To add to the already exciting lineup of the SA Innovation Summit, we are hosting a 24-hour hackathon from 15:00 on Friday, 28 August 2015 to 15:00 on Saturday, 29 August 2015 at the Cape Town Stadium in Green Point.

If you are passionate about tech, be sure to sign up where you will have the opportunity to meet and work together with programmers, designers, creatives and early childhood development (ECD) practitioners with the aim of creating mobile applications to benefit children most at risk in our society. Entries will be capped so be sure to register soon.

The focus of the hackathon will be in early childhood development (ECD). Global interest in ECD has been fueled by the overwhelming evidence that quality learning programmes stimulate individual growth and impact positively on national achievement. Early childhood development promotes greater equality, better health, better education, greater economic productivity and more social cohesion.

Challenges to quality early learning, which will be addressed through participation in the hackathon, include limited access to good nutrition for children and pregnant women; lack of responsive care; an absence of early stimulation; a lack of child safety; a lack of parent involvement and training for practitioners; as well as limited meaningful cross-sector collaboration. The hackathon will be hosted by the Innovation Edge, IBM, Silicon Cape and the SA Innovation Summit.

“A platform such as the SA Innovation Summit offers many exciting possibilities for addressing challenges within the early learning space.  We hope to harness the creative thinking and technological know-how of the people attending the Summit and encourage them to apply their skills to resolve problems that children in South Africa, and their care givers, face on a daily basis,” says Sonja Giese, Programme Leader at the Innovation Edge - a social fund supporting ideas with the potential to revolutionise the early learning opportunities for children.

In order for the hackers to be efficient inside the Hackathon, IBM will host Bluemix training event(s) a week before the Hackathon. IBM will be providing access to the IBM Bluemix cloud platform, as well as technical support on the day, to ensure that the day runs smoothly. Bluemix is an innovative cloud application development platform built on open standards. Go to ibm.biz/BluemixZA for more information on Bluemix.

Solutions emerging from the hackathon will be judged by a panel of technology and ECD experts and awarded prizes based on their creativity, feasibility, cost-effectiveness and potential for implementation at scale.

To participate in the event, Hackers can register online at: HACKATHON REGISTRATION

For more information on the Hackathon, please contact Ezlyn Barends from Innovation Edge | Ezlyn@innovationedge.org.za | 021 670 9850/082 210 3345 or alternatively Lianne du Toit, Project Manager at SA Innovation Summit | lianne@siliconcape.com | 082 498 0981