Cash up for grabs with Africa’s largest Hack Boot Camp for Trade Transparency

Have you ever wondered why certain items seem to cost way more than they do in the US and Europe? RLabs, Department for International Development (DFID) and Mxit Reach will be hosting the first Trade Transparency Project hackers’ boot camp in Cape Town, South Africa on the 3 – 5 September 2012. The aim is to provide consumers with information on how trade-related costs and trade barriers such as tariffs affect them by raising the prices of the goods they buy.

If you’re a techie, developer, designer, creative person or activist, create visualisations, interactive tools, mobile, web and social applications to illustrate the impact of trade barriers on the prices of everyday products and stand a chance to win cash prizes for the best ideas, marketing and support.

DFID has contracted the Economist Intelligence Unit to collect the data and model the impact of various trade-related factors on the retail prices of a small number of consumer goods. The results of the modelling and the dataset will be made available as the feed for the hack ideas. With limited number of seats available early registration is encouraged and those who hope to recruit teams to build applications should share their ideas on our events Facebook Page.

The event will have 2 hack days with the finalists proceeding to the Studio Sessions where the prizewinners will be announced. DFID will give an introduction on the Trade Transparency Project; Mxit, ODADI, RLabs and industry experts will inspire and launch the boot camp with short talks and demonstration on how to maximise digital tools for trade transparency.

Registration will be 8am at RLabs, 66 Tarentaal Road, Bridgetown, Cape Town and will continue daily till 8pm on both Wednesday and Thursday (September 3rd and 4th). Judging of the best projects / ideas developed during the event will proceed as finalists to “The Studio” on Friday the 5th September where further support and advice will be given to polish, provide feedback and launch of their products. Winners will be announced at the end of the Studio day.

You can reserve your seat by emailing Monique@rlabs.org, or complete the registration form.