IoT Civic Hackathon Convenes Developers, First Responders Around Public Safety, FirstNet Solutions
The third annual Internet of Things Civic Hackathon convened hundreds of coders, developers, officials and public safety employees last week in Indiana to find new ways in which technology could be directed toward the public good — focusing this year on solutions for public safety and FirstNet, the dedicated nationwide network for first responders.
The venue for the April 20-21 event — the new Indiana IoT Lab in Fishers, near Indianapolis — won praise from participants, but those interviewed by Government Technology said they were even more impressed by the caliber of ideas generated by roughly 300 technologists, and the close collaboration from scores of firefighters, police and law enforcement officers and public officials on-hand.
Teamwork between first responders and technology creators was baked into the event, which featured a Public Safety Equipment Rodeo during its early hours, aimed at familiarizing developers with the innovation potential in everything from mobile response units and communications vehicles to drones and helicopters. And as developers headed off to the adjacent Launch Fishers co-working space to begin designing solutions, first responders were nearby.
Bill Soards, president of AT&T Indiana, said the event was a good opportunity to flex the innovation side of FirstNet and “pull first responders deeper into the innovation cycle.”