Hi, I’m Dan Tanham, a Deputy Director at DWP Digital. I’m really excited for our first ever hack event taking place on Thursday 23 and Friday 24 November in Manchester.
Why we’re doing this
At DWP Digital we combine design thinking and digital technology with our social purpose to create digital services that make a real difference to people’s lives - so it's only right that our hack also has a strong cause. And because we’ll be opening our new digital hub in Manchester next year, we’ve decided to try and tackle a local problem.
Despite Manchester’s growing popularity among top employers and its reputation as the tech hub of the north, there are still over 158,000 unemployed people currently living in the North West.
The challenge for our hack is to identify and break down the barriers to people applying for these jobs, and develop an innovative solution to encourage people to retrain and travel to where the work is.
It’s also a great opportunity to generate ideas to help further cement Manchester’s place as an international cultural and economic hub.
What to expect
We’re looking for enthusiastic and creative digital specialists to come together and help co-create solutions which could make a difference to this important cause.
We'll kick things off on Thursday 23 November from 4pm, when we'll set the scene with some quick-fire presentations from a range of speakers. This will be followed by the pitching of ideas and the forming of teams.
On Friday 24 November, with access to searchable open-source labour market data, you’ll get the chance to bring your ideas to life, before presenting your solution to our expert panel.
Food and refreshments will be provided by our sponsors. And like all good hack events, there’ll be a prize for the best solution!
Part of the reason hacks are so exciting is that you never know what people will come up with. It’s also a great opportunity to meet a range of people from across the sector and have some fun!
Come join us!
At the moment we’re working hard to publicise the hack so as many people as possible can be there. So far we’ve had people from a range of organisations sign up, and I’m looking forward to meeting lots of like-minded people at the opening session.
Find out more and register now on our Eventbrite page – places are limited so be quick.