Urban Data Hackathon to Make Belfast Better with Data

On June 27, Northern Ireland's best IT developers, designers and data scientists will descend on Belfast City Hall for two days of solving some of the city's most socially relevant challenges. The Urban Data Hackathon, which is completely free to attend, will show how data can be used for positive outcomes in all walks of life through data analysis and visualisation. A series of challenges will focus on improving public services in the city, including Intelligent Council Spending and Barriers to Recycling. There is also a 'Freestyle' section, which allows complete freedom and creativity in the problem to be solved. The event is being run in conjunction with Belfast City Council and the Deputy Lord Mayor, Alderman Guy Spence, helped launch the event with Kainos recently at City Hall. City stakeholders will provide previously unavailable data that's specific to the challenges. They will then review the proposals and could take them to a real-world implementation to improve Belfast's public services. Anyone with a passion for using data can enter, either as an individual entrant or as part of a team of up to five people. The Hackathon provides 24 hours for contestants to process the data and create their suggested solutions. They will then pitch their prototype app, website or other tools to the people that it impacts. More information and the free sign up process can be found on the Hackathon website: www.beltech2015.com/hackathon.