Go Code Colorado challenge weekend winners announced

Ten teams of app developers and entrepreneurs from across Colorado advance to mentor weekend

DENVER, April 20, 2015 - The Colorado Secretary of State’s office launched its second annual Go Code Colorado challenge in five locations throughout the state from April 10-12. Ten teams - two from each challenge weekend location - out of 31 advanced to the finals. Of the ten teams, three teams will be awarded a year-long $25,000 contract with the Secretary of State’s office.

"It is incredible to see this level of creativity and collaboration," said Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams. "The business community came together to put forth challenges faced in its daily business operations - app developers and entrepreneurs answered the call. I’m excited to see how all the apps submitted eventually benefit consumers."

The Finalist teams (with challenges they addressed in parenthesis) are:

Fort Collins

Pikr Knows (Tourism Intelligence)

StayCO (Transportation Solutions)

Denver

Exit Now (Transportation Solutions)

Mentor Matter (Higher Education Partnerships)

Colorado Springs

U-nite (Higher Education Partnerships)

Quizata (Tourism Intelligence)

Durango

Opus (Higher Education Partnerships)

COmmute (Transportation Solutions)

Grand Junction

GoGoCo (Transportation Solutions)

COnext (Higher Education Partnerships)

Local companies hosted the challenge weekend events. In Fort Collins, clean-tech accelerator Innosphere provided the space; in Denver it was the law firm Holland and Hart; for Colorado Spring the coworking space Epicentral stepped up; in Durango the coworking space Durango Space and next-door accelerator Durango Scape hosted; and in Grand Junction the Business Incubator Center opened its doors for participants.

The 31 teams across the state utilized over 100 datasets provided by government agencies to produce an app that addressed challenges specifically offered by the Colorado business community. The apps aim to help the Colorado business community make better-informed business decisions.

Three local tech leaders in each location judged the app ideas based on specific criteria. Of the ten finalists, two tackle tourism, four take on transportation, and four address higher education partnerships.

The teams will hone their app and business ideas at a Mentor Weekend in Boulder this weekend. They’ll submit their final code for review in mid-May. On May 21st teams convene in Denver to present to an audience of business leaders, members of the tech entrepreneurship community, government officials, and a panel of five judges who will award the top three finishers each with a state contract worth $25,000.

Read more about the finalist teams online at http://gocode.colorado.gov/announcing-2015-final-ten-teams/.

About Go Code Colorado: Go Code Colorado is a statewide civic app challenge housed in the Colorado Secretary of State’s office that brings together a community of entrepreneurs, business partners and developers to make use of public data to solve business problems. It won the Colorado Technology Association's APEX award Technology Project of the Year, and was honored by Harvard’s Kennedy School for Democratic Government and Innovation as a Bright Idea in this year’s Innovations in American Government Awards competition.