The first European big data hackathon, organised by the European Commission (Eurostat), took place from 13 to 15 March in Brussels. Over two days, 22 teams from 21 countries faced the challenge of using big data to offer policy evidence and solutions to improve the match between skills and jobs.

Cedefop’s big data from online vacancies, together with the EURES database and other Eurostat sources, were offered to the hackers as starting point.

Teams of three were proposed by the National Statistical Institutes and included members of the national data science community, staff of the statistical office or a partnership of both. They presented solutions that were assessed for policy relevance, methodological soundness, user-friendliness, innovativeness and replicability. The winners were Croatia, France and Estonia.

Cedefop’s Head of Department for Skills and Labour Market Pascaline Descy was a member of the evaluation panel that assessed the solutions developed.

The teams’ presentations of their prototypes, together with the winners’ announcement, are available to watch here.