Hackathon Invades Indiana State Capitol

Indy Chamber News Archives

Winning Solutions Announced in Developer Challenges from Auditor of State, Legislative Services

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (March 15, 2016) - The Indy Chamber today announced the winners of its #INCapitolHack hackathon in coordination with the Indiana Auditor of State and the Legislative Services Agency. 

#INCapitolHack, the first installment of the 2016 Hack Indiana Series powered by the Indy Chamber, was held February 26-27 at Indiana Government Center in downtown Indianapolis. Participants, including coders and developers, were given 24 hours to develop and pitch innovative solutions to unique data challenges put forth by government entities. Finalists were then selected to continue working on their applications for an additional week.

“Indy is quickly becoming a hub for young, innovative tech talent and we have witnessed this growth first hand through events like our Hack Indiana Series,” said Michael Huber, Indy Chamber president and CEO. “As we work to support and attract companies in this industry, we must also continue to cultivate this developing talent pool, making the Indy metro a true competitor for investment and growth.”

For the #INCapitolHack challenge, the office of the Indiana Auditor of State put forth a data-driven challenge regarding the public-facing organization of its travel expense data. Shake & Bake, the two-person team of Brian Norris and John Botta, utilized the Tableau Public platform to embed interactive dashboards of datasets within the state’s website structure. 

Their solution allows for flexibility and scalability should the State Auditor’s office provide larger datasets for other purposes in the future.  The final product gives viewers of all skill levels the ability to dig deep within public expense information and pinpoint where transactions occurred and what vendors were utilized.

"The best ideas are often found outside of government,” said State Auditor Suzanne Crouch. “As we embrace technology and move toward a 21st Century Government, I’m thrilled we’ve been able to engage local tech talent in the process of modernizing the Indiana Transparency Portal, making it even more transparent, accountable, efficient and interactive.”

The second #INCapitolHack challenge proposed by Indiana’s Legislative Services Agency opened public datasets to developers with the purpose of making bill tracking more transparent to the general public. 

The two-person team of 2EZ Development, Kenneth Winner and Jacob Van Brunt, created Pocket IGA, a smartphone app that allows users to save current bills and receive notifications when those bills progress through the Indiana General Assembly. Bills were also categorized based on topic for quick reference.

Winners of #INCapitolHack were selected by a panel of judges consisting of representatives from both government entities who presented challenges, as well as representatives of the Indiana Office of Technology.

ABOUT INDY CHAMBER

The Indy Chamber is the voice of progress and improvement for the Indianapolis region's business community. With membership of nearly 2,300 businesses representing 230,000 employees in the Indianapolis region, the Indy Chamber is leading the effort to strengthen the business climate, improve the state of education, revitalize neighborhoods and enhance the region's workforce. For more information, visit IndyChamber.com.

ABOUT THE HACK INDIANA SERIES

The Hack Indiana Series was established in 2015 by the Indy Chamber and Techpoint to highlight the significance of Indiana’s technology sector through innovative developer challenges for the greater good. Sponsors of the event include AT&T Indiana, KSM Consulting, SAP, netlogx, and TinderBox.

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