Startupbootcamp Cape Town, RCS Group to take on Day Zero with H2O Hackathon

Startupbootcamp Cape Town and financial services provider RCS Group have partnered to take on Cape Town’s water crisis with the H2O Hackathon set to be held next week Friday and Saturday (9 and 10 February) in the city.

The hackathon — which will be held at the RCS Group head office in Mowbray — will aim to identify and commission water-saving tech with a potential to push back Day Zero (when the City of Cape Town will shut down its water distribution system in residential areas).

The accelerator announced the partnership today in a press release, calling on innovators with tech-based solutions to the water crisis to register for the event, where they could potentially get prototypes of their innovations produced.

The winning team will also get a cash prize, which has not yet been finalised.

Over the two days, participants will form teams, create prototypes and pitch their ideas.

The H2O Hackathon which will be held on 9 and 10 February in Mowbray, Cape Town, aims to identify and commission water saving technology

“By creating an environment to collectively pool ideas together, we believe this hackathon can ensure that both short-term and long-term solutions can be designed to deal with the crisis,” Startupbootcamp Cape Town CFO and chief partnership officer Paul Nel said in the release.

“We encourage everyone who has a desire to make an impact to join. By bringing ideas and skills together, we can make a difference,” added Nel.

RCS Group CEO Regan Adams said corporates have a “responsibility to collectively apply our minds to this challenge facing the society which we operate in”.

“Hosting a hackathon purely focusing on the water crisis was the perfect opportunity for RCS to show both support and desire to address this issue,” said Adams.

“At RCS we pride ourselves on being at the forefront of innovation and we believe in the agility of tech startups to make a difference. It is therefore our ambition that the event may lead to finding valuable and feasible solutions for both companies and individuals,” he added.

Executives from RCS Group, Old Mutual, Nedbank, Woolworths Financial Services and PwC are expected to engage with entrepreneurs, students, concerned citizens and local government at the event.

Cape Town’s dam levels are currently at 26.3% (16.3% of which is usable water). When levels drop to 13.5%, the municipality plans to switch off taps to residential areas. If dam levels continue to drop, Day Zero could be a reality by 16 April.

Read more: Dam levels drop 0.9% as Cape Town struggles to save water

For more information on the H2O Hackathon, to sign up or if you have any additional queries, contact Nsovo (nsovo@startupbootcamp.org) and Mo (motlhabane.koloi@startupbootcamp.org).