GovHack is Australasia’s largest Open Government and Open Data hackathon, attracting in excess of 2000 participants each year.
In 2015, GovHack New Zealand took place for the first time, and was a great success on many levels. We received over 400 registrations in total and had 7 venues throughout the North and South islands. Our teams took out some of the international prizes, with one NZ team winning the prize for the best hack, as voted by all participants.
This year, nine NZ cities have signed up, including Queenstown!
The first Queenstown GovHack will run from the evening of Friday 29th July until the afternoon of Sunday 31st July 2016.
What is GovHack about?
The event’s aim is to create working prototypes and mashups with government data to find new ways to solve some of the challenges facing local, regional and national government and our communities. It is a new way of civic participation.
Teams bring their own laptops and compete over 46 hours to explore, ideate and communicate concepts in a friendly and creative environment. At the end of the weekend, each team submits a video, team page, and their code for judging.
Prizes will be up for grab from national sponsors. Prize categories, as well as bounties, are announced at the opening of the competition. This is to ensure that all teams have the same amount of time to work on their hack.
Who is GovHack for?
GovHack is for everyone! All sorts of people join, bringing together teams of coders, observers, tinkerers, entrepreneurs, developers, academics, data analysts, engineers, designers, storytellers, researchers, artists, young and old from the private or public sectors … and simply civic enthusiasts!
The best teams have a mix of skills to help contribute to all the competition elements including skills to storyboarding ideas, build prototypes and create a video pitch of your winning idea. There will be mentors with technical skills to help out those teams that need it.
Previous years entries across Australia and New Zealand have included a digital sign, a board game, historic film pieces, a virtual reality game, a 3D model, a visualisation of data, an informed article and of course some amazing web apps!
We only limit you to your imagination.
The event creates a supportive environment for the public sector to collaborate with entrepreneurs for great outcomes. This can be through sponsorship, or the release of open Government data.
The projects developed during GovHack are open source during and after the event. Government agencies and the private sector are encouraged to engage with innovative competition entries to take them forward after the weekend.
This as an exciting opportunity for any organisation to engage with a huge range of talented, passionate people around the country, and to show leadership in its sector and beyond.
Join us!
Participation is free. So BYO laptop, developer tools and ideas to create to your heart’s content! Pick an issue, ask your friends or colleagues, and register at http://govhack.org.nz/register-2016/
Visit govhack.org and govhacknz.org for more info or contact Nathalie or Victoria at info@govhackqt.org.nz
Follow us on Facebook /GovHack Queenstown and/or Twitter @GovHackQT
