Council calls for people to take part in 46 hour ‘Hackathon’

Published on 21 July 2017

Rockhampton is set to take on the GovHack challenge once again this year when the annual ‘open data’ competition kicks off across Australia and New Zealand next week.

The GovHack event draws people together to use government data to develop an innovative solution or product that could benefit the community, all within a short timeframe of 46 hours.

Rockhampton Region Mayor Margaret Strelow said Council is once again a proud sponsor of the event and is encouraging anyone in the community with creative flair and unique ideas to be a part of the competition.

“This is a very unique and exciting challenge in that it can potentially lead to a new start-up or commercially marketable product as a result of being innovative with public data,” Mayor Strelow said.

“In the 12 months gone by since we last hosted the event technology has changed and demands have changed, so to have a strong team that can develop a unique concept we need people from diverse backgrounds.”

The competition commences on Friday 28th of July when the categories are announced. Teams are then given 46 hours to create a proof of concept and a video that tells the story of how the data can be reused.

Startup Capricorn will facilitate the Rockhampton ‘Hackathon’ and Event Coordinator, Scott Thomas, is reaffirming that the event is not just for programmers or ‘IT geeks’.

“GovHack is not just for programmers or IT people, in fact, it would never be able to reach its potential if it was,” Mr Thomas said.

“GovHack is concerned with real world opportunities and issues that cover and traverse many different professional and social boundaries. Therefore, we need  people from all backgrounds including accountants, GIS specialists, media savvy operators, town and community planners, social service professionals, real estate gurus, tradespeople.

“The challenges are many and varied and all aimed at making a difference in an Australian context within the Australian community.”

 GovHack 2017 will be held at 212 Quay Street Rockhampton on Friday July 28 to Sunday July 30.

 To register visit:  https://govhack.formstack.com/forms/register-redirect/