“It was truly inspiring to see so many Memphians lend their talents and time over a weekend to help solve pressing civic challenges," says Jessica Lotz, Executive Director at Innovate Memphis. City of Memphis
What’s happening: City officials invited more than five dozen computer hackers to Memphis earlier this month. It sounds like it could be the plot from a science-fiction movie; instead it’s an innovative approach to finding tech-forward solutions to everyday problems.
What went down: The Hack Memphis: Fall 2024 City Hackathon event began on Friday, Nov. 15, and carried through the weekend, a 36-hour contest that invited local computer science enthusiasts to develop innovative solutions to civic challenges. This year’s Hackathon hosted 70 hackers spread across 14 teams, with teams focusing on one of three challenges: reducing neighborhood blight, enhancing transportation for workforce development, and leveraging AI and smart city technologies.
Why it’s important: “I appreciate how these team members dug deep into the City to understand our problems and develop creative solutions,” says Antonio Adams, Memphis’s Chief Operating Officer. “Hopefully, we can implement some of their ideas to improve our citizen’s lives.”
The big ideas: Taking the $2,000 grand prize was Byte the Blight, whose team members proposed a Blight Layer API Gateway to better share and access blight data between any number of city departments, local nonprofits, community stakeholders, and more. Clean Slate won first place in the Blight challenge, which proposed a program for returning citizens to organize neighborhood cleanups in exchange for cash. Tech Titans won first place in the Workforce Transportation challenge, building an online rideshare prototype accessible to local employers and employees. And NEAIA (Non-Emergency Artificial Intelligence Assistant) won first place in the AI & Smart City challenge, touting an AI assistant that would manage and sort incoming non-emergency and emergency calls to enhance response times for true emergencies.
Who’s behind it: The Hack Memphis: Fall 2024 City Hackathon was hosted by Innovate Memphis in partnership with the City of Memphis, Memphis Technology Foundation, BDPA, City Leadership, CodeCrew, Epicenter, Midsouth Makers, StartCo, and Tech901. It was held from Friday, Nov. 15, through Sunday, Nov. 17, at the University of Memphis FedEx Institute of Technology.
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