Register for CODE 2015

CODE 2015 is an intense 48-hour coding sprint where innovators from coast to coast compete to build the best app utilizing federal government data from Canada's Open Government portal.

Registration and participation is FREE and we invite anyone who is over the age of majority to take part regardless of digital prowess.

Have a great idea but can’t write code? Sign-up here, register your team and use our Matchmaking Tool to find team members to help you bring your idea to life.

Participants can take part in CODE 2015 in one of three ways:

1. You can apply to compete from one of the CODE VIP HUBs.
2. You can register to compete from one of our CODE Partner HUBs.
3. You can participate virtually from anywhere in Canada.

All participants must be registered as part of a team to submit an app and to be eligible for the prizes. Teams can be made up of one to four participants. Make sure you register before Sunday February 22nd at 2pm (EST), 2015 when registration will officially close.

Want to get involved in the open data movement?– Become a sponsor, host a Partner HUB or join the conversation on Twitter or Facebook.

You can find a simple overview of the rules and regulations here.

Build or Join a Team

The Matchmaking Tool was built to ensure that everyone can participate in CODE 2015 and become a part of the international open data movement. You can use the Matchmaking Tool to find a team to join, or to create your own team and recruit team members based on searches for specific skillsets.

Step 1: Fill out your Profile
Go to your profile. Fill out your skills and experience sections with as much detail as possible. This is especially important if you are looking to join a team because the information in your profile will be used to match you up with other teams looking for team members. A detailed profile highlighting your past experience and skillset will also increase your chances of getting selected to participate from one of the CODE VIP HUBs.

Step 2: Create a Team or Find a Team

• Create a Team
  You can choose to create a new team and either use the Matchmaking Tool to invite members to join or simply send them a request to join via email. Make sure to include as many details about your project as possible, so potential team members will be excited to join your team!
• Find a Team
  Use the ‘search teams’ function here to find already existing teams that need members of your skill and experience and send a request to join. Keep in mind that team leaders have the ability to accept or reject your application to join and will base their decision on the information in your participant profile – so make it good!
• Solo Team
  The CODE 2014 second and third place winners were one-person teams. – All you need is brainpower and endurance. If you would like to participate solo you can absolutely do so, but you will still need to create a team page in order to be able to submit.

For more information on our Matchmaking Tool, please review our walkthrough or visit our FAQ page.

Compete in CODE

During the weekend of February 20th – February 22nd, 2015, developers, designers, data scientists, tech enthusiasts, and anyone interested in building an app, are invited to participate in CODE 2015.

At 6 pm (EST) on February 20th, 2015 CODE 2015 will officially begin with the announcement of the three development themes in the categories Youth, Commerce and Quality of Life. The themes will be announced on the CODE website, via email to registered participants and through the CODE 2015 social channels. All submissions must adhere to the theme in their respective categories in order to be eligible for judging.

Once the themes have been announced, it is a 48-hour coding sprint to the submission deadline on February 22nd, at 6 pm (EST).

We highly recommend everyone head over to Canada's Open Government portal before the competition starts to get familiar with the portal and the datasets available. There are more than 200,000 federal datasets to choose from and going though all of them might very well take 48 hours and leave you no time to program your submission.

To start, check out the Open Data 101 page, visit the Apps Gallery to get inspired here or brush up on you data skills by visiting the Working with Data and Application Programming Interfaces page.

Didn’t find the dataset you were looking for? Make sure you let our government partner know by requesting it here.

Lastly, don’t forget that CODE 2015 is all about the mash-up of datasets to extract maximum value. Head over to the Open Government Across Canada page and find great provincial or municipal datasets to compliment your application and increase your chances of winning.

How and Where to Participate
CODE 2015 participation is free and all Canadian residents with legal age of majority are invited to take part. CODEers can participate in one of three ways:

1. Virtual Participation
   To compete online, from anywhere in Canada all you have to do is register and create a team. You can join the CODE 2015 conversation online using your social channels: #CODE2015.
2. VIP HUBs
   These HUBs are designed to offer the best hackathon experience and are located in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. CODE 2015 swag will be given out, food and beverages will be provided, and you’ll get an opportunity to network with other participants and industry professionals. Space is limited at each VIP HUB, with approximately 100 spots at each VIP HUB. We strongly encourage you to apply early to secure a spot and application to participate at the VIP HUBs closes on February 12h, 2015 at 5 pm (EST). After the deadline, applications to participate from the VIP HUB will be reviewed by the CODE team and applicants will be advised by email. If you are not chosen for a VIP HUB, you can still participate virtually.
3. Partner HUBs
   Partner HUBs are set up and run by local communities to help bring CODE enthusiasts together. These are designated locations where participants can collaborate on their CODE projects; draw support from the community and have a great hackathon experience.

