Winners of Blockworks Hackfest announced
11th October 2018
Two winning teams have been
announced after the Blockworks Hackfest sponsored by venture
studio Centrality after a weekend of creativity and
innovation made choosing a single winner impossible.
Over 80 people attended the free event on 6th/7th
October, held at Auckland University of Technology and
hosted by Centrality with support from web development
school Enspiral Dev Academy and business accelerator
Lightning Lab. More than 13 different ideas were presented
across the weekend by developers and businesses passionate
about the practical application of blockchain.
The
two winners of the Open Hack category were CarbonClick and
Āhau. Carbon offset marketplace CarbonClick enables
consumers to purchase carbon credits and track their impact
down to the tree being planted, which wouldn’t be possible
without the transparency provided by blockchain. Māori
blockchain project Āhau empowers individuals with a
self-sovereign digital identity solution to track their
genealogy, iwi and whakapapa. The blockchain-enabled
identity solution has the potential to be utilised by
indigenous communities around the world.
Talks are
underway with both projects to enter the Centrality
Accelerator programme, powered by Lightning Lab. The
package, which includes a rigorous programme of support and
resources, will be worth over $100,000 for both winners.
General Manager of Strategic Partnerships at
Centrality, Andy Higgs, says the hackfest showed how
blockchain opens up people’s imagination about what
solutions are possible.
“The weekend produced a vast
array of ideas that harness the power of blockchain
technology and showed how the concept of bringing minds
together in a hackfest can get the most out of emerging tech
like decentralised ledgers.
“Kiwis are world famous
innovators and this was very evident at the hackfest - ideas
flew, solutions were created and we had a lot of fun.
Anyone who took part, whether they won or not, would have
learned a lot, as did we,” he says.
The two winners
will split the overall prize that provides a physical space
within the Centrality Accelerator where developers,
businesses and entrepreneurs work in close collaboration
with the on-site Centrality team of blockchain experts.
An important part of this is entering an intensive
programme and receiving support to scale their idea within a
blockchain ecosystem to make it commercially
successful.
“This is a prize beyond just monetary
value and we’re delighted we have two winners,” adds
Andy Higgs. “Our aim is to provide the support and the
encouragement to help bright minds produce successful
blockchain applications - and we’ve achieved this from the
hackfest.”
The proposal Dread Snarfle also won
$2,000 of Centrality (CENNZ) tokens as part of the “take
the challenge” stream where a blockchain task was set to
create a blockchain game that focused on non-fungible
assets.
Founder of Blockworks, Justin Flitter, says
the Hackfest was an ideal way to start what is being billed
as New Zealand’s premier blockchain event.
“Our
aim is to show people the potential of blockchain technology
to transform the way we do business, govern and how we live.
On any scale the tech can provide real solutions that will
bring prosperity to Kiwis and New Zealand by giving people
control of information and data.
“While there are
many who still sit in the naysayer camp about blockchain,
the resounding success of the hackfest blew us away because
it showed there is a growing community that believes in its
potential,” he says.
Blockworks continues on
Thursday 11th October with a full-day of workshops followed
on the 12th with the conference presenting how blockchain is
transforming supply chain, finance, transport and services.
Six international experts are speaking alongside Kiwi
innovators including Aaron McDonald, CEO of Centrality, who
will talk about New Zealand’s economic potential as we
take back ownership and control of information.
Three hundred people have registered for the events
over the two days at the ASB Waterfront Theatre in Wynyard
Quarter, Auckland.
Tickets for Blockworks are
available at blockworks.co.nz
ENDS