Michal Sela Safe@Home Hackathon 2022

Michal Herzog, Israel’s First Lady, opened the President’s Residence in Jerusalem to host the third annual Michal Sela Safe@Home Hackathon on May 25, 2022. Developed and produced by the Michal Sela Forum and Google, this is Israel’s only entrepreneurial competition designed to develop technologies to save the lives of women caught in intimate partner violence.

A total of 82 different technological ideas were developed by 82 teams, composed of 296 individual entrepreneurs and hi-tech professionals. Twenty-seven of these teams were headed by women who participated in the Michal Sela Forum and Google’s “Nothing About Us Without Us” ideation workshops for those who have survived abusive relationships. These women were accompanied by 120 members of the IDF’s elite technological unit.

Of these 82 teams, seven were chosen to participate in the final stage, and the top three won the competition. Judges at the finale, pictured here with the top three winners, included Justice Minister Gideon Saar; Minister of Public Security, Omer Bar-Lev; Minister of Economy and Industry, Orna Barbivai; Chairwoman of the Committee for the Advancement of Women and Gender Equality and Member of Knesset, Aida Touma-Suleiman; Google Israel Managing Director, Barak Regev; Senior Vice President Ministry of Welfare and Social Security, Iris Florentine; CEO Discount Bank, Uri Levin; and CEO of Meta Israel, Adi Soffer Teeni.

"We are honored to host this important enterprise...I congratulate the entrepreneurs who participated in the Hackathon, and of course the winners, and wish them great success." President Isaac Herzog.

"The difficult incident, in which Michal's life was brutally taken from her, remains engraved in the public consciousness. Michal's murder - and other murders of women by their spouses, - constitute a warning sign for all of us.” Minister of Public Security, Omer Bar-Lev

"I did not know the late Michal Sela, but the light that Michal spread in her life illuminates the extensive work to eradicate violence against women. The goal of zero murders will be made possible through the vision of cooperation from all sectors and the development of life-saving technologies." Minister of Economy and Industry, Orna Barbivai

“I want to stress that what you have created here is not just another non-profit. This is not just another organization. This is a movement.” Adi Sofer Te’eni, CEO Meta Israel

Michal Sela Safe@Home Hackathon 2022

The top three teams won cash prizes to be used towards developing their apps, in addition to a year’s worth of legal counsel and courses at the Open University.

The top ten teams will be participating in the Michal Sela Startup Academy, a three-month professional mentorship program in cooperation with Google for Startups.

First place winner: The Butterfly. Developed by Peri Shalom and Nathanial Amar.

The Butterfly is a feature that can be easily installed on any application and website, enabling each site to serve as a potential source of reporting related to domestic violence.

The Butterfly is already embedded in mobile apps and as soon as the butterfly icon is selected, a live chat is opened for the user.

The Butterfly is able to receive inquiries related to domestic violence and redirect them to the relevant parties in the same country from which the call came.

In addition, the Butterfly knows how to recognize the user's language and changes its display accordingly. The inquiring party is able to maintain anonymity.

Shalom and Amar envision the Butterfly embedded in all popular apps and sites.

Second place: Voice of You. Developed by Roi Eden

Voice of You is based on a wide-range sound detector, for which the user defines specific code words. Speaking the code words triggers an immediate and loud alert on (pre-defined and pre-installed) acquaintance’s phones in order to summon forces in real time.

For example, a neighbor could be alerted to enter the house in order to stop the incident, while simultaneously a relative or friend will be alerted to call the police.

Voice of You is a disguised app, in order to prevent the violent party from finding it.

Third place: Viosense. Developed by Yotam Salamon

Viosense is designed to prevent the next case of violence - even before the first date. The app analyzes calls in instant messaging apps and on the phone, and identifies violent and dangerous patterns.

In addition, it builds a completely anonymous database. Thus, in conversations with people with problematic backgrounds (ie those who have received many complaints), the app will be able to alert you. The app uses NLP technologies to analyze the messages from whatsapp, and encryption methods to store everything in a completely secure way.

In case of emergency, the app will also notify a pre-selected emergency contact, allow anonymous chat with another person who has been in similar conversations with the same person in the past, and in extreme cases also report to authorities, all while maintaining the privacy of all parties in the system.