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Last week on Hackfest we alerted you of a hackathon at the SA Innovation Summit which aimed to help tackle ECD (Early Childhood Development) issues around the globe. The winner has now been announced, and we've got the scoop! 

NappiDaddi is a new application which...

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One of Australia's biggest hackathons, Hackagong, is back for 2015 and is prepared to be bigger and better than ever with more sponsors, prizes, and competitions than previous years. 

The annual event attracted over 150 competitors and handed-out $100,000 worth of prizes and giveaways to winners in 2014. Hackagong's new platinum sponsor, WiseTech Global, will be providing $5,000 of cash to whoever creates the most viable business idea. 

Alongside this, some...

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Programmers, designers, and other creative individuals will team-up with ECD (Early Childhood Development) practitioners during tomorrow's hackathon with the aim of creating mobile applications to benefit children most at risk in our society. 

The hackathon is being hosted by Innovation Edge, IBM, Silicon Cape and the SA Innovation Summit at the Cape Town stadium in Green Point, Africa. It's...

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The HackingEDU event on October 23rd has attracted over 1000 hackers who are preparing to battle it out for 36 hours to revitalise the flawed and archaic education system. Their training day alone – held at PayPal’s HQ – packed 400 attendees and had over 1500 signups.

Hackfest (HF) caught up with one of the hackathon's founders, Daniel Minjares (DM), to find out more about the event and its wider mission. 

HF: What are you hoping to...

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The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is partnering with the Open Bank Project (OBP) for their Hack / Make The Bank hackathon which aims to improve the digital offerings provided by financial institutions. 

Set to be held in Edinburgh on the weekend of the 9th of October, Hack / Make The Bank is described by OBP as a "creative marathon of brainstorming and software building". Coders...

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Hotel cancellations are a big concern for the travel industry as rooms are held for people who may not even turn up at not just a significant cost to the business, but also preventing other travellers from using the room which may be required for their visit. 

Nigerian hotel booking service, Hotels.ng, held a hackathon on August 1st which aimed to answer whether it is possible to predict what users are going to cancel a hotel...

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Maritime technology has seen little noteworthy advancements in recent years; with tried and tested technology causing stagnation in advancements. Organised by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, the Smart Port Hackathon aimed to spark innovation in the sector and help to increase efficiency. 

This year's hackathon was attended by a total of 120 participants from 21 teams. 20 various...

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Microsoft's popular note-taking tool, OneNote, has been going from strength-to-strength and has become as indispensable to some as the rest of Microsoft's productivity suite. During the company's second annual hackathon, a team sought to address language and learning disability barriers with an innovative extension to OneNote. 

'OneNote for Learning' combines OneNote with technology available...

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One car manufacturer which aims to be on the cutting-edge of connected-car technologies is Mercedes-Benz. The company held a hackathon called 'Hack With The Best' in June and the winners all had one thing in common - they utilised HERE's leading maps and services. 

HERE is a subsidiary of Nokia and their maps can be found in four out of five cars...

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Later this month, the Water Innovation Project is set to launch the 2015 Water / Energy Nexus hackathon in San Francisco. Beginning on August 15th, hackers will create innovative ways of tackling important sustainability issues over the course of 36 hours. 

The hackathon describes itself as more akin to 'a live science fair' which aims to leverage data to better...

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The next part of MasterCard's awesomely-named "Masters of Code" hackathon series arrives in San Francisco on August 22nd - 23rd to continue its search for the best coders in the world. The city marks the seventh stop on the intense 12-city tour. 

APIs for the hackathon are supplied by MasterCard and teams are tasked with creating the best prototypes which demonstrate their incredible coding and...

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Developers will make their way to the Inmarsat Conference Centre on September 5th for location-focused hackathon, GeoHack, in the hope of creating the next app which makes "a difference to people's lives around the world." 

It's a big aspiration, so we caught-up with an organiser from the event to find out how they plan to cultivate the right atmosphere for innovation to foster. James Milner is...

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MyScript, a leader in digital ink management technology, has launched a global challenge to find the most innovative applications of the company's handwriting recognition APIs. For a reward, a prize pot of $20,000 is up for grabs by the most creative and forward-thinking developers. 

"At MyScript, we continually push the boundaries of what digital ink technology can do to enhance the way...

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We're hesitant to call it the UK's first sports-related hackathon – that award goes to IBM's Wimbledon hackathon back in June – but the Sport England Sport Technology Awards hackathon can boast that it will be the UK's first sports hackathon which isn't tied to a particular sport. 

To be held at a venue just opposite The British Museum in London on...

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Through collaboration between two companies, htxt.Africa and SciBraai, the DataQuest hackathon wants scientists, journalists, coders and data analysts to tell "science stories" out of data sets. Teams of up to three individuals can take part and create projects for three categories; health, environment, or general research. 

A multimedia article must be created over the hackathon which is to be judged, and winners going...

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Don't worry, here at the Hackfest we haven't moved into classified ads for singles. Carsales is one of Australia's most-popular car listing websites, and just this past weekend the company invited hackers to its offices in Melbourne to find ways to "love thy customer" with new innovations. 

Over the course of three days last week, more than 150 employees from across the business took part in creating brand-new ways of improving their customer experience. The company...

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London will be host to another cryptocurrency-based event this Friday (24th July) aimed towards ensuring investment continues in digital currency. HackCoin is to be held at the Barclays Accelerator in Notting Hill and welcomes hackers and developers to come put their innovative minds together in the hope of creating a range of creative financial projects. 

Teams will be allowed to choose...

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It's about time healthcare received some impactful technical innovation - and the amount of medical hackathons we've covered in recent months goes to show others feel the same. Cleveland Clinic is the latest to announce a medical hackathon to seize this important trend. 

The event, to be held at the Global Center for Health Innovation, will take place September 26th  - 27th, 2015 and will be...

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The renowned Anita Borg Institute (ABI) is inviting women to a female-exclusive hackathon with the aim of creating technology under the rallying tagline of: "This is your chance to help make our world a better place." 

Female coders will join talented women from various computing and technology backgrounds to work on projects which could have a positive social impact. The hackathon will be...

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Robots are getting increasingly complex - but sometimes it's just the simple things in life that make the most difference. SoftBank held its second hackathon for their AI-powered robot, Pepper, at the Nescafe Harajuku with the goal of teaching it to become a world-class barista. 

There are several key aspects to being a great barista; the ability to create latte art, a great...