What do you get when you put the great minds of over 80 enthusiastic hackers to the task of solving a problem for charity – a great solution!
This year’s Girls In Tech Hackathon went off with a bang that could be comparable to the ‘Big Bang’. Over the course of two days, women-led teams were put to the challenge of solving real problems for Australian charities. By combining the brain power from different sectors of the tech industry teams developed a ready-to-launch prototype that was pitched to a crowd on the final day.
Dinushi Dias from StartupSmart was there to check out the action.
And the winner was…
The teams were judged on how they responded to the problem statement, quality of their prototype or solution, how innovative or unique the idea was and how easy it would be for the charity to launch and continue to support the idea.
Judges had a hard time picking between kick-arse ideas such as an app designed for mAdapt, which provides refugees with information concerning their reproductive health or an interactive online peer support forum designed for youth mental health charity Headspace.
But despite some truly great entrants, the winner on the day was Missing Persons Advocacy Network. The team working for MPAN pitched a ready-to-go prototype that allows friends and families to create their own missing person campaign with features allowing them to collect donations, create social media content, and design printable posters and flyers. MPAN was awarded $2000 to assist them in rolling out the feature immediately.
Looking to the Future
Melbourne marks the first of many Hacking For Humanity Hackathons with Girls In Tech due to roll-out more events in their locations around the world.
If you are keen to get in on the action and flex your girl power, Girls In Tech are constantly holding fun events and meetups. Keep an eye on the events section of their website and be sure to like them on Facebook.