Coronathon Turkey:
A Multi-Stakeholder and Sustainable Platform That Can Produce Global Output

Coronathon Turkey is one of the best examples of solidarity between civil society and other sectors as a supra-institutional initiative, bringing together more than 50 stakeholders within 48 hours to mediate to produce innovative solutions to the problems created by COVID-19. Spokesperson of Coronathon Turkey and faculty member of Boğaziçi University and Director of the Entrepreneurship Center of the same university Oğuzhan Aygören invites everyone to be a part of the solution and says: “If you are helpless, you are the help”.

As part of the struggle against COVID-19, we now experience examples of successful cooperations between various sectors and actors. In this context, we, as Civil Pages, aim to make the effect of solidarity more visible with the increase of such examples during the Corona days by including multi-stakeholder, innovative and new initiatives between civil society and other sectors.

What have you aimed with Coronathon Turkey which has emerged in a short time in order to combat COVID-19? What have you achieved? How do you summarize the outcome of this event concretely?

Coronathon Turkey has emerged from the search for how we can come up with creative and fast solutions as entrepreneurs using technology on the problems caused by COVID-19 and it has been brought to life very quickly. There are many known and necessary solutions for solving this problem. We wanted to focus on issues other than healthcare expertise that are social, psychological, economic and logistical problems. We are all at home and people are down, their health is under threat. All we know is that the world has transformed to distance education and distance work. Meanwhile, other needs arise. Even when the faucet in the house is broken, we can no longer call the plumber. But we also need to meet our needs. By focusing on all these problems that did not come to our mind at once, we asked how we can produce innovative solutions and so Coronathon Turkey has been founded.

Coronathon Turkey is actually an online hackathon. Hackathon is a combination of the words hack and marathon. In fact, technology companies routinely use this hackathon method throughout the year to seek quick and creative solutions. In 48 hours, an innovative idea is expected to come to life, at least as a prototype.

All we wanted to do initially was to act as soon as possible and mobilize people to find solutions. We thought that if many people work on solutions at the same time, then it would be possible to produce solutions that we never thought of, and even solutions for problems that we never thought of. Every day was important. So we took action without waiting for support from anyone. There’s a magic of taking action. This triggered other stakeholders and all of the support came after we took action. These supports include a cash promise of 130,000 TL made by different institutions, and more than 120 mentors’ online guidance to entrepreneurs and collaboration of various companies.

In addition, with the ownership of the Ministry of Industry and Technology, there are supports provided through Development Agencies and TUBITAK. Among them, the most exciting one for us had been the 600 thousand TL grant provided by TUBITAK. Because this was a support for Coronathon Turkey participants. The participants who took part in the first 60 projects can apply for this support through the Boğaziçi, METU and ITU Entrepreneurship Centers located in the center of Coronathon Turkey.

The biggest thing we achieved with this was to get people out of the psychology of despair with the slogan of “Be a part of the solution” and give people the courage and inspiration that they can do anything. In this way, we have created a great moral effect not only in the participants but also in the public. Many mentors and participants stated that Coronathon Turkey process have made them feel hopeful and that they not only have found joy in it but also continued to work with enthusiasm and perseverance. Its effects are still increasing. The European Commission has also seen this effect, inviting us to the organizing team in the consortium for the hackathon organized on April 24-26 where 24 countries are included. In essence, we have shown that very effective work can be done in a short time with Coronathon Turkey and that more than 50 stakeholders can come together and demonstrate this.

It is a unifying initiative that is multi-stakeholder, participatory, transparent, collaborative, fast which acts suprainstitutionally without a legal entity.

How would you describe Coronathon Turkey? Is it a multi-stakeholder innovative network or an innovative entrepreneur network based on social benefits?

We define Coronathon Turkey as a multi-stakeholder, participatory, transparent, collaborative, fast-acting, unifying initiative that operates above the institutions, without a legal personality. Many of our stakeholders argue that this creative and inspiring force, which is now emerging in Covid-19 should continue after this epidemic ends. For this reason, we want Coronathon Turkey to continue as a support mechanism that uses technology well and takes the creativity and enthusiasm of people out in order to respond promptly, effectively and urgently to crises. Because what we exactly need is this. Institutions such as the disaster emergency coordination team are presenting solutions to known problems with known methods, as should be done. They are very valuable and precious. On the other hand, everyone in our age has the opportunity to produce solutions. It is necessary to make good use of this resource.

