Opinry has scooped first prize in the 2021 European Graphics Arts Hackathon, beating over 100 other participants from more than 16 teams from markets including Benelux, Germany, Scandinavia, Estonia and the US. The Hackathon was organised by VIGC (Flemish Innovation Center for Graphic Communications) and took place over two days in late October before the VIGC annual Congress.
Opinry’s winning project provides a platform where brand owners can analyse their current packaging design and optimize it depending on their target audience. The six-strong team from Belgium was led by entrepreneur and Opinry founder Julie Dumoulin, an alumna of Ghent University and Vlerick Business School, and included Ian Jakubek, Henry Layman, Dries Maerten, Frederic Vandelanotte, Merke Luuk and Brian Caro. As a part of their prize, the team had the opportunity to present the project at the VIGC Congress on 9 November.
“Opinry impressed the panel of international judges with their solution to the need of businesses to often make fast design decisions without the benefit of another opinion,” explained VIGC managing director, Jos Steutelings. “Their project plugs a gap in the market by providing an option that combines data-driven design with creativity.”
The Hackathon aims to push the boundaries and challenge creative entrepreneurs to showcase new techniques, services and business models to serve the graphic sector. It was supported by EY and the Flemish Industry Partnership Agoria-Sirris-Vlaio once again and also partnered with Intergraf, the European umbrella organization of national sector federations, alongside several individual European sector federations including Denmark, Estonia and the Netherlands.
Second prize was grabbed by Shiprz, by Imprimu with their solution offering free shipping options for end-use ecommerce customers while providing brands with a lower cost of acquisition. The project offered a full-service solution with color transpromotional labels for fulfilment sponsored by brands. The four team members were Miki Rubin, Wouter Meeuwisse, Sebastian Bedoya, Jonal Chacon and Demostenes Perez.
In third place was Scan the Profile, a Cloud service to extract the unknown color profile from a spectral scan of the printed sample. The project recognized that folding carton and label converters often receive orders from their brand customers where the destination color profile is missing. By re-engineering the print conditions from a printed sample, it was able to exactly match it. The team comprised Jan de Roeck, Mike Weber, Rian Goosemans and Dries Vandenbussche.
During the Hackathon, a series of virtual plenary meetings and small, ad hoc consultations allowed participants to work together in refining their projects. A group of experts from different backgrounds was on hand throughout to get involved with the teams and shed light on the proposals. The session also featured training workshops on topics including professional pitching and the development of a business model. As with the inaugural 2020 event, this second edition was also set up virtually, allowing people to join from around the globe.
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