By Jason Hibbets
NC DataPalooza is an open data competition that began at Triangle Startup Weekend: Health DataJam in May of this year. With a focus on health innovation, open data is used to develop applications and solutions that catalyze positive community and economic impact. The final milestone of the competition is happening next week at Red Hat Tower in Downtown Raleigh when three teams will compete for the crown and present their final pitches.
The DataJam event in May brought together passionate health professionals, students, entrepreneurs, developers, and designers on a mission to revolutionize the health sector through relevant open data. By the end of the weekend there were six teams that pitched to a panel of judges. Two additional teams joined the competition after forming at CityCamp NC, an open government and civic hacking unconference also held in May.
Over the summer, the competition was narrowed down to three teams. The NC DataPalooza finale will be held on Friday, September 12, 2014 from 8:00-11:00 am at Red Hat Tower (100 East Davie Street, Raleigh, NC 27601). The program will begin at 9:00 am and breakfast will be provided.
At the finale, you will hear the live pitches from the three final teams:
- LocalMedAdvisor, a platform for patients to choose physicians
- FreeWheeling NC, a crowdsourced bike route app; and
- Stone Soup, an online network of food banks & donation opportunities.
An expert panel discussion will allow attendees to learn about open data innovation from Steve Cline, Community Care of NC; Bill Greeves, CIO of Wake County; Monali Bhosle, Founder of RxAnte; and Javed Mostafa, Dir. of UNC Health Informatics.
And of course, there is networking! Meet experts in business, healthcare, and open data, including the judges panel with Lee Buck of Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network, Ian Henshaw of the Open Data Institute of NC, Bobby Bahram of Excelerate Health Ventures, and Michael Cousins of Health Vue Partners.
Learn more about the NC DataPalooza finale and register to attend.
HQ Raleigh and Forward Impact are hosts for the annual NC DataPalooza. Now in its second year, the open data competition helps the Triangle region to be recognized as a center for open data, collaboration, and entrepreneurial innovation, furthering the goal laid out from Innovate Raleigh to make this region a top five entrepreneurial community in the country.
Source: ncdatapalooza.com
Disclaimer: I am one of the organizers for this event.