Can you evaluate the applications in Turkey and the potential of Turkey by comparing with global examples in these kinds of innovative solution pursuits?

As Coronathon Turkey, we have become one of the fastest actors among the world. A similar hackathon was first created in Estonia under the name Hack-the-Crisis for a solution to Covid-19. Then, in a few days, we took action. With us, hackathons were held in Germany and Poland on the same weekend, and the number of these hackathons has reached 100 in the past three weeks. In addition, hackathons with wider participation and support from various countries are organized on a global and regional basis. In terms of technology, countries are not far ahead or behind each other in producing solutions. With a clear mind, courage, inspiration and discipline, anyone can produce world-class output. If we talk about the lesson we learned from the Coronathon Turkey experience, it is very important to act immediately without waiting for the perfect. Of course, it was very helpful that everyone in the team to be very qualified and try to work profoundly.

“Creativity Is The Solution We Need At Times of Uncertainty”

Should we see new types of innovative initiatives like Coronathon Bolu, The Globalhack or Designathon for Cure as a “trend”? Or are these new hybrid and permanent structures required by global problems?

Hackathons first appeared among technology companies only to speed up the development processes of software developers. However, today it is increasingly used in the business world to develop new ideas. When there emerged a globally threatening problem like COVID-19, it had a very good use for everyone to take part in this struggle. Creativity is actually a solution we need at the time of uncertainty. For now, hackathons are a trend, but I think that hackathons will continue as long as the uncertainties in the world continue after COVID-19. Because normally a few months of processes are completed within 2-3 days in an accelerated manner. Therefore, it is a very suitable method for this age when the biggest tool of learning is trial and error.

Civil society taught other sectors to be goal-oriented rather than being interest-oriented.

The slogan of Coronathon Turkey is: “Be a part of the solution”. In this context, how effective is civil society in Turkey on finding solutions to today’s global and urgent problems? Are there any activities and institutions you are working with in the civil field?

The role of non-governmental organizations in the realization of the Coronathon Turkey is huge. Structures such as Habitat Association, Turkey Informatics Foundation, Endeavor Turkey, Entrepreneurship Foundation, UNDP Turkey which are among out organization team taught us a lot. The first thing we’ve learned from them is being goal-oriented rather than being interest-oriented. Business world should also know about thse things. The concept of social benefit is now at the forefront in the world. The purpose of existence of companies can not only be profit. Concepts such as conscientious capitalism, social marketing, and sensitive and inclusive business administration began to be discussed in the business world. Therefore, I hope to see the unity of the civil society and the business world in the future, not only in social responsibility projects but also in a philosophical sense, and thus the business world to question the business purposes. There are many non-governmental organizations that I am in. Starting with the alumni associations of the schools I study, I have volunteered in many institutions and have worked for the benefit of the society. Boğaziçi University Entrepreneurship Center which I preside is also a non-governmental organization. We create our own resources and offer many services voluntarily.

To what extent are NGOs participating in innovative initiatives or in platforms in Turkey? With this aspect, how do you see the potential of civil society among both metropolitan cities and Anatolian cities?

I think NGOs are ahead of many established companies in terms of technology use and innovative thinking. I see this as the desire to make a big impact with limited resources. One of the most important components of innovative thinking are constraints. Constraints force people to think more creatively and originally. This means trying new things. On the other hand, it is not so easy to overcome some limitations of laws and legislation. For example, the issue of fundraising. We wanted to distribute the donations from our stakeholders, but we could not collect donations due to the processes of obtaining permission from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. We directed the supporters to give direct support to the initiatives we’ve selected. I still believe that solutions can be found even for such issues. There is a saying that I like very much: “If there is intention, there is a way.” So there is only one thing civil society needs to do, whether in Anatolia or metropolitan areas and it is to intend. It is said that there is a culture of donation in our country. But perhaps we need to review our donation methods. For this, NGOs that intend to solve this problem are required.

Does Coronathon Turkey have a sustainable and permanent structure? What are your plans?

