Our Encode Club x Polkadot programme's three-pronged approach includes an education series and curriculum, dedicated hackathons (virtual & in person), and a dedicated accelerator, as summarised here. The proposal was split across five funding tranches, each focused on different aspects of the programme as agreed in our initial proposal here. This report will summarise our progress on the Encode x Polkadot Educate Series and the Encode x Polkadot Hackathon, and request for the following items to be covered:

• funding for the first online hackathon prizes (£10k in DOT)
• funding for running the second online hackathon (£15k in DOT)
• funding for running the in-person hackathon (£60k in DOT) -> NOTE this will be happening 3 months earlier than planned, and we are therefore requesting the funding at this earlier stage
• funding for the in-person hackathon prizes (£10k in DOT)

With this funding request (totalling: £95k in DOT) we are calling the funding tranches proposed for April 2023 (£25k) and July 2023 (£70k) from the initial proposal as we are delivering the online hackathon (April tranche) as well as the in-person hackathon which note has been moved to earlier than planned (originally planned for July tranche).

Summary of our progress

The Encode x Polkadot Educate Series

The Encode x Polkadot Educate Series was a resounding success. The eight-part series saw a wealth of knowledge and insights from leading sponsors such as Acala, Subsocial, Astar, Polka Haus, Parity, Phala, Subsquid, and Web3Foundation, enabling our 1214 participants to delve deep into the Polkadot ecosystem!

The series covered a broad range of topics, from introductory sessions on Polkadot and Substrate to more advanced workshops on ink! and Swanky for building Wasm smart contracts.

The highlights of the series included:

• Intro to Polkadot (14th March): An engaging event aimed at providing participants with a solid understanding of the Polkadot ecosystem.

• Technical Deepdive into Polkadot (16th March): An in-depth exploration of the technical aspects of the Polkadot ecosystem.

• Intro to Substrate & Acala Case Study (21st March): A detailed case study of Acala, providing insights into the real-world implementation of the Substrate framework.

• Intro to ink! & Swanky: Building Wasm smart contracts on Polkadot (23rd March): An informative session focusing on ink! and Swanky, tools for creating Wasm smart contracts on Polkadot.

• How to use ink! and Swanky in Phat contracts (28th March): This session guided participants on building Wasm smart contracts using ink! and Swanky.

• How to combine Substrate and EVM indexing (30th March): A deep-dive into the process of integrating Substrate and EVM indexing within the Polkadot ecosystem.

• Ecosystem and governance (4th April): A comprehensive overview of the Polkadot ecosystem and its unique governance model.

• Web3 Social Media: Today, And The Future Ahead (6th April): An enlightening discussion on the current state and future potential of social media in the web3 space.

The series concluded on the 6th of April, setting the stage for the Encode x Polkadot Hackathon (Apr-May).

The Encode x Polkadot Hackathon

With the Educate Series complete, the stage was set for the Encode x Polkadot Hackathon. The hackathon, which kicked off on the 11th of April, was a 4-week online event dedicated to building on Polkadot.

Throughout the hackathon, participants benefited from 1–1 mentoring sessions and several technical workshops, all designed to further educate and engage developers in the Polkadot ecosystem. The hackathon was a continuation of the earlier efforts in 2021 when Encode Club collaborated with Polkadot to host an equally successful Educate series, a University Hackathon, and an Accelerator.

Our 350 hackathon participants had a four-week period to build and submit their projects for judging. This period was not just about project development, but also about learning, networking, and participating in several events related to the hackathon.

The following partners were involved in setting challenges and prizes for the hackers!
Acala
Zeitgeist
Subsocial
Interlay
Astar
Subsquid
Bifrost
Ajuna

Hackathon Events

• Launch event: An exciting event marking the beginning of the hackathon, providing participants with necessary guidelines and inspiration for the upcoming weeks.

• Technical Workshops: A series of technical workshops were conducted throughout the hackathon, focusing on diverse topics related to the Polkadot ecosystem.

  • Acala (Apr 12th): Develop Acala EVM with Chopsticks
  • Astar (Apr 13th): A Deep Dive into ink! And the Astar Ecosystem
  • Subsquid (Apr 14th): Squid Development Deep Dive: Let's Conquer the Giant Squid
  • Zeitgeist (Apr 17th): Market Creation and Liquidity on Zeitgeist
  • Subsocial (Apr 18th): Creating Decentralized Social Experiences: Learn Subsocial and Grill Chat
  • Interlay (Apr 20th): Building Web3 on Bitcoin with Interlay
  • Bifrost (Apr 20th): Building LSD use cases on Bifrost
  • Ajuna (May 1st): "New Technologies have never stopped creativity. So don't let the blockchain limit you" - An Introduction to Gaming on Polkadot

• Mentorship Sessions: 1–1 mentoring sessions were organized throughout the hackathon, providing participants with the opportunity to get expert advice and guidance on their projects.

Conclusion

The Encode x Polkadot Hackathon was not just a competition, but a platform for learning, collaboration, and innovation. The efforts and enthusiasm shown by all participants and the quality of the projects submitted were a testament to the success of the Hackathon and the potential of the Polkadot ecosystem. We significantly overachieved our success metrics with the number of attendees for both the educate and hackathon programmes!