Hackacity took place on the 27th and 28th May in 6 cities across the world. Hackers got together to improve the life in the cities by using big data.
94 hackers gathered for 24 hours to work non-stop to develop applications using big data provided by Amersfoort, Utrecht, Santander, Olinda, Recife and Porto.
It all started last year when city of Porto and 7Graus got the tech community together to create interesting technological solutions and ignite a co-creation mindset. With the results from the first edition, Porto challenged other cities that decided to join the movement. In 2016, with the support of OASC initiative (Open and Agile Smart Cities), the European Commission, FIWARE, Grow Smarter and Ubiwhere, cities worked together as a first attempt to implement an integrated approach of the use of data for the creation of innovative solutions.
Cities provided data in the fields of mobility, tourism, environment and security, so the participants could develop applications that will improve the lives of the residents and the experience of the tourists.
22 applications were developed. While in The Netherlands the winner was a transient app that provides information on local companies, facilities, people and events in a certain radius, in Brazil an app to empower women and help reporting cases of sexual abuse got the first place. The winner in Porto was an app that lets you know with precision when a bus will arrive at a stop.
Participants used the FIWARE Platform, which provides a rather simple yet powerful set of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that ease the development of Smart Applications in multiple vertical sectors, whose specifications are public and royalty-free. With a common technology and data sharing, there’s an endless pool of opportunities for collaboration among cities, that can have an impact on the citizens’ lives.
Hackacity shows that when you put bold creative people together with relevant data, you’ll get big smart creative solutions and co-create opportunities for those who live or work in the city or the experience of the ones who visit it.
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About Hackacity
Hackacity is a hackathon that aims to test big data and promotes its use to develop solutions that will have an impact in the city, but also foster collaboration amongst stakeholders. For 24 hours, participants get together to develop solutions based in open source platforms to address challenges faced by the citizens, using data provided by the city.
