Studio Republic is hosting its annual charity hack day on Friday 17th May to support Mental Health Awareness Week. ‘Hack for Good’ will bring together the South of England’s top tech agency talent to form five teams. In just one day, these teams will create digital solutions in response to five charity briefs completely free of charge.
Why is this hack day dedicated to charities?
Hack
for Good is born out of the need to address the ever widening digital
skills gap within charities. A recent report revealed that 75% of the
charities surveyed had very little access to digitally skilled people.
£100,000 of agency resource donated to charities
Hack
for Good offers charities over £100,000 of digital agency resource
completely free of charge. Agencies involved in the initiative include; Etch, Rareloop, The Idea Bureau, Steadfast
alongside Studio Republic. The tech solutions created during the day
will be used as working prototypes or proofs of concept to help the
charities involved seek funding for further investment.
The hack hunt for five students
To
support the agency teams, Studio Republic is also looking for students
from local universities. The five winning students will join the agency
teams and work alongside some of the brightest minds in the UK’s tech
industry for the day.
How does Hack for Good work?
- Five charities will submit briefs for which they require a digital solution.
- As the event supports Mental Health Awareness Week, we’re looking for charities to submit briefs which relate to this year’s campaign theme: body image.
- One Community an independent charity providing voluntary sector support and community development across south Hampshire are the latest charity to provide a brief.
- Briefs must be related to body image and the relationship with the body.
- If the issue can be resolved by a digital solution, it will be considered by a hack day team.
As
it is a charity focused hack day, all the technology created will be
released as Open Source projects, so any charity or similar organisation
can benefit. Charities may also submit their issues to Studio Republic
with no fee.
Chris Todhunter, Founder and Director at Studio Republic said; “The greatest thing about Hack for Good is that it brings agencies together who would usually compete against each other. That’s something you don’t see very often in our industry, and it’s all for the greater good!”
Over the next few weeks Studio Republic will be announcing more charities and sponsors that will be involved in the day.