We're excited to share the journey we took as proud platinum sponsors of GovHack 2023—an event which brought together creative minds to use open data for real change. GovHack united people who are passionate about making a difference through open data.
What is GovHack?
GovHack is an annual competition focused on open government data, serving as a collaborative platform in both Australia and New Zealand. This inclusive event welcomes participants from diverse backgrounds, including developers, UX designers, marketers, entrepreneurs, data enthusiasts, students and professors. Across a span of 46 hours, contestants are tasked with crafting a proof of concept while producing an engaging video that narrates the innovative possibilities of reusing chosen open datasets.
Why GovHack?
GovHack has multiple key objectives, foremost among them being the promotion of public datasets and the encouragement of creative thinking within the passionate hacker community. It seeks to achieve this by fostering innovative solutions utilising government open data and advocating for the utilisation of the Data.NSW platform. Notably, the GovHack community attracts of more than 1500 participants annually. Complemented by a substantial online presence, including a social media following of 20,000 and a Slack community of 4,500 members.
The GovHack Competition Weekend - Igniting Innovation
From 18-20 August 2023, as the competition kicked off, Data.NSW team engaged in the GovHack Competition Weekend, contributing to the community by providing support and answers to questions from contestants. This 46-hour event was characterised by an abundance of innovation and collaborative effort, where teams leveraged open data and their creative prowess to address two prominent challenges presented by Data.NSW. Notably, they made extensive use of the Data.NSW open data portal:
Two key challenges presented by Data.NSW
- Addressing the Cost-of-Living Pressure in NSW: The escalating cost of living is a pervasive challenge impacting citizens at large, with open data on rental bonds and fuel prices.
- Navigating the Educational Impact of COVID-19: The enduring impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education was the second challenge, with open data on student outcomes and HSC completions.
Outcome highlight
After an intense 46 hours, teams shared their conceptual ideas in a three-minute video. There were 11 entries in total for the two challenges, each with a video to explain their project and the prototype solution they developed.
Here are the winners for our two challenges. You can also find all the winning entries on the GovHack Hackerspace website.
Winners - Cost of Living Pressure NSW
- Winner – Habitasis
- Runner Up - (Gov) Affordability Planner
- Honourable Mention – TenancyIQ
Winners - COVID’s lasting impact on education
- Winner - Learning Together
- Runner Up - AccessiLink EduSolution
- Honourable Mention - Edu-ffect: Where AI Ignites Learning Potential
Well done to all who took part in this year’s event and congratulations to the successful teams!
At GovHack 2023, we witnessed the power of open data and collaboration in action. The creative solutions and innovative ideas generated during this event have the potential to enhance the lives of NSW citizens. We hope to continue promoting these solutions and fostering connections across the public sector to create a brighter future for all.
Contact us
If you'd like to connect or learn more, please reach out to us at datansw@customerservice.nsw.gov.au.
Further information
Cost of living pressure NSW entries: https://hackerspace.govhack.org/challenges/cost_of_living_pressure_nsw
COVID-19’s lasting impact on education entries: https://hackerspace.govhack.org/challenges/covid_s_lasting_impact_on_education
All team projects for GovHack competition 2023: https://hackerspace.govhack.org/projects
GovHack official website: https://govhack.org/
Data.NSW Open Data Portal: https://data.nsw.gov.au/