Do you like to create solutions to challenging problems? This fall, Zoohackathon will welcome technologists and coders at five locations around the world as they develop tech solutions to halt wildlife trafficking and the demand for illegally traded wildlife products. Wildlife trafficking decimates elephants, rhinos, tigers, and other iconic species. Come help us end these terrible crimes! From November 2nd – 3rd the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, in partnership with University of Malaysia Sabah, will be hosting the 2019 Zoohackthon in Kota Kinabalu which will include particpants from across all of Borneo including Sarawak, Brunei, and Indonesia!

YOU MUST REGISTER HERE TO PARTICIPATE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/zoohackathon-2019-kota-kinabalu-university-of-malaysia-sabah-tickets-50523828130

The Zoohackathon is a computer-coding event that brings together developers, designers, project managers, and wildlife enthusiasts to create new applications and tools to help end wildlife trafficking. For an example of a past winning entry, "Safe Souvenirs" the 2016 Global winner, educates tourists about what they should/should not buy when they are on traveling.

Along with Kota Kinabalu, Zoohackathon events will take place in 15 cities across 13 countries worldwide. First place winners from each event will compete for a grand prize, which will be announced in December.

Participants will compete in teams of 3-6 individuals for the event. Participants are encouraged to join as a pre organized team, but individual attendees are welcomed and teams can assemble during the registration period. Participants must bring their own laptops and are welcome to use their internet dongle for the event. Although there is no educational or work experience required to join, it is strongly recommended that at least some members have coding and website/app development experience. Meals and water will be provided for at the event.

A Washington DC-based committee then reviews the local winning solutions (all 15 from across the globe) and chooses a global winner. The global winner wins a prize and will potentially receive support to further develop and deploy their solution.

Eligibility

Eligibility

All participants must RSVP for the Zoohackathon through the respective host site registration webpage located at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/zoohackathon-2019-kota-kinabalu-university-of-malaysia-sabah-tickets-50523828130. Zoohackathon organizers reserve the right to verify eligibility and to adjudicate on any dispute at any time. All teams and individuals should register as private individuals, representing only themselves, and not on behalf of their employers. Only works created between the start and end time of each entrant’s selected event location are eligible for prizes.

Requirements

Submissions

Participants planning to attend an in-person event will register for their city’s event via: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/zoohackathon-2019-kota-kinabalu-university-of-malaysia-sabah-tickets-50523828130.  A complete list of 2019 events is available on zoohackathon.com.  It is the responsibility of each host site to collect the name and email contact information for every participant.

All event attendees will also need to create an account on DevPost (https://devpost.com). This is the platform where participants will need to submit and upload their final projects before the end of the Zoohackathon. Participants will also need to register for an account with a code sharing platform such as GitHub (https://github.com/) or Bitbucket (https://bitbucket.org) – these platforms can help facilitate collaborative coding and broader sharing and accessibility of codebases. GitHub or similar sites also have ways to track lines of code committed and the amount of subsequent reach of those codebases (e.g. the number of times a code base has been cloned/downloaded).

Throughout the events, participants will work in teams to create solutions that can help solve the problems indicated in the problem statement of their choice. Teams may be composed of 2-6 individuals unless otherwise specified by the local host site.  Please contact the specific event organizers for more details on this.

Presentations and supporting content should be uploaded prior to the end of the event.  

In fact, the winning team from each host site, identified by the panel of judges is required to upload their Zoohackathon presentation and applicable content online on DevPost and GitHub (or a similar platform) before the end of their Zoohackathon in order to be eligible for the 2019 global prize. Host site organizers should encourage teams to upload their presentations and all applicable content to DevPost and the code-sharing collaboration site (i.e. GitHub, Bitbucket, etc.) before leaving the event. Each entrant/participant listed on a submission must have registered with the selected host city site through Eventbrite and have registered accounts with these platforms.

All submissions must include a 2-5 minute demonstration (e.g. PowerPoint) or other visual digital presentation of the application /prototype/ or solution. 

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

1 non-cash prize
First Place
1 winner

TBD non-cash prize to further develop winning demo solution.

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

West Follmer

West Follmer
U.S. Department of State

Alexandra Swanson

Alexandra Swanson
U.S. Department of State

TBD

TBD
WWF - Malaysia

TBD

TBD
Sabah Wildlife Department

TBD

TBD
WWF - Malaysia

Judging Criteria

  • Quality of Idea/Innovation
  • Impact
  • Interface
  • Presentation

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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Hackathon sponsors

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