Techfugees Australia is the tech community's response to the current refugee crisis involving a network of concerned individuals who want to help refugees settle happily and more quickly into the Australian community.

We’re part of a global movement that started in late 2015 with dozens of events now held around the world. In Australia, we’ve held two events, the first in Sydney (November 2015) and then in Melbourne (April 2016). Many of the solutions developed are now operating as tech start-ups in their own right.

Our next Hackathon will focus specifically on hacking the challenges faced by young people (~16 to 24). Of course if you’re older than that we’re still keen for you to participate!

Once again, we will bring together developers, designers, entrepreneurs and community members to develop creative tech solutions. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never been to a Hackathon everyone is welcome and you’ll have tons of fun while learning new skills and meeting lots of great people.

Hacker Teams will develop tech solutions for young refugee settlement challenges articulated by our partners including Settlement Services International (SSI) the largest not-for-profit humanitarian settlement organisation in Australia.

Themes for the Hack will include: *safety and well-being * learning the language * community connections * recognition for prior qualifications * employment * identity and belonging * knowledge of support services. These are very serious and important topics and to ensure we have lots of fun, we will also award a prize for the Hack that makes Sydney more Awesome for Young Refugees, thanks to support from the Awesome Foundation Sydney.

Refugees especially young refugees who have already settled in Australia will participate in the event to help teams deeply understand problems and challenges faced by new arrivals. Those who participated in our first events know that hearing from and working alongside refugees was an absolute highlight of our previous Hackathons.

Leaders from the Tech Community will mentor teams through the weekend. On Sunday afternoon, teams will pitch their solutions to a Judging Panel of Tech and Community Leaders.

The event is supported by City of Parramatta Council and will be in Parramatta, Western Sydney because this is where most refugees settle. There is no cost to participate and wonderful food and snacks will be available all weekend.

We are planning to award sensational prizes that help teams complete and launch their solutions including a place at Catalysr, a refugee and migrant incubator, a cash prize from the Awesome Foundation Sydney and a whole bunch of awesome stuff from Academy Xi who provide tech courses for UX, UI, Virtual Reality and more. Stay tuned for more info on prizes!

Come make a difference, have some fun, learn a lot and help to welcome young refugees to the Australian community.

Eligibility

We will focus specifically on hacking the challenges faced by young people (~16 to 24). Of course if you’re older than that we’re still keen for you to participate!

We need Hackers, Hipsters Hustlers and Humanitarians to form teams, as well as mentors to help the teams!

Requirements

You need to submit by 4 pm on Sunday 6 November -- Be sure to include the following:

A team name
A team icon, image, or logo
Upload the proposal onto DevPost before 4pm on Sunday 6 November 2016
Post source code (if any) to github
Deliver a five minute pitch to judges and allow five minutes for Q&A

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$19,500 in prizes

First Prize

First Prize: $15,000 cash prize to fully develop the solution jointly sponsored by Settlement Services International (SSI), Stripe and the City of Parramatta. The winner will also win a place at Catalysr, the incubator focussed on developing Migrant and Resource startups

2nd Prize

Second Prize: Courses valued at $3,500 from Academy Xi

Awesome Sydney Hack:

Awesome Sydney Hack: $1,000 cash sponsored by the Awesome Foundation Sydney for the Hack that makes Sydney more Awesome for Young Refugees and a Premium Subscription to Social Change Central, a new online resource.

People’s Choice Award

People’s Choice Award - Mentoring by Leaders in the Sydney Startup Community

How to enter

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/techfugees-australia-hackathon-with-young-people-tickets-28566483120

Schedule

DAY 1

9am Introduction

Hackathon Overview (10 minutes)
Refugee Pitches x 4 (20 minutes)

10am Teams - start

1pm Lunch Meal break

2pm Teams - continue

6pm Close

DAY 2

9am Intro

930am Teams - start

11am Pitch Workshop by Claudia Barriga-Larriviere

1pm Lunch Meal break

2pm Teams - continue

3pm ****** DEV SUBMISSIONS CLOSE *******

4pm Pitches (5m + 5m Q&A)

6pm Close

Judges

Ismael Teylan
Service Manager ICT Project Management Office / City of Parramatta Council

Mark Collins
Growth at Stripe

Claudia Barriga-Larriviere
Innovation Mentor | Growth Specialist | Startup Columnist

Usman Iftikhar
Co-Founder at Catalysr | Project Manager at EnergyLabAU | Social Change Maker | Energy Policy PhD Candidate | Climate Reality Leader.

Peter Huynh
Co-founder & Partner @ Qualgro

Judging Criteria

Product/Market Fit
Who is your customer (Refugee/Service Organisation etc)? How well does the product fit the needs of the problem the team chose to tackle? How user-friendly is the technology? Is it a complete solution, or do they still have a long way to go?
Potential Impact
How much impact (quality and quantity) could the solution have?
Creativity/Innovation/Wow Factor
How innovative/creative/unique is the hack? Does the hack employ a new/novel approach to solving the problem?
Feasibility & Sustainability
What are your barriers to entry or user adoption? How are you addressing those challenges? What is your rollout strategy? Is it scalable and self-sustaining?
Accomplishment & Learning
How much did they accomplish in the weekend? Did they demonstrate learning from mentors to help inform a better solution? Did the demo test core assumptions?
Team Pitch
How well did the team explain their solution? How well did the demo communicate the idea?