The UNOPS Innovation Centre in Antigua & Barbuda, in conjunction with Ocean
Generation, is hosting an innovative ‘hackathon’ to develop solutions to support
communities affected by recent storms in the Caribbean. Climate change means that
tropical storms and hurricanes are predicted to become more intense, so we’re hacking to
help.
The hackathon — or ‘codefest’ — is an event that will bring together world class computer
programmers and developers, including those from the local Caribbean tech community, to
develop solutions to problems. With natural disasters predicted to increase in intensity,
finding new technological solutions to support disaster preparedness and response is vital.
DadliHack will happen on 19-21 January at the ABIIT campus. Teams from the US, the UK,
Singapore and Australia, as well as St Kitts, St Lucia, Dominica and Antigua have
registered. World class designers and developers from Google, MIT, UbiSoft, and the UN
will be taking part.
Workshops from the UN’s Women’s Group, ivy league Pennsylvania University and private
sector innovators like NRG Energy, the US’ largest energy supplier, will be happening over
the weekend.
Daisy Kendrick, CEO of Ocean Generation, says “We’re really excited to be supporting the
tech community to develop solutions. Last hurricane season, we witnessed the sheer
power of these storms, and the utter devastation they can unleash on island communities.
We want to work with the local tech and innovation sector, as well as global experts, to try
find solutions to build community preparedness and improve our response”.
Danelle Matin, Head of Campus at ABIIT, say “ABIIT has been working hard over the
last 16 years to develop the computing and technological skills on the island, and this will
be an amazing opportunity to showcase those skills on an international platform”.
