Cyclehack BXL collects ideas for a cycling city

From 24 to 26 June 2016 the second edition of Cyclehack BXL was held, a hackathon dedicated to finding ways of breaking down barriers to bike use in cities. One of the ideas proposed on this occasion received the prize for the Best Digital Solution by contributing to the smart city.

A mobile application that motivates you to ride a bike by rewarding you for your cycling journeys: this is the Cent02 project, thought up by Bram Oers and Roos Lowette, two participants in the recent Cyclehack BXL hackathon and rewarded with the prize for the Best Digital Solution, sponsored by the Brussels Secretary of State for the Digital Transition, Bianca Debaets. The Cent02 application tracks you while you ride and calculates in real time the time and money that you - and society  - thus save as compared to the same journey by car.

35 cities in the world, including Brussels

Do not (yet) look for Cent02 in your favourite app store… In fact, it is simply one of the proposals which came out of the Cyclehack BXL 2016, the Brussels contribution to the worldwide brainstorming session organised by the Cyclehack movement. Launched in 2014, in Glasgow, the purpose of this initiative of cyclist-citizens is to make using bicycles in the city easier, in particular by organising idea marathons or hackathons. Some 35 cities have since joined the movement, including Brussels in 2015.