AmCham Hackathon 2025
AmCham Bulgaria Hackathon is a cross-functional social event initiated by the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria and in 2025 Edition it is organized in partnership with Technical University – Sofia, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and Faculty of Physics and Technology of the Plovdiv University “St. Paisiy Hilendarski”.
The project will get together teams of students from the three universities to work together for three weeks on real business cases provided by companies-members of AmCham.
- When: March 11 – April 6, 2025
- Where: Technical University Sofia and Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Faculty of Physics and Technology of the Plovdiv University “St. Paisiy Hilendarski”.
- What: Students from these universities can enroll in this Google Form from February 26 till March 9, 2025, if they would like to participate in the Hackathon. The participation is voluntary. Teams of students will be formed and assigned one business cases to work on during the hackathon. At the end of the Hackathon, teams will present the solution to their business case in front of a jury.
- Why: The hackathon provides a great opportunity for the students to work on real business cases and get mentored by experts from the business on a variety of topics, related to their studies. Students will be able to obtain knowledge, skills and experience about the area they would like to further develop. Students will be able to establish direct contact with different companies and explore opportunities for professional occupation.
Key Dates:
- March 11, 2025, 10:00: Official Opening (Technical University – Sofia, Center of Excellence)
- April 5, 2025, CoB: Final submission of the solutions of the business cases
- April 7, 8, 9, 2025: Presentations of the business cases in front of a jury – (Technical University Sofia, Center of Excellence)
- April 10, 2025, 15:00 – 17:00: Awarding and closing ceremony
Jury
Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Iya Petkova
Director of MBA Program (English) – Human Resources Development, Faculty of Economic and Business Administration, Sofia University,
Ass. Prof.
Mihail Zagorski, MScME, PhD
Faculty Coordinator for Student Engagement and Candidate Student Campaign, Faculty of Industrial Technology,
Technical University – Sofia
Ass. Prof. Ivan Bodurov,
Secretary General
Physics and Technology Faculty, Plovdiv University
“Paisiy Hilendarski”
Daniel Kiryakov, PMP
Communications &
Public Affairs Manager,
AmCham Bulgaria
Mentors
Dimitar Ivanov
Senior Product Manager,
Consumer Risk
Paysafe Bulgaria
Violeta Karanacheva-Tsvetanova
University Relations, Diversity & Learning Country Focal IBM Technology Lifecycle Services
University Mentors
Technical University – Sofia
Faculty of Computer Systems and Technologies
- Assoc. Prof. Varbinka Stoyanova, vvstoyanova@tu-sofia.bg
- Assoc. Prof. Ivan Stankov, istankov@tu-sofia.bg
Faculty of Telecommunications
- Assoc. Kameliya Nikolova, ksi@tu-sofia.bg
- Nikol Hristova, nicole.christoff@tu-sofia.bg
- Viktor Stoynov, vstoynov@tu-sofia.bg
- Dimitriya Mihaylova, dam@tu-sofia.bg
Faculty of Management
- Assoc. Prof. Dr. Balin Balinov, bbalinov@tu-sofia.bg
- Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mina Daskalova, minadaskalova@tu-sofia.bg
- Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yoana Pavlova, ypavlova@tu-sofia.bg
- Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nataliya Koleva, nkoleva@tu-sofia.bg/+359892231431
- Assoc. Prof. Dr. Borislav Nikolov, bnikolov@tu-sofia.bg/+359 892231427
- Vasil Kuzmanov, v.kuzmov@tu-sofia.bg
Faculty of Electronic Technics and Technologies
- Assoc. Prof. Dimitar Arnaudov, dda@tu-sofia.bg
Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski“
Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (FEBA)
- Assoc. Prof. Dr. Boryana Bogdanova, bpelova@feb.uni-sofia.bg, m: 0886305721
- Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ivan Angelov, ivanangel@feb.uni-sofia.bg, m: 0888048090
- Zhanet Naydenova, janet@feb.uni-sofia.bg m:0888616498
- Kiril Velichkov, kiril.velitchkov@gmail.com, kiril.velitchkov@feb.uni-sofia.bg
Plovdiv University “Paisiy Hilendarski”
Faculty of Physics and Technology
- Ass. Megi Dakova Ph.D., mdakova@uni-plovdiv.bg, +359 896 602 248 – coordinator
- Ass. Aleksandar Grigorov, aleksandar.grigorov@uni-plovdiv.bg
- Ass. Stefan Nikolov Ph.D., stnikolov@uni-plovdiv.bg
Business Cases
- Curtis – Creating Digital Twins for Smart Manufacturing & Maintenance
- IBM – Dream Team for Bot Craft – Innovate with AI
- Kamenitza – Create a system to optimize spare parts inventory
- Moto-Pfohe – Economic Assessment of the Chosen Vehicle – PHEV or BEV
- Paysafe – ESG-Linked Rewards in Mobile Payments
- Sensata Technologies – Develop a Digital Daily Management System (DDMS) to automate and streamline the flow of production data, focusing on data collection, storage, and visualization through a web app and Power BI reports.
- SofMedica –
Presentations and Documents
- Business Case Presentation Template: Download Here
- Evaluation Criteria: Download Here (+evaluation criteria and prizes)
- Opening Event Presentation: soon to be uploaded
- Presentations Schedule – not applicable yet
* Note that if a student attends either the teams presentations and the Awarding Ceremony, and the Opening event, their give their consent to be photographed for the purposes to promote, share the results and the achievements of the AmCham Bulgaria Hackathon 2025.
Evaluation Criteria and Awards
Evaluation Criteria
- Technical skills – Power BI, AI, Machine Learning
- Data analysis and visualization
- Strategic Thinking
- Project Management
- Teamwork
- Presentation skills
Awards
- BIG Winner
- Best Team
- Most Innovative Solution
* All participating companies have their right to award their respective teams.
University Contacts:
- Technical University – Sofia: alumni@tu-sofia.bg, +359 2 965 2203
- Sofia University, FEBA: o.ignatova@feb.uni-sofia.bg, +359 899 210 355
- Plovdiv University, FTF: mdakova@uni-plovdiv.bg, +359 896 602 248
Organizers
Participating Members
Media Partner
