Canberra launches first commercially-focused hackathon

Canberra co-working space Entry29 hosted the city’s first commercially-focused hackathon recently, with over 50 entrepreneurs gathering for 32 hours to code and launch new online products or services.

Event coordinator Matt Stimson told StartupSmart the local start-up ecosystem was developing well.

“Canberra has a lot of strength in software development and with the uncertainty in the air with places in CSIRO and NICTA, a lot of people are going to take the plunge into their own businesses. It’ll be an interesting time for the ecosystem and but we’re setting up well for the influx,” Stimson says.

Three start-ups won prizes at the event.

DishSmith.com, a meal planner that tracks your food patterns and automatically creates meal plans, won the $2500 cash prize for most viable start-up.

Cloudboard.io won $2700 for the most innovative idea. The software is a shared clipboard enabling copying, pasting and filing across multiple devices.

FormaQ.com.au won $750 for their ticketing app to manage lines at government service providers and took out the award for best innovation for government.

Stimson says they included the government award to recognise the unique opportunities available in Canberra.

“It’s a company town at the end of the day, so it makes sense to have a government theme, without stepping on the toes of the great GovHack team,” Stimson says.