The third annual Go Code Colorado events kicked off last week. The challenge tasks entrepreneurs, businesses and developers to use public data to solve business problems. Three finalists will be selected in May and each will receive $25,000.
The statewide event is housed in Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams' office, and billed as the first and only statewide effort of its kind. "Go Code Colorado continues to successfully bring together a community around data, technology and entrepreneurship," Williams says. "We want to make government data accessible to all Colorado citizens, and Go Code Colorado is the vehicle to move that vision forward."
This year the challenge is to "create an app and business concept that helps businesses build a competitive strategy." In previous years, the actual challenge wasn't announced until the challenge weekend.
They also changed the rules of the challenge this year to allow the participating teams to start working on their apps right after the initial kickoff. The organizers also announced that people interested in participating but without a team can check out CollabFinder to share information about their expertise and how they want to contribute. Over the next two months, Go Code Colorado will hold five events, four across the state and another in Denver before the final competition in May.
"When Colorado residents look back at what Go Code Colorado did for open data, it will carry the reputation as being one of the most important government initiatives to the advancement of innovation through open data," says Erik Mitisek, CEO of the Colorado Technology Association.
Contact Confluence Denver Innovation & Jobs News Editor Chris Meehan with tips and leads for future stories at chris@confluence-denver.com.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.