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Open Government Data Hackathon, а competition of innovative ideas and programming, which targets the development of innovative solutions to ensure transparent and accountable administration and help reduce corruption risks, will start on April 13, 11:00 AM, at Innovative Solutions and Technologies Center /ISTC.

The official launch of the event will feature opening remarks by Robert Anderson, the US Embassy Public Affairs Officer, Vigen Sargsyan, the World Bank Senior Communications External & Corporate Relations Officer and Lilya Afrikyan, Prime Minister’s office Representative, OGP working group secretary.

Mariia Shnyrkova, open data expert from SocialBoost (Ukraine) and Victor Vyshnov, Blockchain specialist, open governance expert and head of SETAM state enterprise (Ukraine), will present Ukraine’s experience in open governance, generated innovative projects, best practices of open data usage and the initiatives on open and transparent administration put into practice by the Ukrainian government, as well as open data and open governance programs implemented by using a Blockchain system.

The hackathon is implemented by the Public Journalism Club NGO jointly with its partners – Transparency International Anticorruption Center, the Innovative Solutions and Technologies Center (ISTC) and Armavir Development Center – with funding from the US Embassy and the World Bank.

The purpose of this initiative is to bring together Armenia’s expert, professional, civil society and technological potential to boost open governance in Armenia and create useful projects to ensure transparent and accountable administration, and help reduce corruption risks in various sectors of public administration.

With a prize fund of over $ 20,000, the hackathon will offer funding to the best ideas generated during the event, followed by a two-month consulting and working program designed to complete certain stages of the projects under development.

Open data in Armenia

Several state databases contain enormous amounts of information that are important for journalist investigations, anti corruption and public control over state administration.

New tools and projects need to be created in order to present these data to the public in innovative and understandable formats; they would provide open and transparent governance and data presentation in different sectors.

The Republic of Armenia joined the Open Government Partnership initiative in September 2011 (details are available at https://www.ogp.am/en/).

What is a Hackathon?

First held in Silicon Valley, this event provides a format that brings together hi-tech developers and non-developers, i.e. experts in other fields to cooperate and propose actual solutions to pressing issues.

Hackathon [Yan] was first held in Armenia in 2011, upon initiative of the Public Journalism Club NGO and Microsoft Innovation Center Armenia. This is usually a 24-hour event, during which IT teams develop applications or software offering solutions to specific problems and compete with their innovative ideas. An independent panel of experts selects the winning teams, who get prizes and other investment opportunities.

Description of cooperating projects

The hackathon of innovative ideas targeted at reducing corruption risks is initiated by the Public Journalism Club (PJC) NGO. It is implemented jointly with the Transparency International Anticorruption Center and the Innovative Solutions and Technologies Center (ISTC). The project was launched in February 2019, with a duration of five months. Details and regular updates on the project will be available on the PJC website at www.pjc.am.

This project is funded within the framework of the U.S. Department of State Public Affairs Section grant.

“Support to Joint Development and Implementation of Open Government Partnership (OGP) Action Plan” project is implemented by Armavir Development Center non-governmental organization (NGO) in cooperation with the Government of the Republic of Armenia, with funding of the World Bank. The project aims to create a set of commitments on local/national level promoting transparency and accountability of the government, as well as increased citizen engagement and responsibility of the government.