Edu #HackForGood is a new global hackathon initiative to improve education by bringing educators, innovators and developers together to solve challenges facing learners.
Prepr Foundation in partnership with Chagpar & Associates (C&A), announces a global hackathon initiative to improve education – Edu #HackForGood. These events will bring together educators, innovators and developers for intense 24-hour collaboration sessions to solve educational challenges through technology. The need for educational reform and the emerging global market for edtech drove the decision to create a new hackathon series, Salar Chagpar Prepr Co-Founder explains,”The atmosphere of hackathons drives innovation and accelerates the development process, it’s a great way to kickstart a new project and has the potential to change the education community.”
The launch of Edu #HackForGood follows the success of Prepr’s sponsorship of several other hackathons: AngelHack Toronto, AngelHack Boston and EduHack Toronto. Through C&A, Prepr offered several large innovation management prizes to winners, including $20,000 in equity based consulting grants to several teams. These grants help teams establish their start-up and move through the process of innovation planning, sourcing, and marketing, as well as providing guidance in securing New Age Capital.
The interest and calibre of education related projects at the sponsored hackathons suggested the need for a dedicated event on a large scale, which led to the creation of Edu #HackForGood. The series is expected to launch in spring 2014 with events in 32 cities around the world where teams compete for the top prize of being flown out to Silicon Valley for the World Finals. The $100,000 grand prize offered through Prepr and C&A to the next ‘Global Catalyst’ is expected to draw significant interest from the educator and developer communities.
In synergy with Edu #HackForGood, Prepr is also developing a social learning community with core curriculum of project management, innovation and entrepreneurship (PIE). All content created through Prepr will be made freely available and #HackForGood participants will be encouraged to use the resources available to craft a winning project.