More information on VIP HUBs and partner HUBs can be found here.

Judging and Announcement of Winners

All teams that successfully submit a working application before the deadline will compete for the $15,000 Grand Prize, three $5,000 Category Prizes, a $5,000 prize for the best submission of a student team and a $5,000 Fan Favourite Prize.

• February 20, 6:00PM

  CODE Themes Announced

• February 20, 6:00PM

  CODE 2015 Hacakthon Begins

• February 22, 6:00PM

  CODE 2015 Hacakthon Ends

• March 6, 11:00AM

  Top 15 Announced

• March 6, 12:00PM

  Fan Voting Begins

• March 16

  Pitch Day

• March 26, 5:00PM

  Fan Voting Ends

• March 26, 7:00PM

  Grand Finale

The Fan Favourite Prize will be awarded to the team with the highest count of votes and social shares of their team profile page. Make sure you make your team profile and application presentation as professional and eye catching as possible and activate your local communities to vote for you. Here are some tips on how to best achieve this:

• Ensure your team profile and application profile are full and complete and clearly communicate what your CODE 2015 project is and how it provides value.
• Open data and software development are complicated topics, use language that people without tech expertise can understand.
• Clearly indicate the problem and show how your application is the solution.
• Include visuals such as diagrams, graphics, screenshots, mockups, and videos to make the content easily understandable.
• Drive traffic to your CODE 2015 team profile through your social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube) by posting links and asking people to ‘Like’ and ‘Share’ your team page.
  • Define a hashtag for your team
  • Make sure you use the #CODE2015 in your social outreach
• Student at a college or university? Registered at an accelerator or incubator? Get your community behind you by involving them in your social promotion.

The top 15 teams will be invited to present their applications to the judges during the CODE 2015 Pitch Day (March 16th, 2015) in Toronto. The judges will announce the winners at the CODE 2015 Grand Finale in Toronto on March 26th, 2015. Check out CODE 2014 Top 15 Teams here.

We will be judging submissions on five areas of competency: user experience, use of open data, innovation, potential, and functionality. Submissions that have successfully combined federal, provincial and municipal datasets to tell a unique story will be looked upon favourable by the CODE judges. Be sure to check out the detailed scoring system and the CODE judges’ profiles here.

Coding, Art and Open Data Resources

We have put together a comprehensive list of resources to help you with your CODE 2015 projects. These resources cover a range of topics including development, business, open data, art, audio, ui/ux and much more. The CODE 2015 resources can be found here.

You can also find a plethora of resources on how to extract the most value out of federal open datasets on Canada’s Open Government Portal. We encourage all participants to head over and explore the vast content on the portal and check out the provincial and municipal open data sister portals as well. Combining federal, provincial and municipal datasets to tell a unique story with your app will be looked upon favourable by the CODE 2015 judges.

Know a great resource that should be up on the CODE 2015 resource page? Send it to us at [email protected] and we will review and add it to the list.

CODE 2015 Success Launch Pad

CODE 2015 has set out to galvanize developers and entrepreneurs to develop apps that will provide value for citizens and drive economic growth. One of the ways in which economic growth can be achieved is by increasing citizen productivity.

"Declining productivity is the most significant threat to Canada’s standard of living”
- Deloitte, Clear choices for a competitive Canada, 2012

CODE open data apps can impact national productivity by increasing citizen efficiency and through the creation of new enterprises that center their business on the use of open data. McKinsey has estimated that the additional economic value added as a result of open data could globally generate as much as $3 trillion a year – and perhaps as much as $5 trillion a year. The fact that this is not an unrealistic estimate at all is proven by the fact that two start-ups have been founded or acquired to date based on their work developed during CODE 2014:

• The 2014 Grand Champion team Electric Sheep went on to publish their submission and is currently working on a re-brand an re-launch of the original concept with expanded services around immigration: Imminy
• The top 15 team Farmspot’s start-up was acquired by Invoke Labs in BC

The CODE team will work with the Top 15 teams to ensure the right introductions are made to help found a start-up, get the investment needed and bring the apps to market.