Digi.me, ID Exchange and Alibaba Cloud joined forces to bring the power of personal data and private sharing to communities in regional Australia last weekend.
Australian developers turned out in force for the first digi.spark hackathon, held in Sydney as part of the New South Wales Spark Festival.
Digi.me, in collaboration with our Australian partner ID Exchange, and sponsor Alibaba Cloud, challenged app developers to deploy Open Banking data to improve the lives of people living in regional communities by empowering them to securely control and share personal data with banks and other service providers.
Team Boutiq took first place for recognising that not everyone can remember a product they found on social media weeks ago. The app uses social (likes) and individuals’ open banking data combined with digi.me’s private sharing capabilities and Alibaba image processsing to help users buy things they had previously earmarked once they have the money.
The innovative idea won them a trip to China for the Alibaba Cloud Computing Conference in September 2019, along with $10,000 in Alibaba Cloud credits, and digi.me mentorship to help them turn their app concept into reality.
The second prize of four airfares to regional NSW and $5000 of Alibaba Cloud credits went to Nola (No Longer Alone), a cancer support app that uses banking, health and regional location data to calculate the most affordable and convenient treatment for users.
The third prize, which was $500 each and $2500 in Alibaba Cloud credits, was shared by FinPacer, an app that lets users adjust the pace they reach their financial goals and My Actuary which helps users move money and debt around in smart ways to reduce fees and earn more.
Julian Ranger, Founder of digi.me, said: “It’s hackathons like these that are providing the ideas that are so vital in using technology to improve our daily lives.
“Our sponsor, Alibaba Cloud, is as committed to innovation as we are, encouraging developers to think in new terms around personal and secure sharing of data.”
Raymond Ma, GM ANZ – Alibaba Cloud said: “Alibaba Cloud are pleased to be involved in this fantastic event, driving innovation to support regional areas.
“The quality of teams has been high and I’m looking forward to seeing the Boutiq app in action in the future.”
The Consumer Data Right and introduction of Open Banking in Australia means there is more potential than ever for leading tech firms to work with developers to create market-ready apps which empower personal data sharing.
The digi.spark hackathon was organised to ensure that communities in regional New South Wales don’t miss out on the bigger technical resources of major cities, and are offered the same leading-edge products and opportunities as city dwellers.
“With real-life concepts spanning goal setting, health assistance, debt reduction and tailored marketplaces, digi.spark has proven consumer-centric apps can come to life within 24hrs, setting the pace for the pending Consumer Rights regime,” said Joanne Cooper, Managing Director at ID Exchange and hackathon judge.
Competing developers were given a helping hand with the power of secure, private sharing and data compliance capabilities which are built into the digi.me Consent Access platform.
Paired with access to IT infrastructure and cloud services, developers were able to go from idea to app in just two days.