PHL gunning to break world record for world's biggest hackathon

The Philippines is gunning to break the record for the world's biggest hackathon, with over 10,000 participants set to participate in a 24-hour coding marathon later this month.

In an e-mailed statement, Impact Hub Manila said it will host on October 30 and 31 "Impact Hackathon" across 15 nationwide locations, with a large chunk of participants or 3,500 people coding from the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

The event seeks to beat the current Guinness World Records (GWR) record-holder Hajj Hackathon, which had 2,950 participants in Saudi Arabia. 

"This is a time for better thinking and solutions-finding, and the region and the Philippines can lead in this," said Ces Rondario, Impact Hub Manila founder.

"This is our chance to define our future and the world in 2050. This is our time," she elaborated.

Impact Hub is a network of entrepreneurs across the globe, with over 17,000 members from more than 100 hubs in over 50 countries across the world.

Its hackathon event seeks to create technology-based solutions anchored on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations related to climate change, education, agriculture, smart cities, and health.

"There are so many problems in the Philippines and in the region and where there are problems, there's opportunity for entrepreneurship to rise," said Rondario.

"It opens the door for people to think, do, and be better," she elaborated.

The event is in cooperation and partnership with representatives of the government, private, start-up, and corporate sectors.

Asian Development Bank, Dentsu Aegis Network, KMC, GIZ, SparkUP Business World, Forest Foundation, WWF, KumuMedia Technologies, Smart, PLDT, the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Information and Communications Technology, the Department of Trade and Industry, the League of Cities of the Philippines, Microsoft, Team Bam Aquino, UnionBank, and Gawad Kalinga are among the partners. — MDM, GMA News