About Community Hackathon

Overview

The Sparks x Build for Good (BFG) Community Hackathon is a month-long initiative co-organised by Open Government Products (OGP) and the People's Association (PA). The hackathon brings together tech enthusiasts and community changemakers to co-create innovative tech solutions to solve challenges faced in the community.

By combining OGP's Build for Good (BFG) framework with the PA's extensive community networks, the hackathon aims not only to spark ideas but also turn them into tangible, impactful solutions that can potentially be implemented within our communities.

🔗  Find out more about past Build for Good hackathons and the impactful citizen-led projects that emerged.

🔗 Find out more about the broader Sparks initiative by PA.

How the Community Hackathon Works

Phase 1: Understand problems faced in the community

Participants will dive deep to understand the challenges faced in the community. They will have the opportunity to engage directly with representatives from PA's Community Innovation Taskforce (CIT), who bring firsthand insights into pressing local issues. Alternatively, participants can pitch community problems they’ve identified and rally like-minded individuals to collaborate on solutions.

Through discussions, research, and workshops, teams will refine their problem statements to ensure they accurately reflect the needs of the community.

Phase 2: Build solutions

Teams will ideate possible solutions that address their problem statement and build prototypes. They will be guided through workshops, dedicated mentorship and product clinics. Teams can also work on their projects outside of the weekly sessions at PA's Community Innovation Spaces (CIS).

Phase 3: Test with users

Teams will test their prototypes with users and receive feedback. They will further refine their prototypes, work on their pitches and prepare for the finale. At the finale, all teams must demonstrate functional working prototypes of their solutions.

What's next

At the finale, the judging panel consisting of government leaders and industry experts will select five teams to advance to the 8-week Build for Good (BFG) accelerator programme by OGP. These teams will each receive S$20,000 in funding to further develop and launch their solutions.

All other teams will retain full IP rights to continue working on their solutions. Teams are encouraged to collaborate with PA’s Community Innovation Taskforces (CIT) to launch their solutions in the community and continue to make an impact.

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