The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency held a “hackathon” event in Huntsville, Alabama, over the weekend that challenged participants to develop geospatially-focused products and services designed to aid emergency responders in the event of a natural disaster.NGA said Friday the two-day event gathered members of the academia, industry, local innovators and small businesses communities and offered opportunities to meet recruiters from the agency as well as receive briefings from NGA personnel.
U.S. Air Force Capt. Adam Satterfield, NGA’s crowdsourced-driven innovation lead, said that crowdsourcing mission-centric challenges helps the agency discover technical products and recruit new talent.
NGA provided a cash award of $3,000 to the hackathon’s grand winner and $1,000 to the first runner-up.
The event also coincided with the “Innovate Huntsville” week of scheduled events, panels and social activities for entrepreneurs, investors, strategic advisers and community supporters in the region.
