On Friday, March 22, 2019, Discovery Place Science will host the seventh annual HackathonCLT in partnership with Charlotte software startup Tresata.

Don’t worry, Discovery Place isn’t breaking into your computers or stealing your data. Though hacking often has a negative connotation, this big data competition is actually being used for good.

Nearly 1,200 “hackers,” coders, developers and innovators will use mathematical formulas to look for patterns of information in the data they are given that could help determine a solution to a presented problem. This year’s Charlotte Hackathon problem deals with population health.

For instance, in past Hackathons, participants were asked to help the Charlotte Housing Authority (CHA), Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina and Charlotte’s chapter of Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

So what is this big data problem HackathonCLT participants will be working to solve this year? It’s a secret! The 2019 data problem will be revealed on Friday, March 22, at the start of the event.

On the night of the event, hackers will take over Discovery Place Science in a race against the clock as they stay up all night to solve the big data problem. Teams will need to brainstorm original ideas to solve this problem and then hack them into reality by coding and developing digital systems, software or marketing plans to solve the proposed problem.

After nearly 12 hours of caffeine and coding, on the morning of Saturday, March 23, the buzzer will sound and teams will have to present their projects for judging in a science fair-style demonstration. Judges will make the rounds to review each of the ideas, and by the time to the doors of Discovery Place Science open to the public at 9:00 a.m., only a few teams will be selected to move on to the final round.

Guests of Discovery Place Science will be invited to watch these finalists present their ideas, and see who will win more than $30,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded, one of the largest hackathon jackpots in the country.

What will this year’s big data problem be? You’ll have to wait and see!

Are you in?