Arnhem, 22 March 2018 - Building on their previous successes, seven of the Netherlands' key organisations are getting together to host the fourth Dutch Open Hackathon on 26 and 27 May. The event is designed to support and promote open innovation and technological progress in the Netherlands. At the hackathon, participants get thirty-six hours to come up with applications and creative solutions for practical, everyday issues.
It's all about open innovation at the Dutch Open Hackathon 2018. For this year's event, the venue is the Dutch Innovation Factory in Zoetermeer. The hackathon is an initiative by the Big Data Innovatiehub, Kadaster, the Royal Netherlands Society of Engineers (KIVI), KPN, the National Police, PostNL and SIDN. Its aim is to pool the innovative capabilities of large organisations and creative individuals, with a view to realising useful and successful technological applications for consumers and businesses. The event's partners and sponsors make a range of unique datasets, APIs (application programming interfaces) and hardware available to participants. The Dutch Open Hackathon 2018 has four themes: At Home, Doing Business, In The City and On The Go.
At the Dutch Open Hackathon, participants work to develop new digital services and innovative concepts that make life easier for consumers. For developers, the Dutch Open Hackathon is a great opportunity to get to grips with loads of interesting data that isn't publicly accessible most of the time. For the organisers, the Hackathon brings together creative talents to provide a flow of inspirational ideas and learning opportunities.
Pokemon Go for lost property
Last year's Dutch Open Hackathon attracted about three hundred developers from the Netherlands and beyond to the CIC in Rotterdam. One of the success stories from twelve months ago was an app called Find It, developed by a team from Re:Software. Using the APIs of the National Police, Geodan and PostNL, the Re:Software team created an app for reporting personal property as lost or stolen, with details of where it probably went missing. Other users can then look out for the missing item. If they think they've found it, a photo is sent for verification. In other words, it's like Pokemon Go for lost property.
For the partner organisations, the Dutch Open Hackathon helps to accelerate innovation by promoting external collaboration and harnessing additional brain power. The APIs developed by the partners make it easier to retrieve and combine data from IT systems. So collaboration becomes more straightforward and the development of new services gains momentum.
How to take part
The Dutch Open Hackathon 2018 takes place on Saturday and Sunday 26 and 27 May at the Dutch Innovation Factory in Zoetermeer. To register, visit www.dutchopenhackathon.com.