In the 2nd Hawaii Annual Code Challenge, the State of Hawaii engages with the tech community to help improve government.

The State of Hawaii is calling all computer programmers, software developers, and tech-minded innovators to lend their collective creativity toward improving state government at the 2017 Hawaii Annual Code Challenge (HACC), the state’s second event of its kind.

The month-long competition will begin with the HACC Kickoff on Saturday, Aug. 26, at the East-West Center, Keoni Auditorium, and culminate with the HACC Judging and Awards on Saturday, Sept. 23, at the same location. Registration will begin at 9 a.m. on both days.

Open to everyone, from students to amateurs to professionals, the HACC is a hackathon-inspired competition designed to engage the local tech community in modernizing state functions and services for a more effective, efficient and open government. Conceived by Gov. David Y. Ige, the event is coordinated by the Office of Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) in partnership with the High Technology Development Corporation, local nonprofit Hawaii Open Data, and multiple state departments and agencies that will put forth challenges to community participants for identifying innovative ways to improve government services.

“We are inviting Hawaii’s tech community to accept the challenge of transforming how the state
does business,” said state Chief Information Officer (CIO) Todd Nacapuy, who leads ETS. “The
HACC provides a venue for the state to work together with the tech community to improve how
state government engages and serves the public, while also helping to develop our local IT
workforce.”

The HACC breaks the mold of a traditional hackathon, which typically takes place over a single
day or weekend. The HACC provides an expanded four-week timeframe meant to encourage
interaction between community teams and state department personnel, ultimately resulting in
sustainable solutions that are appropriately matched with technologies and platforms in use or
being considered by the state.

Beginning at the HACC Kickoff, community participants form teams and select from a list of
challenges themed around key problems facing the state. The teams then work over the next
several weeks to develop their solutions. Participants return one month later to present their
solutions for judging and the selection of winners. Awards go to the top teams, with outstanding
solutions considered for implementation by the state.

Last year, more than 200 individual coders and innovators answered the state’s call, addressing
challenges presented by the Departments of Accounting and General Services, Agriculture,
Health, and Public Safety, and others. Solutions tackling homelessness and jail facility visitation
received top honors.

Rules and judging criteria will be announced prior to the kickoff event, with the list of challenges
to be announced at the event itself. For more information, visit HACC.hawaii.gov.

Participants will return on Sept. 23, 2017 to present their solutions for judging and winner selection.

$12,000 in prizes

Submission Criteria

• Submissions must be entirely the work of the contestants. Teams may use any software/platform of their choosing for their projects and submissions will be uploaded to the official HACC GitHub.

• Participants and teams must register there submission here at http://hacc17.devpost.com

• Technical Review
  Includes the assessment made by the HACC Technical Review Committee; point maximum is 25.
• Originality
  Includes creativity and uniqueness of the idea; point maximum for this category is 15.
• Design
  Includes the extent to which the solution or application is polished and visually appealing; point maximum for this category is 15.
• Potential for Long Term Sustainability of Solution
  Includes using appropriate technologies being considered or currently in use by the state; point maximum for this category is 10.
• Utility and Impact
  Includes the uniqueness of the integration and the extent to which the application impacts users or new users; point maximum for this category is 10.
• Team Collaboration
  Includes ability for team to collaborate with State of Hawaii Challenge Sponsor; point maximum for this category is 10.
• Presentation and Delivery
  Includes the use of various media in the final presentation and a well-executed and engaging delivery within prescribed time limit; point maximum for this category is 10.
• Audience Top Choice
  All attendees will be invited to participate in an audience poll or overall rating for each challenge presentation; point maximum for this category is 5.