Indy Chamber to Host City’s First Open Data Hackathon Tomorrow

Indy Chamber News Archives

The Indy Chamber is proud to announce the city's first ever open data hackathon, Indy Civic Hack Day. Held in conjunction with the National Day of Civic Hacking, the sold out event will take place Saturday, May 31 at the Speak Easy in Broad Ripple. 

Indianapolis is one of 103 cities worldwide participating in the National Day of Civic Hacking. The event, planned in coordination with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, aims to bring technologists, entrepreneurs and developers together to improve communities and the governments that serve them.

"It's exciting when government opens its doors to our best tech talent through opportunities like hackathons," said Michael Huber, president and CEO of the Indy Chamber. "When we invite the tech community to be creative disruptors, we're not only leveraging local talent but new solutions and possibilities for our community."

Attendees will have the opportunity to explore a newly created open data portal provided by Socrata, a leader in open data and open performance software. Fifth District Congresswoman Susan Brooks will be on hand to discuss recent activity around open data at the federal level and Chief Information Officer for the State of Indiana, Paul Baltzell, will speak regarding the State's open data initiatives.

"Open data has the potential to allow government to provide a higher level of service at a lower cost to more of its citizens," said Congresswoman Susan Brooks. "As the chair of a Committee on Homeland Security subcommittee that focuses on emergency preparedness and response, I've spent considerable time looking at how open data, social media and new technology can help first responders and rescue organizations save lives during disaster situations. Fueled by top medical and engineering schools and a vibrant tech entrepreneurial community, Indiana is in position to lead this exciting new field of opportunity."
The day's agenda is as follows:

10:00 am: Speaking Program
Remarks from Cong. Susan Brooks, District 5; Paul Baltzell, Chief Information Officer, State of Indiana; Matt Kirby, Indy Chamber; Brian Norris, Social Health Insights; and Jesse Romine, Socrata.

11:00 am: Team Collaboration

7:00 pm: Presentations of Solutions from Teams

Indy Civic Hack Day is a free event open to the public and made possible by the support of title sponsors Healthx and Interactive Intelligence and organization sponsor Social Health Insights.

For more information, visit www.indycivichack.com. For information on the National Day of Civic Hacking, visit www.hackforchange.org.

About the Indy Chamber
The Indy Chamber is the voice of progress and improvement for the Indianapolis region's business community. With membership of nearly 3,000 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. In 2012, the Indy Chamber merged with Indy Partnership, Develop Indy, and Business Ownership Initiative. For more information about the Indy Chamber, visit IndyChamber.com.

About Healthx
Healthx provides cloud-based solutions for payers to drive member engagement and provider collaboration. For more information, visit www.healthx.com.