GovHack to encourage agencies on open data

The organisers of this year’s annual GovHack will hold a roadshow after the event to encourage industry, VCs and startups to connect with the winners.

GovHack brings together programmers and data scientists annually to build mashups, data visualisations and apps with government data.

One of the main aims of GovHack is to encourage government agencies to make data openly available, said event organiser Pia Waugh.

She said in many ways it was “a progress report on what’s happening with open data in Australia”.

The event, which this year will be held on June 1 and 2, had the support of around 12 federal government agencies, as well as five state and territory governments.

“We're working more closely with NICTA and some of the local groups around the country.  A month after GovHack we’re going to be doing a showcase of the winners and runners up to the VC and startup sector, and to industry,” Waugh said.

“We’ll also do a showcase of it to broader government so government can see the outcomes and leverage the clever ideas that come out of it.”

Waugh said 300 developers had registered for GovHack within 72 hours of this year’s open date, and the organisers were expecting around 500 developers to participate.  Around 200 “hacks” or projects are expected to emerge from the weekend.

Around $40,000 in prize money is on offer this year, with corporate sponsors including Microsoft and Google.