Hawai‘i Annual Code Challenge Begins August 26

2016 HACC. Photo courtesy of ETS Hawai‘i.

Calling all programmers, software developers and tech-minded innovators.

The State of Hawai‘i is holding its 2017 Hawai‘i Annual Code Challenge (HACC) to draw local creative talent to tackle government IT problems. Open to students, amateurs and professionals alike, the HACC is a hackathon-inspired competition establish to engage the local tech community and modernize and streamline state services and functions.

The second-annual, month-long competition will kick off on Saturday, Aug. 26, at the East-West Center’s Keoni Auditorium and close with a judging and awards ceremony on Sept. 23 at the same location. Doors will open at 9 a.m. on both days.

The event, conceived by Gov. David Ige, is coordinated by the Office of Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) in partnership with the High Technology Development Corporation, local nonprofit Hawai‘i Open Data and multiple state departments and agencies.

“We are inviting Hawai‘i’s tech community to accept the challenge of transforming how the state does business,” said state chief information officer (CIO) of ETS, Todd Nacapuy. “The HACC provides a venue for the state to work together with the tech community to improve how state government engages and serves the public, while also helping to develop our local IT workforce.”

HACCʻs month-long timeframe intends to encourage interaction between community teams and state department staff to effectively integrate solutions into technologies and platforms in use or being considered by the state.

On the kick-off day, HACC community participants will form teams and select from a list of key challenges facing the state. Working over the next several weeks, teams will develop solutions and present them at the conclusion of the competition for final judging. The top teams will be awarded cash prizes, and their solutions will be considered for implementation by the state.

HACC is made possible through private and public partnerships with support from Hawaiian Electric Companies, Kaiser, Kamehameha Schools, KPMG and Verizon Wireless. Additional support is being provided by DRFortress and eWorld as well as other partners such as DevLeague and XLR8UH.

Last year, more than 200 individual coders and innovators participated in the HACC. Solutions tackling homelessness and jail facility visitation received the top awards.

Rules and judging criteria for the event will be announced prior to the kickoff day. The list of challenges will be announced at the event itself. For more information and participant registration, visit HACC.hawaii.gov.