Here’s a hackathon with a difference.
alive, a mobile application developer, has come up with an Appathon that should be win-win for two groups – six nonprofits seeking to boost their mobile profile and contestants who will win an opportunity to work alongside alive’s development team to bring their ideas to life, not to mention some other unnamed prizes as well.
The 48-hour Appathon is scheduled for the weekend of 26-28 April at alive’s Harbourside campus. Interested contestants can register here.
Teams will be offered real-life operational scenarios from the six non-profits – Cystic Fibrosis Australia, Destiny Rescue, Hope Month, Mission Australia, Nelune Foundation and Suicide Prevention Australia – and will need to come up with compelling mobile apps. Entries will be judged for innovation, productivity and creativity. Contest judges include Trent Lund, PWC partner responsible for innovation and digital ventures; and alive Chairman Chris Gabriel.
“At alive we pride ourselves on a mobile first approach to designing better business,” said alive CEO Luke Harvey-Palmer. “In the last few years mobile devices have rewritten the way we live, work and play so creating really useful technology that lives on beyond delivery can make everybody’s lives better.”
Busting a digital divide
Harvey-Palmer said selecting the not-for-profit sector for alive’s inaugural Appathon means “we can share some of our experience to help those who need it most.”
Dr. Bronwen Dalton, National Manager Research at Mission Australia, said the Appathon was an exciting opportunity to help them overcome the digital divide.
“An app would allow Mission Australia’s community service workers to be even more effective at assisting disadvantaged and Indigenous young people, particularly in remote communities,” she said.
The not-for-profit Appathon is supported by Macquarie Telecom, PWC, Microsoft, Hoyts and Lets Together.
alive has offices in Sydney, Auckland and Singapore.