We are working towards this right now. We’ve held meetings with our stakeholders in which we put serious efforts on this issue. Almost all of our stakeholders believe that Coronathon Turkey should continue its mission, and even want this mission to continue as a multi-stakeholder and collaborative structure that produces solutions for other crises after the problems created by COVID-19 end.

So, in response to the question “What does Coronathon Turkey do?”, we can say the following: Coronathon Turkey brings those seeking solutions and developers to the big and important problems that arise in areas such as health, economics and psychology together and ensures the ground to provide the necessary networks and mentoring support for the implementation of innovative ideas. Its activities include online hackathons, mentoring support, fundraising, access to accelerator programs, meeting NGO and public agency networks and creating collaborations.

To achieve this mission, we are now applying for Istanbul Development Agency funds to ensure Coronathon Turkey’s sustainability. We’ve invited all our stakeholders to this application. We are also researching foreign funding sources with the foreign collaborations we have established. Thus, we want to continue in a sustainable structure. Our representatives from associations and foundations show great support on this.

“Claim Your Right to Make Mistakes in Innovative Solutions”

What would you recommend to people, institutions and NGOs who have an idea or project to offer innovative solutions to problems? What methods should they follow?

Innovative solutions require taking risks. However, you determine the risk you will take. Many traditional organizations often see being innovative as all or nothing, and consequently see all innovations as a risk and stay away. However, good entrepreneurs are the ones who see the risks and minimize them. This reduces the cost of trial-error and making mistakes. It gives you the freedom to make mistakes. My biggest advice would be to protect your right to make mistakes. That’s how we started Coronathon Turkey. We did not set out with perfect and complete plans. Or we did not take action without knowing what we were doing. We’ve used our knowledge in a field that we do not know about with a team that uses digital tools well, but we knew that we would somehow get over it.

There is another fine saying in entrepreneurship: Think big, start small, act fast. Have big dreams but do not let this prevent you from stepping ahead. Because there is always a step to be taken for everything. Actually, NGOs are the best example of this. Civil society exists because it has problems with things that do not go right. This is how I see entrepreneurship. Good entrepreneurs also have a problem with that. Just like the artists. Like scientists. They are obsessed with something and are trying to solve it. NGOs have already fixated upon solving a problem. If they do not feel adequate about the innovative solution, they can work with a partner that would make them feel comfortable. Let them start small and grow with the momentum effect. The real change only happens this way. The changes that seemed to happen in a moment have a history that never appears. So there is no point in looking at other people’s solutions and getting upset. You do your best and go on.

Our greatest strength is to bring support and seekers together in a multi-stakeholder platform.

As Coronathon Turkey, on which subjects do you request support from other institutions? Or on which subjects can you support other organizations?

Our current focus is on reducing the negative effects of the COVID-19 outbreak and to contribute to the realization of the ideas that solve the problems caused by the epidemic. For this, we bring the idea owners and those who want to support, together. On the other hand, we have accumulated experience and knowledge in producing fast solutions to this problem with technology. In this regard, we hope to find solutions for concrete projects by cooperating with institutions that have powers on funding and access.

For example, we can pursue a quest focused on the survival of small businesses struggling to survive this crisis and mediate the realization of solutions for this by cooperating with a financial institution. Or, we can construct a mentoring mechanism to transform the business model of businesses by collaborating with an e-commerce company.

Our greatest strength now is being able to launch a multi-stakeholder platform where we can bring supporters and those seeking support, together. The support we request from other institutions is that they embrace Coronathon Turkey for it to be sustainable and contribute to the continuation and increase of this value we create.

“If You Are Helpless, You Are The Help”

Is there anything you would like to add?

The effect we’ve created with Coronathon Turkey went much further than we all thought. The biggest reason for this was the gathering of participants, collaborators, goal-oriented, good willing and entrepreneurial people and institutions together. Therefore, it is our greatest desire that this effect continues increasingly and that this solution-oriented cooperation would set an example to others. One of my favorite saying is this: “If you don’t care who gets the compliments, there is no limit to what you can do.” Our aim is to produce useful work. It is normal to have accidents when going fast. The main thing is to take lessons from mistakes and continue on the familiar path with good faith. For this, we invite everyone to be part of the solution and even to be the solution itself. If you are helpless, you are the help.