The 5th edition of the Public Administration Hackathon has brought applications that help, inform, but also entertain
PRESS RELEASE ON THE 5TH EDITION OF THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION HACKATHON –19 and 20 January 2024
"Winner of winners" was the motto of the 5th edition of the Public Administration Hackathon www.hackujstat.cz, which took place on Friday and Saturday 19 and 20 January 2024 at the Prague headquarters of the event organiser - the Supreme Audit Office (SAO). For the first time in the history of this state hackathon, the participants were exclusively students, namely the winners of regional student hackathons. For them, therefore, this weekend's meeting was a national round. In the end, it yielded applications that help, inform, and entertain.
"It is important for us to be able to cooperate with you. The experience of the previous years was great. Our colleagues involved in data analysis have used some of the projects developed here to improve our work, to audit the management of state funds better," said Miloslav Kala, the President of the SAO, at the beginning of the meeting.
Competitors had the traditional task of creating new applications or visualisations based on open data within 24 hours, intended for widespread use. They could either refine and improve the competition project from the regional round or start a completely new project from the datasets offered in the National Open Data Catalogue, or they could use the datasets of the institutions presented at the Hackathon.
Winners: Nursery plus and Is it allowed here?
So what was the result of the 24-hour marathon? The first place in the category of projects developed from the regional round went to the team "Škroupíci" from the Integrated Secondary School of Trades in Plzeň. They won with the web application "Nursery Plus", which aims to inform parents about the availability of a nursery for their child. Among other things, it can compare individual facilities, recommend the selection of a suitable nursery, but also tell what the transport accessibility to the nursery is or whether there is a playground nearby. It therefore centralises data on nurseries in one place.
The winner in the category of projects created on the spot was a two-member team of the Christian Grammar School in Prague Hostivař with the application "Is it allowed here?". Thanks to the app, people can find out whether they can open a beer in this particular place (the app is said to be the result of an administrative fine because somebody drank where they shouldn't have), light a cigarette, park, throw away electrical waste, etc. But the app can also answer the question: Where is? For example, the nearest electric car charger or waste container, etc.
Young people give hope
"This year has shown that the Czech Republic has hope in the young generation for better governance, also through working with open data," commented Ondřej Filip, Executive Director of the Czech association CZ.NIC, on the fifth edition of the Hackathon. "I am delighted that we were able to support the Public Administration Hackathon once again", he added.
The second place in the category of projects developed from the regional round was also awarded to a two-person team called "The team didn't show up" for creating the " Turistník " app, which integrates historical, cultural and natural destinations and landmarks. The third place in this category went to the team from the Vocational Secondary School in Stříbro with the project "Craft has a golden bottom". The web application uses artificial intelligence and can generate a questionnaire to determine which school would be the most suitable for the person concerned. It therefore helps with the selection of a suitable field of study.
The second place in the category of projects created on the spot went to the team "Chodové" from the Grammar School of J. Š. Baar in Domažlice with the application "Ears for the soul". Through it, they respond to the deterioration of mental health of children and youth. The app informs about the availability of school psychologists and works with the idea of registering psychology students who would like to offer help to children. The third place went to the team "Micinky" from the University of Hradec Králové with an app with a clear mission “Doctor within a click”.
The SAO headquarters in Prague hosted 50 students from five regions of the Czech Republic, who formed 13 teams. The data was provided by 12 cooperating organisations - ministries, authorities and other public institutions. Together with the organisers, judges, mentors and guests, more than 100 people attended the event. For more information about the 5th edition of the Hackathon, visit www.hackujstat.cz.
Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office