed to alleviate, we continued to lose precious time and resources. The media-induced panic and fear caused many sponsors to pull out, and concern – both on the participant side and the Seoul Metropolitan Government, our co-host – grew. Given the unforeseen difficulties, and responsibility to the wellbeing of our hackers, the Global Hackathon team and City of Seoul has decided it best to cancel the event.’
This is sad news, but there are many other hackathons taking place soon.
