Last Saturday (December 3rd) the Jersey City Office of Innovation hosted a civic hackathon, a day-long community tech event bringing together local civic hackers, government staff, developers, designers, urbanists, community organizers, and others passionate about sustainability and technology.  The event took place at Andco (www.andco.work), a unique new collaborative and social working space at 201 Mongomery Street.

The objectives of this event were to engage a broader group in our discussions around sustainability, to better understand our data and our challenges, and to leverage the knowledge and experience of our local tech and sustainability communities.

The Hackathon participants broke off into teams to develop ideas, programs, and other tools to help us better understand our sustainability challenges in Jersey City.  The event featured speakers, panels, and technology demonstrations throughout the day, including Ed Hackney from SUEZ (http://www.mysuezwater.com/), Mo Kinberg from New Jersey Future, Director of Sustainable Jersey Randy Solomon (http://www.sustainablejersey.com/), SeeClickFix CEO and founder Ben Berkowitz (www.seeclickfix.com), Sustainable Jersey City (http://sustainablejc.org/), and several city officials including Mayor Steven Fulop.

Fourteen teams competed for a $1500 cash prize, sponsored by SUEZ, and over 100 people attended the day-long event in total.

The winning team included Megan Swanby, VP Taylor, and Donalda James who developed a sustainability calculator that guides homeowners on how to improve and maintain the sustainability of their homes.

For more information on this event, visit our website: www.innovatejerseycity.org/hackathon

For more information on upcoming events, sign up for our email list: www.innovatejerseycity.org/email-signup